beginning in verse two. And unto David were
sons born in Hebron, and his firstborn was Ammon of Ahinoam,
the Jezreelitus, and his second, Chilliab of Abigail, the wife
of Nabal the Carmelite, and the third, Absalom, the son of Meachah,
the daughter of Talmah, king of Geshur, and the fourth, Adonijah,
the son of Hagath, and the fifth, Sheptiah, the son of Abtai, and
the sixth, Ithrium, by Egla, David's wife. These were born
to David in Hebron. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and how thankful we are for the salvation that's
in him. And we ask in his name that you would be pleased to
meet with us and to speak in power to our hearts from your
word. Grant us a worship service for the Lord's sake. Lord, we
pray for your grace and mercy to be upon all of us. Forgive
us of our sins for Christ's sake, and Lord, give us grace to love
you more and love one another more. In Christ's name we pray,
amen. 1 Samuel chapter 3 is about David
becoming king over Israel. For seven years, he had been
king in Hebron, beginning when he was 23 up to when he was 30
years old. And then in chapter three, we
find him becoming the king of all of Israel, the United Kingdom.
And there is a lot of sordid stuff going on in this chapter.
Politics, power, and sex. That's the main subjects of this.
It's not something you would want to read to your kids before
they go to bed at night. It is a very sordid chapter. David is giving into worldly
means to get what he wants. Abner is giving into worldly
means and what he wants. But before we get into all that
story, we read of the six sons of David. He had six sons while
he was in Hebron. Now he was a king and kings could
do whatever they wanted to do. If David said regarding you,
if he told his men, go kill him. They did it. His will was done. A king had absolute power, and
David had absolute power, but every one of us have asked this
question, was it okay for them to have multiple wives? Was it
okay for them to have concubines? The answer is no. It was sin
then, and it's sin now. Do you remember when people asked
the Lord about divorce, and he took them back into the Garden
of Eden, And he talked about Adam and Eve, the two becoming
one flesh. And God has always meant for
marriage to be a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman. The
two shall be one flesh. It's never been okay for sexual
sin, sex outside of marriage. And that's exactly what was going
on at this time with David. And as a matter of fact, these
boys that he had caused him all kinds of troubles. You can be
sure he was sorry about these boys. They were trying to usurp
his throne. There was a rapist, there was a murderer. I mean,
these boys were something else. They caused him all kinds of
trouble. And it never was okay. As a matter of fact, if you read
Deuteronomy chapter 17, the king is forbidden to multiply wives
unto himself. You see, he had power to do whatever
he wanted. And if he wanted to say, take
that woman, take her from her husband, bring her to me, they
did it. That is the power he had. But it was sinful and it
was wrong. And David lived to regret all
the things that took place with this. Now, before I get into
this, remember that the Lord overrules
everything evil for good. And we have such a clear example
of this in Bathsheba. Bathsheba, The Lord came through
Bathsheba. And she's mentioned in that list
of through whom the Lord, this was a sinful thing for him to
do. It was a wrong thing for him to do. I mean, you think
of what he did. He took another man's wife. He had that man murdered. That's the power the king had.
He had that man murdered. It was a wicked thing. And God
said, the sword's never going to depart from your life because
of this. But nevertheless, nevertheless, God overruled it all for good. And the Christ came through Bathsheba. Now, husbands and wives, marriage isn't easy, is it? Now, Lynn's got it made, but
I know you all have it. What's funny is I probably really
think that. Lynn says, you're so blind. But marriage is not easy. But I hope there's something
that, I hope we'll strike this from our vocabulary. I'm not
happy. I'm not happily married. I'm
not happy. That is the most self-absorbed
thing to say. I'm not happy. I wish we would
strike that from our vocabulary. I don't need to be happy. I need
to do what's right. And if I do what's right, I'll
end up being happy by it. And that's what's important,
not being happy. Somebody says, I'm not happy.
I'm not happily married. Well, be a better spouse. Seek to be
the best spouse you can be. Let's quit thinking about how
your spouse is. How are you? How are you? I want
to seek to be the best spouse I can be so Lynn is happily married. Marriage is not easy because
you have two sinners together. You have two, and you know that's
a recipe for all kinds of problems, but strike out I'm not happy,
and seek to be what the Lord would have you be. Now, through
David's indiscretions, the Christ came. Turn to Genesis 45, and
this is so comforting regarding everything. Genesis 45, this
is when Joseph met his brothers, and you remember what his brothers
did to him. They sold him as a slave. They told his dad he'd
been eaten by a beast of some kind. And you think of the sorrow
they put through their father through and how evil they were
and how they treated their brother. I mean, there's no excuse for
this, but look at this story. Chapter 45, verse one, then Joseph
could not refrain himself before all of them that stood by him.
And he cried, cause every man to go out from me. And there
stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
And he wept aloud. The Egyptians in the house of
Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I'm Joseph.
Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer
him, for they were troubled at his presence. Now they knew their
life was in his hand. He could have them executed just
like that. And they were troubled. They
remembered everything they did. that would be troubled too. They
were troubled at his presence. They couldn't even speak. They
couldn't get anything out. Verse four, and Joseph said unto
his brethren, come near to me, I pray you, and they came near.
And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold unto Egypt.
Now therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that
you sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve
life. I wish I could have this attitude
about everything that takes place. God did this. God did this. Instead of becoming so vexed
and upset over what's taking place, God did this. He did it
for good. Now, Joseph was the one who was
abused too. But he said, don't be grieved
with yourself. Don't be mad at yourself. God did this. What a beautiful belief in the
sovereign God. He does everything. Now let's
go on reading. 6, verse 6, for these two years hath the famine
been in the land, and yet there are five years in which there
shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to
preserve you to posterity in the earth and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. Now listen to this statement.
So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. Isn't that
beautiful? God did this. And he hath made
me a father to Pharaoh, and the Lord of all his house, and a
ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." Now, with regard to
everything bad that has happened to you, and with everything good
that has happened to you, and in reality, me and you don't
know the difference between what's bad and what's good, do we? We really can't even give an
intelligent thought concerning what's gone on. We just don't
know the picture, but we know this, God did it. Therefore,
it's good. Turn to Genesis 50. Verse 15, and when Joseph's brethren
saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will for adventure
hate us and will certainly require us of all the evil which we did
unto him. Now, this is years later. Years later. Finally,
Jacob dies. And they, as a man is, so he
thinks others to be. This is the way we would be,
so Joseph would be this way too. He's going to get us back now.
The dad's gone. He's going to get us. And they sent a messenger
unto Joseph, saying, thy father did command before he died, saying,
so shall you say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee now, the
trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto
thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive all the trespasses of
the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when
they spake unto him, and his brethren also went and fell down
before his face. And they said, behold, we be
thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, fear not, for am I
in the place of God? But as for you, you thought evil
against me. but God meant it unto good to
bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Now,
therefore, fear ye not, I'll nourish you and your little ones.
And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them. Now, the reason
I'm reading those passages of scripture is we look at Joseph,
I mean, David with his sin, with his sexual sin, with his indiscretions,
all these wrong things that he was terribly wrong in doing,
and he brought much sorrow into his life through these things.
But let me remind you, the Christ came through this. I love that. It's just so glorious. The Lord has the ability and
always does bring good out of evil. Only he can do this. And he does it. Now, do we say,
well, then we don't need to worry about our sin? No, we don't say
that at all. Our sin is all our fault. And we bring grief into
our life in our sin. But yet we have this assurance,
the Lord brings good out of evil. Now, what about these boys? As a matter of fact, if you go
on reading, he had, We read of these six sons, and then 1 Chronicles
chapter 12, we read of 12 other sons from a bunch more wives
that he got when he was in Israel. And that doesn't include all
the children from the concubines, and that doesn't include the
women children. So there were a lot of children
he had, but in here in this time in Hebrew, in this seven-year
period where he was the king of Judah, we read of six sons
that he had. And why does the Bible point
this out? Well, I wondered that, but I looked at the names of
these boys. And in their names, we learned
so much of the gospel. And in their names, we learn
how the Lord brings good out of evil. Now, verse two. And unto David were sons born
in Hebron, and his firstborn was Ammon of Ahinoam, the Jezreelitus. Now, Ammon means faithful. Faithful. The faithful God. Now, faithful
means he can be completely trusted and relied on. He's the only
one who can be. You cannot be completely You
can't completely trust any man. He doesn't have any control.
He may make a promise, and I want to be good to my word, but there
might be circumstances that make it to where I can't keep my promise.
But that's not the way it is with the Lord. He is utterly
faithful. 1 John 1, 9 says, if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now, notice the words. Not merciful
and gracious, although He is, but faithful and just. You see,
if the Lord forgives your sins, it's not because you confess
them. It's because He purposed to save
you before time began, and His will is always going to be done. He's faithful to do whatever
it is He purposed to do. That's why your sins are forgiven.
Not because you confessed, but because he is faithful to do
what he promised. You see, if your sins are forgiven,
it's because you were included in that covenant and you're saved
for Christ's sake. And he's faithful to forgive
us of our sins. And I like this next word too.
He's just to forgive us of our sins. You see, the very justice
of God demands the forgiveness of every believer. Isn't that
amazing? You see, my sins have been paid
for, and I stand before God justified. And so he is faithful and just
to forgive us of our sins. Don't you love the faithfulness
of God? He's utterly dependable, utterly
reliable, utterly predictable in that sense. He's predictable.
He's always going to be as he is. He's faithful because he's
immutable. And his mom's name was Ahinoem
and that means my brother is delight. My brother is delight. Christ is my elder brother. He's the brother born for adversity. And my brother is delight. He's
a delight to his father. And listen to this. Hebrews chapter
2 verse 11 says, Both they who are sanctified, him that sanctifies
and they who are sanctified are all of one for the which cause
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to
own me or you as his little brother, he's one of mine. What a beautiful
type of the gospels found in the name of the son and the mother. Now look once again in verse
three, and his second Chiliab of Abigail, the wife of Nabal
the Carmelite. You remember the story of Abigail
and Nabal and David. We looked at that some months
ago. But they had a child named Chiliab and Chiliab means like
his father. Like his father. Now who does
that pertain to? Christ Jesus is completely like
his father because he is the Father. Now, how can you say
that? I don't know, but the Bible says
it. The Lord says, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Didn't He say that? He that hath
seen Me hath seen the Father. Isaiah 9.6 says, Unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor
the Ever the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. God is one God in three persons,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And
Christ is like his Father. And his mom's name was Abigail,
which means my Father is joy. And that's the testimony of the
Father toward the Son. My Father is joy. You think of
the joy that exists between the Father and the Son. You know,
just thinking of the joy that exists between them makes us
joyous, doesn't it? Makes us happy. I like thinking about
it. And I think of the joy that there is in believing the gospel. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but it's righteousness. And what comes out of righteousness?
That's having His righteousness. What comes out of that? Peace.
And what comes from this peace? Joy in the Holy Ghost. My father is joy. Verse three,
and the third, Absalom, the son of Mekah, the daughter of Talmai,
king of Geshur. Now you know what grief Absalom
brought on David. He plotted for years to take
David's place, and there's a lot of chapters involved in this
problem he had with Absalom. But you know what Absalom's name
means? I love his name. My father is peace. My father
is peace. Peace. My father's at peace with
me. My father's at peace with me
because of Christ. When the father looks at every
one of his children, he has perfect peace. Now that's the glory of
the gospel. You know this I'm not going to
say it. I don't want to steal my thunder
for the morning's message. But I am aware of so much sin within
me, and yet I know that the Father is at perfect peace with me through
the gospel. And I have peace, the peace of
God that passes understanding because of the gospel. My Father
is peace. Having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Absalom
means peace. And his mom, I think you pronounce
her name, Meika, her name means oppression. And that comes from
the word proud. And I have peace because I see that
I'm not oppressed. I don't have anything to be proud
about, Christ did it all, but my peace is totally outside of
me. It doesn't have anything to do
with anything I've done. I have peace from this oppression. And then in verse 4, in the 4th,
Adonijah, the son of Hagath, Now, he is another man who tried
to usurp the throne, and Saul ended up having him killed because
of doing it. He did this while David was still alive. But his
name means, my Lord is Jehovah, Adonijah. My Lord is Jehovah. And what a blessed thing it is
to say, my Lord is Jehovah. He's the Lord of my life. He's
my Lord. I am my beloved's and he is mine. That's what every believer can
say. I am my beloved's. What belonging to Christ? What
a blessed thing. Jehovah is my Lord. And his mom's name means festive. Festive. You know, this is a
reason to have a party, isn't it? If the Lord is, if Jehovah
is my Lord, this is a reason to celebrate. And it's talking
about having a party, having a party. This is a reason for
happiness and joy. If the Lord is my Lord. And then the fifth son's name
was Shephathiah, the son of Abital. Shepthetai, the son of Abital.
Now Shepthetai means God has judged or Jehovah has judged. Now the reference here is that
our salvation is a just salvation. It's based upon the judgment
of God, the absolute strict righteousness and judgment of God. The justice
of God The very justice of God demands the salvation of all
of God's elect. He's found a way to be just and
justify the ungodly. And our gospel is a righteous
gospel. It's based upon the judgment
of Jehovah. And his mom's name means my father
is the dew. This is the dew that moistens
our dry hearts. Justification. Anytime you think
of, by the grace of God, you think of Christ justifying work
for you, that moistens your heart. Moistens my heart right now to
know that all that God requires of me I have and that I'm just
before God. My father is the dew. And then the sixth, verse five,
and the sixth, Ithrium, by Igla, David's wife. Ithrium means the
prophet of the people. Now who's that but Christ? The
prophet. And I'm gonna talk about the
prophet in a prophet speaking words, but P-R-O-F-I-T, prophet. Christ is the prophet of the
people. Christ has made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That's my prophet,
isn't it? He's the prophet of the people.
He's the benefit of the people. And then his mom's name means
heifer. Heifer. His mom was a heifer. What a name for a woman. But
what do you think that the ashes of the red heifer A heifer was used for sacrifice. The reason he's the prophet of
the people, the reason of his benefit is because of his sacrificial
death on Calvary's tree. Now, these boys brought great
sorrow into David's life. And there is nothing good that
comes out of sexual sin. Oh, may the Lord give us grace
to be faithful to our spouses at all times. There's nothing
good that comes out of that. But isn't it glorious to see
how the Lord overruled every bit of this. Now, none of these
sons came to prominence, not like, except Solomon, and he
hadn't born yet. He wasn't born in Hebrew. Solomon
came to prominence, but the rest of them caused David nothing
but problems. And you understand what David
meant when he said, although my house be not so with God.
His house was not so with God. His house was a mess. And he
was talking about this house too, although this house be not
so with God. Yet, hath he made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Now, Lord willing, next week,
we're gonna get into the chapters three and four about David's
ascent to the throne and what all took place for that to happen.
Okay.