Turn with me tonight, if you
will, to 2 Samuel, Chapter 15. 2 Samuel, Chapter 15. And this chapter is the first of
five chapters which deal with the rebellion of David's son
Absalom when he tried to depose his father from the throne of
Israel. Let's read just a few verses
in the beginning. And it came to pass after this
that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses and 50 men to run
before him. That was against the law of God.
You know, even David the king, he didn't ride on a horse, he
rode on a mule. And all the king's sons, they
rode mules. And God had commanded that the
kings of Israel not multiply to themselves horses and chariots. And this son, he does this, of
course, to draw attention to himself. Can you imagine having
50 men running before him declaring, here comes Absalom. Get ready. Look up. Here comes Absalom. He did this, of course, as part
of his plan to steal the hearts of the people of Israel from
his father, David. And Absalom rose up early and
stood beside the way of the gate. He was there early. Laying in
bed late, he wanted the people to see that he was busy, that
he was industrious. And it was so that when any man
that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom
called unto them and said, of what city art thou? And he said,
thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom
said unto him, see, thy matters are good and right, but there
is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. In other words,
he told this person who came with a problem to have his problem
judged by David, David was the king, that his problem was just
that he should be, his side should win the case without ever hearing
the other side. What kind of a judge is this?
He wanted to be judge and we'll see that just in just a moment.
And yet he should have stood before the judge as a murderer,
guilty of murder. And the judge should have pronounced
a sentence of death upon him and he wants to be the judge. Absalom said, moreover, oh, that
I were made a judge in the land, that every man which hath any
suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice. You see, when a person would
come seeking justice, and he would hear his side, and he would
tell him, the right is on your side, then if that person were
to go to a judge and the right wasn't on his side and the judge
found differently, then of course they would be attracted to Absalom. Everyone who he said was right
in their cause. And it was so that when any man
came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took
him and kissed him. How? How he tried to show to
the people How humble he was, how humble. And on this manner did Absalom
to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom
stole the hearts of the men of Israel. He was successful. and
stealing the hearts of many of the Israelites, taking their
loyalty away from the king, that is King David. Now tonight, rather
than look through the history that's recorded in this chapter,
I want to point out four truths to us that stand out to me. I've
read through the chapter several times over the last week, and
there's several things that stand out, but I want to mention four
things tonight. First, the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God. In Daniel
chapter seven and verse nine, we read, know therefore that
the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God. The faithfulness
of God. In the prophet Nathan's words
that he spoke to David when God sent him, to confront him with
his sin, part of what Nathan spoke to David was this. And this is the word of the Lord
to David. I will raise up evil against
thee out of thine own house. This is what we see here. God
told him, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own
house. Absalom was his son. And out
of his own house, God is raising up evil against him. And let
me just say this, Absalom was moved to do this, not because
he had heard that saying of Nathan, not because he had read in the
scripture or anything like that. Absalom does what he does here
because of his wicked heart. because of his sinful heart. And he was fully responsible,
fully responsible, and he will answer to God. When he meets
God in the judgment, he will answer to God Almighty for his
actions here. And yet he was doing God's will. He was doing God's will. And
this is so important that we grasp this truth Even as when
the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, Peter, remember he told those
people on the day of Pentecost that what they had done, they
had done by wicked hands. They did what they did out of
their evil heart's desire to do away with the Lord Jesus Christ. But yet what they did was according
to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And what
we see here, Absalom, God had told David that he would raise
up one out of his own house to work evil against him. And here
it is. Absalom is the one who is doing
it, but he's not doing it because he knew the will of God. And
he thought, well, now God's will is this and I better do it. No,
he was doing it because he was sinful, because he was evil.
But yet what he did was accomplish God's purpose, God's will. You
know, people sometimes say, well, if God is in control of all things,
then how does this evil, how can God allow evil? God can ordain
evil without being the author of evil. And God cannot sin,
he cannot be tempted with sin, neither does he tempt any man
with sin. Every man sins because he's drawn
away, the scripture says, by his own lust, his own selfish
or evil nature. But I see here the faithfulness
of God. God told him. Now how long? Some say as long as 10 years.
as long as 10 years may have taken place. We know that Absalom
was in exile after he killed his brother for three years. And then when he came back to
Jerusalem, David would not allow him in his presence for two years. So some of the writers think
it had been 10 years since Nathan told David what God said he was
going to do. God is faithful. He is faithful. Someone one time, many times
has made the point that the wheels of justice turn slowly, but they
do turn. They do turn. We see the faithfulness
of God here. You know, when I think about
the faithfulness of God in this particular instance, we see that
he is faithful to his word. He is faithful to his word. This
word that we have in our hands tonight, what a privilege, what
a blessing to have the very word of God that he has given unto
us. How we should prize his word.
He's faithful to his word. He's faithful to his word of
promise. He said, all that come to me,
I will and no wise cast out. Isn't that a wonderful promise?
That's his word. He's faithful. He's faithful
to his word, to his word of promise. All him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. How do you come to Christ? By
faith, by looking to him, believing in him, trusting in him, leaning
upon him. That's the way we come, and his
promise is he will not cast him out that comes unto him. He's
faithful. He's faithful to his word of
threat. His word of threat. He said,
he that believeth not shall be damned. He's faithful to that. Man, woman, boy, girl who will
not believe, who will not bow to the claims of the Lord Jesus
Christ shall be damned. I spoke with a man yesterday.
He's probably close to 50 years old, but he was reminding me
of summer camps we used to have. Our church, along with some other
churches here in the area, we had a week at summer camp. And
he said he could still remember a message that Brother Milton
Howard preached at that camp. And that was the first time he
said, I never could get away from those words. Whosoever believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. He said, those words resonated
with me for many years. God's word's not going to return
unto him void. When he sends it, when he sends
it, it's going to accomplish his purpose. We never know. That's another reason it's so
important to be faithful in the services, isn't it? To come and
hear the gospel, to hear the word of God. Maybe, maybe even
this evening, God is going to send his word into someone's
heart who's never heard before. And you're going to hear, and
you're going to live. Oh my, what a blessing. He's
faithful to his word of promise. He's faithful to his word of
threat. He's faithful to his word of correction. For whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And that's what's going on here.
He's faithful to his word, his word of prophecy. I will come again and receive
you to myself. He's faithful. He said, if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you. We know He's faithful, don't
we? On these nights or mornings or afternoons, we sing that hymn.
Maybe at morn, maybe at noon, maybe at night. But He's going
to come for you. He's going to come for me. He's
faithful. And if we're His children, He's
going to come for us and to receive us to be where He is. Now, we
should remember here that God is dealing with His Son. God is dealing with his son.
David was a child of God. And God is dealing with his son
as a father. He's not dealing with his son
as a judge. This is important. He's dealing with his son as
a father. David is not paying for his sins. Christ paid for his sins on the
cross. The same as he paid for your
sins and my sins, if we are believers tonight. When a child of God
is corrected, we always need to remember it is the correction
of a father, not of a judge punishing. No, it's not David paying for
his sins. It is rather David being disciplined
for his sins by God. his heavenly father. That makes
a big difference, doesn't it? A big difference. The second thing that stands
out to me, not only the faithfulness of God, but the type here in
David crossing the brook Kidron. If you look down to verse 23
first, we read, and all the country wept with a loud voice, and all
the people passed over. The king also himself passed
over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward
the way of the wilderness. And then look down to verse 30,
and David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet. The king himself
passed over this brook Kidron, and then we see that he went
up by ascent of Mount Olivet. Now many years later, Many years
later, David's great son, the Lord Jesus Christ, he too would
cross over this brook and go into the Garden of Gethsemane,
which was located on Mount Olivet. Let's look at a couple of verses
that tell us that in the New Testament. So this stands out
to me. We see David, you know, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the gospels preached in the Old Testament in types,
pictures. This was a type of what David's
son would experience here. If you look in John chapter 18,
for instance, and this is a night of his crucifixion, the day before
his crucifixion, I should say. Verse 1, we read, when Jesus
had spoken these words, remember, in the upper room, instituting
the Lord's table there. Then he went forth with his disciples
over the brook Sidron. Now, Kidron is the way it's spelled
in Hebrew. Sidron is the way it's spelled
in Greek. That's the reason for the difference,
but it's the same brook. Where was the garden? Into the which he entered and
his disciples also. So David crossed over this book,
Kidron. Look also, if you will, in Luke,
Luke chapter 22 and verse 39. Luke chapter 22 and verse 39. And he came out, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ, came out from the upper room and went as he
was wont to the Mount of Olives and his disciples also followed
him. The name Kidron or Sedron means
black. That's what the word itself means,
black. And many people believe that
it had this name Because what was emptied into it, now it didn't
always flow year round. But when it did flow, the waste
from the sacrifices in the temple were dumped into this brook and
washed out. That's the reason it was called,
we still use that term for sewer waters, black water. plumbers still use the same term
and that they believe that's the reason this brook was named
this Kidron and Sidron because it means black and and this brook
carried the waste especially from the temple the sacrifices
remember when a person brought an animal to be sacrificed the
animal had to be slain but then it had to be prepared to be burned
on the altar and it had to be washed. Remember that big vat,
I guess I could call it, laver in the tabernacle. Remember there
was that laver that was made, one of the pieces of the tabernacle. They had the brass altar first
and then the laver. And the laver, the water in the
laver was used. When I said large, remember when
Solomon built a temple, he built that large laver. And it was a beautiful work of
art, wasn't it? Because he had those oxen's heads
facing out. And when Nebuchadnezzar came
and destroyed the temple, of course, that was part of the
metal that he carried off to Babylon, the brass. But what
did they have that labor for? Well, they had it to wash the
priest. They had to wash themselves. You start dressing an animal,
you're gonna get blood, right? Blood on you. They had to wash
themselves, but also the pieces of the sacrifice had to be washed,
and that filth, that scum, that refuse was washed away from the
temple, from Jerusalem in this brook. I want you to listen to Robert
Hawker's comments on this particular thing. I found this beautiful. And I quote, had my soul seen
thee, dearest Jesus, in that awful hour, and had I then known
what through thy gracious teaching I now know, that that Kidron's
brook into which all the black polluted waters emptied themselves
from the sacrifices of the temple was typical of guilt and defilement
of my soul. which is poured upon thee. Oh, how should I like the people
following David have lifted up my voice and wept. Amen. Yes, like these people who were
going along with David and people came out of their houses and
saw the king barefooted and his head covered They're weeping
for him as he's fleeing from his rebellious son Absalom. The third thing that stands out
to me I want us to see is the submissiveness of David to God's
will. Notice in verses 25 and 26. The submissiveness of David to
God's will. And the king said unto Zadok,
Now, Zadok was a priest and he came out bearing the Ark of the
Covenant and his desire, now he wasn't carrying it himself,
the Levites, the family that was set apart to carry the Ark,
they were carrying the Ark, but Zadok was a priest and Abathur
was a high priest at that time, but they wanted to go with David. David's running, he's fleeing,
And here they come out of the city of Jerusalem with the ark
of God, the ark of the covenant. And their intention was to go
with David to lodge where he lodged. 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. The submissiveness of David. The priest, they know that David
loved God and he loved this visible symbol of God's presence, the
Ark of the Covenant. In fact, David is the one who
brought it to Jerusalem, remember? During the reign of Saul, it
was out there in the woods, the scripture says. David brought
it to Jerusalem, made a tent for it, a habitation for it.
Why? Because he loved the Lord, that's why. And his heart was
to build a temple, right? A sealed house. He didn't feel
right. He was living in a palace and
the ark of God was over there in a tent. You see God's, David's love for
the Lord and his desire to please the Lord in this. Now he said,
he told the priest, here, take it back. Take it back to its
place. If, I want you to notice the
two ifs here. Carry, 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. Notice these two ifs. We must recognize that David
is speaking as the king of Israel. He's not necessarily speaking
now as a child of God. He couldn't say, if I shall find favor in the eyes
of the Lord. Favor, what is grace? It's God's
unmerited favor. As far as salvation, he had found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And when a person experiences
God's grace, he's never going to lose that grace. But David
here is speaking as a king. He had found favor in the eyes
of the Lord that God raised him up and made him a king. He didn't
deserve that either. God did it, he found favor, found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And now he says, if he shall
delight in me, well, God always delights in his children as he
sees us in Christ. No, he's speaking here as a king. If I shall find favor in his
sight as a king, then I'll come back And if he doesn't find a
light in me, then so be it. So be it. I believe his submissiveness
to the Lord. Let him do to me as seemeth good
unto him. Reading the various comments
of men this past week, I found these comments by Matthew Henry
very good. And he quotes, he can do what
he will, subscribing to God's power. And he quotes Job 9, 12. Or he has a right to do what
he will, subscribing to God's sovereignty in Job 33, verse
13. Or he will do what he will do,
subscribing to his unchangeableness. But here, let him do what he
will, subscribing to God's wisdom and goodness. Let him do what
he will. Every child of God, we all should
be able to say that, shouldn't we? In every situation, let him
do what he will. Subscribing, bowing to his wisdom,
he's gonna do what's best. and his goodness, his goodness
to his children. Here's the last thing I would
mention, the freedom to worship. The fourth thing, the freedom
to worship. We see that David here is fleeing. He's fleeing for his life. He
was deprived, run out of his palace. run out of Jerusalem
where the Ark of the Lord was found. But you know, God is spirit. And he may be worshiped in any
place and every place. And I say David was able to worship
even while he was fleeing and out away from Jerusalem on the
mountainside of Mount Olivet. He was not deprived, number one,
of prayer. Look in verse 31. Prayer is a
part of our worship, isn't it? You know, the scripture says
in Hebrews, he that cometh to God must believe that he is. When we pray, doesn't that show
we have faith that he is and that he is a rewarder of them
who diligently seek him. When we pray, we worship, we
acknowledge that He is and that He is a rewarder. He hears our
prayer. And when we ask anything according
to His will, He hears us. David, in this circumstance,
he could still pray. He could still pray. He couldn't
go to the tabernacle any longer, but he could pray. Read verse
31. One told David, saying, Ahithophel
is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, here's
his prayer, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel
into foolishness. Yes, it was a short prayer, but
our Lord said that some people think because of their much speaking,
they will be heard. It's not how long our prayers
are. No, it's praying in the name
of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, he called upon the Lord. A short prayer, but God heard
his prayer, and you know, God answered his prayer. We'll see
that, God willing, maybe next week, but in the weeks to come,
that God turned this man's counsel into foolishness. And the second
thing we see, He was not deprived of singing. Verse 32, you know,
singing is an important part of our worship, isn't it? Making
a joyful noise unto the Lord, singing with psalms and hymns,
spiritual songs, making a joyful noise unto the Lord. In verse
32, we read, and it came to pass that when David was come to the
top of the mount where he worshiped God, now, I want you to turn
to one place, Psalm 3. And most believe this is what
this has reference to. He worshiped God. He sang this
hymn of praise that he wrote at this time. Psalm 3. We'll close with this. Notice the title, A Psalm of
David when he fled from Absalom his son. Psalm three. A psalm
of prayer. Psalm of prayer. A song of prayer. Of David, rather. A song of David
when he fled from Absalom his son. Lord, how are they in Christ
that trouble me? Oh, he started off, it was just
Absalom, wasn't it? But people began to, Follow Absalom,
join with Absalom in this conspiracy. Are they that rise against me?
Many there be which say of my soul, there's no help for him
in God. It's over for him. He's lost his throne. It's over for him. But thou,
O Lord, art a shield for me. And you know, God promises to
be our shield. And when we think of a shield
that a soldier has, he just has it in one place, doesn't he?
If he's holding his shield with his left hand and his spear with
his right hand, he puts that shield in front of him over here,
over here. But you know, the Lord is a shield
around about us. The enemy cannot touch us from
the rear, from either side, or from the front. No, he's a shield. David knew that. Thou, O Lord,
art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of
his holy hill. Now notice this, I laid me down
and slept. There he is. Can you see him
that night, out in the field, sleeping? Fleeing, yes, but at the same
time able to lay down and sleep. Why? Because God was his protector,
because God kept him, was his shield. I awaked, for the Lord
sustained me. Sure enough, the next morning
I got up out of bed, off the ground. I was awake, I was safe,
I was kept. God, what a keeper he is, right? He is to his people. I will not
be afraid of 10,000s of people. Oh, how his faith is encouraged
and restored and built up. I will not be afraid of 10,000s
of people that have set themselves against me roundabout. If God
be for us, who can be against us? 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. What a beautiful song that is. What a beautiful way to worship
the Lord in praise and thanksgiving. I pray the Lord would bless the
message to all of us here tonight, encourage us, and cause us to
love Christ more every day. Let's sing a hymn before we go
home. Amen. Let us stand and turn to
number 357. 357. Let's sing all verses. Nearer, my God, to thee. Nearer
to thee. Song of prayer.