Let's look tonight to 2 Samuel
chapter 2. I'm going to look at this chapter
tonight by considering the actions of two men, two men as opposite
as day is from night, David and Abner. First, David, a man after
God's own heart. And many years after this was
recorded, or after what took place here was recorded, about
200 years at least after this, the prophet Isaiah made this
statement, he that believeth shall not make haste. And we
see this in David in these verses. I have three things to say here
about David. First, he knew that he had been
anointed to be the king of Israel. But I want you to see that he
waits. He waits upon God. He waits upon
God's providence to bring him to the throne, waiting on the
Lord. We see this in verse 1. And it came to pass after this
that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any
of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go
up. And David said, Whither shall
I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. Now, waiting on the Lord doesn't
mean inactivity. You know, when we hear that term,
waiting on the Lord, we might get the idea that that means
we just sit down and fold our arms. But that's not what the
scripture means. That's not what the word of God
teaches us about waiting on the Lord. And one of the things that
is so important as we wait on the Lord is prayer. Prayer. Seeking God's will. Seeking God's
direction. And that's what we see here in
David in this first verse. He knew, as I said just a minute
ago, he knew that he had been anointed to be king. That he
was a rightful heir to the throne of Israel. But he doesn't send
messengers throughout Israel asking the leaders of the various
tribes to come and to anoint him king. He doesn't do that. He waits on the Lord. He waits
on God's providence. And sometimes that's one of the
most difficult things that we are called to do, isn't it? To
wait on the Lord. Wait his time. And God is always
on time. He's never late, and he's never
early. Now, a thousand years unto the
Lord is just like a day. So what seems like a long time,
many times for us, when we're waiting for God to answer our
prayers, when we're waiting for God to bring to pass what he
has promised us in his word, it may seem like a very long
time, But with the Lord, it may be equivalent to just a few minutes. I want you to look with me in
the Psalms just a moment. As I said, Isaiah, 200 years
later, at least 200 years later, wrote, he that believeth shall
not make haste. But David himself, I don't know
if it was before, the history we're looking at tonight in the
life of David or afterwards, but he too wrote several things
to us about waiting. Look with me in chapter 27, Psalm
27, one of the favorite Psalms of all of us. It begins, the Lord is my light
and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? And
then look down, if you will, in verse 14. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. I love to
read the first chapter of the book of Joshua and see how many
times God told Joshua to be of good courage, to be strong, be
of good courage. And that's what the Lord says
unto you and he says unto me day by day. When things don't
seem to be going as we would want them to go, as we think
they should go, be of good courage. Be of good courage. Wait, wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage. He shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait. I say on the Lord, wait
his time. Look with me in Psalm 37. I think sometimes when men believe
that God is calling them to preach, especially, this is a lesson
that men need to learn, is to wait. Wait on God. Wait on His providence to open
the door for you. Not try to open a door yourself. Our God, He's the one who opens
doors and He's the one who shuts doors. He's got the key. He has the key of David, the
scripture says. He openeth and no man shutteth
and He shutteth and no man openeth. He's the Lord. We all need this,
and not just a young man thinking the Lord is calling him to preach,
but wait on the Lord. Wait on God's direction, His
providence. One of the preachers that I have
admired probably more than any other preacher that I knew personally,
when he told me how he was put into the ministry, it was so
providential. It was so providential how he
was put into the ministry. And since he told me that, I
thought to myself, what a lesson, what a lesson for men who think
the Lord may be calling them to preach. If he's calling a
person to preach, he'll preach. Jonah, he called Jonah to go
to Nineveh. And what did Jonah do? He bought
a ticket going to Tarshish, wasn't it? But he went to Nineveh. And he preached. He preached. Why? Because God called him.
You know, sometimes we've heard some people say, well, I believe
God was calling me to preach when I was a young man, but I
resisted the call. And no, God calls a man, he's going to
preach. He's going to preach. That's all I've got to say. But
wait on the Lord. But that doesn't mean we just
sit down and fold our Prepare yourself, yes. Study. Study the
word of God. Be ready to preach when the opportunity
presents itself, yes. But don't try to force yourself
into the ministry. But here in Psalm 37, let's look
at a few verses where David begins in verse seven. He said, rest
in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Patience, patiently. Patience is something that comes
by tribulation, isn't it? Tribulation worketh patience.
And that's probably a grace that all of us here tonight, if we
would be honest, we need. We need patience from day to
day. Well, David said, rest in the
Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him
who prospereth in his way. because of the man who bringeth
wicked devices to pass. Look at verse nine. For evildoers
shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall
inherit the earth. Look down to verse 34. Wait on the Lord and keep his
way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land when the
wicked are cut off. Thou shalt see it. Waiting, let's
go back to our text now. David, he was waiting on the
Lord and God's providence to bring him to the throne. He knew,
he was assured that he was anointed to be the king and the two men
who had stood between him and the throne were both gone now,
Saul and Jonathan, and yet He waits. He prays. He asks the
Lord, seeking the Lord's direction. Now, David had a way, and we've
seen this when we went through 1 Samuel. You know this. David
had a way to discern the Lord's will that you and I don't have.
He had a priest. He had a high priest who had
the ephod. or the breastplate, and by that or through that,
he could find, he could ask the Lord to direct him and show him
what God's will was. He had something that we don't
have, but we have something much better, right? There's only one
high priest of Israel, only one who had that ephod. There's only
one high priest today, but we may go to him at any time and
all times. The door is open if we are one
of his children. We're invited to come to him
and ask him and seek his will. We have a greater privilege than
David ever had. But notice David asked, first
of all, shall I go into any of the cities of Judah. Now, that
was his tribe. He was from Bethlehem. That was
his tribe, the tribe of Judah. And so he wanted the Lord's direction,
first of all, if he should go into his own homeland, you might
say, where he was raised, into Judah. He was in Ziglag. He was in the
land of the Philistines, where he had fled from Saul. But now
Saul was dead. But he is told, yes, go up. Go up to Judah. But he wanted
more specific directions, didn't he? He wanted to know the city,
not just the territory that the tribe of Judah had been allotted
when they came into the land of Israel, shall I go up into
any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, go
up. And David said, whither? Which city? There were many cities
in Judah. Which city, Lord? Hebron. And I found it interesting when
I was looking at this, I thought, I believe that's one of those
six cities of refuge. And sure enough, it was. A city
of refuge. Remember when God gave the law
to Moses, he told Moses, you appoint three cities on this
side of the river, three cities on that side of the river. They
shall be cities of refuge where the manslayer shall flee. And if he had committed accidental
manslaughter, then when his case was brought to trial, he could
live. The Avenger of Blood couldn't
touch him as long as he stayed in that city. But if he went
out of that city, then the Avenger of Blood could avenge the blood
of his kinsmen. Until the high priest died. When
the high priest died, man could go back home. He didn't have
to stay in the city of refuge any longer. What a beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ because The picture comes out
to us in contrast, mainly. In contrast, there were six cities
of refuge. There's only one refuge for sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ. There was only one crime or sin
that would cause a man to go to a city of refuge, and that
was for accidentally slaying a person. But to the Lord Jesus
Christ, the sinner's refuge, no matter what sin, no matter
how many sins, we're invited to come to him and find refuge,
find refuge. Here's the second thing. He obeys in verses two through
four. So David went up thither. and
his two wives also, Ahinom, the Jezreelites, and Abigail, Nabal's
wife, the Carmelite. And his men that were with him
did David bring up every man with his household, and they
dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and
there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And
they told David saying that men of Jabesh Gilead were they that
buried Saul. He asked direction of the Lord
and then he obeyed. He didn't just pray and ask God
to tell him his will without any intention of doing his will. You know that verse in John chapter
seven, which says, if any man will do his will, If any man
will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be
of God or whether I speak of myself." Those are the words
of Christ. If a person will do the will
of God, then God will reveal His will to that person. But
if a person just is asking God's way and God's will and then perhaps
maybe, maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't, maybe it'll be too difficult.
No, if a person is determined to do God's will, cost what it
costs, go where he sends, God will reveal his will to a person. Now, he takes his wife's and
men with their households with him." Now, we're not going to
turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 12, but if we did, we would find
out that many more people, remember he had an army, I think it was
400 at first, and then it was 600. But there in 1 Chronicles
12, we find out that many from Israel had come to him. And they
were called great men. These were great men. They recognized,
they knew that he was appointed of God to be their king. Now, I would just say this about
David having two wives at this time. And we know that eventually
he had even more. This is my comment. This was
something that God permitted. But the Lord Jesus Christ made
it ever so clear that was not God's will in the beginning. That was not God's will in the
beginning when he made, and help me, for Adam. No, God said, whatsoever
therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And I bring this up to us tonight
only to remind us, because I feel like most of us know the word
of God well enough to know that David is going to have a lot
of trouble in his life. And a lot of that trouble is
going to be the result of having more than one wife. He's going
to have children from various wives, and it's going to cause
jealousy, is going to cause many problems that he brings on himself
by having more than one wife. That was never God's revealed
will in the beginning, that man should have more than one wife.
No, one wife. Here's a third thing. He displays
wisdom. David does. He displays wisdom. And the very first act, if you
read this, the very act that he does, once he is anointed
king over the tribe of Judah, we read that in verse 12. And
the men of Judah came, verse four, I'm sorry. And the men
of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the
house of Judah. Notice the first thing he does.
He commands the man of Jabesh Gilead, doesn't he? What wisdom. What wisdom does he display in
doing this? Now, this city of Jabesh Gilead
was in part of the inheritance, the half-tribe of Manasseh. It was Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe
of Manasseh. They took their inheritance on
the east side of the Jordan River, remember. And that's where this
city was. And the Philistines, we've seen,
they took Saul's body and Jonathan's body and they cut off Saul's
head and they put it in the houses of their gods and displayed it
there among the various cities of the Philistines, bragging
about what their god had done. how that their God had given
them the victory over the God of Israel. What a disgrace. What
a disgrace it was. And David, the very first thing
he does once he's anointed king, he commends these men for what
they had done. They went through the night and
took the bodies of those two men, Saul and I think two of
his sons maybe. Those three men took their bodies
and brought them to Jabesh-Gilead and buried their bones there. Notice what he said unto them. Verse five, and David sent messengers
unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said unto them, blessed be
ye of the Lord that you have showed this kindness unto your
Lord. He was your king. He was. He was your king. He was your
Lord. even unto Saul, and have buried him. And now the Lord
show kindness and truth unto you. And I also will requite
you this kindness, because you have done this thing. Therefore
now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant, for your master
Saul is dead. And also, by the way, by the
way, The house of Judah have anointed me king over Judah. You see his wisdom? You see his
wisdom. Your master, the former king,
is dead, and I have been anointed king over Judah. In other words, you need to follow
suit. You need to fall in line. And
that was the Lord's will for David to be king. That's obvious,
isn't it? God had anointed him king. But
I think about this wisdom that David displayed. You know, in
James, in the New Testament, he tells us something about the
wisdom that God gives us. The wisdom that is from above
is first pure. peaceable, gentle, easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality
and without hypocrisy. That's the wisdom that God gives,
the wisdom which is from above. All right, let's move on. Just
a few things about this other man by the name of Abner. David,
A man after God's heart, Abner, a man of selfish motives. In reading the rest of the chapter,
it becomes so obvious, so apparent that Abner, he was a wicked man
who acted out of selfish motives. And I want to say four things
about him here hurriedly tonight. First of all, Abner was Saul's
uncle. He was Saul's uncle. Notice in
verse 8, But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host,
he was Saul's uncle and he was also the captain of Israel's
army. Let me read on through verse
11. But Abner the son of Ner, The
captain of Saul's host took Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, and brought
him over to Mahanaim, and made him king over Gilead, and over
the Asherites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin,
and over all Israel. Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was
40 years old when he began to reign over Israel. and reigned
two years, but the house of Judah followed David. And the time
that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven
years and six months. The first thing about this man,
he was Saul's uncle. He was captain over Israel's
army. The first thing that came into
my mind, how is this man alive? How is this man still alive when
his king is dead? He's the captain of the army,
the commander in chief of the army. Only Saul was above him. How is he alive? Remember one
of those times when Saul was asleep and Abner was asleep and
David and his men, they worked their way into the camp and they
took the water canteen from Saul and cut off part of his shirt
and he got a ways off and he cried back and he cried, Abner,
Abner, you failed. Someone came into the camp tonight
and could have slain your master and you didn't, you didn't do
anything. You're his chief bodyguard. That
was a, how is this man still alive? And then I thought, he
surely knew because of the connection between him and Saul, he knew
because Saul knew that God had anointed David to be king. He knew that, but he also knew
that most likely he would lose his position. That just stands
to reason. His nephew was a king. He was
a captain. Now a new king comes to the throne
and we know a new captain's going to come, Joab, but he would lose
his position, so what does he do? He takes one of Saul's sons,
we trust it was the only living son he had now, and he crosses
the river and anoints him to be king. God has his king and
Abner has his king. And that's the way it is with
all men and women. God has his king. What's his
name? Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's
God's king. But man sets up his own king,
his own heart, and declares, we will not, I will not have
this man to reign over me. set up a rival king. That's what
Abner did. The second thing I would mention,
he provoked a civil war. Read this in verses 12 through
17. He provokes a civil war. And Abner, the son of Ner, and
the servants of Ishboes, the son of Saul, went out from Mahanan
to Gibeon." Now, who goes out here? Pay attention. It's Abner
and his men. Doesn't say Joab and his men
are the ones who provoke this war, who start this war. No,
it's Abner. Well, Joab, the son of Zeruah
and the servants of David, they went out and met together by
the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on
the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of
the pool. And Abner said to Joab, let the
young men now rise and play before us. And Joab said, let them arise. Then there arose and went over
by number 12 of Benjamin, which pertained to Ish-bosheth, the
son of Saul, and 12 of the servants of David. And they caught every
one his fellow by the head and thrust his sword in his fellow's
side. So they fell down together. Wherefore,
that place was called Hilhazurim, which is in Gibeon. Now, and
there was a very sore battle that day, and Abner was beaten. When you look at that, what kind
of a man was this? What kind of a man would call
something play in which men were going to lose their lives? Now,
he knew that. He tells Joab, let the young
men come. Here we are on both sides of
the pool. Let them come before us and take
their swords and fight one another. But what he didn't probably know
is that all 12 of his men were going to die that day, not one. Not one of David's men was going
to be slain. But what kind of a man would
call that play? And I thought, it's like those
today who call taking the life of a baby health care. That's what kind of a person
would do that. Life is precious. Only God can give life. And only
he should take life. Men do not have that prerogative
to take life. tells us something about this
man. And this had to be a witness to him. When he saw all 12 of
his men fall, God's not in this. This isn't going to end well
for us. But no, what does the scripture
say? He goes on, there was a sore,
very sore battle that day and Abner, Abner was beaten and the
men of Israel before the servants of David. Third thing I point out to us
about Abner, he did something this day that would eventually
cause his own death. Verses 18 through 23. And there
were three sons of Zeruah, Joab, Abishai, and Asael. And Asael was as light a foot
as a wild roe. And Asael pursued after Abner,
and in going, he turned not to the right hand, nor to the left,
from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him
and said, Art thou Asael? And he answered, I am. And Abner
said to him, turn, turn thee aside to thy right hand, or to
thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men. Take thee
his armor. But Asael would not turn aside
from following him. And Abner said again to Asael,
turn thee aside from following me, wherefore should I smite
thee to the ground? Now notice this, how should I
hold my face to Joab thy brother? Albeit he refused to turn aside,
wherefore Abner, with the hinder end of the spear, smote him under
the fifth rib. That the spear came out behind
him, and he fell down there and died in the same place. And it
came to pass that as many as came to the place where Essel
fell down and died, they stood still. He did something that
would eventually cause his own death. He killed Joab's brother. And I thought, first of all,
there's two things that stand out to me here. We see the pride
of the young. This man, Assel, he was a young
man, and he was intent on killing Abder. He wouldn't turn aside. He wouldn't turn aside to the
right or the left. He saw all the glory. If he could
take out the master, the leader, he would be the hero. He wouldn't
turn aside. But I also see the pride of the
old man, Abner. He wasn't concerned about killing
this man. The only thing that concerned
him, he would have to face this man's brother. And both he and
Joab would know that he had taken advantage. He was an older man
and he was well trained in fighting and slaughter. And so what does
he do? The man, I say, I will not turn
aside. I have to mention pride of the
young and pride of the old because it's a sin that does so easily
beset every age. A few weeks ago, I brought a
message that dealt with the law of leprosy. And it was interesting
in preparing for that message, how many old Jewish writers believed
and taught that leprosy came upon men and women, especially
because of the sin of pride, along with the other six sins
that are mentioned that God hates. These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven, are an abomination to him, and the first in the
list, the first in that list, a proud look. God hates. Well, they believe that that
especially was what caused a man to have leprosy, pride. What could a guilty sinner, and
we're all guilty, right? And we're all sinners. What possibly
could any guilty sinner ever have to be proud of? The only
thing The only thing that we can really claim as our own is
our sin. Everything else we've been given. Everything. And yet, that's part
of being sinful, isn't it? Pride. We're all prone to it. We're all prone to it. And I
believe it was Augustine who maybe wrote one time, Pride is
a flower that can grow on a dung hill. Now, I believe it. I know it's true. We can be proud
that we're not proud, right? Yeah, the pride of the young,
pride of the old, we see it here, I believe. But Joab would eventually,
he'd be the avenger of blood for his brother. And this man,
Abner, The last thing, Abner calls for a ceasefire. You know,
it's easy to call for a ceasefire after you're losing the battle,
isn't it? Look down in verse 24. So, Joab and also Abishai
pursued after Abner and the sun went down when they were come
to the hill of Ammon. that lieth before Giah by the
way of the wilderness of Gibeon and the children of Benjamin
gathered themselves together after Abner and became one troop
and stood on the top of the hill. Then Abner called to Joab and
said, shall the sword devour forever? In other words, let's
bring this battle to an end. He calls, he calls, doesn't he,
for a ceasefire because he was losing, obviously. We won't read
on, but you know, David's men, there was 20 of
David's men killed that day. And there was 20, 20 times that. of Abner's men killed. No, they lost 360 men, Abner. They lost 360 men. And David's
army only had 20 to fall. It was obvious It was obvious David would be
the king. But Abner's not going to quit.
He's not going to give up. Let's finish. Let's sing a hymn. Let's all stand and let's turn
to number 330. 330, fill all my vision, Savior
divine. Fill all my vision, Savior I
pray. Let me see only Jesus today. When through the valley Thou
leadest me, Give me Thy glory and beauty to see. Fill all my vision, Savior divine,
Till with Thy glory