Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all. All the dead I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find thy power. And changed the leper's thoughts,
and built the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in incomplete Jesus died my soul to save My lips shall
still repeat Jesus paid it all All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. My dad, once the Lord, brought
him to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and he saw who God was in the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It wasn't long before he got
a song in the hymn book that he loved better than any of them.
And it was, This is my Father's Word. This is my Father's Word. Now you'd have to be in a cave
or living in a vacuum to know that The circumstances that surround
us all seem to be, have gone haywire. We can hardly start a conversation
without some aspect of what's going on entering into that conversation
of the day in which we live. As I was thinking about that
this week, and my own frailty and weakness in believing God,
I thought of this passage of scripture. This strange and wonderful
little account of David being old and stricken in age. No matter
how many blankets they put on him, he couldn't get warm. So
they found a young virgin, a pretty one, to lie with him, body against
body, to keep him warm. And he knew her not. That didn't
mean he didn't know who she was. Meaning you are not as a man
knows a woman, as a husband knows a wife. Now this passage of scripture
has been a point of controversy among Bible commentators. I read
five different authors on this subject and I found little or
no agreement about it. This incident occurred in the
waning days of King David's life. This beautiful young virgin is
brought in to give David what physicians call in later years
native warmth or native heat. This was a viable prescription
for the chills that attend aged infirmity. Friar Bacon in his
book Cures for Old Age prescribed this treatment and the fact that
body heat is a reasonable treatment for being old. Solomon, David's son, wrote in
Ecclesiastes, perhaps thinking of this very incident, he said, again, if two lie together,
then they have heat. But how can one be warm alone?
How can one be warm alone? Some have said this was an untoward
thing that David did. Some make Abbott shagged to be
David's concubine or his wife. Others paint her with much less
flattering brush. Gill asserts that since it is
recorded that David knew or not as a man-nosed woman, this proves
that she was not his wife. Some commentators spend time
on the frailty that comes with advanced years, asserting that
the weakness that attends the aged body makes resistance to
suggestions more difficult. because of the fortitude that
is required to engage in argument. It is very clear that though
David was worn out in his body, he died shortly after this, his
mind was plenty sharp. His words to Solomon, the minute
and intricate details of the logistics of acquiring the materials
for the temple that Solomon was to build revealed his mental
acuity, even up to the point of his death. And here, lying
on his deathbed, he gives orders to Solomon about Adonijah, who
was plotting against him, and Shimei, who had cursed him openly
and called him a bloody man. His body is worn out. I can relate
to that somewhat. But his mind is just fine. His
head is okay. His frame is failing, but his
mind is sharp. And that's the thing we need
to consider this morning. A few things are evident here.
First, this was an accepted and commonly employed medical practice
then, and is still prescribed today in some cases. There's
no reason for David to be averse to it. Secondly, this was not
done at David's bidding. The fact that those who chose
this young woman chose her because she was a virgin and very comely
certainly suggests that they intended for her to be more than
mere medicine. That was their design. Thirdly,
these would not have done this without David's permission. The
only thing we truly have from David in this episode is a concise
declaration, but the king knew her not. The insertion of this fact preceded
by the conjunction but reveals the intentions of those who brought
Abishag to him except for keeping him warm were thwarted, whatever
their intentions were otherwise. We have that word, but. After
they did what they did, it says, but the king knew her not. What will follow in the events
of her life is that Abishag will be perhaps unwittingly involved
in efforts at a failed political coup d'etat at the hands of Adonijah,
Joab, and Abiathar, the high priest, and even perhaps Bathsheba,
David's wife. Scripture says, Woe unto him
that striveth against his Maker. Let the potsherds of the earth
strive with the potsherds of the earth, but woe unto him that
striveth against his Maker. Whether this young woman was
part of a scheme must be left to speculation, because there
is no doubt that she wittingly or unwittingly was used by those
who opposed God and His anointed King Solomon. Adonijah, a son
of David, a failed usurper and a would-be king, tried to get
Abishag to be his wife, and it cost him his life at the command
of Solomon, the second chapter of this book. Abishag's life
is recorded in just a few verses of Holy Writ. She was considered
David's wife or concubine. It's not declared in Scripture.
What is declared is what makes her to be, if a wife, one in
name only, is that the marriage was never consummated. The king
knew her not. Her function in the end of David's
days was that of a usefully employed nurse to keep him warm. The Holy Spirit inspired these
words. for all Scriptures, given them
inspiration in this problem for doctrine, reproof, correction,
and instruction, that the Word, Man of God, might be truly furnished
unto all good works. Being that the Holy Spirit inspired
these words to be recorded, we know something about these words.
In some manner, in some shape, they are the things of Jesus
Christ. For the Scripture speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
John 5.39, approaching those who studied the Bible all their
life, he said, you do search the Scriptures, for in them you
think you find eternal life. A lot of people say, well, I
read my Bible every day. Good for you. One man told Spurgeon,
he said, I read my Bible every day for six hours on my knees. Spurgeon said, two things wrong
with that. Reading it six hours straight
is too much. And reading on your knees is just stupid. That's
true. Our Lord said, you read the Scripture.
You study them. I know you do. But they speak
of Me. They are they which testify of
Me. He said, here's the odd thing. They testify of Me from Genesis
chapter 1 to Malachi. And that's all the Bible there
was when Jesus said this. Genesis to Malachi. They testify
of Me. and you won't come to me that
you might have life. You say you study the scriptures but
you miss Jesus Christ. You say you study the scriptures
but you don't come to Christ. You say you study the scriptures
and you think you don't need life. People talk about their
life all the time. I hear this in religion all the
time. Invite Jesus into your life. You don't have a life.
You're dead in trespasses and sins. If you have a life, it's
because Christ is in you. And He doesn't come in by your
invitation. He comes in by His invitation
and by His decision. He's God and you're not. He's
not knocking on your door or your heart's door. Your heart
don't have a door. But if He was, He wouldn't knock on it.
He'd knock it down Bolton Bar and step in because He's God.
He made you. He owns you. Has the very breath. your next one in his hand and
if he don't give it to you, you're a gone Jesse. That's why he said
cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils for is he
to be accounted of. How do you account up man? That's
it. Try yourself out a little experiment.
Try to take two breaths and hold one. You can't do it one at a time
folks. These scriptures, Christ said, they speak of me. In Luke
chapter 24, when the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they didn't
understand who Christ was. It says he took them to the scriptures,
to the Psalms, to the writings of Moses, the first five books
in the Bible, to the historical books, to the prophets. He took
them to all that and showed them himself and the scriptures concerning
him. It says, then he opened up their
understanding to understand the scriptures. So, if you're going
to understand the scriptures, here's the first and primary,
heck, the only thing. You got to see that this book's
about Jesus Christ. So this little story we have
here in these four verses is about Christ in some aspect.
In some aspect. Keeping that in mind, what does
this passage teach us? As I mulled over this passage,
two things kept coming to my mind. There is the fact that
David's body was weak, but his mind was strong. And secondly,
the matter-of-fact statement at the end of the entire episode,
but the king knew her not. That's worthy of more than a
historical comment and consideration. His passion begins with the description
of David's physical condition. He said to be old and stricken
in years. He was at this time about 70 years old. Psalms 90
said, 70 is what you got. Three score and 10, after that
it ain't nothing but trouble. Now if you're over 70 years old,
you know that's the truth. I can remember when I was 70,
I was still going pretty strong. I'm 73 now, and this last year
has been tough. I have aches where I didn't even
know I had places to have aches, and that's an interesting thing.
As for David, it wasn't the years, as is generally the case, it's
the mileage. His life had been one of battle
after battle, a continual warfare with only brief respites in his
life. The sword had never left his hand. He was weary and worn,
and as it is in the case with long life attended by continual
battle, the body is cold. And the cold is an inward cold,
one that abundant clothing and heavy blankets cannot allay.
David's body must be considered its entirety, and in doing so,
I think we can see Christ in his church, and that's what this
is about. That mystical entity where Christ
is the head, and the church is his body. Just
as David was weak and worn in his body, but full of strength
in his head, so is the church. So is the church. A short perusal of the history
of the Church reveals that she is often weary and weak and even
cold. Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 both say that
the Church was cold and indifferent. That happens. That happens. And often it happens because
of outside circumstances overwhelming us. Declarations of churches
inward struggles, war waged against thoughts that rise against God
and strongholds that defy God and must be brought down are
the estate of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church
is not an organization made of really together folk. It is a compilation of sinners. who have, by God's grace, been
brought to the hospital of mercy. Do you think joining the church
you're looking for good people? You're looking in the wrong place.
You're looking for good people to look somewhere else because
they ain't here. It's the sinners. Sinners all
saved by grace. We're weak. I know people like
to talk about strong churches and great churches. I remember
years ago I was sitting in a little place called Tortola, British
Virgin Islands. Moose Parks was there, Henry
Mahan was there, Don Fortner was there, we were all sitting
around and suddenly Don and Henry and Moose decided they was going
to go out and buy some island suits. That's a short sleeve
jacket that hangs outside and pants, same material, worn down
there. They was going to go out to look
at suits. I didn't know it was a plan because across the room
from me was a preacher from England. And he was somebody. I was a nobody. I pastored a
church in the middle of nowhere in the mountains where people
can't even find it if it ain't on the map. But he was somebody, he
had one of them big English churches over in England. And Moose walked out the door,
and just as he walked out the door, he looked back at me, and
this guy, and says, what do y'all think about the new evangelism?
And he left. It was a plan. So I just simply said two words,
not much. And this English fella said,
well, he liked it. And I said, why? He said, well,
because it builds churches. I said, it does? He says, yeah.
Builds strong churches. I said, what's a strong church? He said, well, let me give you
an example. He says, our church has 800 members. And we preach
the truth, and we have 800 members. But down the road, there's a
little church that also preaches the truth, and they only have
50 members. They're not a very strong church. We're a very strong
church. I said, your problem with that is you miscalculated
the whole thing. I said, you got a weak church.
This is really weak. Because the pastor thinks it's
strong. I said, that little church down the road is the strong one. You got it all wrong. And he
did. And he got mad. And he went out
to look for us. I was left alone, but I survived. That's what he thought. Big church,
a lot of people, strong church. Church ain't strong except as
it's in Christ. The church ain't strong except
as if his message is plain and clear in Christ alone. If his
music honors Christ, if his methods honor Christ, If it has let go
of all the worldly trappings of religion and said there ain't
nothing to it. If it's thrown away the so-called altar down
front and said we don't use that. If it's disregarded the invitation
system. If it refused to align itself
with some organization so it can have power. Power is of the
Lord. It's not of me. It's not of the
church. We don't have power. What is called power for us is
what's derived. Our body is weak. Our head ain't. Our head, the
Lord Jesus Christ, He's strong, clear, brilliant, skillful. He's the Lord of glory. The carnal mind and heart resides
in every believer. Though subdued, thankfully, by
the Spirit, it continually wars against the spirit of the believer. Admonitions such as be not weary
in well-doing, faint not, strength is found in weakness, And warnings
such as love, the love of many shall wax cold, reveal that the
affliction of David is typical of the church throughout her
history. Thank the Lord that the head
of the church, Jesus Christ, has taken power to himself and
has reigned. And the remedy for this coldness
This affliction, as I said, was a common prescription in the
old days and some even today. Put a warm body with a cold one
for heat. The servants of David clearly,
with David's consent, drafted this young beauty into the service
of the king and she cherished him, he says. Her body was to
cherish him, cheer his countenance, serve him, minister to him in
his affliction. and to lie with Him to warm His
cold frame. Who are the Lord's servants? This woman was the Lord's servant. The universe is the Lord's servant.
This is what you need to see and I need to see in these times
that are going crazy. What's going on? What's happening? All this wildness. I've been in this land for 73
years. I ain't never seen nothing like
this. Well, I saw something sort of like in the 60s, around 68,
but nothing like this. It's crazy. What's going on?
What are they doing out in Oregon? What are they doing in Washington? What are they doing in Atlanta
and Nashville? What are they trying to do in
Nashville? What are they doing? You know what they're doing?
They're serving God for your good. They don't know God. They have
no interest in God. In fact, they hate God. By nature,
just like we did before we come to know Him. Yet they're serving
Him. This young woman, it says plainly,
The king knew her not, but she served him. She served him nonetheless. Biblical history. You see the
earth is the Lord's and all the fullness thereof and all that
dwell therein. That's what the scripture says.
Scripture says He doeth according to His will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, all of them And none can stay His hand or
say unto Him, What doest thou? Scripture declares this is what
the believer knows. Oh, to know it more! Oh, to know
it in my mind! Oh, to believe it! We know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate, and He conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among men and brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, Him He also called. Whom He called,
Him He also justified. Whom He justified, Him He also
glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against it? Who can be against it? Biblical
history reveals that the Lord often used infidels to be a comfort
and a help to his people. Cyrus Infidel was raised up,
God even called him as a leg, raised up to deliver Israel.
But Cyrus died an infidel with his soothsayers and his warlocks
at his bedside. But he helped Israel. Pharaoh
loved Joseph He loved Joseph and was used to preserve Israel
and grow them into a nation in that 430 years of captivity.
Pharaoh died an infidel, but he was used to comfort the people
of God for a while. Belshazzar loved Daniel, but
Belshazzar perished in perdition. And here these servants of David
have something on their mind because they were against David
and paid for it with their life. Read the rest of the chapter.
These servants, these men came to David's aid and did something
that was good for David regardless of their intent. It worked for
good. It worked for good. Christ has
power over all flesh, you see, to give eternal life to as many
as God has given Him. And throughout history, He's
raised up men and kingdoms to protect and serve the church.
The biggest example of that is the cross of Jesus Christ. Where the Jews and the Gentiles
and Herod and Pontius Pilate gathered together. Were gathered
together. What was their intent? We are
going to wipe the face, wipe the name of Jesus Christ off
the face of this earth. Nobody is ever going to say His
name again. He is done for. We are going
to do Him. We are going to put Him on a tree. We are going to
kill Him. We are going to stick Him in a grave. You'll be gone. That was their intent. Now what
did they do? For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, both Pontius Pilate and Herod and the Jews and Gentiles
were gathered together. To do what? Vent their anger. Yes. Get rid of Christ. Yes. For to do whatsoever God
had before ordained to be done. Everything was perfectly on schedule. Every stripe that was laid on
his back, every hair that was pulled from his face, every bit
of spittle that was raised up in the throat and spat upon him,
every punch, every hitting with a rod, every nail, every crown
of thorns, every bit of it was right on schedule. Read Psalm
22. Spoken centuries before. And
the Lord said, they have pierced me. It starts out with, My God,
My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Which is the very words of
Christ on the cross. What's happening out here? Stuff
is going to do you good. That's just so. All things Work together for
good. Can you show me a thing that
is not a thing? If you can do that, then that thing does not
work for your good. But if everything is a thing, then everything is.
It is all working for your good and for His glory. So I do not
understand. It is not yours to understand. The Lord told Solomon,
What I do in this world, what I am doing in this world, nobody
can know. And they do not know what is
going on. Years later they can look back and say, Aha! That
is what the Lord did. But they don't know what's going
on at the moment. Christ has power over all flesh.
He has raised up men and kingdoms to protect and serve the church.
There are tears among the wheat within the church, but they serve
a purpose and are not discovered until the judgment according
to Scripture. Everything that takes place on the earth is for
the good of God's elect. Everything! History is about
the church This fair young woman cherished
and ministered to the affliction of the King's body. But the King
knew her not. The thing that teaches us that
she is typical of the world in service of the Church is the
statement that declared the nature and extent of the relationship
between the fair young maiden and David. But the King knew
her not. He had not chosen her for a wife.
One thing that is paramount in the Word of God is that Christ
knows and always has known His bride. The language of the effect
of the Gospel is the language of an intimate knowledge of Christ,
whom He did foreknow, progenosko, whom He did love beforehand. It is those who speak in His
name, it is to those who speak in His name, do wonders in His
name, cast out demons in His name, Those very religious people
who actually say, look, everything we did, we did in your name.
We did to help you out. Do something for you. That's
why we did it. He looks them square in the eye
and says, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never
knew you. I never knew you, but the King
knew her not. This can never be said of the
elect, for scripture declares, the Lord knoweth them that are
His. He knows His works from all eternity. What's going on out here, folks?
It's tough times, hard times, rough times, but all that's going on is a
fair young virgin sent to warm your body and she
will. Father bless us to understand
and we pray in Christ's name.