Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG021718A
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00:15 Today's presentation frightens me
00:19 because it is so important 00:22 and the lessons are so powerful 00:24 that I'm frightened that I won't do it justice. 00:28 And I'm not just saying that. 00:30 We're going to be talking today about Absalom. 00:33 And it's a very important history of Israel 00:36 that's filled with the lessons for us 00:38 that tell us important things about God. 00:41 Now just to give you a little background, 00:44 in our last presentation, 00:45 we talked about David's great sin 00:48 and great repentance. 00:50 But even though he was forgiven and he repented, 00:54 there was a judgment that had been pronounced 00:57 at the time when he said, I'm the man. 00:59 Remember, he sinned with Bathsheba, 01:02 took Uriah's wife 01:03 and conspired to have Uriah killed 01:08 at the hand of the Amorites. 01:11 And Nathan the prophet had told David. 01:16 And David really pronounced the sentence on himself 01:19 when David heard about this parable of a shepherd 01:22 that stole his neighbor's one lamb 01:25 when he had flocks of sheep says," 01:28 David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, 01:31 and he said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, 01:33 the man who has done this will surely die. 01:36 He will restore fourfold for the lamb, 01:39 because he did this thing and because he had no pity." 01:43 And we later understand through Nathan 01:46 that David was pronouncing judgment on his own house 01:49 because of his bad example. 01:52 And because of what he had done, 01:53 he would lose four sons. 01:56 He had taken the life of Uriah. 01:58 Uriah never had any offspring with Bathsheba. 02:01 So David was forgiven, 02:04 but the consequences of his sin had not gone away. 02:08 Now, one of the most tragic things about his bad example 02:13 is the kids watch very carefully 02:16 what the parents do. 02:20 The youth may complain about their parents, 02:23 but they will be certain to imitate them. 02:26 And you've heard before that the three most important ways 02:29 to teach your children are example, example, example. 02:33 Good or bad, they will follow your example. 02:37 And I am always frustrated 02:39 when I find that I am reproducing 02:42 my parents' example in my life. 02:44 The very things I said, 02:45 "Oh, I will never do that with my kids." 02:49 You find yourself imitating your parents. 02:52 I remember one time, I was with one of our boys, 02:56 I was going to have a car alarm 02:58 installed in our car. 02:59 I was little worried because we had to park it down there 03:02 at the public parking at the San Francisco airport 03:04 during the trip, 03:06 and it was going to be there for a week or 10 days, 03:08 and I thought someone is going to maybe steal something, 03:11 and I put an alarm in it. 03:12 Got to the electronics store for the alarm I wanted, 03:15 they said, "Well, we don't have it in, 03:17 we're not going to get it in time." 03:19 And I saw, "Well, can you give me some car alarm stickers 03:22 I can put on the window?" 03:24 So at least it'll say, 03:26 I've got an alarm until I can buy the alarm. 03:28 All right, that's fair enough. 03:30 So they gave me some stickers, 03:31 I put it in the car and driving along. 03:33 And my son said, "You know, Dad, that's not honest. 03:37 You're advertising that your car is alarmed 03:38 and it's not." 03:41 I had no good answer. 03:44 They do watch little things like that, 03:47 they never forget. 03:50 I remember once seen my dad, my dad had millions of dollars. 03:54 We went to a sailboat store to buy something. 03:57 And I saw my dad go over to one of the model sailboats 03:59 and he popped out this brass pin 04:02 that went into the rotor board 04:03 because ours was missing, 04:05 he just stuck it in his pocket and winked at me, 04:08 I never forgot that. 04:10 He was telling me stealing is okay. 04:14 And what do you think it did to David's sons 04:17 when they saw their father when he wanted something, 04:21 when he felt some passion for something, 04:23 just take what you want. 04:26 Didn't matter how wrong or immoral it might be 04:28 and that now played out in his family. 04:31 Go in your Bibles to the second book of Samuel 13 04:37 and here's where we take up our story. 04:40 After this, it says, Absalom the son of David, 04:44 Absalom was the second board, I believe of David's sons. 04:50 "Absalom the son of David 04:52 had a lovely sister whose name was Tamar." 04:54 She was very pretty. 04:56 "And Amnon, the son of David." 04:59 Amnon is the firstborn. 05:00 Now, they have different mothers. 05:04 He fell in love with his stepsister Tamar. 05:08 And he was so distressed that he became sick, 05:11 he was lovesick, he was infatuated. 05:14 Every time he saw Tamar, he said, "What I'm gonna do? 05:17 She's my sister, but I've got to have her, 05:18 I got to have her." 05:19 And he became preoccupied with that. 05:20 I'm not going to read the whole thing. 05:22 I don't have time to go through all six chapters with you. 05:24 And some of it's not pretty. 05:27 But he lied, he created a scenario, 05:32 he tricked her into coming into his room 05:35 under the pretense of making food for him. 05:37 He said he was sick 05:38 because he thought someone was trying to poison him, 05:40 because he was the firstborn, he's a crown prince. 05:43 "But if you just make me some food, 05:44 I know you're my sister, it'll be safe." 05:47 And that sometimes happened back then. 05:49 And so she came into his house and she's making food. 05:51 He said, "Could you bring it to me into the bedroom?" 05:54 You know, she didn't know what's going on. 05:57 She was a virgin, one of the king's daughters. 06:00 Matter of fact, she is the only daughter of David listed. 06:04 And she comes in to bring him the food. 06:07 And he takes her by the hand and says, "Sleep with me." 06:11 She realized what's going on. 06:12 She said, "My brother, don't do such a terrible thing. 06:15 I'm your sister." 06:17 And she pleads with him. 06:18 He won't listen. 06:19 Being stronger than she is, he rapes his sister. 06:23 And then almost as bad as what he had done 06:26 is what happens next. 06:28 Then he says, he becomes disgusted with her. 06:31 Now she's lost her virginity. 06:32 You could actually marry a stepsister 06:35 in Bible times. 06:38 And then he kicks her out. 06:39 She says, "Now what you're doing is worse." 06:41 And the Bible says, if you look in 2 Samuel 3:15, 06:45 "Amnon hated her exceedingly, 06:48 so that the hatred with which he hated her 06:51 was greater than the love with which he had loved her." 06:56 And Amnon said, "Arise and be gone." 06:58 He had his servants ultimately kick her out 07:00 and lock the door behind her. 07:02 This is just terrible. 07:04 This is happening in David's household 07:06 and it's springing from his bad example. 07:10 Now finally, she covers her head, 07:13 she cries, she tears her garments, 07:14 she's wearing a coat of many colors like Joseph. 07:17 It was a sign of royalty 07:20 and the king's daughters wore that. 07:22 But Absalom saw her mourning with dust on her head. 07:28 And he, kind of, 07:29 he knew that his brother had been infatuated. 07:32 He said, "Has Amnon been with you?" 07:34 So don't say anything, don't trouble yourself, sister. 07:36 I will take care of it. 07:37 She ended up living out her life 07:39 in her brother's house, 07:40 she moved in with her brother. 07:42 There is no record that she was ever married. 07:44 And Absalom didn't say anything to anybody. 07:50 Word got back to David 07:51 but instead of David punishing Amnon, 07:54 he thought, "How can I punish Amnon? 07:55 Everyone knows what I just did." 07:57 See, he had lost his ability to judge, 08:00 he had lost his ability to take action 08:03 because of his bad example. 08:06 You know, that's always a challenge for every Christian 08:10 is you want to share your faith with others, 08:12 you want to be able to preach. 08:14 If you're not living something in your life, 08:17 you find it hard without being a terrible hypocrite 08:19 to share it with others. 08:21 So not only is your bad example hurting you, 08:24 your bad example hurts your witness. 08:27 And you want to be living a life 08:28 so you can faithfully proclaim the truth. 08:31 So David doesn't do anything. 08:32 All it says is that when David hears about it, verse 21. 08:36 I'm in 2 Samuel 13, "He was very angry," 08:39 and he stormed around, and he fumed, and he stopped, 08:41 but he didn't do anything. 08:44 Absalom waited for David to do something 08:47 to vindicate what had happened to his sister. 08:49 Nothing happened, 08:50 he wasn't banished, nothing happened. 08:53 Absalom said, "Okay. 08:54 If, Dad, if you are not going to do something, I'll do it." 08:57 He lets two years go by. 08:59 He figures Amnon, probably thinks, 09:01 you know, he didn't say good or bad to Amnon, 09:03 he probably thinks everything is okay. 09:06 And then Absalom tricked his brother. 09:08 He was having, their sheep were being sheared. 09:10 You remember the story of Nabal when they were sheep shearing? 09:13 It was a feast 09:14 and at the feast, there is a lot of generosity. 09:17 And Absalom invites all... 09:18 He invites David, 09:19 he invites all of the king's sons. 09:21 "Come, we're going to be shearing sheep 09:23 in my ranch out in the country. 09:25 And we're going to have a feast. 09:26 And you're all invited. Amnon, you come along too." 09:28 Amnon thinks, "Oh, he's forgiven me, 09:31 everything's okay." 09:32 So he goes and everybody goes. 09:35 And Absalom tells his servants, 09:38 and this is verse 28. 09:41 "He commanded his servants, 09:42 saying, 'Watch now, 09:43 when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, 09:46 and when I give the signal, Strike him, kill him. 09:50 Do not be afraid. 09:52 I've commanded you, be courageous, be valiant.'" 09:57 I'm going to be the crown prince 09:59 after Amnon's gone. 10:00 See, he's got another reason to kill Amnon. 10:03 Does Absalom has ambitions about being the king? 10:08 He's lost respect for his father, 10:10 he's also very proud. 10:13 And so they're all partying 10:14 and he gives a signal and his servants 10:16 just totally, out of the blue, 10:18 assassinate his brother. 10:21 And then they with Absalom, they flee to Gerar which was... 10:25 See, David married 10:28 the princess of the king of Gerar, 10:30 it's the country over by 10:32 where they used to have to Decapolis, 10:34 it's on the east of the Sea of Galilee. 10:36 It was sort of the region of Syria. 10:39 And David married to create an alliance, 10:41 he married a beautiful daughter there. 10:43 And he and the daughter had beautiful children, 10:47 Absalom and Tamar. 10:49 And so Absalom goes back to his king grandfather 10:53 with his servants, and they stay up there. 10:56 He's sort of self banished himself, 10:58 kills his brother Amnon. 11:00 Now David's lost two sons. 11:04 And first, he thought he lost them all. 11:05 Word came from the feast. 11:07 They said, "There's been a slaughter 11:09 and all your sons are dead." 11:10 And so for a couple of hours until actual he found out 11:14 that it was only Amnon that was dead, 11:15 the king thought, he was terribly devastated. 11:17 He thought all his children had been slain. 11:21 And so now Absalom is out of the kingdom, 11:24 and David is realizing that he brought this all on himself. 11:27 And so he is pining now, the loss of Absalom. 11:31 And he's missing him. 11:32 So this is the time when Absalom is... 11:36 He's banished 11:38 but something happens where he is reconciled. 11:40 Joab can't see, David can't focus. 11:43 His general notices that David... 11:45 And Joab is also his nephew. 11:47 David is going around from day to day. 11:48 And he's moping, he's not judging the people, 11:50 and he's not doing his work, 11:52 and maybe not fighting the battles, 11:54 and he's just grieving for his son. 11:57 He's lost the baby, Bathsheba's first baby. 12:00 Now he's lost Amnon, 12:02 because of his bad example in part. 12:04 Now he's lost Absalom 12:05 because Absalom is gone out of the country, 12:07 and he was next in line to rule. 12:10 And David is moping around. 12:11 Joab says, "Look, you got to let him come back." 12:12 No, I'm not going to bring him back." 12:13 He said, "He's killed his brother. 12:14 How can I bring him back?" 12:16 So Joab comes up with a plot. 12:18 He calls a very wise, shrewd woman of Tekoa, 12:22 gets someone from out of town that David won't recognize. 12:26 And he gives her a script. 12:29 And she comes before the king. 12:31 King is the Supreme Court. 12:32 She says, "I got this case. You've got to hear it. 12:34 Your Majesty, please help me." 12:36 He said, "What ails you?" 12:38 She said, "I'm a widow, I've got two sons. 12:41 And my two sons fought together. 12:43 And in the fight, one killed the other. 12:46 It got out of hand and one killed the other. 12:47 And now, the rest of the family is saying, 12:50 I need to turn over the living son 12:52 so he can be executed. 12:53 And I'll have no posterity, no one to take care of me. 12:56 My light will be put out. 12:57 No name for my husband. 13:01 And he said, "Okay. 13:05 Your son will be forgiven." 13:06 Now, it's very clever. 13:08 Joab's put this all in her mouth. 13:09 And then, she goes and says, 13:11 "Now can I say another word to you? 13:14 What about the king's son that's been banished? 13:18 Why don't you forgive him and bring him back? 13:20 There was an argument between the two boys. 13:22 You're telling me that my son would be forgiven 13:24 but what about the king's son?" 13:26 And king says, "Did Joab put you up to this?" 13:29 David's pretty smart. 13:31 And then one of the very great statements in the Bible 13:35 that so many people miss 13:38 that is in this passage. 13:39 The woman, the wise woman of Tekoa, 13:41 here's what she says to King David. 13:43 If you have not underlined this in the Bible, underline it. 13:46 2 Samuel 14:14. 13:49 2 Samuel 14:14 is a great verse. 13:54 "For we will surely die 13:57 and become like water spilled on the ground 13:59 that cannot be gathered up again. 14:02 Yet God does not take away a life, 14:05 but He devises means, 14:07 so that His banished 14:09 or separated ones are not expelled from Him." 14:12 I'm going to read that verse again, 14:13 that's a great verse, that's the verse for you. 14:16 "For we will surely die," 14:17 you know, we were all marching towards the grave, 14:20 "and become like water spilled on the ground 14:22 that cannot be gathered up again," 14:24 we're not coming back in this life. 14:26 "Yet even though, God does not take away a life, 14:30 but He devises a means." 14:31 He's got a plan, so that His banished ones, 14:34 we're separated from God right now because of our sins, 14:37 are not expelled from Him. 14:39 We can come home. 14:40 Isn't that a great verse? 14:42 See the whole plan is salvation in there. 14:45 God has devised a plan 14:47 so that His banished ones will not be separated from Him. 14:51 David then brokenhearted, he gives word to Joab, "Okay. 14:54 I saw what you're up to. 14:56 Tell Absalom, he can come back to the city. 14:58 But there's got to be some consequences. 15:00 He can't see my face, tell him to got to his house." 15:03 So Absalom comes home, he is reconciled. 15:08 Well, he comes back to the city, 15:10 but there's a period of time 15:12 when he doesn't get to see the father. 15:14 And so eventually, Absalom starts to get frustrated. 15:16 A couple of years go by, 15:18 and he's in the city but he's not in the palace. 15:21 And he thinks, "Look, we got to get pass this hurdle 15:23 if I'm ever gonna be king." 15:25 And so he dwells in Jerusalem. 15:27 And now I'm in chapter 14. 15:30 "He dwells in Jerusalem," verse 28, 15:32 "two full years, he does not see the king's face. 15:35 Finally, he sends to Joab, and he said, 15:36 "Look, tell the king, 'I want to see you.'" 15:39 Joab ignores him. 15:40 He said, "Look, I got you back home, 15:41 it's good enough." 15:42 He says, "Look, I want to talk to you." 15:44 He ignores him. 15:45 Absalom tells his servants, "Go, his field is by my field. 15:49 Go set Joab's field on fire, 15:52 that will get his attention." 15:54 So Absalom's servants do what he says. 15:57 They set Joab's field on fire. 15:59 Joab comes storming over to Absalom's house. 16:01 He said, "What have you done? You burnt down my field," 16:03 field of grain or something he was growing. 16:05 He said, "Look, I told you. 16:06 You brought me back, 16:07 I was living like a crown prince back in Gerar. 16:10 And here I'm home 16:11 and I'm kind of the house prisoner. 16:14 What good is it? 16:15 I can't go to the palace any more." 16:16 And he said, "Go, talk to the king." 16:19 So Joab says, "All right." 16:20 So he finally works it out. 16:22 And he goes to David and David sends for Absalom. 16:26 He comes in, he bows himself to the king, 16:29 the king kisses, 16:30 it means, "You're fully forgiven, 16:32 you're restored." 16:33 Don't we all want the kiss of the King. 16:36 And, you know, the story where Esther goes in before the king 16:39 and he holds out the scepter, 16:41 and it's a sign of forgiveness. 16:43 And so Absalom now has been restored to his status, 16:46 his treachery against his brother is forgiven. 16:49 But, you know, you can't really blame him. 16:52 He raped his sister. 16:55 So now Absalom takes his plan to the next step. 16:59 You see, if you haven't figured it out yet, 17:01 Absalom wants to be king. 17:04 And if you go to chapter 15, you can read here 17:07 that it's telling us Absalom begins to live large. 17:10 He's been restored to the kingdom. 17:12 2 Samuel 15:1, 17:15 "It happened after this that Absalom provided himself 17:17 with chariots and the horses, 17:20 and 50 men to run before him." 17:23 Now if you know anything 17:24 about the Bible and the Jews, horses were... 17:26 they were kind of reserved for battle, 17:28 riding around the city was largely for show. 17:31 You'll notice that the other king's sons, 17:32 it says, got on their mules. 17:36 And later in the story, Absalom is riding a mule, 17:38 they were a lot more practical in that country than horses. 17:42 And so he's got the horses and chariots, 17:44 he get 50 men running before him. 17:46 And, you know what that means is the king, 17:48 sometimes as the king went from place to place, 17:50 he would have a team of soldiers 17:52 that would prepare the road, and they'd run before him 17:54 so that his chariot wouldn't hit the bumps. 17:55 They'd fill in the low spots, 17:57 and if there were rocks in the road, 17:58 they'd knock down the high spots 18:00 and they'd create an even plane, 18:02 and they had switches in their hand. 18:03 They'd say, "Make way for the prince! 18:05 Make way for the prince!" 18:06 And so Absalom would ride around. 18:08 He's got these 50 soldiers. 18:10 And I remember seeing 18:14 vice president of Cameron, Africa 18:16 when I was there years ago. 18:18 And he was going down the street. 18:19 I looked out my hotel window. 18:21 And I saw the limousine going and he had security guards, 18:24 and this is on the equator, 18:25 and they are dressed in black suits. 18:28 And they're running in the sun. 18:31 And there's like, you know, eight on the right 18:33 and eight on the left of his limousine. 18:35 And they're all armed, and they got the sunglasses, 18:37 and they're running along the side of the limousine. 18:40 I thought, "Boy! That's a job I don't envy." 18:43 Running in a black suit by the equator in the sun. 18:47 And so here he's got these servants 18:48 but he's creating a greatness. 18:52 And he starts to live large as you would say. 18:55 He's got his chariot 18:57 and he's making a pretty good show. 18:59 And it goes on to say, 19:02 and he was also very attractive young man, 19:05 he was proud, and he's beautiful. 19:07 2 Samuel 14:25, it tells us, 19:10 "In all of Israel, there was no one who is praised 19:14 as much as Absalom for his good looks. 19:18 From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head," 19:21 now I want to stop. 19:24 Does that term "sole of the foot 19:25 to crown of the head" come to your mind? 19:28 Other places, what happened, what did devil do to Job? 19:34 From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, 19:36 he's covered with boils. 19:38 What does Isaiah say sin does to us? 19:41 He says there's no soundness in them 19:44 from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, 19:47 they're only full of wounds, and bruises, 19:49 and putrefying sores, 19:51 he's talking about sin and what it does to us. 19:54 But here, Absalom is beautiful but it's an outward beauty. 19:59 And he is flawless. 20:00 You know, most people look in the mirror and they think, 20:02 "I wish I could be different 20:03 but I wish my nose is a little bit different." 20:05 It's fun, the people in Hollywood 20:07 that are worshipped for their looks, 20:09 if you interview them, they're all insecure 20:11 about some aspect of their appearance. 20:14 Every one of them. 20:17 But Absalom, he is perfectly symmetrical, 20:21 he is handsome, he is talented, 20:23 he is young, he is strong, 20:25 he's got everything going for him 20:27 but he's been destroyed by pride. 20:30 What brought down the devil? 20:33 "Thou has said in thy heart, 'I will ascend to heaven.'" 20:37 Says, "You are beautiful." 20:39 Ezekiel 28, talking about Satan, 20:42 "You are the seal of perfection, 20:43 full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, 20:45 you were perfect in your ways 20:47 from the time you were created till iniquity was found in you. 20:51 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, 20:53 you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness." 20:58 Pride will make you do dumb things. 21:01 And he was so full of himself. 21:03 And he saw everybody praising him and he had, 21:05 they'd bow before his chariot, and they come to worship him, 21:08 and he started thinking, "I should be king. 21:13 David, he is not the giant killer he used to be, 21:16 I should be king." 21:18 And he begins to conspire, 21:21 he can't wait now for David to just die 21:23 and give him the throne. 21:25 He thinks, you know, "He might give it 21:26 to one of my brothers. 21:28 Maybe he will give it to Abigail's son, Daniel, 21:30 you never hear about him. 21:31 He actually was in line before Adonijah 21:34 but it doesn't seem that Abigail's son ever had 21:37 any aspirations for the throne. 21:39 She was, by the way, a good woman 21:40 and he never got in trouble like the other boys. 21:43 But Absalom begins to want David's position. 21:47 But like the prodigal son 21:49 who can't wait for his father to die, 21:51 he says, "Give me my inheritance now." 21:54 He can't wait for his father to die. 21:55 He says, "I want the throne now." 21:57 So he begins to conspire to kill his father. 22:02 Now, do you know there's only one example 22:04 I can think of in the Bible, 22:06 you know, homicide is if you kill a humanoid, 22:11 and infanticide is to kill an infant, 22:14 patricide is killing a parent. 22:19 And there was so much honor in the Bible for parents, 22:23 there's only one example I can think of in the Bible 22:26 where anyone killed their parents, 22:28 and it was the sons of Sennacherib. 22:31 The Sennacherib who is the Assyrian 22:33 who surrounded Israel in the days of Hezekiah. 22:36 Hezekiah prayed 22:37 and God sent his angel 22:39 and killed 185,000 Assyrians and Sennacherib 22:42 was who had been mocking the God of Israel. 22:45 He went back, and while he was worshipping his god 22:49 in this pagan temple, his sons killed him. 22:52 Absalom is very odd in that he actually... 22:56 If you disrespected your parents in the Bible, 22:59 you could be stoned. 23:01 Forget about killing them. 23:03 If you disrespect them, 23:04 so the idea that this young would think to kill his father, 23:09 it stands alone in the Bible. 23:10 But, you know, if you haven't got it by now, 23:14 who does Absalom symbolize? 23:18 Satan. Who else was beautiful? 23:21 Proud? 23:23 Creation of God that wanted to destroy His creator. 23:28 And you can find 23:29 that the very thing that happened in heaven 23:32 is what was being acted out now in the kingdom of God on earth. 23:36 And so he began to work, he was cunning, 23:39 and he started to sow seeds of discord. 23:43 You read in 2 Samuel 15, "Moreover Absalom would say, 23:47 he'd go to the city gate where people would come 23:48 and they want to talk to the king 23:50 and they'd they bring their cases to the king. 23:52 They say, "I've got this case, 23:53 and I can't get to the Supreme Court. 23:56 The king is not hearing my case 23:57 or there's nobody set aside for the king." 24:00 And Absalom says, "What! Tell me about it." 24:01 They'd come to bow to him, he'd lift them up. 24:03 He'd say, "Oh, don't bow to me. 24:05 Come, let's talk about it. Oh!" 24:07 Then he'd say, "If I was king, I'd take care of you. 24:09 If the king would only appoint me or somebody..." 24:14 "And so it was whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, 24:17 he would put out his hand and take them and kissed them. 24:21 And in this manner Absalom acted towards all of Israel 24:24 who came to the king for judgment." 24:26 They're coming to see David, 24:28 they're being diverted by Absalom. 24:31 "So Absalom acted towards all Israel, 24:34 and so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel." 24:38 What do you steal? 24:39 You steal something that doesn't belong to you. 24:42 Their loyalty should have been to the king. 24:45 He's stealing their loyalty through cunning. 24:49 He's campaigning in a very clever way. 24:52 Anyone that comes to him, 24:53 he says, "Oh, your case is good." 24:54 It didn't matter what their case was, 24:55 he always said, "Your case is good. 24:57 I'm on your side, you deserve justice." 25:00 Slaps him on the back, blows sunshine, 25:02 tells them what they want to hear. 25:03 They say, "Well, Absalom is a great guy, good looking. 25:06 I went to pray to him and he hugged me, 25:07 he gave me a kiss." 25:09 And he does this for years because, you know, one by one, 25:13 the people come, they bring about report, 25:14 "Boy, that son!" 25:16 I tell you, "Who should really be king? 25:17 It should be Absalom. 25:20 He's got all the best, you know." 25:23 And so he's planning something 25:26 that was not God's will obviously. 25:28 He's a type of the devil. 25:30 You read in Proverbs 6:19 25:33 about the things that the Lord hates, 25:35 seven things the Lord hates, you know what the worst is, 25:39 it says, "A false witness who speaks lies 25:41 and one who sows discord among brethren." 25:45 Isn't this what Lucifer did? 25:47 He went throughout heaven 25:49 and he began to tell the angels, 25:50 "You know, we don't need God's law. 25:52 We'd have more freedom, we'd have more power. 25:54 God makes these other creations in His image, 25:56 we can't procreate like humans, that's not fair." 25:59 And the devil, he began to say, 26:01 "You know, if I was God," Now, was the devil beautiful? 26:05 He could sing, he was smart, 26:08 he was strong, powerful. 26:11 And what happened here where David's kingdom 26:14 happened first in heaven. 26:15 If you want to get a picture of what went on there, 26:17 you could look at what happened here. 26:20 Something else you learn about Absalom, 26:22 I'm just going to throw this in. 26:24 Absalom does all his dastardly deeds through his servants. 26:29 The devil does most of what he does 26:30 through the fallen angels that followed him. 26:33 Notice 2 Samuel 13:28, 26:36 "Absalom commanded his servants to kill Amnon." 26:39 2 Samuel 14:30, 26:41 "Absalom commands his servants to burn Joab's field." 26:45 2 Samuel 15:10, 26:46 "Absalom commands his servants to announce he's king, 26:50 to join him in rebellion all along the way." 26:53 Absalom has his servants that are following. 26:55 They burn, they rebel, they kill. 26:58 And the devil, he has minions. 27:02 Satan is cast out of heaven with his angels. 27:06 So finally, it turns into an all out rebellion. 27:10 Absalom goes to his father. 27:13 He's just under the pretense of worship. 27:16 He says, "You know, Dad, I made a vow years ago." 27:20 And by the way, this is something in your Bible 27:22 if you didn't catch it. 27:23 It says, "After 40 years," 27:26 some of you will have a translation 27:27 that will say after four years, it's a little thing. 27:31 I don't know maybe I shouldn't have even mentioned it. 27:33 This goes on after four years, 27:35 the Septuagint Josephus is four years. 27:37 Some of the manuscripts, 27:39 they used for the King James Version, 27:41 of course, four and forty are also similar in Hebrew. 27:44 And they thought it was 40. 27:45 And that doesn't make any sense to the story 27:47 because it wasn't 40 years of doing this, 27:48 it was four years after he comes back, this happens. 27:51 So after four years of this, 27:54 two years he doesn't see the king, 27:55 two years he campaigns. 27:57 Finally, he tells his father, 27:59 "You know, I made a vow back when I was in Geshur. 28:02 And I promised I'd go to Hebron and pay this vow. 28:06 I promise if I could just see your face again 28:08 and be restored to you," 28:09 this whole thing is a lie, it's all a ruse. 28:12 He says, "Can I bring some of my servants, 28:14 we'd like to go and we're going to celebrate 28:16 a feast there in Gerar." 28:18 And David said, "Sure. 28:19 I'm so happy about your new spiritual interest." 28:22 And what he does is the whole thing is a conspiracy, 28:24 it's a coup to overthrow his father. 28:27 And he takes his soldiers with him 28:28 and he has spies go out throughout the kingdom, 28:30 and they all blow a trump, and they all shout, 28:32 "Absalom reigns in Hebron!" 28:34 Now where did David first reign? 28:36 Started in Hebron, then went to Jerusalem. 28:39 He's now saying, "I'm going to do the same thing." 28:40 Hebron was like the spiritual center, 28:42 it's where Abraham was buried. 28:44 So it had great significance. 28:46 So they blow the trumpet and with great excitement, 28:48 they say, "Absalom reigns." 28:50 Well, this came at a time 28:51 where David's reputation was at a low point 28:54 and Absalom's reputation was at a high point. 28:57 And you would have been shocked 28:59 at how quickly everyone took up the restraint. 29:02 This king they once loved, 29:04 they used to sing when David went down the street. 29:06 "David has killed his 10,000s," 29:08 and now they're ready to kill David 29:10 for 'cause Absalom to reign, 29:11 they know that that means David's out. 29:15 Didn't they want to sing for Jesus, hosanna. 29:18 A week later, they said, "Crucify Him." 29:21 People are fickle. 29:24 And so the conspiracy begin to get stronger, 29:27 a messenger who's loyal to David 29:29 comes running into Jerusalem. 29:32 And he said, "Absalom is reigning in Hebron 29:36 and he's getting his troops together." 29:38 David, realizing he needs to evacuate, 29:42 with those who are loyal, Jerusalem. 29:43 And some of them might wonder, "Here's David the giant killer, 29:46 he's never lost a battle. 29:48 Why is he retreating 29:50 and allowing Absalom to take Jerusalem? 29:54 Why did God allow the devil 29:59 to hijack our world? 30:01 Couldn't David stood and fought? 30:03 He could have. 30:04 But there would have been a bigger fall out 30:06 and loss of life. 30:07 The city of Jerusalem would have been destroyed. 30:11 And Jesus did not allow the battle of the devil 30:14 to take down the City of God, the New Jerusalem in heaven, 30:18 His dwelling place. 30:21 So David retreats. 30:23 He allows Absalom to carry on his rebellion. 30:27 He doesn't want the city where the ark is. 30:29 Matter of fact, the priest begin to follow David 30:31 out of the city where the ark is, 30:32 he said, "No, no, take it back. 30:34 If God's with me, He's with me, I don't need the ark. 30:36 So keep it safe in the city." 30:38 And he takes his family and his soldiers and they flee 30:41 and something very interesting happens, 30:43 I want you to look in 2 Samuel 15:30, 30:47 "David now goes up the sides of the Mount of Olives 30:50 and he weeps over Jerusalem." 30:53 Did Jesus, the Son of David weep over Jerusalem? 30:56 Yes. 30:58 "So David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives 31:00 and he wept as he went, his head was covered, 31:04 and he went barefoot. 31:05 And all the people who were with him 31:07 covered their heads and they went up 31:08 weeping as they went." 31:09 Now he's got most of his other children 31:11 and his family and his wives, 31:13 he left ten concubines to help keep the house, 31:16 that will come up in the story in just a moment. 31:19 And so while David's on the Mount of Olives 31:21 and he is weeping, 31:22 Jesus was on the Mount of Olives weeping. 31:26 Along comes Benjamite, by the name of Shimei. 31:29 Now Shimei was just a... 31:31 He was a scoundrel. 31:33 There are other words I could use but I can't. 31:37 He just had a bad attitude, 31:38 all these years that David was king, 31:39 Shimei resented that Saul was now still king. 31:42 Shimei was from the tribe of Saul. 31:44 He says, "David, he took it," 31:47 he called David a bloody man 31:48 as though he had assassinated Saul, 31:49 David didn't do it. 31:51 And Saul killed himself. 31:54 And so here he's saying, "Go out you bloody man," 31:57 he's throwing rocks at David on the Mount of Olives 31:59 and David soldiers are there, his bodyguards there. 32:02 And they said, 32:03 "Who in the world does he think he is?" 32:04 And he's kicking dust and he's saying, 32:06 "You're getting what you deserve. 32:07 You're a bloody man," he's cursing him. 32:09 And Abishai, you always remember Abishai, 32:11 he always wants to kill everyone. 32:13 Abishai wanted to kill Saul and he said, 32:16 "Let me go cut off his head, who is this dog, 32:17 he is cursing the king." 32:19 And David does something very unusual. 32:22 He is so meek, he said, "Let him curse. 32:25 Maybe God will turn them to a blessing." 32:27 He said, "What am I to do it with you, sons of Zeruiah," 32:30 Zeruiah was David's sister. 32:31 This is Joab and Abishai. 32:34 He said, "My own son is seeking my life. 32:38 Why shouldn't this Benjamite curse me? 32:41 What is that? 32:42 He is throwing rocks and cursing. 32:43 My own son wants to kill me. Let him curse. 32:49 Does the Lord often stand back and let the wicked rave 32:54 that He lets them curse? 32:56 Could David had destroyed Shimei in an instant? 33:00 He could have sent his soldiers right up there. 33:02 They were fast, they could have killed him. 33:06 He doesn't. 33:07 Isn't God patient with the lost? 33:10 Even those who are under judgment, 33:12 He bears along with them. 33:14 And so, he said, "Look, I'm going to let him curse." 33:18 So then Absalom comes into the city of Jerusalem, 33:22 the conspiracy is going strong. 33:25 What's really sad is some of David's friends and counselors 33:29 now join Absalom. 33:30 They go, David thought, "I thought you were my friend, 33:33 you're really going with whoever was in power." 33:36 And one of David's chief counselors 33:39 was a man by the name of Ahithophel. 33:41 Now Ahithophel was brilliant. 33:43 Ahithophel is also the grandfather, 33:45 he's the great grandfather of Solomon. 33:49 Just threw, so the genes were there, 33:50 if you didn't know that. 33:53 Ahithophel is the grandfather of Bathsheba. 33:58 Ahithophel, maybe he doesn't like David 34:00 because of what happened with Bathsheba and David 34:02 messing up her marriage to Uriah. 34:04 But for whatever reason, he now sides with Absalom. 34:09 And he knew Absalom would succeed as king, 34:12 if Absalom had listened to his counsel. 34:15 But it wasn't of the Lord. 34:18 The best laid plans of men. 34:21 And when David finds out 34:22 that Ahithophel is counseling Absalom, 34:25 he thinks, "Well, this is not good." 34:28 Ahithophel, it says, the counsel of Ahithophel 34:30 was as though a person had inquired of the oracles of God. 34:34 It was as though God had spoken 34:36 when Ahithophel spoke, 34:37 he was that smart. 34:40 And so David prays a prayer, he says, 34:42 "Lord, confound, frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel." 34:47 Right after David prays that prayer, 34:49 David's friend, the Hushai. 34:53 He comes to David, and he says, "I'm your friend." 34:55 He was very close, and the kings had friends 34:57 and they had counselors, and this was the king's buddy. 35:00 And he says, "You're not going to do me any good here." 35:04 He says, "Why don't you go back into the temple 35:07 and make like you're supporting Absalom in his rebellion 35:10 and you can let me know what's going on there. 35:12 Maybe you could do something 35:13 to frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel." 35:16 He said, "I'm your true friend, I will go." 35:18 And so Hushai, the Archite, he goes into the city. 35:23 Absalom said, 35:25 "I thought, you would have fled with your friend." 35:26 He said, "Whoever the Lord chooses, 35:28 that's my friend, that's who I'm loyal to." 35:31 And he meant that, he knew the Lord had chosen David. 35:33 He had never anointed Absalom. 35:36 And so, Ahithophel gives some despicable counsel to Absalom. 35:43 He said, "Look, your people need to know 35:46 that there's no more reconciliation, 35:47 you killed your brother once and then he left, 35:50 they've got to know that's not going to happen again." 35:52 And he said, "You need to burn the boats as they say." 35:57 And he says, "You need to go sleep 35:58 with your father's harem." 36:00 What does a woman represent in prophecy? 36:04 He had these ten concubines keeping the house. 36:07 It says, "So they pitched a tent for Absalom 36:09 on the top of the house, on the roof of the palace." 36:14 Where did David first spy Bathsheba? 36:19 They did it in a public place where everyone would see. 36:21 "They pitched a pavilion up there, a tent. 36:24 And he went into the harem..." 36:26 It doesn't mean he necessarily 36:27 went through all the business with everybody there, 36:29 but it was symbolic that 36:33 he was now taking the wives that he would be defiling them. 36:37 What does the devil want to do with a law of God? 36:40 How many commandments are there? 36:43 Aren't they to be lived out in the church? 36:46 Of his people. 36:47 And so there's some symbolism here I believe. 36:51 Was it foretold that this would happen? 36:53 You remember, among the curses 36:55 that were gonna come on David was bad behavior. 36:57 Nathan the prophet said, 36:59 "Behold," this is 2 Samuel 12:11. 37:02 "I will raise up adversity against you 37:03 from your own house. 37:05 And I will take your wives 37:07 before your eyes and give them to your neighbor." 37:09 The word neighbor there it means 37:11 someone very close to you. 37:13 "And he will lie with your wives in the sight of the son, 37:16 it will be done." 37:17 He says, "You stole Uriah's wife 37:19 and you tried to do it secretly, 37:20 I'm gonna do the same for the whole world to see." 37:22 This is the fulfillment of that prophecy 37:24 that his wives, his concubines anyway were given to his son, 37:28 someone close in the presence of everybody. 37:31 Now folk said, 37:32 "All right, there's no more reconciliation now 37:35 between Absalom and David, we got to choose sides." 37:39 And so then... 37:43 He gets some more counsel from Ahithophel. 37:47 Ahithophel says, 37:49 "Now what you need to do 37:50 is you need to let me take the best men in Judah, 37:53 the best men left in the kingdom, 37:55 the soldiers, right now while David and the family 37:58 are running before they get to the Jordan River, 38:00 they're tired, they're scattered, they're..." 38:03 You know, Hitler was successful 38:05 in the beginning of World War II 38:06 because of what they call the blitzkrieg. 38:08 They understand one of the most important things in a fight 38:11 is the element of surprise. 38:14 "This is all taken him by surprise, 38:16 you need to strike right now," 38:18 that was actually good counsel, it probably would have worked. 38:21 He said, "Let me go right now and take him out. 38:24 Don't risk yourself, don't get on the battlefield." 38:28 And he's about to do this, he says, 38:30 "Well, let me ask Hushai, the king's friend, 38:32 well, he was also a counselor, what does he think?" 38:34 Hushai realizes, "Boy, if they do that 38:36 David has done for him," because they are tired. 38:38 You read in the story, they had to stop and rest, 38:40 they're exhausted, they weren't prepared, 38:42 David's going barefoot. 38:45 And he said, "You know, Ahithophel's counsel's 38:48 not really good right now." 38:50 Absalom is listening to Hushai, the Archite's counsel. 38:54 And he said, "Everyone knows that David 38:57 is a mighty man and he's a shrewd man of war 38:59 and he's probably hidden in the pit 39:00 and you're gonna go fighting, it'll be a big battle, 39:02 and you not even may get David, because he's hidden somewhere. 39:04 Remember all those years he hid from Saul, 39:06 Saul couldn't find him. 39:07 You think they're gonna find him right now? 39:09 He's too shrewd for that. 39:11 And his soldiers, they're men of war. 39:12 And if a battle takes off, 39:14 they're gonna strike some of the people, 39:16 word will get out, there will be a panic." 39:17 He said, "No, no, no." 39:18 He said, "You got to do this right. 39:20 So you're the new king. 39:21 You don't want to leave out the northern tribes. 39:24 You need to get everybody, all the tribes involved. 39:27 You need to personally 39:28 lead them in the battle so that they'll see 39:30 that you will be their king after this victory." 39:33 And there is Absalom, he likes it, 39:35 "Yeah, me, white horse lead them, 39:36 I'm the new king." 39:38 And he said, "And you'll gather them like the sand of the sea 39:40 and you'll descend on them 39:41 while they're tired and we can... 39:45 and just kill the king." 39:47 And so, he says, "Well, you know what? 39:49 The counsel of Hushai 39:52 is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." 39:56 And that's exactly what they want. 39:58 He wanted to give David time to get across the Jordan River, 40:00 to get to the city and get organize, 40:02 so they get resources for the soldiers 40:04 and they could organize and plot a battle. 40:09 And then you read what happens next. 40:12 It tells us that this friend, Ahithophel, 40:15 his close friend of David betrays him 40:17 who ate from his bread, betrays him. 40:21 Have you read in Psalm 41, 40:23 "Even my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, 40:25 who ate my bread has lifted up his heel 40:27 against me." 40:30 Did Jesus have someone that lifted up his heel against him, 40:33 that ate bread with him? 40:34 What was his name? Judas. 40:36 And when Judas plan backfired, 40:39 see Judas didn't know Jesus would be killed. 40:42 Judas thought when he sold Jesus 40:43 that Jesus would then use His power 40:45 to make Himself king 40:47 and that he'd end up thanking Judas. 40:48 His plan backfired 40:50 and as a result, Judas went out and took his own life 40:53 and he hung himself. 40:55 When Ahithophel finds that his counsel 40:57 was not gonna be heeded, 40:58 he already knows how it's gonna end. 41:01 He goes home, listen to this, 2 Samuel 17:23, 41:05 "When Ahithophel saw his advice was not followed, 41:07 he put his household in order. 41:10 Got the lawyer made out his will 41:12 and hanged himself and died." 41:13 Ahithophel ended the way Judas ended. 41:17 Judas threw down the pieces of silver 41:20 and he went out and did the same thing. 41:22 Now finally Absalom takes the counsel, 41:26 they get all of Israel together. 41:28 And they prepare for a great battle 41:30 and they'd begin to go towards... 41:32 David has actually gone across the Jordan to Mahanaim. 41:34 And there's a fortress there 41:36 where Saul actually used to reign. 41:38 And the kingdom of the Saul's sons 41:42 was across the Jordan there. 41:44 And it's a fortified city, 41:46 it's a place where he can stage a battle, 41:47 he gets the soldiers together, food is coming 41:49 and resources to David and his army. 41:52 And Absalom gets all of Israel together. 41:55 David divides his army into three parts. 41:58 Have you ever read Revelation? 42:01 How it seems like the battle is divided into three parts 42:03 and, of course, you get the Father, Son 42:04 and Holy Spirit. 42:06 David wants to lead them out in the battle 42:07 and they said, "No, you're not going, 42:08 not on your life." 42:10 David soldier said, 42:11 "You are worth more than 10,000 of us. 42:14 If 10,000 of us perish, it won't mean anything to them, 42:18 they're wanting you, they want to kill you. 42:20 Absalom will quit as soon as you're dead. 42:23 He didn't want to slaughter among the soldiers." 42:25 As Jesus is called the Pharaohs of 10,000, 42:29 a lily of the valley, you know that psalm, 42:31 actually comes from the Song of Solomon. 42:34 And so, he tells all his soldiers 42:37 when they're going out to battle. 42:39 He's got them divided up and he tells them all 42:41 as they're going out, 42:43 as the parade is going out to meet the forces of Absalom. 42:46 He says, "Please, deal gently with the young man, 42:51 even Absalom for my sake. 42:53 Don't forget he's my son." 42:55 The understood is, 42:58 fight, win the battle, but don't hurt him. 43:01 Take him alive. 43:03 Well, that's kind of discouraging 43:04 to some of the soldiers 43:05 because here he's trying to kill David, 43:07 they're gonna put their lives on the line, 43:08 they know if they kill Absalom the war's over, 43:11 that's who they got to kill. 43:13 But he is so concerned for his son... 43:14 You just look at the love of David for his son. 43:18 Even though his son wants to kill him, 43:22 he still loves him. 43:24 Does God love those who took the life of His son? 43:28 We can't comprehend that, that kind of love. 43:32 So they are engaged in the battle. 43:36 And... 43:39 The Bible says that they meet the soldiers of David 43:43 near the woods of Ephraim 43:45 and in the midst of the battle it is... 43:46 There's great chaos because instead of fighting 43:48 on the field of battle, it's a battle in the woods. 43:52 And the Bible record is more were slain by the woods 43:57 than by the soldiers. 44:00 They're running into trees 44:02 and they're falling off of cliffs and their... 44:04 the horses are breaking legs 44:05 and I'd just say, in another words 44:06 it just means that the obstacles, 44:08 David's men knew how to fight in any environment, 44:10 Absalom didn't know how to fight, you know, 44:12 I remember I downloaded this free book 44:15 once on an airplane, I was bored. 44:16 And it was an ancient writings of an ancient Chinese general, 44:20 I don't remember what it's called. 44:21 But it gives the rules of war, 44:23 I thought maybe there's some spiritual lessons in here. 44:26 Some of you know the name of the book. 44:27 Art of War. The Art of War. 44:29 It's some ancient Chinese general. 44:31 And then one of the most important things, he says, 44:32 "Make sure you get to choose the terrain for the battle." 44:38 And of course, you always want the high ground. 44:41 And Absalom chose poorly and David soldiers knew 44:45 how to use the various terrain against them 44:47 and they drove them into the woods 44:49 and the woods ended up destroying more men 44:52 than the sword did. 44:56 And in the battle it says, 44:58 that the servants of Absalom met the servants of David, 45:01 the entourage around Absalom 45:02 finally encountered the soldiers of David 45:06 and he turned to run. 45:08 And as he's riding on his mule this time, 45:10 not on his horse anymore, 45:12 as he's riding on his mule 45:13 he looks over his shoulder evidently, 45:15 they're riding through these oak trees 45:17 and he turns back just in time to be clobbered 45:20 by an oak except his head gets stuck 45:23 with all his massive hair. 45:26 Didn't I read the part two about Absalom 45:28 would cut his hair every year 45:29 and it weighed over three pounds. 45:32 And he was very... he's like Fabio, 45:34 you know, in this beautiful long hair. 45:36 Beautiful, strong and... 45:38 and I resent him already. 45:42 And it ends up being his undoing 45:43 just like Samson. 45:46 And he's riding through the woods, 45:47 his neck gets caught in the crotch of a tree's, 45:49 his hair gets tangled up in the oak 45:51 and the mule rides out from under him 45:54 and he's left hanging between heaven and earth. 45:58 And he's still alive. 46:00 And one of the soldiers sees 46:02 and they're in the middle of battle, 46:03 one of the soldiers runs to Joab 46:04 and said, "I saw Absalom, 46:06 he's hanging in the woods from a tree." 46:09 And Joab said, "Well, did you kill him?" 46:11 He said, "I wouldn't kill him." 46:12 He said, "I would have rewarded you." 46:13 He said, "I don't care how much you give me, 46:14 you heard the law of the king," 46:16 he says, "I would have been betraying my own life 46:18 if I've touched him." 46:20 So Joab said, "I'm not gonna argue with you." 46:22 And Joab now, he was still, you know, he burnt his field, 46:25 he reconcile him to the king and here he thanks him 46:28 by rebelling like this, Joab is really mad. 46:31 Joab takes three darts in his hands and he goes 46:34 and he stabs Absalom in the heart 46:36 and Joab and ten soldiers around him, how many? 46:40 Absalom defiled the ten concubines, 46:43 Joab with ten of his armor bearers around him 46:47 not only that he stabbed him with three darts in the heart, 46:50 then they says they slew him beyond that, 46:52 I don't know what else you could do beyond that. 46:55 Of these ten men there's a judgment, 46:57 and you see that number ten, 46:59 for every commandment you break, 47:01 there's a corresponding judgment. 47:04 And then finally word gets back to David. 47:09 And two messengers are fighting over the privilege 47:13 to bring the news to David and you've got this Cushite 47:15 who's running with a message. 47:17 One of the sons of the priest, 47:19 he said, "Let me bring word to the king." 47:20 Joab said, "No, we've got a messenger going." 47:22 He said, "Let me go." 47:24 And finally says you can go 47:26 and he outran the official messenger. 47:29 And he wants to prepare the king 47:30 because he knows the king is gonna be brokenhearted 47:32 when he hears about Absalom, he knows the king. 47:35 And the king sees him coming and the first thing, 47:40 you know, the messenger says, 47:42 "Praise the Lord, the king is victorious." 47:45 And the first thing out of the king's mouth is, 47:48 "What about Absalom?" 47:51 Well, he knew that was coming. 47:52 And he said, "Well, there was a tumult, 47:54 there was... 47:55 there was a battle 47:57 and I didn't see exactly what happened." 48:00 And he's trying to prepare the king embrace him 48:02 for the bad news. 48:04 And then finally the Cushite gets there 48:06 and he said, "What about Absalom?" 48:09 That's the only thing on the king's mind, 48:11 "What about my son?" 48:13 And he answers by saying, "May all the king's enemies be 48:17 as that young man is." 48:20 And the king collapsed. 48:23 David basically implodes when he gets this news. 48:27 And in one of the most poignant, 48:30 poignant phrases in the Bible 48:32 and this is now, I'm in 2 Samuel 18:33. 48:37 "The king was deeply moved 48:40 and he went up to the chamber over the gate," 48:42 there's a staircase that leads up 48:44 to the watch tower over the gate. 48:46 "And he wept as he went, 48:49 he's going one step after another 48:51 and his moans are echoing out off the stone walls 48:55 for all to hear the air reverberating, 48:58 "Oh, my son Absalom, my son, my son, 49:03 if only I had died in your place. 49:07 Oh, Absalom, my son, my son." 49:11 And you go to 19:4, "The king covered his face 49:16 and the king cried out with a loud voice, 49:19 "Oh, my son Absalom, oh Absalom, my son, my son." 49:25 That's pretty heartrending, isn't it? 49:28 And see the king weeping over the son, 49:30 "Would God I had died in your place." 49:33 Now, do you see the gospel in this story? 49:39 Now there's something deeper here 49:41 I don't want you to miss. 49:42 Don't just look on the surface of the story. 49:45 It is true, Absalom in one sense, 49:47 he represents this beautiful fallen angel 49:51 that rebelled against God. 49:53 God made him, God loved him. God is love. 49:57 He was good at one point. 50:00 But he went bad, he went wicked. 50:02 But beyond that, 50:05 don't forget that Absalom is the son of David. 50:07 He is the beautiful son, he is the flawless son 50:11 and that son dies hanging from a tree, 50:15 suspended between heaven and earth. 50:18 How does Jesus, the Son of David died? 50:20 Where there three nails that pierced Him? 50:24 David is saying, "Would God I had died for thee." 50:26 I would have died in your place. 50:27 Didn't Jesus, the Son of David die in our place? 50:31 And you know, it tells us 50:32 that David ends up losing four sons, 50:35 maybe next week we'll talk about Adonijah. 50:38 Now he's lost three sons, one in his innocence a baby, 50:42 Amnon is slain at a feast. 50:46 Absalom dies suspended, hanging from a tree, 50:49 like Jesus, all the sons of David 50:51 that died tell us something about Jesus. 50:54 I remember one time, I had a friend that... 51:01 He was at a drive-in theater, he got into an argument, 51:04 someone pulled out a gun, his name was Kenny. 51:08 And he went to jump out of the way 51:10 when this young man started shooting 51:12 and he jumped into the path of the bullet 51:14 and it went in here and it came out here, 51:19 and he was still conscious, 51:20 he said, "Get me to the hospital." 51:22 And I took him to the hospital 51:24 and he was on life support for several days, 51:26 we were there at the hospital. 51:28 He was eventually pronounced brain dead. 51:32 We were staying with the family in their house, 51:35 there wasn't room for everybody because so many people had come 51:37 while we were waiting to see 51:38 what was going to happen with Kenny, 51:40 and all the bedrooms were full. 51:44 And that night I slept on the floor 51:46 in the living room. 51:49 And the father couldn't sleep, 51:52 and he would sit in the living room 51:54 and I would see his cigarette glowing, 51:56 any time I woke up during the night 51:58 I would see him sitting there with a cigarette glowing. 52:01 They ultimately needed to disconnect his life support 52:04 and I was in the hospital when Kenny died, 52:08 and to just see the meltdown of the father. 52:12 And then I was in the house, in the living room 52:14 and during the night I would be awakened 52:18 by this sound that was almost inhuman. 52:21 It sounded like a cry, and it sounded like an animal. 52:25 And I just heard Kenny's father let out this strange moan. 52:31 And it was... 52:33 I just realized it was coming from a broken heart. 52:37 And whenever I read the story here about Absalom, 52:39 of course, we've lost a son. 52:42 And I hear him to say, there's no words for it, 52:43 all you can do is say, "Oh! 52:46 Oh, my son, it would hurt less if I died for you." 52:52 And, you know, this is what God says, 52:55 "It would hurt me less 52:57 if I died for you than to lose you." 53:01 What can separate us from the love of God? 53:03 Have you read that verse there in Romans 8:38, 53:08 "For I am persuaded," 53:09 Paul says, "That neither death nor life, 53:12 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 53:15 nor things present nor things to come, 53:17 nor height or depth, 53:18 nor any created thing is able to separate us 53:22 from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." 53:26 You think it's safe to say that Jesus loves us? 53:30 Jesus our Lord? 53:32 You know, if you look in the Psalms of David, 53:35 there is a Psalm, it's called Psalm 3. 53:39 And it says, "The Lord helps His troubled people, 53:42 a Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom." 53:45 Even during this time you can find 53:47 it is an inspired Psalm of David. 53:50 Ultimately Joab comes to David. 53:54 And all the soldiers are coming back victorious, 53:55 they laid down their lives to save the kingdom. 53:58 And all they hear when they come in, 53:59 they come back rejoicing, 54:01 they're all flapping each other in the back, 54:02 "We've won the battle." 54:03 They get near the city, they hear David moaning, 54:06 "Oh, Absalom, my son, Absalom my son," 54:08 all night long he's moaning. 54:09 Joab gets back and he had... 54:11 you have to admire Joab sometimes 54:13 and he does the right thing. 54:15 He did the right thing in killing Absalom. 54:17 And he goes up and he tells David 54:19 what he needs to hear. 54:22 He said, "Do you not regard princes 54:25 or soldiers or generals," 54:26 he said, "All of your servants had laid down their life 54:28 to save the kingdom and to save you, 54:31 and we now get the feeling that if we had all died 54:34 and Absalom had lived, you'd be happy." 54:38 He said, "You need to get out in the city gate now 54:40 and you need to get your act together 54:42 and you need to thank and praise 54:44 and encourage the soldiers that have saved your wives, 54:47 and what about your other children 54:48 that we saved?" 54:50 He tells him what he needs to hear, 54:51 that's a good friend. 54:54 And David does... 54:55 he pulls himself together and he sits in the gate 54:57 and he thanks the people for saving the kingdom 54:59 and saving the rest of his family 55:00 and saving the city. 55:02 And eventually now 55:06 when he left Jerusalem David told people, 55:09 like their concubines he said, "I'll come back. 55:11 I don't know when I'm coming back 55:12 but I'm coming back. 55:13 There's an evil power, 55:15 there's an evil rebellious prince 55:17 that has taken the kingdom but I will come back." 55:20 Has our King told us He's coming back? 55:23 Is Jesus called the devil, the prince of this world? 55:26 And he's rampaging around, he's driven by pride 55:30 and Jesus said, "I will come back." 55:32 And David came back in glory, 55:34 he came back as king to Jerusalem. 55:36 Jesus is coming back 55:37 and He's gonna be the king of the New Jerusalem. 55:40 But you know, the most beautiful thing in this story 55:42 is the message of God's love for us. 55:46 "God so loved the world..." 55:47 You know why the word so is there? 55:49 He could have left out the word so, 55:50 "God loved the world and He gave His Son." 55:53 But the word so includes a word 55:55 that is almost the same in every language, 55:57 it's the word, 'Oh'. 56:00 It's like when David said, "Oh, Absalom, my son." 56:05 And God so loved the world, He gave His Son. 56:11 That's how much God wants to save you. 56:14 But He cannot force you to be saved 56:16 if you are determined to rebel. 56:19 All of us, either we surrender like David to God 56:23 or we rebel like Absalom, there's only two roads. 56:27 We either do our own thing, we say, "I will be king," 56:30 or we worship God as King. 56:33 And we're one of the two, there's only two masters, 56:36 it's Christ or Satan. 56:38 And Jesus laid down His life to show His love for you. 56:41 Do you think you could love Him back? 56:42 Do you want to serve Him? 56:54 Friends, one of the amazing things 56:56 that you'll often find in the South Pacific islands 56:58 like your own Fiji, is the Wiwi plant. 57:01 Now in North America, if you want to build a fence 57:03 you got to get fence posts 57:05 and then you put the wooden fence posts in the ground 57:07 and then after a few years, 57:08 they're gonna rot and break off 57:09 unless they're specially treated. 57:11 But here they've got these trees, 57:13 the Wiwi tree, they can cut them 57:15 right out of the woods, they'll take a stick, 57:17 they stick it in the ground 57:19 and because they have so much rain and precipitation, 57:21 it begins to sprout 57:23 and turns into a living fence post. 57:25 It makes up its mind that it's going to flourish 57:27 wherever you stick it 57:28 which is a good lesson for you and me. 57:30 So you might wonder sometimes, 57:31 if you've got a purpose in life, 57:33 you might feel like you're growing sort of, 57:35 sporadically in every direction 57:37 and then along comes this person 57:38 who cuts you down and carries you off, 57:41 he sticks you in the ground but you look back and you say, 57:44 "There was a plan, there was a purpose." 57:47 God knows how to teach us 57:49 how to prosper where He plants us. 57:51 You might wonder, "Why the Lord has put you 57:53 where He has in life," 57:54 but you can put down roots and you can grow 57:56 and you can serve a great purpose for God. 57:59 You know, it's like God says in Jeremiah 29, 58:01 "I know the plans that I've got for you, 58:03 to give you a future." 58:05 God has a purpose for your life, friends, 58:06 and He can help you to prosper 58:08 and grow wherever you're planted. |
Revised 2019-06-25