I'm glad that you have the scriptures because in this
particular study, you're going to benefit the most as your eyes
are following with me, through the text.
That's how you're going to benefit the most that's true for
every service. But especially this one, because
the text Will very much speak for itself and you're going to
see some things that are very interesting that will bless you
and maybe even challenge you to be more careful with your
reading of the Bible. So, here we are.
This is the scene that is presented before us tonight.
David and his men have finally found a place a destination
where they could receive refreshment and refuge from
unforeseen on slots. And we know that they're at this
place and they just recently David namely experience to
specific types of attacks from two different kind of
individuals, the first person who appeared to David at a very
weak point was named what ziba and ziba came to David and
convince them that mephibosheth was disloyal and betrayed him
and through that gained a certain settlement.
So Fish sleep. So David was deceived and not
too long after that there's another individual that
approaches David during the Wilderness.
And his name is shammai and shammai was different from Ziva
because he wasn't coming with conniving tactics, he was openly
scorning him, rebuking him and slandering him with no shame.
And David was just walking along absorbing all that was being
said without without any plan to retaliate.
Now, David is at the Jordan, he's with his men, he's with his
family. At least some of his family and
the scene shifts from David at the Jordan to Absalom entering
into Jerusalem and that is where we're going to begin.
And when we come to this portion of scripture and end chapter 16,
what you're going to see is three individuals who will
surface now. Including Lum and their
interactions with one. Another have been clearly
preserved by God for our instruction and that is
precisely how we're going to approach this Bible study.
You and I are just going to examine the actions of the
separate individuals and see what it is.
That God desires to tell us and teach us about us and about
others. In light of his wisdom, his
Revelation, his knowledge. And so, let's read and as we
read, Us pause and consider each of these characters and analyze.
What it is exactly that we can learn and benefit from them in
order to be trained in righteousness, trained and
discernment trained in godliness for the glory of Jesus Christ.
So, you're in second, Samuel chapter 16, and we read here in
verse 15, Now, Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel
came to Jerusalem and a heath offal with him.
And when who shy the, our kite David's friend.
Came to Absalom who shine said to Absalom long live the king
long live. The king and Absalom said to his
shy. Is this your loyalty to your
friend? Why did you not go with your
friend? And as I said to Absalom, know,
for whom the Lord and his people, and all the men of
Israel have chosen his, I will be.
And with him I will remain. And again, whom should.
I serve? Should it not be his son as I
have served your father. So I will serve you.
These verses you're reminded with me that this was shy.
David's friend is the same hushai that followed David Into
the Wilderness and expressed his desire to remain with him.
But we find who shy in Jerusalem.
Why is he in Jerusalem now? Because David instructed him and
assured him, that it would be more beneficial if he had went
back to Jerusalem and played a certain role with the prayerful,
hope that he would frustrate the counsel of ahithophel.
So that is exactly why who shy is here.
And he comes here. Which tells us that he is, he's
definitely loyal to David, he loves David, the seems to be an
honorable sacrifice a very risky one as well, there's no question
about that. But what we can question or what
can come up in debate is his method.
Is his method? Read again, verse 17 and
Absalom, excuse me, verse 16. When hoshide, the archive
David's friend, came to Absalom who shines with Absalom long
live, the king long live, the king and then, in verse 18, down
to verse 19, he seems to be expressing his transfer of
Allegiance from David. To Absalom.
And here's what we have to do. We have to ask two questions at
this point. The first question is this and
I'm inviting you to answer. It is who shy being truthful
here. Is he shy being truthful here?
Or is this? The implementation of deception
at work? Who says that this is, this is
right? This is permissible.
Hesitating hands. If he was thinking about David,
then, perhaps. So remember, David was the one
who commanded him, right? David was the one said go and
play the part. Play the part, as though, you
are a counselor to Absalom and then again, try to try to thwart
the Council of a heath offal perhaps.
And there are some, who would say so, Anybody want to argue
against our dear brother? Or disagree with him.
Kindly, the spirit of Christ likeness Is who shy being
truthful? Some would say yes.
Some would say no, some would say who shy is being very, very
clever with his wording. With each verse where he shines
something, I want you to consider how he is presenting
himself to Absalom. Look at verse 16 again.
What did he say? Long live the king long live?
The king. Which king?
Good points, right? Which king is a Long Live King
Absalom that he know it's a long live.
King Absalom long live the king. He could be referring to David.
And it could be very true that in his own heart.
He is declaring the true king to truly live.
And to truly be preserved by God, interesting?
Right? So it could be interpreted as
Absalom Absalom interpreted that way, obviously, but it could
also be understood as David. Heralding, his loyalty to the
true king. Okay?
Now, let's come back here in verse 18, and he's shy, said to
Absalom, know for whom the Lord and thus people and all the men
of Israel have chosen his Is I will be in with him.
I will remain very interesting. You know why?
Because he's doing what he did again.
In verse 17, who shy is refusing to name names.
He's not naming any names here, but what he is doing is he's
identifying The Authority that he is submitting to buy one by
one referring to the Lord in whom.
The Lord has chosen whom the Lord, choose Absalom, David whom
the Lord has chosen, who did the Lord really choose David?
Then he goes on to say, who the people have chosen.
And again, that's very ambiguous.
He could be referring to whom the true and Discerning people
of Israel have chosen which are Would be Again, David.
And then verse 19 is where it gets a little tricky.
Verse 19 would make this possibility less possible
especially if you carry the ESV in your hands because look at
verse 19, says. And again, whom should i serve
Should it not be his son? As I served your father, so I
will serve you. Who here doesn't have any SV.
Who here has a King? James King, James who here has a
new King James? It's okay.
Who here has that nasb when any has be okay.
Is there a word that sticks out in verse 19 that you did not
hear me? Read in verse 19 of this text in
the ESV presence. Is that not?
The truth, is not the case presents.
So how does it read and reads here and those different
versions which are faithful translations as well?
He says, should I not serve in the presence of his son?
Should I not serve in the presence of his son following it
up with as I've served in your father's presence?
So I will be in your presence. I think that's an important word
to make this case. He's not indicating, I will
serve you directly but I will serve where in your presence is
it possible for him to serve in the presence of Absalom though?
Truly serving David. We can make that case.
Is it possible for him to be in the presence of Absalom but
truly seeking to honor God and righteousness?
Yes absolutely. And so the conclusion that one
can make is that who shies being intentionally ambiguous but then
one can counter that and say true.
But at the same time can we not say that he is being misleading?
And I think that's an equally valid point and when I was
looking at this and studying this what came to my mind is
something that has come up in our Bible study before in
different situations and this is the subject that we need to
consider. Again, doesn't hurt to revisit
it situational ethics, have you heard the term situation ethics
situation? Ethics teaches that?
There is no moral law. That is binding to all
Circumstances. Meaning, it requires Discerning
of the situation. To determine whether or not even
unethical means should be implemented in order to achieve
a greater good or avoid a greater evil.
Does that make sense? That's, that's the theory of
situation, ethics. And you have some people who
really hold firm to that and you have even some Christians who
might not Say that they hold to that but interpret the Bible in
that way and apply God's word and God's law in that way.
And they will use different language for.
It's not, it's not the code of the law, it's the spirit of the
law different things such as that to try to say that God's
clear word about different situations.
Cannot be rigid, there must be flexibility, depending upon the
potential outcome of one's decision.
And sometimes holding to God's law is not the best option or
the most beneficial option in seeing Something good.
Come out of it, for example. Can a man steal if he's trying
to, you know, save his starving family.
Can someone give themselves to an immoral act?
If they are being threatened with further mistreatment or
further imprisonment, And here's the most famous one, is it okay
to lie? Sometimes, if in lying, we are
protecting someone from being harmed or hurt.
Now it's now it's coming close to home, right?
And I can give you different real-life scenarios and
situations that would make this much more difficult.
To come to a conclusion. I think that's dangerous
territory to tread on very dangerous territory to the tread
on, because with our sinful Hearts, we are very capable of
pushing the boundary and what you can have people doing is
applying situation ethics to situations that are so obvious
and so clear, but in the name of this will be a greater good or
this will alleviate suffering or this will help with this.
They're willing to dismiss anything that can be purchased
interpreted as favorable or beneficial.
Very dangerous territory tread on.
And again, you have some people who hold to this view because
they hold to this View. They even wanting to honor God's
word will use proof text in the Bible to prove that sometimes in
some circumstances with some situations God does allow a
leniency with his law in order to achieve a greater good or
avoid a greater evil. Can you give me some familiar
stories that come to mind? Rahab Ray.
What did Rahab do? She brought in the spies?
She told them to go in a certain direction and then what, when
the people came to ask about them, our brother just said it,
she lied. She lied in order to protect
God's men. And where people go from, there
is even God affirms Rahab in the New Testament to confirm that
sometimes this is applicable, can I show you the two texts?
Because Raves only mentioned twice in the New Testament, as
anybody know, which texture is mentioned in.
Hebrews 11 is one where's the other one?
Yes, but I'm pertaining to what she did in.
Joshua James, go to Hebrews 11 quickly and I want you to see
Hebrews 11 31, Here is the first mention of Rahab being praised
for her faith. And this is what I said, Hebrews
11 31 by faith Rahab. The Prostitute did not perish
with those who were disobedient because she had given a
friendly. Welcome to the spies.
So she's being praised for her faith, because when the spies
came to her front door, she embrace them, she welcomed them.
And she preserve them. True.
I go to James 225. Notice what is being said,
notice what God is praising. And notice what he is omitting
James 225 the second verse dealing with Rahab in Joshua and
in the same way, was not also Rahab The Prostitute justified
by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by
another way. Okay, so in the two instances
where she is mentioned in the New Testament, we are told that
she had true faith in that she welcomed.
The spies one, number two and James.
She had true Faith because that fate had Works following it.
And what were the works that she, again, received the
messengers and then sent them out by another way.
Is there any indication that God here is commending her lying?
no, it's totally absent actually So, you see how we have to be
very careful with how we divide the word of God, and how we
interpret certain things. She is mentioned, she applauded.
She is championed. But for specific things, her
welcoming despise her, receiving the spies, and then her sending
out the spies instead of giving up the spies.
To the men in Jericho nothing about her being dishonest.
Nothing about her. Saying what's not true nothing
of the sort, okay, give me another scenario.
That is often referred to concerning this situation.
Ethics very good. The Hebrew midwives in Exodus
chapter 1, you know the story. They were instructed by Pharaoh
that when they were to help give birth in labor to the Hebrew
woman that they were to kill certain Offspring, right?
And they refused to do so. And when they refused to To do
so. And they were asked, hey, what's
going on here? Is that, you know, these Hebrew
women, they're tough, they're tough and they're really, really
fast at giving birth. So, by the time we get there, we
just can't catch up. And then we're told that God
blessed the Hebrew midwives by giving them families of Their
Own. And here's how people can
misinterpret. What's happening.
God bless them because yes they did stand for truth but they did
also have to lie in order to stand for truth.
So you can see the equation here, how it can be problematic.
But revisit Exodus 1 and go to 1:20 and see this with me.
Notice, you got to be careful reading the scriptures.
Exodus 1 verse 20, so God dealt well with the midwives and the
people multiplied and grew very strong and because the midwives
feared God, because they feared God.
He gave them families. He gave them families know some
might disagree with what I'm saying here.
Because of the fruit of their actions, right?
There was obvious blessings though they might have used
questionable means to achieve righteousness.
And we even come to shine, we realized that that the who shy
comes very cleverly, right? And I really I can sense that
he's doing the best that he can hear.
God is going to honor. God is going to honor in that.
He's going to vindicate, his servant, he's actually
overthrow. I feel First Council through who
shies presence in the courts. The way I look at it is that
just because God is silent about something doesn't mean he's
except sit, right? And just because he's quiet
doesn't mean he affirms it. so when you take all these things
into consideration, realize that the fruit coming out of it is
because of God's mercy. More than anything else, his
kindness, and his willingness to work.
Sometimes through muddied means in order to achieve something
that would glorify and honor him.
It's a merciful thing, it's not a accepting thing.
God doesn't justify dishonesty in certain situations.
He Champions Truth at all times and in all places and in all
situations, Now someone said and then they bring up certain
situations. We what would you do if and what
would you do? If what would you do if and I
get it gets really complicated and what I loo to and perhaps
you wouldn't agree with my application of is that I see the
disciples promised by God that when they were to be put in a
situation where they stand before, Governors and Kings,
they were not to meditate on what they were to say, but they
would trust the Holy Spirit would give him exactly.
What they needed to say and Trust in his spontaneous
Sovereign assistance and very difficult and complicated
moments. And there are wonderful stories
of that and Nazi Germany and other situations and other
historical places where that was the case that the Holy Spirit
somehow was able to in that moment in part A Certain with
them a way of presenting yourself and the case or the
scenario and and God got comes through.
So it's interesting right? It's interesting to see this at
play and I love how the Bible preserves this in order to show
us that through human agency. See, which means through
imperfect vessels. He often is he always is,
merciful, and kind, when we try to honor him, that's what we can
learn from her shy there. Know if he thought situational
ethics was going to come from 2nd Samuel 16, but we must move
on and we see Absalom and verse 17 and Absalom set to who shy.
Is this your loyalty to your friend?
Why did you not go out with your friend?
Now despite the verbal confession long live, the king
long live, the king NG Absalom was suspicious.
He had his reservations. And the reservations that
Absalom has here is actually praiseworthy concerning who shy,
don't you think? I love how the reference.
He gives the David is your friend twice.
Is this how you treat your friend?
Is this your loyalty to your friend?
Why didn't you go to your friend, your friend, your
friend? You know what, that tells me,
this is what it tells me that there was something about who
shies reputation in relation to David that made his current
actions and behavior out of character.
It was out of line, there's something off here and even
Absalom could pick on the out of line, kind of behavior that who
shy is demonstrating. And I think that is commendable
for who shy extremely commendable.
Because here's the picture the devotion, and the purity of his
loyalty to King. David is something that you and
I should aspire. To reflect in our devotion and
loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what I take out of it. That we should live.
So constantly Let me, let me reserve my thoughts for after
what I'm about to say. We should be so constant and so
obvious with our loyalty to Christ.
That to some degree, those of the world, even our enemies.
Should not be mistaken that we belong to the son of God.
We should orchestrate our lives in such a way that people can
realize, though. They may not agree with us, they
would at least realize and understand you really do belong
to Jesus Christ. Don't you?
You really take this man seriously your faith seriously
and I can't think of anything more disheartening than to be in
the presence of unbelievers in close proximity for a certain
amount of time. And then never learned that I
actually am a friend of Christ. That'd be so, disappointing to
me. Not that.
I would try to force anything but that if they know me close
enough, if they know about my life, my family, my schedule, my
my activities, my convictions and they can't come to the
conclusion that I have an association with Jesus Christ
that would break my heart. That would break my heart if I
was too shy in this moment. And Absalom said this to me, I
would try not to smirk. And I see this as David as a
prophetic picture of Jesus Christ.
And let me tell you, regardless of the accolades of this world,
regardless of the positions in this life and that, whatever you
can attain there is no greater badge of honor than for others
to know that you supremely are loyal to Christ.
There's nothing better than that.
Nothing better than that. And the only way you can achieve
such a place is when you are absolutely consumed with a
desire to honor the Lord, in all things, I'm afraid that Zeal is
missing in a lot of people. Zeal for God's house.
Remember Christ. It was it was told that Zeal for
your house, has consumed me you read of the psalmist in Psalm
119 that tears were streaming down his face for what reason
because they break your law. And so strive to buy the holy
spirit's help to live with an absolute ambition to honor
Christ. In all things in all ways, Don't
Be Afraid, don't be shy, don't be timid.
Don't be don't be intimidated by anybody about anything,
especially when it comes to your Devotion to Christ.
And what he has said in his word, He's Worthy.
You know what? Thought came to mind?
You might think it's not relevant, but I thought about
it. Do you want to know?
Or do you know the first category of people that will be
thrown into hell? According to revelation, Right.
Revelation 21 tells us that out of the list of people who will
be thrown into the Lake of Fire. The first thing that is
mentioned, are the Cowardly The Cowardly, not the murderer.
Not the deceiver, not the sexual moral, not the greedy.
Not the Pervert, the Cowardly now.
That is not speaking about those who are who have a disposition
of being timid. Or a little bit lower in tune,
concerning their personality, the Cowardly, those who, when
they come to a decision to either honor Christ or honor
manner, honor of choose man or self.
Those are the people who are listed first as being condemned
for eternity, the Cowardly, don't be a coward.
Be courageous for Christ, stand for Christ, no matter what it
costs you. I don't care what the cost is.
Christ is worthy of honor. He is worthy of honor.
Be willing to lose friends. Be willing to lose family, be
willing to lose your job, be willing to lose whatever you
have to lose. That's how much Christ is
Worthy. And I want to be his friend.
His shine makes his case Absalom lets his guard down, and he
allows them into his courts. And before we explore why, his
doubts were so quickly, evaporated reminded here of ziba
and David, I couldn't help, but make the connection.
Why was David deceived by ziba? Because of two things, who
remembers the two things. One, he was emotionally wounded
and that played a role and we are susceptible to making ill
judgments when we have been wounded in one way or another,
especially by other people. And so after being wounded by
one betrayal and one active distressed after the other, when
the news came of another potential betrayal, he was just
willing to absorb it and believe it emotional wound.
Secondly, what was the second thing?
Physically deficient he was drained.
He was tired. It was a difficult day.
And we also learn in different examples of the Bible, that,
when we are in that place of being weak, we can also make bad
judgments. We are foggy in our discernment,
in our decision-making, abilities.
But Absalom is willing to believe who shy, not because he
was emotionally feeble, not because he was physically
depleted, and no way, no shape, no form, obviously. but what
wizard that contributed to his willingness to literally invite
The very thing that would lead to his downfall, any idea.
There was something occupying absalom's heart that made him
vulnerable to something that would actually be his very
detriment. If you want the answer, you're
going to be surprised of what reference I'm going to give you
Obadiah. When's the last time you were
told to turn to Obadiah. Obadiah, 1:3, Obadiah 1, verse
3, and you're going to get your answer. and when you're, when
you get there just Declare what you believe to be the answer
concerning Absalom? Who said it?
Did you hear it? What did what did the prophet
say concerning the people of Edom?
the if your heart is deceived you, he told that to a nation,
And prize relevant to the individual.
As much as it is to a nation and the fate of both is the same in
Adventureland inevitable downfall.
The pride of your heart has deceived you was Absalom a proud
man, there's no doubt about it, extremely proud and here's how
proud he was that when Housh I came forward with this
ambiguous. Presentation.
He automatically applied and assumed that he was speaking
about him. And he took one who shines said
and acknowledge himself in it, when we know that, it could very
well be something. Here's the lesson that you and I
can learn concerning this pride has away.
Of telling you about you and about others.
Something that is untrue. Pride, lies to you.
Pride exaggerate things to you Pride, Miss translates and
misinterprets events. And everything in between.
And that is precisely What's Happening Here with this man.
He interprets his eyes Words As for himself.
And here's the, here's the, the series, the sequence of what
Pride does, it begins with high fonts of yourself and those
thoughts of yourself create a belief system.
And that belief system again, makes you believe is about you.
About even God about things around you about how things play
out about other individuals. And then because you believe
that, if you believe that long enough you in that leave system,
end up inviting things into your life that end up destroying you.
And sometimes that discipline can come directly from God
because of like the edomites. They thought of themselves as
lofty and indestructible and nobody can penetrate their
Fortress. And God said, I'm going to deal
with you and show you how I can do it.
Or God will just allow the foolishness of your own Pride to
destroy whatever you think you can preserve by your might buy
your beauty by your gift, by your charisma.
And so Absalom here because of his pride opens the door for an
enemy to come in. It's quite frightening to
realize that. And so, living presence of the
Lord. Spill your heart out.
Glory constantly asked him to keep you long.
Ask him to keep his the scariest thing about deception as you
don't know, you're being deceived That's the nature of
deception. It's very difficult for somebody
to realize, I'm deceived right now.
The whole, the whole thing about deception is you think you're
right? You think you're in the right,
you think you're headed the right way?
And so stay low, stay close, stay under the word.
Stay in the presence of the Lord, stay with people in your
life that are not afraid to. Look at you and say brother and
call you out sister and say something to you.
But there's something else at play here.
Absalom. And one way is being deceived.
He's being tricked. Do you remember how Absalom?
Got his revenge against his half-brother amnion.
What did he do? He deceived them, he invited him
for what he said, would be a feast.
And he had his brother killed when he was supposed to be
celebrating with him and his brothers.
The Bible has a phrase about this whatever men's Souls that
he will also reap. This meant the seed somebody and
had him kill through the deception.
And now we have somebody coming to him cloaked and it will be
his death sentence. It's incredible.
How you see this play out. It's actually frightening to see
house. Housos precise, God is in.
Fulfilling his promises the laws that he is established in our
universe. This is what we learned from
Absalom right now. We come to our final characters,
a name that you've heard before. It's someone that you're
familiar with at this point of the story.
But for the first time, you're actually going to see and hear
his words, you've never heard from him, you never, you never
seen what he was saying, or how he thinks, but you've seen his
name, and you've seen his actions but now his mouth will
open. And that's what we see here in
verse 20. Then Absalom said that he felt
full, that's the person were speaking of he said to Annie
filfil, give your counsel What shall we do?
And he felt for said to Absalom, go into your father's concubines
whom he has left to keep the house and all Israel will hear
that you have made yourself a stench to your father and the
hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.
So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, by the way,
where did everything begin for? David's downfall?
On the roof. I wonder if it's the very same
roof. Whenever a man Souls that he
will also reap. On the roof and Absalom went
into his father's. Concubines in the sight of all
Israel. Okay.
Absalom very ambitious. His heart is inflamed, he wants
to secure his throne as quickly as possible and so he doesn't
hesitate to turn to I feel full and he asked this praise
consulted of the Kingdom. What do I got to do next without
skipping a beat and he focuses, take your father's concubines
and sleep with them and do it in such a way where everybody knows
about it, right? Let it be something that the
nation. Earns.
Now, at first, if you're unfamiliar with what's happening
here, you would think that this is a very strange, very, very
strange military strategy. What does this have to do with
anything and as absurd as it might be?
It's actually very political. It's not just, it's not just an
act of Revenge, it's actually very much a strategy because you
remember at one point in this study of our body, of our Bible
and the Book of second Samuel, we learn at one point that in
this time when In a kingdom would be transferred to another
kingdom or when a king would succeed.
Another one part of that would be the Trent of the previous
Kings Haram over to the new king because unfortunately all the
property including concubines people.
Would be now spoil or would be transferred over to a new
government. And so what you have going on
here is a statement and the statement is this by taking
David's concubines, Absalom was declaring that a Revolution was
here and that there is a new figure, there is a new what a
new King on the throne. So that is what you that is what
You observe. That is what you're seeing here.
That this is a statement of a grab of power.
All of this is now mine. And it was really a point of no
return. This was kind of like a signing
off. This is a very bold bold, bold
move made by Absalom At the same time.
Think about it. We know that God does not
condone this kind of practice, despite the cultural practices
of the day. God does not promote this kind
of behavior, especially in sense, because that's what it
is. And so with that into
consideration, we have to we have to rethink about Eiffels
advice here. It makes you wonder that despite
how familiar these actions were to the kingdoms and the Nations
and the civilizations and the empires of that time.
If there is something personal in all of this, There is.
Actually, you would be safe to say that I felt was probably
going to get more gratification out of this than Absalom one.
Why would we make that conclusion because you have the
background? Knowledge of who I felt full is?
Don't you? Who is he He is the grandfather
of Bathsheba. That's what you learn.
At the end of the book of second Samuel, you learned that and he
fell for was related to Bathsheba it because he was
raided the related to Bathsheba. It helps us solve the mystery of
why this man joined Absalom. His heart is absolutely plagued
with bitterness. And In This Moment, he saw, I'm
sure he saw some kind of satisfaction. and being able to
witness, Some of David's woman being violated on the very same
roof, perhaps, with David saw Bathsheba took her for himself.
Is that possible? Absolutely.
Can unforgiveness drive a man to such Unthinkable unimaginable?
Behavior. Imagination entertainment.
You better believe it. And this is what we see.
We see a man here, who is unhinged?
We see a man here, who is given completely and totally to his
offense. And personal offense is one of
Satan's favorite doors to put his foot in and to crack wide
open so that he can have his way through through a person.
This man will be literally driven to Suicide.
We're going to read that in the coming weeks, but for now, we
see somebody that we never thought would stoop so low.
And what you have to understand then is that Those who are given
over to offense or bitterness. Our candidates.
For personal catastrophe and catastrophe and other people's
lives and it can come from what we see in our.
He felt was life when you have a family member that has been
sinned against or that has been violated or that has been hurt.
And you just vowed Vengeance. You did this to my brother.
You did this to my mother, you did this to my husband, you did
this to my wife. I will live with the absolute
ambition to make sure that you pay a price.
There's people like that. and there's people who can be
offended not by something as scandalous as this, but by,
Challenge. By rebuked by correction.
And they can Harbor things in their own hearts and that
Blossom, it is something that they never thought could be true
of themselves. Can I ask you a random question?
May seem random but it's not Why did Judas betray Jesus?
Humanly speaking. I know there's prophecy.
I know that God's providential plan was at work through Judas.
Humanly speaking. Say that again, money was one
thing. And here's the thing, we do not
know for sure. There is no certain answer to
this and you have different theories about it.
Can I give you one theory that you probably never heard of?
I thought it was a strange theory that Judas in wanting to
see Jesus, fulfill his political messiahship to ushering in the
Kingdom, that they were all longing for.
Cause this whole thing too, To happen in order to force a
rebellion from Jesus and his following strange
interpretation. But I believe humanly speaking.
There are many ingredients that contributed to it.
One of them, we just heard. He was very greedy.
Very Covetous. Any other reasons you think that
Judas betrayed Jesus? Pride.
Why would you say Pride? Okay.
So there's a pride element to that will explore that further
in a moment. That's another strong one.
Could it be that Judas at some point?
Realize This is not the Messiah that I thought the Messiah would
be. And here you have, you have
Jesus constantly talking about now, him dying being given over
to the hand of the elders. Messiah dying that doesn't work,
right? And so we have two strong
points, right? We have the greed element
because we know he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
We have the element of him being disappointed, where he learned
probably registered. This is not who I thought this
man was supposed to be in. This is not what I signed up
for. So let me get out of this while
I can and this is the perfect time because you have people who
want him dead. I really like money so I can
just sell him, get out of this thing and get out of it with
something. And I think those are very
strong valid conclusions. There's a potential other
ingredient. That's not often spoken of, and
where it comes from again. It's not dogmatic.
It's not for certain is not established as a non-negotiable
interpretation, but it's an ingredient that comes from the
Bible that stems from the timing of when Judas implemented his
initial plan to betray Jesus. Go to Matthew 26.
Matthew 26. In Matthew 26, I want us to
start in verse 14. This is where we learn What
Judas? Was known for.
We read here in verse 14 and then one of the twelve whose
name was Judas. Iscariot went to the chief
priests and said, what will you give me?
If I deliver him over to you and they paid him 30 pieces of
silver. And from that moment, he saw an
opportunity to betray him. Right?
There's a very important word in verse, 14.
Can you guess what? It is then?
Because that word hinges, what happened before with What's
Happening Here? What happened before?
What was it that occurred before Judas?
Or perhaps even inspired, Judas or triggered Judas to go and
seek opportunity to or at least a plan to betray?
Yes. The breaking of the alabaster
flask what happened, in the breaking of the alabaster flask.
We know the story very well. Mary of Bethany comes as an act
of worship. She takes her most expensive.
Ointment cracks it open pores it on Jesus head, and who's there
to criticize her. But we're told here, scroll back
and look at verse 8 and when the disciples saw it, when the
disciples saw it, they were indignant saying, why this waste
for this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the
poor. But Jesus aware of this said to
them. Why do you trouble the woman
for? She has done a beautiful thing
to me for you always have the poor with you but you will not
always have me. And pouring, this ointment on my
body, she has done it to prepare for burial.
Again, that might be Judaism, burial cave, talking about this
death thing. I'm not very happy with.
It could be, truly I say to you. Wherever this gospel is
proclaimed in the whole world. What she has done will also be
told in memory of her. I find that one of the most
astounding statements that Jesus makes in the gospels.
What this woman has done will be accompanied with the gospel
message. How often do you hear of Mary of
Bethany when the gospel is being taught?
Very interesting, right? It makes more sense.
Now, when we look at because after this, we're told in verse
14, then one of the twelve whose name was Judas goes into trees,
okay, go to John 12 and look at the perspective of John Matthew
Mark, Luke John when you come to John chapter 12 again this
record is here preserved for us but with a different detail.
Verse three. Married therefore took a pound
of expensive, ointment made from Pure nard and anointed the feet
of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.
The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume but
Judas Iscariot Judas. Iscariot one of his disciples he
who was about to betray him said why was this ointment not sold
for three hundred denarii and given to the poor.
So who's the main voice here of complaint, it's Judas.
In fact, he's the instigator. He's the one who cracks this
thing open, and I believe he's the one that inflames the other
disciples to begin to complain and criticize.
Listen, complaining is like the common cold, it's very
contagious. It's very contagious murmuring
accusations pulling up the - and things that that's so easy, and
it's very, very much contagious. Even among Christians.
So Judas is the one who speaks up he goes.
This is a waste and you have the other disciples according to
Matthew's gospel saying, yeah, this is a waste John highlights
Judas. And then he by the spirit
reassures is that he's not doing this for the righteous reasons.
Or righteous reasonings, at least.
What do we learn? He said this in verse 6, not
because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and
having charge of the money back, he used to help himself to what
was put into it. So this was not a misguided
thing that Judas was a was upset about, this was a missed
opportunity for Judas. That perfume was very expensive
and in giudices mind if that was just given over to him.
Because we are told here, the next verse, excuse me, we're
totally on this verse that. We just read that he was a
treasure of Jesus ministry. He was the one who took in all
the donations and count it and distributed it, you how to spend
it and knew how to give it out to the poor, he was assigned
that position. The treasurer of Jesus ministry.
But we are told that he would help himself to some of those
donations. And what he saw here was a large
sum that could have been given and a great opportunity to make
more personal profit. So Judas here is very upset and
I think the disciples can understand why he's upset
because again, of his position The giftedness that he
apparently had was administrative.
And so, you see this man upset that there was a wasted
opportunity to wasted charitable donation to the ministry of
Jesus. But look, what happens verse 7.
Jesus said, leave her alone. Who is he speaking to?
According to this context, who is he speaking to Judas?
Jesus said, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day
of my burial for the poor. You always have with you, but
you don't always have me if you connect.
What's happening here with the timeline of Matthew.
Then what you have is Judas, who openly speaks, and who is openly
rebuked. and once he is corrected by Jesus, For his
wrong attitude, and his wrong perspective, Matthew tells us
that then one of the twelve goes to the chief priest.
I'm not saying, again, this is for certain, I'm not saying this
is conclusive. I'm just asking you to
potentially consider this ingredient among the other
obvious ingredients of why Judas betrayed, Jesus.
The timeline suggest that after he was openly corrected by the
Lord. All right.
You want to do that to me? And he finds the chief priest.
I wonder how much of personal offense played in.
The evil scheme of Judas. To betray the son of God.
I wonder if there was one ingredient among the other
ingredients and if it is the case, notice my wording.
If it is the case, if that is true, if that did play A Part,
then what a lesson about offense, How it has the
capability of driving us to places to decisions to ways of
thinking that are absolutely destructive?
And so many ways? And they can come from things
like a he fell for were a great crime was committed against
someone you love. And it can also come from when a
faithful person in your life. Speaks up for something that is
obviously wrong, but you just didn't like it.
Satan loves this kind of Open Door and what's so disturbing
about Judas? If again, if that is the case,
if that is an ingredient in this complicated matter and this not
so obvious. Reason of, why Judas did what he
did apart from what we know from prophecy and God's Sovereign
will over. These matters is that Jesus was
perfect. Jesus is sinless, everything
that Jesus did and everything, that Jesus said it was in
perfect alignment with the will and the character of the father
and if personal offense, if Being stung by loving rebuke is
a part of this. Then it teaches something.
How you feel, doesn't justify your actions.
Right. There are many people who do
certain things or behave in certain ways or make certain
decisions because of feelings. This made me feel a certain way.
This made me feel like this or not like that.
And so this is why I did this and this is why I'm going there.
This is a Your feelings don't matter as much as truth.
What is truth? What is true in this situation?
No matter what it does to you no matter how flares you up?
No matter what consequences follow is it true is what Jesus
said, true Judas. Some people justify things in
their minds. And they try to justify to
others when it really stems from selfishness and pride.
Ego being wounded. Which brings us perfectly to the
ending of our studying 2nd Samuel 16.
Let's go to the last verse of this chapter In verse 23, we
didn't read it, but we'll read it now.
After and he fulfilled gave this Council to Absalom.
There's a commentary about his advice generally, that is quite
interesting. Now, in those days, the council
that he fell for gave was as if one consulted the word of God.
So, was all the counsel of a he thoughtful is steam both by
David and Absalom. Can you think about anybody in
your life? That has such a reputation that
every time you speak to them, it's as though their word is as
trustworthy as God's word is. That is astounding. and it's not
just saying that Absalom had that view even David esteemed
and he fulfills advice as such there was something so
authoritative insightful. Profitable effective about his
past Council, obviously, that it was esteem that he had this
amazing reputation and yet with this reputation, you come to
this point where he gives advice to Absalom, and it's so contrary
to God's heart. And you look at this and you
wonder, right? You wonder if this is an
exaggeration that people had you wonder if Absalom and David saw
this about a heath offal And esteemed him for a time.
But now, as we read this at this point because of the bitterness,
that's occupying his heart, his counsel can be seen as very
questionable and very untrustworthy, meaning he just
went sour. Something happened along the
line, and it's obviously due to his sin.
Whatever the case, maybe here's the point that you and I can
apply to our own lives. Great Men, great resources, even
great Ministries. That might have bless us at one
point, the might be praised by others are not your ultimate
Authority. They're not.
God's word. Forever.
His word. Indoors for the ages.
This is what you fall upon. This is what you refer to.
This is what you ultimately submit to God's word and he felt
was will come and go but God's word remains forever.
And that's what you have to understand.
Right? Because I meet some Christians,
I meet some believe is good-hearted Believers and the
way they interpret the Bible and the way they apply certain
things in life and Ministry is this way well so-and-so.
And they refer to a very well-known minister.
So-and-so says that so-and-so believes that so-and-so
interprets that and that is the that is the case closed for
them. I think it is, it's important to
seek the advice and the council and the commentaries of others.
But when something is clearly violating, what is playing in
the Bible, you go with the Bible.
I know this is simple, but you'd be amazed to know how many
people who Champion the word of God, whose Sola scriptura,
right? And at the same time, the reason
why I, where they are in their theological framework and their
personal walk with the Lord is completely orchestrated by
somebody who has certain letters behind their name or certain
popularity on YouTube. That's not the way you go about
your walk with the Lord. You come to the Bible and you
reflect everything that is said, preach taught blogged about Is
it written? Is it written?
And at the same time, may also say that there are some people
that might have blessed you and that you might have seen that
one point. It's not a surprise.
If they do end up failing you for disappointing, you Or
veering off into different beliefs or perverting the
scriptures in different ways. At some later time in life, it
happened to a he filfil been to preachers and ministers today.
What do you do? You stick to the word of God,
you stick to the God, who doesn't change?
You put your hope your love, your adoration, your trust in
him, not in the people that come and go. and so, even though I
felt was Council was esteemed in such a manner, oh, he is He is
coming down. Headfirst and unless the mercy
of God intervenes, he will crash and he will burn.
And those who follow him, also Crash and Burn.
And so, it seems as though, I felt from Absalom are winning at
this point, but there are still a chapter 17, and there's still
a chapter 18, and we will learn many, many wonderful things.
And if you want to know how trustworthy God's word is, Then
you know that what is happening here?
Although we are getting the human vantage point is actually
God's word being fulfilled. What do you mean?
What did Nathan tell David when he initially confronted about
his sin? Let me remind you go to chapter
12 and this is where we'll end. Nathan prophesied and 12:11.
Thus says, the Lord behold I will raise up evil against you
out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your
eyes and give them to your neighbor and he shall lie with
your wives in the sight of the Sun.
God's word is always true. You know what's funny here?
Much time has passed from Nathan's prophetic word to the
actual fulfillment, as what we see in absolute.
Remember, it took many years for for Absalom to wait to kill em
and then even more years for him to wait before he usurped
authority of his father years, have gone by seemingly making
Nathan's word unfulfilled but here we are.
God's word is true. Though, it may be delayed.
It is true. And the same way people are very
indifferent about the truth of God's coming, judgment.
It's true. and all might be fine and dandy though may be more
difficult to say that now in this time of History, But no
matter what is happening and how promising things look and no
matter what candidate seems to be our nation's Messiah.
God's calendar. God's word supersedes over at
all. And it will ultimately determine
all the events that you and I are walking through in this
life. Christian.
If there's anything you took out of this Bible study, is this
God's word? God's word, God's word, God's
word, love it. Learn it preach it.
And by his grace livid, let's pray.
Well, we do love your word. and we do ask Laura with the things
that we've heard today that you would you would change us.
Well, we heard before the service even began that your
precepts, make us wiser. Wiser than the age wiser than
our teachers, wiser than those who claim human wisdom.
We pray o God that we would not be foolish enough to hear these
things and not ask you to show them where they work and where
they're supposed to work in US. Oh Lord.
If there is unforgiveness in any heart, may we not think that we
can tame it. By thinking that we can leave it
in our thoughts without it permeating, our actions, our
decisions. Our attitudes, Lord dig deep
inside and uproot these things and set us free set us
completely free Lord. And Lord make our hearts, make
our hearts rock-solid to not be so easily, moved by the failures
of others. Lord, we ask that in difficult
times. Where we don't know what to do
in order to see a greater good, give us wisdom, wisdom of the
spirit to know how to move forward.
That would best glorify you and best benefit, man.
And Lord, we pray as we heard. That you would make us.
So passionately loyal to you. That even the world would be
able to say your friend of him, aren't you?
You belong to him, you're a Christian.
Lord, May Our Lives speak and testify of that.
Lord. We just pray that regardless of
what men say regardless of what resources claim, anything to
know your word and to follow your word.
Regardless of what's popular regardless of who says what?
Lord give us the minds and the hearts to understand your
perfect. Will we want to be in your will?
Regardless of, who is a part from him?
And outside of it though, we sing to you now because our
hearts are full. Our hearts are full and knowing
that much more of who you are through this Bible, and through
this particular chapter that has been disclosed and open to us.
We rejoice in your goodness And We Praise Your Great Name in
Jesus name. We pray.
Amen. Amen.
Let's stand in. Bless him, shall we let stand in
honor of the Lord?