Eager to go into the Bible with you.
Second Samuel chapter 2 is where we were last time together and
we were at verse 12 before we stopped and so, let's meet
together at verse 12 of chapter 2 of second Samuel, And our
brother just prayed. But why don't we pray one more
time as we have the word of God opened before us.
O Lord, we thank you. We thank you for the word.
We love your word, it is our Delight.
It is our joy, it is sweet to the taste.
It is strength to the bones. We thank you Lord, that it is
the window by which we can see you.
It is your invitation for us to know you.
And Lord, we just sit at your feet today as a family.
And we just ask Lord, as this is a study that you would help us
learn of you about you and I Lord it would get into our blood
so that we can live like you and we can answer the call that you
have for us in this text. We ask Lord that there would be
a special touch when the power of the Holy Spirit Upon Our
Hearts. We thank you Lord.
That these doors are open every Friday night.
We bless you. By your grace Lord, one service
a week is not enough we long for more of you.
Oh God and we are blessed by a people who want to gather
together to receive from your voice.
We give you all glory and thanks in Jesus name.
Amen. The most profitable thing that
you and I can do before we continue in this chapters to try
to understand. Where we are at this point in
this story before completing this chapter.
So let's recollect, what we learned last week.
Let's summarize him Saul died, he's no longer on the scene,
David becomes king, he is Anointed by certain men from a
certain tribe. Namely the tribe of Judah, his
own people and so they recognize and acknowledge Him and they
they clothed him with their approval that you are indeed,
God's anointed You will become our King.
Now, unfortunately, David is not King over all of Israel and from
the human standpoint. The reason for that is because
there is another man who had a different agenda.
His name was Abner, he was related to saw, he was the
commander of his army and realizing that his position was
threatened because of David's exaltation, he takes saws, last
son, the remaining son, the living son, because the other
ones died in battle ish. But chef and Him and allures,
the rest of the tribes to be convinced that he is the right,
heir to the throne. And so what you have here is
Abner using a spaceship as a puppet to really satisfy his own
ambition. And this is in a way, declaring
war on the dynasty of David. This is a resistance to God's
plan and Abner knew that himself.
This is not because he cared about Sol's name.
This is not because he wanted Al's descendants to be honored.
This was because he had a desire of his own and I want to prove
that to you very briefly go to chapter 3 in the Bible.
And look at verse 6 of second Samuel to you.
Scroll down to verse 6 of chapter 3, what do you read
while there was war between the house of Saul?
And the House of David Abner was making who making himself strong
in the house of Saul. So this man was so consumed with
self. That he was even willing to make
ishka Chef King, but he was really trying to keep his
position. He was trying to nurture his
pride, his Prosperity, his name. And so with that background as
our context, we come now to verse 12 to understand what will
take place between these two kings, what is going to happen.
And as I personally studied these verses that will Conclude
chapter 2, I could not help but realize there is a threat of a
theme and it is intensely practical and the theme.
Really is the great need for wisdom that despite your
strengths and my abilities and your way of thinking and my
cleverness, no matter what would be even positive no matter what
our efforts might even be towards even if it's towards
ministering God's work, if wisdom is not there to To guide
us to lead us to instruct us. We are setting ourselves up for
great failure and many ways. And you will see that and
different illustrations in this portion of our Bible study, it
is going to be intensely practical, but that is what our
faith is. And so we come to this verse and
the first thing I want to mention concerning wisdom is
this. Wisdom encourages us to be on
guard at all times. That's the first thought there's
four total in this study. The first one is this wisdom
teaches us to be on guard? Not sometimes, not when it's
dangerous. Not when the devil's right at
your front door, but at all times to be alert, let's read in
verse 12 Abner, the son of nerve and the Servants of ishka, the
son of Saul went out from mahatmyam to gibeon.
I enjoyed the son of Zechariah and the Servants of David went
out and met them at the pool of gibeon, and they sat down the
one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side
of the pool. What's Happening Here Abner?
The son of Nur is making his way and towards a certain direction
and his movements here should not be seen as casual.
They're not shot. Be seen as non suspicious,
they're actually extremely suspicious.
And the reason why is because headquarters for Saul was man
named we learned that in the former versus we learned that
here. Back in verse verse 8, that the
end of it that mahanaim was where he put ishka shot and
where their headquarters was he Leaving headquarters and he's
actually heading towards Judean territory.
This is concerning enough for David to call his commander, and
his army, joab, and a few of his men to go and to see what Abner
was up to. He wants him to bring back news
to learn what it is that he is doing in his neighborhood.
And what's incredible here is that Abner making this kind of
move is declaring something. What he is trying to show here
is that he is hungry for all of Israel.
He already has a majority of the tribes by his side.
The only tribe that's really not on his side is Judah and Abner
is so ambitious that he is convinced that he can actually
make way to overthrow David and to bring Judah on his side.
You see when the Abner made this decision to make a special King,
he essentially declared war on David.
That's in verse 1 of chapter 3. Look at it again.
There was a long war between the house of Saul and the House of
David. So in that seven year and six
months period, while David was King over Hebron in Judah, there
is a war between the house of Saul and the House of David and
he's making his way to try to planning somehow.
Way to usurp The Authority that God has placed in his servant
David. Now what do you learn from this?
I believe Abner's ambition here. His attitude is a wonderful
reflection of the ambition that sin has in the life of a
believer. The flesh is never satisfied
with only having part of you. The lust of the flesh, the pride
of life. The things that God says no to
want to dominate you and I and that varies for all of us, but
one thing is for certain sin longs to kill you. sin longs to
Veer you off the will of God completely, not partially but
completely And what we see with Abner here is that he was not
satisfied with 11 tribes. He wanted all of them and sin
has the same attitude for you individually, and not just on an
individual scale, but on a macro level, Sin longs to corrupt
everything. If you want proof of that, just
take a peek down history and realize that with every major
invention with with every scientific development, somehow
it is corrupted by evil. That is true politically that is
true technologically. That is true scientifically with
everything that we develop as the human race, since somehow
comes in and seeks to hijack. It for the devil's purposes,
everything about it. Everything we come up, we
discovered these chemicals, and these things, and what we make
nuclear bombs, why? We have the ability to
communicate with somebody across the world and instead now the
internet has 30, something percent of its downloads and
visits on website to be pornographic.
And so what you see here is that there is an infiltration of sin
and anything in anything, from an individual level to even a
global level. And when I find fascinating is
that this is a good place to mention, how Satan is not
satisfied with only having control of part of the world.
Satan is not satisfied, just to having China being communist.
Satan is not satisfied. Making the gospel difficult to
share in the Middle East. If Satan has his way, he would
love to turn this lovely nation into a wasteland.
And that's what he's been trying to do.
And we have to understand here. That what we experienced in the
past two years was not a simple experiment of political
overreach. As I said earlier, it was a
slick attempt. This might shock you welcome to
Bible say. It has been a slick attempt from
the evil one to try to render the church ineffective.
Now that might be hard for you to believe if you don't have a
Biblical worldview, but if you have a Biblical worldview, then
you understand that we don't war against flesh and blood.
We wrestle against principality. Cosmic Powers Spiritual Beings
and demons are not just interested in possessing bodies
and making them do strange things.
They are sophisticated. They create doctrines and
teachings, they hate the idea of freedom.
They hate the idea of there being access to the gospel so
easily. And so, what you and I saw Was a
great bold attempt from the evil one to try to shut down the
church. Oh yeah.
And it was very clever because it looked like a Health crisis
so look like everything blended with it.
But I want to say this just because things are quiet now.
If you and I do not learn from what we saw in the past two
years, we will not be prepared for what's coming down the pike.
I'm telling you, let me say this and I'm going to try not to
raise my voice. I get very passionate sometimes
most of the churches of sleep. Most of the church in the west
is asleep. They're asleep in the light and
they have reduced the Christianity to one Sunday.
And let me get out of here, so I can clear my conscience.
I have things to do after the service.
I have my own plans, I had my own agendas, I'm not
interesting, you don't even realize that in your lifetime,
you won't be able to go to church even once a week.
You won't have those freedoms, you won't have those luxuries
and so we have to see the writing on the wall.
We have to understand that as we believe that these are signs of
the end of the age, Hebrews tells us that as you see the day
Drawing Near you don't meet less, he says encourage one
another and meet even more. And and so I'm really concerned
generally speaking of the indifference and the lack of
alertness from many many believers who don't realize as
one court has been shared so many times.
It's not my own normal is not coming back, Jesus is that's the
difference. And so we have to I don't mean
to go into tension. I'm trying to come back to this.
But we have to understand here,
is that there is an agenda. There is an agenda.
And just as much as there are Servants of God in this life and
in this generation in this world, there are agents of Satan
That have the complete opposite goal that we do.
They want to accelerate what the Antichrist wants to do and that
is to dominate this world to bring worship away from God, and
to himself, and Laura, as many Souls into, the depths of hell,
is she can? So we come back to this and I
want to say though, we do not have remember our first point.
Wisdom Keeps Us alert at all times though.
We do not have as much ability to protect the streams of life
from being poisoned. We do have a call from God to be
responsible for that, which he has entrusted to us and that is
the Temple of the Holy Spirit. That's you and I individually.
And that is the local church that God has called us to be a
part of and our attitude towards the relentless Pursuit of the
evil, one should be the same of David's.
What is David doing verse 13? When he when he learns these are
early signs that he is going to be a wonderful King over Israel.
When he learns that, there is strange Behavior coming from
Abner. He sends joab because he seems
to have a great intelligence agency.
He sends job early on before, there's any obvious threat or
danger to be able to study and see what is actually happening.
And to prevent he's acting preemptively, here he is, he's
coming with an awareness on his radar.
That there is something potentially dangerous here, and
we want to stop it in its larvae form.
We want to stop at as early as possible.
Before Abner comes into Judah into have-nots and creates Havoc
that will be much more difficult to control than if we just come
at this point. Here's what I want to say.
A true soldier of Jesus Christ. A true soldier of Jesus Christ.
Is a watchful Christian. They are constantly on guard.
It's not, they don't become spiritual on Sunday.
They don't get, they don't get, oh, they don't become aware of
God. And his word, and work, doesn't
just turn on. And off one day a week, they're
constantly having the radar on And there are strengthened and
they are nourished, and they're watching.
And they are seeking and they are there they are armed at all
times. And that's exactly what David is
doing here. He's not waiting for date for
Abner to cause trouble. He wants to even prevent the
trouble to even begin with. And what does that look like for
the Christian? Because we have a different war
is not against flesh and blood. But what does it look like our
main enemy is sin? Our main enemy is the Flesh and
what that looks like. If I can give practical Insight,
is that when a Believer identifies a common thought
pattern and he knows that it's wrong.
And he knows that it's entertaining sin that believer
doesn't just allow his thoughts to wander where the he sees the
potential direction that this is going into and he stops it at
the, but he deals with the, he faces it when he sees and Feels
that his emotions begin to provoke and cause unrighteous
Behavior. He deals with it right there at
the emotional level. When that believer sees that the
crowd that I'm in and the crowd that I'm with is now removing me
from relishing and spiritual things and is now dominating the
things of God. A my desires of my Pursuits, I'm
going to do something about it early on they act preemptively
they act before Things become disastrous.
They are able See pass? What's may seem innocent on the
surface and see the actual harm that it can produce.
If that was true of many Believers, there would be a lot
less remorse in their lives a lot, less counseling meetings.
Because like David, they are playing it safe, they see the
subtle activity, that identify it and they take measures to
face it before. It gains more ground over your
will, over your mind, over your resources, over your
relationships and David's vigilance.
Here is a wonderful example of how to be on guard giving you
Vision seeing the potential Hazard of these things that may
seem harmless at the beginning which brings us to our second
Point. Wisdom is not just The necessity
to being alert at all times, it takes into account future.
Consequences of present. Compliances wisdom takes into
account future consequences of present compliances.
Where do I get that from? Look at verse 14.
Here's the scene. You have Abner with his men and
they are sitting at this large pool, maybe a well, you have job
in his men, sitting on the other side and look what Abner does?
He breaks the silence. She says to joab.
Let the young man arise and compete before us.
And job said, let him arise. Abner has some goal here, mind.
Right? And so he seized the opportunity
and he says, let them compete some translations say, let them
play. And the Hebrew word has
different shades of meaning, depending on its context.
That word can be used when David played instruments, played
instruments before the Lord, that word was also used when
Samson was apprehended by the Philistines and when they
realize that they got Enemy Number One, they wanted him to
come out and entertained. Um it's the same Hebrew word and
there was laughing and mocking their their scorning him as he
was almost like a clown and acting as though he was just
think for them and humiliation. When we come to this word here,
when he says, let the young man arise in compete before us, it's
almost as though he is calling them to have some kind of a
match to prove which side is stronger.
He's not he's not he's not looking to initiate a bloodbath
at this point. What he's really wanting to do
is is to make a statement by creating less casualties to say
look at look at us. We prevailed over David and to
convince somehow through that that they should join his side
because David side is inferior. They are weaker.
And so that's what he is proposing here and regardless of
the motive. One thing is for certain.
Abner is the aggressor Abner's the one trying to stir the nest
Abner's the one who wants to kind of cause trouble joab is
not entertaining as he's not initiating this but
unfortunately, we're job failed was where he complied he hears
this and instead of rejecting the senseless idea.
He actually B. He says, okay, let them arise
now listen, it doesn't take much intellect to realize that when
you have two opposing people coming to some kind of a
wrestling match that that's going to fuel the tension.
This isn't a friendly competition here.
This is a way of flexing your muscle at the expense of young
men who are going to become casualties for no reason.
But job here, gives in and my question is, why job why would
you do this? And if you've studied jobs life
before if you've studied this text before, you know what kind
of character is job was tough job was relentless, he was
ruthless. Actually he was a never backed
down kind of fellow and so when this was proposed this challenge
is brought before him those who know job say, okay, it's kind of
we kind of saw this coming yet. He's going to give into this and
he does. But for what reason?
Remember job is the commander of David's Army Abner's the
commander of Saul Sons Army. I wonder if job feels
threatened. I wonder if job wants to make a
point. I wonder if Joy type here is
allowing his pride to override. His reason, you want to
challenge me and my men, huh? Okay, let us move it.
Guys, get up and he's selected 12 of his vast and Abner did the
same. And they went at it, and it
didn't last very long, before swords were taken out, and they
thrust it in each other's sides and twenty four young men, And
I'd for no reason. And I look at this and I see
jobs failure to take the higher road to take the higher Road.
Because of that, there would be an open door for Unnecessary
tragedy. What do you and I learned?
This is remember, this is intensely practical tonight.
We want to be Servants of God. We want to be effective, we want
to testimonies to shine bright. We want to be used by God.
Well, then understand this wisdom takes into account future
consequences of present compliances and so here's a word
from the book of wisdom and proverbs in Proverbs 1714.
Here's what this verse says. And Proverbs 17:14 the
beginning. Of strife.
Is like letting out water. So, quit before the quarrel
breaks out. The beginning of strife is like
letting out water, so quit before quarrel breaks out.
So what's the teaching their? Well, when you begin to see
Sparks of contention fly, And one heated, word is exchanged
for another. And one blow of accusation is
served after one was received, and there begins to be some kind
of Brewing of tension between two parties.
You know what this calls us to do be the better man.
Be the true representative of your master in Jesus Christ in
humility and back down. Pull back, quit.
Press the eject button. Let him get the last word.
Let her have the last word don't even try to defend yourself.
Don't even try to go back. You did this, I'm going to quit
before it becomes worse. It is much easier to fix a small
leak than it is to deal with a broken Dam.
And that's the wisdom here. Once you have a massive water
that gushes out, it becomes incalculable in its destruction
and much more difficult to control when it is in its forms
of drops. That's much more, easy to handle
and wisdom. In the Christian Life, where you
will deal with many characters, wisdom will often whisper in
your ear and encourage you to realize that this tension these
issues with others or somebody who's trying to cause you and
invite you into some kind of a battle wisdom will say it will
become way worse, if you entertain it.
So pull out while you can because this battle can lead to
a war. This is so appropriate for our
church. This is so improper it for us as
a family in Jesus Christ. If you're not a part of this
church, take this with you to your local church.
The personal feud between Abner and joab, would actually lead to
other people dying. And if we are serious about the
health of the local church, if we are serious about the
testimony of the church. Then we have to understand what
wisdom teaches us and that's my personal problem with another
brother or sister in Christ can actually lead to collateral.
Damage can actually create much, more difficulty and friction to
those who are not even necessarily involved to begin
with, and this verse among many versus calls.
You and I to die to ourselves. To die to ourselves.
Let me give you a new testament. In example.
Okay, I love versus like this because I always think Lord, you
didn't have to put a person like that.
I mean you could have filled every epistle from the beginning
to the end with wonderful descriptions and Theological
truths about the person and Glory of Jesus Christ.
But then you come to verses like this turn your Bibles with me.
The Philippians chapter 4 and look at this in verse 2.
Philippians 4 to Paul writes to this church in Philippi.
And he gets to a certain point where he addresses a couple of
women And this is what he says. I entreat.
Yo, Dia and Ian treats in Turkey to agree in the Lord.
Full stop. Why is that in the Bible?
Well, for Paul to write this in
this epistle. As a public letter, surely means
that he is. Learn about a contention, a
conflict between two women. That was actually causing
problems to the church as a whole it was causing issues from
from them and he wanted to deal with it head-on and we don't
know the exact nature of the issue because he doesn't tell
us. But one thing we know for
certain is that it's not doctrinal because if it was a
doctrinal issue, then Paul would obviously side with the person
who was in right, the person who is teaching the truth.
With that being eliminated as a possibility.
What is the strongest possibility?
Is that these two women had personal issues between each
other? It was totally personal But it
has come to a point where now sides are being taken.
There's there's there's a heaviness in the meetings and as
the Believers are coming together, there's awkwardness
and there's there's a sense of walls being built up because of
emotional conflict and disruption and Paul's, like I'm
hearing about this and I can see where this is going and Paul as
a great Pastor to pastors and church planter says agree in the
Lord. Agreeing the Lord that tells me
something very, very important. One of the reasons no matter
what the nature of the problem is one of the reasons why
conflicts between people are not solved amongst Christians is
because the Lord is not included in their reasoning.
You get so consumed with self that, you forget to see that you
and that fellow believer have common ground in the kingdom of
God. And that you have a greater
cause that is bigger than the issue that you guys had between
one another But see problems arise more and more, the more we
become self-absorbed. And the more self-absorbed, we
become the more we push out God from our thinking, and from our
planning and, and from our life goals and that's exactly what is
taking place here. And in the case of Abner and joy
of who are brothers, after is going to say that later on, they
were brothers. They're of the same people, the
same Kingdom, they serve the same God.
Apparently 24, young men are going to die and more later on.
just because of two guys who have ego issues, it's because of
two guys, mainly one who had more of under the other who had
selfish ambition, that was more Abner than it was job after give
job credit and how many have suffered suffered within the
church? How many churches have lost
loved and lost that fervency in Lost.
Focus for the gospel because of personal issues, Listen, the
church is not a glorified Nursery, okay?
It's an army. It's an army and we have to be
careful because little things like this can actually Road and
we can the body of Jesus Christ. And what I find so amazing about
what we see in Philippians 4 2, Is what you read in the next
verse look at Philippians 4 3, he continues with this thought.
Yes I ask you also. True Companion help these women
so now he's addressing somebody there's debate who is addressing
Help these women who have labored side by side with me in
the gospel. Together with Clement and the
rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the Book of Life.
What stands out to you from that verse?
What stands out to you? Let me ask this question.
What is the quality of these woman?
What did they contribute? Paul says, they have labored
with me side by side. So, these weren't carnal woman
that came to church because it was a social thing.
These were genuine Servants of the Gospel.
These were women who contributed to the ministry of the Apostle.
Paul, these were these were women who who evidently had some
kind of spiritual maturity. Now, here's the warning, but
even such woman of such caliber were overcome by selfishness.
That's how power the flesh can be.
That's how powerful the flesh can be.
That even women have such standards in the church can
succumb to self to such a degree that it overrides their
Ministries. It overrides.
What they were contributing for the kingdom of God.
To the point where they don't even care.
If it's creating disunity among the people of God, isn't that?
Like, if you're scared? Good.
I hope you're even more scared. There is a healthy fear of what
this flesh can bring us to. Unless we subject it to the word
of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
These are these are good woman. These Are Holy woman.
And yet still, they could not agree because of a personal
issue and it was creating issues within the church.
And so you see Paul Here is addressing something at its seed
form, because as a leader, he realizes where this can go and
what Paul has in mind is the gospel, the advancement of the
Kingdom through the church. And so I invite you today that
if you have an issue with somebody, you be the higher
person and die to yourself. Die to yourself.
Die to yourself for the sake of the Gospel.
Well, what if they do? Don't worry about them.
You do it. You do it.
Don't worry. If they agree, don't worry.
If they see our, I don't worry. If they clap back, you die to
yourself. You see Paul solution to this
conflict. Look what he says in verse 3.
Yes, I ask you also True Companion.
Help these women. He's calling the church.
He's calling somebody else in the church, but you can say he's
calling the church. He's calling someone from within
to help these women who are in the same church to come to a
place of solution. And I love that.
You know why I love that because God designed the local church.
To have a measure of influence upon selfishness in someone's
life. Can I tell you something?
I've seen so many relationships destroyed.
Not just between people like on a French level, mainly even in
marriage. And you know, what many of those
marriages have in common, if not all of them, I'll tell you what.
Either both or one are not part of a local church.
For years, I've seen it and they may come like to hear messages,
but I'm saying they're not plugged in there, not like this
is my church, I'm a member here. These are my elders.
I'm accountable to these men. I'm accountable to this body.
I can't think of one relationship.
That's not having great problems where they don't, share the same
common denominator. Either one or both are not
seriously devoted to a local church.
Because Paul here sees a solution to these two going to
war with each other. He sees the church who is
outside of them who is unbiased who stands for what is right to
come in and to quench the fire. And so we all struggle with
selfishness, but what you and I need and God's wisdom, is a body
of believers who love us enough to say smart, not snap out of
it. Do you realize how you are
actually hindering the work of Christ.
Do you realize how you were actually damaging the ministry
that you are a part of because of a personal issue with someone
else wake up. Wake up.
And that's what Paul is doing here you and I need to see that.
Because wisdom, wisdom, foresees, future consequences to
present, compromises and compliances.
And sometimes we are so blinded by our own selfishness, and our
own desires that we need other eyes of the same body, the body
of Jesus Christ to call it out for us and to speak up.
Thirdly wisdom teaches us to take advice is a perfect
transition. So, look at verse 15 of second.
Samuel too. Then they arose and passed over
by number 12 for Benjamin and Ishmael Chef, the son of Saul
and 12 of the Servants of David and each caught his opponent by
the head, and thrust his sword and his opponent side.
So they fell down together. It was a draw.
And then we come down here to verse 18 and the Three Sons of
Zechariah were their job abishai and a Sahel.
Now as to how was as Swift as foot as a wild gazelle.
So now we're being introduced to this set of Brothers.
Does anybody know how they are related to David?
There is nephews when you go to 1st Chronicles in Chapter 2, you
realize Azariah here is actually David sister.
David sister had three sons. These three sons join David's.
Can't they trusted that he was the Lord's anointed and they
were warriors. And what's interesting here is
that we're going to learn not just something about Joy, but
have another brother and that is as to how all we are told about
us the hell is that he was as Swift of foot as a wild gazelle.
In other words, he was really fast.
He was, he had agility. He was known for his swiftness.
But as you read on, you realize that a Sahel had something in
common with his brother job and it is this that though he had
great ability. And in his case, he had a great
zeal. He lacked what his brother had.
I rather yeah. Also like, with his brother
lacking that is wisdom. Job was known for his great
courage. He was Fearless.
He would take up any Challenge and you were going to see that
throughout second Samuel. But what you see here with his
brother is that he actually had the same problem.
Great gifting great ability, but it wasn't guided and protected
by wisdom. Here's my so fast.
And I was reading this today and I thought to myself, up to this
point David stands out from his family in so many ways, like
though he is related by blood, He differs so vastly and
character. I mean, realized, Who David was
in light of his parents, especially his dad realize who
David was in light of his brothers.
His brothers were not the same as him.
Realize, who David was in light of his nephews.
He really stood out. And the point is this, that
though, you may share the same blood, does it mean you have the
same spirit? Though you may have a certain
lineage even if it's a spiritual lineage does not mean
necessarily that you will share in that.
But here's the encouraging thing that even though David came from
a family that wasn't necessarily the most admire below.
And the most exemplary God still chose David.
God still would use David. He didn't come from a Polish
family. He came from a family, where his
dad even recognize him as a son, when Samuel asked for all his
sons. He came from, it came from
brothers who had issues, he From nephews who had issues, he had
issues all around. And if you're thinking that God
recruits those who have a certain pedigree in their
family, you're sadly mistaken and you should be encouraged
salvation. And true walk with God, comes
from an individual sense of who he is and individual
responsibility of submitting to him.
And I praise God for that. God won't hold me accountable
because of my parents because of my uncle's because of anybody
else you and I have this walk and it's a one-on-one walk with
the Lord that is deeply, deeply encouraging to me.
But as to how look what he does here.
Verse 19 as to how pursued Abner as he went.
He turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from
following Abner he's running after him, not to give him a
just a little beating. He wants to kill him.
He wants to destroy Abner and he thinks this would be a wonderful
trophy for the kingdom of David. And what we see here is that,
this is a great Zeal, this is a great Passion, this is great
fervency, there's great dedication here.
I mean, he's running way ahead of everybody else.
But again, as I said earlier, he's clearly demonstrating a
great lack of wisdom. And the great lack of wisdom is
this. He was warned. he was warned by
Abner to stop and he would not stop, and because of that, He
would hurt himself. It would actually lead to his
own demise. And when I looked at that, I
thought to myself. Zeal without knowledge is not
good. Even if your Zeal is targeted
towards that which aims to glorify God.
And I was looking at this and I was reflecting on my own life
when I first got saved. And if I can give a description
about those early days of walking with the Lord, there was
a lot of zeal. Maybe need for more wisdom.
It was it was it was in the name of God, it was witnessing for
God, it was sharing the gospel. I was helping people.
And I think that's common for many people who become born
again. They become very very zealous,
but even in our Evangelistic efforts do you just Jesus tells
us to be wise as serpents. He wants us to exercise, wisdom
and all things, even those things that are good.
And I think here, what we see with with a Sahel is that he had
a Zeal, he lacked the wisdom and something that he wanted to do.
In his mind, perhaps could have been right would actually turn
out to his to his own harm. God is so patient with us, he
teaches us and I think that's why he's extremely patient with
all of us when we first get saved.
But here's the thing, the solution to his Zeal early on in
our walk with the Lord, as we grow older.
The Lord is not less zeal. It's not less Zeal for the lord.
It's more wisdom. Right?
So you have people who grow in the Lord over the years and they
become less zealous and they think that's more wisdom that
that's not true. See, I remember when I was
zealous for the Lord, I used to do it.
Well, what happened? You don't do anything anymore.
That's not wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to learn
from your mistakes and learn from those who have went on
ahead of you to be able to teach you how you can channel that
Zeal for maximum Effectiveness and minimizing of issues and
problems. nothing can be worse for your spiritual success, or
mine than stubbornness It doesn't matter how gifted you
are, doesn't matter who you are or who you're referred to, as
you're the next dish. You're the next that if you and
I do not have a teachable spirit if you and I do not know how to
submit to the word of God, and the word of God, applied by
others, who know how to apply it to your life, then then we will
fall and fail in serious ways. I've seen it myself over the
years, people who had great Zeal crashed.
When they could have avoided those walls, if they had, simply
just listen to those who had enough sense to say, you got to
do it this way, or you got to be like this, or you got to be
careful how you do this and that's what happened to a Sahel
look what happens here. Verse 20, then abdur looked
behind him and said, is it you as to how?
And he answered it is. I Abner said, to him, turn
aside, to your right hand or to your left and sees one of the
young men and take a spoil. But as to, how would not turn
aside from following him and Abner said again to us.
I'll turn aside from following me.
Why should I strike you to the ground?
How then can I lift up my face to your brother joab but he
refused to turn aside therefore Abner struck him in the stomach
with the butt of his spear. At the spear came out of his
back and he fell there and died where he was and all who came to
the place where isil had fallen and died.
Stood Still. So you see what happened as to
how this pursuing him. Abner looks back, he warns him
turn aside and he doesn't again. He says turn aside, and he
doesn't. And finally, he takes out his
Spear and he thrust it in such a way that with the speed of a
Sahel is running. It literally penetrated him
through his frame and the Spirit came out the other side of his
back. And so I want to say that the
greatest thing that you and I have to protect ourselves from
harming ourselves or harming others is to be teachable.
Is to take heed of warnings. Again, especially for younger
believers. Something happens often with
younger Believers and in their Zeal, they can become very
critical. Very critical of authority, very
critical of older Believers because in their minds, they're
so zealous and they look at those who might be more
controlled and their emotions or may do things in a certain way
and it conflicts with what you think.
And you begin to criticize and you begin to is what happens.
You have people become Lone Wolf Christians and they despise
Authority. They don't think they should be
part of the local church because a local church is dead and
pastors just don't get it and this and that and I'm on fire
and My Band of Brothers, my band of sisters aren't front Since
you are setting yourself up for great Danger.
And you may not be a younger believer here.
But if, you know, younger believer, listen to what I'm
saying, encourage those and encourage your own heart that
even though you may feel like you are gifted, or you have a
certain way of thinking, or you have a better strategy to
continue to remain open to being instructed and taught.
Now, listen, that's not just true for younger people years.
I'm just, I'm just saying that Because that's especially true
with younger Believers, but it can certainly be true those who
mature in the faith, but that was not the case of a man in New
Testament, who was mature and his knowledge of the scripture
and his ability to communicate it.
Can you think of that man with me?
Who is he in the New Testament? The book of Acts?
Close. who was, who was a man who is known as Competent in the
scriptures. and powerfully refuted the Jews paulose I'm
encouraged by by Apollo's his life that the little window that
we have of his life, a little snippet, not because of his
ability to teach or preach, not in his might in the scriptures
but because when he was approached with correction, he
humbled himself and he received it And I want to show you that
and we're almost done here. I know we're running a little
bit over time with the remaining verses that we have here, but
it's worth going there. Go to acts 18 very quickly in
verse 26. Wisdom teaches us to take
advice, wisdom teaches us to take advice and to be open to
correction. And acts 1826.
We learn of Apollo's. He began to speak boldly in the
synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took
him aside and explained to him the way of God, more accurately.
So think about it. This man was a traveling
apologist to traveling speaker and he would go into synagogues
and he would just dismantle people's arguments and he would
Proclaim Jesus with the knowledge that he had.
And one day in the congregation, you had a couple Priscilla and
Aquila and they heard Apollo's and they were they were they
were moved and they were obviously aware of this man,
this young man's gifting but they can they can tell that he
did not have the full understanding of the message and
the person of Jesus Christ. And so what do they do?
They take him aside and they instruct him.
Now, here's what's so significant about that what did
Priscilla and Aquila do as a trade?
They make tents, they made tents, okay?
They weren't famous a famous couple and Ministry.
They didn't have their own TV station.
A Christian TV station. There were those who had a
normal job that helped Paul later on help plant a church but
they were just average people who loved God but knew a lot
about his word. So you have to understand that
it is that kind of a couple that's approaching the pastor
after the service and saying we were so touched and blessed by
but can we can we just take you aside?
Can we just we want to tell you some things?
And Apollo says, okay sure and he's willing to receive the
where you would you guys do? We were your business card.
I know what to make of it. Nothing like that.
He's willing to hear from these people and he's willing to sit
with them and receive what they have to say.
He's willing to be open to their correction.
Now mind you. Look at how they're doing it.
They don't stand up Apollo's. Evangelist Apollo's.
You got it wrong. You don't understand what that
means. Actually, you do understand what
Jesus actually meant, they weren't doing that.
They weren't putting on blast on Facebook, they weren't exposing
him. They knew how to take him aside
privately and to be able to sit down with him and to correct
them in gentleness and humility and with respect Okay, if you're
going to ever correct anybody, please do it in a certain way
where you will win their affection and win their trust.
Okay. Apollo's receives a now, here's
here's the beauty about this. He humbles himself, though.
He was a preacher. Though he could have said okay
because you get over with. No he doesn't do that.
He sits with him as long as he needs to sit with them.
He builds his relationship and look at the result.
This is a direct result of the humility of Apollo's.
Look at verse 27. And when he wished to to cross a
takea, the brothers encourage them and wrote to the disciples
to welcome him. She say, I would love to go to
aquella. I would love to go and Minister
there and the family that he built while in Ephesus
recommended him to the Believers there.
And they received him, I believe that as a result of Apollo's,
willingness to receive instruction and be teachable and
be humble. In other words, humility opens
greater doors for us. Humility.
Expands our influence Pride suffocates.
It sabotages it. And I apologize here says, I
would love to go and they said, gladly hey this brother.
Yeah, he knows he grew and he is a wonderful person to serve god
with. Would you receive him?
And look at the next part when he arrived.
He greatly helped those through Grace who through Grace had
believed Wisdom teaches take advice as to how did not take
advice and he suffered for it. He did not heed.
Take heed the warning and he actually died and not only did
he die? But look what happened?
Those who saw him die. Stood Still.
You know what that did? That gave Abner more time to
gain ground and to have his troops surround him.
On a, top of a hill. And so many people suffered
because of because of this man's unwillingness to take heed.
Now we come to the last Point. Wisdom doesn't only tell us to
take, advice wisdom, reminds us that hypocrisy will never
succeed. Look at verse 25, we'll skip a
couple verses here and the people of Benjamin gathered
themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took
their stand on the top of a hill.
So, there was enough time now because of assholes death, that
they go on a top of a hill, which is a strategy, you have an
advantage there and the men of Benjamin's came and surrounded
Abner, and Abner was ready to confront joab and the men that
followed a Sahel verse 26, then Abner called the job shall the
Sword. Devour forever.
Do you not know that the end will be bitter?
How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from
the pursuit of their brothers? Impressive.
You read that first anything, Abner learned his lesson, you
realize the foolishness of his ways, he saw that, this was
becoming way worse than it. Could have.
If he had, just you just humbled himself from the beginning and
so maybe he did learn right. Shall the sword devour forever.
Do you not know that the end will be bitter?
That's good stuff. And he goes on the even say how
long will it be before you tell you people to turn from the
pursuit of who they're Brothers? Here's my question, is he
sincere? Well one, he's saying the right
things but is he sincere? Is he being genuine?
Do you think he actually learned his lesson?
At this point? He saw the mistakes that he has
made that he's contributed to. So he wants to put an end to
this foolishness and the senseless death I have a hunch
that this is all just a show. Look at verse 31.
But the Servants of David had struck down a Benjamin 360 at
Abner's men of Abner's men. And we look at verse 30 job
return from the pursuit of Abner.
And you see here the second part.
There were missing from David's servants, 19 men besides Assa.
So at the end of the whole ordeal, David loses 19 men,
besides a Sahel job or rather Abner loses 360.
He was losing. He was losing and he realized
that he was probably going to die that day.
And so he decides to put a stop to this before it gets worse for
him. How do I know that he's not
sincere will go to verse 1 of chapter 3 again.
There was a long war between the house of Saul and the House of
David War only continued after this and so he's trying to save
himself at this time and the reason why he speaks in this way
It's because he's being very clever.
He's putting on a righteous mask.
He's putting on this Pious display.
So that he can seem as though he's in the right, and job is in
the wrong and of job refuses. Then he's the one who's going to
be in the wrong. It's very, very smart.
But what's so scary about this? Is that He's only doing this for
himself, he's not doing this because of righteousness.
He's not doing this because he wants to honor God, he's doing
this because he knows that he will lose.
If he doesn't and those who operate in hypocrisy, this is so
important to understand know the right things to say.
Those who know how to put on a mask, know what to say when to
say it and who to say it to, and the ugliness of hypocrisy is
that it unashamedly attempts to try to put the blame that was
caused by self on others, so that South can look like they
are in the right and that is essentially what Abner's trying
to do here because if job refuses this, then job will look
like the one who is actually causing war between the brothers
and he's He's the one that wants the sword to devour, and he
doesn't mind things becoming becoming bitter and that is
frustrating, right? That is extremely frustrating to
see somebody who's able to switch on godliness, and switch
off when it's convenient. And when its profitable, Listen.
But a wise person, a wise person.
Will find it very difficult to be tempted.
To be a hypocrite in any sphere of life.
Because they are convinced through wisdom by Understanding
God's word, and his law that in the long-term hypocrisy will
never succeed and whatever. Gain is retrieved through.
Hypocritical means will ultimately fail and that's
exactly what you see. Look at, look at verse 1 of
chapter 3 again, And David grew, stronger and stronger.
While the house of Saul became weaker and weaker Right.
He was going to lose if he thought he won that day, if he
thought he escaped because of his lies and his deception, he
was actually headed towards loss anyway.
And I think that is that is helpful for us as Believers
because what we need to understand is that you and I
will experience hypocrisy. No, you, and I may become
victims of hypocrisy. We're somebody's able to not
only pretend to be something or someone but even project wrong
on you and me and our names and our reputations in order to make
themselves look like they are, they are righteous and they are
in the right but there's no reason to fear that and here's
why because Jesus himself promised, The hypocrisy will
never succeed. We'll never succeed.
I want to read this to you. I'm, you do have to turn that
this is my last scripture for the Bible study and Luke 12:1
Jesus is something so astounding, in the meantime,
when so many thousands of people had gathered together that they
were trampling. One another, he began to say to
his disciples. First it's so important to read
our Bibles slowly. He looks at his own disciples
first, he doesn't look to the thousands that are coming to
hear him preach. He looked to his own disciples
at first and What comes out of Jesus mouth towards his
disciples, something incredible, Beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees. Which is hypocrisy.
He's not warning warning, the world of hypocrisy, he's looking
at his followers and he's saying, I'm calling you my
disciples to beware because all it takes why would say, what
would you say, the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
All you need is a little bit of it.
All you need is a little bit 11 and bred for it to for it to
inflate. All you need is a little
hypocrisy in your life for it to corrupt, your whole being beware
of this. He's warning his own people
don't let this come in because of what I'm about to tell you.
Nothing is covered up that will not Be revealed.
Or hidden that will not be known.
Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark, shall be heard
in the light and what you have, risked, whispered in private
rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. so, when I am
tempted, To put on something that makes me seem some way so
that I can either advance in my Personal Agenda or try to evade
something that I've done wrong. Jesus assures and wisdom says,
don't even go there because it's just not going to work out
anyway, and whatever relief comes at his temporal and Abner,
Abner did not believe that but he would learn it and he's going
to learn it in the next chapter wisdom, teaches us, many things.
And tonight, we got a fresh batch of what wisdom.
For us, wisdom tells us to be alert at all times.
Wisdom teaches us. To consider future consequences
of present. Compliance is wisdom.
Encourages us to take advice wisdom.
Convinces us. That hypocrisy will never
succeed. All there's so much more in
these verses but we don't have time tonight.
Let's pray. We thank you for the word.
Father, we ask you that these things would be true in our
lives. We want to be wise.
We want to be effective, we want to, we want to bear fruit.
We want people to see Christ. But we ask that.
You would impart wisdom into our hearts?
thank you for these illustrations in your word, to
take these principles that we read of and know about but CM
lived out successfully and unfortunately in failure, But to
our benefit Lord, you have given us these things.
Lord, we worship you. We thank you that your word is
so pure and so Direct. T' and so clear.
There's no confusion in it. Even a child can understand what
was said tonight and then we receive it with childlike faith.
And we asked you a lure to to just make us more like Jesus.
And Lord as a church. We pray that we would be a wise
people. That foolishness would not rain
here. That it would not be even in one
heart, they would not dominate one person.
We would all exercise wisdom and how we treat one another and how
we see Temptation and how we deal with our own Pursuits that
try to creep in and override your purposes in our lives.
Louis bless you and give you all glory and honor As we sing to
you because you've spoken to our hearts and Jesus name we pray.
Amen.