In this book. And this is our third time in
this chapter, and it will be the final time before we move on.
Because being the lengthy chapter that it is, Chapter 3
will demand from us more time and attention but if if we are
patient and if we give the necessary attention to these
verses, then we will not be disappointed with the discipline
of meditation. My we want to see all that God
has to say and even when we think we're doing all that we
can, they're still yet more to know in the very verses that we
try to cover completely. So as we come to second, Samuel,
chapter 3, scroll down with your finger, with me to verse 31,
that is where we stopped And that is where we will continue.
And if you take a quick glance, what you'll see is that the rest
of our study in this chapter will only cover eight verses.
And in these eight verses is really one scene, one main idea
and it is David who is the main subject of our study in the past
few weeks and will be for the next few months.
David mourning. The death of a particular
person, namely Abner the son of nerve.
Now, as a recap Abner was the commander of Saul's Army who
then was The Mastermind of Using up one of Saul's Sons ishka Chef
to be a rival King to the davidic Dynasty, and Juan the
Affinity of a majority of the tribes, keeping David at just
being the king over the tribe of Judah.
Now, after several years have gone by Abner desires, now, to
move over and put his Allegiance with David and attempts to do
so. But within that attempt and with
that A small spark of Peace. It was quickly, snuffed out by
joab, who is the commander not of Saul's Army.
But if David's Army, who with cold-blooded intention murders,
Abner takes his life away from him as an act of Vengeance.
Because Abner in self-defense, in an act of war, in a context
of battle kills joab's, brother, a Sahel.
I hope we're all in line here, right?
Now, what we are left with is after David has heard, the news
of Abner's death, we will now see what will transpire.
Because apart, from the obvious reason why this is so atrocious,
the death of Abner by the hands of someone in David's Camp has
potential ramifications for the development of David's
government in Israel, is that understood this is, is not going
to look good for David's reputation as He is attempting
to win the hearts of the nation, so that they would recognize him
as who he truly is the called one of God to be king.
Now, David has been trusting, God up to this point.
He's not trying to coerce or manipulator set up campaigns to
try to win votes. He's completely resting in the
Lord. But what happens here, naturally
causes a grief and concern and David because someone from his
own ranks that something evil And how is this going to look in
the eyes of the people of Israel who have heard that David was to
be anointed king and Luna and their hearts believe he was
supposed to be king. Well that's what we're going to
see. And let's read the first four
verses together in verse 31, then David said to joab and to
all the people who were with him, tear your clothes and put
on sackcloth and mourn before Abner, and King David, follow
the beer. They buried Abner at Hebron and
the King lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner and
all the people wept and the King lamented for Abner saying,
should Abner died as a fool dies.
Your hands were not bound your feet were not fettered as one
Falls before the wicked you have fallen and all the people wept
again over him. Now, let's take this verse by
verse. When we go to verse 31 we have
to understand that this was not the initial reaction of David.
When hearing the news of Abner's death, the initial response is
here in verse 28 to verse 29, look, what he says afterward
when David heard of it he said I and my kingdom are forever
Guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner.
The son of Nur may have fall upon the head of joy and upon
all his father's house and met the house of What never be
without one who has a discharge or is leprous or holds a spindle
World falls by the sore or who lacks bread intense.
David not only condemns the actions of joab.
David goes beyond that and pronounces a curse upon him and
his descendants. Now this is important because he
is vocalizing that he is not connected to this.
The scheme. He is not connected to this
plot, he is separate. He knew nothing about it.
He had nothing to do with it, and he wants to make sure that
people are aware that he has no relation to jobs hatred for
this. And now that may seem righteous
that may seem admirably. But I want to tell you something
today that although David seems to be doing the right thing and
verbalizing. This he is not doing what he's
supposed to be doing. And what way in other words,
what should have David done? Consider his position and
consider the law of God. What should have David done?
Kill joab. That may sound shocking, right?
It may sound shocking because we feel like this is unrelated to
the law is just. A story has to do with close
relationships and people. We have to understand that there
is still the law of God that is supposed to be implemented.
And the law is so clear and saying that if someone murder
somebody with intent, they are to be killed.
They are to have their life given for life that from a
Judicial standpoint, there should be Canning, if you are a
murder, then you should also have your blood shed eye for an
eye, tooth for a tooth life, for life.
And David does not execute this. David does not move forward with
such a punishment for this crime.
He hesitates, he does it. He doesn't do more than just
give a slap on the wrist so to speak.
But is there a time where David will do it?
Does anybody know the answer to that?
yes, when Very good. The answer to when job will pay
for his crime comes. Many years from this point and
it is found in the book of First Kings chapter 2.
And I want you to see that with your own eyes and verse 5 of
First, Kings chapter 2, when David is ready to rest with his
father's and his successor Solomon, his son is going to
take his place. David give his different
instructions to Solomon. One of them being you got to
deal with joab, you got to do something about this, man.
Now, this is hard because Is he is a relative.
And it's hard because it's also a complicated situation job was
a loyal and so many ways job stood by David and many
difficult times. But in First Kings, chapter 2,
verse 5. Look what it says, moreover
David is speaking to Solomon. You also know what job the son
of Zechariah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of
the armies of Israel, Abner, the son of Nur and a Messiah, the
Son of Jetter whom he killed avenging and time of Peace for
blood. That have been shed in war and
putting the blood of War on the belt around his waist and on the
sandals on his feet act. Therefore according to your
wisdom but do not let his grey head go down to sheol and peace.
This is, this is alarming. But the question is, why did
David wait so long? We can only speculate But what
we see here from these verses, is that because David waited,
what happened? What do we see there?
He killed Abner, right? But did he kill somebody else?
He did. He killed another of one of
David's, Captain's down the road after our main text here,
without Justice without explanation, just because he had
this terrible murderous rage. And he was, he solve his
problems by removing people, from the scene, and the most
permanent way possible. And here's what we can take out
of this job was the guilty one in both of these murders.
But it makes you wonder what could have been prevented had
David had On what he was supposed to do much early on.
when Abner situation suit, Now, this is just one of the many
examples from the word of God. One illustration among hundreds.
You can say of how the Bible asks of us to take seriously
hammering the truth that you and I should never delay in our
confrontation against sin whether it's in our own lives on
somebody else's life you and I do great damage if we delay in
our confrontation against sin And though, it's not explicitly
clear. Why David waited to pass
judgment on Joy. Why he waited for him to pass on
from this life and let Solomon kind of deal with it?
The timing kind of makes it kind of makes it obvious.
And I argue that the reason why David did not execute judgment
upon job when he should have his because, although Joy of did
something wrong. And so evil.
And cruel job was a really good Commander.
Joab contributed to much of the success of David and his
kingdom. And perhaps letting go of Joy,
it's not the best plan for me. And if you think about it, that
way, then David, even in his grieving here and chapter 3,
David is guilty of favoritism. The kind of favoritism that
doesn't deal with sin in a person's life because that
person benefits Us in different ways.
And though, this is an extreme example, you can modernize that.
You can see it in so many ways in our own lives, when the
church has been called by Jesus, to confront sin and to maintain
the purity of the assembly in love and gentleness.
Yes. But also as one of the main
things that the church is called to do and here's what's amazing,
you see it in different Church settings and different ways.
Unfortunately you have many leaders in churches who will not
deal. If the sin of a person because
they are one of the biggest givers in the church.
We don't want to lose his donations and so they can run
amok, they can cause problems, they can be.
So obviously publicly in the world and and leaders will turn
a blind eye or maybe somebody who occupies a certain position
who exercise a certain gift from within.
And if we lose them, we can lose this.
This will suffer, and they're blatantly in ungodliness and so
we'll just we'll hush-hush. And we won't make a big deal of
it and let's just let it pass. Maybe we can make a more
relatable, how many of us have felt the tension, even
confronting a brother or sister, who is clearly in wrong serious,
wrong compromising wrong because we don't want the relationship
to be awkward. We don't want to create tension,
we don't want it to affect our little web of relationships.
When in fact, scripture says that faithful are the wounds of
a friend, right? And so, what we see here is a
clear example. if we delay, if we turn a blind eye, And dealing
not just with our own sin, but those that God calls us to be
responsible for. Then we have to ask ourselves
why, and, if David was honest here, yeah, he's verbally.
Slapping job on the wrist, but he's being kind of clever.
He's doing enough to show people that he condemns, he condemns
what happened, but not enough so that he wouldn't lose what job
had to offer. He really wanted to keep him and
this is, this is a disappointing.
In David's leadership. And because David allowed
political motivation to enter in.
It eclipsed, the spiritual standards that he was supposed
to live by and that happens all the time happens all the time.
But if there's any place where we maintain God's righteousness
and dealing with people, it has to be the Church of Jesus
Christ. Has to be that no matter whether
they are relatives, whether they are great contributions and
different ways. God's primary call is for us to
trust and obey his standard of Holiness and righteousness.
Purity. And I hope you take that to
heart, that God give you an idea, the wisdom to know how to
deal with sin promptly lovingly carefully strategically less.
We can cure more damage that could have been avoided.
See David? I just dealt with job early on.
I'm a sucker could have been spared.
So many issues could have been avoided.
He dealt with it but he dealt with it too late.
Now we look at that. From David's perspective.
What do you learn from? Joab's perspective in all of
this when the fact that judgment came later on?
What do you see between this scene and the next scene in
First Kings to? Here's what you see that jaw,
perhaps thought that because he avoided consequence with Abner's
death, could it be that he was emboldened to actually take out
amasa thinking that he would not see consequences either very
strong possibility, And the picture there is this sinner
who's emboldened to continue in their sin because they have
evaded, apparently, the consequences of their actions.
But let Joy be a clear example that no matter what a person may
think he gets away with no matter what kind of status they
have in society like job did in the Kingdom sin will catch up
to. You sin will come with a with a
receipt and say you owe me this. And that's exactly what happened
to job and take comfort. What happened to job will happen
with every high-ranking criminal and society.
That thinks that they can bury the evidence and thinks that
they can pay off people, so that they are not reprimanded.
I want you to think about every corrupt politician that gets
away with their evil. There is a day coming when they
will have to pay for every single thing that they thought
they got away with. And I say, Amen to that.
Because God is a just God. Now, what's incredible is not
just the fact that joab eventually died.
It's in the manner that he died. That makes us even more scary.
Scary in a good way scary in the fear of God.
Way job did eventually die Solomon dealt with him.
He obeyed his father and he says we will deal with joy of
accordingly. Does anybody know how job died
though? He died in a specific location,
and where job died is, actually, if you're still in First Kings
chapter 2, scroll down to verse 28, and you'll see exactly the
location and it is very telling, it's actually incredible.
He eventually hears the news that David called for his
execution because of his past crimes and so he makes a run for
it. And as you runs, he heads
towards a specific place and where he goes Is here when the
news came to job, for job had supported adonijah.
Although he had not supported Absalom job fled to the tent of
the Lord, and caught, hold of the horns of the altar.
So remember the Tabernacle is the house of God at this time,
the tent of meeting a transportable house of worship.
The temple was not yet made because Solomon hadn't get to
yet. But here's what job does.
He hears the news Solomon has the right to come after you and
he's coming after you. He flees to the tenth of the
Lord. He goes to the altar of
sacrifice where had the horns on the Four Corners, so that the
animal would be strapped down when it was being offered up to
the Lord He leaps upon two of the horn and he holds on as
though he was holding on for dear life.
Nothing in the Bible is by accident and so every single
detail warns us to say why am I question is?
Why why does job do this? Why does he go here?
Why does he hold onto the horns of the altar, what is he
thinking and doing so? Any ideas?
I'll give you a hint. The answer is in the Bible.
It's not it's not just guessing. There's an actual answer in the
scriptures. Okay, that's a good.
Guess he was hoping. Maybe there would be a
sacrifice. That would be performed on his
behalf. That's a very good guess but not
not quite Why would he run to the altar?
Okay, there's a picture of receiving forgiveness there
because that's what the altar symbolizes but that's symbolic I
want to give you the clear reason why Joe I went to the
altar. You have to go to your Bibles
though. Exodus 21 turn the pages of the
Sacred texts to the Book of Exodus chapter 21 and I want you
to see one verse that gives a clear instruction about the
sacredness of the Altar and what was supposed to happen at the
altar and what was not supposed to happen at the altar.
Exodus 21 you're there right now, scroll down to verse 14.
And let me read it out loud to you Exodus 20.
Our hope you brought your Bibles to Bible study.
But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning,
you shall take him from my altar.
Isn't the Bible awesome? You shall take him from my altar
that he may die. In other words, nobody can be
killed by The Altar. You can't desecrate it in that
way. You can't have anybody have
their blood spilled here. And so if somebody fleas here,
They are to be removed from the altar so that they can be put to
death properly. Here's what jobs thinking.
If I hold on tight enough to the altar, they can't kill me here.
So I'm going to stay here as long as possible and make sure
that I let them know that God's law says I'm safe in this area.
Where did draw of kill Abner? Where did y'all kill Abner?
At the Gate of where the City of Refuge where Abner should have
been? What safe. and joab attempts to
flee to a place with unique boundaries, where he thought he
would be, what save Whatever a man Souls that he will also
reap. When joab killed Abner where he
was supposed to be safe, according to the law of God.
He pronounced his own judgment. And when he thought that he
could be safe in the house of God by the altar of God, the
same way that was not regarded for Abner.
It was not regarded for him. God is very specific and he
holds every detail in his record.
He does not forget anything. I mean so much.
So one of the scariest verses for me and we can be all scared
together, Is when Jesus says that every word, every single
word that is spoken will be taken up into judgment every
word. Think about that.
And so the Lord is very, very meticulous.
He's very careful. He is very upset, he's not
General, he's very, very, very specific and when it came to
joab, he reached exactly what he sowed.
I find that fascinating about God, I thank God for the blood
of Jesus Christ, knowing this law job attempts to take refuge
in the house of God. But that, that is not accounted
for by Solomon. And he's killed where he thought
he would have Refuge come back to 1st Samuel.
Rather second Samuel, chapter three.
Let's go to verse 32, we were in verse 31 that time.
We re here they buried a beer at Hebron and the King.
Lifted up his voice and wept. At the grave of Abner and all
the people wept and the King lamented for Abner saying,
should Abner died as a fool dies.
Your hands were not bound your feet were not fettered as one
Falls before the wicked you have fallen.
Now, this is familiar because now David writes analogy, right?
He recites it and he proclaims it publicly.
He's done this before with who Saul and Jonathan much shorter,
but he's he has a goal with it. And the point is clear what he's
trying to tell people from his own heart is that I believe that
Abner was innocent Abner, did not deserve to die in this way
though. He died as a fool fool, meaning
that a sinner who invites death, because of his sinful ways.
He did die as a fool, but he was not a criminal.
Your hands were not bound. You weren't imprison.
Your feet were not fettered. Didn't deserve this.
You weren't awaiting some kind of trial here.
You were deceived and you fell as a victim before wicked men.
This is what he's trying to Proclaim.
This is what he's trying to communicate to his audience.
And as much as what David is saying is true, should advertise
a full dies. He did not deserve to die the
way, a sinner deserves to die because of what they bring into
their lives. And the way that they walk at
the same time, I argue that though what David is saying is
valid Abner, did die. Foolishly.
She did. Where did after die again?
City of Refuge, right? That is the only mention between
Abner and the City of Refuge and it is quite tragic.
That, that is so because Abner's relationship with the City of
Refuge should have been much different than what it was
according to what we read a couple of weeks ago The
foolishness of Abner is that he refused to flee to the City of
Refuge the moment that he committed, an accidental,
killing his duty, according to the law was to waste no time and
to make his way towards one of those cities and to take refuge
there, until he was declared innocent until the high priest
died, atoning for his departure and to his normal life.
And he did not do that. And that is sad because there's
a picture of something. When God gave his law to the
Israelites about how they were to understand the City of
Refuge, he gave it with a certain urgency and I want you
to see that go to numbers 35:15, there's a powerful word that the
Lord uses about the manslayer who does accidentally murder
somebody. And the numbers 3515.
We see it so clear. God says, these six cities shall
be for refuge for the people of Israel and for the stranger, and
for the sojourn among them. That anyone who kills any person
without a tent, May what flee there?
Three times in this chapter and the portion which speaks about
the City of Refuge. God says, if somebody does this
there to flee to the City of Refuge, now that word flea is
the very same word used when Joseph fled, the scene after
Potiphar's wife attempted to sleep with him.
When she grabbed a hold of His Garment, he fled that room.
Now, when you understand that connection, it's hard to imagine
that when God here says that the manslayer must flee that it's a
casual stroll. Or something that you put in
your calendar for a future time, it's urgent.
It's a median. It's top priority even though it
interrupts your schedule or your family life or whatever the case
may be, you are to make this your top ambition immediately.
Flee their run their escape as soon as possible.
That's God's tone when it comes to the Cities of Refuge and we
know what the Cities of Refuge represent Christ, salvation, and
Jesus Christ. And that is why we try by God's
help. Whenever we proclaim, the gospel
from this Pulpit, that we Proclaim it with urgency.
Jesus is not a suggestion for your life.
He's the only solution. he is salvation you and I have to
understand that when we present this truth, It's breaking news.
Flee to Jesus. Run to Jesus.
It's not just good news, it costs for a response upon
hearing it whether it's your first time or the thousandth
time. If you have not answered the 909
x times before flee their that's God's heart beat.
And this is what we see here. There's a hint here that the
moment the gospel is in contact with a sinner Everything else
needs to be dropped in your life.
That's what Jesus did with those three who came up and says, I
want to follow you and they had all these other ideas.
Well, I got to bury my father and can I do this for us?
And he's like, you don't understand what it means to
follow me. You need to drop everything and
understand that if you don't do this, now, there may never be a
chance for you to do it again. We don't understand it that way.
We kind of we kind of just are you?
I think you need this. No, you do need this and you
need it now. I want you to now put yourself
in the sandals of an Israelite of this time, okay, I want you
to imagine. Now, you're there in ancient
Israel, in your home. And on a random afternoon, a
sibling brother and sister runs through the door, huffing, and
puffing, and tells you I was at work.
Today was cutting a tree and the tree fell upon another employee.
And that guy is a goner. He's dead.
And I just just talked myself out of work and I came home.
What are you doing later on? You want to hang out?
If any plans tonight. Imagine your that Israelite
hearing this and you know the law of God, how ridiculous does
that sound? What do you mean?
Do you want to do something tonight?
You need to get out of here. You forget the meal not making
you anything. You need to run to the City of
Refuge. Where's the nearest one?
Get there right away? Yeah I get.
I know God set up a listen. I can just I can do it two weeks
from now. I got plans with my buddies.
We're going on a camping trip this weekend.
So listen do you want to do something tonight or not?
Yeah. What does that translate that?
Here's a word for that foolish. Reckless.
What's the matter with you? And yet?
If we see it in that context? How much more in understanding
salvation in Jesus Christ? What are you waiting for?
Exactly. Because that Israelite who would
delay like Abner delayed had to understand that at any moment
the Avenger could come and take your life from you.
Like it did with joy that at any moment, despite your plan
despite the peace and The Mending and the networking and
all the things that you're doing, just like Abner with
David. Everything can be taken from you
in a moment. This is not something to risk
but it's not that a with play around with listen to me.
If you're a person in here, that does not know if you're saved,
get saved. Like, put your trust in Jesus
tonight. Don't delay for next Bible.
Study don't even delay for your Taco Bell later on tonight.
Give your life to Jesus tonight. Surrender to his lordship
surrender to his provision of Salvation through his blood on
that cross on your behalf. There is no reason to wait.
There's no reason to delay. And there are many things about
the City of Refuge that points. So clearly the Jesus Christ in
some people Express, two weeks ago, how they were blessed by
seeing just one parallel. The one parallel, the City of
Refuge, you can have a series on the Cities of Refuge and how it
points to Jesus. Remember The Parallel that there
were six cities, we just read and there were strategically
placed around the land of Israel.
So that why? No matter where somebody was
across the land, they would have easy access to one of those
cities and be safe and fine. Huge.
And that is a picture of this, that no matter where you are, no
matter how far you think you are salvation is available for you,
no matter where, no matter how far you think you are from
Holiness from Perfection, all have fallen short of the glory
of God. And here's the beauty about it.
God can save you. God can save you now, not when
you enter, self closer to the standard of what you think is
good. Now, it can all change, but
there's more. I mean, I'm so passionate about
this subject, let's just stay here.
A little bit, will come back to 2nd Samuel.
What are we just reading numbers, 3515.
Let's see, if anybody notice another prophetic hint to the
gospel, and just this one verse These, six cities shall be for
refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger, and for
the Sojourner, among them, that anyone who kills any person
without a tent, May flee there. Anybody else notice the gospel
truth in there? Beautiful.
Did you hear it? It's really again these six
cities shall be for the Refuge for the people is your and for
the stranger and for the soldier among them, did you catch it?
The Cities of Refuge did not discriminate?
It was not just for the Jews, not just for the chosen people
of God. It was not for the elect among
all the nations. If you are a Sojourner fewer
Gentile, if you're traveling by the Cities of Refuge work for
you as well, Jew and Gentile have salvation, and Jesus
Christ, All Nations, all tribes, all tongues have available to
the same Grace that is found in him.
And so you see? It's so obviously here that
anybody no matter where they are, no matter how far, they
think they are no matter. Background.
Ethnicity culture. They can come and be safe in
these cities and I think to myself this is glorious.
But here's what's so true. I mean, we can spend the rest of
this Bible study talking about these things, but I want to
finish this chapter. Let me add one more thing.
whenever you see a type or shadow of Jesus in the Old
Testament, You will find similarities, you'll find
differences, but no matter how things may seem so close to the
person and work of Christ. What we believe what we see.
So obviously, what we sing about is that Jesus is always the
greater than always. So you see him in David, but
he's greater than they've, he's a greater David, he's a greater
Samson. He's the greater Moses.
And that is true for the City of Refuge as much as there.
Are so much things that parallel with Christ.
Jesus is the Great. City of Refuge Hebrews 6:18
tells us that he is the City of Refuge in a very clear way when
you understand the language of fleeing their but let me ask you
this. How is Jesus the greater City of
Refuge anybody know? How is Jesus the greater City of
Refuge? Did you hear it?
This is where you get mutually
encouraged. The City of Refuge, was for
those who were innocent. so those who unintentionally
murdered, those who accidentally killed somebody, if you were
found guilty upon trial, You, you could not have residents in
these unique boundaries you had to be expelled and you are left.
To the Vengeance of a relative. Jesus is a greater City of
Refuge because he's not just refuge for those who
accidentally send, but those who intentionally send those who
have transgressed, who those with deliberately broke God's
law, the gates of his salvation are made available even for
them, that's why he's greater Exciting.
Yes. Amen.
I hope so. Some of us have lived so long in
the City of Refuge, we've forgotten how glorious it is.
Yes night, not for unintentional, not for
accidental for deliberate. Willful perverted scheming
wicked men and women he saves. He says, you can come and
receive safety. In my blood, I rejoice in that
this book is Supernatural. This is not an ordinary
classroom tonight. This book is Supernatural.
And so we come back to 2nd Samuel now.
And so, yes, Abner, why did he dies a fool?
He didn't deserve it, but there was some element of foolishness
in him. Now, verse 35, what do we see?
Then all the people, I want you to pay attention.
As I read these three verses what reoccurs then.
All the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was
yet day. But David's War saying God, do
so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else,
till the sun goes down, and all the people took notice of it and
it, please them as everything that the king did, please.
All the people saw the people and all Israel understood that
day that had not been the Kings will to put the death Abner.
Son of Nur. What phrase repairs over and
over. Very good, four times in three
verses. We see that for some reason, the
Holy Spirit wants to bring to our attention about all the
people. And I believe the reason why he
is trying to draw our attention to, this is to communicate to us
that the actions and the attitude of David had made a
great impression on those who observed him.
I made a great impression and in his King case, as the king of
Judah, David's audience was the nation of Israel.
Talking about millions of people.
Now, here's the point, David did not have to honor Abner and the
way he did but it was very wise for him to do so.
Not that what his grief was not genuine that's not the case.
It was very genuine but strategically what he is doing
here is dispelling, all rumors all potential divisive theories
that would bring hindrance to the advancement and development
of his kingdom. And here is the lesson for all
of us. Though we may not be Kings as
David was a king that we may not be queens that we may not have
high positions. Each of us has a calling like
David had a calling Okay, every I don't care what you believe
about yourself. I don't care what level of
self-esteem, you may have according to this book, God has
deposited gifts and he has works that he's prepared beforehand.
That you should walk in them, whether that's on a great
platform or to Hidden platform. It's true nonetheless.
And here's what's important to understand about that.
The effectiveness of our individual callings is greatly
dependent upon Our conduct as citizens of the Kingdom, that we
want to see advance. The effectiveness of our
individual callings in the advancement of the kingdom of
God is greatly dependent upon our conduct as citizens, who
represent that Kingdom. I know what people mean when
they say, I don't care what people think.
I have you heard it? I mean I've said it have you
said it? I don't care what people think,
I understand what you mean by that, but some people have a
different motive and saying that and we have to, we have to
understand there's a fine line with with convincing ourselves
and even telling others, I don't care what people think.
Now, if what you mean by saying that is that in your pursuit of
righteousness and obedience to God's word, you are not
concerned about the repercussions or about the
ramifications of your decisions. You're not concerned about
criticism. Or punishment or anything that's
taken away from you. Then we applaud that kind of
attitude. But if what you mean by saying,
I don't care what people think about me is that you believe
that people should tolerate your unsanctified personality, you're
wrong. Okay, that's not godly because
the scripture is loaded with the admonition that you and I should
care what people think, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ that
we should be very careful and how we portray ourselves since
we are tied to. And we represent a king and a
kingdom a culture, a Heavenly one, And so we have to
understand what David is doing here is righteous.
He's making sure that he's blameless and he puts great
effort and making sure that he is without reproach.
Here's what's amazing. There are many things that David
gives completely to God. There many things that he says,
God, I trust you I'm not even going to be able to participate
in this, I completely leave it to you but when it came to his
behavior he put great energy into that.
He made great strides to ensure that there was no confusion
about his convictions. And you.
And I, as I said earlier, we may not have high positions in this
world, okay? But according to the scriptures,
identification of you, as a child of God, we are, royal we
are royal You're not a churchgoer, a royal priesthood.
A Tsar Peter says, in First Peter 2:9, you are a chosen
race. A royal priesthood, your what a
holy nation, a people of my own possession, like, what a
glorious way of crowning us. Undeserving, Sinners, if we were
just saved, and that's all the Bible says about us in the New
Testament. I'm happy with that but a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God's possession.
Later on. We are what?
Ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Rather before 1st Peter.
But with the great reward of being crowned with such titles,
listen with every reward comes responsibility and what's
amazing about what Peter says there is that when you just look
a couple of verses after that, you understand that this title
isn't just, it's not just like, poetry.
Like it's not something that we just say to each other.
We memorize, I'm a royal priesthood.
No, no, it has. It has real implications and how
we conduct ourselves. So after he says, you're a royal
priesthood. Ivory says, you're a holy nation
and all these wonderful things. Verse 12.
That's first, Peter 2:9, and 10. And first 12, just listen, you
have to turn the listen to what Peter says, keep your conduct
among the Gentiles. Honorable If you are a royal
priesthood, if you're a holy nation, well keep your conduct
among the Gentiles. Honorable so that when they
speak against you as evildoers they may see your good deeds and
glorify God on the day of visitation.
Now, that would have meant a lot to the early church, and it will
mean a lot to Christians in the west very soon if not already.
There was already a list of strange accusations going around
in the culture during the times of Peter, and the early church,
very weird, slanderous comments and rumors about Christians
followers of the way. Let me give you a few.
They practice camera to cannibalism.
They eat his blood drink, his drink, his blood eat his flesh.
What is this? They practice Kent.
This is what they were saying. They break up families.
When people join this, it just shatters fans.
They don't honor the emperor. They don't acknowledge Caesar,
they don't acknowledge Nero, they don't acknowledge these
men, they're Rebels. You know, they have these things
called these love feasts. You know what they do that?
They perform orgies. There's sexually strange,
people, there are moral, this is what was swirling around in the
culture and the unbelieving world in the offices of that
day. About Christians. and Peter
comes in and he gives these instructions and he says, this
is what God says about you, your royal priesthood, your holy
nation, all these wonderful things, but let me take it
further, prove them wrong, Prove them wrong.
Like let them encounter you. And as they encounter you, let
your conduct contradict. What they've heard from other
people mess with their thinking in a holy way cause them to be
conflicted. And Peter did you just want the
people to stop saying bad things?
He says, it can be so impressionable that on the day
of visitation they can glorify God.
In other words, they can they can actually be saved.
Because you walk honorably among them.
As the people that God calls you to be.
Now, I want you to think about it and David situation.
What is David do? This murder of Abner could have
easily cause the different tribes to come up with ideas
that David was behind all of us. If there was any tribe who would
have built that theory up, it would have been The Tribe of
Benjamin. But even The Tribe of Benjamin
could not come up with anything. Nobody can bring up any
accusation any slander, anything of the sort because David's
attitude in this public space would have directly fought
against all these Fierce Concepts.
I would try to smeared him as a true man of God and that is
encouraging. That is encouraging.
He was blameless from head to toe. and there is many things
that David put his complete trust in, as I said earlier, But
he made the conscious effort and pursuing blamelessness and
what's encouraging about that is that he did it in a sense.
Yes for God. But also for his kingdom, we do
it for God's kingdom by the help of the Holy Spirit.
By the help of the Holy Spirit, he will help us be.
Honorable people, be honest, people and listen, I'm and it
here This is where it gets hard. This is where this is where we
go. Thank you for the holy spirit
because as Believers, the high standard of it is much more than
just making sure that we're blameless, more than that.
God through his word in the New Testament, even calls us to be
intentional to be offensive in the sense of moving forward.
Not always being defensive, but moving forward and actually
making things happen as that royal priesthood.
An holy nation. So let me give you one example,
go to Romans chapter 12 and notice this, this is this is
just one example of how as Believers we go, the extra mile,
We go, the extra mile. And Romans 12:18. when I was
thinking about David, when I said all people, all people, all
people that connection came to Romans 12:18, another kind of
all men, but in a different context, look what he says to
the Believers in Romans 12:18, if possible so far, as it
depends on, you live peaceably with all How wonderful it's
wonderful in theory, but it's very hard and practicality and
get I love this. God is so realistic.
Look what he says. So far as it depends on you, if
it's possible, make it happen. The reason is because peace in
relationships, two way thing. I could be a peaceful person,
but if you're not a peaceful person, this can, this isn't
going to work. But look at where the burden is.
The burden is on the believer to ensure that you are the
initiator and you were the manager of your relationships.
So that if there's any tension or friction you would deal with
that immediately. So that even with your enemies,
there can be some kind of level of peace and understanding.
That's our calling among many other things, right?
That's how we pursue. To blame the successor we pursue
a certain conduct that can dismantle false ideas of who we
are as those who wear the badge of Jesus Christ.
And I want to end it here. I'm really ending it here.
David went the extra mile, I mean, you can say he went the
extra mile by doing all of this, but this was just, this is what
he should have done, he should have done for many reasons, but
David goes, the extra mile and I want to prove that to you.
I want to prove it to you in an obscure texts that If we're
honest we would often skip over because we want to get to the
meteor stuff. But when you take the time to
actually read the Bible from cover to cover, you find these
gems and you go no way. Really right here it is.
Go to 1st Chronicles, 27. This is our final verse for the
night First Chronicles 27. What's happening in first
Chronicles, 27? We just really have a record of
different leaders and administrative things during
David's Rule, and Reign military divisions, and leaders of
certain tribes, And when you come to verse 16, that's what we
really see. We see the names of different
representatives of the tribes of Israel during David's Dynasty.
So we had set up these local governments in the tribes that
each tribe would have a civil Authority, that would in a sense
represent that people group within the nation of Israel.
And you look at that and be honest, be honest in the
immediate sense, it doesn't seem appealing.
Names, that are hard to pronounce one after the other.
This would tempt us to drift. But as you read and you see
these names and you have an understanding of what we are
doing, every Friday, the Old Testament, scroll down quickly
and look at verse 20. For the Ephraim mites hoshea,
the son of as Isaiah. For the half tribe of Manasseh,
Joel, the son of petia verse 21 for the half tribe of Manasseh
and Gilead. Either the son of Zechariah for
Benjamin jostle, the son of, who Abner, Think about this.
Years after Abner's death. David goes, the extra mile.
And takes one of Abner sons and makes him a leader in Israel.
That's Grace. How much more can you do after
what you did in Chapter 3 of calling him?
A great Prince and calling man on my herbal man and honoring
him with an elegy and mourning and weeping in.
Not even eating until the sun goes down.
On top of that. He takes one of Abner sons and
he says I'm going to make you a leader Over The Tribe of
Benjamin. I'm going to recognize you as a
leader Over The Tribe of Benjamin.
And we look at that and we see that this is a hint that David
wasn't doing what he was doing in chapter 3, as a political
stunt, he wasn't trying to save face, he wasn't caught up with
his reputation and just see me to be righteous and you know,
fake tears. It was real, it was real and the
best way to be holy my brother, my sister is to be real.
Really. If you leave here saying well
you know I go to Maranatha Bible Church and the pretty serious
about Holiness. And the pretty serious about
church discipline. I better not mess up so I'm
going to be chameleon. I'm gonna here I'm going to
speak one way and here I'm going to speak another way you're
going to fail man. You're gonna fail.
Just be real, be a real holy spirit, filled Christian and
this pursuit of blamelessness is effortless.
When you actually walk with a Consciousness that you want to
please, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, your elders, not because
you want to maintain your ministry, but you really love
the Lord, your heart is really soft and by him and you like
David understand the grace of God, so you can extend it to
others. That is the easiest way of being
energized for holiness. I look at some people and they
liked us trying so hard to be spiritual and it's cringe.
Stop doing it in the flesh. Stop, you're not going to get it
by reading certain books, you're not going to get it by getting
certain terminology there. You're not going to get it by
dressing a certain way or posting certain stuff.
You're gonna get it. When you really understand who
Christ is, and you're going to get it when you really
understand it, only, he can put that desire in your heart and
make you the real deal. And so, what I present to you is
simply this fall in love with Jesus Christ.
And Holiness will be much easier to pursue this man, David.
With a little verse like that in first Chronicles, silence is all
other arguments about what he did in chapter 3, being
something that was just for his kingdom and his throne and his
political agenda wrong. He was the real deal and only
you and I will be truly successful for real with god.
Well we thank you for this Bible study.
We thank you for the rich insights and just eight verses,
and we didn't even cover all of them.
We thank you, Lord, that your word is so alive and
Supernatural. Lord with all that we heard we
end with that final thought help us be real help us be true help
us be sincere. Thank You O Lord that you've
made it all possible with a power in the person of the holy
spirit. Thank you, Lord.
Jesus that we don't have to strive because your word says in
first, John 5 that your Commandments are not burdensome
Lord. We just pray for those who
really want to be Godly but are Being of seeing it come about,
they feel like they fall back into the flesh.
They feel like they, they can't maintain that consistently in
different context, they fall too easily into the pressures of
certain crowds. Lord let tonight be the turning
point. Let it change tonight.
Lured by the spirit. Do such a work in us that
wherever we go, Jesus goes whoever were with, Jesus comes
with us, whether in secret or in public that we have Christ in
mind Christ in our affections Christ, in our meditations
Christ, in our planning, Lord, only you can Inspire such a
thing and we long for that. Thank you for calling us, a
royal priesthood. Thank you for calling us a holy
nation, a people for your own possession.
Now, Lord help us be honorable and all places.
At all times, we give you glory and thanks in Jesus name we
pray. Amen.