1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,120 or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just 5 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,760 look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,120 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you there. 7 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,560 Was an old saying that I know that you are familiar with that, 8 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,800 that something that is close, or rather something that's close, 9 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,160 it is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades. 10 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:36,800 You ever heard that before? You know, close enough they 11 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:40,160 would say is only good for horseshoes and handy gangrene. 12 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:42,560 To be honest with you, I know a little bit about horseshoes. 13 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,000 Don't know a whole lot. About hand grenades, but I 14 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:44,920 imagine. It's. 15 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,480 True for both this that that you can be close and that is good 16 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:51,680 enough, but in general, close enough is not what we're aiming 17 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,280 for in life. But I will say when it comes to 18 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:59,680 the issue of sin, when it comes to the issue of righteousness, 19 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:02,920 the issue of just being close enough is not good enough. 20 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,640 In fact, interestingly enough, the word sin comes from the 21 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:11,280 Hebrew word hata, which literally means this to miss the 22 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:12,760 mark. You have probably heard me 23 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,240 mention this here before at Liberty, that when someone is 24 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,240 sinning they are missing the mark. 25 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,520 Now what is the mark that they are supposed to be hitting? 26 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,680 Well, that is the mark of God's righteousness. 27 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,440 That is the mark in which each of us are to try to achieve in 28 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,000 our daily life. And we know that we fail at 29 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,720 that. We know that we fail miserably 30 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:33,560 at that. But yet it is our aim. 31 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,480 It is our goal and everything that we do to not be kind of 32 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,760 sort of righteous, to not be close enough when it comes to 33 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,400 righteousness, but rather that we are to be righteous in the 34 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,000 sense that the Bible teaches about the righteousness of God. 35 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,320 It's his righteousness that we're aiming for, not our own 36 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:52,320 twisted version of righteousness. 37 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,760 That might be close enough, but that misses the mark. 38 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,400 It's interesting and I've illustrated this here before in 39 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,040 the past, but I feel like when I talk to people, maybe not 40 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,920 necessarily in the church, but just when I talk to people in 41 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,440 general about SIM, a lot of times they feel like almost if I 42 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,320 was to divide this room between that which is righteous and that 43 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,360 which is evil, they kind of feel like there's a dividing line 44 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,000 right here in the middle. And they kind of feel, I have 45 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,440 found that people in general, and a lot of times if we're not 46 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,200 careful as believers, our mindset can end up being the 47 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,360 same way. That as long as they're on this 48 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,560 side of things, as long as they're on the side of 49 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,720 righteousness, everything's OK. Look, they don't need to be all 50 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:33,720 the way over there. That that's for extreme people, 51 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:35,840 you know, that's for fundamentalist extremists and 52 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,600 all those kinds of people. That's not what we're talking 53 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,480 about. As long as you know, if this is 54 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,040 the middle mark and righteousness is on this side 55 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,560 and unrighteousness is on this side, as long as they're 56 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,920 somewhere over here, then they're probably right with God. 57 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,360 And as long as they stay away from this over here, they have 58 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:53,040 stayed away from unrighteousness. 59 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,320 But that kind of definition, that kind of philosophy or 60 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,840 thought process is exactly opposite of what we just talked 61 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,040 about a moment ago about sin being missing the mark. 62 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,200 If we were to use this room as an illustration of righteousness 63 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,320 and unrighteousness, it would not be like a scale where as 64 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,600 long there's more on this side than on this side, you're doing 65 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,480 pretty well. It would be as if all the way on 66 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,320 this extreme, all the way at this wall, this is 67 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,880 righteousness. And if we are to be righteous, 68 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:26,840 then we have to be right here. We got to be right on the mark 69 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,000 of that which God has for us. Now, if we are like this, the 70 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,840 world would say, wow, you're doing really well. 71 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,920 Wow, you, you, you must be, you know, some kind of super 72 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:38,080 Christian or something like that. 73 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,320 That's what the world would probably think of us. 74 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:42,920 Again, call us an extremist or something like that. 75 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,920 On the other hand, but I would say to you this evening that 76 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,440 even if we are close to the mark but we're off the mark, we've 77 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,160 missed the mark. If we're close to the mark but 78 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,360 off the mark, we have missed the mark. 79 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,880 It is not that this is all righteous and this is all 80 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,000 unrighteous. It is that the Word of God 81 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:11,680 teaches that this is righteous and everything else is 82 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,040 unrighteous. Now I don't know about. 83 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,120 You. But I like this version better, 84 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:18,480 you know why? Gives me a lot of wiggle room, 85 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,800 gives me a lot of license to be able to kind of handle things in 86 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:28,280 a biblical kind of way, in a kind of sort of godly way, but 87 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:30,840 yet not have to necessarily meet the mark. 88 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:32,480 But that is not what the Bible teaches. 89 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,040 Now, what we're going to look at here tonight is an issue that 90 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,440 takes place in David's life. Now you'll remember that David 91 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,600 has had the issue of Amnon and Tamar take place and then 92 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,400 Absalom took matters into his own hands, murdered Amnon 93 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,520 because David did not do righteously and he should have 94 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:53,920 executed Amnon for what he did according to the the law. 95 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,120 Absalom took matters in his own hands, by the way, that was 96 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,000 unrighteous. Also, he was not allowed to be 97 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,240 able to be the judge, jury and executioner himself according to 98 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,000 the word of God. Absalom has fled and now things 99 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,520 have started to unravel in the House of David. 100 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:13,520 And so we're going to look tonight at a larger passage of 101 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,880 Scripture that's going to give us something to, I believe, be 102 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,760 helpful to us tonight to understand that just because 103 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,640 something might seem righteous, just because something might 104 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,840 seem like it is good enough, that the only righteousness that 105 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:31,200 you find. The only way that we should 106 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,720 handle things as believers is not being kind of sort of 107 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:39,200 righteous, not a generic version of righteousness, but rather 108 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:43,240 that we are to be righteous in the way that God has told us to 109 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,880 be holy. He said be holy, for I am holy. 110 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,600 Not kind of sort of holy, but God's holiness. 111 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:52,920 I'm asking you to remain seated tonight because we're going to 112 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,040 read a longer passage of Scripture this evening. 113 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,080 So we're going to start the end of chapter #13 as I mentioned, 114 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,480 verse #37 that's going to give us a running start into what's 115 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,000 going to take place in verse number or chapter number. 14 And 116 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,080 the word of God says that Absalom fled and went to Talmi, 117 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:12,400 and the son of Amahud, king of Gesher, and David mourn for his 118 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,440 son every day. So Absalom fled and went to 119 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,560 Gesher and was there three years. 120 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,960 And the soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom, 121 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,840 for he was comforted concerning Amnon seeing he was dead. 122 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:28,640 You'll remember we said several weeks ago that overtime that his 123 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,920 mourning for Amnon went away, but yet his mourning for Absalom 124 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,080 still being estranged from him was greater. 125 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:37,960 And so now three years have taken place. 126 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:42,440 Now into chapter 14 verse one it says now Joab the son of Zariah 127 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:43,880 perceived. That the king. 128 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,880 'S heart was toward Absalom, and Joab said to Tacoma, and fenced 129 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:51,560 since a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign 130 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,560 thyself to be a mortar. Now that word feign. 131 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,520 What does that mean? Could I just give you a quick 132 00:06:57,520 --> 00:06:59,080 definition here? Means lie. 133 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:03,320 Don't tell the truth. I want you to lie about this, 134 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:07,960 Feign thyself to be a mourner and put on now mourning apparel. 135 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,800 Anoint not thyself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long 136 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,640 time. Mourn for the dead, and come to 137 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,400 the king and speak on this manner unto him. 138 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,520 So Joab put the words in her mouth, and when the woman of 139 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,920 Tocola spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground 140 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,560 and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. 141 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:29,520 And the king said in her wedding. 142 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,320 And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and my husband is 143 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,000 dead. And thy handmaid had two sons, 144 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,920 and they strove together in the field, and there was none to 145 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,240 part them but the one smoke the other, and slew him. 146 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,160 And behold, the whole family is risen against thy handmaid. 147 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,400 And they said, Deliver him that smote his brother, and we may 148 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,680 kill him for the life of his brother whom he slew, and we 149 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,640 will destroy the air also. And so they quench my coal, 150 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,640 which is left, and shall not lead to my husband, neither name 151 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,320 or remainder upon the earth. And the king said unto the 152 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,800 woman, Go to thine house, and I'll give the charge concerning 153 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:07,480 me. And the woman of Toccoa said 154 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,320 unto the king, My Lord, O king, iniquity, be on me, You know my 155 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,480 father's house, and the king and his throne be guiltless. 156 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,560 The king said, Whosoever saith, ought unto thee, bring him to 157 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:20,520 me, and he shall not touch thee anymore. 158 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:24,360 Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the Lord thy 159 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,120 God, that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to 160 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,720 destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son. 161 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,600 And he said, As the Lord liveth, there, shall not one heir of thy 162 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:38,039 son fall to the earth. The woman said, That thy 163 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:41,400 handmaid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my Lord the king. 164 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,760 And he said, Stay on. And the woman said, Wherefore 165 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,120 then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? 166 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,640 For the King does speak this thing as one which is faulty, in 167 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:55,440 that the King does not fetch home again his banished, for he 168 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,280 must needs died, or his water spilled to the ground, which 169 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,480 cannot be gathered up again. Neither does God respect any 170 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,520 person, yet does he devised means that his banished be not 171 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,480 expelled from him. Now therefore that I am come to 172 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:09,640 speak to this thing under my Lord the King. 173 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:11,960 It is because the people have made me afraid. 174 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:14,800 And I handmaid said, I will now speak under the king. 175 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,240 It may be that the King will perform the request of his 176 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,560 handmaid, for the king will hear to deliver his handmaid out of 177 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:24,360 the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together 178 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:27,920 out of the inheritance of God. Then thy handmaid said, The word 179 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,240 of my Lord, The king shall now be comfortable. 180 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,520 For as an Angel of God, so is my Lord the king to destroy the 181 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,600 good and bad. Therefore the Lord thy God will 182 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,040 be with thee. Then the king answered and said 183 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:42,760 unto the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that 184 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,240 I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my Lord 185 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,440 the King now speak. And the king said, Is not the 186 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,400 hand of Joab with me in this? And the woman answered and said, 187 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,480 As my soul, as thy soul liveth the Lord the king, none can turn 188 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,520 to the right hand or to the left from aught that my Lord the king 189 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:03,320 has spoken for thy servant Joab. He bade me and put all these 190 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,080 words in the mouth, thy handmaid, to fetch about this 191 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,880 form of speech. Hath thy servant Joe done this 192 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,040 thing? And my Lord is wise, according 193 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,800 to the wisdom of an Angel of God, to know all things that are 194 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:15,880 in the earth. And the king said unto Joab, 195 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,080 Behold, now I've done this thing, Go there, for bring the 196 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:23,280 young man Absalom again. And Joab fell to the ground on 197 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:25,640 his face, bowed himself, and thank the king. 198 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,520 And Joab said, Today thy servant knoweth that I found grace, and 199 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,320 thy sight, my Lord, O king. And that the king had fulfilled 200 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,200 the request of his servant. So Joab arose and went to 201 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,760 Gesher, but Absalom to Jerusalem and the king. 202 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,520 Said, let him turn to his own house and let him not see my 203 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:45,000 face. So Absalom returned to his own 204 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,040 house and saw not the King's face. 205 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:52,160 There's a lot going on in just those few verses between David 206 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:57,720 and a woman and Joab and a story and then a reveal, and then 207 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:00,120 Absalom gone and Absalom's return. 208 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,360 You might say, Pastor, what does any of this have to do with what 209 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,040 you talked about in the introduction just a few moments 210 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:07,840 ago? And I'm hoping by God's grace we 211 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:10,320 can weave it all together to be able to help us to understand 212 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,160 that kind of sort of righteousness isn't really 213 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:15,600 righteousness. And that for the child of God, 214 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:19,400 we do not want to miss the mark in what is true and right 215 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,000 because he is holy. We must be holy as God's people 216 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:25,280 as well. Heavenly Father, just be with us 217 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,320 tonight. I do ask to be able to give the 218 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,200 word of God and to explain what is found here in this text, as 219 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,960 well as the other text we'll be looking at in a few moments from 220 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:34,640 now. Or help us not to settle for 221 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:38,920 that which is kind of righteous, that's sort of holy, but rather 222 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,160 may we understand that when it comes to the issue of your 223 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,280 righteousness, we must be as you have told us to be. 224 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,720 Do not make compromises when it comes to sin, but rather that as 225 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,160 believers, that we must do right as you've commanded us. 226 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,720 Or thank you for this text. Help us to be able to look at it 227 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:56,120 tonight. Help me to explain. 228 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,600 It in a way that's proper and I ask it in Jesus name, Amen. 229 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:11,240 Like David's life has been a soap opera since Second Samuel 230 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:14,000 chapter #11 and a lot of ways it has been, hasn't it? 231 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,440 David was doing right. David was showing himself to be 232 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,000 a godly man. And we saw that play out over 233 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,680 and over and over again from the beginning of Second Samuel as he 234 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,920 held himself accountable. And he's, he made sure that he 235 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,760 was taking care of things in the way that he ought to be in the 236 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,920 matter with Ishbosheth. And then as he arose to become 237 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,520 the king, and even with the matter of Mephibosheth and 238 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:39,560 trying to honor the House of Saul, instead of exterminating 239 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:43,040 the House of Saul as would have been the case in many kingdoms 240 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,440 during that time and that. Part of the world. 241 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,000 But David handled himself well. But then we got to the matter of 242 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,120 David and Bathsheba and things started to unravel, didn't they? 243 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:54,600 The fact that he laid with Bathsheba, the fact that he 244 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:59,360 tried to cover up his sin with Bathsheba, and then ultimately 245 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,760 leading to the murder of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah. 246 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:06,080 And yes, while he wasn't the one who had the sword in his hand 247 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,240 that took the life from Uriah, you can be sure that David was 248 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,280 the one that was the murderer just as much as anyone else, 249 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,400 because it was his own hand that made sure that he wrote down the 250 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:17,720 death warrant of which Uriah died. 251 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:20,920 And so from that time when Nathan the prophet came to him, 252 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:23,600 as we'll look at in a few moments, and Nathan the prophet 253 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:27,520 explained to him his sin, that God had seen his sin even if man 254 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:29,840 hadn't seen his sin. And he said to him that the 255 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,640 sword would never leave his house again. 256 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:36,520 And what we're going to see is 1 calamity after, another after, 257 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:38,800 another after, or another in David's life. 258 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,400 No, I'm not saying that David was ineffective for the Lord the 259 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:43,040 rest of his life. I'm not saying that. 260 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,280 I'm not saying that David was no longer a man after God's own 261 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:47,840 heart. I am not saying that. 262 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,720 But what I'm saying is the shine has kind of come off David's 263 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,720 life a little bit has that we're starting to see him for who he 264 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,200 is, the reality that he is a flawed man because he is a man. 265 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:00,800 And as the old saying goes, the best of men are men at best. 266 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,600 And we're seeing that in David's life playing out right now from 267 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,960 Second Samuel chapter #11 and on from there. 268 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,240 But but we get to this place where you'll remember we read at 269 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:15,120 the very end of chapter #13 that Absalom, after he murdered 270 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,840 Amnon, remember, he had vigilante justice. 271 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:21,440 He decided to take care of Amnon because David would not take 272 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:25,880 care of Amnon as he should have. Absalom was wrong to do what he 273 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,560 did. David was very upset at what 274 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,120 transpired. And So what happened was Absalom 275 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,600 went on the run. And the Bible says that he went 276 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,280 to go live with his grandfather in his grandfather's country for 277 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,240 space of three years. And that over that time that 278 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:44,000 David went from being angry to Absalom and mourning for Amnon 279 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,480 to no longer really mourning for Amnon. 280 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,880 And his anger abated from Absalom. 281 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,600 And now his heart yearned to be able to see Absalom again. 282 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,280 And we see chaos in David's life. 283 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,400 And may I remind you that one of the consequences of sin in the 284 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:04,320 life of anyone, but including the believer is chaos. 285 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,400 And yes, is God a forgiving God? Yes, he is. 286 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,400 Is is God a gracious God? Yes, he is. 287 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,880 But the consequences of sin are real in the life of a believer. 288 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,000 That which a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 289 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,320 And David has sown to the wind, and now he's reaping the 290 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,400 whirlwind. That's why it's so important for 291 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,760 us to understand what true righteousness is. 292 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,280 That's why it's so important for a preacher to get up in a pulpit 293 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,720 and to be able to admonish those who are listening to be able to 294 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,160 live holy and righteous lives. Because God is real. 295 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,400 God is righteous and God will bring recompense into the life 296 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,440 of someone who has not done right. 297 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:45,280 Not because again, he's punitive, not because he's 298 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,200 trying to punish for the sake of punishment, but because he's 299 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,360 trying to chastise that person. He's trying to chastise that 300 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,880 brother's sister, to bring them back in the fold and to bring 301 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,000 them back in fellowship. Again, I'll remind you what I 302 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,760 said this morning. Hebrews chapter 12 talks about 303 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:01,640 that very well. And if you say, well, I've never 304 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,520 been chastised of the Lord, then the answer is you don't belong 305 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:08,840 to the Lord because who belongs to the Lord are the ones that he 306 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,720 chastises. Listen, my kids do wrong, I 307 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,320 chastise them. Someone else's kids do wrong, I 308 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,720 don't chastise them. Why is that? 309 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,200 I'm not saying I don't tell them maybe they should stop, but I'm 310 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,840 just saying there's a difference in how you handle your children 311 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,880 and someone else's children. The law would make that clear as 312 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:25,560 well. Amen. 313 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,640 And God does the same for his own children. 314 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:31,360 It's not that he doesn't handle those who are not his children. 315 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,640 Listen, judgments coming for them as well, but I will say 316 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:38,160 this, that for the child of God, we're not going to pull a fast 317 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,880 one over on God. And David is dealing with the 318 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,800 consequences of that in his life. 319 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,360 And that brings us to our current chapter, where we see 320 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,920 this entering interesting interaction between three people 321 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:55,640 in a woman, David and Joab. And this is a. 322 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:59,040 Very interesting chapter. The chapter starts with Joab, 323 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,720 the son of Zariah that perceived that the King's heart was toward 324 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,040 Absalom. He understood that David had 325 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,319 some sort of yearning to be able to see his son, but could not 326 00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:12,520 bring himself to be able to restore Absalom. 327 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,440 Now, maybe the reason that David was so conflicted was the fact 328 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,880 that David knew that the real penalty for what Absalom had 329 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:24,040 done was death and that David was the one who was supposed to 330 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,000 execute that justice. And we'll look more at that in a 331 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:28,920 moment. So David is conflicted. 332 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,160 David maybe wants to see him, but then can't bring himself to 333 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:34,760 see him. And so Joab, understanding that 334 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,800 this is a situation that needs to be remedied, maybe even 335 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,360 understanding that Absalom is a little bit volatile, and perhaps 336 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:44,120 if he's not handled in a way that should be handled, that 337 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:47,160 something bad could happen. And by the way, that's exactly 338 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,640 what will happen. But maybe he's understanding 339 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:50,680 this. And he says, you know what? 340 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,440 I need to find some kind of reconciliation. 341 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,560 I need to find a way to bring David and Absalom together, to 342 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,240 bring the temperature down on this, and to make sure that we 343 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,760 get them back together again. And So what he does, he ends up 344 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,240 calling this older woman from Toccoa. 345 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,960 And he says, I want to talk to you about a story. 346 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:09,960 And I want you to have this story. 347 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,480 And I want you to play a part. And then I want you to go talk 348 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:15,120 to David. Now, I think there's something 349 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:18,360 very interesting in verse #3 when it says at the very end of 350 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:20,920 the verse. So Joab put the words in her 351 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,040 mouth. Now, listen, Joab was an enigma. 352 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,120 Do you remember we've talked about Joab before. 353 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,760 Joab would be doing really good one day and he'd be on the king 354 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,760 side, and the next day he'd be murdering somebody in cold 355 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:34,640 blood. I mean, Joab is not the guy that 356 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,400 you want to be friends with because one day like he's going 357 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:39,400 to love you and the next day he's going to punch you right in 358 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,440 the face if you're lucky. All right, This is who Joab was. 359 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:45,960 And so Joab says, I'm going to put this story into this woman's 360 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,160 mouth. And so this woman goes to David 361 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:53,000 and she says this fake story. She says, I had these two sons 362 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:55,920 and they were fighting and one murdered the other one. 363 00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:59,560 Now my right, my family wants to be able to take vengeance 364 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,000 against the son who did the murdering, the son who did the 365 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:04,920 smiting. Can you see how this is getting 366 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,280 a little bit close to home here, how this story was perfectly 367 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,800 crafted by Joab to try to make David think? 368 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,760 And so she says, but now they want me to deliver my son to 369 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,840 them so he can be executed. I can't do that. 370 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,680 I don't know what to do. And so David kind of goes back, 371 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,440 back and forth with her a little bit, but finally they get to the 372 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,080 place in verse #11 where it says at the end of the verse, David 373 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,520 says, as the Lord liveth there shall not one hair of thy son 374 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,000 fall to the earth. Now, why was the story 375 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,760 important? It was because she was trying to 376 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:41,040 get him to a place where he would get his emotions risen up, 377 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,440 his emotions would be stirred up. 378 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,960 And that would be the perfect time to introduce the fact that 379 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:51,280 his own murdering son, Absalom should also be brought back into 380 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,480 the fold in the same way that she has given this illustration 381 00:19:55,640 --> 00:20:00,240 just a few moments ago. Now, again, biblically, this was 382 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,520 not what was supposed to take place. 383 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:06,240 Biblically, it wasn't the fact that, well, hey, listen, not a 384 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:08,880 hair on his head shall fall. In fact, it was quite the 385 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,800 opposite. Absalom was supposed to die. 386 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,320 David was not supposed to be a respecter of persons. 387 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,960 Well, after all, he's supposed to look over the transgression 388 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:18,760 of his son. Now, the Bible's very clear 389 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,280 about the fact that what's good for the goose is good for the 390 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,880 gander, and that when it comes to equitable justice, it doesn't 391 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,120 matter if it's a peasant or a Prince, that they were to be 392 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:31,400 under the chastisement of the Lord and His word. 393 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:35,080 And in this case, that meant execution, That meant death. 394 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,840 But this woman kind of boxes David in with his emotional 395 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:44,160 response about saying, listen, a hair on your son's head is not 396 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:45,360 going to fall. Again. 397 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:47,080 That's not biblical what he's saying. 398 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,600 It's just his emotions rising up within him. 399 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,120 But now he's put himself into a strange place. 400 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:53,960 And the woman says, you know, now that you mentioned. 401 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:55,520 That Can I talk to you about something else? 402 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,120 And he says stay. On And she says, you know, you 403 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:03,280 have a son who's in a very similar predicament and. 404 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,240 It seems that if there's some things that aren't taken care of 405 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,600 that his this son. Will, will not. 406 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:11,200 Be in a place where he feels safe. 407 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,680 He feels like maybe there's going to be some difficulty that 408 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:16,480 doesn't there need to be some reconciliation? 409 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:17,760 Shouldn't he come back in the fold? 410 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,640 Shouldn't you take the step, David, to be able to bring him 411 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,800 back into the fold? And so the king answers and he 412 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,000 says, you know, it's interesting you say that, But he says, I've 413 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:27,360 asked you a question. Will you answer it? 414 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:32,280 It says absolutely. King, he says, is Joab behind 415 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,440 all this? It isn't interesting that David 416 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:39,520 immediately suspected that his friend, his buddy, his armor 417 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,160 bearer Joab was somehow behind all this. 418 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:43,440 And she says, well, the king is very. 419 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,560 Wise, because that's exactly who is behind it. 420 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,720 And Joab is called by David, and he says, look, go get Absalom 421 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:53,240 and bring him back. But ironically enough, it says 422 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,640 in verse #24 what he brought was brought back to Jerusalem. 423 00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,360 The king says, let him turn to his own house, and let him not 424 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:02,080 see my face. So Absalom returned to his own 425 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,720 house and saw not the King's face. 426 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:06,280 By the way, you know how long that was? 427 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:10,120 Two years because we drop down to verse #28 it says. 428 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:14,400 So Absalom dwelt 2 full years in Jerusalem and saw not the King's 429 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,280 face. So this whole story is concocted 430 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,240 between Joab and the woman, and it is brought to David, and 431 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,880 David listens and David has his emotions stirred and brings 432 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,000 Absalom back. But then, even still, that 433 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,960 really didn't bring anything to a head, did it? 434 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,880 Because for two more years now, Joab's not living in a far 435 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,480 country, or rather, Absalom's not living in a far country. 436 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,240 Now he's living in Jerusalem and David still. 437 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:42,200 Won't see him and David still won't execute justice. 438 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,080 It's like, what are we doing here? 439 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,120 What's taking place? Now, when we look at this 440 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:51,720 chapter, and I know I've given you a very brief synopsis of 441 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:57,200 this chapter, it rings eerily similar in a lot of ways to what 442 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,160 took place in Second Samuel chapter 12. 443 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,640 You say what happened in Second Samuel Chapter 12? 444 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:05,800 Well, after the affair of David and Bathsheba, who came to talk 445 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,200 to David? The prophet Nathan wasn't it. 446 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,080 You remember the prophet Nathan came to tell him a story, and 447 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,560 the prophet Nathan made an application to try to get David 448 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,920 all stirred up, and then he spoke the word of the Lord. 449 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:20,360 I want us to go back there quickly. 450 00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:21,800 Leave your space there, but go back. 451 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,320 Just you're going back just a couple pages. 452 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,160 Second Samuel chapter #12 I know we read this before, but it's 453 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,240 been several weeks, but I want you to look. 454 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:35,280 At some of the similarities here Second Samuel chapter 12, verse 455 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,240 one, it says, And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and when he 456 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,080 came unto him, and said unto him, there were two men in one 457 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:42,840 city, the one rich, the other poor. 458 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,760 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor 459 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,720 man had nothing save one little you lamb, which he had brought 460 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,800 nourished up, and grew up together in him with his 461 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:53,600 children. It did eat of his own meat, 462 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:57,960 drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a 463 00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,960 daughter. And there came a traveler under 464 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:04,000 the rich man, and he spared to the take of his own flock of his 465 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:04,600 own. Herd. 466 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,040 To dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him, but took 467 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,760 the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to 468 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:12,600 him. And David's anger was greatly 469 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,480 kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the 470 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:17,720 Lord liveth, the man that had done this thing shall surely 471 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,440 die. Now who was the man? 472 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:24,120 Well, we're going to find out that Nathan says in verse #7 473 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,280 Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of 474 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,800 Israel. I anointed the king out of her 475 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:30,640 Israel. I delivered thee out of the hand 476 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,760 of salt. I gave thee thy master's house, 477 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,320 thy master's wives, and thy bosom gave thee the House of 478 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,400 Israel and of Judah. If it had been too little, I 479 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,080 moreover to given him more such and such things. 480 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,760 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do 481 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,040 evil in his sight? Thou has killed your eye, the 482 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:48,240 Hittite with the sword, and has taken his wife to be thy wife, 483 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,600 has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 484 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,720 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house. 485 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,720 There it is because thou has despised me, and has taken the 486 00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:58,520 wife of your eye, the Hittite, to be thy wife. 487 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,880 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee 488 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:05,760 out of thine own house. We'll take thy wives before 489 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,680 thine eyes, we'll give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie 490 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,320 with thy wives in the sight of the Son. 491 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,520 And we'll see that fulfilled in chapter #16 by someone that you 492 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:16,600 wouldn't expect. We'll talk more about that 493 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,120 later. But interestingly enough, 494 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:26,600 chapter #12 and chapter #14 at first glance seem exactly the 495 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,640 same, don't they? David is doing something wrong. 496 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:35,440 Someone comes to him and talks to him and urges him to make a 497 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,120 change, to go in a different direction. 498 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:43,400 David has his emotions stirred and then changes are made. 499 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:48,480 These two seem alike but yet like a generic version of your 500 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,400 favorite soda. Like a store brand cereal or a 501 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:57,320 fancy watch that says Roll Locks instead of Rolex once you get a 502 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,880 little bit deeper. You start to find there's 503 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,320 actually some differences, and while what we see in Second 504 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:09,680 Samuel chapter 12 is righteous, it's conflict resolution in all 505 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,640 of its righteousness. What we find in Second Samuel 506 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:17,520 chapter 14, although it looks righteous, although it seems 507 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:21,280 kind of sort of godly, when you get down to it, you find out 508 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,040 these two couldn't be any more different than what you see at 509 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,800 first glance. Second Samuel chapter 12 510 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:33,080 represents a man of God who gave a parable based on the word of 511 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,600 God. David was convicted by the word 512 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,120 of God. Nathan proceeded to give him the 513 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:42,200 word of God. What happened? 514 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:47,800 You see, over and over again. Thus saith the Lord, Was Nathan 515 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,200 lying to him? No, what Nathan was doing was 516 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,200 explaining to him this parable, and he was bringing him to a 517 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,720 place where he understood the righteousness of God. 518 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,520 Thou art the man. Everything that Nathan was doing 519 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:05,440 was trying to draw him towards God's righteousness, and it was 520 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,800 achieved because Nathan was a man of God who spoke the word of 521 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:11,680 the Lord. Well, the situation in Second 522 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,240 Samuel 14. Well, that was much different. 523 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:20,160 Verse #2 Joab finds a woman and tells her, I need you to lie. 524 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:24,280 Verse #3 It's not the word of the Lord. 525 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:25,880 Do you see this where it's so different? 526 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,200 We see the word of the Lord in Second Samuel chapter 12, but in 527 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,640 Second Samuel 14 it says who put the words in her mouth? 528 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,960 Joab put the words in her mouth. It's not the word of the Lord, 529 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:41,000 it's Joab's word. Verse #7 The woman appealed to 530 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,240 David's emotions in a way similar to Nathan, but she was 531 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,640 wanting him to make an unrighteous ruling, not a 532 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,480 righteous. 1 She was trying to stir him up emotionally so that 533 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:56,320 he would not do the word of the Lord instead of doing the word 534 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,800 of the Lord. Remember, the word of the Lord 535 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:03,560 was that Absalom was to die. Exodus 21, verse 12. 536 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,800 He that smiteth a man so that he die shall surely be put to 537 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,240 death. Numbers 3531 Moreover, you shall 538 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,440 take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is 539 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,480 guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. 540 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,000 And Deuteronomy 117 I just mentioned a few moments ago, Ye 541 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,560 shall not respect persons in judgment, meaning this. 542 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,880 It doesn't matter if it's your son or not. 543 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,960 What God has told you to do, you're supposed to do. 544 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,240 But this woman stirs up his emotions not to make him do the 545 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,200 righteous thing, but rather to. Get him to do the unrighteous 546 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,360 thing. Verses 18 through 20. 547 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:44,040 David is wise enough to know that Joab is behind it, but he's 548 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,760 not discerning enough to realize that Joab isn't a trusted 549 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,240 counselor. He recognized, you know, that 550 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,200 seems like the son of Zariah Joab. 551 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:54,560 He's the one to put these words in your mouth. 552 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,800 But that should have given him 'cause to stop and say, is this 553 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,120 a guy that I should be taking counsel from? 554 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:07,120 A guy that murders people like it's going out of style, all the 555 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,840 name of protecting the Kingdom, but really it's because of his 556 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,960 own issues of his own life that he is taking other people's 557 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,600 lives. There's a problem here. 558 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,800 In the end, these two chapters, although they look the same at 559 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,160 first, don't they look so similar at first? 560 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,720 When you start to dig deep, you find out the differences are 561 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,760 real and the differences are great. 562 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,520 In chapter 12, a godly man uses the word to appeal to the spirit 563 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,960 of an unrepented Sinner who ends up getting right with God. 564 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:44,000 In Chapter 14, two people scheme to lie to David and appeal to 565 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,600 his emotions, and David makes a decision that is contrary. 566 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,120 To the word of. God, what do we see? 567 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:55,000 We see the chapter 14 represents something that looks godly at 568 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,680 first, but is not truly godly at all. 569 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:02,360 New Testament warns us of this when it says in Second Timothy 570 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,760 chapter 3 verse five. I mentioned this verse just a 571 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:09,520 few weeks ago having a form of godliness but denying the power 572 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:15,360 thereof from such turn away. A form of godliness, but denying 573 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:19,000 the power thereof. From such turn away, people have 574 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,640 this idea that godliness is the sliding scale. 575 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,840 As long as what they do is kind of sort of godly, they believe, 576 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,760 that's OK. But yet for us, even as 577 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:30,960 believers, even as people who come to church Sunday morning, 578 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,680 Sunday night, even Wednesday night, we have to be careful 579 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,360 that in our minds we do not allow ourselves to get to the 580 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,520 place where as long as what we're doing. 581 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:43,840 Seems righteous enough, then we're square with God, but 582 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:48,200 rather that we are to aim as believers to be righteous and 583 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:52,000 holy, as He is righteous and he is holy. 584 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,600 The fact of the matter is that consequences of actions. 585 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,960 That are almost. Righteous are just as 586 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:03,480 devastating as outright sin, and sometimes even greater. 587 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:05,720 I'm going to say that again, because I don't know that we 588 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:08,680 often understand this. The consequences of actions that 589 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:14,040 are almost righteous are just as devastating as outright sin, and 590 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,200 sometimes even more so. Well, I'm not living like a 591 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,160 heathen pastor. Well, that doesn't mean that 592 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,400 you're doing that which God wants you to do. 593 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,000 Well, it's not like I'm living like the world. 594 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,920 They're in rebellion and sin and they're they're sleeping around 595 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,880 and they're, they're drinking and they're abusing substances 596 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,040 and the things that come out of their mouth are vile and wicked. 597 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:37,200 And listen, Pastor, I mean, I'm not like that. 598 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:42,560 Well, praise the Lord, but that doesn't mean that we're being 599 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,200 righteous. We may seem to be righteous on 600 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,160 the outside, or we may exhibit it in certain ways, but that 601 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,040 doesn't mean that God is pleased with us just because we are 602 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,920 seemingly righteous or partially righteous. 603 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,440 No, righteousness is being. Completely and totally 604 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,400 righteous, just as a little bit of poison and something greater. 605 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:04,160 Is not something. Someone would want to have a 606 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:11,120 part of sin, poisons, even the righteous actions when it is all 607 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:13,600 combined together. No, no, what we need to do is to 608 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,360 aim to be that which God wants us to be. 609 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:18,920 We see examples of this all throughout the Word of God. 610 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:25,520 Saul spared A gag and the spoil in First Samuel chapter #15 Oh, 611 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:27,520 sure it's going to be. Used for sacrifice. 612 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:31,320 So sure it's good, right? Well, it sounded good. 613 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:35,080 It sounded godly, but God said don't do it. 614 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,280 So that made it. We looked at. 615 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,240 Few months ago Aza touching the ark. 616 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:43,560 He was just trying to stabilize the ark. 617 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,600 That's all he was trying to do. But God said this. 618 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,840 Don't touch the ark. But he was doing it for a good 619 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,800 reason. But God said don't touch the ark 620 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,600 and the Bible said a breach took place and Aza died. 621 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,240 Nate Evan Abai who offered strange fire in Leviticus 622 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,400 chapter #10. Well, they were making a 623 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,920 sacrifice. I mean, they were, they were 624 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:07,360 working in the temple, after all. 625 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:09,520 They were, they were doing what God wanted to do. 626 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,840 And the answer is they weren't because they didn't offer the 627 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,400 type of sacrifice that God had told them to make. 628 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,520 It wasn't good enough that they had all the right clothing. 629 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:19,480 It wasn't good enough that they went in the right time. 630 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,160 It wasn't good enough that they went to the right places and the 631 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:23,800 right points within the Tabernacle. 632 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:28,080 They offered fire, which God had commanded them not to offer, and 633 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,280 they died. King Uzziah offered incense. 634 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,000 The second Chronicle chapter #26 it was not for him to do. 635 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,840 It was the job of the priests. Well, come on, Pastor. 636 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,560 I mean, he's, he's offered incense to God. 637 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:43,240 Who could be upset about that? Well, the one who could be 638 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:45,760 unhappy about that would be the same God who said that it was 639 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,000 for the priest to do and not for the king. 640 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,000 Because it's God's decision what's righteous and what's not, 641 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:56,240 not man's and an ISIS Sapphira. Well, I mean, Pastor, they did 642 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,040 give an offering. They lied about it. 643 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,680 They lied about the price of which they gave and of it they 644 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:09,320 paid their life. Partial obedience is not 645 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,280 obedience. Often tell our children. 646 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:14,000 Partial obedience is not obedience. 647 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,760 Slow obedience is not obedience. One of the first messages I ever 648 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:19,719 preached. In fact, I think it was the 649 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,800 first message I preached at Heartland that preachers roundup 650 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:28,040 when they had the the students preach in a separate area for 651 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:30,400 practice and those kind of things. 652 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,239 I preached a message called when half equals 0. 653 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,400 The idea I've done halfway what God's told me to do. 654 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,040 Well, that's still equals 0 in the eyes of the Lord. 655 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,159 Why? Because God wants us to do right 656 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:47,080 all the way through to the end and not to mix our righteousness 657 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:50,159 with unrighteousness. Charles Spurgeon said this, My 658 00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:53,719 dear here I trust you are convinced that no half obedience 659 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:58,360 can ever be accepted by God. AW, Tozer said One compromise 660 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,800 here, another there, and soon enough the so-called Christian 661 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,200 and the man in the world look exactly the same. 662 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,520 This is true for us too. We must be careful to not get 663 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:13,840 haughty that we're being spiritual all while using 664 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:15,840 ungodly means at the exact same time. 665 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,680 I'll give you an example when I was. 666 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,200 First in the ministry. I worked for a pastor that there 667 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,360 were times that he got upset about things and things weren't 668 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,680 the way that he wanted them to be or got upset at staff or got 669 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,800 upset at church members. And it manifested itself in a 670 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:41,080 way that wasn't always pretty. Can I put it that way? 671 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,720 And I started to pick up on that habit myself. 672 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:47,920 Now, some of you think I'm so tender and so kind and so sweet, 673 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,320 but I'll tell you, I started to pick up some of those habits 674 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:53,880 myself because it's I kind of got to the place of listen. 675 00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:55,360 The man of God. Says it. 676 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,360 That's the way it needs to be. You don't like it, get out of 677 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:01,800 the way. Kind of enjoyed that kind of 678 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:05,240 attitude, you know, kind of Lord, can we call that fire down 679 00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:08,400 from heaven? Jesus didn't enjoy that, did he? 680 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,600 He said, you sons of Thunder, you, you don't know what you're 681 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,000 talking about. Calm yourself down. 682 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:17,360 So I I. Got to a place where, where that 683 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:21,360 was the case for me in ministry. But after that, I worked for 684 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,600 another pastor in the same ministry. 685 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:28,960 And, you know, I learned that there was a better, a more Godly 686 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:34,400 way to do things to be able to not just blow up at somebody 687 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,760 because they did wrong. I learned this from him. 688 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:42,120 But at the same time, over time, I would find that that in this 689 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,880 working with him, that there would be sometimes issues with 690 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:50,400 people and, and difficulties. And people would say, I feel 691 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,760 like there's a problem. He would say to them, is there 692 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:54,480 some kind of problem? There's not a problem. 693 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,040 There's not a problem. He wouldn't blow up. 694 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,280 He would blow up like I had learned before, he would just 695 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:04,000 say there's not a problem. And he would talk so calmly and 696 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,080 so quietly. It was so different. 697 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,720 And I thought that it was actually a very godly way to 698 00:37:08,720 --> 00:37:12,040 handle things. But then I found out that really 699 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,800 he would say that there's not a problem, but then he would 700 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,160 complain after they left. About the problem. 701 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:19,920 For weeks and weeks and weeks on end. 702 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,960 And I started to find out that I picked up that habit, too. 703 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,720 You starting to see a pattern. I'm very impressionable, 704 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:28,880 unfortunately, when it comes to pastoral leadership. 705 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,920 I guess what I'm saying is that I would get in a conversation 706 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,120 with somebody. I would try to take the high 707 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,560 ground, try to be calm, cool and collected. 708 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:41,720 I'm not blowing up at anybody. I'm not angry at anybody. 709 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,120 But you know what? In my heart I was just as 710 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:49,480 seething as I was before. Well, Pastor, at least you 711 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:50,960 handled it in a more righteous way. 712 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,440 You know what the Lord convicted me about later on? 713 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:59,280 Neither of those are righteous. 1 looks a little more righteous 714 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:02,560 than the other, doesn't it? But both are unrighteous. 715 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:05,800 That if I am upset with somebody, you know what, it 716 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:10,240 would be had better for me to say I'm upset, I'm not happy, 717 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:13,320 and maybe I shouldn't feel that way. 718 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:16,120 Let's talk about this. Like brothers in Christ or a 719 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:19,480 brother and sister in Christ. To not lie about it and to 720 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:21,120 gaslight somebody. I heard. 721 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:23,920 I hate that term gaslight, but but that's exactly what it is. 722 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,320 To pretend there isn't a problem and then to walk away and say 723 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:27,960 man. What's the problem? 724 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:33,560 Seems godly because you're not yelling and screaming, but it's 725 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:37,520 not godly. What happens when conflict 726 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:42,280 resolution in Second Samuel chapter 14 doesn't deal honestly 727 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:45,440 and righteously? I'd submit to you and we'll look 728 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,400 at this in a moment. Second Samuel chapter 14 ends 729 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,600 much differently than Second Samuel chapter 12. 730 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:54,600 Because when the Word of God is spoken in Second Samuel chapter 731 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,240 12 and a man is stirred not just in his emotions, but all the way 732 00:38:58,240 --> 00:39:01,280 down to the heart, and is convicted, convicted by the word 733 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:05,120 of the Lord. Real change takes place in 734 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,440 chapter #14 when everyone seems godly and talks about the Lord, 735 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,240 but the Lord's nowhere near what's taking place. 736 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,520 The end results are much, much different. 737 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:24,240 Pseudo godliness is dangerous. This is important because we can 738 00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:27,240 come into a church setting and we can say how you doing 739 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:29,520 brother, how you're doing, sister. 740 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:36,440 And we can interact with each other on the most, on the nicest 741 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:39,920 of terms. In fact, the outside. 742 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,080 Would come in and would look at us and say, boy, aren't they 743 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,840 really happy with one another or don't they treat one another 744 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:48,840 well? But in your heart, if what 745 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,520 you're portraying on the outside is not what's on the inside, 746 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,880 that pseudo godliness is a generic version of godliness. 747 00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:00,520 That pseudo godliness is the Rolox instead of the Rolex. 748 00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:06,120 That pseudo godliness looks good, but just like the generic, 749 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:11,040 just like the Rolex. Over time, people can tell the 750 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:14,720 difference. You know, for some reason, when 751 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:17,520 I was a teenager, I got to visit New York City and it was my goal 752 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:19,960 to buy a fake Rolex. I mean, what a stupid thing that 753 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:22,800 would be like my goal is to try to find a fake Rolex. 754 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:27,360 For some reason, the fake Rolex dealers, I never found them, but 755 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,720 I have heard that they look very convincing at first. 756 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:34,280 But if you know what you're looking for, you can find it 757 00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:36,280 immediately. And even those who don't know 758 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:40,240 what they're looking for, over time start to realize, hey, this 759 00:40:40,240 --> 00:40:43,480 thing isn't keeping time. I guess it's not worth $20,000. 760 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:49,840 Why is the gold peeling off? I guess it's not real. 761 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:55,160 Listen, pseudo godliness in the life of a church or in the life 762 00:40:55,160 --> 00:41:01,280 of a believer feels good for a while, but over time, the wheels 763 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:04,480 start to come off. What do we need to do? 764 00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:09,240 Not just act like we're godly. We need to be godly. 765 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,800 Not be, well, I mean, listen, we're in church. 766 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:16,520 I mean, how bad can we be? I mean, listen, we're already in 767 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:17,600 church. And so if there's a little 768 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,080 gossip, what's the big deal? I mean, it's a prayer request. 769 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:22,040 That's that's all it is just a prayer request. 770 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,440 Well, it's a prayer request probably formed as gossip. 771 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:27,400 So that's not really, I'm not saying every prayer request is 772 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:29,400 gossip, but I'm saying there's a lot of gossip that goes on in 773 00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:30,920 churches sometimes as prayer requests. 774 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:32,880 Will you pray? For them, let me tell you 775 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:34,560 everything that happened in their lives last couple weeks. 776 00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:39,280 What? That's pseudo. 777 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,240 Godliness. That's not godly. 778 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:43,560 There's nothing godly about that. 779 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,360 Phil, shake someone hand. How are you doing, brother? 780 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:52,000 But in your heart saying, boy, I hope it won't stop to talk to me 781 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,200 because I don't want to talk to him. 782 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:57,760 Listen, there's anyone in this building that you shouldn't be 783 00:41:57,760 --> 00:41:59,960 able to sit down and have a 5 or 10 minute conversation with at 784 00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:02,200 any given time. If you can't, that's a problem. 785 00:42:04,640 --> 00:42:05,600 Yeah. This is going over real great 786 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:08,800 tonight. OK, It's all right. 787 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:11,080 I'll plug away nonetheless. All right? 788 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:16,640 If there's someone that you actively avoid within this 789 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,680 building, that's a problem. Was it? 790 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,480 Well, listen, I mean, I don't. It's not like I hate it. 791 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:27,840 It's not like you love them. We ought to be able to sit down 792 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,760 and fellowship with one another. And truly, even knowing that we 793 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:32,920 come from different backgrounds and we look at things 794 00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:35,400 differently, that's OK. But yeah, we have the 795 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:39,120 commonality of the blood of Christ within us, and pseudo 796 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:41,600 godliness shouldn't be. Hey, brother. 797 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:45,920 OK, don't talk to me. It ought to be hey. 798 00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:48,360 How was your week? How's how's work? 799 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:49,080 No, don't answer. I don't. 800 00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:52,680 I don't care. But no, I do care. 801 00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:56,800 But I just don't have time. All right, to be, to talk to 802 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,800 someone, fellowship with them, to pray for them. 803 00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,920 You know what my concern is not necessarily for Liberty Baptist 804 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:06,040 Church, because this is a great church in so many ways, but just 805 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:08,800 in general with Christianity that if we're not careful, we 806 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,360 can look like Second Samuel 14. Hey, at first blush it looks 807 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:15,640 great, doesn't it? But then you start digging 808 00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:19,160 deeper to go, whoa, this is not good. 809 00:43:20,240 --> 00:43:23,200 And listen, this can go into every area of our life because 810 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:25,760 we can make a lot of excuses about why we're doing something 811 00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:30,520 wrong for a good reason. Well, I know I lied, but I, I 812 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:31,840 didn't want to hurt their feelings. 813 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:34,360 I know I lied, but I didn't want to worry my wife. 814 00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:39,360 Well, I, I know I fudged the numbers on my taxes, but, you 815 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:40,920 know, the government gets enough anyway. 816 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:46,600 Well, yeah, I, I, I know I, I clocked in earlier than I 817 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,080 actually got to work, and I didn't actually work the whole 818 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,800 time I was clocked in for. But you know, our company makes 819 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:55,160 enough money anyway. We can start to make all these 820 00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:59,000 rationalizations in our life of even why we're doing good when 821 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:03,520 we're doing bad. And all of that pseudo 822 00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:07,080 righteousness is actually unrighteousness. 823 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,800 No, it's not like what I mean. I've got a good motive, so at 824 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:14,440 least I'm somewhere over here. The mark is not here. 825 00:44:15,240 --> 00:44:19,120 The mark is here. It's God's righteousness. 826 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,800 Anything else is unrighteous. Well, I mean, I, I drank. 827 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,600 The water with the poison and it was half water and half actually 828 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:29,920 it's 51% water, 49% poison. So it was OK, you know what I 829 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:34,320 want? I want 100% water and 0% poison. 830 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:36,680 But that's the way it is with sin. 831 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:40,520 What does the Bible say that our, that our, our he's going to 832 00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,480 cleanse us in Isaiah chapter 1 is white as Snow White as snow. 833 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:46,560 What is that? That's the absence of anything 834 00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:48,880 else, whiteness, the absence of color. 835 00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:51,200 There is nothing, you know, if you add just a little bit of 836 00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:54,840 color, it's no longer white, it's off white. 837 00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:57,800 It's the same way with God's righteousness. 838 00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:00,160 You add a little bit of anything else to God's righteousness. 839 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:01,880 You know what it is? It's unrighteousness. 840 00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:06,280 That's what it is. So I know this may be a strange. 841 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:11,840 Turn off of this text. But my mind has been on this for 842 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:13,280 a while. It's been on this, this text for 843 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:15,320 probably a month and a half because we've been out of the 844 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:17,680 series for a month and a half just trying to seek what the 845 00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,400 Lord would have for us. And honestly, I had difficulty 846 00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:21,960 trying to parse out what's going on. 847 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,800 You know, should David, should David have been, you know, 848 00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:28,920 should have said what he said, You know, with this woman, what 849 00:45:29,240 --> 00:45:31,360 was she being wise and what she said? 850 00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:34,400 Because the Bible even says she was a wise woman, but was she 851 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:37,160 being wise in what she said? Was Joab trying to help David or 852 00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:39,920 was he off the mark? And I came to the conclusion 853 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:42,040 that in the end, once you started comparing it to chapter 854 00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:47,520 #12 everybody was wrong, even though everybody seemed right at 855 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:49,600 first. When I look at Liberty Baptist 856 00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:50,920 Church. I don't want us to just seem 857 00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:53,440 godly. I want us to be godly. 858 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:57,120 When I look at my own life, I don't want to just portray 859 00:45:57,120 --> 00:45:59,680 myself as someone in the community that is godly. 860 00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:03,120 I need to be godly. No, I need to make sure the 861 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:06,600 things I look at, the things I talk about, the things I listen 862 00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:10,120 to are things that are pleasing to God. 863 00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:12,840 And it doesn't matter if the world thinks that I am. 864 00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:14,680 Well, he's a very dedicated Christian. 865 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:19,320 Well, if I portray myself that way, but I am not that, that's 866 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:22,000 not a good thing. In fact, after a while, you know 867 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:24,440 what'll happen. The more they see me, the more 868 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,720 they're around me. Just like that, Roblox, they're 869 00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:32,920 going to realize, no, this isn't quite right and you'll do more 870 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:37,040 harm to the cause of Christ than good with your fake, phony 871 00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:41,360 baloney godliness. I'll leave you with this. 872 00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:43,200 I'll be to have some other stuff and we're going to end here. 873 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:47,720 But I would say this, it seems like there was another group of 874 00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:53,520 people that had this problem. They were really good at showing 875 00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:57,080 how godly they were, but there was no godliness to be found 876 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:00,880 within them. Pharisees. 877 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:08,480 The long robes standing on the corner, praying. 878 00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:13,560 But they weren't praying to God, they were praying to themselves. 879 00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:17,320 Remember the the Pharisee who was praying with the the public 880 00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,520 and not far off in the Bible said that that Pharisee was 881 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:22,200 praying to himself. His prayers weren't even getting 882 00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:25,960 as far as the ceiling as far as I believe the Word of God would 883 00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:30,200 teach. We don't want a Pharisee spirit 884 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:33,720 that looks godly, that seems godly. 885 00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,800 It's horseshoes and hand grenades godly. 886 00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:42,480 But in God's economy, that's not what he's looking for. 887 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:44,920 He's looking not for close enough godliness. 888 00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:47,200 He's looking for you and I to be godly. 889 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:50,720 By the way, the end of this story, the fruit of the end of 890 00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:54,720 the story, tells the story. David still couldn't bring 891 00:47:54,720 --> 00:48:00,920 himself to see Absalom, so Absalom gets upset at Joab and 892 00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:05,560 he burns his fields down. David couldn't bring himself to 893 00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:08,600 be able to make things right with Absalom. 894 00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:10,880 Or or rather to to execute justice. 895 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:13,440 I should say with Absalom would be a better way of putting it. 896 00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:17,320 He didn't want Absalom to die. Well because he didn't handle 897 00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:20,040 this in a godly way it would end up happening. 898 00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:26,280 Absalom leads a rebellion, 20,000 Israelites die, and 899 00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:30,520 Absalom still dies by the hand of Joab. 900 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:34,480 Did David handle it well with a pseudo godliness? 901 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:38,320 No Did Joab handle it well with a pseudo godliness? 902 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:40,880 No. Did the woman of Toccoa do 903 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:42,880 anyone any favors by lying? No. 904 00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:46,200 It seems so good, but it all went so bad. 905 00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:49,280 Because that's what fake godliness will do. 906 00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,040 Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of 907 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:56,000 Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing 908 00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:59,440 to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us 909 00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:04,040 know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org. 910 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:08,880 Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton, 911 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:11,720 MA. May the Lord bless you as you 912 00:49:11,720 --> 00:49:12,880 grow in His Word.