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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist 
Sermon Archives. 

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The message you're about to hear
was preached at Liberty Baptist 

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Church in Easton, MA. 
You can find out more about us 

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or contact us at my 
libertybaptist.org or just look 

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us up on Facebook. 
And now we hope that this 

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message from God's Word will be 
a blessing to you. 

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Take a Samuel chapter #18 as we 
say goodbye to Absalom, as this 

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will be the final time that we 
see him in the Word of God, as 

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his coup is going to come to a 
failure and we're going to look 

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more at that. 
Here this evening. 

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Does read the book here in the 
process of reading a book by a 

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fairly famous Christian author 
and as I'm reading it written in

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modern day. 
In fact, it was just released 

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not that long ago and as he. 
Was talking about a certain 

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element of the Christian life. 
He says what you need is a 

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mantra and that's what he said. 
He said what you need is a 

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mantra. 
And what was interesting about 

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that, it caught my attention 
because just taught on Buddhism 

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just a week before here in 
Sunday school, and that thought 

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of a. 
Mantra that we need to have and 

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I thought why are we using terms
and thoughts from other 

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religions in our own? 
And I know what he meant. 

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He was talking about actually. 
Using scripture and being able 

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to recite it and to be able to 
have it constantly on the mind. 

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But there's a way we can talk 
about that without Co opting 

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terms that come from, you know, 
another religion. 

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Another one of those terms would
be this karma. 

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Remember we talked about that 
last week in Sunday school? 

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Karma. 
What goes around comes around. 

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The poetic justice, you know, 
that that whole idea of karma, 

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that you do something good here 
and you might get something good

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here later. 
You do something bad here and 

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it's going to come catch you 
later on. 

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That this is what's said. 
You know, oftentimes as 

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believers, if we're not careful,
we can end up using some of 

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these terms to be able to talk 
about things that are actually 

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biblical principles. 
And as I mentioned last week in 

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Sunday school, karma in and of 
itself is not incorrect. 

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If you were to look at it in the
proper biblical way, no, no, not

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the way that the Buddhist would 
look at it, But if we were to 

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look at his proper biblical way,
which is this, that which a man 

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soweth, that shall he also reap.
And anytime there's something 

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true in the word of God, Satan 
has a cheap imitation copy that 

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he tries to peddle out there to 
the world. 

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And one of those is karma or 
poetic justice, or just what 

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goes around comes around, and 
it's kind of way to laugh off or

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it's kind of a way to kind of 
shrug off the realities of 

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whatsoever a man soweth that 
shall he also reap. 

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Well, tonight it's harvest time 
for Absalom. 

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He's been sowing seed for years 
and he's about to find out that 

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his time is up. 
And we'll look at Absalom's 

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life, we'll look at Absalom's 
death. 

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And we're just going to be 
reminded about some things that 

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I would believe that if I look 
around here this evening, we 

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probably already know. 
We're probably already pretty 

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aware when it comes this issue 
of sowing and reaping, but the 

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Bible has some graphic ways to 
remind us of things that we 

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ought to keep forefront of our 
mind and one of those is tonight

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here this very issue of 
whatsoever a man soweth that 

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Shelley also reaped the title My
message died is this sowing and 

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reaping is real. 
Sowing and reaping is real. 

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Will you stand please for the 
reading of God's word. 

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We're going to read a little bit
of a larger. 

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Stretch of the Bible this 
evening, but follow along with 

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me if you will. 
Samuel chapter 18, verse one. 

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And it says, And David numbered 
the people that were with him, 

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and set captains of thousands 
and captains of hundreds over 

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them. 
And David set forth a third part

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of the people under the hand of 
Joab, 3rd part under the hand of

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Abishai the son of Zariah, 
Joab's brother, and a third part

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under the hand of Itai the 
Gitai. 

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You remember him, We saw him a 
few weeks ago. 

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And the king said unto the 
people, I will surely go forth 

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with you also myself. 
But the people answered, Thou 

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shalt not go forth. 
For if we flee away, they will 

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not care for us, neither if half
of us die will they care for us.

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But now thou art worth 10,000 of
us, therefore now is better thou

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sucker us out of the city. 
And the king said unto them, 

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What seemeth you best I will do.
And the king stood by the gate 

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side. 
And all the people came out by 

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hundreds and by thousands. 
And the king commanded Joab and 

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Abishai. 
And it Thai saying, Deal gently 

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for my sake with young man, even
with Absalom. 

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And all the people heard when 
the king gave all the captain's 

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charge concerning Absalom. 
So the people went out into the 

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field against Israel, and the 
battle was in the wood of 

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Ephraim, where the people of 
Israel were slain before the 

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servants of David. 
And there were a great slaughter

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that day of 20,000 men. 
For the battle was there 

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scattered over the face of all 
the country. 

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And the wood devoured more 
people that day than the sword 

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devoured. 
And Absalom met the servants of 

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David. 
And Absalom wrote upon a mule, 

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and the mule went under a thick 
bow of a great oak, and his head

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got hold of the oak. 
You say, how on earth did this 

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guy get caught up in an oak? 
You'll remember he had 

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beautiful, luxurious hair, 
didn't he? 

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And that luxurious hair ended up
being his downfall, and he was 

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taken up between the heaven and 
the earth, and the mule that was

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under him went away, and a 
certain man saw it and told 

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Joab, and behold, said I'd saw 
Absalom hanged in a tree. 

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Now Joab only had to hear that 
twice. 

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That's that music to Joab's 
ears, despite what David had 

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just said a few moments ago. 
And Joab said unto the man and 

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told him, Behold, thou sawest 
him, why did thou not smite him 

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there to the ground? 
And I would have given thee 10 

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shekels of silver and a girdle. 
And the man said of the Joab, 

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though I should receive 1000 
shekels of silver in my hand, 

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yet would I not put forth my 
hand against the King's son. 

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For in our hearing the king 
charged thee. 

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And ABBA shy, it's I saying, 
beware that none touch or touch 

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the young man Absalom, otherwise
I should have wrought falsehood 

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against my own life, For there 
is no matter hid from the king. 

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And thou was that thyself would 
have set thyself against me. 

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Then Joab said, I may not tarry 
thus with thee. 

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He took three darts in his hand 
and thrust him through the heart

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of Absalom, while he was yet 
alive in the midst of the oak. 

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Just well hang in there. 
And 10 young man that bare 

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Joab's armor compassed him about
and smote Absalom and slew him. 

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And Joab blew the trumpet. 
And the people returned from 

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pursuing after Israel. 
For Joab held back the people, 

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and they took Absalom, cast him 
into a great pit in a wood, and 

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lay a very great heap of stones 
upon him. 

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And all Israel fled everyone to 
his tent. 

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Thus ends the life of Absalom in
a very well and glorious way. 

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But as a fact of the matter, the
harvest time has come for 

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Absalom. 
Look at what that means for him,

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but also what that means for us 
as well. 

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Why don't you go ahead and be 
seated as we consider this issue

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of sowing and reaping. 
Heavenly Father, be with us 

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tonight as we go through this 
message. 

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I pray that You help us all to 
be able to guard ourselves and 

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we're sowing the seed of 
righteousness and peace and not 

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sowing the seed which will bring
a wild harvest later on in our 

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lives. 
Lord, thank you for what you've 

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done for us this evening and 
help us to beware and be wise 

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from what we see tonight. 
And we ask it in Jesus name, 

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Amen. 
The harvest has come, Absalom is

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dead, A5 year saga is now over, 
and worst of all, it was totally

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preventable. 
Everything that we have read was

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absolutely, completely 
preventable if Absalom had 

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operated in a righteous manner. 
But instead he started by 

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seemingly acting in a righteous 
way, by trying to take justice 

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into his own hands. 
And there was some feelings 

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within him of righteous anger 
that he should have felt because

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of how his half sister Tamar was
treated. 

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But yet by taking justice into 
his own hands, murdering Amnon, 

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and then going down a road which
led to nowhere but destruction, 

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not just to his own family, not 
just to the people of Israel, 

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but for Absalom, most 
importantly to his own soul. 

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This was all because he was in 
the place where he was sowing 

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wild oats and was going to 
receive a wild harvest when we 

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open up. 
Chapter #18 The time has come. 

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You know, we've had these people
that were greeting David as he 

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was going out to the land of 
Gilead, as he was going out to 

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the eastern part of the Jordan 
River. 

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And we looked at most of those 
people. 

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One of those people we have not 
looked at yet in Mephibosheth, 

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but we'll be looking at him as 
he is going back towards David, 

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is rather going back towards 
Jerusalem later on. 

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But we've looked at all these 
people who have greeted David on

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the way out, or at least a great
deal of these people have 

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greeted David on the way out. 
And now it's time for the 

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battle. 
It's time for finally David and 

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Absalom to meet one another and 
it's to be handled on the 

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battlefield. 
And so David, being a wise 

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military general as he always 
has been, takes his troops and 

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divides them into thirds. 
He's going to try to outflank 

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Absalom. 
He takes Joe AB and he takes 

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Abbashi and then he takes his 
new friend Itai, the Getai. 

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Remember that man who came from 
Gath, that man who was exiled 

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from his own people. 
But he saw something righteous 

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within Dave and he said this I 
got to be a part of this. 

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He says, I'm going to protect 
you because I see something 

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right within you that I've not 
seen before and I want to stick 

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close to you. 
And now he's putting his own 

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neck on the line as he is now 
taking a third of David's troops

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and he is going out to battle. 
And David has a desire to be 

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able to go out as well. 
I think because he's a righteous

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man in so many ways, he, he 
doesn't want the people to 

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hazard themselves and for him to
be a ease. 

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He also knows the last time that
happened, it didn't go so well 

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for him spiritually, did it? 
In fact, that's kind of what got

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this whole ball rolling in the 
1st place with the sword in 

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David's house. 
And so David says I need to go 

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out there. 
But The thing is that David is 

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now aged. 
David is now older. 

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He is not the young man that he 
once was. 

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And they talk to David and they 
tell him basically this. 

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They don't want us, they want 
you. 

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They could kill 10,000 of us and
it's no difference to them. 

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But what they really want is 
you, what we want you to do. 

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Stay back within the defense 
city. 

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Stay back away, let us go to the
battle and you can sucker us. 

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Meaning this, that if one of 
those 3 divisions ended up 

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needing reinforcements, that 
David could bring those 

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reinforcements out to the men 
that were out there on the 

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battlefield. 
But in the meantime, David, you 

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just hang back. 
You let us go and do the work. 

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And this military parade takes 
place where all of them go by 

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and hundreds and all of them go 
by thousands. 

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And this is what takes place. 
And it's a beautiful scene, even

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if it's a haunting scene, to 
know that they're going out to 

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the battle and many of them 
might be going out towards their

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impending death. 
But then they go out into the 

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battle, which could be named the
Battle of Ephraim Wood, because 

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they take place in this wooded 
area. 

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And there's some battles that 
have taken place over history 

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that in some ways are very 
similar to this. 

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The Battle of the Wilderness in 
the Civil War comes to mind, 

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where they were battling in such
Bramble. 

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They were battling in such a 
deep, deep, thick forest that 

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you can't have normal military 
lines where you would just walk 

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in and March and hack with a 
sword or shoot with a gun as we 

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would later on in in history. 
That it's really almost 

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guerrilla type warfare where 
it's almost every man for 

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themself. 
And it's hard to be able to tell

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who's on what side. 
And so they go into Ephraim Wood

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and it's deep and it's dark and 
it's hard to be able to see 

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exactly what's going on. 
And we don't know what happened,

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but here's what we do know. 
The results were that there were

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00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,280
20,000 men of Israel. 
Now when it talks about of 

223
00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,840
Israel in your mind, you have to
understand that those are 

224
00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,320
Absalom's forces. 
Those are the ones that have 

225
00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,440
remained faithful to Absalom, 
not the forces of David. 

226
00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:27,000
So 10,000, or rather 20,000 of 
Absalom's forces, the people of 

227
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,840
Israel die in that wood. 
And interestingly enough, it 

228
00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,920
says in verse #8 for the battle 
there was scattered over the 

229
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,240
face of all the country, and the
wood devoured more people that 

230
00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:38,960
day than the sword devoured. 
Now you say pastor. 

231
00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,360
What does that mean? 
And the answer is, I don't know.

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00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:44,080
Say, pastor, you shouldn't be a 
pastor. 

233
00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:45,880
If you get up in front of people
and just say, I don't know. 

234
00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:47,920
Well, I'd rather tell you I 
don't know than lie about it. 

235
00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:53,040
Here's what it seems to me that 
by some miraculous means that 

236
00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,040
the wood themselves, whether 
they were pits or whether there 

237
00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,840
was pitfalls or whatever, it 
would have been there in the 

238
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:03,760
woods that God supernaturally 
did such that it was as if the 

239
00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:05,680
woods themselves swallowed them 
up. 

240
00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,280
And it wasn't David's men who 
actually had to take the sword 

241
00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:13,280
to the men of Israel, but rather
it was just the wood that took 

242
00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:15,040
care of it. 
And I could even put it this 

243
00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,320
way. 
This is God supernaturally 

244
00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:19,640
fighting for David on his 
behalf. 

245
00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,520
You say, master that that I 
don't, I don't get that. 

246
00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:24,920
I would say if you're going to 
stumble at that, there's a lot 

247
00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:27,200
more difficult things to 
understand in the Bible than 

248
00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:28,880
that. 
Like if you're worried about 

249
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:30,720
that, I'll tell you. 
There's one time that they did 

250
00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:32,560
to dig ditches and all of a 
sudden there's water in them. 

251
00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:35,360
And then the way the sun bounced
on it, the, the, the enemy 

252
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,120
thought it was blood. 
They said, Oh no, there's blood,

253
00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:38,360
let's go run. 
And that was it. 

254
00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:42,160
You say that don't make sense 
when God's in it, it makes 

255
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,280
sense. 
So we don't need to go too deep 

256
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:47,040
in this to try to say, well, you
know, you know the woods, you 

257
00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,040
know, at certain times of the 
year, you know, there could be a

258
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:51,240
a certain types that no, don't 
don't worry about that. 

259
00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:52,640
All right, just trust God for 
his word. 

260
00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:54,840
How about that? 
You're a lot easier when you get

261
00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:56,960
into the word of God, just 
taking the word of God for what 

262
00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:58,840
it is and then trying to explain
it away. 

263
00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:00,480
Say, why are you pastor? 
Why are you mad at us? 

264
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:02,760
I'm not mad at you, but I'm just
telling you, I've read study 

265
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,640
material that it even just this 
week they're trying to explain 

266
00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,160
what God has very clearly made a
miracle here. 

267
00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:10,880
We don't need to explain it. 
We just trust God for what it 

268
00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:11,880
is. 
It's miraculous. 

269
00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,960
David is being protected by God 
because David is righteous. 

270
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,880
It's almost like there's 
something about sowing and 

271
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,840
reaping for righteousness on 
David's behalf. 

272
00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:22,200
Not because David's perfect. 
No. 

273
00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,600
In fact, we can look at David 
and see, yeah, there's some 

274
00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:26,560
areas where he's really not 
thinking right. 

275
00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:28,600
Maybe this area will be another 
area. 

276
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,120
For instance, David's life. 
He's not thinking right as it. 

277
00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:33,640
I and Joab and ambush. 
I go out to battle. 

278
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:38,200
He says hey guys, before you go.
Just one thing, don't hurt my 

279
00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,960
son. 
Don't hurt, he calls him a young

280
00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,480
man, Almost in a sense. 
Like, don't hurt my kid. 

281
00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:47,840
I'm thinking, David, have you 
not gotten it yet? 

282
00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:51,200
And here's where we'll take a 
brief time out. 

283
00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,880
And I just want to remind you 
spiritually, we all have blind 

284
00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,680
spots. 
Every single one of us have 

285
00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,600
areas where we think that we 
know things really well that we 

286
00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,880
don't know so well. 
You know when you go driving and

287
00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,400
you're about to take that veer 
to the left or your veer to the 

288
00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:09,720
right, and all of a sudden you 
start and you hear someone lay 

289
00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,080
on the horn and go, wow, where'd
they come from? 

290
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,040
We've been there all along. 
But you didn't check your blind 

291
00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:16,720
spot. 
Do I have a driving instructor 

292
00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:17,600
who'd agree with? 
All right, there's. 

293
00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:18,440
OK, Good. 
That's it. 

294
00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:19,680
I see that hand. 
All right, good. 

295
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:21,800
He was doing a gear shift there 
instead of raising his hand. 

296
00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:22,440
Amen. 
That's good. 

297
00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,880
We have spiritual blind spots. 
David's family is a spiritual 

298
00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,320
blind spot. 
Absalom deserve to die. 

299
00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,000
Absalom deserve to die many 
times over. 

300
00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,600
And by giving this unrighteous 
decree, in my opinion, because 

301
00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:40,440
he has a blind spot, he's end up
putting a lot of people in a 

302
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:46,640
very bad situation where Joab 
has to become the man of reason.

303
00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:48,920
There's a problem when Joab is 
the man of reason. 

304
00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:52,280
But Joab says you. 
Want to leave this guy alive? 

305
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,280
Do you want to be back here in 
six months? 

306
00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:56,200
Do you want to be back here in a
year? 

307
00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,680
You're going to leave him there.
You're going to leave him alive.

308
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:00,920
You're going to cut him down and
put him in handcuffs. 

309
00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,120
Kill the man. 
He deserves to die. 

310
00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:05,840
And I'm not saying that Joab was
righteous in the way he handled 

311
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:08,440
it, but he was also in a very 
difficult situation because 

312
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,880
David wasn't thinking about this
correctly. 

313
00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:12,720
Would you have spiritual brown 
spots? 

314
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:14,520
Can I help you with how to take 
care of those things? 

315
00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:18,280
Pray about them, recognize them.
Don't jump. 

316
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,720
Don't leap. 
Slow down, Ask the Lord to help 

317
00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:22,960
you. 
If you know that you're hasty 

318
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,920
and making decisions, slow down.
That's a spiritual blind spot. 

319
00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:28,440
If you know that you have 
problems and recognizing 

320
00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,040
spiritual issues in your family 
and not handling them, take heed

321
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,880
of that and talk to your family 
about those things. 

322
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:37,400
If you know you have a spiritual
blind spot when it comes to a 

323
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,680
particular sin, stay away from 
it. 

324
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,840
Get it out of your home. 
Don't even have a temptation of 

325
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,440
it nearby. 
Whatever it is, don't allow that

326
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,680
spiritual blind spot to cause 
great problems for you. 

327
00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:51,000
Dave was a very righteous man in
so many ways, but this is a 

328
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,920
problem. 
Don't hurt my boy. 

329
00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:57,160
Don't hurt your boy. 
Your boy needs to die. 

330
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,080
That's the righteous thing to 
take place here. 

331
00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,680
But the wood swallows up 
everybody. 

332
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,200
And you'll remember that I said 
several chapters ago, chapter 

333
00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:13,840
#15 to be exact, that when we 
saw the beauty of Absalom's 

334
00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,880
hair, that that was nothing more
than the word of God giving us 

335
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:20,200
foreshadowing meaning this. 
Hey, mark this down. 

336
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,400
Pay attention. 
This could come back. 

337
00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:26,240
Karma. 
No, not really. 

338
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:32,240
That's what the world would say.
How ridiculous is this? 

339
00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,400
Here's a man who has beautiful 
hair. 

340
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,440
He loves his hair. 
It's obvious that he had some 

341
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,080
great love for his hair because 
of the fact that even marked for

342
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,640
us in his in the Bible and 
because of what happens here. 

343
00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:49,120
He's going down through this 
wood in a mule and all of a 

344
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:51,560
sudden he's hanging between 
heaven and earth. 

345
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,640
And like I told you before, the 
old sermon goes the mule walked 

346
00:16:54,640 --> 00:17:00,880
on and he's hanging there. 
Hey, guys, hey, hey, guys. 

347
00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,000
I can't get down this beautiful.
Fool. 

348
00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:12,240
Is hanging on a tree. 
And so someone does see him, and

349
00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,440
the man of David's forces sees 
him and goes to Joab. 

350
00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:18,760
And Joab says, son, are you 
kidding me? 

351
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,160
Why is why is he still alive? 
Why are you telling me this? 

352
00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,200
He says, well, don't you 
remember what David says? 

353
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,760
It doesn't matter if you offer 
me two talents of silver and a 

354
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:30,160
girdle, you know, by the way, 
the girl you know, you know, 

355
00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:32,840
just a, a piece of, of clothing 
there. 

356
00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,320
He says I don't, I don't care 
about that. 

357
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:38,840
He says I got to listen to what 
the king says, and Joab says I 

358
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,920
don't. 
And that was basically his modus

359
00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:43,480
operandi, was it most of the 
time. 

360
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:44,760
Hey, Dave, what do you want me 
to do? 

361
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:46,360
I think I'll do this over here 
instead. 

362
00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:48,840
And so he says David's not 
thinking straight. 

363
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,800
I'm going to save David from 
himself again. 

364
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,320
Should he have disobeyed? 
Likely he should have listened 

365
00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:57,640
to the king. 
But he also was, I believe, 

366
00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,200
trying to act on behalf of the 
king, knowing that if Epsilon 

367
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,800
wasn't taken care of, Absalom 
will do this again. 

368
00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:08,840
So he says the man has to die. 
And so he goes. 

369
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,600
He takes 3 darts, strikes him 
right in the heart. 

370
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:17,640
And then it says that Joab had 
10 men and 10 men gathered 

371
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:21,560
around, and those 10 men 
finished the job right there 

372
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,160
treating him, And I'm not even 
trying to be funny about this, 

373
00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,720
but treating him like a human 
pinata as he's hanging there 

374
00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,680
defenseless. 
They beat him senseless and kill

375
00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:34,960
him. 
And you look at the end of it. 

376
00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,200
You say, well, that's the end of
Absalom. 

377
00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:43,040
A man who had so much, it ended 
up being so little. 

378
00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:45,160
In fact, do you remember verse 
#18? 

379
00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:47,320
We read it a few weeks ago, but 
I think it's good to read it 

380
00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:49,360
again. 
Because Absalom's life is summed

381
00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:51,600
up this way. 
Now Absalom in his lifetime had 

382
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:53,920
taken and reared up for himself 
a pillar which is in the King's 

383
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:55,440
Dale. 
For he said, I have no son to 

384
00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,200
keep my name in remembrance. 
And he called the pillar after 

385
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,080
his own name, and is called unto
this. 

386
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,200
Day Absalom's place. 
What was his legacy? 

387
00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:08,040
A piece of granite. 
What was his legacy? 

388
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:13,200
A stone. 
A pillar of all that Absalom 

389
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,200
could have been. 
And this was all that was left 

390
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,160
of him. 
Well, what happened? 

391
00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,880
It's the fact that the law of 
sowing and reaping is real. 

392
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:25,320
Let me be honest with you about 
something. 

393
00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:27,680
I, I got to tell you because as 
a pastor, you know, I talked 

394
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:29,920
this morning a little bit about 
the joy of being able to get 

395
00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,560
into the Bible and joy of being 
able to study. 

396
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:34,560
The Bible says study to show 
thyself. 

397
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,080
Approved unto God, and that's 
for all of us. 

398
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:39,720
But really Paul was telling that
to young Timothy who was a 

399
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,040
pastor. 
And so I'm to study, to show 

400
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,320
myself Approved under God, a 
Workman that needeth not to be 

401
00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:46,400
ashamed, rightly dividing the 
word of truth. 

402
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,360
And so there are times that you 
get into a text like this and 

403
00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:52,800
you want to find something that 
people aren't expecting you to 

404
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,320
come up with. 
I don't know if it's the pride 

405
00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,760
and the arrogance of a preacher 
to be able to say you're 

406
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,160
expecting me to zig. 
And I'm going to zag you're. 

407
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:02,800
Expecting me to go this 
direction with this application.

408
00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,600
Well, I'm going to go something 
completely different so that 

409
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:06,920
when you leave, you go, whoa, 
did you imagine? 

410
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:08,640
Could you imagine what Pastor 
came up with? 

411
00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:13,560
I know you do that all the time.
But yeah, we're supposed to 

412
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,440
laugh at that. 
But anyway, no, but that. 

413
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,040
But in the arrogance of a 
pastor, I could come up with 

414
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:18,880
that. 
And I'll tell you, I went 

415
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,640
everywhere from Psalm 37 to 
Romans chapter 1. 

416
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,480
And I, I'm going to all these 
different places in my study. 

417
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,800
I have probably about two 
different pages of notes that 

418
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,040
I've already typed out. 
And I just looked at it and I 

419
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,680
stopped. 
And it was as if the Holy Spirit

420
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:36,640
was prompting me in the sense 
saying, you know, that's not 

421
00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:40,640
what this is about. 
We don't need to be clever here.

422
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,400
This is about one thing and one 
thing only, sowing and reaping. 

423
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,920
And sure, it might be clever for
me to take you on a Grand Tour 

424
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,560
of all of these different places
and trying to put them all 

425
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,760
together. 
And if it's biblical, that's OK 

426
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:58,640
Amen. 
As long as my heart is right and

427
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,520
being able to do it, not 
arrogant and pride trying to 

428
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:03,880
show you how much I know. 
No, there's nothing good about 

429
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,080
that in a pulpit. 
That's ugly in a pulpit, to be 

430
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,640
honest with you, the heart of a 
pastor to be like that. 

431
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,280
But even as a pastor, it could 
be the temptation of not even 

432
00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,680
sometimes of the arrogance as 
much just trying to say, well, 

433
00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,280
they're expecting me to go this 
way and I, I want to be able to 

434
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:19,080
stretch their thinking maybe in 
a different way. 

435
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:20,760
There could be a lot of 
different ways to look at it. 

436
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,280
But sometimes the obvious 
application is the application 

437
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,200
and the obvious applications 
that God said this man who loved

438
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:31,960
his hair got caught in his hair 
and died. 

439
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,200
What more do you need to know? 
You know, the interesting thing 

440
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,360
about is I started to study and 
I started to go back to the very

441
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:44,000
basics of the text. 
The more I got into the text, 

442
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,000
the more I realized that the 
ironies of sowing and reaping 

443
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:49,920
didn't just start and end with 
his hair. 

444
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,760
Here's a few other things that I
came up with as time went on. 

445
00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:59,960
Verse #14 says that Absalom was 
killed by Joab. 

446
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:05,040
Well, why would Joab have had 
animosity toward Absalom? 

447
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,480
Could it have been that when 
Joab was trying to be a friend 

448
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:13,120
to Absalom and to David, Absalom
says I'll burn your field down, 

449
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:19,160
and he burned it down, and Joab 
was the one who killed him or 

450
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,200
one of the hands that killed 
him, sowing and reaping. 

451
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,440
Absalom died at the hand of 
Joab. 

452
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,400
Absalom was a rebel against the 
king. 

453
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:36,160
Well, what was Joab? 
A rebel against the king. 

454
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,600
In fact, he rebelled against the
very commandment that said don't

455
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,840
kill my son. 
And again, I'm not approving 

456
00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,800
what Joab did here because I 
believe that he was taking 

457
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,840
matters and justice into his own
hands, just as Absalom had 

458
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,320
before. 
There was a way that Joab could 

459
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:55,680
have done this that would have 
been righteous, that still would

460
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,880
have brought him to justice, but
he was very glad to be able to 

461
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,120
do it himself. 
The fact that he took the three 

462
00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:04,680
darts and put it in his heart 
tells you that he wanted to do 

463
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,760
it at close quarters. 
It wasn't the fact that he 

464
00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:08,080
wanted to. 
Do it from far away. 

465
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,040
He wanted Joab, or we wanted 
Absalom to know who it was who 

466
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:15,040
killed him, and that alone ought
to give us pause to think. 

467
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:20,960
But at the same time, that 
spirit of rebellion against the 

468
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:26,880
king that killed him is the very
same spirit that Absalom and had

469
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:31,280
for the last five years. 
Whatsoever man soweth that shall

470
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:40,520
he also reap. 
Verse 15 says in 10 young men 

471
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,480
the bare joabs armor can passed 
him about and smote Absalom and 

472
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,120
killed him. 
I don't know, maybe you're 

473
00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:54,920
thinking I'm going too far with 
this, but how many women did 

474
00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:59,760
Absalom rape? 
Do you think God just randomly 

475
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:06,160
put that number there of 10? 
Absalom took advantage of ten 

476
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:10,560
women and raped them. 
Could we maybe even put it this 

477
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:17,320
way, 10 younger women and ten 
young men said whatever Joab 

478
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,560
didn't do, we're going to finish
the job. 

479
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,760
And very the very idea of 
Absalom being the judge, jury, 

480
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,600
executioner of Amnon, This is 
what these men did to him. 

481
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,320
They were his judge, jury and 
executioner. 

482
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,000
It's not just about the hair. 
I mean, the hair is the obvious 

483
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,920
part, but the laws of sowing and
reaping are all over this text. 

484
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,120
Now, there's one part that we 
have not looked at this evening 

485
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,160
and that's this. 
What are the laws of sowing and 

486
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,840
reaping? 
Maybe you're not sure what I'm 

487
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:53,440
talking about. 
Maybe you think I'm just pulling

488
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,920
this phrase out of the air. 
It is a very biblical phrase, 

489
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:01,400
and it is a very biblical 
thought for us to consider this 

490
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:02,560
evening. 
So this is what I wants to do. 

491
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,720
We can turn away from Second 
Samuel chapter #18 but I want 

492
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,240
you to turn to Galatians chapter
6. 

493
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,120
Will you do that now? 
Galatians chapter #6 And if this

494
00:25:10,120 --> 00:25:12,880
is not marked in your Bible, 
mark it in your Bible. 

495
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,080
Mark all of these verses in your
Bible. 

496
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:16,960
You say, pastor, I don't mark in
my Bible. 

497
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:20,680
Then put a post it note in 
there, put it on your phone, 

498
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,880
whatever you need to do. 
However you track verses that 

499
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:27,040
are instrumental to you and your
Christian life, these need to be

500
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,080
marked in your Bible. 
And I would encourage you 

501
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:31,120
marking your Bible. 
There's nothing wrong with it. 

502
00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:33,320
It's not sacrilegious. 
We're not talking about coloring

503
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:34,600
in it or doing something like 
that. 

504
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,160
We're talking about taking a pen
and going through and circling 

505
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,760
or underlining or highlighting 
verses that are important to 

506
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,080
you. 
So later on when you're reading 

507
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,520
your Bible, they are there. 
They're front and center and you

508
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:46,760
can see them and I'm telling 
you. 

509
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,680
You. 
Need to know these verses. 

510
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:50,920
You need to be. 
Familiar with these verses? 

511
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,840
If you are familiar with them, 
we need to be reacquainted with 

512
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,680
them tonight because this is 
Absalom to AT so Galatians 

513
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:02,440
chapter #6 look at verse #7 it 
says be not deceived. 

514
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,120
Stop. 
The pastor, I want to read more 

515
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:06,200
than that. 
You get 3 words. 

516
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:12,200
Be not deceived. 
This is a warning to us that we 

517
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,120
think that we are above this 
principle. 

518
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,960
There's a warning right out the 
chute that we think that this 

519
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:25,600
principle applies to other 
people all the time, but it does

520
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,720
not apply to us. 
I'm going to say this without 

521
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,960
trying to be rude to you this 
evening, but I'm going to say 

522
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:32,600
this to you just as plainly as I
can. 

523
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,440
You're not so special that 
you're the exceptions to God's 

524
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,120
laws. 
You are not so special. 

525
00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:40,520
And just to make sure that you 
think if I am being rude, I'll 

526
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:41,800
be rude to myself too, All 
right? 

527
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,000
I am not so special that I'm the
exception to God's laws. 

528
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,800
Paul's warning us of this, Be 
not deceived. 

529
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:50,920
Don't allow yourself to be 
deceived. 

530
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:55,440
Pay attention to this because we
think that we're above it or we 

531
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,760
think that our cause is 
righteous enough that God won't 

532
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,720
look at us upon this. 
But this is what the immutable 

533
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:03,560
law is. 
Be not deceived. 

534
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:06,520
God is not mocked. 
You are not going to make a 

535
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,640
mockery of God and his laws. 
You know, God is undefeated. 

536
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,640
He's never lost. 
God never has taken an L. 

537
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:23,080
We take them on a regular basis.
This pastor is is on a epic 

538
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,160
losing streak. 
It would seem like sometimes 

539
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:26,440
more than a winning streak. 
Why? 

540
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,840
Because there's so many times I 
think that I can go against the 

541
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,400
very things that God in his word
is spelled out. 

542
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,320
And sometimes I think that I'm 
going to get one over on him. 

543
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:38,920
You say, Pastor, you really 
think about it that way? 

544
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:40,160
No, I don't think about it that 
way. 

545
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:41,680
In fact, I don't even process 
that mentally. 

546
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,400
Maybe if I processed it mentally
that I would come to a better 

547
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,720
conclusion. 
But I just act in a way that is 

548
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,200
not in accordance with God and 
don't be deceived. 

549
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,720
God is not mocked for whatsoever
man soweth that shall He also 

550
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:55,400
reap. 
So verse 6 tells us that there 

551
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,520
is a certainty. 
Listen to this number one, that 

552
00:27:57,520 --> 00:27:59,960
there's a certainty. 
Be not deceived. 

553
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,880
God is not mocked for 
whatsoever. 

554
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:07,680
What does whatsoever encompass 
whatsoever you say? 

555
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:12,400
Well, what does it mean in the 
Greek whatsoever Whatsoever a 

556
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,280
man soweth, that shall he also 
reap? 

557
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,840
Now I'm not agricultural. 
In the sense that I take things 

558
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:22,800
and grow them again, as a 
lifelong renter, that's not 

559
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,920
really what you do. 
But I do know this, that if you 

560
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,640
were trying to grow a garden, or
if you're trying to grow 

561
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:34,440
something in a harvest, that 
what you sow is what you reap. 

562
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,960
This is just an immutable law of
life. 

563
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,360
Whatever seed you have is what 
grows. 

564
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,480
That could be true in the plant 
Kingdom. 

565
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:47,200
You plant Peppers, you don't get
Peppers. 

566
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:49,880
You plant tomatoes, You get 
tomatoes. 

567
00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:52,080
You plant beans or you get 
beans. 

568
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:59,200
That's true in the animal world.
Cats be get cats, dogs be get 

569
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,080
dogs. 
Elephants be get elephants. 

570
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,840
That's true with us as people, 
that people bigot people. 

571
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,240
No one plants a pepper plant and
says, I didn't know there were 

572
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,160
going to be beans on this thing.
If you see beans on your pepper 

573
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,080
plant, then you got someone 
playing a trick on you because 

574
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,400
that's not nature. 
Nature doesn't work like that. 

575
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,640
In fact, if we plant corn, we 
would expect corn to grow. 

576
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,560
In fact, no farmer is surprised.
Say, hey, hey, man, what are you

577
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:32,720
standing there so perplexed 
about? 

578
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:34,240
Well, I can't believe this. 
I got corn here. 

579
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:35,520
Well, what? 
Why? 

580
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:37,160
Why are you surprised There's 
corn? 

581
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:39,840
Did you plant something else? 
No, I plant corn. 

582
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:42,800
Well, what did you expect you 
get? 

583
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:44,360
Well, I thought it was going to 
be something else, but I guess 

584
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,720
it's just going to be corn. 
You'd say. 

585
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,080
Man, that guy's got a screw 
loose. 

586
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:54,760
But the certainty of whatsoever 
a man soweth that shall he also 

587
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:58,080
reap is true in the spiritual 
realm as well. 

588
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,960
You want to sow towards the 
things in life that are godly. 

589
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,320
Then you will find that there 
will be blessings that come with

590
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,600
that. 
You sow in your life those 

591
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,960
things that are ungodly. 
Look, we'll read this in a 

592
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,400
minute. 
You're going to find that an 

593
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,200
ungodly harvest will appear. 
That's the certainty. 

594
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,360
But verse #7 tells us there's 
choices. 

595
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,960
Not just a certainty, but the 
choices or verse #8 rather it it

596
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:28,520
says, for he that soweth to the 
flesh. 

597
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,320
His flesh shall of the flesh 
reap corruption. 

598
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,080
We understand that we struggle 
with the flesh every single day.

599
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,080
You're not sure about that? 
Go read Romans 6 and seven and 

600
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,880
eight, and when you're done, go 
back and read Romans 6 and seven

601
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,120
and eight, and keep doing it 
until you get it. 

602
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:48,560
And then after a few weeks, you 
probably need to read it again, 

603
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,680
because there's a lot of help 
there for us when it deals with 

604
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,320
the flesh. 
This flesh has to be. 

605
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:59,000
Mortified every single day, This
flesh causes us so many 

606
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,040
problems. 
People say, well the devil made 

607
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,400
me do it way before the devil 
even wanted me to do something. 

608
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:08,000
My flesh was OK with it. 
That's sometimes the devil gets 

609
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,320
blamed for stuff that we want to
do in our. 

610
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,800
Flesh it says, if you want to 
sow to the flesh, then you will 

611
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:19,280
reap corruption. 
You sow to the flesh, you will 

612
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:24,720
receive a fleshly harvest, but 
he that soweth to the Spirit 

613
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,320
shall of the Spirit reap life. 
Everlasting. 

614
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,280
No, don't, don't get worried 
about that teaching work 

615
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,320
salvation there. 
If you read the book of 

616
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,320
Galatians you understand there 
is no work salvation. 

617
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:42,280
But the idea is this is that 
there are Kingdom things that we

618
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,760
should be sowing to Jesus. 
Put it this way, lay not up for 

619
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,160
yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt

620
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,120
and where thieves breakthrough 
and steal, but lay up for 

621
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,840
yourselves treasures in heaven. 
This is what we are to do. 

622
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,600
This is what we are looking at, 
That when you reap to the flesh,

623
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,480
you will reap A carnal harvest 
here in this world. 

624
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,120
You reap to the spirit. 
You will see blessings in this 

625
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:12,440
world, but you'll also see 
blessings in the life to come. 

626
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,280
You sow the soul winning. 
Not only do you receive 

627
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,080
blessings now by seeing someone 
saved. 

628
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,920
That person will be with Christ 
for all eternity. 

629
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,320
I would say that's something 
that lasts for all time, doesn't

630
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,320
it? 
You, you sow to righteousness 

631
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,560
and you receive a crown from the
Lord that you get to cast back 

632
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:33,920
at his feet. 
This is something that lasts for

633
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,000
eternity. 
We understand that we're going 

634
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,080
to go to heaven if we know Jesus
Christ as our Savior, that 

635
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,960
heaven can't get any sweeter, if
you will, by what we do in this 

636
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,040
life. 
But there is a judgment seat 

637
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:47,840
that will come before and 
there's every tear. 

638
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,040
The Bible says there's tears 
that have to be wiped away 

639
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,400
before we go into heaven. 
Have you ever thought about why 

640
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:54,520
people, people who are going 
into heaven after they pass, 

641
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:56,360
could be crying before they go 
into heaven? 

642
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:58,960
Could it be because at that 
judgement seat of Christ, we 

643
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,880
realized? 
I wish I'd had a more spiritual 

644
00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:07,320
harvest because instead I've 
been sowing to wood, hay and 

645
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:14,560
stubble and burned in the fire, 
but I should be sowing to gold 

646
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,200
and silver and precious stones 
that are only made finer by the 

647
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,200
fire. 
This is what we are to do. 

648
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:23,760
This is what God has called us 
to do. 

649
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:26,240
There's a choice that we have to
make. 

650
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,040
This isn't about karma. 
This isn't about payback. 

651
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,080
No, this is about what we're 
doing for the Lord. 

652
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,080
But there are some who are like 
Hosea said in Hosea chapter 8 

653
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,480
verse 7. 
They sow into the wind and reap 

654
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,880
the whirlwind. 
Luke chapter 6 verse 45. 

655
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:43,760
A good man out of the good 
treasure of his heart, bringing 

656
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,400
forth that which is good. 
An evil man, out of the evil 

657
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,400
treasure of his heart bring it 
forth that which is evil. 

658
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:53,120
For of the abundance of the 
heart his mouth speaketh. 

659
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:58,480
You ever get to this place? 
You go. 

660
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:03,360
Why did I say that? 
You know why you said it? 

661
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:08,120
Because you've been sowing seed 
in your heart that would make 

662
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:13,760
that come out. 
Why do we curse? 

663
00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:16,719
Why would we take God's name in 
vain? 

664
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,440
Well, it could be that for years
you were sowing seeds of saying 

665
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,960
whatever you thought whenever 
you wanted to, whoever you 

666
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,400
wanted to, whether they wanted 
it or not. 

667
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,159
And usually they didn't want it.
And that made it even sweeter 

668
00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:32,360
when you said it when they 
didn't want it. 

669
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:37,679
Let me, let me help you with 
something here. 

670
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,360
Maybe you struggle a little bit 
with why. 

671
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:42,800
Why is my speech still so bad? 
I've gotten saved. 

672
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:44,480
It's still not what it ought to 
be. 

673
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,639
Or or maybe you're even saying, 
well, I got away from the Lord 

674
00:34:46,639 --> 00:34:47,880
for a while. 
My speech isn't right. 

675
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,719
Let's take the baseline here. 
A Christian ought to never take 

676
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,840
God's name in vain. 
Period. 

677
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,120
Can we all agree on that? 
OK, good. 

678
00:34:56,639 --> 00:35:00,600
A Christian ought not to curse. 
We ought not. 

679
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,000
We ought to have speech that is 
helpful. 

680
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,400
You say, why won't curse unless 
they no, hold on a second, hold 

681
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,920
on partner. 
OK, here's the problem is that 

682
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,840
often times we've been sowing 
seed for so long when we weren't

683
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:18,080
living right when we were saved 
or before we got saved. 

684
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:20,640
It takes a while to get that 
harvest. 

685
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,200
What's the principle of the 
harvest when you sow seed? 

686
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,920
Does it just come up the next 
day sometime that harvest of 

687
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:30,560
that seed, those weeds can pop 
up for years before you get 

688
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,600
plucked down first of all, So 
what I'm telling you is when it 

689
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:35,880
comes to the issue of speech and
this is the only place, but that

690
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,240
verse does lend us to talk about
this right of the abundance of 

691
00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:40,160
the heart, the mouth speaketh. 
I think it's important for us to

692
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,240
say that Christian speech ought 
to be impeccable. 

693
00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:45,920
It ought to be above anything 
that the world has. 

694
00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,920
But if it's not yet, understand,
you got to plow over some of 

695
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:52,440
those crops. 
You got to pluck out some of 

696
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,120
those crops when they come up 
and don't get discouraged. 

697
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,520
I shouldn't have said that. 
That's OK. 

698
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:00,760
You know, we had people cursed 
at church before. 

699
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,040
I had people cursed at church 
picnics before. 

700
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,040
You know, you say, pastor, what?
What do you do? 

701
00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:11,600
I said, get out of here. 
No, you know what we said? 

702
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,800
Usually I don't have to say 
anything because it's amazing 

703
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:16,160
when someone cusses in front of 
the pastor. 

704
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:19,760
Most of the time they go, sorry 
pastor, I don't have to do 

705
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:21,120
anything. 
The Holy Spirit does the work. 

706
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,480
That's the case. 
I'm telling you, if you've had 

707
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:28,960
some of that, it's time to let 
your heart change in those 

708
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:30,520
things. 
Sow some new seed. 

709
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:35,640
No, no, sow some new seed means 
speak and write. 

710
00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:39,480
By the way, you know you can 
curse without ever using 

711
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,320
profanity. 
Let me say, Pastor, you, you've,

712
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,240
you're cracked up. 
But I think it's been a long day

713
00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:47,520
for you, Pastor, Hasn't Job 
cursed the day he was born? 

714
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:51,600
He didn't use profanity. 
What I'm saying is you can have 

715
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:56,440
unhealthful words and never 
actually take a word that is 

716
00:36:56,440 --> 00:37:00,040
considered a curse word today. 
You're telling me that you can 

717
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,760
you can lose your mind at 
somebody cutting you off and you

718
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:06,560
may not curse, you may not use 
profanity. 

719
00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:11,760
But did you wish? 
Good upon them or I'll OK point 

720
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:12,600
accepted. 
Amen. 

721
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:18,360
Point is we as believers are 
called to do better and starts 

722
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,960
where sowing and reaping because
it starts in the heart. 

723
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,440
Here's where most Christians get
it wrong and this is where 

724
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,040
independent Baptists get it 
wrong so often we're not careful

725
00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:29,920
that it's all about it can be 
about all performance based. 

726
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:31,320
You got to look right. 
You got to act right. 

727
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:32,760
You got to talk right. 
You got to smell right. 

728
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:34,400
You got to do all those things. 
By the way, we prefer. 

729
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:35,120
You smell, right. 
OK. 

730
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,960
But anyway, I don't care how you
get there, but I hope you smell 

731
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:38,440
right. 
All right. 

732
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,920
But the idea that I don't care 
how you get there, but the idea 

733
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:43,480
is this. 
Start with the heart. 

734
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,200
Because if you start here, all 
those other things work 

735
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:50,200
themselves out out of the 
abundance of the heart. 

736
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:51,960
The mouse be. 
I don't know where that came 

737
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:53,720
from. 
Yeah, you do. 

738
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,560
We're like computers in the 
sense that the computer, in 

739
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:00,440
essence, is only supposed to do 
what it's programmed to do. 

740
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:07,600
Input in is output. 
What do we have? 

741
00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:10,120
Input and output? 
Can I tell you why? 

742
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:13,920
I'm very careful what I watch on
TV because I don't want those 

743
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,600
words that they used to come out
of my mouth the next time I pop 

744
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,600
off at somebody. 
He said, well, you're pastor, 

745
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:21,240
you don't pop off somebody. 
I have in the church van before.

746
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:24,800
I'm not proud of it. 
I'm not up here but saying, I'm 

747
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:28,600
saying I'm fleshly and you don't
want to come out in that moment.

748
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:31,840
And I've already embarrassed 
myself and have made a mockery 

749
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:33,760
of the Lord of whom I serve. 
You know what I don't want to 

750
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:35,840
come out? 
A word that I'll never be 

751
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,480
uttered by a believer. 
You say, well, you're above 

752
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:42,520
that. 
Well, I wasn't when I was 16 or 

753
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:44,760
17. 
Took me a while to get that out 

754
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:46,040
of my system. 
And you're telling me you 

755
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:47,600
couldn't come back? 
Oh, yeah, it could if I was 

756
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:52,280
around it. 
Enough sowing and reaping is 

757
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,600
real, and it's not just about 
cussing. 

758
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,320
It's not just about using bad 
language. 

759
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,400
It's about every area of life. 
Remember I said last week, be 

760
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:06,040
careful what you do. 
Be careful what you hear that 

761
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:08,920
that's not just for the kids, 
that's for all of us. 

762
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:12,160
Pastor, I'll be fine. 
You think you're the exception. 

763
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,880
Be not deceived. 
God is not mocked. 

764
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,040
That's over. 
A man soweth that shall he also 

765
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:20,680
reap. 
So there's the certainty, 

766
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:24,040
there's the choices, but verse 
#8 verse #9 rather is the 

767
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:27,080
consolation. 
See pastor, this just seems like

768
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:31,840
a lot. 
Don't be weary and well doing in

769
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:34,000
due season we shall reap if we 
faint not. 

770
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,160
You know, every time you come to
church, you're sowing good seed.

771
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:42,680
You're sowing good seed. 
You're here on the Word of God. 

772
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,880
You're learning more about God. 
That's sowing good seed. 

773
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,440
You know every morning when you 
wake up and you're so tired and 

774
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,000
you got to grab that cup of 
coffee just so you can see 

775
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:54,760
straight and you read your Bible
before you go out on your work 

776
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,840
day and you pray, You know what 
you're doing. 

777
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,760
You're sowing good seed. 
You know what you're doing when 

778
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,040
you're kind to somebody at the 
store instead of trying to cut 

779
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:07,080
them off so you can get 30 
seconds ahead of them in the 

780
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,160
checkout line? 
You're sowing good seed. 

781
00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:13,280
You know what you do when you're
right in the way? 

782
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,640
You talk to someone else instead
of just telling them how you 

783
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:20,720
really feel on the inside. 
You're sowing good seed. 

784
00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:25,560
You know what happens over time?
Well, in the short term, almost 

785
00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:28,200
nothing. 
Hey pastor, what do you say? 

786
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,000
Well, when you sow, at first, 
not much happens. 

787
00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:34,280
But over time, you know what 
happened. 

788
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:36,120
There's a certainty of the 
harvest. 

789
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:39,040
You know what's interesting 
about a harvest that you. 

790
00:40:39,240 --> 00:40:41,160
Let's say you just grow 1 stalk 
of corn. 

791
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:43,960
Let's say that's all you can do 
is you start with one stalk at 

792
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:45,720
the first harvest. 
You know what you can do? 

793
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:50,920
You can harvest more corn seed 
to be able to plant the next 

794
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:54,840
year, and then from that you can
harvest more seed to plant the 

795
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:58,040
next year. 
In essence, you can have an 

796
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:02,560
abundance of crops started from 
one seed if you're patient 

797
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,680
enough and have the time. 
You know what? 

798
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:10,880
The Christian life is patiently 
sowing to righteousness and over

799
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,400
time God will bless over and 
over again. 

800
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:18,360
It's not just don't do the bad 
things, don't sow the bad things

801
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:20,280
because we're really good at 
independent Baptist preachers 

802
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,000
don't do those bad things. 
And we ought to tell you not to 

803
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,920
do the bad things. 
But it's not just don't do the 

804
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:30,080
bad things, it's. 
Do the good things, sow to. 

805
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:34,960
Righteousness, It is real. 
It's as certain as the sun going

806
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,240
up in the East and going down in
the West. 

807
00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:39,600
It's just as certain as anything
you could imagine. 

808
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,120
And this is what we need to know
tonight. 

809
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:45,960
And remember tonight that the 
laws of reaping and sowing are 

810
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:48,640
as real as any physical law of 
the universe. 

811
00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:51,960
Sowing and reaping is as real as
gravity. 

812
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:56,800
It's as real as inertia. 
It's as real as the laws of 

813
00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:58,400
entropy. 
Meaning things don't get better 

814
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:00,400
and better, they get worse and 
worse over time. 

815
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:06,680
That the laws of sowing and 
reaping are as real as anything 

816
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:10,000
that God has set up in any other
realm of the physical universe. 

817
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:16,320
It is real. 
Fleshly choices lead to future 

818
00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:21,000
consequences. 
Fleshly choices lead to future 

819
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,720
consequences. 
And my fear is that many 

820
00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:28,280
Christians spend six days a week
sowing wild oats and then come 

821
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,200
to church on Sunday and pray for
a crop failure. 

822
00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:34,920
I'm going to run that by one 
more time. 

823
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,680
Many Christians so wild oats six
days a week, and on day 7 they 

824
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,320
come to church and they pray for
a crop failure. 

825
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,960
And Lord, don't let it happen. 
He says it's going to happen, 

826
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:51,440
and because He loves you, He 
will bring it to pass. 

827
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,200
Because He loves me. 
Yes, because He loves you. 

828
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:56,360
He's going to show you that His 
Word is real so that when the 

829
00:42:56,360 --> 00:43:00,480
consequences come in His love 
and His benevolence, He wants 

830
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:05,640
you to come back to Him. 
Why were things so bad in Israel

831
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,680
at the Divided Kingdom, that 
things were bad in Israel and 

832
00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:11,400
things were bad in Judah? 
Was it because God hated Israel 

833
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,200
so much and God hated Judah so 
much? 

834
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:17,520
No, He brought the consequences 
because He loved them, hoping 

835
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:21,320
that someday they would wake up 
and say, wow, God told us if 

836
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:22,760
we've served him, he would bless
us. 

837
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:25,120
And God told us if we didn't 
serve him, there would be 

838
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:27,160
curses. 
He is right. 

839
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,760
And He sent us these prophets to
tell us this is what it's going 

840
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:31,240
to be. 
God didn't hate him. 

841
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,600
He. 
Loved him and God loves you 

842
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:37,160
today. 
He loves you so much He won't 

843
00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:38,720
let you get away with your 
fleshliness. 

844
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:43,840
He will for a little while. 
He does with me, but He loves 

845
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:46,360
you far too much to let it keep 
going on. 

846
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,600
Why? 
Fleshly choices lead to future 

847
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,680
consequences. 
What comes in the heart will 

848
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:53,760
eventually come out of the 
mouth. 

849
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:56,960
What's in the heart? 
And she comes out in the hands 

850
00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:01,160
and the feet. 
It's not well, it could happen, 

851
00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:03,560
it's not well. 
That's true for everyone else 

852
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,360
is. 
Be not deceived. 

853
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,200
God is not mocked. 
Don't try to pull one over on 

854
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,760
God. 
You will lose if fleshly choices

855
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,680
lead to future consequences. 
Thank you for listening to the 

856
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,320
sermon from the pulpit of 
Liberty Baptist Church. 

857
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:23,920
If this message was a blessing 
to you, or if there's any way we

858
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:27,040
can serve you, please let us 
know by contacting us at 

859
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:31,920
info@mylibertybaptist.org. 
Or you can visit us this Sunday 

860
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,840
at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. 

861
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,880
May the Lord bless you as you 
grow in His Word.