Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
If you would please turn to Second Samuel chapter #15 Second
Samuel chapter #15 as we continue our March through
Second Samuel. And once again we see David on
his flight from Jerusalem. Absalom is on the chase, and
we're actually going to go backwards by just a few verses
because I want to make mention of a gentleman of whom we have
talked about very briefly, but I want to be the focus of this
evening's message. That's a gentleman whose name is
Hit the Felt. Now, I've said this many times
before here at Liberty. If you've been here any amount
of time, you've heard me say this, but well, I'm going to say
it again whether you've heard it or not.
And that is this truth. It's not found in the Bible, but
certainly I think it is biblical truth.
You understand what I mean? It's not that this is necessary
found in these words in the Bible, but it's certainly
something that is extracted from general biblical truth, and
that's this. Bitterness is the poison that
you drink expecting someone else to die.
I've always loved that. Bitterness is the poison you
drink expecting someone else to die.
The thought of drinking poison, waiting for someone else to
perish, when the whole time it's actually causing you to rot from
the inside and out, is exactly what bitterness does to the
soul. But yet we always think that
we're the exception. We always think that we are
immune to that immutable truth. And tonight we're going to look
at a man named Ahithophel, who allowed bitterness to be able to
rage within his body to the point that in the eventuality of
what takes place in the scriptures, he takes his.
Own life now this might. Seem extreme and certainly to be
able to take ones own life is extreme, but a hithafel has a
thought process that takes place that if he had given it to the
Lord, could have been held in check and allowed God to take
vengeance and allowed God to be the one who was the avenger of
souls, then he could have been relieved of that.
And who knows how different his life could have been.
But bitterness is something that you find throughout scripture
that has caused great trouble and great heartache to the
people of God. I always think of Naomi coming
back from Moab after she has had her sons die and of course her
husband died before that. She comes back to Bethlehem.
Judah, who does she have? She has Ruth, and as she comes
back, the people of Bethlehem, Judah, gather around her and
they say, Naomi, where have you been?
It's so good to see you. And what does she say?
She says, call me no more Naomi, but call me Mara, for the Lord
hath dealt very bitterly with me.
And the word Mara in Hebrew simply means bitter.
She changed her name from sweetness to bitter.
That's what Naomi did. Job, three different times in
the book named after him, talked about the deep bitterness of
soul that he had. And while certainly there were
many great things that were taken away from him by Satan,
but through the permission of God, yet there was a deep found
bitterness that had to be solved by the fact that God comes in.
And what does he say? Do you know where I was?
Do you know where I am? Do you know what I can do?
And when all of a sudden Job looked at God for who he was and
looked at his bitterness for what it was, He came to the
place where he says, I am but dust.
And I just give myself completely and totally to you.
Even Jeremiah, the weeping prophet in Lamentations One
verse 4, looks at the conquered city of Jerusalem, the desolate
city of Jerusalem, and says this, that the people are in
bitterness at their lot, which is ironic because their lot in
life was only because they had gotten away from God.
It was never God's desire to be have Jerusalem as a desolate
place, but they had gotten so far from the Lord that this was
something that God said would be a possibility for hundreds and
hundreds of years if they were to stray away from that which
God had commanded. So anytime we find the word
bitterness or the thought process of bitterness in the
Word of God, it is always sinful and unprofitable.
But here's the question now, why do we keep going back to the
well? If we know the well is poisoned,
then why do we keep going back to the well of bitterness?
And you might say tonight, Pastor, I don't deal with
bitterness. And my answer would be, Oh yeah,
well, then you deal with lying. Think about that for a moment,
because each and every one of us in certain situations of our
life deal with the issue of bitterness.
And you say, well, Pastor, that might be true, but time heals
all wounds. And my response to that is time
does not heal wounds. Time just makes wounds go back a
little bit deeper and a little bit further.
What truly heals the wounds of the soul, truly heals the wounds
of the heart, is giving those to God and allowing Him to do the
work that only He can do in our lives.
And tonight we're looking at a wise man, well, a man who's
supposed to be wise, Ahithophel, And we're going to see how he
fits into this process of Absalom trying to take over the
Kingdom, how he ends up taking over his life, and then why he
ended up taking his own life because of the root of
bitterness. We plead standing for the
reading of God's Word. Second Samuel chapter #15 We'll
begin reading in verse #7. The word of God says an Absalom
sent for Ahithophel the geilonite, David's counselor
from his city, even from Gilo, while he offered sacrifices.
And the conspiracy was strong for the people, increased
continually with Absalom. And there came a messenger,
David, saying, the hearts of men of Israel are after Absalom.
Now drop down to verse #30. 2. And it says, it came to pass
that when David was come to the top of the mount where he
worshipped God, behold Hushai the architect came to meet him
with his coat, rent, and earth upon his head.
Unto whom David said, If thou pass this on from me or with me,
rather than thou shalt be a burden unto me.
But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be
thy servant, O king, as I have been thy father's servant
hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant.
Then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel?
Now do you see why we just introduced Who's shy?
Because who's shy? Instead of going with David out
in the wilderness, David says, Who's shy?
You go back to Jerusalem. I want your counsel to defeat
the counsel of Ahithophel, this counselor of mine who turned
against me. And verse 35 says, And hast thou
not there with thee Zadok and Abiathar, the priests?
Therefore it shall be that what things so ever thou shalt hear
out of the King's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and
Abiathar the priests. Behold, they have there with
them their two sons, him as Zadok's son and Jonathan
Abiathar's son. And by them you shall send unto
me everything that you can hear. So who shy David's friend?
And I like that term. He was David's friend, came into
the city and Absalom came into Jerusalem.
Now you may be seated this evening.
Who shy is an integral part of what we're going to see here
this evening and how Ahithophel is going to try to become a
trusted counselor of Absalom. He is not just someone who was
caught into that which takes place where.
Remember those 200 men who came with Absalom to Hebron?
They didn't know what's going on.
Ahithophel came into this eyes wide open.
We could even put it this way. He was a Co conspirator in the
overthrow of David there in Jerusalem.
So we're looking at Ahithophel. We're going to see how Shy
figures into the mix. We're going to see why a hit the
fell thought it was wise to take his own life, and we'll see why
this all took place in the 1st place.
Heavenly Father, I pray to be with us this evening.
Help us as we get into Your word.
Certainly our minds may be on a meeting that is to come, but
again, I do just ask that you help us to be involved in your
word at this time, this juncture.
This is what you've called us to do.
It's what you've called me to do.
And so I pray that you'd help us to be able to learn from you and
certainly to be able to pluck out this root of bitterness that
might be within us as the Holy Spirit reveals it to us.
And we do ask it in Jesus precious name, Amen.
I Hit the Fell was a man in scripture whose star burned
brightly, but it burned out very quickly.
In fact, you'll only find Ahithophel in chapters 1516 and
17 of Second Samuel, as well as the complimentary passages and
1st Kings that also speak of this very issue as well.
His name, Ahithophel means the brother of a fool or that
companion of a fool. And it seems like this man who
was a wise man tried for his whole life to live that name
down in this essence of saying this, I'm not a fool.
I'm not a companion of fools. So I'm going to try to be a wise
man. And certainly he did achieve
that to some level because it says in verse #12 the very first
verse that we read that Absalom sent for a Hithophel, the
Gylonite, who David's counselor. So at some point in David's 40
year reign, here is a Hithophel who is adjoining himself to
David. He has proven himself not to be
the brother of fools or the companion of fools.
He has proven himself to be somewhat of a worthy counselor.
But when it was time for Absalom to have the trumpet blown, when
it was time for the conspiracy to be unveiled, Ahithophel was
right there by Absalom side. He wasn't David's counselor.
He wasn't David's friend. In fact, that's why I think it's
so interesting that who shy is contrasted as said being David's
friend. Ahithophel was no friend of
David through actions or through his thought process.
Here is Ahithophel. When the moment comes, he says
to Absalom, I will be with you. But through all of this, again
we see Absalom, the son of David, who's rebelled and is a
attempting to overthrow the king and his Kingdom.
And there's a hithafel right by his side.
Again, not someone who's taken by surprise, but as a Co
conspirator. Now you might say this a pastor,
we're really building a whole verse off of or a whole message
off of that one verse that we just read verse #12 where it
talks about Absalom sending for a hithafel.
And the answer is no. Again, we're going to find him
in three different chapters. And what I kind of want us to do
this evening is to do a little bit of, well, Bible
investigation. I want us to get our Bibles
ready to be able to go through a few chapters and try to
diagnose. Why was this man so bitter, you
say? Well, was he bitter?
Well, yes, because he turned on David.
He turned on the king. But why would he have acted in
such a way? Again, I've kind of given you a
little bit of the ending of his life, that he will take his own
life. But why would he go to extreme
measures? And you might even question it
even more when you see the chain of events that takes place that
caused him to take his life in the 1st place.
So the first place I want us to go is to chapter #6 So why don't
you go to Second Samuel? Chapter #16 will go to verse #20
and as you do so, I'm gonna ask you a question.
Do you remember the 10 concubines that David had left
behind in Jerusalem as he evacuated Jerusalem with his
group of followers? Do you remember that I made
mention of the fact that that was kind of a foreshadowing that
that was something that was going to come back to haunt
David? Remember that the concubine
system was basically licensed mistresses.
This is what they were. It was not the fact that this
was what God's plan was for David, but there they were
nonetheless. And the fact that they are
recorded in the word of God was not that God was approving this
activity, but was just giving us the facts of the matter.
Now it's going to come into a very, very stark here in just a
moment in verse #20 of chapter #16 Now David has now again gone
his way into the wilderness. We're going to continue to meet
some of these people, this merry band of men that I've told you
about before, some that are very happy to meet David, some that
are cursing David. Some of them are happy, some of
them are not. But we get to the place in verse
#20 where the attention leaves David on his flight out of
Jerusalem and then goes back to Absalom, who now is back in
Jerusalem. And he's realized it's one thing
to want the throne of the king. It's another thing to actually
sit on the throne and have people follow you.
Because now he's gotten the place where he is sitting in the
throne. But he still looked at as kind
of a pretender. There are people who still have
not truly followed what he is and what he's trying to do
because of his rebellion. And look at where it picks up in
verse #20 it says then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give
counsel among you what we shall do.
Hey, Apithophel, Absalom says, what should we do next?
I want to cement myself in leadership here in the Kingdom.
What should be done? Verse 21 and Ahithophel said to
Absalom, go in unto thy father's concubines.
Now I'll just stop right there and understand that in our King
James Bible, you understand the language of when it says go in
unto your concubines or your father's concubines.
You understand that he's talking about having a physical
relationship with all ten of these women.
You say, why would he say something like that before we
even go any further? Why would he say something like
that? Because in that time, in that
period, and the way this was looked at, that they were looked
at as possessions of the king, where would be a place that we
could understand that? Do you remember when Abner was
looking to the concubine of Ishbosheth?
Then Ishbosheth found out about this and he says, are you trying
to take over the Kingdom? And Abner says, what do you
think I am, some kind of dog? In fact, I'm going to go to
David and all that took place. We're going to find out later.
As we go into First Kings. There's an issue with this with
Solomon as well as his half brother tries to attempt to take
the Kingdom by taking one of David's other concubines named
Abhashag. These are all things that take
place. And So what is Absalom being
told here by Ahithophel? He's saying you take those ten
women, you take them and prove to the people you are the real
king because you got the King's women.
He said that's a twisted way of thinking.
It absolutely is a twisted way of thinking, but there's a
twisted man. That's who Absalom is.
And if you want to know how twisted AB Ahithophel is, he
says, don't only just go into these women, but look at what it
says after that which he had left to keep the house.
And all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father.
Then the hands of all that are with thee shall be strong.
So they spread. Absalom intent upon the top of
the house, and Absalom winning unto his father's concubines in
the sight of all Israel. You say pastors 8 Does that mean
what I think it means? It means what you think she
means. Why you want to prove to
everybody? You want to prove to everybody
that he was the man in charge. What a vile and despicable man
he was. But who is the vile and
despicable, and who is giving him the counsel to do so?
Ahithophel, look what it says in verse 23.
The counsel of Ahithophel which he counseled in those days was
as if a man had inquired at the Oracle of God.
You say, what is the Oracle of God?
Well, if you were to look at the breastplate of the high priest,
it would have something called the Urim and the Thummim, the
these, these special stones that were there where they would
inquire of the Lord. And it's basically saying that
is as if when Ahithophel spoke, they believed they was hearing
from the Lord. That's how twisted, how far off
they were from the things of God.
So with all the counsel of Ahithophel, both with David and
with Absalom, of course, his counsel with David would have
been good for a time. His counsel with Absalom was
not. But this is how they took it.
They took it as if it was from the Lord.
Ahithophel was unable to get to this place, or rather before we
even get there. This is how bitter this man was
as he is giving this advice that he has to know in his.
Heart was wrong. He has to know within his heart
as a wise man that what he is asking Absalom to do, the
wickedness and lewdness of it and the public act itself in
front of all the people of Israel.
He had to have known how awful this was.
But what would cause him to go to such extremes?
What would cause him to be able to give such counsel?
Well, let's continue on. Again, we're going to kind of be
Bible investigators this evening.
All right, let's keep going into chapter 17 and verse #1.
It says, moreover, meaning this isn't done yet, this is
continuing. There's continuing counsel given
by Ahithophel. Moreover, Ahithophel said to
Absalom, Let me now choose out 12,000 men, and I will arise and
pursue David this night, and I will come upon him while he is
weary and we candid and will make him afraid.
And all the people that are with him shall flee.
And I will smite the king only, and I will bring back all the
people unto thee. The man who now seekest is asked
if all returned so all the people shall be at peace and the
and the saying please Absalom well and all the elders of
Israel stop right there for just a moment.
So Ahithophel is asked what should we do about David?
David is on the run. But of course, Absalom
understood that David was merely on the ropes.
He hadn't actually been receiving the knockout blow as
of yet. So what are we going to do about
this issue? And Ahithophel says this.
He says this is what I need. I need 12,000 men.
I need a quick fighting force. We've got to get to it right
now. If you let me have these men, we
will go out. We will kill him.
We will do it this very night while he's out in the desert,
while he's out on his flight. Let's get him while he's on the
retreat. Let's not let him be able to get
to a place where he can dig in. Let's not let him get to a place
where he can draw all reinforcements.
He is at his weakest point right now.
Let's do it. Let's get this taken care of and
let's kill King David. But there's something
interesting about what I just told you.
I, I did say that, you know, let's do this, we'll do it.
And maybe you thought that I was saying that Absalom was a rather
hit. The fella saying Absalom, you go
kill him. But do you notice what he says?
In fact, I have this circle to my Bible.
It says in verse #1 I will arise and pursue.
Davis's sight. Verse 2 I will come unto him
while he is weary. At the end of verse 2 I will
smite the king only. Verse #3 I will bring back all
the people unto thee. What is a Biathar saying?
Is he? Saying that Absalom should go do
it. Say no, he says, give me the
word, give me 12,000 men and I'm going to kill him with my own
hand this night. Do you see the depths of
bitterness that this man is in? We don't even know why yet.
All we know at this point is here is a man who was a Co
conspirator spiritor with Absalom and Abiathar goes and
gives him the counsel to do something wicked ungodly in all
the sight of Israel. And then furthermore says David
is on the ropes but he needs to be totally disposed of.
And Absalom, you sit on the throne, you stay right there
because I'll be the one to go. And this very night, I'll make
sure he's dead and all of his men.
That's with him. We'll be back here in Jerusalem
and all pay the consequences. Now you ask yourself this
question. What is going to happen next?
Well, Absalom has this other counselor whose name was Who
Shy? Remember him?
David says. Who Shy?
You go back and you speak for me in the King's chambers.
They won't know that you're with me.
They won't know you're aligned with me.
But you go, and you give them the counsel that will help us
out. And then once you do so, you
tell Zadok the priest, and you tell him to tell his.
Son, to be able to go out and give me the word.
So we'll be prepared whatever Absalom does.
And so Hushai understands that while Absalom is very pleased
with what he's heard, that he can give him a different kind of
counsel that will help David. Now listen, because it may not
sound helpful at first. Verse 5 Then said Absalom, call
now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he
sayeth. And when Hushai was come to
Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken
after this Manor. Shall we do after this saying,
If not, speak thou? And Hushai said unto Absalom,
The council that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.
You know we call that shots fired.
He says. He says what Ahithophel has told
you is not wise, and he's going to lay out the reason why.
Remember, he is giving counsel surreptitiously to be able to
help David. And so who Shy says this?
Verse 84 said who, Shy? Thou knowest thy father and his
men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their mind
as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field.
And thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the
people. Behold, he is now in some pit or
in some other place, and it will come to pass when some of them
be overthrown at the 1st. That whosoever.
Hereth it will say, there was a slaughter among the people that
follow Absalom, and he also that is valiant, whose heart is as
the heart of a lion shall utterly melt.
For all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they
which be with him are valiant men.
Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered
unto thee from Dan unto Beersheba.
As the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that thou
shalt go to battle in thine own person, so shall we come upon
him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon
him as the dew falleth on the ground.
And of him and all of the men that are with him, there shall
not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he gotten into a
city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we
shall draw it into the river until there be not one small
stone found there. Now stop right there, you say.
Whoa. If he's given counsel, that's
helping David. I don't want this guy to help me
out because it sounds like he's given counsel.
It sounds much more extreme than even what Ahithophel says.
Now hear what Hushai is what understands about David.
He knows David is on the ropes. He know he knows David is in his
flight. He knows David is disorganized.
You know what? David needs time.
He says don't go out tonight. He says, here's what you need,
Absalom. He says if you go out tonight,
David's upset, it's like a like a a bear that's lost its Cubs.
You're not going to want to go out because they're going to be
upset. They're going to be ready to
fight you. What you need to do is you need
to call from Dan, even under Beersheba.
The idea when you hear that in the word of God from the north
to the South, it's like saying from coast to coast here in the
United States, at least from the opposite directions, but it's
the same idea is that from everywhere in Israel that they
are going to come. You call them and they will
come. And who should I?
Understand something that conspiracies usually only work
in this type of setting, royal conspiracies.
I've been reading a lot about the history of Scotland and it's
amazing right now how they're all killing each other.
I mean, it's just for hundreds of years, that's what they're
doing. They don't like the king, they
kill him and the next one that comes in who killed that king,
they don't like him because he killed the Last King and they
kill him too. And there's killing each other
right and left. It's like that guy that I talked
to about once that just went into the word of God.
He just got saved. He got into the book of Judges.
He says, pastor. I like the book of judges, but
there sure is a lot of smiting. There's a lot of smiting that's
taking place. And that's really here's what
happens. You have to keep the group
small. Why?
Because there's a lot of people that still support the king.
And So what who shy knows is this?
If you make the call from Dan De Beersheba, there's going to be a
lot of people that say, whoa, what?
David, he's gone. Hey, let's go help David.
He's our king. He's the one that killed
Goliath. He's the one that's given us
peace. He's the one that has taken the
yoke of the Philistines and has overthrown it.
He's the one that has restored Jerusalem.
He is the one that has brought the Ark of the Covenant back.
Let's go back to him. And what's going to happen is
that there's going to be mass chaos with people that are going
to be joining David and the people that are going to be
joining Absalom. And it's going to even out the
odds where right now, because they're on their flight, they're
likely going to lose. But because they'll be able to
have time to regroup, regather, to be able to get some.
Resources together on even ground, Absalom has no chance
against David, and he appeals to his vanity.
Did you notice that? Because Ahithophel says I will
go and I will smite him. But what does Hushai said?
He said in the end of verse #11 and that thou shalt go to battle
in thine own person. He says you go lead them
yourself. And Absalom, that man who loved
himself, he loved himself, he loved his hair, he loved
everything about himself, he says.
Yeah, we do need a glorious. Battle.
Yeah, I do need to be the one to lead the battle.
I like this. And what does the next verse
say? It says in Absalom and all the
men. Verse #15 Then said Hushai, Oh
no, verse #14 I'm sorry. In Absalom and all the men of
Israel, said, the Council of Hushai, The Archite is better
than the council of Ahithophel, for the Lord hath appointed.
To defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel to the intent that
the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.
By the way, this isn't my message.
But you can't outsmart God. You can't out scheme God.
And and Absalom thinks that he's gotten an end around to what God
wants to do and he's not going to do that verse #15 then said,
who shy unto Zadok, and do a hit by a Thor, the priests Thus and
thus did I hit the fell counsel Absalom and the elders of
Israel, and thus and thus have I counseled Now send quickly tell
David saying, lodge not this night in the plains of the.
Wilderness, but speedily passed over, lest the king be swallowed
up and all the people that are with him.
And what does he say? Get ready because the battles
coming don't stop now because you need to restock and reload
because it is going to come and it is going to come very very
soon. What happens?
Who Shy is now the trusted counselor.
Abiathar is now on the outs. He was a man that was like the
oracles of God, but now all of a sudden.
He's on the outside now. I don't know if you've ever been
in a situation before where you were maybe on the in crowd and
the inside with a group of friends or whatnot, and then all
of a sudden you were on the outside of that same group for
something that you don't even know or maybe even understand
why you're on the outside the first place by a Thor is
thinking I'm like the oracles of God David now absolutely.
They think I'm like the Urim and the Thummim and now he doesn't
trust me. He doesn't believe me.
I want you to drop down to verse #23 it says and.
Then the Hiphel saw that his counsel was not followed.
He saddled his ass, arose, got him home to his house, to a
city. Put his household in order now
and stop right there. Those all seem like a man who's
pretty wise. What did he do?
He got into his animal, he went home, he put everything in
order. Here's a man who's got it all
together. But then the next phrase says
and hanged himself and died and was buried in the sepulchre of
his father. What a contradiction.
Here's a man of discretion. In fact, his last, well next to
last act was to make sure that his family was taken care of.
And then all of a sudden, he hangs himself and he's dead.
And the story of Ahithophel is over now.
Yeah. I mentioned to you just a few
moments ago there's been times when you've been on the inside
when then all of a sudden you're on the outside.
I've been in situations like that before.
It's pretty extreme for someone in that situation to say I'm
just going to kill myself. I mean, does that seem like the
reaction that one would take just because one of his counsels
to the Rogue King? Was not taken.
It seems like that's a very extreme reaction for a man who
was just on the inside a day before.
But now I was just told that day.
No, no, I prefer Hushai's ideas more than yours in this matter.
And he takes off and kills himself.
What a contradiction. The idea of I'm going to take
care of my family. I'm not I, I have enough thought
process to be able to go and do these things, but then I'm going
to take my own life. So in thinking about this.
Text. I've considered this truth.
You know, every bit of person has a reason.
Every bit of person has a reason.
We may not know the reason why someone else is bitter, We may
not always understand completely the reason why we may be bitter,
but I would say more often than not, we are very clear about why
we were bitter at a person or group of people.
Every bitter person feels justified in their bitterness,
as if they're axed to grind as a special exemption to the
immutable laws of the sinful nature of what bitterness really
is. I have a reason to be bitter.
Well, if you knew what. Happened to me.
If you were there, if you were walking in my shoes.
These are the things that people say when they are challenged on
the bitterness of their own souls.
There's no doubt this man was dealing with bitterness.
But could we know what it is? How could we know what it is?
Everything we know about them is found in Second Samuel 1516 and
17. Now I.
Said that before, but it's only partially true.
The reason why is because the narrative of Ahithophel is only
found in 15-16 and seven. The narrative you understand the
the actual accounting of his life, but there is another place
where there is more information given about who.
I don't know how many times do I say a Hithophel tonight, but
it's not going to come out right.
Every time I say it. There's a place where we can
find all the information, or at least more information about
Ahithophel which might be able to help.
Us to pinpoint exactly what happened here and again we're
going to be Bible investigators this evening.
We're going to continue to work through our Bibles and before we
get there, you ever get to one of those places in the Bible
where there's lists of names and you say this is boring.
I'm glad you're honest about that all right, Amen.
That's OK because you're getting to those names like why why does
God even put these in here? Why has God placed these names?
And this one began that one and there's these group of men and
they have reckoned under this and reckoned under that and
you're like, I reckon I don't know why this here.
God has a purpose to every word. God has a purpose to every jot
and every title of the word of God.
And you would be amazed. And This is why the book, this
book is a book that you can study as your lifelong pursuit
and still not uncover all of its riches.
I want you to turn to Second Samuel chapter #23.
You know what's amazing about the story of a hit The fell.
We find it all here as we do our investigation.
It's all in Second Samuel. Second Samuel chapter #23 start
at verse #8 Second Samuel 23 verse #8 where it says this.
These be the names of the mighty men whom David had.
Stop right there. What is going to follow is a
list of 37 men who are ranked by the order of their exploits.
These are men who have done great things for God and have
done those great things with the power of God.
These are men who have followed David.
We could say that they are his first and best lieutenants.
And the list will start from verse 8 on.
Now I want you to drop down to verse #34 And it says Elefle,
the son of Hashabi, the son of the Makhathite, and then Elium
the son of what's that next name?
Ahithophel the Gylonite. Say pastor, What does that mean?
Nothing yet. But what can we establish?
We can establish that Ahithophel who we saw was a Gylonite in
Second Samuel 15. This is that Ahithophel, that
Ahithophel, that wise counselor, had a son.
Who was one of the mighty men of valor.
His name was elium now do not forget this.
His name was elium. Now here's where we need to go.
Second Samuel chapter #11 Now, if you already know where I'm
going, just don't spoil it for someone else, all right?
That's all I ask because the first time I saw this, I will
tell you this, my mind went, because it makes so much sense.
Why would a guy kill himself because Absalom didn't listen to
him one time? How deep was this bitterness?
Well, Second Samuel chapter #11 verse #1 say, Pastor, why are we
this chapter? Why does this have anything to
do with what's taking place? And the answer is has everything
to do with what's taking place. They came to pass after the year
was expired at the time when the kings go forth the battle that
David sent to Joab and his servants with him and all
Israel, and he destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged
Rabba, But David tarried still at Jerusalem, and it came to.
Pass in an evening. Tide, for those of you don't
know. Now you do know what chapter
we're in? Came to pass an evening tide
that David arose from his bed and walked upon the roof of the
King's house. And from the roof he saw a woman
washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful
to look upon. And David sent and inquired
after the woman, and once said, Is not this Bathsheba the
daughter of Ilium, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
Why did Ahithophel hate David so much?
Because he was the grandfather of Bathsheba.
Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather and also David's
counselor. Say well, how?
Would they have been intertwined?
How would we'll understand? She would have been with Uriah.
Uriah would have been her husband.
Why? Because he also was one of the
mighty men. And so her father was a mighty
man. She would have been around the
other mighty men. I would imagine she herself
would have found one of those mighty men to be her husband.
And from that Ahithophel, who is not one of the ones who was
counseled on that night. Ahithophel had to sit in the
palace and watch his granddaughter in essence be
forced and used by the king. To watch his granddaughter to be
with child, to understand that her husband had to have had
something befall him that was not natural.
To see the woman, his granddaughter, lose that child.
And then to watch somehow in some way for that woman to end
up living with David and finding it some way, at some juncture,
some level of peace in her life with David.
While all along he watched her and watched David.
And he did nothing but seethe in bitterness.
So when there was a chance to knock off the king, he took it.
When there was a chance to kill the king, he didn't want Absalom
to do it. Why do you think he wanted to do
it himself? I will, I will, I will, I will.
It just smacks with someone who has deep rooted resentment
against this man. And then when he realized that
his counsel was not taken, he was wise enough to know that who
shy's counsel would get Absalom killed.
Now I'm on the outs with Absalom.
Now I'm on the outs with David. My only goal in life, in my
bitterness, was to get back. And David and I failed, and all
I have left to do is die. It's a Bible investigation where
all the pieces come into place. And you say there's no way that
we can look at this and see it any other way.
A man that was so bitter that had to sit in the palace and see
the very essence of his bitterness in front of him every
single day and never got it right.
And in the end, the only thing that he could think to do that
was left was the wisest, most foolish thing he could have
done, which was to take his own life in his wisdom.
He thought this was all I have left, but it was an utter
foolishness that he came to that conclusion.
As we conclude tonight, you may think you have a reason for
harboring the bitterness in your life, and I say that very
carefully because it could be like a Hithophel.
You have a very real reason to be angry.
Did the Hithophel had a reason for righteous anger within his
life? He did, but that righteous anger
turned into bitterness did not do himself, David, or Bathsheba
well. In fact, it ended up furthering
the rending of the Kingdom and furthering the death of
thousands of Israelites that shouldn't have died because
Absalom never shouldn't even have sniffed that throne, let
alone sit on it for a few weeks like a hit.
The fell though the siren song of unbridled bitterness.
It may sound beautiful, but listen to me when I tell you
this. It will ruin your life.
You could be bitter at a spouse for their treachery or bitter at
an ex for their treachery. To be bitter at children who
have not acted the way you wanted them to act.
Bitter parents who've not treated you in a way that you
think is fair. Be bitter to pastor who's called
you out on sin, or bitter at a pastor who has unrighteously
abused his authority. You could be bitter at a church
member who seems to be slighting you.
You could be bitter for 1000 different reasons here tonight.
But can I tell you the story never ends well when you trade
in bitterness? Hit the Fell was a companion of
fools and he tried to live his whole life to prove everyone
wrong, but he ended up showing that in the end he was a fool
because he was a wise man with an axe to grind.
My application is very simple tonight.
It's very quick. It's not because I couldn't make
it in 100 different ways, but it's because I believe the Holy
Spirit's already making it in your heart right now.
Whatever you are bitter about, whoever you are bitter about,
you are not making the situation better.
You are making it worse. And if you continue to traffic
in this bitterness in your life, you will make bad decision after
bad decision after bad decision where you get to the place where
you say, well, there's nothing else that I can.
Do than this and this extreme answer that you have may seem
like the wisest answer of all. It's the most natural answer of
all. It doesn't have to be taking
your own life. It could be something that's
just extreme in any other way and you're even convincing
yourself and your flesh this is the wisest thing.
This is the most natural conclusion I can come to.
With everything that I've dealt dealt with and with everything
that's happened to me and with everything that I've gone
through. What other course do I have?
And you'll make the wisest decision of your life.
That's really nothing more than foolishness.
Because it will seem like you're trafficking and wisdom, but yet
your bitterness has only made you to play the fool.
And you don't even know the difference between wisdom and
foolishness. Because your bitterness has so
blinded you. Your bitterness is so distorted
your vision that you don't even know what you're doing is right.
I'm sure a hit the fells thought to the very end.
He was the smartest guy in the room, but he was a fool.
Did he have a reason to be? To be angry?
Righteously put me. In a hit the fells shoes.
Again, we want to look at the Bible for what it is.
It's not just a storybook. It's a life book.
And as I look at myself and think of my daughter in a
situation, even something like that, take the royalty.
And stuff out of that that doesn't really comport with how
we live our lives today. But in some kind of situation
like that, I would think, I would think a lot of thoughts
that would take me down a lot of different roads.
But I will say. This when you allow bitterness
to rule your life, you may look wise, but you'll end up a fool
hit the fell, lived his life as wise until he was bitter and
then lived and died as a fool again.
I don't need to give example after example.
Well, it could be this, it could be this, it could be this.
Sometimes as pastors, it's important for us to give very
specific application to help you to be able to hear the Holy
Spirit speak in those specific areas.
This is one of those. I don't need to because the Holy
Spirit's already speaking to you about it.
I know He is. I know I'm not trying to say I
have some kind of extra biblical knowledge.
I just know that because each of us deal with this in some way,
form or fashion, that the Holy Spirit, because He is holy,
wants to root that out to you right now.
He wants you to leave at the altar tonight.
He wants you to leave you at peace tonight.
Bitterness is the poison you drink expecting someone else to
die. And I hit the fell.
All I could do was get back at David in the end.
A few weeks later, I hit the fell's dead, Absalom's dead, and
David is back on the throne. Seems to me like all of it took
place for nothing, and that's a very definition of foolishness.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.