He still knew that God was above all this and God was going to work this out, which comes with knowing God. You know that He is every bit sovereign. Ignoring God's will is never a good idea or plan. It is always a step in the wrong direction and it is always a bad decision and a big mistake. Yet, your flesh, my flesh, does not care.
that we believe that.
Well, how is that going to get settled?
Well, it's going to get settled through prayer, a study of the word, fellowship, communing with the Lord. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 2 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 2 Samuel 3 as he begins his message: Big Mistakes. 2 Samuel chapter 3. Big mistakes. The title of this consideration. Speaking of big mistakes, last Wednesday, I made two of them to test you all.
Everyone's job, there are those things that put a knot in your stomach. For me, one of them is when I make a mistake in the pulpit, or at least when I'm acting like I'm making a mistake. I just don't want to admit it, but anyhow. I had read the verse that Mentioned when the young men were dueling that they grabbed each other by the beard when it's actually the head. And you may think that's a small oversight.
I don't. When we get to Joab killing a Mesa, he will grab him by the beard, more of a crest, but by the beard and tunnel vision and allow that one. The other one was, I mentioned that David was 25 when he was 30.
So that's my confession. Let's move on. Believe it or not, I did not sleep well that night because of those two mistakes. If I make any more and you feel like pointing them out, Don't. No, not kidding.
Verse one.
Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David, but David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.
Well, this did start in chapter two with the dueling men, when they grabbed each other by the head and stabbed each other with likely shorter swords, longer knives. But this is spiritually also a Indication of what we go through. Dueling against the flesh. The flesh. The kingdom of self.
Versus the Spirit, the kingdom of God. One gets stronger and the other gets weaker. We're not to give up in this fight at all. We will fight it to the end. Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.
Peter wrote to the church, what were the apostles supposed to do? That all these people coming into Christianity from the pagan world, they had some that were being born into Christianity. And yet the flesh is relentless. They all had to deal with it. And you can't make it easy for them.
It's don't worry about it, it's just the flesh. You have to continue to convict and rebuke and exhort, to encourage them to overcome. And they did this. And we come along, and we are supposed to enter into this great grace we have as Christians, but at the same time, we have to understand that we are expected. to have this long war between the house of the flesh and the house of the spirit.
Galatians 5:17, for the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Thank you, Lord. For Calvary, the cross. dying for our sins, where sin abounded, grace did much more. It says David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.
And the implication is that God was with David and He was not with Ishposheth, Saul's surviving son. Verse two, sons of David were born in Hebron. I'll just take fragments of these next few verses concerning his sons. But David, of course, multiplied wives, and the kings were not supposed to multiply wives. that they would not be distracted.
They were not too Do several things to keep them focused on reigning over the people of God. But there's that flesh that. they had to struggle with also. Before Hebron, David had two wives, Ahinoem and Abigail.
Now he gets to Hebron and he marries four more wives while he is there. Michelle and Bathsheba are Are not listed in this list, that will raise the number to eight wives total, not counting. concubines And what we have in this section is a tragic family photo. In these names, because there's a history that belongs to many of these names.
Some of them we don't know anything else about. But such are the rotten returns of sin And in this case, polygamy and disobedience. The first one up is Amnon. I dislike him the most. He was killed after committing an unspeakable sin against his stepsister.
and his step brother Absalom, killed him. And so he, a rapist, he ruined anybody to satisfy himself. But there's another character that goes with him, his little sidekick. John Adab. 2 Samuel 13, Amnon had a friend who was actually.
cousin. Whose name was Jonabad, the son of Shimea. David's brother.
Now, Jonabab. Was a very crafty man, and he's the one that says, Well, here's how you do it. And so the two of them Pretty creepy characters we'll get to later. Verse three: there is Killiab. By Abigail.
The widow of Nabal the Carmelite, Absalom the son of Micaiah the daughter of Talmai, king of Gesher.
So Killiab is Abigail's son, as it says here. And they don't show up anymore, except in the genealogies. And again, I like to think that she got them out of the palace and went back to the ranch and stayed in touch with David from there. But in the third chapter of 1 Chronicles, we read: Now, these were the sons of David who were born in Hebron, Daniel by Abigail the Carmelitis.
Now, what happened? To The name, here it is Killiab, but in Chronicles it's Daniel.
Well, I think the meaning of the names is going to be helpful here. Kiliab means who's like my father, who is like dad. He bears a resemblance to his father. Maybe he had the red hair that David had, and it just was sort of the nickname. But Daniel, God is my judge, apparently, was the.
give a name to him. Absalom, the next character, almost as dislikeful as Amnon. loaded with arrogance. He had a whole head of hair, Which I won't make any comment on people like that. I won't fault them for it.
All right, they won't do any more humor. Anyway, Absalom, he would turn into a devil. And it was that pride that was certain to be the catalyst for this. He was the mastermind of his brother Amnon. who abused his sister, Amnon's stepsister, Absalom's sister.
And of course he had him killed. He would be killed by Joab, who is A cousin. and he attempted to overthrow his father's kingdom. Not just take the kingdom, take his life, kill him.
So much for Exodus 20:12 to honor your parents. That didn't mean much to Absalom, the throne was more important. At one point, Absalom gets banished from the kingdom. He has Amnon killed. He flees.
David gets him back, but David doesn't want to see him, sort of banishes him from the palace. He sets Joab's field on fire to get his attention. And Joab gets involved in the story and gets a woman, a wise woman from Tocoa, And has her lay out this dramatic story to David about, you know, this son, and David touches his heart, and then she springs it on him.
Well, it's, you know. Your son. Joab puts you up to this, and yes, it did. And so then he comes back, Absalom. But anyway, I don't know if I've confused you with that.
Maiaca, the daughter of Talmai, king of Gesher, This is Absalom's mother.
Now, Geisha was a Gentile kingdom. North of Galilee and east of the Jordan River on the other side of Jordan. Towards as you go towards Syria. His grandfather, Absalom's grandfather, was a Gentile king. Talmai.
Did Grandpa Talmai negatively influence Absalom?
Well, we don't know, but why is David marrying a foreigner? This was his first wife. It is an early act of disobedience. Maybe David thought it was going to help him with his. Retreat and hiding from Saul.
Either way, he wasn't supposed to do it. He should have just stuck with Abigail. Deuteronomy 7: Nor shall you make marriages with them, that's those who are not believers. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. This is still a problem in Christianity.
You have Christians that know the Bible prohibits this, the New Testament prohibits this unequal yoke, and they do it anyway. But I love him, I love her. And some get away with it and they become carriers of this. And what I mean, for instance, you have two boys on a roof. of a let's say a tall garage and their young boys.
And one jumps off and he survives, he makes it.
Now the other one thinks he's going to do the same thing, so he jumps off and he doesn't make it.
So there are those that commit a sin that the Bible prohibits and they get away with it. And then others see it and think: well, because they got away with it, it must be okay to do. Be on guard against those things. That would be a big mistake. We try to do our best as Christians, that's love.
What quenches the Spirit? Quench not the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest things that biggest culprits on quenching the spirit is lovelessness. And that love first starts towards Christ. That's why we pursue obedience.
Not only because it's better, it's you know, it's better for us, it's healthier. And good for society, but the main thing is we love the Lord. But that love is supposed to spill out, there's enough of it to spill onto other people. And when we don't have love, We are quenching the spirit. We can be very Crafty when it comes to making excuses not to love.
Adonijah, verse four. He was killed by his younger brother, Solomon. Adonijah tried to pull a move on the throne of Solomon twice. First just outright, and then he tried to get it through Solomon's mother. And she comes to him and she tells, Hey, Adonia came and he, you know, he asked me some things.
I don't know what's her problem with Bathsheba. And Solomon says, huh? And that was it for Adonijah. He dispatched, I believe, Benaniah went and took him out. Verse 5 has this comment because we don't know much about these other characters.
These were born. born to David in Hebron. A fuller list is in 1 Chronicles 3. And that includes the four sons by David. And Bathsheba nine other sons whose mothers aren't even named So there's a lot of activity in the palace.
A good place for Abigail to get out with all of the intrigue and All the drama that Power moves, who wants to be around that? Verse 6.
Now it was so while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul.
So he's gaining more tribal support. Everybody is defective. Everybody's got an issue. They all should have just rallied behind David, and they did not. And they admit, well, it comes out in this chapter, that they knew better, especially Abner.
But Abner does not evidence any desire to be king. His forte was to be number two. He was good at that. And that's where he excelled. And so he's got this power.
So if he's going to be number two and Ishbosheth is going to be the king, and he has no respect for Ishbosheth, he's going to make sure that Ishbosheth is reduced to a puppet king, and he being the puppet master. Verse 7: And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah. the daughter of Aia.
So Isposeth said to Abner, Why have you gone into my father's concubine? Her concubines were less than wives. In that society, that was still a better life than what they came from and what they could have had. That's how it was. Abraham had concubines.
Jacob had concubines. The practice continued until the age of the kings, and it kind of falls off the chart in the Bible for us. It doesn't fall off chart. in practice for other countries, but It did with the Jews. And this concubinage was an Eastern practice.
Did not come from Moses.
However, the law of Moses had in it laws to protect them from being abused. Guarding them from inhumane treatment. And you can read about that if you so desire in Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 10. But it's a fact. This was a concubine of Ishboseth, the king, and he makes this accusation against Abner, and that was a big mistake.
So big a mistake. It's going to set in motion. the things that will have them both killed. That's how big of a mistake it was. It's a charge of treason for a king to say this is my property, and that's what concubines were viewed, and wives do as property.
And he is saying, you have taken my property, which is tantamount to treason. You're trying to take my throne. Absalom will do this when he attacks David, and David leaves Jerusalem, flees Jerusalem, and Absalom comes and tries to make this very statement. He does make this statement, but it will cost him his life.
So again The king's harem, royal property. and it was to be passed to the air. And not to stew anyone. Largely, why David is going to demand his wife back. Michelle, we'll come to that in a little bit.
But this miscalculation was a fatal miscalculation. That precipitated fatal events. Verse 8: Then Abner became very angry at the words of Ish-bosheth. and said, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? Today I show loyalty to the house of Saul your father.
to his brothers and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David, and you charge me to day with a fault concerning this woman. I'm tempted to read the word beard. But I did not do it. Yeah. Anyhow.
Dogs, they weren't considered these domesticated, cute little things that we mostly associate them with. I have a question for those who think dogs go to heaven. Do the mean ones go to hell? Just wondering. Yeah.
So fellow junk yacht dogs down there. These dogs were scavengers and they lived off of dead things and trash, and they were viewed with contempt. They were mangy. It was really an insult. And so By Abner's response and how hot it is, he is likely not guilty of this charge, was likely unfounded.
But Ishbrasheth's clumsy attempt to put him on the spot out of his paranoia, it exploded in his face. And now there's his downfall. It's almost as bad as calling a conservative a liberal. No, that'd be worse. Anyway, we love liberals.
We'd love to see them saved. And that's serious, but We can't stand in politics because it's Harmful to humanity, and they think they're getting away with it. Anyway, no-brainer, pretty much. I'm sure somebody is going to be offended by that, but. The truth, you can't As Martin Luther said, I don't know how not to offend guilty people.
If you're guilty, you're going to get offended. Anyway, verse 9: May God do so to Abner and more also if I do not do for David as Yahweh has sworn to him. This is the worst kind of mistake. It is a big mistake again. First, we have David making the big mistake of marrying a Gentile and then adding wives and creating a harem.
And then we have Ishbosheth. He is accusing his right-hand man, the man with the power, the kingmaker in the north, Abner. with a serious crime, treason.
Now, Abner's big mistake is he knew God wanted David on the throne, and not only did he not lift a finger to make that happen when he could really have done it. He works against it. He's been fighting against David. The house of Saul versus the house of Judah. They were going at it with swords.
So Abner admits that he knew that it was God's will for David to be king, yet seriously and willfully battled against. the known will of God. What makes people do this?
Well, unbelief is a simple answer. They don't believe it. To them, God is not as real as what's in front of them. This was Esau's problem. To Esau, what was real was, you know, meat and food and having a good time.
Whereas Jacob, even though he was Criminal in many ways, he still knew that God was above all this and God was going to work this out, which comes with knowing God. You know that He is every bit sovereign. Ignoring God's will is never a good idea or plan, it is always a step in the wrong direction, and it is always a bad decision and a big mistake. Yet, your flesh, my flesh, does not care. that we believe that.
Well, how is that going to get settled?
Well, it's going to get settled through prayer, study of the Word, fellowship, communing with the Lord. When we talk about communion with the Lord, we're not talking only of limiting it to the cup and the bread. Anybody can have the cup and the bread can take it at least. That doesn't mean they have a relationship with Christ. that they know him and they know he knows them.
That's what communion is. Communion is this. being in common. going in the same direction. in unity, and it's rhythm in the heart.
So anyway, verse 10. He says, In part of his threat to Ishbosheth, That He's going to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne to David. Over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Bathsheba. And Dan to Bathsheba was like saying from coast to coast. In their case, 150 miles, but it would cover all of the promised land.
Abner was hot. I mean, there was no bringing him back. If he sent him a fruit basket, he wasn't going to say, oh, you know what, maybe I was a little hard on the kid. Ishma Shath is in his 40s, and Abner's not putting up with this. Years ago, I worked on a job, a big job, a bridge.
And the floor boss, one of the big bosses, He was a good man. And everybody liked working with him. And under his leadership, And there was a holiday came up, and they did not pay him for that holiday. And he was hot. I mean, he was like, there was no bringing him back.
He left. And they lost. It was our loss. We noticed his absence. And this kind of the situation here: Abner had done so much for the kingdom.
How dare you launch a charge against me, especially when he's innocent? But spiritually He was dead to God's word.
So as men go, he was a great man. Just wasn't a good man. He will be physically dead. and unable to join into God's will, Before this is all over. Because of these big mistakes.
to remind us. Big mistakes count.
So does big love. to counteract it. I mean, I think about how in my younger years, I did not have the Christian love. How would I have done?
Well, later on I did get to Christian love and I would have done like that. If you're young, work on that Christian love now. Don't waste a moment. develop the love of Christ. Verse 11.
and he could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him. That fear characterized his father Saul. And now it's his. Saul always feared and And he feared the wrong thing. when other men did not.
And in his position, He did not have that right. as king. We've covered this. But it's good to review it. He feared his calling.
How many Christians are afraid to serve?
Well, I might fail. People might find out I'm not all that. Joel? No guts, no glory. And if you want to live your life hiding behind that, have at it.
He's not going to shove you out the plane with the, you know, your parachute. Saul feared his own army. I'm afraid, you know, the people, you're the general, you're the king. That's upside down. He feared Goliath.
Well, that one kind of makes a little sense, but but He shouldn't have shown it in front of the men. And that's what he did. He quaked in front of them and everybody was afraid. They had the high ground. They could have bumrushed Goliath.
That's a lot of bad guys coming at you real fast. Who have nothing to lose, incidentally. That's the punchline to the whole thing. Anyhow, they did not. When Goliath was strutting out there, the army should have said, Let's attack.
They would have dealt with that giant. They feared David. Three times in one chapter, that comes out. That's a big fear. He feared that there would be a coup against him.
In chapter 22 of 1 Samuel, he feared the Philistine army. which he was called to fight.
Well, he feared them because he wasn't ready for them because he was too busy chasing David. And then finally, He feared Death. and defeat on Mount Gilboa, That Samuel told him from the grave was going to happen. He feared so much he collapsed.
So that fear You look at that and you say, okay, if I struggle with fear, I'm going to do just that, struggle. But Saul never seems to have struggled against it. We all have fear. The bravest of the brave have fear. But they try as best they can to corral that thing, to keep it in check.
as best they can, whereas Saul never made that effort. At least we have no evidence of it. Verse 12. Then Abner sent messengers on behalf to David, saying, Whose is the land? saying also, make your covenant with me, and indeed my hand shall be with you.
to bring all Israel to you.
Well, I want to just pause before I comment on verse 12 and say, you know, Saul, though he was a man of fear, he was still. relatively gallant on the battlefield. But outside of that, that fear really messed him up. Here in verse 12, Abner realizes that now is the time. Ishbasheth is as incompetent as he thought.
And it's pointless to continue to commit to him, and he's still hot at the insult. I mean, that's fueling the whole thing. Uh Um This has been the latest edition of Cross Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is teaching through the book of 2 Samuel, which details the reign of David as king of Israel. There are so many life lessons to be learned during these years of David's life.
We're glad you've tuned in to hear more from God's Word. This radio ministry comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you're interested in accessing more messages just like this one, you can listen online or download these messages at crossreference radio.com. You can also subscribe to our podcast by going to your favorite podcast app. We can't wait for you to step into the next teaching that Pastor Rick has for us.
So come back next time for CrossReference Radio.
