The Ripple Effect of David's Sin, Part 1

Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to The Sound of Faith.

I'm Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If you've been listening to our message, The Ripple Effect of David's Sin, you know it is a real page turner. And today we will continue with the second part of the story that deals with the third judgment David's sin and cover-up brought upon his family.

The sword will never depart from your house. Today in The Ripple Effect of David's Sin Part 2. Let's look now at chapter 15 and verse 4. Absalom said, Moreover, talking to the people, O that I were made judge in the land, that every man which has any suit or any cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice. Hmm.

Undermining with discord, sowing discord amongst the people. If I were the judge, you'd get treated better. If I were the judge, I would work on your behalf. Verse 5. And it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeyance, that would be to bow down before him, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him. Ah, he was now acting like the king. Someone would come and bow before him. He would take their hand and that's what the king would have done.

Amen. Verse 6. And on this manner did Absalom do to all Israel that came to the king for judgment?

Listen to this. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. He stole their hearts with discord and flattery. And then after he had stolen their hearts and a lot of people now were on his side, he began to go forth amongst the men and gather men to join his little group. They didn't know, they didn't know what he was doing. They didn't realize he was trying to amass an army.

They didn't realize it. They were just glad to be a part to help him. And then he said for Ahithophel, who was one of David's main counselors, to join him. And Ahithophel joined him in conspiracy against David.

If you were here last week, you know who Ahithophel is? Bathsheba's grandfather. He was the one that told Absalom, take all the women that were left behind, the wives that were left behind and go up on the rooftop and have sex with them in the sunshine before everyone. And we asked ourselves last week, why in the world would Ahithophel tell Absalom to do something so vile? And the answer is, he was Bathsheba's grandfather. So now, he still got this in his spirit because now he joins Absalom in a conspiracy against David.

Let's look at verse 12. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gibeonite, David's counselor from the city, even from Galo, while he offered sacrifices. He was praying, he was praying while he offered sacrifices.

He was praying, he was actually in the middle of praying. And the conspiracy was strong for the people increased continually with Absalom. And there came a messenger to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. And listen to what David did. And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, he said, arise and let us flee for we shall not else escape from Absalom.

Make speeded apart lest he overtake us suddenly and bring evil upon us and smite the city with the edge of the sword. So when they came to tell David that you're in trouble because the hearts of the people now, Absalom has successfully won them over and their heart is with him to make him king. So David said to his men, pack up. He said to his wives, pack up. He only left 10 behind to keep the house.

Pack up, we're going to flee the city. Why did he do that? Because he did not want a confrontation with Absalom and his men because he knew if they did have a confrontation, many people in the city would die.

Isn't that what he said? Lest he smite the city with the edge of the sword to spare a civil war in Jerusalem with many innocent people dying. He said, nope, we'll just leave. We'll pack up and we'll go. And so that's what they did. They packed up and they left. If we read verse 31, he was later told, one told David saying a hit, the fell is among the conspirators with Absalom.

And David said, Oh Lord, I pray you turn the council of a hit, the fell into foolishness. Not going to go through all of this. We're going to skip chapter 16 and 17.

They're very good. There's a lot of conspiracy and intrigue in these chapters, but we don't have time for them. And in then you'll find that not only does a hit, the fell joined with Absalom, but another counselor named who shy, he joins with him. And these two began to a butt heads together trying to be the main counselor to Absalom and one's counseling this way and one's counseling the other way. And they're going back and forth and a hit, the fell saying, Absalom, you should do this.

And who shy saying you should do this. And in the end, Absalom decided to take who shy's counsel over a hit, the fells. And when a hit, the fell realized that his counsel was rejected and now he was not that much in favor of Absalom and he surely can't go back to David. You know what he did? He hung himself. He hung himself. He was a traitor. He conspired against the king.

And then, you know, David prayed, let his counsel come to nod. You know, when someone comes against you, it might be a lawsuit. It may be something on your job. And it seems like they're getting the upper hand. They're working that thing against you. And what can you do? You have no wherewithal to defend yourself or come against them.

They have more power and authority. And now maybe the person that really has the ability to fix it is come under their influence and you can't get to them because now they are under that influence. You need to pray this prayer, Lord, bring to naught the counsel.

Bring to naught the counsel. Don't worry about the person. It's not the person.

The person is just an instrument in a vessel. They may not even know what they're doing. They may not even realize that they're not fighting against you per se. They're fighting against a child of God.

They're fighting against righteousness. Don't worry about them. Don't wish them to die. Don't wish them something awful to happen to them.

That's not what you want. You just say, Lord, bring to naught their counsel. Just let it backfire on them.

Just give them a divine boomerang. That's all you got to do, Lord. And let the whole thing be exposed. So it backfired on Ahithophel and he apparently thought he had no recourse. So he hung himself. Now Absalom has the city. David is fled.

He's got to do something to get it back. So he takes the army and he splits it up three ways between Joab, Abishai and Ittai. And he commands them to go out.

But listen to this. He said to them, deal gently with Absalom for my sake. And when he said that to those three generals, all the soldiers with an earshot heard it. They heard it. So all the troops went out and in that battle, in that initial battle that day, 20,000 of David's men died. Another ripple. Another ripple effect of David's sin because the judgment is now being fulfilled.

And 20,000 men died in that day. And when Absalom saw how fierce the battle was going, he was on his mule and he was hightailing it through the woods. And remember all that long, gorgeous, thick, beautiful hair he had? Well, he went under an oak tree and he miscalculated and that gorgeous hair got stuck on a branch. And there he's hanging, not by the neck, he's okay, but he can't get his hair untangled from those branches. It's knotted up and tangled in there and he can't get loose.

Amen. And so one of David's soldiers happened to come by and see him hanging there by his hair. And he said, David, you're not going to get your hair by his hair. And he went to Joab and said, I saw Absalom, he's stuck, he's caught by his hair hanging an oak tree down yonder.

And at first, Joab jumped all over his case for not killing him when he saw him that way. Joab said, if you would have killed him, I would have given you 10,000 shekels of silver. And the man answered and said, no way, I wasn't about to touch a hair on that man's head. I heard what the king said to you. I heard him say, deal gently with Absalom, don't let anything happen to him.

I wasn't going to do it if you would have given me a thousand shekels of silver. Because he said, beware anybody that touches Absalom. So Joab then went with three darts in his hand and he found Absalom hanging by the tree. He's not going to die unless he's there for a very, very long time.

Amen. And so he sees him there hanging by his hair and Joab takes three darts and shoots him in the heart. And he still did not die right away. Then Joab's men surrounded him, they began to smite him and smite him until they killed him. What a terrible way to die. David's beautiful boy. And then Joab said, it's all over with folks, everything's done, go home.

Guys, go back to your homes, your wives, your children, go home, it's over with. He dismissed the army. So why did Joab disobey David's command not to harm Absalom and killed him anyway?

Why? Because he knew David's track record so far and how much he loved that boy and he knew that David would go easy on him. And he thought about the 20,000 men strewed across the fields of Israel who died that day to bring David back to the throne and defeat Absalom. And if David let Absalom off the hook and just smoothed over it like he had done with Amnon, like he had been doing all along, amen, if he just let it all go, those 20,000 men who died, their families would have rose up in anger.

Why did my father die, my husband die, my son die? They fought to defeat Absalom and put you back on the throne and now it's all kissy kissy, it's okay. Joab said, no, I couldn't let that happen.

Amen. So now, because that would have been, you know, the 20,000 was more collateral damage because of David's sins and the judgment. So now someone's got to go and tell David what's going on. And Joab sends Cushai with news of the battle to David. And when he got there, the first thing he said and stated was, David, all your enemies are defeated. But all David wanted to know was, okay, what about Absalom? And David said, well, what about Absalom? And Cushai said, well, he's one of them. That was his answer. Well, he's one of them.

He didn't want to say the words. Amen. But David knew, he knew exactly what had happened. So now we have to go to chapter 18 and we'll just see the end of this. Chapter 18 and look at verse 31. And behold, Cushai came and Cushai said, tidings, my lord, the king, for the lord has avenged you this day and all of them that rose up against you. And the king said unto Cushai, is the young man Absalom safe?

And Cushai answered, well, the enemies of my lord, the king, and all that rise against thee, to do you hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, thus he said, oh, my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, my wood god, I had died for you.

Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. The ripple effect. The ripple effect of that one sin of stealing Bathsheba, committing adultery, and as we all agreed last week when I asked you, what was worse, the initial sin of adultery or the cover up? And you unanimously said the cover up. Because of that, this beautiful boy, this handsome man, this one that he loved so much, was dead and he was devastated. He was heartbroken. And this was another victim of David's sin. Now, David mourned and mourned and mourned to the point that he was just letting everything go to pot. And eventually Joab had to come and rebuke him because the people were beginning to realize, hey, the king, we don't see him, we don't hear from him, what's going on? And the news was getting out of the palace. All he does is mourn and mourn and mourn for Absalom.

And the people are getting a little irritated. They're thinking, he tried to take the throne from you. And many people died to put you back on that throne. It's time for you to be the king that they died to make you get back on that throne and do your job.

Amen. And so finally, Joab knew he had to do something about it. And so he came to David and he had to rebuke him.

And let's look at chapter 19, verse 4. But the king covered his face and the king cried with a loud voice, oh, Absalom, oh, Absalom, my son, my son. And Joab came into the house to the king and said, you have shamed this day the faces of all your servants, which this day have saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and the lives of your concubines in that you love thine enemies and hate thy friends. For you have declared this day that you regard neither princes nor servants for this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day, then it would have pleased you well.

Whoa. Is that a rebuke or what? He said, if Absalom was alive and all of us were dead and all your wives are dead and everybody's dead and your servants are dead and all the men are dead, but if he was alive, you'd have been happy. He had to bring him back into reality.

Amen. And so eventually David got himself together because you know what happened? Civil war broke out in Israel over all of this mess. There were some people saying, David's not fit to be the king anymore.

Something's not right with him. And there were other people that were saying other things. And so it was just discord and disharmony and war broke out and they had to go and settle all of these battles. And David got back out there on the battlefield. Now, now it all started because he wasn't on the battlefield and he didn't go out with the men of war and stayed home and saw a naked woman. But now he's going to get back out on the battlefield after all this collateral damage has taken place.

Amen. And now civil war breaks out. Now I would like to tell you that this is the end of the sword in his family. We've got Amnon killed by Absalom and Absalom killed by Joab. Two of his beloved sons, his firstborn and his favorite are dead.

I would like to tell you that's the end of the sword, but it would not be the truth. And of course we don't have time to go into it today. But if you go to first Kings chapter one and two on your own time and you will see that by now, this is many, many years later, David is an old man and he's dying. He's on his death bed and he's having a problem keeping heat. He was freezing all the time. He was frail and he was freezing. And of course they lived in those big old palaces that were cold and damp and you know, and so they got a beautiful young virgin girl to come and be his nurse and to lay in bed with him to keep him warm.

And the scripture is very, very explicit. There was no hanky panky going on. First of all, he was a little old for that now and he was dying. It was just to keep him warm because they didn't have electric blankets and heaters and such. So you know how they show you if you get stranded out in the cold, if there's two people you all need to weather your enemies and hate each other, you better start hugging each other. Keep one another warm.

Amen. So that's what they did. So anyway, he's dying. Now, another son, Adoniah, hears that his father's dying and he decides I'm going to be the king, but he don't even wait till his father's dead. He goes and starts going around telling people, when my father dies, I will succeed him. And he goes to Hebron, which is where David was first crowned king, and he sets himself up as king's Hebron, telling everybody when my father passes, then I will get the crown.

And they're thinking, well, that makes sense to them. And so it went on like that because he was older than Solomon. But remember, God had prophesied and said, I will raise up a son. You will name him Solomon.

He will have peace all the days of his life, and he will build my temple. And Bathsheba was his mother, and she knew that prophecy. She hears Adoniah's already proclaimed himself king, and David's not even in the grave yet. So she goes to the prophet Nathan, the one who prophesied that Solomon would be king, and tells him what's going on. She said, we got to go to David. We've got to get David to crown Solomon before David dies. And that's what they did. They went to David, and they told him what Adoniah was doing.

And David said, oh, no, we'll stop that right now. Bring Solomon. Put him on my horse. Give him my crown. Give him my robes. I will anoint him and declare that he is my successor.

And that's what they did. Well, when news got to Adoniah that his father had just anointed Solomon king, he was shaking in his shoes because he thought, oh, they're going to come after me to kill me. So he ran to the temple, and he went and got the horns of the altar. Have you ever heard that saying, get the horns of the altar? That means, oh, God, don't let them kill me.

Oh, God, have mercy on me. And nobody could kill you as long as you were holding on to the horns. Don't let go of the altar. Just stay at the altar, and they can't kill you.

And that's what he was doing. And so finally someone went back to Solomon and said, he's got the horns of the altar, and he ain't letting go. And Solomon said, have him come before me. If there's no iniquity in him, I'll let him live. So he came and he said, you know, you're the king. Our fathers made you king, and I'm good with that, and you have mercy on me, and you know, I won't be any trouble. So Solomon said, fine, go home and live your life.

So he did. But he caught that little pretty Abishai, the one that they had let keep David warm, and he thought, she is really pretty. I want to marry her. So he went to Bathsheba and said, you're the mama, and you can probably get your son to do whatever you want him to do. Would you ask your son if I could have Abishai to marry? Bathsheba said, well, I'll ask him. So she went to Solomon. She said, son, I have something to ask you. He says, mom, I'll give you whatever you want. She says Adoniah has come to me and asked if he could marry Abishai.

I tell you, Solomon got so angry, I guess I don't know if Bathsheba expected how he reacted or not. He said, oh, really? He wants to marry her? And what will he want next?

Will he want the throne next? I told him to go home and live his life. Now he's coming asking. It wasn't the girl.

It wasn't like Solomon wanted the girl and he didn't want her to have that. He said, uh-oh, I perceive that he will be a threat. He will pull this again. He will try to pull it again. So what do you think he did? He had Adoniah killed.

The sword will never leave your family. The third of David's sons killed because of David's sin. The collateral damage and the ripple effect. Amen? You can read that on your own if you want.

It's a lot of intrigue that I just skipped over. But I hope that we can see that it doesn't pay to cover sin. We read that in Psalm 51, we read that in Psalm 38. It doesn't pay to cover your sin because the collateral damage and the ripple effect get so out of control and go so far reaching and there's things that you can't undo, you can't mend.

They'll never be the same again. Amen? Aren't you glad that now we are in the new covenant and we have the power to just say no to sin? James said blessed is that man when he is tempted who endures temptation for when he is tried and comes forth, he shall receive the crown of life.

He didn't say you wouldn't be tempted. He said blessed are you when you go through temptation and you come out clean. Amen? Amen? Amen.

Let's stand on our feet this morning. Amen. How many love the word of God? You know some people don't bother with the Old Testament because they always say well we're in the New Testament. But the scripture says in the book of Romans that these things are written aforetime for our learning and our admonition. And you can get a lot of admonition reading about the life of David. And in spite of it all, he was a man after God's own heart.

Because God is a good God, gracious and merciful, compassionate and forgiving. So if you got any stuff going on in your life, just run to the altar. Get a hold of the altar in prayer. And God will cleanse you, wash you, deliver you and bless your life. Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing. Father we thank you this morning for your word. Your word is alive and active.

Your word is the most fascinating, intriguing book on the planet. There is so many wonderful things in your word that teaches us truly it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. We would many times have fallen into the snare of the enemy but we hid your word in our hearts that we should not sin against thee. So Lord we ask you let your word be quickened in our spirit.

Let us continue to munch on these things. And Lord let them develop in our spirit a heart of truth and honesty, of purity because we want to be clean before you. And really we want to emulate David in the way that he was a man after your own heart. So Lord enlarge our hearts today so that we can truly seek you with all of our heart and give us courage and give us the anointing. And Lord the power that we have through the blood of Jesus that they did not have. But we have the power of the blood that's not only blotted out our sins but set us free from the power of sin so that we can deny worldly lust and we can be clean before you. Lord anoint us afresh and anew and put your spirit afresh in our hearts and we will serve you and we will give you our bodies back a living sacrifice.

Holy to you every day in Jesus name and let the church say Amen. Amen what a comprehensive look at the life and influence of one of God's choice servants King David whom God had said is a man after mine own heart. In part one of the ripple effect of David's sin we saw that the cover up he concocted was worse than his original sin of adultery and its collateral damage was widespread and tragic. Likewise his judgment was swift and terrible.

The child born of adultery died, ten of his concubines were publicly molested by his own son who tried to steal his throne. And today in part two we are following the trail of death in the final part of his judgment the sword will never depart from your house. This is a multi-faceted story rich with nuances and nuggets so to order on CD request SK207 and send a minimum love gift of $10 for our radio ministry to Sound of Faith P.O. Box 1744 Baltimore, Maryland 21203 or order from our e-store at soundoffaith.org where you can also order on MP3's. But to order the ripple effect of David's sin part 2 buy mail send your minimum love gift of $10 to P.O. Box 1744 Baltimore, Maryland 21203 and request SK207.

If you would like to order part 1 as well add $10 and request SK206 that's $20 for both SK206 part 1 and SK207 part 2. Until next time this is Sharon Ahtaseen Maranatha. . .