If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me, if you would, to 2 Samuel, and we're in chapter 1, and I'm going to just start off with the first verse.
After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. Bow with me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before your throne today to praise you.
Thank you for your goodness. Lord, we have several that are sick today that we want to lift up to you. We pray for Linda McCatherin, who has been suffering for three years now, and has found out this week that she had another vertebrae to break in her back, and that they're going to have to go in and do treatment on that. We pray, Father, that you would comfort her, encourage her, and Lord, we pray for her healing.
We pray for Jim Henson, Lord, who has been taken to the hospital just the other day and is suffering from a lung problem. We pray, Father, that you administer in great power to him. Heavenly Father, as we look at this passage of Scripture today, we know that your Word is inerrant, it's infallible, it is absolutely perfectly inspired by God.
But Heavenly Father, for us to understand it, we need illumination from your Spirit. We pray today, Lord, that you would help us, that we might understand what we are reading so that we can apply it into our lives so that our lives can be more like Christ. Heavenly Father, this passage has a lot to do with the subject of death. We pray that you would help us that we might realize, Lord, how frail we are and how short this life is.
For you have said, Lord, that it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that, the judgment. May that be real to us. May it fill our hearts with a fear of God that drives us to the grace of God that our dependence might be totally and completely on you. Heavenly Father, this passage has to do with forgiveness, and after the first service was over, my brother-in-law was here, and he shared with me that forgiveness is a tremendously important attribute in the Christian life, and Lord, it's an attribute that we have that is hard to fake. Heavenly Father, help us that we might not be phony in forgiveness, but that it might be true. Guide and direct us through this passage today. May Jesus be uplifted in it, and it's in your holy and precious name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. Will Ferris and Steve McCullough have recently been teaching the Word of God to pastors in Myanmar. Now, they had gone over there in times past and were able to do that in person, but because of the COVID-19 virus, they had to stay home this year, and so they improvised, and they were able to teach it online. Well, Myanmar is all the way around the other side of the world, so they're in a different time zone, and so their teaching had to be sometimes at midnight and then sometimes before the sun came up in the morning. They shared with me that it was a joy teaching these pastors because they were so hungry for the Word of God. What did they teach them? They were teaching them the great glorious subject of covenant theology.
Up to a few years ago, Myanmar had another name. It was called Burma, and the missionary who was most responsible for planning the church in Burma was Adoniram Judson. I want to take a moment and share with you about Adoniram Judson's conversion. Judson was a brilliant student at Providence College in Rhode Island. He had been raised in a Christian home, but when he got to college, he was powerfully influenced and then started to embrace some of the enlightenment ideas that were coming from Europe.
He also became very close friends with a witty upperclassman whose name was Jacob Eames, and Jacob Eames talked him into believing that there was no real personal God, that there was no God that we were really accountable to. When Judson was 20 years old, he broke his parents' heart by telling them that he had abandoned the Christian faith and that he was on his way to New York City in order that he might live a life of working in the theater. It was during this trip to New York that God providentially led him to a particular inn, and he went into that inn the night. When he tried to go to sleep that night, closed his eyes, and all of a sudden he heard crying and moaning from the next room right beside him. And the man in the next room was a young man who was in the pain. He was in excruciating pain, and he would cry and he struggled all night long until finally dawn came and he died.
During that whole night, Adoniram Judson could do nothing but think about death. When he got up the next morning, he went to pay his bill. And he said to the man, do you know how old the young man was that died in the room right beside me, and do you know his name?
And he said yes. He said that young man was 21 years old, and his name was Jacob Eames. His name was Jacob Eames.
He was a student at Providence College in Rhode Island. John Piper wrote a small biography on Adoniram Judson, and he said this about Judson's reaction to the innkeeper's statement. He said Judson could hardly move.
He stayed there for hours, pondering the death of his unbelieving friend. If Eames were right, then this was a meaningless event, but Judson could not believe it. That hell should open in that country inn and snatch Jacob Eames, his dearest friend and guide, from the next bed.
This could not, simply could not, be pure coincidence. That event changed Adoniram Judson's life. He came to realize that this life was not the end. He came to realize that there was a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. And over several months, God brought him under great, great conviction, and he came to know Christ as his Lord and Savior, and God called him to the mission field.
In Proverbs chapter 9 verse 10, it was King Solomon who said, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Folks, why is it that the church in America is in the condition that it's in today? Why is it that so much of the church is following the prosperity gospel, and so much of the church is just turned away from the Word of God, in order that they might substitute entertainment for worship?
I believe that the problem is a lack of the fear of God. In 2 Samuel chapter 1 that we are looking at today, we see the death of King Saul, and we see the rising to power to become the new king, King David. Saul's death in battle was not just a freak military accident, it was the judgment of God. Saul had rejected God's word, God's direction, and God's love. Saul had been purposely, deliberately, intentionally disobedient to God, and the result of that was judgment.
That takes us into the text. But before we look at the text, I want to share with you about the battle report that we receive here in the scripture. I want to look at the first 10 verses, just verse 1 first.
So look with me at that, verse 1. After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. Now, before I read the next 9 verses, let me refresh you on what has just happened in the last two chapters of 1 Samuel. David and his men had been marching with the Philistine army.
They got ready to fight against Israel, and the Philistine general said, no, you're not going, you might deceive us, you might fight against us, you're not going. So David and his men went back to their home in Ziklag. When they got to Ziklag, they realized, or they saw, that the whole city had been burned down.
The Amalekites had come in, stolen all of their possessions, taken their wives and their children, and took them away and just captured them. David, when he saw this, was in absolute depression. His whole countenance had fallen.
It was like everything had gone wrong. And what did that do? That caused him to run to the Lord in repentance. The Scripture says that David strengthened himself in God.
Everything began to turn around. God called David to go to the Amalekite camp and to destroy the Amalekites, and David did. And he went to the Amalekite camp.
They were outnumbered about 10 to 1, but the Amalekites had been partying and drinking, and when they got there, they weren't ready for a fight. And David absolutely and his men slaughtered them. They took back their children and their wives.
They took back their possessions that had been stolen, and they took back all the spoils of victory from the Amalekites. Now that's what's going on with David. But simultaneously, Israel and the Philistines are in a huge battle. It is a terrible battle, and the Philistines are defeating the Israelites, and during that battle, Saul commits suicide, and his son Jonathan is killed fighting valiantly in that war. David had no idea that that was going on at this particular time. So now, while David is rejoicing with his men, an unexpected visitor shows up.
Look with me at verse 2 through 10. And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. David said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. And David said to him, How did it go?
Tell me. And he answered, The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead. Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead. Then David said to the young man who told him, How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead? And the young man who told him said, By chance I happen to be on Mount Gilboa. And there was Saul, leaning on his spear, and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and he called to me. And I answered, Here I am. And he said to me, Who are you? I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said to me, Stand still beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers.
So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head, and the armlet that was on his arm, and I brought them here to my Lord. So David and his men were relaxing. They were enjoying their family.
They were praising God for the great victory. And all of a sudden, this Amalekite messenger arrives. His clothes are torn. His face is dirty.
These are signs of grief and lamentation and deep, deep sorrow. And so David knows that this is bad, bad news. David says to this man, Where did you come from? And the man said, I escaped from the battle between Israel and the Philistines. David said, Well, tell me, how did it go? Let me know.
Tell me right now. And the man said, Many of the Israelites fled. Many of the Israelite soldiers have been killed, and King Saul is dead, and his son, Jonathan, are dead. Now remember, David has just been with that Philistine army, and David knows how cocky they were. They were strong.
They were very confident that they were going to win this battle. He also knows what's going on with King Saul, that he is fatigued and terribly demoralized. And so David says to the messenger, he says, How do you know that Saul and his son, Jonathan, are dead? He said, I was on Mount Gilboa, and I saw all these people being wounded. Then I looked over and I saw Saul.
He too was terribly wounded. And he called over to me and he asked me who I was. I said, I'm an Amalekite. And then he said, I want you to come and stand here right beside me. Then I want you to take your sword and kill me. I want you to do me in because I don't want to be taken alive and tortured by the Philistines. And the young man said, So I killed him.
I killed him knowing that he could not live. Before David could respond to that, he reached into his satchel, and he pulled out Saul's crown, and he pulled out his armband, and he gave it to David. This was absolute proof that Saul was actually dead. In the Lord's sovereignty, David was miles away from Saul. When Saul died, David wasn't anywhere around there. I believe that God did that providentially so that everybody would know that David had nothing to do with Saul's death. All right, with that said, I want to share with you three points today concerning God's judgment.
And you know what? I know we don't like hearing about God's judgment, do we? That kind of hurts. It bothers us.
It makes us steam. And yet, the Scripture says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Point one, God's judgment calls for grief and repentance. Look at verses 11 through 12. Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
Now you can rest assured of this. That is not the reaction that this messenger thought that he was going to get from David. He knew that Saul had been chasing David all over Israel for years now, trying to take his life. And he knew that David wanted to be back with his people in Israel, but he couldn't because of Saul. And he knew that God had called David to be the king of Israel, and David wanted to be that king of Israel, but Saul was living, and he was in the way. So this messenger thought that David would be rejoicing over this news, that Saul was dead.
Let me tell you something. David was not rejoicing. David was mourning. David was not laughing. David was weeping. David was not feasting.
David was fasting. And why did David have this reaction? David knew that God is displeased with a heart that is vengeful, even vengeful against his enemies. Proverbs 17, 5 says this, He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
And folks, when we have joy over somebody else's calamity, most of the time the problem is just self-righteousness. In other words, David had truly forgiven Saul here. I want you to listen to this definition of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is ceasing to feel resentment toward an offender, and making a conscious choice to refrain from retaliation. David mourned over Saul's death. He grieved. He wept. He lamented. He was sad.
What was he sad about? He was sad that Saul had just gotten so far away from God. He was sad that he had not been able to have a relationship and fellowship with Saul, where they could get together and they could enjoy each other's presence. And he was sad that Saul's reign had ended in such great tragedy. That shows that he had forgiven Saul. He didn't feel hatred and resentment toward Saul. In fact, I think David understood at this point that all this persecution that Saul had brought on him had made him a better man. Now, he was much more dependent upon God. And now, as he's forgiven Saul, this is doing something to his heart.
It's making his heart tender and soft. I was reading an article a while back about a man who was married, had two 10-year-old twin daughters, loved his wife with all of his heart. His wife was coming home from work one day, driving home, and a drunk driver ran a red light and plowed into their car and killed the wife on the spot. That man had a terrible time dealing with it. Each day, the man's heart became more and more bitter against the drunk that had killed his wife.
And each day, it just became stronger and stronger. And it was affecting everything in his life. He became very testy and short with his own daughters. When he was at work, he couldn't even concentrate because that bitterness was eating him alive.
Finally, his daughters said this. They said, we lost mama to a car accident, but we lost daddy to hatred. Unforgiveness is a choice, folks.
It's not an emotion. It is a matter of the will. If anybody had a right to be mad, to be offended, to be bitter, to be indignant, it was David. Saul was paranoid, he was wicked, he was selfish, and he was ruthless. If David had killed Saul, I think most people would have understood that. Saul got what was coming to him, but David was growing in his faith. And he had come to understand something about the human heart. If we allow unforgiveness in the human heart, that it eats away our character. So he chose to forgive Saul.
And he made a conscious decision of the will and God mightily honored it. One of the hardest lessons in my life is this. I can't control what others do to me. I can't control what others say. I can't control what others say about me.
But I can completely control the response that I have to those other people. That is dependent upon me. That is dependent upon me.
That is dependent upon me. And folks, if I allow unforgiveness to rule and reign in my heart, it's always going to bring me great hurt. See the attitude that is building up in our culture today. And I see it kind of just a broad buildup over our culture. We seem to have a theme in life of retaliation in America today. We don't get mad, we get even. And people see forgiveness as a weakness and not a strength.
Let me tell you something. Any fool can be bitter and unforgiving. But it takes a whole bunch of intestinal fortitude for you to forgive somebody who has hurt you deeply. Our greatest example of this is Jesus Christ. He was beaten, he was scourged, he was spit on, he was mocked, and then they nailed him to a cross. And he looked down at the people who were killing him. And he looked up to heaven and said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
Wow. They call that a weakness? I call that the very height, epitome of strength.
Our society calls that weakness. Folks, to truly forgive others, we need to remember what kind of sinners we really are. In Luke chapter 13, Jesus overheard some men talking. And the men were talking about 18 men that had been killed when a tower fell over on them. And Jesus interrupts the conversation. He said, do you think you were less sinful than them because that tower fell on them?
He said, you're going to walk away from here, kind of shrug your shoulders and say, well, they probably got what they deserved. Jesus said, let me tell you something. Except you repent, you will all likewise perish. David knew that the times that he himself personally had failed God. And so, when it came to Saul's death, instead of being mad and angry and bitter, he was able to mourn over Saul's death. As he mourned over Saul's death, he praised God for the forgiveness that God had given him on his own life. Point two, God's judgment is certain and severe.
Luke chapter 12 verse 2 says this, Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. Now, I want you to notice that the news of Saul's death had come by a messenger. And what kind of messenger was he? The scripture tells us he was an Amalekite. In 1 Samuel chapter 15, God had given Saul a commandment to perform a jihad on the Amalekites. This is a holy war.
This is where all the people in that particular group are wiped out completely and totally. But Saul thought he was smarter than God. He thought he was more compassionate than God. And so he didn't obey God. He didn't kill all the people like God told him to do. And God said, Saul, because you have disobeyed me, I am taking the kingdom of Israel out of your hand and I'm giving it to another man.
And I'm giving it to another, a man after God's own heart. Why would God want to destroy the Amalekites? They were so wicked. They were so evil. They were such an ungodly influence that they did great harm every single place that they went. Now remember, when David got to Ziklag, who was it that had attacked the city and stolen their wives and children?
It was the Amalekites. And here we find out that there is an Amalekite who claims that he has killed King Saul. And did he do that?
I think probably what happened was this. He saw King Saul already pushed down on his sword. He saw him bleeding. Saul calls him over. I think he probably just pushed him down a little harder.
It was an assisted suicide. So then he grabbed Saul's crown and he grabbed his armband and he headed back to tell David. He thought David was going to be overjoyed. He thought David was going to reward him greatly.
He was horribly wrong. Saul's death tells us that the consequences of our sin are far-reaching. And unless we experience the forgiveness of God, folks, we are going to be judged. Luke 12 to Jesus said, Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.
In Romans chapter 12, chapter 2 verse 16, Paul said God will judge the secrets of men. People, what is our hope? Our only hope is the gospel. It was Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me was Paul who said, For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself.
It is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. I started this message with the illustration of Adoniram Judson and how he had abandoned the Christian faith. He'd walked away from the faith. And then when he heard his own great friend, what when he heard him dying and struggling with death and moaning and weeping and lamenting as he was dying, he couldn't take it anymore and God broke him. And finally after months, deep, deep conviction, he ran to the Lord in faith and repentance.
Let me ask you something. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ today? Have you surrendered your life to the lordship of Christ? If not, then I would encourage you not to believe the lies of the woke society that we are living in today and not to believe the lies of Satan who is the father of lies, but to believe the truth of Jesus who said, If you will come to me, I will save your soul. It was Jesus, if you run to him, if you experience faith in him and trust in him and him alone, he will take your life and change you forever. You say, Doug, you're just trying to scare us.
Yes, I am. And I want you to know that it's not a fear, that it's a fake fear that manipulates. It is a genuine fear that drives you to the grace of God.
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3 says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? In Acts chapter 16 verse 30, the Philippian jailer said to the Apostle Paul or asked him a question, What shall I do to be saved? And Paul said to him, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, which includes surrendering your heart and your life to him. Point three, God's judgment is punishment by death. Look at verse 13 through 16. David said to the young man who told him, Where do you come from?
And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite. David said to him, How is it you are not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? Then David called one of the young men and said, Go execute him. And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed. Now let me ask you something. When you read those verses for the first time, how did it strike you? Now I'll be honest with you. I read those verses and I thought to myself, That's a little harsh.
That's just a little excessive. But I want you to know, here is this man, this messenger that comes to David and he brings to David what? He brings him the crown of Saul and he brings him a royal armband. That man could have sold those things.
He could have gotten a lot of money for those things. But instead, he brings it to David and he's expecting a great reward from David. Folks, this Amalekite was guilty of sacrilege. He claimed that he had killed God's anointed.
I want you to know that is making a mockery, a mockery of God's holiness. Our culture in America is beginning to think like the Amalekites. We are beginning to think that sin just doesn't matter. There's been a massive voter fraud in our nation.
It has been accomplished through computer algorithms, by stuffing ballot boxes, by running ballots through the machines over and over again, by destroying votes. And half of our nation says, That doesn't matter. That's no big deal.
Just go ahead and let it go. Forget about it so that we can have what we want. Folks, those people ought to be put in jail. That is treason.
Maybe worse than being put in jail. Our culture says abortion is not murder. It's a woman's right to choose. If you want to have a sex change operation because you're not happy with the way God created you, that's fine.
Go ahead and go for it. What about same-sex marriage? Well, that's fine too, except that God, who instituted marriage, said that marriage is between a man and a woman and a man and a woman alone. Well, what about pornography?
Well, that's no big deal. Pornography is just another art form. Although Jesus said that to lust in your heart is adultery in the heart. It's a breaking of the seventh commandment.
The bottom line is this. Our culture does not understand the holiness of God. And so when we judge ourselves, we judge ourselves by comparing ourselves to other sinners. And when I compare myself to another sinner, I can look back and say, well, hey, I don't look so bad.
Well, there's no problem with that. Folks, that's the wrong standard. God has a standard. And God's standard is His perfect holiness and His perfect law. God's standard is His Son, Jesus Christ, who is perfectly righteous and perfectly without sin. And guess what, folks?
We don't measure up. We have all sinned to come short of the glory of God. All of our righteousness are as filthy rags before God, and the wages of sin is death. David's death order to the Amalekite was written for us, not that we could question David's mercy, but so that we could be shown God's justice and to convince us of our need for a Savior.
Folks, listen. Getting saved is not turning over a new leaf and trying to placate the holiness of God. Getting saved is the great exchange. It is the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ dying on our behalf, Jesus Christ going to the cross and paying the payment that we were responsible to pay. That we were responsible to pay, it is Jesus Christ rising from the dead to break the power of death.
What does He do? He takes my sin, He gives me His righteousness. He takes my misery, He gives me His joy. He takes my hell, and He gives me His heaven. When we read of David giving the order to kill the Amalekite, let me tell you how we ought to look at it.
We ought to say, hey, that Amalekite is a picture of me. That Amalekite is a picture of you, except, except for the blood of Jesus. What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make us whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes us white as snow.
No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, praise You today. You're a great, glorious God. Lord, help us that we might understand the severity of Your judgment, that we might be driven to the glory of Your grace. Help us, Lord, that we might realize that it is only through the blood of Jesus that our sins can be totally, completely, and gloriously washed away. Father, now as we get ready to partake and celebrate in the Lord's Supper, we ask that You be with us in power. You promised, Lord, that Your presence would be with us in the Lord's Supper in a way that's different than at any other time. And Father, we ask that You bestow Your presence on us now. Help us, Lord, that we might see the picture of the Lord's Supper, the picture of the broken body of Christ, the picture of the shed blood of Jesus, and that we might rejoice and rejoice in it greatly. We love You, Lord. Thank You for loving us. And it's in Jesus' precious and holy name that we pray. Amen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-01-18 13:20:15 / 2024-01-18 13:33:06 / 13