Civil War

I have your Bibles with you today. Please turn them with me, if you would, to 2 Samuel chapter 18. We're going to start with verses 1 through 8. Then David mustered the men who were with him, and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

And David sent out the army, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai, the son of Zeruai, Joab's brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the men, I myself will also go out with you. The men said, you shall not go out, for if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us.

But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you send us help from the city. The king said to them, whatever seems best to you, I will do. So the king stood at the side of the gate while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.

And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. Bow with me as we go to our Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we are dealing with some gut-wrenching subjects today. Many that brothers and sisters in our own church family are having to deal with, rebellious children, disloyalty, death, these subjects cause our stomachs to not up. Some of these things happen because of our own negligence or disobedience or apathy.

Sometimes things happen that catch us by surprise. Maybe we had nothing to do with, but it hurts. We all need counsel from the Word of God. As we look at Absalom today, we need to be reminded that rebellion always leads to heartache. As parents, we need to get serious about disciplining our children in love and doing it consistently under your guidance.

As our children get older and are no longer under our immediate authority, we need to learn how to give godly counsel to them without being controlling. But in this passage today, we see the death of Absalom. In the heartbrokenness of David, Absalom died without the Lord. He died in rebellion against his dad and rebellion against God.

It is evident that Absalom entered into a godless eternity. Lord use this passage to wake us all up to the reality that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We love you Lord, thank you for loving us for it is in the holy and precious name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. We have before us today one of the most heartbreaking stories in the entire Bible. David has just received news that his son Absalom has been killed. It is a heartbreaking story because a young man who had unbelievable potential has utterly ruined his own life and the life of countless others, thousands of others because of his rebellious spirit. We need to remember who this David is. David is the writer of the majority of our psalms. He's a man after God's own heart.

And here in this story we come to see David as he falls on his face before God and he cries out, Oh Absalom, Absalom, my son Absalom, would to God that I had died in your place. What we see going on here in this passage is what is called a civil war. A civil war is the worst kind of war because when you battle in a civil war you're not fighting against an unknown entity.

You are fighting against people who are familiar, maybe even family members, maybe even a son or a brother or a father or maybe a best friend. I was reading a book on the civil war years ago and there was a chapter in there that was written by a lady who had written a diary during this time. She had a son who was fighting for the Confederacy. She had a husband who was fighting for the Union Army. And she told about the great battle at Sharpsburg, Maryland. In that one particular day there were 23,000 American soldiers that died on the battlefield that day.

More than any other, that number was greater than any number of soldiers that have ever died in one day in American history. Well, after one particular battle the Southern Army retreated and her husband, who was a Union lieutenant, was commanded to go out and review what had taken place on the battlefield. He started walking through the battlefield. He started looking around and all of a sudden his eyes just got stuck on one particular young man. And he fell down on his knees after he turned in white as a sheet, trembling and shaking, and said, oh no. Oh no, God.

Oh no. It's my son. And he looked at his son. He's laying there dead on the ground with a bullet hole that had been shot right through his head. The lady said in her diary that her husband went absolutely insane.

They had to send him back home. And when he got back home he could do nothing but just weep uncontrollably day in and day out until finally one day she went off from the house and when she got back a few hours later she found her husband in a pool of blood where he had taken a gun, put it to his head, and shot himself to death. The guilt of having to fight against his own son was so great that he just couldn't handle it. No war is more brutal, more vicious, and more heartbreaking than a civil war. War against family and friends. But as we enter into 2 Samuel chapter 18, that's what we see. A civil war. I've got six points that I want to share with you today as we look in this passage.

Number one is this division, the product of selfishness. Look with me at verse 1. Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. David had no recourse but to take over as the military commander of his nation. There was a military coup that was going on in his beloved Israel.

His own son had gathered together a great following. The scripture says that he stole the hearts of the people of Israel away from David. And now he wants to take David's throne. He wants David dead. And what does he do? He gathers up all of these soldiers and he uses them to go against David and to commit what we would call a civil war.

Division. What a horrible thing it is. It's horrible when it takes place in a country. It's horrible when it takes place in a school. It's horrible when it takes place in the workplace. It's horrible when it takes place in a family.

It's especially horrible when it takes place in a church. In Psalm 133 verse 1, the scripture says, Behold how good and how glorious it is when brethren dwell together in unity. Folks, what a wonderful truth. When people are bound together by love and loyalty and commitment, there is pleasantness and great joy. But when there's division or a person has a divisive rebellious spirit, there's tension and controversy and unhappiness.

What causes division? James gave us a great answer. James chapter 4 verse 1. He said, What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions or desires are at war within you? Divisions come because people are selfish. Selfish people demand their own way. They want to satisfy the desire of the flesh and they'll do anything they have to do to get it. And they don't care who they have to hurt. It doesn't matter. They just want their way.

So they'll divide, they'll splinter, they'll do whatever they have to do to be sure they get their own way. This past Thursday night, Eddie and Ray Yarbrough had invited Cindy and I over for supper. We went over there to the house. We had a wonderful meal together. And then after the meal, we went out on the front porch.

And the front porch looks out on their beautiful farm. So we were sitting out in the front porch just enjoying things and there was a young lady there who would come and exercise the horses. So she'd gotten there, she went to the barn, she took out two of the horses in the barn and she brought them out to the pasture. You talk about two happy horses. Man, they were running around, jumping around, just having this great time, just enjoying life and just looked so happy.

Everything was just going good for them. And then all of a sudden, the lady decided she's going to ride one of the horses. So she took one of the horses out and took him out to ride. The other horse went crazy.

I mean, it was so funny. He got jealous. He was angry. He took his his hoose and just bang them down on the ground.

He was running around. He he stuck his head up in the air just winnowing and neighing. Now, I don't understand horse language. But if I did, I believe that that would have been horse profanity. I mean, that horse was angry and mad.

And I thought to myself, Eddie, you should have named that horse Absalom. Because that horse was jealous and angry and rebellious and mad. Absalom wanted his way. He wanted to show his daddy that he was smarter than he was. He wanted to show his daddy that he was more suitable to be the king of Israel than his dad. And he wanted to show God that he didn't have to do like God commands us to do to obey our God-given authority.

He could do whatever he wanted to do. And thousands of people died because of that. Folks, division is a product of selfishness. Point two, a hearing ear is the product of repentance. Look at verse two through four.

David sent out the army one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, one third under the command of Gittite. And the king said to the men, I myself will also go out with you. But the men said, you shall not go out. For if we flee, they don't care about us. Half of us die, they won't care about us.

But you were worth 10,000 of us, therefore it is better that you send us help from the city. The king said to them, whatever seems best to you, I will do. So the king stood at the side of the gate while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. Now David had his share of faults. He made a lot of mistakes in his life, but nobody ever accused David of cowardice. David is getting older now. He's not a spring chicken anymore. He's kind of lost some of his endurance. He doesn't have that spring in his step that he once had. The years are quickly slipping away from him, but that doesn't stop him. And he goes out to his men and he says to them, I'll lead you.

I'll take the lead in this. I would not ask you to go do what I would not do myself. Folks, the truth is a father would discipline a rebellious child, and David knows that. But he knows that others would not take that attitude. They wouldn't just discipline a rebellious child that somebody else is. They would want pure, unadulterated worship.

Not pure unadulterated worship, but punishment. That's what he wanted. That's what was going to happen to him, and David knew that. So David was concerned. Did he believe that if he could go out and fight against them himself, if he could be the leader, then he could protect his own son Absalom, and that would go well.

The people said, no David. Said, if you go out with us and you get killed, then it's over. It's over. They don't care about us. We're not important to them. They could kill us and it wouldn't matter. But this war is about you, and if they kill you, you can rest assured of this.

That battle is over, and they will win. So David listened to their counsel. He determined that it was good counsel, that it was right, and he heeded their words, and so he broke down his army into three different divisions. He got his three best generals, set them over those three divisions. He gave them instructions, said, I'm not going to be there.

Now this is what you do, and sent them out on the battlefield to fight. He did that, and then he kind of sat back and he said, it's my responsibility now to trust my men, and most of all to trust God, that he'll get us through this. A few weeks ago, I shared with you that David was reaching the father level of spiritual maturity. David was growing so close to God that with his spiritual eyes, he could see God's plan, and he could see God's purpose.

In this passage here, I am absolutely convinced more than ever that David is reaching the father stage or the father level of spiritual maturity, because he's listening and he's heeding good counsel. He doesn't go to battle. He decides that he's going to step back and let them do the fighting so he won't be killed. That's extremely, extremely important.

He doesn't force himself into a position where he can protect Absalom. He says, no, I'm going to let that go. I'm going to listen to the counsel of my generals. I'm going to let this go because I believe they are giving me godly counsel. God led David to listen to his men. Now, that was the majority here that was giving David counsel. Does that mean that it's always right to listen to the majority?

Absolutely not, because the majority a whole lot of times is absolutely wrong. I go back to 1973 when the Senate in the United States and the House of Representatives, the majority voted for abortion. They voted to slaughter unborn babies in the womb and to legalize that.

Was that right? Not hardly, but the majority voted for it. I think the majority of the people of Israel turned against Moses and they started following Korah and Dathan. Korah and Dathan are the ones who wanted to take away the priesthood of Aaron. They wanted to take it away and take it themselves, and the majority wanted it. Was that right?

Not hardly. Twelve spies went into the Promised Land. They came back to give back a report. When they did, ten of the spies came back and they said, well, we can't go into that land. We can't do what God's called us to do. There are giants in that land.

They're huge, monstrous people, and we're like grasshoppers in their sight. We cannot obey God. We must do what we need to do and step back and not go and fight. Was that right? No. Was the majority correct?

Absolutely not. My heart is broken today over the false concept of Christianity that I see rising up in America today and people's idea of what Christianity is. Christianity is not wokeness. Christianity is not this idea that we see, oh, I can believe in my head that Jesus Christ has died on the cross for me, and that's all I need for salvation. I don't need to repent. I don't need to turn from my sin. I don't need to submit my life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, but when I die, I know I'm going to heaven.

Is that right? Majority thinks that way, folks, but it's not right. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7 verse 13. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. In Erwin Lutzer's book entitled We Will Not Be Silenced, he said the following, today there are calls for evangelicals to remake Christianity into a more inclusive religion. There are widespread efforts to make the narrow door wider and to even affirm the salvation of well-meaning people of other religions. So-called progressive Christians advance their causes under the banner of love and compassion. In the process, the hard truths of Christianity are either redefined or ignored. Let me be clear that I am opposed to a form of judgmental Christianity that holds to truth without compassion and righteousness without humility. I am opposed to a form of Christianity that judges without listening and sees the faults of others without seeing our own. As a pastor, my heart breaks for those who hurt, who are confused, and who don't know where to turn. Our churches should be sanctuaries for the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the lonely.

They should be hospitals for the soul. But I see much of contemporary Christianity submitting to the culture in many areas of life, especially in matters of sexuality. The only way to make Christianity appealing, we are told, is to move the markers, to be more inclusive, more affirming. I fear we are allowing culture to inform our thinking and even raise our children. We no longer are submissive to the whole counsel of God.

We think we must accept or acquiesce to culture in order to redeem it. All I can say to that is amen. But in this case, David discerned that the majority was right. He believed that God was speaking to him through his generals. He had a hearing ear, and that hearing ear was developed as he responded to God in obedience and repentance. It's amazing, but when your heart is repentant, your spiritual ears will be finely tuned to God's voice.

Point 3, a forgiving heart is the product of compassion. Look at verse 5. And the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.

And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. Over the last months as we've been studying the life of David, I've been pretty hard on David for the fact that he did not discipline his children well or hardly at all. In fact, we have seen how David's reticence to chasing his children when they were out of line, when they were not being obedient. When that happened, David didn't do anything about it, and it backfired on him, and it did great damage to the heart and the lives of his kids. But I cannot fault David for his love for Absalom. Absalom was not repentant.

He was absolutely rebellious. He was even out to take David's life to kill him, but David still loves him and wants to spare his life. How similar is that to the actions of our Lord Jesus, who was hanging from the cross, and he looked down at the foot of the cross and he saw all the people who hated him.

He saw them as they were spitting on him and mocking him and laughing at him and crying out, crucifying, crucifying, and then he looked up to heaven and said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. So what do you do as a Christian parent when you have a child that's in that kind of rebellion? What if you've got a child that's in prison? What if you have a child that is always in an adult child, always in a drunken stupor?

What do you do if you have a child that's always talking to other people against you, telling them how much they hate you and resent you? You should still love them. That doesn't mean to condone their sin, but you should still love them. But love him so genuinely that he feels it.

He knows that he's broken your heart. He knows that you can't condone his sin, but he still feels your love. Moms and dads, God can use that kind of love to break through a child's heart. A. W. Pink's a tough theologian. I love to read his stuff, but man, he is tough on sin. So I wondered how he was going to deal with this passage, and I was shocked at how he described David's love for Absalom.

Listen to what he said. He said, Yes, see the aged parent driven from his home, humiliated before his subjects, stricken to the very depths of his heart by the murderous hatred of the son whom he had forgiven and honored. Loving the worthless and devil drives driven youth with an unchanged devotion that sought to save him from his just and impending doom. Yet wonderful as this was, it provides only a faint shadow of the amazing love of Christ, which moved him to set his heart upon his people, even while they were totally depraved, utterly corrupt, and dead in trespasses and sins. God commended his love toward us by the death of his son, and it was for the rebellious and ungodly that he was crucified.

Let me say this. David was not wrong to love his son this way, but David would have been wrong to fight against God's dealing with Absalom. In this situation, David had to sit back and say, Lord, do what you have to do.

If judgment is his end, then I know that you will do that which is right. Years ago, someone came to me to talk and he said to me, Doug, he said, I've got a son that was driving drunk and he got in a wreck and he was killed in that wreck. He said he was a rebel against God. He said he fought me tooth and nail all through my life, wouldn't go to church, mocked Christ, mocked me, mocked the things of the Lord, and he said I know where my son is now. He said my son is in hell, and he said he is in hell and he'll be in torment for eternity forever and ever and ever. He said, Doug, how am I supposed to be happy and joyful in heaven when I know that my son is in hell for all of eternity?

I took him right to Revelation chapter 21 verse 4. It says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall they be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. I said it seems to me that this passage is telling us that God in heaven to come will wipe away that memory, will wipe away that extreme pain.

Now you know in hell that's not going to happen that way. I think one of the worst things about hell is a memory. If you die and if you go to hell, you will remember every gospel message you ever heard. You will remember every person who ever tried to witness to you. You will remember every gospel track you ever read. You will remember those things and you'll also remember that each time you said no because your pleasure was more important to you than God's glory. In hell there will be a memory. I think not in heaven. The former things, the ugly things, the hurtful things, we will remember no more.

That's true for us. It's also true for David. Alright, point four is civil war, the product of rebellion. Look at verse six through eight. So the army went out into the field against Israel. The battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim and the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David and the loss there was great on that day, 20,000 men.

The battle spread over the face of all the country and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword. As I said before, rebellion always creates division because rebellion is birthed out of selfishness. Absalom had become so selfish he didn't really care about the people in Israel. He didn't care if they got hurt. He didn't care if they died.

He didn't care about the morale of the country at all. In fact, 20,000 soldiers died because of Absalom's rebellion. I don't think that bothered him a bit.

Civil war is the product of rebellion. The people who followed Absalom trusted his words. His words sounded sincere.

Folks, they should have looked past his words to his heart and if they had, they would have seen a rebellious heart and a rebellious heart always leads to destruction. You probably remember the Andy Griffith episode where there was a new boy that had moved in to Mayberry and so one day the new boy takes his little new bicycle and he's riding it uptown Mayberry and he puts his bicycle up on the sidewalk, starts riding down the sidewalk illegally. As he's riding down that sidewalk, he's knocking over elderly women and little kids are running and jumping out of the way and Barney sees him. Barney comes running over to him and he grabs the bicycle and says, son, stop!

What are you doing? He said, don't you know this is illegal? You could hurt somebody this way.

Don't do this. He said, I'm going to give you another chance, but don't you ever do this again. The boy said, yes, sir. And then the boy got back up on his bicycle. He drove a little, rode a little bit, then jumped right back on the sidewalk and took off laughing at Barney. He took off. He went around the corner and when he did, there was Andy, Sheriff Andy and he grabbed that bicycle and stopped him. Barney comes running up. He's huffing and puffing and looks at Andy and tells him the story of what this boy just did. So they decide to impound the bicycle. They tell the boy, bring your dad back this evening.

We'll talk about it. So the dad and the boy come back to Andy's office that evening. They walk in and Andy starts telling them about what the boy had done. The boy starts complaining and said that Andy and Barney were bullying him. And the father gets mad. He starts yelling back at Andy and Andy says, wait a minute. He says, I'll put you in jail. And the boy said, that's right. Put my daddy in jail.

Just give me my bicycle. And Opie's ears just perked up. And the father's ears perked up as well. This boy was willing to let his daddy go to jail so he could get what he wanted. Andy took his belt off, gave it to the father and said, you might want to use this. And the father took his son to the proverbial woodshed. What a great lesson. What a great lesson. Personal civil wars are the product of rebellion.

They don't make shows like that today and it's sad. Alright, point five is obedience, the product of loyalty. Look at verses ten through twelve. And a certain man saw it and told Joab, behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. Joab said to the man who told him, what? You saw him? Why then did you not strike him to the ground?

I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt. The man said to Joab, even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king's son, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, for my sake protect the young man Absalom. The sand and the hourglass had just about run out for Absalom. Absalom was riding his mule through a path in the woods. There was a terebinth tree, oak tree, that had a limb that was hanging down low.

Absalom's hair, long as it could be, was flowing freely in the wind. And when he went under that low-hanging limb, his hair got caught up in the limb. He was jerked right off of his mule.

The mule just kept going. And so he used to hang in there between heaven and earth. Now, did it cause a whiplash?

Might have. We don't know. If it did, that could have just totally paralyzed him right there. But whatever, he's hanging there and he can't get down.

And he's in an absolute mess. I wonder what he was thinking. We don't know for sure. Scripture doesn't tell us.

But one thing I think I know is this. He did not expect this to happen. He thought that in just a few hours he might be seated on the throne of Israel and all of Israel would be bowing down before him. But now he's hanging from a tree limb and he knows that in just a few minutes his enemies are going to come and he's going to be killed. King Solomon wrote Proverbs chapter 27 verse 1.

King Solomon was David's son and I wonder if he had this instance in mind when he said this, "'Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth.'" There's a young soldier who sees Absalom's predicament, sees him hanging in the tree, and so he runs back to tell Joab what's happened. And Joab said, "'Did you kill him?' And he said, "'No, I didn't kill him.'" He said, "'You should have killed him. I would have put money in your hand.

I would have taken care of you.'" He said, "'No, I could not kill him.'" He said, "'You remember what David said to us, and I am loyal to David. David said to us that we are to deal gently with his son.

We're not to kill him. I could not do it because I am loyal to David.'" Loyalty.

A word that's kind of lost its meaning in our culture, hadn't it? But without loyalty, there's no trust. Without trust, there's no obedience. It would be God that Christians would sense the need in our own character to build that attribute into that character, that character of loyalty. We need to be loyal as a family, folks.

And let me tell you why. Because sometimes when you mess up, when you sin, when you falter, when you disobey God, you need somebody to talk to. And you need to be able to go to a brother and sister in Christ, and you need to be able to share with them what you've done and how you've messed up, and you need to know they're not going to go out and gossip about you, and they're not going to put you down, they're not going to laugh at you, they're not going to mock you, they're not going to try to hurt you or shun you, but what they're going to do is they're going to try to help you to repent and to turn back to Him.

It would be God that Christians would see ourselves as family, a family that sticks together and helps each other through those kinds of times. David had that in these men. Alright, point six is death is the product of sin, verse 14 through 18.

Joab said, I will not waste time like this with you. And he took three javelins in his hand, thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. Ten young men, Joab's armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.

Then Joab blew the trumpet and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained them. And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him a very great heap of stones, all Israel fled away to his own home. Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the king's valley, for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom's monument to this day.

Joab disobeyed David's orders. He was sick of Absalom. This was war, and he wanted Absalom dead. So he goes to this place where Absalom's hanging from the tree.

And I can imagine him looking at him for just a few minutes, and I can't even imagine what the conversation might have gone like. But he starts talking to Absalom, and I wonder if he said this, God has given us a way to deal with children who are rebellious against their parents. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 18 through 21, God said this, If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, bring him out to the elders of the city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of this city, this is our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard, and then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones.

So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and fear. Joab, after the conversation, takes three javelins and throws them right into the chest of Absalom. Then there are ten men that come and gather around him, they finish him off, they take his life. Then they take his body down off the tree, they take it over to a pit, they throw him down into the pit, and then they start throwing stones in that pit until they completely cover it up and the whole pit is full.

That was the grave of Absalom. Folks, sin has a goal, and the goal is your death. Not just physical death, but spiritual death. Sin comes in alluring packages. It comes with promises of fulfillment and promises of satisfaction, but those promises are empty. It doesn't satisfy us at all, but what it produces is death.

For the wages of sin is death. What do we say to all this, folks? What do we say to it? I think we usually say something like this, well, I'm not Absalom. I'm not like him. Yeah, we are.

We are. We're all sinners, and our only hope is Christ. What if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you don't know what would happen to you if you were to die today? I would be remiss if I did not warn you, boast not yourself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth.

You say, Doug, what do I do? You run to Christ. What does that mean, run to Christ? It means that you turn from your sin, that you repent of that sin, and you run to Jesus in faith, believing that He died not just for the world, that He died for you personally, in order that He might take your sin and give you His righteousness, in order that He might take your hell and give you His heaven. And then He was resurrected from the dead.

It's necessary to believe that too, for His resurrection broke the power over death of everybody who will trust in Him. What did Jesus say? Jesus said, He who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. If you don't know Christ today, run to Him. Don't put it off. Turn from your sin and turn to Christ.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, your word is extremely relevant. Truth is truth and despite what our culture says, it does not change. We saw today the absolute futility of rebellion. We saw Absalom thump in his nose at his God-given authorities, essentially at God Himself. Father Absalom's death is a fitting message to all who rebel against our Lord Jesus Christ. People in our culture find it amusing to speak with disdain against the things of God. They laugh at those who love Jesus and seek for holiness, but death is the great leveler. It respects no one.

Charles Spurgeon said it well when he said, Death takes off the jester's cap, as well as the student's gown, and visits the university as well as the tavern. No one escapes death. When the Absaloms of this world come to their end, they'll face God and they'll be astonished that they could have been so stupid as to ignore all the evidence of God's truth. Lord, on that day, they will not boast proudly of their accomplishments, but will simply stand in shame. God, use the story of Absalom to help us all run from self and run to Jesus. For it's in the precious name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.