Promised Consequence (Part 2)

Good morning. We are looking at the really middle section here, the high point, if you want to call it that, the increase of Absalom's reign. If you look on page 8 of your bulletin, I've tried to provide an outline, not for the sermon, but an outline of Absalom. He plays a significant role here as I don't want to call him Israel's third king, but he is the third to call himself king here. If we just go back into the timeline of, let's go back to judges for a moment. A key theme of judges, everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king. We then look at Ruth, and Ruth is how God has made clear that in the time of the judges, he is bringing about the right king. Enter 1 Samuel. One of the problems in Samuel is the word of the Lord was rare, so God called Samuel. Samuel then is God's instrument, a prophet to bring about God's will and proclaims the word of God. The people say, we want a king. We want a king like the nations. They're really rejecting God as king. So the first king is Saul. Saul has a time of increase because of God's blessing, and then he's rejected three times, and David is called to be king, he's anointed, but he waits patiently. He waits patiently, and while Saul is trying to kill him, David waits patiently. And then he's anointed king. Then he has to wait a little bit longer, because he's not the king of all of Israel, just the king of Judah. The high point of David's reign is chapter seven, where God said, You will not build me a house. I'll build you a house. I'll establish your kingdom forever. I will be like a father to your son, and he will be like a son to me, and I will establish his house forever. Then David decides to take a woman named Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. He commits adultery. He tries to deceive his way out of it. He then murders Uriah. God confronts him with a sin, and David makes those important words. I have sinned against the Lord. He is forgiven, but there's a consequence. And now we're right in the middle of that consequence. The consequence is one of your own sons is going to raise up inside of your own house, and he's gonna cause strife, he's gonna cause difficulty. And that's where we are, in the middle of Absalom. David's own son who God is using to bring about the promised consequence. We're in 2 Samuel. We're gonna begin in chapter 15. Thank you, Patty, for reading the second half of our text so well. If you look back at chapter 13, you see there the first name, Absalom. Absalom has murdered his brother at this point, Amnon. Absalom has stayed away in refuge into his own, his mother's home. He's been brought back. He has not apologized for his actions. There is no reconciliation. But here we have 2 Samuel chapter 15. He is back in Jerusalem. There's multiple layers of the story, and it's quite amazing. There's a family. So there's a family part of the story. There's David, the father, and his son, Absalom, who is rebelling against him. Samuel, first and second Samuel, is a story of bad dads and rebellious sons. We see a power struggle, and the key here is there's power struggle after power struggle. There's a power struggle between father and son. The son is rebelling against his father. That's Absalom, David. There's also now a political rivalry. There's a political power struggle. It's not just a father and son, it's a self-appointed king trying to oust his father who's king. And there's this key figure, Ahithophel. He's giving counsel against David. There's a power struggle. There's a family one, a political one, and there's a theological power struggle. God and man. man's rebellion against God, God ordaining to defeat that rebellion. It's a wonderfully complicated story, and so we're gonna walk through it. If you're looking for kind of a one declaration statement, trust God's promises when you cannot understand your problems. Trust God's promises when you cannot understand your problems. That's been the theme of the service. We must hear what God says in order to trust God when we do not understand what's going on. There's two things God does. He keeps promises and he hears our prayers. There's one thing we should do, pray. I'm gonna just walk through the story, but there is a sermon outline-ish. The first point, if you're wanting to take notes here, the power of self-will. Again, the big picture, there's power struggles, and how do you persevere in power struggles? The power of self-will. We're gonna just look and see how capable Absalom is. Verse one, after this, Absalom got himself a chariot and horses and 50 men to run before him. He's back in Jerusalem, he's burned up a field, he's come and give some kind of just almost apology, not even an apology, it's a fake reconciliation with his father. So now he's in Jerusalem, in the capital city, where he can do a lot of damage, and that's what he does. Let's go back and remember chapter 14, verse 25. Now in all of Israel, there was no one that was as handsome in appearance as Absalom. And once a year he'd cut his hair and he'd weigh it and it'd be five pounds. That's weird. Right? He's a vain person. But he looks the part. And he knows how to act the part. We see he's been waiting, he's been waiting, he's a patient person, he's a plodding person. So here we see phase one of overthrowing his father is Verse one, he gets chariots, and 50 men are before him. That's also kind of weird. He's acting like a king, and he's not the king. Why would you do this? And this isn't something that's obvious, but if you were to go back and read up to this point, chariots are something that's always fighting against God. Chariots are what Israel is not supposed to trust in. Chariots represent the tool used by the nations to run over against God and his people. Seen most clearly at the Red Sea. That's how Pharaoh goes and tries to conquer Israel one last time. Psalm 20 verse seven, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. That's the sum of David that might actually be referring back to this problem. So phase one of Absalom, who's a plodding, patient person, let's start looking the part. He's got his weave, he's got his chariots, he's got his 50 men running before him. Phase two, win the hearts of the people. What's the best way to make yourself look good in elementary and middle school? To make somebody else look worse. Right? All your insecurities, you deflect. One of the most interesting strategies to make yourself look better is to make somebody look worse. And I said that elementary and middle school, that sadly goes into adulthood sometimes. But notice the conclusion. Verse six, he stole the hearts. They weren't supposed to be his. He stole them. He is going to the gate, and when somebody comes in, where are you from? He wants to make that personal connection. Then they try to bow down to him. He says, no, no, no, no, no, that's not appropriate. No, no, we're equals. Tell me your concern. Oh, if only David, the king, had someone to hear your problems Wouldn't it be good? If I were king, I would hear your problem and I would fix it. He's sowing distrust, he's sowing discord, he's sowing doubt. Notice how long he did this. Verse seven, four years. He's a patient, plodding man. He took two years to murder his brother. Patient and plodding and powerful. Four years. He sought to win the hearts. Phase one, looked apart. Phase two, win the hearts, still the hearts of Israel. Phase three, declare your kingship publicly. That's verses seven and 12. Absalom asked his father, I made a vow that whenever I come back to Jerusalem, I'll go to Hebron and I'll make a sacrifice there and I need to do it. The Bible says not to wait to complete a vow, to do it immediately. It's been four years. There's a pretending here of worship. There's a taking God's name in vain here. Let me go and serve the Lord. What he really wants to do is go to another walled city. First of all, Absalom's birthplace, where David reigned for seven years before he took the whole kingdom and captured Jerusalem. This is plotting. He's deceiving, he's planning, he's in a walled city, and that's where he'll send out his messengers to all the different people that he's still in their hearts. David is king. Look also how cunning he is, verse 11. He took 200 of David's counselors. that they didn't know, they're innocent. They didn't know what he was up to, but he took them so that David wouldn't have them. He's trying to weaken David. This is incredible power he's showing. He's a self-made man, he takes what he wants, he appears to the kings, he steals the hearts, he declares himself king. It's really amazing what we are capable of. Now verse 12, we need to focus in and slow down here. a man named, that is significant and important to this whole story, Ahithophel. And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, the Gilanite, David's counselor from the city of Gilo, and the conspiracy grew strong, and the people of Absalom kept increasing. Ahithophel. Now, my speech impediment is just not going to go well with this name, so I'm going to mispronounce it at some point. May have already done so. Notice Ahithophel was David's counselor. We know later on Ahithophel is Bathsheba's grandfather. I made a mistake a couple sermons ago. I said maybe Bathsheba's not a Jew. Maybe she's of the nations. Well, she's not. She's Jewish. This is her grandfather. He's an Israelite. He's from the city of Gilead. But just walk through with me. Look at chapter 16, verse 23. We're gonna see that one, this man who was one of David's counselors is now with Absalom, and so he's betrayed David. Chapter 16, verse 23. Now in those days, the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and Absalom. That's an important narrator, comment. This man is revered. Now, notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say his counsel was the word of God. It does not say he was someone who was speaking the truth of God. It was that when he spoke, it was as if, it was trustworthy, it was good. It was wise. We'll see Ahithophel is the one who advises Absalom to take David's concubines, chapter 16, verse 21. David prays that God would turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness, chapter 15, verse 31, and then we see him commit suicide because his counsel was not taken, 1723. Key characters, Absalom and David, but right there in the middle is Ahithophel. He is significant. Absalom's a sad figure. He's rebelling against his father. He's not honoring his father. He's not obeying the most basic commandment for children. He's disregarded his sister Tamar, who was raped by her brother. He's now plotting his father's removal. Politically, he's brilliant and maneuvering. He's acting according to his will in every way. But spiritually, we have to see what's going on here in the bigger picture. We're gonna pull back from the story, and it's pretty clear Absalom is a type of the Antichrist. Christ being anointed. Anti being against, he is against God's anointed. What we see here played out between a father and a son, same flesh and blood. What God actually said was going to happen back in Genesis 3.15. There will be offspring of Satan. There'll be offspring of Eve. And between them will be enmity. because of our sin, because we believe the lie of Satan, because we decided we could figure out something to see better than God himself, there's not gonna be enmity. This world is now a battle zone. It's not a playground. It's a battle zone. Psalm 2, one of the opening psalms here, the nations rage against God's anointed. Absalom, David's own son, is an antichrist. He's foreshadowing the Antichrist. He's against God's anointed. Physically, same flesh and blood. He's circumcised. But he hates God, and he hates his anointed. What do we do with this? Because we see enmity everywhere. We see and feel this battle when we're eyes open. Well, Psalm 2 tells us that God laughs. Not in the sense that he's making fun of it or that he's not affected by it, but he looks at it and he just says, what can you do? He's not threatened. God is in absolute perfect control. We're gonna see this more as we walk through the story, but God's perfect sovereignty is not threatened by the nations raging. His will shall be done. He's not threatened. No matter how noisy it gets, we can say we will trust God and we will trust his promises. Abraham represents what's terrifying, our capability to hate God and rage against him. Our second point, as Absalom's rise to power, he's inspired, we see the power of self-will. Now, the second, next sermon point, pain of suffering. The pain of suffering. The camera angle changes significantly. We've seen Absalom do all these different things, clearly against his father, clearly threatening David, and we see now David's response, and we see in David the pain of suffering. Look at chapter 15, verse 13. A messenger came to David, saying, the hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom. Now, we got a king, and we got a self-appointed king. God has anointed Absalom. He's a self-made man, a self-anointed man. But you have a father here. What are you to do? What should a king do if somebody else says, I'm gonna be king, and I'm gonna throw you over? What should the king do? You should go to war. You should defeat that other threat. This is David and his son. Really there's two options. Do I stay and defeat my own son? Or do I flee? Well, David gives us his own explanation. He actually sees how effective Absalom has been, that there's no way we could fight them. Arise, let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down ruin on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword. David seems genuinely concerned that Absalom has raised such a powerful following that he is in trouble. Verse 16. Just remember this, David went out and all his household, but he left 10 concubines to keep the house. What we see next here in verse 18 to 23, there's non-Israelites in the city, and they approach David, and David says, go back home, don't follow me. Why is this here? It seems interesting that the hearts of Israel are supposed to be trusting God and respecting his anointed. The hearts of Israel should not be stolen away so easily by someone who's obviously so deceptive, but Israel, they've gone against David, so he has to flee, but here you have the nations. And they're saying, David, we're with you. You're God's anointed. David, we're with you. There's a covenant made with Chesed. May the Lord show chesed to you. It's interesting here that these nations seem to be just presenting at least a foil to show how far Israel has gone, to show how bad the rejection of God is. The nations are following David and they're going to fight with David. Israel is fighting against David. Then we have another. On the way out, he meets the Gittites, and he speaks to the king, and now they're with him. But then the priests come, verse 24, and Abathiar came up, and behold, Zadok came, and the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God, and they sat down the ark until the people had all passed out of the city. And the king said to Zadok, carry the ark of God back to the city. Go back, don't follow me. These next words are helpful to see David's internal processing. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, I have no pleasure in you, behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him. And so they took the ark back. Let's wrestle with David's statement here because it's so helpful. He is in doubt because of his circumstances if God would keep him as king. Pretty obvious. But notice what he says here. One, he actually doesn't know if he's spies, but he's also saying, if the Lord wills, I'll come back, but if he doesn't, here I am. That isn't letting go and letting God. It's saying I don't understand what's going on. I understand my circumstances. They're right here in front of me. I have to go. This is painful. I don't understand. I have to go. And I don't know what God's will for me is. He's questioning his circumstances. He's questioning God's will for what he would do with him. But notice the one thing he does not question. He doesn't question God's goodness. He doesn't question God's character. He cannot understand the tracing of God's finger, but he will not doubt. He will not question God's kindness. Maybe David won't be king again. And he understands that's an acceptable action of God. He understands it's actually an appropriate consequence for his previous sin. But he will not. He cannot. question the character and kindness and goodness of God This is helpful Let's just be honest this world doesn't make a lot of sense This world seems to be in utter chaos. We feel the enmity. We go through trials that do not make sense to us. And then God doesn't promise everything that will happen will make sense to you. He promises that I'll be with you. He promises that I'll be for you. He promises that if you love me, all things will work out good for you. God welcomes us to complain. God welcomes us to complain. It's remarkable. Psalm 3, the subscript. Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom. Oh Lord, how many are my foes. Many are rising against me. Many are saying of my soul there is no salvation for me in God. He's reciting to God the murmurings and the echoings and what's being said because of what his son is doing. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept. I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Those circumstances I don't understand, but they can do nothing against me if God is for me. Arise, O Lord. Save me, O my God. For you strike all my enemies in the cheek, and you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be on your people. Earlier we read, can the ear of sovereign grace be deaf when I complain? God's ear is extended to his people. He's eager to hear. He's eager to hear us pray. It's important we learn how to pray. It's important we pray with one another and for the other. Most of all, it's important we learn how to pray in the midst of difficulty, to trust God when we do not understand. We count it joy when there's various trials. And we're supposed to ask, not for resolution, but for wisdom. David here is modeling a trust when he does not understand what's going on. Let's go back to our story, 2 Samuel, verse 30. The people are weeping, verse 30, when David went up the ascent of Mount Olives, weeping as he went barefoot and with his head covered and all the people who were with him cover their heads and they went up weeping as they went. This is a scene of just grief and lament. David's left his home? David's left his people? David's fearful of losing the kingdom and his role as king and the Holy Spirit's anointing as he saw Saul lose that? There's plenty of reasons why David could be weeping, but I wonder if the reason he's weeping is that it's coming home that this is what God said would happen because of a sin. Someone will come up from your own home with a sword, and there will be strife. David sees the biblical principle we heard read back in Galatians in the beginning of the service. We reap what we sow. David here is feeling the full consequence of his sin. He's been forgiven. That sin has been put away from him. It's been put on Christ. But there's consequences. This is simply cause and effect. Again, Galatians 6, 8 to 10. For the one who sows to his own flesh, that is, our sinful desires, will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are the household of faith. We need to consider here that there's a warning. We will reap what we sow. Yes, God's grace changes stories, but God changes stories. He makes the dead alive. But here we're asking, where are we investing our minds, what we think about, our hearts, what we desire, our hands, what we do, our time, our commitment? What are we sowing? It's a good opportunity here to see that David is reaping what he's sown, and it's a warning to consider, what are you sowing? Consider, for instance, pornography. Might seem like an innocent, private, secret action in your own home, but what you're doing there is sowing seeds in the flesh. You're believing lies. You're creating an appetite for mere self-indulgence. You're sowing that what you're gonna reap later is that you use people for your own benefit. You don't actually enjoy people the way God designed them. How are you sowing what you look at with your eyes, what you desire with your heart? When you're looking at pornography, you're sowing an appetite That is an unsatisfiable lust. Another thing you can say, words of gossip, words of slander, what are you gonna reap? No one's gonna trust you. Your words lose power and meaning and importance. The body of Christ damaged. Every sin is sowing problems in your own heart and problems with your people. Little children, this is important. This is the principle for you. You reap what you sow. Little children, if you plant a tomato seed, what's going to grow? A tomato plant. And what kind of fruit is going to grow on that tomato plant? Tomatoes. What you sow, you'll reap. Little children, if you tell lies, It's a seed. And do you or does anybody else wanna eat the fruit that comes out of that? When you just pick on your siblings and disrespect your parents and now listen, what kind of fruit is gonna come out of that seed you're sowing? Do you wanna eat that? It's bitter fruit. It doesn't establish trust, it doesn't establish love, it doesn't establish a happy home, a happy relationship with your siblings, your parents. Children be warned. David is sowed, he's reaping. Notice he's praying to God, he's trusting God. It's significant here, the prayer he makes. Verse 31, this is a significant point. If you go back to that outline on page eight, I've highlighted in bold two events. This is one of them. When he heard of Ahithophel, again, it's about David and Absalom, but Ahithophel is the key figure in the middle. Oh Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. He realizes the power of this man. Lord, please turn his counsel into foolishness. He trusts God enough to pray. into chapter 16, we're still in the pain of suffering. We've seen his pain in that he's heard his son is coming. We've seen his pain in that he doesn't want the nations to follow him, but God does give them that comfort. We see the pain of him wondering, am I gonna be king again? He doesn't know. We see the pain of weeping on the mountain as he's leaving the city. We see the pain of Ahithophel betraying him. That's not enough. Remember Ziba and Mephibosheth? Mephibosheth is the grandson of Saul. And Ziba comes out and tells David, Mephibosheth has decided that you're out of the city. He's now gonna claim to be king. That's actually a lie. Why? This is kicking a man while he's down. This is adding insult to all the injury already. Ziba pretends to be helping David, but he's lying about Mephibosheth, the one he's been sworn to. And then verses five to 14, Shimei, someone else from the house of Saul, we're getting increasing difficult. Shimei said, verse seven, to David, get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man. The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. See your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood. A false accusation just needs enough truth to make it painful. We know this isn't actually accurate. God has spoken. He is suffering right now because God is avenging Uriah, the Hittite, not Saul. David didn't kill Saul. He respected the anointed one of God so much he would not put his hand on Saul. So this is a curse, it's almost true. God is avenging the blood, but not of Saul. And then one of David's mighty men does what a mighty man does. David, let me go cut his head off. King said, no, that is not what we should do. Behold, verse 11, behold, my own son seeks my life. This man is no problem for me. I am used to Saul and his people. coming against me, it's my own son that's the burden. This is not what I need to focus on right now. We're just gonna let him go. For how much more may the Benjamite leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. He's actually trusting that God's hand is in this man and his false accusation is a lie. Why? Because the Lord is sovereign over all things. Leave him alone, let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today. There's another principle. We saw the principle of you will reap what you sow, but now we see if you actually seek to be a blessing in the midst of curse, God will bless you. It's 1 Peter 3. David doesn't need to take action, doesn't need to take matters into his own hand like a son He trusts God even in the midst of this difficulty. This is where the sermon outline gets tricky. You ready? We're gonna go back to the power of self-will two. We're gonna shift back. We've seen Absalom rise. We saw three phases. Get the chariots, win still the hearts, get a castle, declare yourself king. Okay, those are the first three parts. Now we're gonna go back and the camera angle is shifting back to Absalom after following David. The main difference here is Absalom is not in Hebron, he is in Jerusalem. Absalom now is reigning in power in the capital city, and who is with him? Ahithophel. Phase four, phase four in his conspiracy. He seeks to win the hearts, and he asks Ahithophel what he should do. Verse 20, Absalom said to Hithophel, give your counsel, what shall we do? And Hithophel said to Absalom, go into your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened. God told David, that what you've done in private, I will have one of your own sons do in public. This is a consequence of a sin. This is as God said. This is a tricky event here that we wanna wrestle with. We gotta understand what concubines are and see that first, this is a political move. It is risky and ruthless. concubines were gained by a king to create relationships with foreign kings. These are probably all foreign women and they were in many ways a political tie to other nations. They were political chips of David. And they had certain rights and privileges. They were meant to be cared for and provided and probably not left alone. They're not to be taken by another king. They're gonna be off limits to another king. They're gonna be off limits to the king's son. By taking his concubines in this very public way, on the roof, under a tent, everybody watch, he's making a statement. You're either for me or against me. He's making it clear, I am a stench to my father David. David has no choice at this point but to come back and kill Absalom. It's what he has to do because of this action. He's drawing a definite, hard, gross, ruthless, risky line in the sand for all Israel and for David. David has to come back and kill me for this. This can't be looked over like he's looked over every other sin I've done. This is a stench. All right, now let's think about this in a more complicated way. God has forbidden this, Leviticus 18.8. David would have to kill him. What is happening here is Absalom is doing what God has declared out of bounds in every way because God is a respecter of persons, God is a respecter of the people, and taking these women is completely out of bounds from God's law. This is where it gets really complicated. What Absalom is choosing to do in his own sinful heart, he is doing this. He is responsible. God has said it's wrong, and at the same time, what he's doing in sin is fulfilling what God promised would happen. You understand the complication? It's difficult. God said this is out of bounds, but yet this action of Absalom is fulfilling what God said would happen. Is God guilty of sin? No, God doesn't sin. God is a giver of every good and perfect gift. God cannot sin. How do we reconcile what's happening here? I believe there's two other verses that help us reconcile because we're gonna hold these two things true. Absalom is culpable for the sin. God is sovereign in everything that happens. Genesis 50 verse 20. Joseph says to his brothers, what you intended for evil, God uses for good. That's a verse you wanna memorize. What you intended for evil, God used for good. The very first Christian sermon, Peter declares in Acts 2.23, it was according to God's foreordained plan that Jesus would die and yet you murdered him. God's active. God's pushing the story. but it's the sinful actions of man that are doing these things. He is not coupled, but he's still in control. This is what makes God so amazing. We're committing sin, and he is not out of control in that sin. That's why he laughs and arrives against the raging. It's no real threat. Phase four was take the concubines. Phase five, take David out. He gets two counsels. We skipped over a section earlier, there was a character named Hushay, and Hushay, he pretty much misleads Absalom when he asks, are you gonna be with me or David? We're gonna not deal with that. Our next section shows, our next sermon point, here's the third sermon point. We've had the power of self-will, we've had the pain of suffering, we've returned a little bit to that power of self-will. Now the third point, the power of prayer. Power of prayer. Absalom seeking advice, he asked Ahithophel, Ahithophel, what should I do? Remember, Ahithophel gives good counsel. It's as if the word of God. His basic counsel is strike quick. Go quickly, take only David out. Don't worry about the mighty men, don't worry about the army, just take David out, and if you take David out, you'll win the hearts of the people. It's good advice. It's strategic. But, Absalom, for some reason, asks Hosea. Hosea, what should I do? And notice, it takes very few words for Ahithophel to declare his plan, but it takes Hosea, like, way too long. The more words, maybe the more deceptive. Hosea's misleading him. Oh no, you don't want to do that because, well, he literally says, don't poke the bear. David is a mighty man, he's cunning. You don't wanna mess with these guys. No, what you need to do is gain a large army. You need all the army and you need a big multitude and then you go out to David. I wonder if he's appealing a little bit to that vanity. Get the biggest army you can and crush them all. So what's he gonna do? He's got two advisors, two pieces of advice. Strike now, strike quick, strike David. Wait longer. Get a whole big army, crush them all. Chapter 17, verse 14, is the most important verse in this entire story. Why? Everything else has been what man has been doing. God actually tells us what he's doing. And Absalom and all the men of Israel said the counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ithafel. That's weird. Everything we know about Hithophel, that shouldn't be the case. Well, why? Here it is, this is the verse, this is the key verse for this entire section, because it opens up the window for us to see what God is doing. For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Hithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. This is the verse that explains everything going on in the story. Let's think about this verse and its details. Last week we meditated upon the transitional declaration, but God. When you see but God in scripture, it's changing a story, it's transitioning a story. This is another one of those phrases. You've got to keep your eyes before it. When you come across a declaration for the Lord, it could be changing a story like it does here. It's at least explaining something, for the Lord is doing this. It's gonna declare God's purpose. It's gonna declare what God is doing. Okay, so for the Lord, that's a major change here, and it's going to tell us something very important. What's the next word? Ordained. Declared. How powerful is God's word? When God ordains something, he speaks things into existence. What God says in his purpose, it will come to pass. That's what it means to be omnipotent. What he says will happen, happens. For the Lord ordained to defeat. You do not want to be on the other side of this sentence. For the Lord ordained, decided, declared, purposed to defeat. Remember there is an enmity going on in this world. There is a battle. God is in the battle and he will win it. And here we see the Lord ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel. Ahithophel was right. Strike quick, strike now, strike David. That was good counsel. God just said it was. Why'd he take it? Because the Lord ordained to defeat it. If God is with Absalom, there's nothing man can do against Absalom. If God is against Absalom, there's nothing that anyone else can do for him. There's a last purpose statement. Because the Lord wanted to bring harm upon Absalom. Now Absalom is fulfilling God's will and bringing about the consequence for David's sin against Bathsheba and Uriah, but at the same time, Absalom is raging against God's anointed. And God must punish sin. Let's pause here, because this needs to be very clear about what this is saying about God. First, he speaks. He purposes. What he says matters. There's a power in his word that whatever he says is good and right and it comes to pass. Here is the question you have to ask. This is the question, this is it. Sorry, we're going through a lot of text. This is it. What does God say about you? That's the question that has to be waiting. That's the question that is most important and pressing. Because here's the thing, Ahithophel, he's wise, he's cunning, Absalom, he's competent, he's working, he's doing stuff. Doesn't matter. God's not impressed with any of our wisdom. What does he say about it? What does God say about me? What does God say about you? There's a hard truth in that we are all born in sin. We all rebel against God. That makes us participants in the raging against the anointed. That makes us participants in fighting against God and hating God. You know, we oftentimes talk about being on the right side of history. You know, this is about being on the right side of God. Do we fight against him? If we fight against God, he will defeat us. There's two ways to live, there's only two. You can continue in sin and walking according to the way of the children of Satan, walking according to the way of the prince of the power of the air, walking in the way of me saying I'm gonna do it my way, the way I think is best. and God in his righteous wrath will defeat. He's just, he's powerful. There's another way. This is the good news of Jesus Christ. This is why I hope you're here this morning. Jesus came in order to take our sin upon himself. Jesus came so that when he died, he suffered for our sin and our rebellion so that our sin and death is defeated in Christ. Our sin will either be defeated in us, will be defeated, or our sin was defeated in Christ. And the main difference here is if you believe in Jesus, your sins are forgiven. If you do not, you will be defeated by the word of God. The amazing power of that ordination, the amazing power of that declaration. Have you heard it? Not guilty. That's what God declares when we believe in Jesus. Forgiven, restored, reconciled, loved. Those are the words that God says to those who believe. Believe in Jesus. The story has so many layers. There's the family dysfunction, the political rivalry. Theologically, God is fulfilling his plan God has forgiven sin, but he's still protecting David in the midst of the consequence? We can do nothing but just step back and see God's ways are higher than our ways. Why did God ordain to defeat Ahithophel? Why did God ordain to defeat Ahithophel? Well, 2 Samuel 7 said, one of your children, David, are going to sit on the throne forever. There's a young man with David right now, probably about 10 to 13 years old, named Solomon. God will not let Solomon die because God has actually promised Solomon's gonna sit on the throne. God's keeping his promise. David is going to defeat Ahithophel because God is going to keep his promise. Why else did God defeat Ahithophel? Why? Because David prayed. God keeps his promises. David prayed. David prayed according to God's promises, and now we see things working out according to what God has ordained. What happens next? David leaves Israel. This is weird. Those of you who've been with us in Samuel, you've got the right people in the right land with the right king and the right worship. Now the king is out of the land without his people. Not the people, not the land, and the king. And what happens next? God feeds them. Look at the very end, verse 29. And honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, David and the people with him ate. You know what God's saying there? I'm the king. I've protected you, I've provided for you. God is the true king. The last thing I want to look at is Ahithophel, because this is a difficult ending. Verse 23, he saw that his counsel was not followed, he started his donkey, he put his house in order, and then he hanged himself. It's not obvious what's going on in his own mind, but just as Absalom is a type of antichrist, Ahithophel is actually a type of Judas Iscariot. I wrestle with that, if it's true, and then I realize Psalm 41 declares that the one who ate bread with me betrayed me. That's what David is saying about Ahithophel in Psalm 41 verse nine. Jesus then quotes that in John 13 about Judas. The parallels are pretty obvious. a close friend, a confidant, betraying, and then taking his own life in despair. You cannot fight against God or his anointing. Be warned this morning. If we're fighting, we're losing. If we're trusting, we're seeking to obey. There's a way in which Absalom is taking matters into his own hands, that's a warning. There's a way in which Ahithophel is giving counsel against God's anointed, that's a warning. And then David is actually being a model. Trust God and his promises with prayer. There's a song I wish we had learned before this service to sing, and I'll read the and then we'll actually sing another song, which is fantastically great. Whatever my God ordains is right. He never will deceive me. He leads me by the proper path. I know he will not leave me. I take content with what he hath sent. His hand can turn my griefs away, and patiently I wait his day. Whatever my God ordains is right. Though now this cup in drinking may bitter seem to my faint heart, I take it all unshrinking. My God is true, each morn anew. Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart, and pain and sorrow shall depart. Whatever my God ordains is right. He shall my stand be taken. Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, yet I am not forsaken. My Father cares. is round me there, he holds me that I shall not fall, and so to him I leave it all. Will you pray with me?