Show Notes
2 Samuel 15:1-12
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Way known to us. And not just your law, which you have made so clear, which makes every man without excuse before your sight.
[00:00:13] We hear your law, we recognize it, we know it, we feel it in our bodies, we see it in the world.
[00:00:20] But Lord, you have not only spoken to us this word, you have spoken to us the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, that he has come to save sinners, to redeem us from the slavery of fear, the slavery of death, the slavery of sin.
[00:00:38] You have brought us out from under the shame of sin and the misery of sin, and are using now even the most painful and difficult things of our lives to bless us. Who alone could do this but you?
[00:00:53] We thank you, Lord, and ask that you would continue to show us your way, your path, and in particular now show us the light of Christ, that we might remember and believe the true words that have been spoken about him, that we might not be afraid of the things of this world, that we might not be afraid to follow him with all that is in us.
[00:01:15] Lord, strengthen us in him and do this by your spirit. Open our the eyes of faith, the ears of faith, and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:28] Let's remain standing and turn to God's word now in second Samuel, chapter 15. As we continue reading through this portion of God's word, 2 Samuel 15.
[00:01:44] I'm going to be reading verses 1 through 12 this morning.
[00:01:48] In these verses, Absalom, King David's son, steals the hearts of the citizens of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Israel. He steals their hearts away from the father, his father, David. And he does this by kind of rerouting them around David into him and then lying and saying, well, David isn't doing his job, but I'll do you the job, and I'll do it so well. And people love him for this. He pretends to be the king, and then he pretends that he's going to worship. And then through this whole ruse, he begins to lay in to lay the steps for overthrowing David.
[00:02:29] This is Absalom, David's son.
[00:02:33] So let's hear God's word. 2nd Samuel 15, 1:12 after this, Absalom got himself a chariot and horses and 50 men to run before him.
[00:02:46] And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate.
[00:02:51] And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out to him and say, from what city are you? And he would say, your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel.
[00:03:02] Absalom would Say to him, see, your claims are good and right, but there's no man designated by the king to hear you.
[00:03:11] Then Absalom would say, oh, that I were judge in the land. Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.
[00:03:20] And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him.
[00:03:26] Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment.
[00:03:31] So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
[00:03:36] At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the Lord in Hebron, for your servant has vowed a vow while he lived at Geshur in a ram, saying, if the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to the Lord.
[00:03:54] The king said to him, go in peace.
[00:03:57] So he arose and went to Hebron.
[00:04:00] But Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, absalom is king. At Hebron, with Absalom went 200 men from Jerusalem who were invited guests. And they went in their innocence and knew nothing.
[00:04:19] And while Absalom was offering the sacrifice, he sent for Ahithophel, the Gilonite, David's counselor from his city, Gilo.
[00:04:29] And the conspiracy grew strong.
[00:04:32] And the people with Absalom kept increasing.
[00:04:36] You may be seated.
[00:04:57] By the time we reach 2 Samuel 15, our chapter for this morning, God has clearly established David as his anointed king.
[00:05:09] Remember that in Hebrew, the way we refer to the anointed king is the Messiah, the Anointed One. In Greek, it's Christ, the Anointed One.
[00:05:20] Two different languages, same word.
[00:05:23] David is this anointed one. He's a messiah. He's a Christ. Not the final Christ, of course. Not our Lord and Savior, not David's son who was promised to David to reign on the rule on his throne forever, but a one who is prefiguring that one who was anointed by God to rule for this time and this place, for this season in anticipation and the beginnings of Christ's greater rule. And who brought him here?
[00:05:55] God brought him here.
[00:05:57] God had brought him, brought David from being a shepherd of the fields to being a shepherd of his people.
[00:06:04] And that initial boat rocking that we had between Amnon and Absalom seems to have finally stopped. If you have your Bibles open, you can look just before chapter 15 and you'll read this verse.
[00:06:19] Then Joab went to the king and told him, and he summoned Absalom.
[00:06:24] So he, Absalom, that is, came to the king and bowed himself with face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.
[00:06:33] Happy ending, it would seem, right? Everything seems to be fine. Absalom's brought home. Absalom has gotten what he wanted. Did David has Absalom back. There seems to be some reconciliation. Absalom is humbling himself before the king. The king kisses Absalom and then it's in 15 that we read after this.
[00:06:58] After the kiss, Absalom got himself a chariot and horses and 50 men to run before him, etcetera, etc, etcetera.
[00:07:09] It didn't take long, in other words, for everything that had been put in place to fall apart.
[00:07:17] And this didn't happen by accident. Things didn't start falling apart by accident.
[00:07:22] Absalom is the perfect kind of example of the danger that is often posed to the Lord's anointed ones, both his leaders over his people and the people as a whole that are anointed by Him.
[00:07:38] Think about Absalom's position for a moment.
[00:07:41] He's on the inside of the kingdom. He's not just on the inside, he's the prince, he's the son of David.
[00:07:50] He is gifted, he is charming, he is cunning. He is full of confidence.
[00:07:57] He is able to speak to the people and convince them of things.
[00:08:02] The people honor him, the people respect him, they listen to him.
[00:08:07] He comes up with this cunning plan as a way to overthrow the Lord's anointed.
[00:08:13] He's like the people in Psalm 2.
[00:08:16] If you'd turn with me there for a moment, let's remind ourselves what this psalm says.
[00:08:25] So Psalm 2 begins this way. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast their cords from us.
[00:08:45] This is exactly what Absalom is doing.
[00:08:50] Perfectly describes him.
[00:08:53] He is looking at the Lord, he is looking at the Lord's anointed. And he says, I don't want to be under him, I want to be over him.
[00:09:03] And he seems like he has every ability to do this. His looks, his charm, his cunning, all this sort of thing. And you know what? When we read 2nd Samuel 15, he is succeeding very well. For four years, it says. This went on for four years. People were coming to the gate. All the men's hearts were being stolen as this went on.
[00:09:29] And then on top of all of that, he creates this plan in which he uses, of all things, the worship of God as his guise to unroll his plan.
[00:09:42] What a terrible thing. And what a bold thing, right?
[00:09:46] To go to the Lord of the universe and say, I'm going to use the commands that you've given and the worship that is owed you as a way to overthrow you.
[00:09:59] That's bold and foolish.
[00:10:04] It sounds good. You know where this is going, right?
[00:10:07] It sounds good. The power. End of verse 12.
[00:10:13] The conspiracy grew strong. The people with Absalom kept increasing. He has 200 men, unwittingly a part of this. Other people will become a part of this who know what's going on. David's own counselor. It's getting worse. It's getting worse. But in just a few chapters, this man Absalom is going to be dead.
[00:10:36] All his power, all his strength, all this conspiracy, all of this rise, it's going to end. It will end faster than he realizes.
[00:10:47] This can happen in the church today as well.
[00:10:50] We can achieve a measure of peace. We can enjoy our lives together. But there are always people who are wanting to disrupt it.
[00:11:00] Dangerous leaders, powerful leaders, and people who will and promise, and the Lord has told us will rise up against Christ and his anointed, who will continue to do what we read about in Psalm 2.
[00:11:15] And there will be times when the ascent of powerful people, even within the church or outside of it, as they seek to replace Christ and rule over his people, it will seem like their ascent is unstoppable.
[00:11:29] It will seem like everything they do turns to gold.
[00:11:34] Everything they do results in yet another success, another victory, more power, more strength, more hearts stolen.
[00:11:46] And it can be fearful at times like that, when it seems like their quest to rule over us, their quest to replace God and His anointed, seems unstoppable.
[00:11:58] How do we strengthen our hearts in moments like this, when usurpers would seek to come and take the crown of Christ? What do we do?
[00:12:06] How do we live not in fear of the powers of this world?
[00:12:11] How do we not live in fear of confidence and charm and cunning, boldness and conspiracy?
[00:12:19] The answer is that we remember this, this one thing. God's covenant king cannot be conquered.
[00:12:29] God's covenant king cannot be conquered.
[00:12:33] Doesn't matter how bad things seem. It doesn't matter how powerful his enemies get. God. God's covenant king cannot be conquered.
[00:12:43] If Absalom would have read on in Psalm 2, he would have read this.
[00:12:50] He who sits in the Heavens, laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.
[00:13:05] I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
[00:13:25] Now the application, verse 10. Now therefore, O Kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
[00:13:52] God's covenant king cannot be conquered.
[00:13:57] I'll give you three reasons this morning.
[00:14:00] The first one is that God's covenant is unbreakable.
[00:14:05] It's unstoppable.
[00:14:07] God's covenant, like all covenants, is a solemn promise.
[00:14:13] But it's different than the promises of men and for a few different reasons.
[00:14:20] One reason is that, and the main reason I want to focus on right now is because God made it.
[00:14:27] My solemn promise to you. As serious and intention, as intentional as I may be about it, is never the same as a solemn promise from God.
[00:14:41] It just isn't me. You.
[00:14:45] We are dependent creatures.
[00:14:49] We can break our legs, get lost in the woods, forget what we said, all kinds of things can go wrong. Non sinful things. Then layer on top of that a bunch of sin and you've got a problem, right? God, though, doesn't sin, doesn't lie, doesn't change.
[00:15:10] He's not dependent. He's not affected by the things of this world like we are. This is the major point of Hebrews 6.
[00:15:19] God's promises aren't dependent on anything.
[00:15:23] Anything other than the freedom of his own will.
[00:15:28] That's how the scriptures talk about it. God does something simply out of the freedom of his own will. You and me, we have to make sure that certain things align, right? There's enough money, there's enough time, the right people are in place. And if all of that happens together, we very likely we'll be able to accomplish X, Y and Z.
[00:15:47] That's not how God thinks. This is how we always think.
[00:15:51] God never thinks like this.
[00:15:54] God always and only does things according to the freedom of his own will. He does what he wants and it's always good and it's always wise and it's always Perfect.
[00:16:07] God does not have a body like men, that he's dependent on these various things. He does not have a mind like us, circumstances like us.
[00:16:15] None of these things are like him.
[00:16:19] Listen to Psalm 102. 25, 27.
[00:16:24] Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
[00:16:30] They will perish, but you will remain.
[00:16:33] They will all wear out like a garment.
[00:16:36] You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away.
[00:16:40] But you will are the same, and your years have no end.
[00:16:45] Amazing.
[00:16:47] The Scriptures describe the world as like a garment, right? A coat, a robe. You take it on, you put it off, it wears out. It changes.
[00:16:55] Not so with God.
[00:16:58] Isaiah 46, 9, 10. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.
[00:17:09] Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.
[00:17:23] If this isn't certain in your mind, this fact and this truth about God, his unchangeableness, his ability to determine the beginning, or, sorry, the end from the beginning, to determine from before creation the things that he will accomplish, if that's not certain in your mind, your faith is going to be very small because it's always going to be dependent somewhat on thinking of God like a man.
[00:17:51] And men are not reliable like God is.
[00:17:56] As long as we treat God like a man, as long as we treat him like he's one of us, our faith will be limited in these ways.
[00:18:07] Instead, we must remember that he does not change. He does not lie. He is not limited in his power. And that makes his covenant promise unstoppable, unbreakable.
[00:18:20] So when God says to David, when he says, I will make your name Great. This is 2nd Samuel 7. When he says, I will provide a peaceful place for you and my people. When he says, I will establish the throne of your kingdom forever through your Son.
[00:18:38] It's going to happen just like Psalm 2. When the Lord says, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. It simply will happen.
[00:18:49] God's covenant king cannot be conquered because God has promised it.
[00:18:57] The second reason I want to put before you is that God is the one who chooses the king, right? God not only promises that this will happen. God is the one who chooses and establishes his king.
[00:19:11] Absalom thinks something else.
[00:19:14] Absalom's theology messed up. Absalom thinks that cunning chooses the king.
[00:19:22] Charm, conspiracy. There's a lot of Cs confidence these things are what establish power. These things are what establish power over God's people.
[00:19:35] It's kind of crazy to think about from Absalom's perspective, did he forget his own father's rise to the power that he has?
[00:19:47] David says in 2nd Samuel 7, where God makes all these promises.
[00:19:51] Or rather, David doesn't say this. The prophet of the Lord says this to David. The Lord says, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies before you.
[00:20:10] That's why David's king David has a measure of charm and wisdom and power and handsomeness. We know these things. But that's not how he came to power.
[00:20:22] David became king over Israel because God took him out from the sheepfold and made him a prince over his people.
[00:20:30] And we see that because of the great enemies that he faced, like Goliath, armies that were put down apart from his own strength, all the people that were avoided. He was hunted by Saul for years in the wilderness.
[00:20:46] The Lord protected him. The Lord went with him.
[00:20:50] If there's one big lesson that we should learn from Saul and David, it's that the kingdom of God is not ruled by the power of man, but by the power of God.
[00:21:00] It's ruled by the power of God's own choosing. You cannot obtain glory in the throne and wisdom and all these wonderful things.
[00:21:09] The kingdom of God through the powers of this world.
[00:21:13] It's a pure gift, and it's given according to God's pure pleasure.
[00:21:18] David is a perfect example of this. And Absalom, I guess he forgot it or didn't believe it.
[00:21:27] So Absalom is trying to use his cunning and his charm to gain the crown.
[00:21:34] And the crazy thing is this is the thing we have to remember. This sort of complicating thing is that it worked kind of perfectly for a time.
[00:21:49] Proverbs 16:18. Very famously, pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
[00:21:58] God chooses the king and the not man.
[00:22:02] Now, this is infuriating to people like Absalom who lose their strength when they do not rely on the Lord.
[00:22:13] When people think that they will gain all the things they need to gain by being smart enough or nice enough or powerful enough. But as I said, the kingdom of God is not of this world.
[00:22:24] Absalom tries to steal their hearts.
[00:22:28] What does God do?
[00:22:30] He creates new hearts.
[00:22:33] You see the difference between those two things?
[00:22:36] Absalom has to kind of take something that doesn't belong to him and take something that already exists in a way. He has to take the love that belonged to David and kind of transfer it to himself. God says something else, well, I'll just give you a totally new heart.
[00:22:57] Absalom tries to steal the throne.
[00:23:00] What does God do? He births and sets his king on Zion and makes the ends of the earth his possession.
[00:23:10] God, not man, chooses his king. He chose David and he preserved him. And he does the same thing with our Lord, who comes into this world and is preserved even through death on a cross, rises from the dead as a perfect as our Redeemer. Dying on a cross is a perfect sacrifice for us and establishes victory over all of God's enemies and ours as well.
[00:23:39] This is a Great verse, Proverbs 19:21. Many are the plans in the minds of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
[00:23:49] Many are the plans in the minds of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord who will stand.
[00:23:58] So we don't need to be afraid of the Absaloms of this world because God's covenant king cannot be conquered. One, because God makes the promise. And two, God is the one who chooses and establishes the king.
[00:24:15] Now, if that were not enough, let's add one more reason.
[00:24:20] Guess who the king is that God chooses to rule over the people, ultimately himself.
[00:24:31] Now, it might sound weird to say that God chooses himself to be our king. I mean, he's already our king, right? In virtue of his being our creator, our upholder, our ruler.
[00:24:41] All men.
[00:24:43] All men, mankind owe him perfect obedience and have ever since Adam was born.
[00:24:50] But I'm not talking about God as our king, as our creator. I'm talking about God as the King of men, as a man, A human king to rule over humans.
[00:25:09] God chooses himself to be that king.
[00:25:14] How does that happen?
[00:25:17] Well, the only way that could happen would be is if God took humanity on himself, if God added humanity to his own nature without losing anything of his divinity, and then became God, man ruling over us.
[00:25:38] And that's what he did.
[00:25:41] That's what he did.
[00:25:43] We're always looking around for leaders, for good leaders to lead us, to rule over us, whether that's in the church or in society. We want somebody who can show us the way, to show us what it means to be in the image of God, to lead us to our chief end, our of glorifying God and enjoy us forever. We want someone to protect us and lead us and guide us. And we've had some great people along the way.
[00:26:11] David is one of them, Solomon is another, and Moses and many others.
[00:26:16] But wow, if you look at their lives, none of them are perfect. And they all fall and they all fail in some really major ways.
[00:26:27] Every single one of them was imperfect in some way, just like us, faulty and failing.
[00:26:33] And none were able to produce the kinds of righteousness that would allow them to lay down their lives as a sacrifice for all of our sin and sanctify us and bring us into heaven.
[00:26:47] Not a single one of them. Until Jesus, the promised One God will keep and has kept his promise to by sending the Son of God into this world. The eternally begotten Son of God, who then was born of a woman and born under the law to redeem us and bring us into his kingdom forever.
[00:27:14] And when we examine the life of Jesus, we see all of the reasons why the kingdom of Christ, this anointed one, will never fail.
[00:27:25] We see it in his miracles.
[00:27:27] We see it in the way he talks to angels.
[00:27:33] We see it in the anointing of the Spirit and the words of the Father, this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.
[00:27:40] We see it in his perfect and obedient life. We see it in his power over spirits, over nature, even forgiving sins.
[00:27:50] We see it in his victorious death.
[00:27:53] We see it in the empty tomb. We see it as he ascends into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
[00:28:08] We see it in his reigning resurrection. We see it in the spread of the gospel. We see it in the apostolic word. We see it in you, in the hearts of people who have given themselves to the Lord.
[00:28:26] And we see it in pictures like this in Revelation.
[00:28:30] This is Revelation 1.
[00:28:35] The question is, why cannot. Why is it that the Covenant King cannot be conquered? Here's one way to answer it. Romans. Sorry. Revelation 1, verse 12.
[00:28:48] Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
[00:29:02] The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace. And his voice was like the rose of many waters.
[00:29:15] In his right hand, in his right hand he held seven stars.
[00:29:20] From his mouth came a sharp two edged sword. And his face was like the sun, shining in full strength. And when I saw him, I Fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me and saying, fear not.
[00:29:36] I am the first and the last and the living one.
[00:29:40] I died.
[00:29:42] And behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades.
[00:29:53] Not afraid anymore.
[00:29:57] That's your covenant, King.
[00:30:00] This is the one whom God has placed on the throne to rule over us as the God man forever.
[00:30:06] No one is conquering him. It doesn't matter how many people Absalom gains into his orbit. 50, 200?
[00:30:13] It doesn't matter.
[00:30:15] A thousand, a million?
[00:30:17] Every single person God can rescue, every single heart.
[00:30:24] We don't need to be afraid. The threat of men like Absalom is a very old one. And you will see and have seen a people rise and fall in their pride.
[00:30:35] People will come from within the church. People will seek to take the throne that belongs to Christ. Scripture calls such people antichrists, anti anointed ones, anti messiahs, people that seek to go against him and replace him, to cast apart the bonds of the Lord in his anointed one.
[00:30:56] This threat didn't pass away with Absalom. In fact, as John tells us, it marks the very age in which we live. The last hour.
[00:31:05] So John says in First John two children. It is the last hour. And you have heard that Antichrist is coming. So now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
[00:31:23] So the point is, we live in this time. We live in an age in which this is going to be a problem.
[00:31:31] We shouldn't be surprised when hearts are stolen, when false leaders rise, and when Christ's church is shaken, it will happen. We need to be awake to that reality and that danger. But we do not need to be afraid. Because nothing can overpower God's covenant King. Nothing can break God, God's promise.
[00:31:55] Nothing can stop him.
[00:31:58] God has sworn a covenant, a son of David to reign forever. And he has kept that promise in Jesus Christ. God himself has taken the throne. And he's done so not by seizing power, interestingly enough, not by using charm and cunning and all these things.
[00:32:14] He did it by bearing our sin.
[00:32:17] At the cross. It appeared that God's king, his kingdom, was defeated.
[00:32:23] But as Jesus says, I died and behold, I am alive forevermore.
[00:32:29] Let's pray.
[00:32:32] O Lord, we ask that you would help us not to be afraid.
[00:32:37] Help us to remember that your king and your kingdom cannot fall.
[00:32:41] And so, as a result of that, not only may we not fear, but may we turn from all of the tempting things of this world and cling only to Christ and to Christ alone.
[00:32:51] All of your promises are fulfilled in Him. All of your strength and your power and your love made manifest in Him.
[00:32:59] Lord, teach us to cling fast, to rest in him, and to and to have boldness and confidence in our lives and over the various things that happen in our world because of who he is.
[00:33:13] And Lord, when we forget, we ask that you would help us to remember.
[00:33:17] Help us to remember that though the Absaloms of this world may rise for a time, they will not succeed. For nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ our Savior.
[00:33:29] It's in his name that we pray. Amen.
