[0:00] 323, 2 Samuel 17, verse 15. Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathah the priest, Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so have I counseled. Now therefore send quickly and tell David, Do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.
[0:26] Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En Rogel. A female servant was to go and tell them, and they were to go and tell King David, for they were not to be seen entering the city.
[0:38] The young man saw them and told Absalom, so both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at Barum who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it.
[0:49] And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water.
[1:03] And when they had sought and could not find him, they returned to Jerusalem. After they had gone, the men came up out of the well and went and told King David, They said to David, Arise and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.
[1:17] Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went home to his own city, set his house in order, and hanged himself.
[1:36] And he died and was buried in the tomb of his father. Then David came to Mahanim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab.
[1:49] Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite, who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
[2:00] When David came to Mahanim, Shobi, son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir, son of Amiel from Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds, and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat.
[2:24] For they said, The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness. Amen. And once again we pray that God will bless his word to us.
[2:38] We're going to now once again join together in prayer. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven we ask for specific areas, Lord.
[2:48] We read in the previous chapter that David prayed for a specific outcome. And that was precisely the way that you answered his prayer, according to how he prayed.
[3:01] And there are times, Lord, when we acknowledge that your ways are beyond our ways. And so therefore you choose not to answer our specific request, because your way is better than our specific prayer.
[3:18] And yet there are times when you do, when you put it into our hearts, to pray exactly as you are going to do. And Lord God, we pray that you will make us a praying people and give us to pray specifically for specific people and their specific needs.
[3:39] Those who we know who aren't yet following Jesus, we pray for them specifically. People in our families, and our friends, and our relations, and our work colleagues. Our Lord, people who we've been speaking to about the gospel and telling what God has done for us.
[3:55] Lord, make us courageous in so doing. Just as you spoke to the Apostle Paul in Corinth and told him to keep on speaking in your name.
[4:06] Lord, we pray that we might have the courage and the patience to continue to speak in your name. And Lord, we pray that through our witness, through what we say, and through the encouragement that we give to people, that they will come to meet with Jesus for themselves and come to follow him.
[4:28] Lord, make us evangelists. Make us concerned for the time is short. We're only living here for a few short years in this world.
[4:40] And Lord, not only we pray for ourselves, for our own salvation, but we pray, Lord, for the salvation of others. Because, Lord, we love you, and we love your grace, and we love your mercy, and we thank you for what you've done in our lives.
[4:56] And we want what we have to belong to others also. Lord, we want them to have it. We want them to have that freedom, and that liberty, that forgiveness, in which you have washed us from our every sin, and all our guilt.
[5:14] We thank you for that washing. We thank you that we can stand before you this evening, completely clean, and completely justified. The judge of all the earth, having reckoned Jesus' righteousness to us.
[5:26] And that's what we want others to have as well. And so, Lord, we pray for our town. We pray, Lord, for those who know the gospel, and for those who don't know the gospel. We pray for our world, for those who know the gospel, and for those who have never heard it before.
[5:43] We pray that you will invade their hearts, and their lives, that you will send out workers, into your harvest field, and that you will shake this world. We pray, Lord, for those who are religious, but are following the wrong religion, sincere though they may be.
[6:00] They are deluded, because they do not recognize, and they have never discovered Jesus, the Son of God. He died at Calvary for our sin. Our Father, Lord, we pray that for every sincere person in the world, that you will break that sincerity, and give them to see that, that all the diligence in the world, will not afford them a place in heaven.
[6:22] O Lord God, we pray for those who have gone out, to challenge the sincerity, and the devotion, of millions of people in this world.
[6:33] Lord, we pray for those who are deluded, for those who are tricked, for those who believe, that they are right with God, and who aren't. Our Father in heaven, we pray for anyone, who is trusting in anything else, other than Jesus Christ.
[6:50] Our Father in heaven, we pray that you will do great things, and use the amazing resources, that there are in this world, to reach people with the gospel.
[7:02] We thank you that we live in a world, full of the most amazing technology, which can be used for sinful things, but it can also be used to spread the gospel.
[7:16] And that's what we pray for this evening. We pray, Lord, that you will help us, to make use of these means, so that people, who are living in all the different, remote areas in the world, can access, what they never thought possible, and when they never heard, before.
[7:33] Our Father in heaven, we pray then, that you will use that means, to your glory, and to your praise. So Father, strengthen us today, by the reminder, that you are with your people, and that you are in control.
[7:46] Your word reminds us everywhere, of your sovereignty, and your perfection, and your, your, the way in which you work, intricately, and weaving together, your own will, into the events, that take place in our lives.
[8:02] Give us to see you, as never before, in Jesus name. Amen. Psalm number 43, and we'll return, to that psalm. Psalm 42 and 43, go together.
[8:15] You'll notice, that the wording, is the same. It has the same chorus, the same refrain. Psalm 43, I should have said, that that's the Scottish Psalter, verses on page 264.
[8:30] We're going to sing, verse 3, to verse 5. And the tune is Belmont. Psalm 42 and 43, written probably, as one psalm, and possibly written, at the time, that David was fleeing, from his rebellious son, just as we've been reading.
[8:51] Psalm 43, and verse, it's on page 264, the tune is Belmont. We're going to sing, from 3, to the end of the psalm, and we're going to stand, to sing. Oh, send thy light, or find thy truth.
[9:13] Let them be nice to me, and bring me to thy holy hill, in where I dwell in thee.
[9:36] Then will I turn, God's altar go, To God, my chiefest joy, Yea, God, my God, thy name to praise, my heart, I will employ.
[10:08] Why art thou then, God's down, my soul, What should discourage me, And why with vexing thoughts, our love, His quieting in me, Still trust in God, For him to praise, Good cause I yet shall have, Be on my count, And sits for help,
[11:12] My God, that doth me save. In chapter 15, Of 2nd Samuel, David prayed a prayer, You'll find the prayer, In verse 31, And the prayer was this, He said, O Lord, Please turn the counsel, Of Ahithophel, Into foolishness, In chapter 17, And verse 14, We read God's answer, To that prayer, For the Lord had ordained, To defeat the good counsel, Of Ahithophel, So that the Lord, Might bring harm, On Absalom.
[12:16] I'm going to start off this evening, By telling you, That over the last few weeks, I've been trying to re-educate myself, Or rather I should say, To educate myself, For the first time, Let me explain what I mean.
[12:31] When I was in school, I did science, I was into, Into technical things, Particularly electrical, Technical things, That's what I studied in university, And for the first part, Of my working life, I made a career, Out of engineering, And that meant that, There were some subjects, Which I was completely, Disinterested in, And one of them, Was history, I never took history in school, And therefore, I spent many years of my life, Completely ignorant, Of all things historical, To my great regret, Now.
[13:08] So, Not to be deterred, I am now on a quest, To educate myself, In all things historical, And over the last few weeks, And what spare time I have, Which isn't much, I have been doing, Feverish reading, And it is, Absolutely fascinating, Not saying I didn't know anything, But, Tonight, I certainly know a lot more, Than I did, Six months ago, I am having the time, Of my life, Because I am discovering things, That I never knew before, And I am reading, Scottish history, Well I suppose, You start from where you are, There is no point in, Me, Reading about Chinese history, Simply because, I am not Chinese, If you are Scottish, Then I guess, Reading about your own ancestors, Is as good a place to start, As any, And so I have been discovering, All about the kings, And the queens,
[14:09] And the battles, And the treaties, And the deceptions, And the negotiations, And all about, The immorality, And the cruelty, And the betrayal, And the violence, That litters, The last, Fifteen hundred years, Two thousand years, And that is, These are, My ancestors, And that of course, Assumes that I am a Scot, I don't even know if I am, I don't know, How many people in here tonight, Are really Scots, Because we probably trace our ancestry, To Denmark, Or France, Or, Or Spain, Or Norway, If you come from Lewis, Then you're more likely to be Norwegian, A Viking, Than, Than, Mainland, Scotland, Wherever they came from, It is absolutely fascinating, To discover, The lives of real people,
[15:12] Who lived real lives, And who lived, Near where we live, And who built and maintained houses, And castles that we drive past, And who fought battles, That today are housings on land, That today are housing schemes, Or wasteland, And you can go, And all that remains, Of all the blood, That must have been shed, Sometimes thousands of people, Fallen dead, On the ground, And all that remains is perhaps, A marker, Some kind of, Historical marker, That gives the, Briefest of all details, As to what happened, It's fascinating to think, And I sometimes think that, That what we lose, In a day of modern technology, When we're so taken up, With all the distractions, Of a technological life, Is a perspective, Of the past, And the fact is,
[16:15] That you can only go so far, In Scottish history, The further you go, The less detail you have, So if you go back, 1500 years, Or 2000 years, All you have are, The history of when the Romans, Were here, Beyond that, You really don't have, A great deal of, Information, You go to the Calendish stones, Who knows, What they were for, Nobody really knows, But that's still, Our history isn't it, Because that, Is what we are, Identify ourselves with, Tonight, We go back, 3000 years, To the time of David, And we have loads, Of information, And it's our history, The New Testament tells us, That if you are a believer, In Jesus Christ, You are a descendant, Of Abraham, Not a bloodline descendant, But you are a spiritual,
[17:16] Descendant of Abraham, You are belong, To the same covenant, Community as Abraham, You can lay hold, On the same promises, As Abraham had, All those, Thousands of years ago, We belong, To that same covenant, That God made, And that's why, This is so important, This is our history, This is not just, Some obscure story, That took place, You see, If you read the history, Of Scotland, Or Britain, Then the further you go back, The less information, And so the more you rely, On fable, And myth, And unreliable stories, That more likely, Were embellished, As the years went on, But these were stories, That were written down, And that were inspired, By God, And that are true, To the very detail, So it's true, When we read, That there were two young lads, Who were commissioned, To go over to Absalom, And they were to, They were to, Be spies for David,
[18:17] And in their escape, Back to David, They had to hide in a well, Because, They were afraid, Of being caught, We can be absolutely sure, That that happened, Because this, Is the word of God, And that's what we mean, By God's inerrant, Infallible word, We believe in it tonight, That's why God's word, Is so reliable to us, But a chapter like this, Tells us much more, Than what happened, On a particular day, During a particular rebellion, Against a particular king, There's lots of that, In any history, These are God's people, And so the reason, We have this information, Is not only to reveal, Facts to us, But to reveal, The overriding, Sovereignty of God, In which God tells us, I am in control, And I'm doing something,
[19:19] I'm not just allowing, Things to happen, When we talk about, God's sovereignty, We're not just talking about, How he allows, Certain events to happen, We're, It's much more than that, God orders, He ordains, And of course, That gives rise to a whole, List of other questions, Complex questions, As to why, God ordains, The catechism says, He ordains, Whatsoever, Comes to pass, That's what we mean, By his decree, We don't have time, This evening, To go into all the, The complexities, Of that question, It really is, A very complicated, And a very difficult, Area of, Of thought, But it's one that, Everyone thinks about, What is God's place, In my life, What is God doing, In my life, Why is God, What is God achieving, And, What is God's purpose, As we touched on, That last weekend, With, When Robin was taking us,
[20:20] Through, Romans chapter 28, And he touched, On the verse, That God works, All things, Together for good, To those, Who love God, And are called, According to his purpose, Well, If ever there's an example, Of that verse, It's here, In 2nd Samuel chapter 17, Now you know, Of course, What had happened, We've been going through this, Chapter by chapter, You'll know, Of course, That Absalom, Has rebelled, Against David, He's gathered, Together, A, A crowd, Of followers, He's won them over, He's won their hearts, He's won their support, And their following, And they have, Evicted David, David heard about this, Heard about the rebellion, That was taking place, And David, And his followers, Had to flee, They had to leave the palace, Whatever it was in Jerusalem, And they had to move, To east, Of Jerusalem, To make their way, Slowly but surely, With whoever chose, To be on his side, Not only was Absalom,
[21:22] His own son, And not only did David, Feel the betrayal, That I'm sure, He must have felt, As a father, With his son, Having betrayed him, And risen up against him, But some of his own, Personal advisors, Had swapped sides, They had switched sides, All of a sudden, Out of the blue, They were now, On Absalom's side, And amongst them, Was his right hand man, A man called, Ahithophel, This must have, Broken David's heart, To think that, To think of, A person he had, Trusted his whole life, And he had relied upon, For years and years, And who had given him, Much advice, Was now, On the side, Of his enemy, Absalom, I'm sure, He must have wondered, If he could trust, But like we saw last time, This was the critical point, This was the point, At which you had to show, Your colors, Whose side you were on, And so, I'm pretty sure,
[22:23] That those who were now, On his side, Were truly, On his side, They were on the side, Of the covenant, King of Israel, And being on the side, Of David, They were on God's side, And that of course, Is the question, The Bible always asks us, And that's how the Bible, Comes personally to us tonight, And asks us, Whose side are you on, Are you a follower of, The king, King Jesus, David, God's anointed Messiah, That's the question, That each one of us, Alone, Can answer, In his own, Heart, There was another man, Called Hushai, And Hushai, Followed David, He, Came after David, But David, Believed that Hushai, Would be better off, Going back to Jerusalem, So that, Absalom would think, That he was on his side, In other words, He was to act as a, As a spy, As David's inside man,
[23:25] There were two other young men, And they were called, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, And they were to go over as well, And they were to act as spies, And they were to, Be responsible for, Taking a cross to David, They were to, Listen out for what was going on, And they were to report back, To David, And his men, Whatever was going to happen, In order to give them, Prior warning, So that David would take, Evasive action, So, Absalom came into, Jerusalem, And he established himself, Chapter 16, Tells us how, We don't need to go into, The details of that chapter, Again, This evening, But he established himself, As the king, As the self-appointed king, And, Ahithophel, Was his, Right hand man, But now the question arose, Well what do we do about David, David's on the run, He has, He has an army with him, He has people who are following him, He's on the east side, He's many miles away, I guess,
[24:26] Hiding somewhere, What do we do about him, What do you think, Ahithophel, So, Ahithophel said, Well what I think, Is that, Number one, You select, A force, A special force, A kind of an SAS, And this force, Should ride after him, And we should, Secondly, Single David out, We should do a, Surgical strike of David, We should go to where he is, And where he is alone, And inflict as few casualties as possible, And find David, And put him to death, There and then, And that way, Instantly, The whole kingdom will be yours, That's my advice, Well and good, But then for some unknown reason, Absalom turned to Hushai, David's spy, David's counselor, David's friend, Who was still David's friend,
[25:28] And acting for David, Although Absalom thought, He was on his side, He said to Hushai, What do you think, Hushai? And Hushai's advice, Was really quite remarkable, His advice, Was entirely the opposite, Of Ahithophel's advice, Instead of doing a surgical strike, On David, With a crack force, Hushai very cleverly, Appealed to Absalom's flamboyance, And his pride, And he said, Instead of, Taking an SAS, I think, We should, You should, All go after David, And you should be, The leader of them, Because you know what, David is a warrior, He's a soldier, He's a fighter, He knows, What you're likely to do, And he's likely to have, Taken evasive action,
[26:29] Even now as we speak, So for one thing, He's going to be, Hiding somewhere, And then when your men, Come charging in, Some of them are going to get killed, And then word is going to get back, To Jerusalem, That some of your men, Have been killed, And that the whole battle, Has been lost, And therefore, You've lost the confidence, Of your people, Instead of that, Hushai said, You go out, Yourself, And instead of selecting, Your own special soldiers, Go after him, With everyone, The entire army, Of Israel, And that way, You'll, Win the victory, You'll eventually find him, Because you'll have so many men, Behind you, That there's no place, For him left to hide, Therefore you'll find him, And you'll kill him, And you will come back, And you will be established, As the king, Forever, And ever, And Absalom, Being the kind of person, He was, It appealed,
[27:30] To his self-aggrandizement, Do you know how we read, In way back, I think it's in chapter 14, Or chapter, Yeah, Chapter 14, About how, What Absalom looked like, That he was a very handsome, Fellow, That he had hair, That weighed, I can't remember how many pounds, It was, And there's this very grand, Description of, Absalom's appearance, Who do you think wrote that, Who do you think, Had that information, It must have been, Absalom himself, It's not everybody, That knows the weight, Of your hair, That's a, Piece of information, That is known, Only to you, If you happen to have, That much, Absalom, Must have known that himself, It's a mark, Of the kind of person, He was, That people knew, What his appearance was, And how good looking he was, And so on and so forth, And so what Hushai said to him, Appealed to his pride, And appealed to his own self,
[28:33] Is vanity, The problem is, If you don't worship God, Who else are you going to worship? If God is not the first, In your life, Then, Who else is the first, In your life, Might I suggest, That it's you, You might deny it, You might not agree with it, But, Think about it, If God is not the number one, If you don't worship God, If God is not on the throne, Through Jesus Christ, Then, You are on the throne, Goes back all the way, To the very beginning, Genesis chapter 3, Where Eve and Adam, Decided to put their will, Ahead of God's will, What they wanted, Ahead of what God wanted, And that's exactly, What's happening, In this chapter here, David was God's, Anointed king, By rebelling against David, Absalom, Had not only rebelled, Against his father, He had rebelled, Against God, He was on the wrong side,
[29:36] And all there was, To live for, Was himself, And his own, Self-importance, For him, His objective, Was to secure, The confidence, And the following, And the adoration, Of the people, And this seemed to him, Like the best way, Of doing it, So off he went, They took the advice, Of Ahithophel, Ahithophel, Rather than, Ahithophel, Ahithophel, Of course, When he, The chapter goes on to tell us, That when Ahithophel, Discovered what was happening, And when he, Saw that, Absalom, Had taken the advice, Of Hushai, Rather than himself, His whole world, Collapsed around him, And he, Lost sight, Of everything, His reason to live, As far as he was concerned, Disappeared, And he went, And he hanged himself, What a tragedy, History is, Littered with,
[30:37] Human tragedy, People who are caught up, In all kinds of conflicts, And wars, And battles, And deceptions, And sometimes, The greatest tragedies, Are instances like this, Where real lives, Are needlessly lost, What happened to Ahithophel, I don't know, Why he decided to take his eyes off, Following David, And follow the wrong, The wrong king, Who knows, Just like I don't know, Why people tonight, Choose another course of life, In life, Rather than, Following God's Messiah, The king, Who has been anointed, By God himself, To be our saviour, And who has, And who has given his life, For us, As a ransom, And as, Our sacrifice, What I want to do, In the next,
[31:37] In the ten minutes, That remains, And I promise, This will only be ten minutes, Is look at this, From another perspective, Altogether, And I want to look at it, From the perspective, Of David himself, And what I'm going to do, Is we're going to look at that psalm, That we have been singing, Psalm 42, And Psalm 43, Now, There's no guarantee, That this was written, At the time, But, All the evidence, If you look at, Everything that is said, In the psalm, Then a lot of it, Fits with, The circumstances, In which David was, In which he was, Fleeing from, Absalom, Let's turn together, I know that this is, Slightly different, In breaking away, From the passage, But, Turn with me, To Psalm 42, Just for, A few moments, Times, Because I, I really believe, That there's, So much in this psalm, To teach us, In which, In which the Lord himself, Encourages us, In our darkness, This was a, A dark moment,
[32:39] For David, This was, One of his worst nightmares, In his life, His own son, Had rebelled, Against him, All there was, Was the confusion, And the deception, And the betrayal, That, Had happened, In David's, Life, And there are, There are so, And this is what is, This is how it's put, As the deer pants, For flowing streams, So pants my soul, For you, O God, My soul thirsts, For God, For the living God, When shall I come, And appear before God, My tears have been my food, Day and night, While they say to me continually, Where is your God?
[33:18] I said before that, Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, Are one psalm, The language is the same, And the same chorus, And that's important, Because it means that we can, Quite legitimately, Put them both together, And count them as one psalm, In that psalm, There are three things, And I believe it gives us, It perhaps gives us an insight, Into what was going on, In the heart of David, Three things, First of all, The psalmist looks for God, But can't find him, Perhaps the most perplexing, Of all of David's darkness, At that moment, Was a spiritual darkness, Not only had his son, Risen up against him, Not only had his faithful advisor, Gone on to the other side, But, There were those, Who were saying, Where is your God now?
[34:12] The God, Who you always claim to trust, The God, Who you always claim to, To follow, And obey, There's no sign of him, And you know, There was a sense, In which they appeared, To be correct, Because all the circumstances, Appeared, To suggest that, God had abandoned David, And what David knew, Was that, What lay at the root of all this, Was these years ago, When he had sinned, With Bathsheba, And this was now, The events were catching up with him, And God's promise, That the sword would not depart, From his house, This was now being fulfilled, And he was now suffering this, The chastisement, Of God, What God had promised, Would come true, How then, Can David come out, Of such darkness, Well the second thing, That the psalm, Tells us is this, It shows us,
[35:13] How the psalmist, He begins, Begins, Although he begins, Trying to find God, In the most perplexing, In the darkest circumstances, When it appears, That God is nowhere there, The psalmist, Then begins to look, At God, In relation to, His circumstances, Now let me explain, What that means, How often do we, Take prayer for granted, If I'm asking you tonight, Do you pray, Most of you, I'm sure, That's all we would say, Yes, I do, But is it not the case, That we very often, Take prayer for granted, We start off, And we, We say words, That we believe, Are prayer, And that we, Go into prayer, Without really, Giving much thought, To the God, To whom we're praying, We all do it, As a matter of course, As a matter of habit, Something we do, All the time, But sometimes,
[36:17] We need to stop, And we need to think, About the God, To whom we're coming, In prayer, In relation, To our circumstances, Because especially when, Especially when our circumstances, Like David's, On this occasion, Appear to suggest, That God, Had abandoned him, There are times like that, Where we can't find God, Where we can't, Find God in, The things that are happening, In our lives, And that's when we need to stop, And we need to think, About God, And his nature, And his character, And that's exactly, What the psalmist does, He does it, He thinks about God, The God to whom, He is coming, And to whom he is praying, And often, We need to do the same thing, We need to think afresh, About who God is, But why we think,
[37:18] We have a right, To come to him, In the first place, Does God really, Deal with us, Changeably, Does God change, No he doesn't, The psalmist discovered, Two things, About God, That gave him, The encouragement, To pray, Confidently, And to rise out, Of his despondency, He first of all, He discovers, Or he rediscovers, That God, Never changes, What does he say, In verse 9, In Psalm 42, He says, I say to God, My rock, My rock, The imagery, Of God, As the rock, Is one which appears, All the way through, The Old Testament, And it's a very important one, It's one which, Which, Reminds us, That God is the same, Yesterday, And today, And forever, And that we come to the same Lord,
[38:19] The same God, As Abraham, And Isaac, And Jacob, The God who's, The God whose promises, And the God whose covenant, Never changes, And that's the second thing, That the psalmist discovered, Or rediscovered, That God's covenant, Never changes, And because of that, He was able to come, Confidently, To the Lord, And to, To know, For sure, That nothing could separate him, From God's love, And nothing can separate us, From God's love, In the Lord Jesus Christ, This evening, God is able, To transform our mess, Into his glory, That's what David discovered, He wasn't the only one, There were many people, In the Old Testament, Who discovered the same thing, God is able, To transform our mess, Into his glory,
[39:22] The Old Testament, Is full of men, And women, Who stumbled, And fell, And they, They came short, In so many different ways, And we read of their restoration, We read of their reconciliation, We read about their repentance, But we read more than that, That God is able to meet them, Where they are, And he was still able, To fulfill his purpose, In them, Think of Moses, I've used him, As an example, Often, You think of him, When he, When he killed the Egyptian, And when he tried to separate, Two of his brothers, Who were fighting, Two of his brother Israelites, When they were fighting, And they said, Who made you a judge, Or an arbitrator over us, He found out that David, That, That Pharaoh, Had discovered what he had done, So he had to flee, What a mess, He probably thought, That that was it, He was outside of God's will, God had no more purpose for him, But this was actually,
[40:23] Only the beginning, That didn't make, What he had done right, It didn't excuse, What he had done, But what it meant was, That God is able to, Was able to meet with him, Even in his despondency, Even in his loneliness, He still had a work, For him to do, Because God is able, To transform our mess, Into his glory, And here's David, He's in a mess, He knows, That he lies, At the root of all of this, That all of this, Traces back, To when he so foolishly, Committed adultery, With Bathsheba, And arranged for her husband, To be killed, And now, He's groping around, In the darkness, Not knowing, What's going to happen to him, Not knowing, What the future, It's easy for us, We know what's going to happen, He didn't know, What was going to happen, All he could do, Was to put his hands, To put himself, To commit himself, Into the hands, Of God, But he did so,
[41:23] Knowing the God, Into whose hands, He was committing himself, And that's what's important, And that's why it's important, To know the God of the Bible, Because the God of the Bible, Tonight, Is the God we worship, And the God we love, And the God who has entered, Into a covenant with us, With an everlasting love, That nothing can separate us from, And that's why we can, Come to him confidently, Tonight, Because, Because God's love, Extends, All the way through, Our lives, And God's, God's love is able, To weave, Its way, Into our complexities, That doesn't give us, An excuse to sin, Of course it doesn't, We have to live, This week, As never before, Warring, Against temptation, And against sin, And yet, We know, We know, That in our darkness, God is able,
[42:25] To transform that, Into his light, God is able, In his own unique way, In his sovereignty, He is able to, Bring his purpose, His will to pass, And take us, From where we are, To where he, Wants us, To be, And for that, In David's case, That meant, That God, Was going to bring him, All the way back, To Jerusalem, And he was going to, Personally, Reinstate him, On the throne, Of Israel, Why?
[43:07] Because David deserved it, No he didn't, But because, God is God, And that's what, Is important, That is what counts, God, Is God, God, And it was, And that was what, David's followers saw, They weren't, In the business, Of, Of, Trying to figure out, Who was the most popular king, So that they could, They could ally themselves, With whoever, Was the flavor of the month, That's how people, In the world behave, But that's not how, We behave is it, There were people, Who followed David, And who supported him, And the reason, That they did so, Was because, They perceived, That David, Was God's, Anointed king, So that, To follow him, Was to follow the Lord, Come what may, People like,
[44:08] These three heroes, That we read, At the end of this chapter, And this, With this I close, There are three heroes, At the end of chapter 17, In Samuel, We're going back to, Samuel 17 now, One of them was called, Shobi, The other one was called, Machir, And the other one was called, Barzillai, You say, Well, How were the heroes, I mean they didn't do much, They just brought, They just brought David, Beds, And basins, And earthen vessels, And wheat, And barley, And flour, And parched grain, Beans, And lentils, They were just like, Servants weren't they, Well that's what being a Christian is, Serving the Lord, That's what it is, If any person thinks, That being a Christian, Is somehow more, Than being a servant, Then they're mistaken, I'm a servant, You're a servant, A servant first of all, Of God, Of the Lord Jesus Christ,
[45:09] And a servant of his kingdom, That's all we are, But these men were heroic servants, One of them was a pagan, The first one, Shobby, He came, From the Ammonites, They were enemies of Israel, And somehow or other, He had, He had been converted, To serve David, To love him, And to, To, To be on his side, There was another man, Called Machiar, He was in Saul's kingdom, Before, He was a Saul supporter, Before, Again, He saw that God, Had anointed David, And so, His allegiance was with David, And then lastly, There was Barzillai, Barzillai, What do we know about him, He was an old man, He was in his 80s, But then, It's never too old, To serve the Lord, You're never too young, To be a Christian, And you're not too old, To be a Christian either,
[46:10] If you give, Your life to the Lord, If you surrender your life, To the Lord, Whatever age you are this evening, Then for you, Your life, Has only, Just, Begun, Let's pray together, Father in heaven, We thank you for, Your word to us, We thank you Lord, For the encouragement, That your word gives us, And we pray, That you will continue, To encourage us, As we make our way, Into a new week, If that be your will, To spare us, We ask Lord, That we will serve you, With faith, In faith, And in commitment to you, We ask these things, In Jesus name, Amen, We're going to sing, In Psalm 70, And that's the, Sing Psalms version, It's on page 90, Psalm number 70, Page 90, And the tune is Heber,
[47:12] The tune Heber, Normally goes to 143, But, We're going to sing it, To this one, This evening, Psalm 70, It's on, It's on page 90, And, Make haste, O God, To save me, O Lord, Come to my aid, May those who seek, To kill me, Be utterly dismayed, May all who seek, My ruin, Be turned back, In disgrace, And may all those, Who mock me with shame, Their steps, Retrace, Which is of course, What happened, In the case of, Absalom, And David, And ultimately, What will happen, In God's, Kingdom as well, Psalm 70, Page 90, We'll stand, May Christ, O God, To save me, O Lord, Come to my aid, May those, Who seek, To kill me, Be utterly dismayed,
[48:16] May all who seek, My ruin, Be turned back, In disgrace, And may all those, Who mock me, With shame, Their steps, In grace, May all those, Who see you, Rejoice in you, Always, May those, Who love salvation, Say to our God, Be raised, Yet I am, I am, Poor and needy, Come quickly, God, I pray, You are my help,
[49:17] And Savior, And Savior, O Lord, Do not delay, Now may the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, The love of God the Father, And the communion, Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Rest on and abide, With each one of us, Both now and always, Amen.
[49:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.