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00:00 When the Bible says that the people were numbered, typically a king numbered because he's preparing
00:07 to go to war.
00:10 And it's prudent to assess your resources before you take any type of military move.
00:17 When you're in crisis, it's important to take stock.
00:19 But notice, this is important.
00:23 God judged David by allowing him to reap what he had sown in his family.
00:31 But God still allowed him to fight back.
00:36 You see, God may be disciplining you, and some of the things happening in this season
00:41 may have something to do with God's hand.
00:45 But let me tell you how the devil operates.
00:46 He's not fair.
00:49 Now God very well may be spanking you, but while God is spanking you, Satan's trying
00:55 to clock you.
00:56 Satan's trying to stab you.
00:58 Satan's trying to cut you.
01:00 While God is doing his thing, he's trying to add to it to wound you forever.
01:05 D.D., get what I'm saying.
01:16 We're going to pick up where we stopped last week.
01:18 We're going to be in 2 Samuel, starting with the 15th chapter in verse 6.
01:29 So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
01:37 We read last week that David showed his son Absalom mercy and allowed him back into his
01:44 presence.
01:47 The problem was by this point, Absalom had become so bitter, all he could see was his
01:54 dad's fault.
01:57 And all he could do was continue to nurse his offense.
02:04 It is not being stabbed in the back that hurts the most.
02:08 It's when you turn around and see who's holding the knife.
02:15 That's what gets you, first hand.
02:20 Then Absalom, David's own son, sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel saying,
02:29 as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, "Absalom reigns in Hebron."
02:37 Now Hebron, or Hebron, however you want to say it, was the capital seat of Judah at that
02:44 time.
02:47 And by this time in Absalom's life, he kind of became an expert at leveraging people's
02:53 disappointments and people's pain.
02:56 He was kind of like a snake in waiting, and he knew it was his time to strike, to take
03:04 the throne from his father.
03:08 You know, all of us experience disappointments in life, whether it's in relationships, in
03:14 school, in our health, in church, even a career.
03:20 But again, by this time, Absalom had kind of become a ninja at using people's pain
03:26 points against them for his purposes.
03:32 And with Absalom went 200 men invited from Jerusalem, and they went along, watch this,
03:40 innocently and did not know anything, like sheep to the slaughter.
03:46 You know, it's so easy to get caught up in people's personality and not really discern
03:52 the heart of the folks we're following.
03:56 I have found preachers could say nothing, and the whole room shout because they hit
04:03 a note and had a certain tone of voice.
04:10 And this was happening here.
04:13 He was hitting some notes, and there's a certain tone and timbre about young Absalom, and we
04:20 already covered this in the last couple weeks.
04:24 When Absalom sent for Ahithophel, the Gilonite, David's counselor-a little background here,
04:31 it's important.
04:32 When you study the scriptures, you'll find that Ahithophel was actually Bathsheba's grandfather.
04:40 So what we see here is Absalom studied all the angles.
04:45 And Ahithophel had become David's chief strategist, his chief counselor.
04:53 The Bible says in another place that when he spoke it was like the very word of God.
05:00 But Absalom was paying attention, and he knew that the king hurt him when the king seduced
05:07 his grandbaby.
05:09 So what Absalom did is he stepped in to exploit the pain.
05:14 Now there's something you need to understand about Satan.
05:17 He is a bully.
05:19 The places we are wounded the most is where he also aims the most.
05:24 It's a little bit like boxing.
05:26 You know, once you get that scar, you know, right there in your brow, the guy keeps hitting
05:31 it and hitting it, because he knows that blood's going to blind your eye, and it's a weak point.
05:36 And eventually he's probably going to be able to take your head off.
05:40 Also when you're boxing, you know that one of the goals, the reason you hit people in
05:45 the body, not so much you think you're going to knock them out as much as the cause of
05:49 a person's hands to come down.
05:51 And when their hands come down, you have a clear shot at the head.
05:57 So what's happening here is Hitlerfeld's been worked by the adversary, and now Absalom
06:04 comes in for the knockout.
06:07 It says, "And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased
06:14 in number."
06:15 Now Absalom was very, very calculated.
06:18 And what we see here is he's about to trick 200 men into giving him the appearance that
06:25 he had a much larger following than he really had.
06:30 But this show of strength, though, as we read the text, was big enough to bait David's aggrieved
06:36 Hitlerfeld, chief counselor, to join his team.
06:41 And again, the challenge here is people are looking at the outside, but not discerning
06:47 the heart and the insides of people.
06:51 Now a messenger came to David saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom."
06:58 So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise, and let us
07:04 run.
07:05 Let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom."
07:13 You see, when I was a young boy, boys moved to the side of the sidewalk when a man passed.
07:23 But now adults move to the side when boys pass.
07:32 When we don't train our children when they're young, we'll run from them when they're old.
07:39 Verse 30.
07:42 So David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives.
07:47 David's night with Bathsheba happened in private, but the consequences are now seen on the mountaintop.
07:59 And he wept as he went.
08:02 And he had his head covered, and he was barefoot.
08:11 He was broken.
08:13 He was ashamed.
08:15 He was shattered.
08:18 And all the people who were with David covered their heads and also went up weeping as they
08:28 went.
08:30 David's night in Vegas with Bathsheba not only impacted him, but his entire family and
08:40 everyone who followed him.
08:44 Sin has greater consequences than we have ever imagined.
08:52 Let's go a little bit back in time so everyone might not have been here for every part of
08:57 this series, but let's look at God's response to David while in out in Vegas, 2 Samuel 12
09:06 and 11.
09:09 He didn't think anyone saw, but God was paying attention.
09:13 He misses nothing.
09:16 Nathan says, "Thus saith the Lord."
09:20 Look at this.
09:22 Pay attention to me, David.
09:25 I love you and everything, but I'm going to have to discipline you.
09:30 I will raise up adversity.
09:34 That term "adversity" literally in the Hebrew is rebellion.
09:39 Just as you rebelled against me in your behavior with Bathsheba, I'm going to raise up rebellion
09:47 against you from your own house.
09:53 And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall
10:02 lie with your wives in the sight of the sun.
10:08 What David did to Uriah's wife would happen to his own with compound interest.
10:17 Watch this.
10:19 Back to 16 and 20.
10:22 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give advice as to what we should do."
10:30 Now Ahithophel had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and Ahithophel answered Absalom,
10:41 "Go into your father's concubines.
10:48 This is about to get ugly and really, really dirty.
10:54 Whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by
10:59 your father."
11:02 What Ahithophel is saying here is do something to your daddy that will make him hate you
11:13 the way I hated him for what he did to my granddaughter.
11:19 You'll see a pattern in life and a pattern in Scripture.
11:22 Hurt people hurt people.
11:26 But then he says, "Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong."
11:30 He was saying when people see that you burned every bridge of reconciliation with your father,
11:37 people will understand that you mean business.
11:39 Because Ahithophel was taking a big risk here because he had everything to lose by joining
11:45 Absalom.
11:46 And he also knew that his father was a great man of war.
11:49 David was nobody to play with.
11:51 And he knew that if father and son ever reconciled, that everyone that lined up behind his son
11:57 would probably be killed, beheaded, or at least be pushed out of the nation.
12:04 So he gave advice that would make that impossible.
12:08 Bitter people give bitter advice.
12:13 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on top of David's roof.
12:22 And Absalom went in into his father's concubines with all Israel watching.
12:34 Can it get worse than this?
12:40 But verses like this are the reason why we must be careful not to take vengeance in our
12:47 own hands.
12:51 Because you will always go too far.
12:55 The person steps on your toe, but you punch them in the jaw.
13:00 The person was a little sarcastic, you tear them down.
13:04 By the time you finish, they wish they were never born.
13:09 The reason we're to leave vengeance to God is because God is God, and let God be God.
13:17 And vengeance is God's prerogative, and we're not in position to get vengeance right the
13:22 way God is.
13:25 So Absalom went into his father's concubine in the sight of all Israel.
13:30 So Amnon raped Absalom's sister.
13:36 And here Absalom goes further and molests his stepmothers.
13:45 You see, for in the same way, Jesus said, you judge others, you will be judged.
13:52 And what measure you use, it will be measured to you.
13:57 He became the judge, and the judgment came back on him.
14:04 You see, David never lost on the battlefield, but because he couldn't keep his zipper zipped,
14:12 he lost his most important battle for his home.
14:17 Second Samuel 18.
14:21 And David numbered the people who were with him.
14:25 So he left the palace.
14:27 His son goes into the palace and sleeps with his concubines and his wives, if you will.
14:38 When the Bible says that the people were numbered, typically a king numbered because he's preparing
14:43 to go to war.
14:45 And it's prudent to assess your resources before you take any type of military move.
14:52 When you're in crisis, it's important to take stock.
14:55 But notice, this is important.
14:59 God judged David by allowing him to reap what he had sown in his family, but God still allowed
15:08 him to fight back.
15:12 You see, God may be disciplining you, and some of the things happening in this season
15:16 may have something to do with God's hand.
15:20 But let me tell you how the devil operates.
15:22 He's not fair.
15:25 Now God very well may be spanking you, but while God is spanking you, Satan's trying
15:31 to clock you.
15:32 Satan's trying to stab you.
15:33 Satan's trying to cut you.
15:35 While God is doing his thing, he's trying to add to it to wound you forever.
15:41 Do you get what I'm saying?
15:44 You may be wrong, but never let the devil take more than he should.
15:50 [APPLAUSE]
15:52 Do not just surrender, saying, well God is mad at me, and this is my situation in life.
16:01 God was dealing with David, but God still graced David to fight back.
16:07 Keep watching.
16:09 And David sent captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.
16:14 He divided his army into three divisions.
16:16 He's still a great warrior under three generals, Joab, Abishai, and Ittai.
16:21 Let's go to verse five.
16:23 Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, watch this, "Deal gently
16:31 for my sake with a young man, Absalom."
16:38 As horrible as Absalom behaved, David still loved his son.
16:47 Every Absalom under the sound of my voice, your Heavenly Father still loves you.
16:55 God still wants to protect you.
16:57 Let him.
17:00 David had to function as a king and deal with the threat to the nation.
17:07 But it didn't diminish his love for his son as a father.
17:13 And there are things God must deal with as our sovereign, but that dealing will never
17:20 negate his love for us as a father.
17:26 Even in our discipline, he wants to keep us safe.
17:31 He just wants to train us and teach us and guide us.
17:35 Deal gently for my sake with a young man.
17:41 All of us have a little stupid hidden somewhere on the inside of us.
17:48 And he was just a young man.
17:52 He don't know nothing yet.
17:56 So the people of Judah went out into the field of battle against Israel, and the battle was
18:02 in the field of Ephraim.
18:03 Civil wars are always the bloodiest wars.
18:06 I think it was hundreds of thousands that were lost even in America's Civil War.
18:11 Those are the worst and the bloodiest.
18:13 And I'll tell you, as a pastor, you've not really begun to pastor until you've faced
18:18 your first church split, led by a friend.
18:23 In this case, a son.
18:27 Then the people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David.
18:35 David fought back even in his judgment.
18:39 Actually in this period when you go to the psalm—I don't remember if it was the sixth
18:41 psalm or what psalm it is—we hear David praying to God and God answering him.
18:47 So even in God dealing with you, God hears a sinner's prayer.
18:54 David was victorious, but only after tremendous loss.
19:01 This was horrific, but God was like, "Listen, David.
19:04 Don't start nothing.
19:05 It won't be nothing now.
19:06 It didn't have to go like this."
19:13 And a great slaughter of, watch this, 20,000 took place there that day.
19:20 Death was everywhere, bodies strewn all over the place.
19:25 For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods,
19:30 the woods devoured more people that day than the sword.
19:41 Swords typically don't kill people.
19:45 Though David had a lot of this coming, God still fought alongside him in unusual ways.
19:56 So even after you fail as a father, fail as a leader, as a person, you can cry out to
20:04 God and He will hear you.
20:08 Now there may be some consequences, but the God I know still knows how to take care of
20:14 a brother, how to protect a young man, a young woman.
20:18 You hear what I'm saying?
20:19 Even though you may be reaping some of what you've sown, you still belong to God.
20:30 Then Absalom met the servants of David.
20:34 It says Absalom rode on a mule.
20:37 Important figures in that time often rode mules.
20:40 But watch this, "The mule went under the thick boughs of the great terebinth tree, and his
20:47 head caught in the terebinth."
20:52 Now we read about, you know, they would weigh his hair annually, and it weighed about five
20:57 pounds, and it was about five feet long.
21:00 And everyone, you know, went to this weighing, because you know the Bible says he was unblemished.
21:05 He was an extremely handsome, the most celebrated man in the kingdom at that time.
21:15 We also talked about the fact that hair represented vitality and strength in this time in history.
21:22 You notice as you get older, your hair tends to get a little bit thinner.
21:26 So, thick hair represented, again, vitality and strength.
21:33 And it seems that his long hair, I don't know what happened.
21:36 Maybe his bobby pin came out, or his, I don't know.
21:45 Or squinchy, I think that's what you call it.
21:52 But it seems his long hair got stuck in the branches.
22:00 His own strength, his own vitality is what killed him.
22:07 What was his glory became his curse.
22:13 A big head can take you to an early grave.
22:21 Because no one is as empty as a person full of themselves.
22:27 So here, the writer of the inspired text here kind of pauses and says, yeah, you know, he's
22:34 caught by his head and his hair and the branches.
22:38 But then it goes on and explains a little bit.
22:40 So, he was left hanging between heaven and earth.
22:43 So, he became a testimony.
22:47 He was an example of what can happen to us when we live by our own strength, when we
22:55 decide to take vengeance into our own hands.
23:01 When you seek revenge, dig two graves.
23:06 One for your target, and one for yourself.
23:10 Because ultimately it's going to wipe both of you out.
23:17 God killed Amnon, but his pride and his glory got him caught in a thicket, and he himself
23:25 died.
23:26 But watch what happens next.
23:28 And the mule which was under him went on.
23:31 How many of you know mules aren't known for their smarts?
23:37 But this unintelligent animal was smart enough not to let a fool keep riding its back, given
23:45 an option.
23:47 That is a word for you.
23:51 But watch the king.
23:54 20,000 dead in Israel because of his traitor of a son.
24:05 The king said, is the young man Absalom safe?
24:15 And first he said, this is criminal now.
24:17 You should be concerned about what your son did.
24:21 And I think he is on some level.
24:27 But his sensibilities as a father overrode his sensibilities as a monarch.
24:40 Our children may disappoint us, but they are still our children.
24:46 Skip to 32.
24:48 The affections of a father overrode his sensibilities as a king.
24:55 Love can be complicated, and sometimes God has to deal with us in a way that's hard.
25:04 Not because his heart's not with us, but because he is a sovereign, and he has a responsibility
25:11 to the moral law of the universe.
25:15 He has to uphold order, but as he does it, it breaks his very heart.
25:24 And the king said to the Cushite, is the young man Absalom safe?
25:31 You see, verses like this are the reason why David was called a man after God's own heart.
25:38 Again, though God or David fought against Absalom as a monarch, he still loved him as
25:48 a father loves a son.
25:52 God is dealing with us as he must, but his heart is breaking as he does.
26:05 So the Cushite answered, may the enemies of my Lord the king and all who rise against
26:12 you to do harm be like that young man.
26:19 Then verse 33, already he's offended the generals around him.
26:24 It's like, hey, all them people dead, you're talking about your son.
26:27 You know, hey, you're supposed to be leading the nation.
26:30 Leave your personal stuff alone and at home.
26:38 But the king couldn't handle it.
26:40 The Bible says he was deeply moved.
26:46 Hebrew literally, he was trembling.
26:49 He was physically, he couldn't handle what had just happened.
26:57 And he begins to look for some privacy, and he went up on the chamber of the gate and
27:04 wept.
27:06 Sometimes all you can do is cry, because he knew that his son stepped out into eternity
27:16 in rebellion against his father and against his God.
27:23 You know, those 20,000 men, yeah, many died in battle, but they went into Abraham's bosom.
27:31 But Absalom stepped into eternity in rebellion against the Almighty.
27:41 So he goes to the chamber over the gate, and he wept.
27:46 And again, sometimes all you can do is cry.
27:52 And as he went, he didn't care what the generals were saying.
27:56 He didn't care what the people were saying.
27:58 He said, "Oh, my son, Absalom, my son."
28:04 He was trembling, snot dripping, throwing dirt in the air, probably tearing his garment,
28:14 probably pulling on his own hair.
28:16 "My son, Absalom."
28:19 He knew that his son had died in rebellion.
28:27 And the grief that struck David, he could not hide.
28:37 And the Bible takes pain to record, because that's how God would feel about any of us
28:47 stepping into eternity in rebellion against God.
28:54 But in David, a man after God's own heart, he says this.
28:58 He said, "If only I had died in your place."
29:04 A parent sees a child in the hospital, especially a young child.
29:18 You know, tubes hooked up, pain.
29:20 And you just, "Lord, could I just take their place?"
29:27 That's the cry of any parent's heart.
29:31 You know, you hear about something that happened to your child in school.
29:36 You're like, "Lord, can I just possess his body or her body for a moment and go deal
29:40 with them stupid kids that they're dealing with at school just for a moment?"
29:47 That's the heart of a parent.
29:52 And when Jesus, He had a revelation like none other.
29:57 Throughout the Old Testament, He's called Jehovah.
30:03 Some say Yahweh, Adonai, Lord of Sabbath, all these different names.
30:09 But Jesus said, "When you pray, you say, 'Our Father.'"
30:14 Jesus called God Father, because to truly get a revelation of God, you've got to know
30:22 a Father's love.
30:26 So now we have the king, the dignified individual in expensive garments, and the person everyone's
30:33 looking at that stands out in the crowd trembling and weeping, saying, "If only I had died
30:42 in your place."
30:45 You see, David was a sinner himself, and he was helpless to atone for Absalom.
30:53 But thank God our Heavenly Father had no such limitations.
30:59 One thousand years later on Golgotha's Hill, God did what David's heart cried for.
31:07 "Oh my son, Absalom my son, if only I had died in your place.
31:14 Oh Absalom my son, my son, my son."
31:28 God weeps for you.
31:35 God cares for you.
31:40 God literally cries for you.
31:45 And passages like this help us see the mind and heart of God.
31:53 Years ago when I was in college I gave my life to Jesus, and I started living holy and
31:56 all that good stuff.
32:00 And I remember there was another guy that was part of the same campus fellowship, and
32:11 I went over to his dorm, and I knocked.
32:17 But I heard some things behind the door.
32:22 And I don't even think this was a...
32:25 It didn't matter.
32:26 I think there was something about him, but I think God was trying to show me.
32:32 And I knew what was happening behind the door, and I cannot explain the sadness, the sorrow,
32:43 and the hurt that gripped me.
32:51 What God allowed me to do is feel what it's like to love somebody, abusing themselves,
32:59 harming themselves, and hurting another.
33:04 And I have remembered that all the days of my life.
33:08 And it's not so much I'm trying to be a goody-goody, I just don't want to hurt him the way I felt
33:15 that pain that day.
33:22 And David now is gripped by the Holy Spirit, you've got to be sure of that.
33:28 And he's weeping for his son Absalom, my son, my son.
33:38 It was too late for Absalom.
33:42 He died in rebellion.
33:47 He went to his fate.
33:51 So all that was left was for his daddy to cry.
33:56 My prayer is when you and I, everyone live streaming, everyone in this room, get to that
34:04 place where we step from time and space into eternity, that God is not holding His face,
34:14 saying "Oh Absalom, my image bearer, my son, my son."
34:24 My prayer is that when I step outside of this life into the next, I step into my reward,
34:34 into His presence, into fullness of joy, into deeper communion, deeper fellowship.
34:41 Because my own strength and my own glory, my own power, I didn't get mesmerized by it.
34:46 I didn't let it hang me up on a tree somewhere, but I looked to Jesus who Himself was hung
34:51 on a tree on my behalf, who took my punishment and my shame.
34:56 And because I looked to Him in life, I live.
34:59 I live.
35:00 I live.
35:01 I live.
35:02 I live.
35:03 I live.
35:04 I live.
35:04 I live.
35:09 (whooshing)