2 Samuel 3 (Part 1) Bible Study (Abner Joins David) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

I believe the past week has sifted the church from those who are true and those who have been in disguise, those who claim to follow Christ, those who claim to love God's word, but when it really is applied in culture, I think what we saw with the supreme court has really revealed even more those who really love God and his word and those who who love God's word when it fits their agenda and their particular sin. And I wanna tell you something. I believe that's only gonna continue in the days ahead. In a very short amount of time, you and I are gonna see a thicker line drawn that's going to make a greater separation between those who are truly of God and those who are not. And what's going to protect you and I from deception is the word of God.

What's going to make you and I equipped to help those who claim to follow Christ but are clearly deceived is the word of God. I'll prove it to you. This past week, I'm not on social media often, but when I do go on, I I just cast the line and see where it goes. And sure enough, I was engaging with somebody that I've never met in my life who was arguing arguing vehemently about how God indeed does approve of abortion. And you know where they went to make their case?

The Old Testament in Numbers chapter five. I'm not gonna turn there, but, it just it just proved to me that there are those who totally reject the word of God, and there are those who go to the word of God to try to justify sin. And based on those arguments, if people don't really know the scriptures, not only can they be led into deception, they can lead others into deception. And so, this is not just a study for just nice, little bit more mature Sunday school lessons. This is to have the word of God implanted into our hearts so that when there is falsehood and there are things that are twisted and taken out of context, you can detect it immediately.

You can detect it immediately because you have people who are going even to the Old Testament to justify a current cultural issue. So this is a very significant for for those who come here consistently, you are growing more than you can imagine. When you're receiving the word of God, more than just the traditional once a week, there is a strengthening that's coming to you whether you see the immediate effects of it now or not. There is a investment that you're making. So this is a glorious thing, and I praise God that we have people who wanna be here on a Friday night.

With that being said, meet me in the book of second Samuel chapter three. Second Samuel chapter three. Pray with me. Lord, we humbly come before you. We boldly come before you.

Lord, our hearts are moved just by the fact that we get to open your word and feast tonight. We ask, Lord, that by the spirit, you would cancel any any interruption of the flesh, both in the delivery of your your word and and the reception of your word. Help us receive what you've intended to say, and for us to apply it and submit to it totally. We ask, Lord, that this would not just be an investment of knowledge, but, Lord, it would be, in fact, an investment to our holiness and to our Christ likeness. Lord, we just ask, guide us tonight.

Knit our hearts not just together with your word, but to one another as a people who love the truth. Be glorified and be pleased as you see us now coming to you to receive from your voice. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. David is king in Judah.

Abner, the former commander of Saul's army, has raised up one of Saul's sons, Ishbosheth, to rule over the northern part of Israel and to take over the different tribes and to convince them that Saul's successor is, in fact, his son and not the anointed one David. And there are many things we learned from last week, but one of the things that we drew from the previous chapter is how the relationship between David and Abner is very much like the relationship that the believer has with sin. Abner wasn't satisfied with just having 11 of the tribes. He wanted Judah, and sin is is very much the same way. It doesn't want just part of us.

It wants all of us. It doesn't wanna just, just have an aspect of our lives. It wants to control our lives. And you and I have learned from David and his response of how we can guard ourselves from the ambition of sin. And that illustration between David and Abder and how it parallels the believers conflict with sin only continues as we come to this chapter in verse one.

Read with me. There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker. What a wonderful summary of what's taking place. David had a long war with the house of Saul, and it really lasted seven years.

You and I don't just have a long war with sin, we have a lifelong war. And for many of us, that will look like forty more years, fifty more years, seventy more years, ten more years. All we know is that it is a lifelong battle with sin. And Paul makes it very clear in Galatians five seventeen, something so crucial in understanding the Christian experience, that the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. Now this is important.

For these are opposed to each other, these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing what you desire to do. It is undeniably clear that as long as we are in this body, there will be an inner conflict between the indwelling of the spirit of God and this flesh that wraps us and keeps us anchored to, the things that have been impacted because of Adam's sin. We are still in this flesh. It is not a glorified flesh. It's a tainted flesh.

But praise be to God, the indwelling of the spirit has come to give us some kind of not just a hope, but also the strength to be able to be in victory over sin. And the goal of the flesh is the same goal that Abner had with David, to hinder the advancement of the will of God. David was God's man. David's dynasty was God's program. Abner knew that and he wanted to resist that.

Sin, this flesh, realizes the spirit in us has been given to be empowered to do the will of God, and sin knowing that he can't erase that seal, but can in fact hinder hinder you from moving forward in the empowerment of God and his wisdom and his fruit for your life. And I often quote quote Paul's statement to the Galatians in Galatians five seventeen to Christians who who wanna know if they are truly indwell with the Holy Spirit. If you're in this place today and you struggle very much whether or not if you are truly a child of God, let me give you one of my go to verses and help you clarify if this is so. Here's a clear answer for the assurance of somebody's salvation. Look at what Paul says.

I I hope you're at Galatians five seventeen. If you're not, turn there quickly. Turn there quickly, Galatians five seventeen. I want you to see this with your own eyes so that you can be helped and you can help others. Look what Paul says.

The second part of the verse. For these, the spirit and the flesh are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. And here's what I always ask somebody who is struggling. Here's what I ask somebody who seems to be in this this doubtful dread about where they stand with God. What do you want to do?

In other words, what are your desires? If I ask somebody who's outside of Christ, what are your desires? I'm going to get a completely different set of answers than from the person who's truly regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And so what you see here is that if if if you base your evidence of your salvation upon the struggle with sin, no wonder you're struggling with assurance. Because Paul here makes it very explicitly clear.

There will be a struggle for the believer. The spirit and the flesh are at odds with one another. But what's interesting here is that at the last part of it, we see where we should identify where we stand in our identity. What are your desires? What are your desires in your heart?

The legitimacy of your salvation is not in the wrestling with the flesh. It's where you want to be. It's what you desire to do. Do you long to be holy? Do you long to be in right standing?

Not just not just positionally, but practically. Do do you want is your ambition in life to be like Jesus and to to rid yourself of sin, even the appearance of evil? If those sets of desires are there, you are in a good place. You are in a good place. You ask a believer what he wants to do, and it's going to sound different.

It should sound different than what the world would say. You know what it was like to be in the world, many of you. And and it was not to get rid of sin. It was trying to have more of sin. It was trying to have sin with the least consequences.

It was trying to have sin without without any kind of repercussions. You wanted sin. You you thirsted for it. You hungered for it. You made your decisions based off that being the passion of your life.

But here's the thing, although identifying where where we want to be, what we truly desire to do, is very important in understanding where we are with the Lord. Right? If Christ has not transformed your desires, then perhaps Christ has not transformed you at all. But that is not the ultimate goal for the Christian. The the Christian is not just satisfied with saying, oh, wait.

Yeah. I know I'm a right saint with God because I want to desire this and I don't desire anymore. That's just the base. What a mature Christian really wants to do is once they have those desires deposited by the Holy Spirit, to now walk in the will of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to see those desires manifest in actual fruit. Now I wanna walk in this, and that's why Paul is saying in this part portion of scripture, walk in the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

He's not just giving us help to say, hey, look. If you're gonna struggle, don't be worried. Struggle is true for the believer. He's not just saying that. He wants to say, now let me tell you how you can actually be in triumphant victory over sin.

And I believe verse one of second Samuel chapter three is a beautiful illustration of what that looks like for the true Christian who is walking in the spirit. What do I mean by that? The house of David grew stronger and stronger while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker. As you and I progress in spiritual maturity, if you wanna evaluate that, here's how you can. Your strength to resist temptation becomes stronger and stronger.

Your hatred for sin grows more intense than it did last year, and the allurements of the world, the persuasions of the evil one become weaker and weaker. That's how you and I can be able to say I am growing in Jesus Christ. Yes. There there are constant temptations, but I can tell you that I am not the person who had outburst of anger like I was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. I I can tell you that I am able to overcome the temptation that when when my computer screen tries to pull me into places, into alleyways on the web that I should not be, that I can say no.

And I can feel the strength in my soul to actually resist it. This is the way that you and I can see that we are indeed growing. We are growing stronger and stronger in the will of God and and the love for the things of God and practical holiness, while the things that were once strong are losing its influence in our lives. And if you think that I'm just making that up based on a verse that doesn't really necessarily directly deal with personal holiness, then realize in one particular place in the New Testament that John in his first epistle, he addresses the church, and within the church, people who are at different places in their spiritual maturity. So I wanna show you that.

Go to first John and look at this. This is this is so encouraging because it helps us be able to say, okay, this is how I can know I am here. This is how I can know I am here. This is how I know I am here. Where am I in the spectrum of growing of growing spiritually?

Go to first John chapter two verse 12. In the same way that you and I can see physical development over the years, it is no different spiritually. K? I don't know why it is for many people that spiritual growth is hazy. It's not hazy.

The same way that you know that you are growing in height from from your when you're two, three years old, you know that you're growing taller over the years, and your voice gets deeper when you pass a certain point in life and certain body parts develop. You can see that physically, so it is spiritually. There are things that should be tangibly evident, and you can even see for yourself and others should be able to say, I can see that. And John here, he addresses different pockets of people on the spectrum of where they are in spiritual maturity. Look at verse 12.

I am writing to you little children. I am writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. The first group of people that John addresses are little children. Little children. And some would say, well, this is just speaking about those who are actually little children.

I say he's speaking to those who are spiritually little children. Those who are infants in Christ. When you and I first get saved, we are known as babes in Christ. And what's amazing is how John identifies what occupies the affections and the thoughts of little children in Jesus Christ. Not little children actual age.

Please be reminded. Little children in spiritual spiritual age who first walk into being born again and into the kingdom of God. You know what it is that enthralls little children? You know what it is that brings a person to rejoice and praise and be overwhelmed? As a little child in God, the revelation that their sins are forgiven.

Your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. And you know that. Right? You know the jolt of joy when that truth of being redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, that you have the gift of eternal life, it just swallowed up every other thing. You were so consumed with that.

You came singing and and you could not stop singing. You wanna tell everybody about it. Just the simple gospel truth that your sins are forgiven. Now that is not to say that as you grow that you move from that truth or you lose joy in that truth, but it is to say this, that as you do grow, something is going to be added. You are going to grow into something else.

And so what he does now is he addresses fathers and young men. He addresses little children, children, young men, fathers. I just wanna go to the young men for the sake of the bible study. So you scroll down to verse 14. Look what you read here.

I write to you fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. Now look at this. I write to you, young men. Is is a young man the same as a little child? No.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong. Because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, now look at this, and you have overcome the evil one. So now John is addressing the young men, and this is what they are characterized by. One main thing. You ready?

The ability to overcome the evil one. As you grow in faith, and some of you can testify to this, when you're first saved, spiritual warfare is not so much of a reality. Is it? It's almost like there's a special grace where there's like like just like a baby, there's just this this this grace to just see everything as a miracle, and it's almost as though you're so sensitive to the things of God. And then something begins to happen as one year goes by and you're still you're still walking consistent with our two years, three years.

Now now you begin to see things. Now you begin to see Satan at work and and push back, and you see the ugly things within ministry, and you see warfare. Young men, they they fight. Young women in the faith, they they now enter into a struggle, to the reality of spiritual warfare. That becomes more real.

That becomes more frequent. But what's amazing here is that not only are they engaged in spiritual warfare, but they are able to actually actually walk in victory over the temptations and the lies of Satan. Note, John's thoughts about the spiritual phases here do not mean that your physical growth will parallel your spiritual growth. So you can have people who are physically fathers, but they're spiritually still little children. And and you can have young men, young women who spiritually can be like fathers and mothers.

But what's amazing here is when you see the young men, something is added to them. They are able to overcome the evil one. So this is how you know that you've you've graduated from being a little child. This is what occupies little children. They are just consumed with the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, and they stay there.

They stay there. They don't grow from that knowledge. They aren't able to to to explore and see more into the mind of God, the will of God, the character of God. Hebrews tells us repentance, faith, baptism, the laying on of hands, eternal judgment, those are elementary things. And he says, let's move on from that.

Not to ignore it, not to incorporate it, but you gotta build off of that. And here, I wanna tell you something. There are people who have been in the faith for fifteen years, and spiritually, they're still little children because their knowledge doesn't go beyond the gospel. It doesn't go beyond what Jesus Christ did on the cross for you. It it doesn't go beyond your sins being forgiven.

And here's how you know that you've grown, at least to the next phase. You don't just relish in the fact that you're forgiven. You now know what Christ purchased for you to overcome, to resist sin, to become more like Jesus. And so I wanna tell you today, it's so important that growth is identified the way the Bible calls you to identify it. I don't want you to be in grade one for forty years.

I don't want you to remain in the same place for ten years. And how do we grow? It's so simple. It's so wonderful. It's in the very same verse.

And the word of God abides in you. Abides in you. That's how you go from a little child to a young man. The scriptures is something that you now listen. He says, abides in you.

You will never grow if you visit the bible. If the bible is something that you just touch on once every two weeks, once every three weeks, twice every two that you're never gonna grow. You will remain a little child. Abide means to live, to remain, to stay. So you take this word and you read it.

You take this word and you eat it. You digest it. You study it. You meditate on it. You memorize it, and you apply it.

And then over time as you do that consistently, you will grow. You'll receive strength, and then you'll be able to overcome the evil one. I'm telling you, it's so sad. I've used this illustration often. Any any true parent would be devastated if their physical child remained in one grade for several years.

Nobody would say, yeah, it's okay. It just happens. You know, it's a common thing. But we do it spiritually. We do it spiritually.

You have people in the pew for five years, eight years, ten years, fifteen years, and they're in the same place. They never grow, and we seem to all be okay with it. It's not normal. There should be progression. We should grow stronger and stronger while the things of this flesh, the things of the enemy, the things of this world have a weaker influence in our lives.

Okay. We're still in verse one. We gotta move on here. Let's go to verse two. Second Samuel three verse two.

And sons were born to David at Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoam of Jezreel, and his second, Hiliab of Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel, and the third, Absalom, the son of Macha, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, and the fourth Adonijah, the son of Hagith, and the fifth, Shephathiah, the son of Abital, and the sixth Ithraim of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David and Hebron. So what we're being told in this verse is that David's government, his military is not the only thing that's increasing. His personal family is growing.

We're given a detailed account of the increase here of his wives and of his children. He entered into Hebron with how many wives? Who remembers? How many wives did he come into Hebron with before he became king? Two.

And now we see here that there's an additional four. And by the end of the chapter, we're not gonna complete this chapter tonight. No way. The end of the chapter, we're gonna have a total of seven wives. Total of seven wives.

Now David's decision to marry all these women, whether it was motivated by lust or political power, could be both, is problematic for many reasons. We've touched on polygamy in the old testament many times in our study before. We won't come back to it now. But the the guilt of David's polygamy is is even more severe because of his position as a king. Why?

Who remembers? Who remembers what Moses said to the Israelites before they even had one king of what they need to do in holding that king accountable when he becomes a ruler of God's people? What was one of the laws? Yeah. Write down the law, your own copy.

That's true. There was another thing, though. Deuteronomy seventeen seventeen, our brother made it clear that a king should not have multiple wives. Now that is true for all people, but especially for a king because the king would have a temptation to make political alliances by marrying the daughter of a foreign ruler so that they would be at peace. So it was an additional temptation.

And God didn't want his kings to put their faith in their alliances. They wanted he wanted their kings to have faith in his leadership and his empowerment and wisdom alone. And here's what's amazing here. When David marries these women, you don't see any immediate condemnation or a a rebuke from the author, but what you will see is that it's going to get very, very ugly down the road. The calm around his choice here is deceptive.

This is going to, in fact, be the seed of great thorns in the garden of David's life. I believe, remember, we're gonna see this in this book, that David's infamous scandal with Bathsheba is connected to the early forms of a lack of self control that you see here. Does that make sense? Let me put it this way. Because David would not honor God's will for his marriage that we see in Genesis.

Jesus quotes Genesis as a standard of marriage. Because David doesn't honor God's standard for his marriage, is there any reason why he would honor anybody else's marriage, namely Uriah? If he doesn't have any conviction about his own, how is he gonna have any conviction about somebody else's? And so what you see here is the early forms of a lack of self control, a lack of understanding where down the road it's going to manifest in bitter fruit. And what's sad here is that as you see this, the sons that are mentioned here are going to be the reason for his heartache, for majority of his heartache at least.

Which sons here are gonna cause trouble for David down the road? Absalom, number one. Who's number two? Well, there's somebody before Absalom. Amnon?

What did Amnon do? Yeah. I heard it. So everybody thinks he raped his half sister Tamar. Who was whose full sister?

Absalom. What does Absalom do because of that? Kills Amnon. But he doesn't just kill Amnon. What does he do?

He attempts to usurp the throne of his father. Right? He fails. He dies. Who comes next to cause havoc in the kingdom?

There's one more. Adonijah. If you said Adonijah, you are right. Adonijah, who seeks to seize the throne before Solomon occupies it because he is the rightful heir. So you see three out of this list are gonna cause so much problems for David and not just David, for all of Israel.

Would you like to know why? Would you like to know why? Does anybody have an idea why David's sons, at least a majority of them, were troublesome? Was David a good king? Yes.

So many times the prophets have pointed back to David as a standard that they failed to keep up with in terms of his relationship with God. Was David a good dad? Do you have proof of that? And we have so much proof to say that he was a good king, but do we have any proof that he was a good dad or a bad dad? There was a sword in his family as a result of his sin with Bathsheba.

Absolutely. That is part of the reason why there'd be so much trouble in his kingdom and his own family. Yes. So it was a consequence. But there was another thing.

There's a failure on David's part in another way. Ah, we're onto something. When Tamar was violated, did David intervene? No. Here is a blatant statement of David's leniency with his children.

Go to first Kings. Go to chapter one. Look at verse five to verse six, and you will see a direct commentary on the failure of David's part as a dad. First Kings chapter one verse five. First Kings chapter one verse five.

This is when Adonijah sprung up and started to cause problems. Verse five. Now Adonijah, the son of Hagith, exalted himself saying, I will be king. And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. Now look at this, verse six.

His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, why have you done thus and so? Do you see it? His father had never disciplined him. His father had never admonished him. His father had never sat him down and says, why are you doing this?

How could you do this? You have to be disciplined for this. That was completely absent, and I'm sure it was not just with Adonijah, but with all of his children. He didn't raise them up. He didn't raise them up in righteousness.

He failed to give the necessary attention that a child would need, especially in a specific window of time where their the roots of their character are developed. So David was a great king, great administrator, great warrior, bad father. And how could he be when you have several wives all sharing the same man? How do you do that? How do you give equal attention?

Most people struggle with one wife, one husband, one household. And you can just imagine the complexities with jealousy, and this kid's issues, and that child wants their father's attention. And who knows? Probably so overwhelmed that he just backs off of it completely and leaves it completely to these mothers. But that that that vacuum, that vacancy there of a father contributed to the rebellion of their children.

That is so important to understand because when you see this, this valiant general, what you also see down the road is that he was a distracted and disconnected father. And you cannot ignore you cannot ignore the strong lesson about the importance of the family unit and its impact in society. What do I mean by that? When you put all the pieces together, you cannot deny that there was a direct influence between the trouble in David's house and the stabilization of the nation of Israel. All of these sons caused trouble to the nation.

Yeah. The problem started at home and with were within the household, but had a ripple effect into the streets, into into into it caused even a civil war at one point. And it is no difference. It is no difference for any nation. The strength of any nation is dependent upon the foundation of the family institution.

You can't separate those two realities. And what's so important to see is that you can add to it by saying that the strength of a local church is greatly supported about the robustness of the interfamilial relations of individual Christian homes. Let me prove it to you. If you don't think that's the case, then why is it that Paul says if a pastor cannot rule his home, he has no business ruling a local congregation? Because you can't have a sick home and a healthy church.

And if we really believe that, may God give us wisdom, then where should most of our energy and our programs and our teachings go to? At least outside of the word of God and the whole counsel of God. Families. Nurturing marriages, giving people help and how they can interact and and know how to involve their children, involve their lives and their schedules. We need to build healthy families because that will have a direct impact on the church, and that will have a direct impact on society.

I'm telling you, most of our news headlines can be solved if we put most of our taxpayer dollars into building healthy homes. All the foolishness and the craziness, it all statistically points back to fatherlessness. You know this. And here we are spinning on our heads wondering what we're going to do. Change all the laws you want.

If you don't have healthy marriages, you're not going to have healthy kids. If you don't have healthy kids, you're not going to have healthy society. I wish David believed that. What would have become of his kingdom if he truly gave the attention that he did to his army and to his war plans and to his whatever it was. What would it be if he gave this kind of heartfelt devotion to his children?

I'm sure his kingdom would be different a different thing, a blessing. But because he failed to do so, Israel paid for it, not just him. So we come back to to our chapter in verse six. While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aya.

And Ishbosheth said to Abner, why have you gone into my father's concubine? Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ishbosheth and said, am I a dog's head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul, your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David, and yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. Let's stop there for a moment. In verse one, you and I learned that the house of Saul was becoming weaker and weaker.

There are different reasons for that. The obvious reason was that the house of David had God on their side. But I'd like to look at the verses that we just read as as just one insight, because what's about to happen right now will bring a final and lethal blow to this establishment. And it began with a confrontation. It really began and ended with a confrontation.

Ishbosheth approaches Abner, and he accuses him of a specific sin. Why did you sleep with one of my father's concubines? Now, this sin here is beyond just sexual immorality. This is this is more than a scandal within leadership. In the days of David, what would happen is when a king died, he would transfer many things to the successor.

One of the things he would transfer was his haram. He would transfer these concubines, his wives over, almost in a way, like, it was kind of property. Right? And so that would be brought over to the successor. Now if anybody overstepped his bounds and went to violate one of these these concubines or or sleep with them, it it was more than just saying, you know, I'm trying to satisfy my lust.

This was a political move. It was a sense saying, I want control. I'm claiming your property to be my property, and it was it was in a sense, a declaration that I have a desire for equal authority as the king. And and we can prove that in scripture. Remember, when Absalom tries to overthrow David, David and his men move out into the wilderness, and he received advice, take your father's concubines and sleep with them on the roof, and make a public spectacle that you are now the king by doing such a thing.

Adonijah does something very similar. He goes to Bathsheba in first Kings chapter two when Solomon becomes king, and he asks for one of Solomon's concubines. And and and Solomon understood what he meant by that and has him killed. And so this is less about a scandal sexually and more about a political struggle for power. Why is this important to understand?

The house of Saul became weaker and weaker. If you and I want to protect our individual respective homes, if you and I want to protect this church home, then let's receive some insight in how we can prevent internal erosion. And here's one way we can see it. Wherever there is selfish ambition, there is disorder in any organization. Whenever there is a lust, not just sexually, a lust for position, a a lust for power, whatever the case may be, what you will inherit inevitably is destruction.

There will be problems that you cannot even imagine. The weakness of Ishpisat's kingdom was was for many reasons, but as I said earlier, one man's apparent craving would bring a death blow to any potential of this kingdom becoming something effective long term. The new testament speaks of the same thing. I've quoted this verse many times, but I wanna I wanna tell you about two evil twins. Two evil twins that live in a lot of people's congregations and even their own homes.

James three sixteen says, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, those are the two evil twins. Jealousy and selfish ambition wherever they exist, wherever they are tolerated, wherever they are living, wherever they are not resisted and dealt with in its early forms. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, what do you have? There will be disorder in every vile practice. Abner clearly had a desire to secure his position, and maybe over time he now wants to grow in his position and take over Ishpisek's place.

If that is indeed true, and this is now about to now split up, because he's about to now make his pledge of allegiance to David, it started with his his desire becoming out of control for his ambition to be met. And I wanna tell you that that will be true for any place, especially in ministry. And what I love to do is whenever I see a command like this that that puts that puts a sober understanding of the potential of what we can do, I like to flip it positively to see the potential fruit if you do it in the opposite way. So this verse says, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice. I look at it and say, well, what's the opposite of jealousy and selfish ambition?

Any ideas? I think the opposite of jealousy is what? I think honor. You don't covet something that doesn't belong to you. You don't feel threatened by somebody who does something that you would want or want to do.

You honor them. You see them as an asset. You see them as an addition. You see them as a partner. What's the opposite of selfish ambition?

Humility. It's not about what you want. It's not about your drive, your passions, your dreams. It's about a greater goal. It's about God's kingdom, his name, and wherever you have to fit in the slot to make it run properly, you will fit in that slot.

So let me put it this way. Wherever there is honor and humility, what's the opposite of disorder? Order. Order is good. Right?

There will be order, and what does it say? Every vile practice. I like to say every good every good practice. Every good thing. Where there is honor and humility, there will be order and every good thing.

May honor and humility live in our hearts in this church. So we come now to verse eight and ten. We read verse eight. Let's continue with Abner's words. God do so in verse nine to Abner and more also if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.

Look at this, verse 11. And Ish bosheth could not answer Abner another word because he feared him. Tells you what kind of man Ish bosheth was. Abner's reaction here is not what we would probably think for someone who was caught for potential treason. And people are divided on whether or not Abner really did do what he was accused of.

Some say he's defensive here, and others would say he's not really disregarding the charge, but he's offended by the fact that he would be challenged for something after all that he has done for this man Ishbosheth. Where do you stand? Do you think there's any clues in here that Abner actually did do this, or do you think this is just a false accusation? What are some reasons for us to believe that he did do it, or potentially did it? Look at verse six again.

Abner, the second part, was making himself strong in the house of Saul. It makes you wonder that over the years, if Abner has built a loyalty base and he knew that he had the support of the majority of the tribes, that he felt confident enough to make such a bold move, thinking that somehow it might even it might be on on and to his benefit because he is a support of majority. Look at verse 11 again. And Ishbosheth could not answer Abner another word because he feared him. This guy was a coward.

This guy did not have he did not have courage. Abner knew that because he made him a king, and he made him more like a puppet kind of figure because he was using him to to do something for Abner. It's very difficult to believe if this was Isbeth, his character. Say Isbeth 10 times in a row. Give me mercy, please.

It's very difficult to believe that if this king was this kind of man, that he would have the the the courage to confront him for something that wasn't true. It would make more sense if he actually had evidence that he did do this and with the hope that this evidence would shut the mouth of Abner, and he would be able to put him in his place. Now these are just speculations. Others would say, well, no. Abner, if he really wanted the throne, he wouldn't he wouldn't say, well, I'm going to David's side.

He would say, you know, I have the right, and if he could overcome Ish bosheth with the support of the people, he could've he could've done more things, like what we see in the book of Kings, kill kings, assassinate them, whatever. But no, he backs up, he says, okay, if you're going to accuse me of this, then I'm out of here. See you later. And he walks away. Or, or, is it possible that Ish bosath made this up?

Because he saw that Abner was becoming strong and he realized this is a threat to me, And so let me accuse him of this, and and with the hopes that maybe he will be offended and he will leave and or something. We can speculate, can we not? We can go on and on about what and how and who and how, and we're not going to do that. Because the main point here to draw from these passages was the reason for Abner's desire and decision to transfer his support from this king to David. Was Abner doing the right thing to choose to be on David's side?

Yeah. It's the right decision. Was it for the right reason though? I don't think so. I don't think he's doing it for the right reason.

What reason do you think he's doing this for? Number one, revenge. To spite this man. You're going to tell me I did this? If it's true, then you're going to actually confront me?

You pipsqueak. Right? You're going to come, you little coward, and you're going to actually confront me after all that I've done for you? If it was true. If it wasn't true, that's even a greater offense.

You're going to accuse me of this after all that I've done for you? And so he says, I'm going I'm going to the other side, and I'm going to teach you a lesson. I'm going to make you regret what you just did. K? Secondly, remember verse one.

The house of David was what? Becoming stronger. And the house of Ishbosheth was what? Becoming weaker and weaker. Do you think Abner knew that?

Was he not a professional general? Could it be that Abner realized that his plan is failing? And he realizes this ship is sinking. And because of that, the king comes up, brings up this this this accusation, and Abner sees this as an opportunity to jump ship. Oh, okay.

You're gonna accuse me? And he makes a whole spectacle. He doesn't try to reconcile. He doesn't try to defend himself. He says, okay.

And he leaves so that he doesn't seem like he's betraying, but that he has a story on his side. You know, he made me think that, that, you know, he caused this, he's spreading rumors about me, so I'm out of here. And he joins David's side hoping to secure something in David's blessed dynamic dynasty. And that's what you see because he sends messengers to David, and he says make a covenant with me. We're gonna read that in a moment.

Actually, let's read it right now in verse 12. And Amner sent messengers to David on his behalf saying, to whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you. There's no repentance here. There's no apology.

There's no confession of wrong. For years, you were causing trouble for David. Based on your own words, you knew that David was God's man from the beginning and you still deliberately caused obstacle and problems because you had an ambition greater than God's glory. And now all for a sudden when you realize that your plan is failing, you're going to join the winning side? This is this is arrogant.

This is so obviously despicable. And Paul would say that the motive of many servants of Christ are also no different than Abner's. Didn't he say to the Philippians, some indeed preach Christ out of envy and rivalry? Some indeed preach Christ out of envy and rivalry. Paul knew that.

Paul knew that people went into ministry. Paul knew that people preached and taught the word of God, spread the gospel, not out of goodwill, but out of envy and rivalry. It was a sport for some preachers. We want a bigger church, we want a bigger conference, we want a bigger bible study, we want more numbers. It was this kind of sick competition, and Paul knew that.

So, we have to understand that not everybody who serves God is really serving God. But it's not up to us to judge people for that because in the same passage Paul says, but I rejoice. Why does Paul rejoice still? Because Christ is being preached. Christ is being preached.

You have to see beyond you have to see beyond what's happening in people's hearts. You have to see how even despite that, God's name is still being glorified. And Paul says in that, that's a mature Christian man. That is a mature disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, a mature servant of God. Even even though he knew people were not in the right place, he says that that's up to Christ.

That's up to Christ to deal with them. I'm seeing the fruit. I'm seeing the result of what's taking place here and I can still praise the Lord. That's incredible to me. Abner is not doing it for the right reason.

He wants to make peace. David is up for it. Verse 13, he said, good. I will make a covenant with you. Look, if if this means peace, if this means that this civil thing can can come to an end, then good.

I will make a covenant with you. He doesn't try to dig deep into his motives and reasons, but look what he says here. He wants to see if he's really serious. But one thing I require of you, that is you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face. Wow.

We haven't heard that name in a long time. Okay. You want peace? Go get my first wife. Michal was David's first wife.

Did David divorce his wife? Did she divorce David? What happened? Despite David, Saul takes his wife and gives her to another man. David did not forget about it.

And really, this timing is even more brilliant than if he had done it earlier because now at this point with the contention, with all the things happening in Israel, what greater way to show that the house of Saul is joined to the house of David by marrying or at least reestablishing a union with Saul's daughter? Go get her. I want her. Abner doesn't hesitate. So what he does is, verse 14, David sent messengers to Ish bosheth, Saul's son saying, give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a 100 foreskins of the Philistines.

And Ish bosheth sent and took her from her husband, Paltiel, the son of Laish. But her husband this breaks every time I read this verse, it kinda makes me sad. But her husband went with her weeping after her all the way to Bahram. Then Abner said to him, go return. And he returned.

Sad sight, Years have gone by and this man married Michal, the memories that they had together, the friendship that they had together, and all of a sudden a knock comes on the door and you have the general of the army with all these soldiers saying David is asking for Michal, time to go pack your bags. This man's life is just shattered before him. And you can just imagine as they're traveling on horse or wherever by chariot or walking that this this husband is is scaling along the path begging for them to make a decision for his benefit, begging them to not do this, and they're just ignoring him. Finally, Abner had enough to stop it, go back, and he goes back. Kind of makes you feel sympathetic towards this man.

And this may sound harsh, but understand where I'm coming from. It really is his fault to a certain extent. Isn't it? It is. What business do you have marrying somebody that has a husband?

He agreed to this. He said, sure. He violated God's law, and just like with David and his children, the results did not immediately surface, but down the road they eventually came to haunt him. And what's important to understand from this is Paltiel had obviously confidence to make such a decision based on something. And here's what I argue.

Saul was the mastermind behind this. Saul says, take my daughter. And here's Palpatio saying, you're the king. If the king says it's okay, then surely it must be okay. Do you see where I'm going with this?

So I will take her. Because I have I I have not just the king, I have his permission, the law so to speak. This man has the authority over the land. And if he says it's fine, then surely it's fine. So he takes an illegitimate wife, and he tries to build a future with her and tries to know blessing with her.

And here's what this man and others failed to understand. There is a higher court. There is a greater law than all the laws and all the courts of the land. And listen, I don't care how supreme the supreme court is. There is a court more supreme.

And it doesn't matter what they legitimize or what they legalize or what they make illegal or what they say is wrong. God's law is always in effect. Always. And here's the simple summary of his law. Across all generations, all cultures, if you obey God, you will be blessed.

If you disobey God, you will be cursed. It's as simple as that. And so you have many people today who find great comfort that culture approves of it, government approves of it, my state approves of it, so surely it must be right. You have to realize that there is a higher throne. And that throne governs over all thrones, and God's law overrides all laws.

And if a nation wants to be blessed, it will align itself to the law of God. Psalm nine tells us that the nations will go to Sheol, all who forget God. And unfortunately here, that although here got permission from Saul, he didn't get God's permission. And we save ourselves just like this man from many many tears when we honor this word above everything else. When we place this word as supreme authority, we protect ourselves from much heartache, much pain, much regret, much sorrow.

And this is a clear example of that. And so this man lost his wife. No. He didn't lose his wife. David is getting his wife back.

And if he had understood that from the beginning, then he would have saved himself from much trouble. And if David would have learned that lesson himself, when he understood that you can't take somebody or something that doesn't belong to you without repercussions. Oh, if he had just learned from this. Unfortunately, like many of us, we only learn when we feel the bite of it. When it's in sermon form, it's inspirational for the moment, but it tends to leak out until that thing gets to us and leaves a mark.

It doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be because we can be strong as John tells us, by getting the word of God in us and believing it and applying it so that we can overcome the evil one. Can we pray? Lord, we thank you for this bible study. Lord, it is our desire to be stronger in Jesus.

It is our desire to grow. It is our longing that this flesh would be subject to the spirit. But we thank you for the wonderful lessons that you have presented us through these verses. And Lord, we want we want order in our lives. Lord, if there's anything in our lives that is so obviously outside of your will but we are not seeing the consequences of it yet, blind spots or the things that we have deceived ourselves with so that we can escape the sting of it?

Lord, we don't want to be like Abner and serve you when it's beneficial to us. We want to serve you at all times no matter what we get out of it. And so Lord, we are heading into a day where more and more to be branded as a Christian will be much more difficult than it was twenty, thirty, forty years ago. But we wanna declare to you tonight that we are staying in the ship, and we will honor you by your mercy and grace until you call us home. And Lord, our desire is not to have something within your kingdom, but for you, our king, to be pleased to do what you desire for us.

Lord, we thank you for this place where honor and humility reign. May you strengthen that in us so that we would see greater order in our relationships with one another. We would see greater order in our ministries. And that we would see every good practice wonderful fruit. Oh Lord, there's much we can say but we will sing it to you.

And we finally say before we say amen that we submit to your word that your court is what we appeal to. Your court is who we submit to. Your word, your law, your will, we will not bow to Caesar. We will serve Christ. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.