Hope From the Word

Host: When someone does us wrong, how should we react? Well, a great number of people turn bitter and are unwilling to forgive. But Pastor Bill Luebkemann tells us that following in the footsteps of Christ is the only way to go.

Host: As fast as mankind can sin, God is out there inventing ways to bring him back to him. And the only way is through Jesus Christ, by the way. It is a way that works every time.

Host: And we have no excuse to remain in broken relationships with other people because what God did for us in forgiveness, He expects us to do for others by forgiving them. And as much as we have been forgiven, He expects us to forgive others the same way.

Host: Christians are certainly not foreign to the concept of strained relations. Unfortunately, peace and harmony do not always exist within the walls of the church, even though we are commanded to get along with each other. Today we will return to Second Samuel. In chapter 13, we encounter a strained relationship between a father and a son. By observing where these two went wrong, we will find some advice on Christian conflict.

Host: Here now is our teacher, Pastor Bill Luebkemann, helping us move from frustration to friendship on Hope from the Word. First 23, two years later, when Absalom's sheep shearers were at Baal Hazor, near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king's sons to come there.

Host: Absalom went to the king and said, your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his officials please join me? No, my son, the king replied, all of us should not go. We would only be a burden to you. Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but he gave him his blessing.

Host: So we see here some cunning is going on. This guy Absalom, two whole years go by, and he is not over this thing. This was his sister and he is hopping mad about it. So he gets this plan going, and he goes to the king and says, I want everyone to come down and party with us. But the king will not come.

Host: And, but King gives him his blessing. And then Absalom said, if not, please let my brother Amnon come with us. Now David should have thought, you know, well, wait a minute. Now this is kind of funny. You do not even like Amnon, you will not even talk to him, you do not look at him, you do not have anything to do with him.

Host: Is David that dumb? He is the father that two years later he cannot figure out there is a problem between two of his sons. Is it possible that a father in two whole years would not have some clue that something is going on? I do not know. That is hard to believe to me. Maybe he thought, well, he is finally getting over it.

Host: Maybe he thought, you know, they will finally kiss and make up, you know, they will finally be some forgiveness here. Maybe there would have been some forgiveness if David had done something about it instead of just ignored it. And David, you will see in the next chapter, he does the same type of thing himself.

Host: The king asked him, why should he go with you? But Absalom urged him, so he went with him, Amnon and the rest of the king's sons. Absalom ordered his men, listen, when Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine, and I say to you, strike Amnon down, then kill him. Do not be afraid.

Host: Have I not given you this order? Have not I given you this order? Be strong and brave. So Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king's sons got up, mounted their mules and fled. So we see here that Absalom here is cunning.

Host: And we see also a fulfillment of what was promised to David by Nathan the Prophet in the last chapter, when Nathan came to him with regard to what he did to Uriah. Chapter 12, verse 10. The sword will never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.

Host: Verse 11. This is what the Lord says, out of your own household, I am going to bring calamity upon you. Well, it is already starting. Number one, his son raped his his daughter. And number two, his other son killed the son who did that. So his whole household is starting to go into nuclear meltdown mode here.

Host: And it is a fulfillment of what God promised. And it is all come back on David because of what David did with Bathsheba. Now you could look at this and say, you know, well, David, you know, David sinned with Bathsheba, but why should God take it out on his son? But God really is not taking it out on his son.

Host: It is just that his sons have learned from their father how to live their lives, and they are off making the same kind of things, only to a only more often. They have taken the lust of David and the need that David had to have several wives and to sleep with somebody and they have just multiplied it now.

Host: They are doing it within their own family. So, you know, you could say, you know, David is being punished for the things that happened. But really, his kids are being punished for what they did. So, you know, Amnon wound up dying because of what he did to Tamar. And Absalom is going to eventually wind up dying here.

Host: And it is all going to come back to them, and they will have no one to blame, you know, but themselves. They could have decided. It is possible to be brought up wrong and still do the right thing. And so, they are really being held accountable for what their own actions are. And David here, um, sends Amnon along.

Host: So in a way here, he is complicit with this. Maybe he should have asked the Lord, should I really send Amnon down there? And Absalom's men did to Amnon exactly what they were ordered. And that scared off the rest of the king's sons, so they hopped on their mules and took off.

Host: While they were on their way, the report came to David, Absalom has struck down all the king's sons. Not one of them is left. The king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. But Jonadab, son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, my lord should not think that they killed all the princes. Only Amnon is dead.

Host: This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. My lord, the king should not be concerned about the report that all the king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead. You know, you could learn to hate this guy here, Jonadab. You know, he is the guy that gave the advice already for his friend to rape his sister.

Host: And now he is here telling King David, well, this was his intention all along. This was the intention of Absalom to kill his brother. Well, why did you not say something sooner? Like before, like, so now his friend who he gave the bad advice to, who did the wrong thing, is now dead because of the taken the bad advice that this guy had done.

Host: And he is here trying to kiss up to the king. And to curry favor with the king. He is probably thinking this is going to get him some brownie points by telling the king only Amnon is dead. My friend who I gave bad advice to. He took my advice, and now he is dead. You know, I wonder who else I can I can ruin.

Host: You can see that this guy is not a nice guy either. Meanwhile, look, all Absalom did, you know, you got to give the guy credit for one thing. He was mad at what happened to his sister. No nobody else was meeting out justice. So you can almost understand what would happen if this was your sister.

Host: You would be really hopping mad about it also. And while forgiveness is the correct thing, you can certainly understand why people would get all worked up over this kind of thing. This is a horrible, terrible, awful thing that happened. Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. Now the man standing watch looked up and saw many people on the road west of him coming down the side of the hill.

Host: The watchmen went and told the king, I see men in the direction of Horonaim on the side of the hill. Jonadab said to the king, see, the king's sons are here. It has happened just as your servant said. You know, are not I something? And by the way, I got your son. I it was my idea that he that your son raped your daughter, you know.

Host: And because he took my advice, he is also dead now. So I am responsible for two of your kids having major problems and the third one running away now. He has got a desolate daughter and one dead son and the other dead the other son is out of town and is going to be dead eventually. And all because of this guy.

Host: And this guy still has the nerve, Jonadab to be trying to get favor with the king. As he finished speaking, the king's sons came in wailing loudly. The king too and all his servants wept very bitterly. Absalom fled and went to Talmai, son of Amihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned for his son every day.

Host: After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. And the spirit of the king longed to go to Absalom for he was consoled concerning Amnon's death. You know, you kind of get the opinion here that maybe David in his mind was thinking, well, Amnon got what he had coming to him because he did that. But I do not want to lose my son over this.

Host: But you still have to wonder if David had done the right thing to begin with, how much better things would have been. By the way, if you look back in Second Samuel, chapter three again, with regard to this guy Amnon, his this guy Amnon was the firstborn of David and he was the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel.

Host: And I think Ahinoam's of Jezreel's father was the king of Geshur if I have that right. So it seems like Absalom fled and went to his grandfather, you know, in the other country. Because David had married some girls whose who were from other countries. They were not all Israelites. So you see here just one big, happy, dysfunctional family.

Host: And you see what happens when somebody does not discipline their children properly. And you see what happens when the father is engaged in so many problems, so many so much sin at the same time, a guy who is truly, it says after seeking after God's own heart. David had a heart that sought after God.

Host: But he was still very human. And that should give us some degree of comfort today when we, you know, you have a sinful thought or a sinful tendency or a lustful thought. You know, on the one hand, you know, that is not right. And you need to not think about that and put it out of your mind and take control of every thought by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Host: But at the same time, the fact that you have those sinful thoughts only proves that you are human. Because of the power of what the Lord has done for us, we can we can put those out of our mind if we choose to. We do not have to let them control us. Joab, son of Zeruiah, knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom.

Host: Now Joab, remember, was the commander of David's army, and he was fiercely loyal to King David for the most part. Um, and he knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom. So Joab, you know, what happened was Absalom was in another country, all this time went by.

Host: David wanted to see his son. I think his son probably wanted to come home. Um, I think maybe Joab thought, well, I am going to help the family out here. I am going to I am going to promote some family unity here. I am going to try to get them back together again. He knew that the king's heart longed for Absalom.

Host: So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, pretend you are in mourning. This is all a big made-up act. What you are going to read now, it is a skit. It is a story, it is fake. Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes and do not use any cosmetic lotions.

Host: Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead. Then go to the king and speak these words to him. And Joab put the words in her mouth. Remember the guys a few hundred years before this, who pretended to be from a land far away, and they were wearing worn out shoes and carrying moldy bread.

Host: And they had holes in their clothes and they said, oh, we are not from around these parts. And they made a deal with the Israelites to be friends. Even though the Lord had said to the Israelites, do not make any deals with anyone, they fooled the Israelites into thinking, well, they were from another land far away.

Host: And the Israelites never asked God what to do. And here is here is a case where David also never asked the Lord what to do in this case. And Joab says, go to the king and speak these words to him. And he gave her the words to say. When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor and said, help me, oh king.

Host: You know, back in this day, if you could not get any justice from the local Social Security office, you know, you could go to the king and appeal to him directly. Try going to the White House and seeing how far you get there. But you could go to the king, and that is what she said. She fell down and said, help me, oh king.

Host: And the king asked her, what is troubling you? She said, I am indeed a widow. Remember now, it is all made up now. This is what Joab told her to say. I am indeed a widow. My husband is dead. I, your servant, had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field and no one was there to separate them.

Host: One struck the other and killed him. Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant. They say, hand over the one who struck his brother down so that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed. Then we will get rid of the heir as well. They would put out the only burning coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.

Host: Remember, just in the last, just two chapters ago, Nathan the Prophet had to come to David and tell him a fictitious story in order to convict him, in order to let him convict himself. And that is kind of the same thing that is going to happen here. And this woman said, I am a widow, and my husband is dead.

Host: That is what it means when you are a widow. Um, and your servant had two sons. So her husband is dead, she had two sons. Two of them got in a fight, and one of them killed the other one, and nobody was there to know exactly what happened. So now her husband is dead, her one son is dead, she only has one remaining son. And that is it.

Host: And she says, the whole family has come against me. The whole family. They say, give us this guy who killed his brother. We are going to put him to death for killing his brother. And she said, if they kill him, I will have nothing. He is the only coal I have left. There will be no one to carry on the family name to the next generation.

Host: The king said to the woman, go home and I will issue an order in your behalf. In other words, I am going to make sure your son, you know, maybe her son should have been put to death. It almost seems like David is willing to bend the law here for this special case. She has no other sons. Her husband is dead. We will bend the law a little bit.

Host: And I am going to give an order here that your son can live when, in fact, if he is really guilty of murder, he should have been put to death. In other words, the king was showing some compassion and some empathy for this woman, but he was not doing it for his own son. But the woman from Tekoa said to him, my Lord, the King, let the blame rest on me and on my father's family.

Host: And let the king and his throne be without guilt. In other words, you know, you are really something, king. I really look up to you. Um, you know, we are just normal, ordinary, sinful people. We do not know anything. We are not too smart. Um, I am coming to you because, you know, you are so fantastic.

Host: I think this is basically called buttering him up. The king replied, if anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you again. So she gets an even better deal out of the king. He is not only going to issue an order, but she can bring in anybody that has anything to say about it, and he will straighten the person out real fast.

Host: She said, then let the king invoke the Lord his God to prevent the avenger of blood from adding to the destruction so that my son will not be destroyed. As surely as the Lord lives, he said, not one hair of your son's head will fall to the ground. So now she takes it even a step further.

Host: First, she says, or he says, he is going to issue an order, nothing will happen to her son. Then, um, she butters him up a little bit more, and he says, if anybody gives your a hard time, you can bring them here to me. And now she goes around again, and now she asks him to basically make an oath in the name of the Lord God.

Host: She said, let the king invoke the Lord his God to prevent this from happening. In other words, I am putting you on oath here in the name of the Lord your God that you are going to promise that nothing will happen to my son. And he promises, as surely as the Lord lives, he said, not one hair of your son's head will fall to the ground.

Host: Do you see how he is getting out on a limb here? Farther and farther and farther out on this limb, and the branch is going to break off. Then the woman said, let your servant speak a word to my Lord the king. Speak, he replied. She says, I have just a little bit more to say. The woman said, why then have you devised a thing like this against the people of God?

Host: When the king says this, does he not convict himself? For the king has not brought back his banished son. She said, you have done the very same thing yourself by not bringing back your son. And you have ripped off the people of God. See, he is the Crown Prince. He is, you know, she may think he is next in line for the throne.

Host: Joab may think he is next in line for the throne. Joab probably does not know that David is going to put Solomon next on the throne. So she says, you are doing the very same thing to to to your son that you just promised you would not do to me. And you have convicted yourself by saying this. Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered.

Host: So we must die. But God does not take away life. Instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him. Look, she says, someday we are all going to die. And when that happens, it is like spilling water on the ground. You know, you cannot recover it. It goes in the ground, it goes in there.

Host: You cannot get that water back. You spill a cup of water on the grass, forget it, go inside and get another cup. You cannot extract it out in any any way that you can think of. Someday we are going to die. And then it is going to be too late. And then you will not be able to make this righteous, this this situation.

Host: You will not be able to bring your son back. You will not be able to to restore the relationship. You will not be able to show the people of God around you here in Israel what you should have been showing them. It will be gone. In other words, you only have so much time to do this. And furthermore, God is busy devising ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

Host: This is like the gospel presentation here in one verse. One half of a verse, actually. God, I mean, this is just a fantastic example of the gospel in the Old Testament. What what does the Lord God do? He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain so. Is not that fabulous?

Host: He is busy about the business of reconciliation. He does not he does not do like we do and say, get lost. I hope I never see you again. You lousy rotten bum. Man, I cannot You are going to get what you have coming to you on judgment day. You know, I can you know what?

Host: I I I take comfort in the fact that you will get what is coming to you. Well, you know what? That is that is a stupid way to talk because God is trying to bring us back to Him. And we would be doing things God's way if we were looking to restore relationships with other people that might be broken.

Host: That is what honors God. It does not honor God to break relationships and leave them broken. It does not honor God to say, you are going to get your due, pal. Oh, man, I cannot wait to see it. Oh, man. Boy, it is going to be I am going to be so satisfied when I see you on judgment day get walloped.

Host: God is not willing that any should perish. He wants all to come to everlasting life. He finds no joy in the destruction of sinners. God wants everybody to be saved. As fast as mankind can sin, God is out there inventing ways to bring him back to him. And the only way is through Jesus Christ, by the way.

Host: It is a way that works every time. And we have no excuse to remain in broken relationships with other people because what God did for us in forgiveness, He expects us to do for others by forgiving them. And as much as we have been forgiven, He expects us to forgive others the same way.

Host: And that is this lady here seems to understand that, or Joab, who put her up to that, he seems to understand it. And here it is, hundreds of years before Christ. And now I have come to say this to my Lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will do what his servant asks.

Host: Perhaps the king will agree to deliver his servant from the hand of the man who is trying to cut off both me and my son from the inheritance God gave us. And now your servant says, may the word of my Lord the king bring me rest. For my Lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the Lord your God be with you.

Host: So again, she says, I came to you in the hope that you could help me. And she says, well, she butters him up. I know that you are discerning and that you are and that the Lord your God is with you and that you are like an angel of God. And now the king is wising up to what is going on.

Host: And I think maybe Joab is in the corner going. Like this and cracking up. And I think maybe it becomes apparent what is going on. And then the king said to the woman, do not keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you. Let my Lord the king speak, the woman said.

Host: The king asked, is not the hand of Joab with you in all this? In other words, did Joab put you up to this? And the woman answered, as surely as you live, my Lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my Lord the king says. In other words, you know, I cannot give you the wrong answer here.

Host: I cannot mislead you, I cannot tell you a falsehood. I am not going to lie to you. You probably figure it out anyway. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the mouth of your servant. Your servant Joab did this to change the present situation.

Host: My Lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God. He knows everything that happens in the land. I could not fool you at all.

Host: You have been listening to Hope from the Word. We are currently in Pastor Bill Luebkemann's study of Second Samuel. If you would like to hear this message again, you have several options. Visit our website at ccmarlton.org and download the Hope FM app to your smartphone or tablet, or look for us wherever you find podcasts.

Host: If you are thinking about visiting Calvary Chapel of Marlton where Bill serves as pastor, we would love to have you. Our service times are on Sunday mornings at 10. We also meet midweek on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. You can also live stream from home when you visit our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton.

Host: For more information, go to ccmarlton.org. We hope to see you soon. Before the day is done, we would like to connect with you. Share a praise report, prayer request, or what you are learning from this series. You can easily email us from our website ccmarlton.org or just call us at 856-983-1662.

Host: There is more to come from Bill's study of Second Samuel, and we will have that for you next time on Hope from the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel of Marlton.