Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: One of the first things that should happen to us when we become a born-again believer is a change in priorities.

Guest (Male): Here’s Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: You see, when the Lord comes into our lives, things take a different place in our lives, don't they? Materialism, the world, those things that we so went after, all of a sudden are knocked down many places. And they don't hold that proper place. We get a proper perspective that things aren't going to bless me. They're not going to bless my life. They're not going to bring more peace into my life or happiness to my life.

We put them down and Lord as head of our lives, we're looking to Him for all of those things. And if we have things, great. If not, great.

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks for joining us for Sound Doctrine. Pastor Jeff Johnson picks up today where we left off in our study of the life of David. How do you normally respond to those who have hurt you or done you wrong? The world would say, "Get them back. Give them a taste of their own medicine."

But God would have us go in a far different direction. And it's modeled by King David in the story before us. David is about to show tremendous compassion and mercy to the people who wronged him. And that should be our response, too. Here’s Pastor Jeff in 2nd Samuel chapter 19.

Jeff Johnson: Think about the grand scope of things. Think about your relationship with God. What is coming? What is happening in this world today? And ask the Lord to deliver you from the little things that are sometimes pulling us down from the joy of the Lord and the relationship walking with the Lord. I mean, there's so many little things, isn't there?

Deliver us, Lord, from those little Shimeis that they'll shimmy away. We'll rebuke them and just get out of here. I'm not going to let you hassle me. But notice how secure David was. "I am king. I know what God's called me to do." And there's security in that. Are you secure in the Lord? Are you secure in His love for you in the salvation that He's given to you?

That's awesome because I know that when we're threatened, we seek to cut others down quickly. Why? Because we're insecure. Just kill that guy over there. Let's talk about him. Let's just rip him apart with the sword right now. And what does that do to you? That makes you feel better then, right? Because you're insecure in where you're at, so you’ve got to destroy them to feel a little bit more secure. That's crazy, but we do it all the time.

Abishai, again, picks up on what's going on and says, "David, off with his head." And David, again, I love this, he shows mercy. Our God is so long-suffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to eternal life. He wants you to repent of your sin and He’s long-suffering. He's waiting.

We are living today in days of mercy and grace. There's a window here of opportunity to get saved. You either take it or you're going to miss it. And you miss this boat, you've missed the big one. There's a train coming. We used to sing it, the Glory Train. I want to be on that train. Hey, the price has been paid. You’ve got your ticket if you have the Lord. And that train's going to leave station real quick.

I'll tell you something, there is a time of mercy and it's now, but the day will come. Peter says this in 2nd Peter 3:10, "The day of the Lord will come." Later on, we know that David, I think it's Kings chapter two, David speaks to his son Solomon about Shimei and he says, "Solomon, I am about ready to die, but you take care of Shimei." And he wipes him out. He gets his.

Now, the other side of David being a type of Jesus Christ is that David is a human being, right? And we've been talking about the mistakes David's made as a father and a lot of different mistakes because he's a human being. He's blown it in many areas and he's something that we look to as far as learning. Hey, I don't want to do what David did. I don't want to do what Peter did. I want to learn from their example.

David, I don't think ever forgave Shimei. You know how I know this? Because when you forgive somebody, you forget it. And he never forgot what Shimei did to him. He remembered it all the way until almost his deathbed. He said, "Solomon, nail him." Went after him. The same with David and his son. Do you remember how when he brought Absalom back, he wouldn't speak to his son at all in Jerusalem? He never really truly forgave his son. And it caused real problems in his life and in his family.

Remember the prodigal father, the prodigal's father who not only forgave his son but forgot it and said, "Kill the fatted calf. Let's have a party." I mean, he truly forgot his son's sins. Never to be brought up again. When the Lord washes us from all sin, that means He washes us from all sin. When He cleanses us, He cleanses us totally. As far as the east is from the west, so He has forgiven us of our sins. That's a long ways away.

But David didn't totally forgive. And that's human, isn't it? We struggle with this, don't we? We say, "Oh, okay, I forgive you," but you never forget. You buried the ax but you’ve got it somewhere where you can get it again. God, it says in the Bible, justifies. Do you know what that word justifies means? It means like you've never done it. When He justifies us, He looks at us like we've never done anything.

He sees Christ in our lives, the blood of Christ, His righteousness covering us. "That's my son. That's my daughter. They never did nothing. They're pure. They're clean." That's great. And the sea of forgiveness and forgetfulness is so true. There's a sign up that says "no fishing." You don't even go back to get it. Nobody brings it to your attention again. My God never brings anything in front of my face from my past. He has totally forgiven me and He has forgotten. So we need to say, "Lord, give us Your heart. Deliver us from these things."

Verse 24: "And Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day that he came again in peace." Mephibosheth looked bad and smelled bad. But I'll tell you there's never a friend like Mephibosheth as far as with David. And I'll tell you this guy mourned from the day David left.

I don't know how long David was gone exactly, but it was a long time. This guy's beard was all out there. He had nothing on his feet, smelled, and was just in a state of mourning. He missed David tremendously. I love that scripture in Matthew chapter nine where it says in verse 15, this is Jesus speaking, "Can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come," Jesus says, "when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall fast. Then comes the mourning."

How much do you miss your bridegroom? Do you miss the Lord? Remember what Paul said right before he was dying, "I know for me there's a crown of righteousness laid up for me. But not only for me, but for all of those who love His appearing, who are looking forward to the soon and coming King, the blessed hope." To miss the Lord, to long for that return, "Mind stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding as He promised perfect peace and rest."

There's what Mephibosheth was doing. He just always looked to David. "Oh, David. I miss David. David, come back. David, David." Is that how we are today? "Lord, give us that love for You that we long for Your return. We look forward to it. We say in our hearts even so come quickly, Lord Jesus."

Then verse 25: "And it came to pass when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, as Mephibosheth was coming down to meet David, that the king said unto him, 'Wherefore wentest thou not with me, Mephibosheth?' And he answered, 'My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy servant said I will saddle me an ass that I may ride thereon and go to the king because thy servant is lame. And he has slandered thy servant unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of God.'"

Mephibosheth says to David, "Do therefore what is good in your eyes. For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet didst thou set thy servant amongst them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?" David, when he saw Mephibosheth, he said, "Mephibosheth, why didn't you leave with us when we left Jerusalem?" I mean, David heard some stuff from Ziba.

And Mephibosheth just said, "David, you’ve got to realize that Ziba lied. He lied to me and then he lied to you. He just left me. I'm lame. I was just stuck here. I couldn't leave. But I want you to know, David, every one of my house were dead and I was lame and you picked me up. You put me at your table and I'll never ever forget that. And I would never ever turn from you because of what you did for me."

Notice David's response, verse 29: "The king said unto him, 'Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, thou and Ziba divide the land.'" Now wait a minute. There's something wrong here. Do you remember when David finally heard Ziba lie about Mephibosheth, how David hastily made a decision? What did he do? He gave all of Saul's properties and possessions and land to Ziba. And he totally said, "Mephibosheth is out of here. He's history."

Now he comes back and hears the other side of the story, and then he looks at Mephibosheth and he says, "I don't want to hear any more on this subject. Half is Ziba's and half is yours." Hmm. What is David doing here? Is he confused or what? I thought about this and I thought, no, he's not. I think he's making a decision like his son would make later on, Solomon, a man of great wisdom.

Remember when the two women were brought in with the one baby? And they both said, "That's my baby." And they're both pulling on the baby. Solomon came up with his incredible idea, and that is, "Take the baby and cut him in half. Give half to her and half to her." And the real mother said, "No, no, no, let her have the baby," and he knew who the real mother was. I think what David is doing here is he's doing the "halvesies" because he wants to find out the true heart of Mephibosheth.

He wants to find out really where he's coming from, and he will. Look at verse 30: "And Mephibosheth said unto the king, 'Yea, let him take all. Give it all to him, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.'" "David, I want you to know, that's all I want is you being king. That's all I desire. You're everything." And notice that reality check for Mephibosheth. He passes it with flying colors.

You see, when the Lord comes into our lives, things take a different place in our lives, don't they? Materialism, the world, those things that we so went after, all of a sudden are knocked down many places. And they don't hold that proper place. We get a proper perspective that things aren't going to bless me. They're not going to bless my life. They're not going to bring more peace into my life or happiness to my life.

And so we put them down and Lord as head of our lives, we're looking to Him for all of those things. And if we have things, great. If not, great. We pray about everything. We say, "Lord, if You want me to move, then it'll go through escrow and then we give it to You. If You don't, shut the door. If the door's shut, praise the Lord. If the door's open, praise the Lord." It's just praise the Lord for everything.

"Lord, if You want me to get this job, praise the Lord. If You don't, You don't want me in there, great, praise the Lord." Isn't it great? We can do everything in this world but we end up praising the Lord because we trust God to have His perfect way. David said in Psalms 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." Make Him the Shepherd King of your life and you won't have that agonizing want thinking that things are going to fill that void.

Make Him Lord of your life. Let Him be your all in all as Mephibosheth said, "David, I love you and you alone. And I'm just glad you're king, man. I'm just glad you're ruling and reigning. I'm glad there's peace. I'm just glad. Let the guy have everything." He didn't want any of it. And David knew, "Mephibosheth, man, I know your heart. You love me. You didn't love things. You weren't looking to get things. You were looking for me." God tests our hearts all the time on that, doesn't He?

Look at verse 31: "And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king to conduct him over Jordan. Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old. He was 80 years old. And he had provided the king sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man or a very wealthy man, rich man. And the king said to Barzillai, 'Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem.' And Barzillai said unto the king, 'How long have I to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am this day, I'm 80 years old, and can I discern between good and evil? Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more the noise of singing men and singing women? Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto the lord the king? Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king. And why should the king recompense it me with such a reward? Why do you want to do this for me? Let my servant, I pray thee,' he said to David, 'turn back again that I may die in my own city and be buried by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham. Look at this young boy. Let him go with the lord the king and do to him what shall seem good unto thee.' And the king answered, 'Chimham shall go over with me,' he said, 'and I will do to him which shall be good unto thee, and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee.' And all the people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own place. Then the king went on to Gilgal and Chimham went on with him. And all the people of Judah conducted the king and also half the people of Israel."

If you remember Barzillai, he's an interesting character. He's the old man that helped David. Didn't have to help him. He could have made an excuse and said, "I'm too old. I can't get involved. Let the younger people do it." No, no, no. Those of you that are up in age, you need to get it on for the Lord. Get busy for God. Get involved in the things of the Lord. You’ve got time to do it.

And you can really be a blessing to the kingdom of God. So you need to go for it and not just kick back. But get involved in a ministry and get involved in things. Hey, this guy was involved in helping David. He not only helped David, he blessed him with everything that he needed in the wilderness. But then David turns around and he says, "You know what? I want to thank you. I want to repay you for all that you've done for me."

And the old man said, "No, David. I don't want you to." He said, "I listen. I've got my mind other places. I mean, I'm living on borrowed time. I'm an old guy. And I'm just looking for the Lord. I'm looking to go be with Him. I can't hear. I mean, my ears are going. If I was to come in Jerusalem and all these singing psalms and praises and everything, I can't even hear them anyhow.

And then you pass that big huge feast table and I start eating that stuff, man, I lose my false teeth. I just can't get into it. I can't even my taste buds are gone. I can't taste any of that stuff. Anyhow, the palace doesn't tempt me like when I was younger. I'm not into that stuff. Hey, David, all I want to do, I just want to go home. I just want to die. I want to go to be with the Lord."

And what's neat about this old guy is he says, "See this young guy though? Take him, David, and give to him what you would have given to me." And I look at that and I say, "Wow. How many old guys would do that?" Usually old guys get tight and they're tight with their money and they're tight with their lives and they're just uptight. They're crabby and they're stingy.

And they say, "Well, I didn't have that when I was young. Back then we had to walk 20 miles to the store in the snow. We were naked." Right? I mean, old guys sometimes just make you feel like, "Wow." And they don't want to give you nothing. "You shouldn't have all that stuff you have. We never had it." But think about that. Why? Here's the old guy saying to the young guy, "David, bless this guy. Give him everything."

And then I think about the Lord as He looks at us this morning. He says, "I have come to give you life and that much more abundantly. I want each and every one of you to enjoy the Lord, the pleasures for evermore. I want you to get into the things of God. I want to bless you." As David wanted to bless this old man and ended up blessing the young one.

And the Lord wants us to come into His blessings and to receive all that He has for us and to thank God for it. And to learn to be content whether I'm abased or whether I abound, I learn to be content and to praise the Lord. I thought that was great of this old guy to do that. Look at verse 41, and we'll finish it out.

"And behold all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, 'Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king and his household and all David's men with him over Jordan?' And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, 'Because the king is near of kin to us. Wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's cost? Or hath he given us any gift?' And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, 'We have ten parts in the king. I mean, we're ten-part owner in David. I mean, we have ten tribes, so he's ten parts for us. And we have also more right in David than you. Why then did you despise us that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?' And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel."

Now, I don't know about you, but I see jealousy here. And I see a very interesting thing taking place here. I mean, there's big problems coming for Israel. There's still strife inwardly. You know, it's been said that if you get two Jews together, you’ve got three opinions. And here we have these two tribes and we’ve got deep problems, political problems is on the horizon coming up for David. I mean, big problems as far as what's going to happen.

But what I saw here was first they were fighting against David. Now they're fighting over David. Do you see that? Humans are so fickle. Weeks earlier, they were trying to kill David, and now they're fighting for a position with David. "Come on, man, you're a good guy. Come on." And then the next minute, we're going to see later on coming up here, they're going to turn against him again. How did David do it? How did he handle it?

Guest (Male): We'll find out how David handled the unreliable and sometimes betrayal-prone people around him in just a few moments. This is Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson, and we're studying 2nd Samuel chapter 19. Hopefully as you listen to these messages in 2nd Samuel, you'll have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying in these critical times.

God's word is so practical, giving us direction, instruction, and wisdom to our lives. To hear this message again, simply go to SoundDoctrineRadio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app. You can also hear Sound Doctrine on OnePlace.com and wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We would very much appreciate your support. It helps us deliver sound doctrine on stations like this one all across the nation. And you can donate to this radio outreach at SoundDoctrineRadio.org. So, as we heard a few moments ago, David was surrounded by men who were not particularly reliable. How did he deal with it? You're about to find out. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: Paul said this. Paul said, "It is the love of Christ that constrains me. It is the love of Christ that keeps me going." It's not my love for people. Because if you think, "Well, I'll just love people, I'll just get into people," you're going to eat it. People are fickle, remember? You're going to say, "Oh, I just love everybody," and then they're going to turn on you and this and that.

And then finally you're going to say, "Is this Christianity? There's something wrong with these Christians. I'm history. I'm out of here. If this is the way it is." No, no, you see, you’ve got your eyes on people. You're looking to people. It's your love for the Lord that should constrain you. It's His love for you that's going to keep you moving.

If it's a love for lost souls, you think a love for lost souls is going to keep you going? No, you're not going to make it. You're going to die out. You say, "Well, why is that?" Look at Jeremiah. Jeremiah preached for 35 to 40 years and nobody got saved. He just kept going. What's driving this guy? His love for God. What drove David? His love for God and God's love back to him.

He didn't look at people. He didn't let people get him down. He just kept his eyes where they needed to be. And he was able to be king and steady on in tough times, no matter what. Make Him King of your life this morning. Get your eyes where they need to be. You won't believe the change He'll bring about in your life and in your own heart. He wants to do it.

Don't set your affections on things in this earth. Set your affections above. Nothing's going to rip those things off. You’re going to be all right. And whosoever has this hope in himself purifies himself even as He is pure. Lord, come. Eyes on Him. You're going to be fine. Protected from whatever might happen in this place.

Guest (Male): On we go to 2nd Samuel chapter 20 next time on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. Read ahead and join us then. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.