Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: There is a lot of husbands, and I have to say this guys, that are wimps. And you guys, you need to say, "Lord, I don't want to be a wimp. Lord, make me a strong man that can say as Joshua, for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. I'm going to take the lead here and I'm going to start really ministering to my wife and ministering to my children and being the spiritual leader of the family and quit whining behind the wife. 'Honey, honey, honey!'"

Guest (Male): Coming up today on Sound Doctrine. Good to be with you today and welcome again to Sound Doctrine. We're in a study of 2 Samuel with Pastor Jeff Johnson. And in the third chapter, we notice how we are not to use relationships to get power. We'll meet up with a few characters in this intriguing story. One who compromised to get power and another who fought to keep it. Pastor Jeff will show us that these power moves led to failure. So we do well to see where they went wrong so that we don't follow down a similar destructive path. Here once again is Pastor Jeff in 2 Samuel chapter three.

To those that believe in Him, He gives the power for you to become a child of God. All of a sudden, there's a translation, there's a transforming that takes place. You're now aware of spiritual things, ears stopped taken out, scales taken off, and you go, "Whoa, look at what's happening in this world. Look what the Bible says is happening. Whoa, look what's coming!" And you start getting excited and you start to tune in to what the Spirit is saying to the church. It's a translation that only God can do. And so from fighting David, now following the Son of David.

Look at verse 12 now, going on. "And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf saying, 'Whose is the land?' saying also, 'Make thy league with me and behold, my hand shall be with thee to bring about all Israel to you, David.'" And here's David's response and he said, "Well, I will make a league with you, but one thing I require of thee, that is that thou shalt not see my face except thou first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when thou comest to see my face."

And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, "Deliver me my wife, Michal, which I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines." And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, even from Paltiel, the son of Laish. And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. And then said Abner unto him, "Go, return," and he returned.

What is going on here? Michal, remember, was David's first wife. Remember, Michal was taken from David. But then David is saying, "Hey, you guys want to make peace with me? All right, I'll tell you how you can make peace with me: bring me my first wife back." Now I think that David wanted to settle the score, so to speak. I don't think he needed Michal. I mean, he had a lot of women, right? Why do you need her back? "Well, I really love her." I don't know if there was a real love relationship going on here.

So he was just doing it, and I think this is one of David's flaws. He just had to kind of get the knife in the back and rub it around a little bit. "Give me that woman back and everything's going to be fine." He said okay, I'll do that. So he brings the woman. In verse 16, and we got a sad-looking situation because the husband is kind of going after as they're dragging the wife off, the husband's going, "Honey, honey, honey! Oh, honey!" and he's just kind of crying after her.

And you look at this situation and you go, "Man, that's a sad thing." But you know what's really sad is it sounds like this husband is a real wimp. "Honey, honey, honey!" And he's not doing anything to defend or he's not doing anything to take the lead here. He's just kind of following after his wife. You know, there is a lot of husbands, and I have to say this guys, that are wimps.

And you guys, you need to say, "Lord, I don't want to be a wimp. Lord, make me a strong man that can say as Joshua, for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. I'm going to take the lead here and I'm going to start really ministering to my wife and ministering to my children and being the spiritual leader of the family and quit whining behind the wife. 'Honey, honey, honey!'" And then Abner just looks at the guy and says, "Hey, go home," and the guy goes, "Okay." And he just goes home. You know, this guy is really fighting for his love.

We got to stand up and in prayer begin to pray and intercede for our family and for our wives. And as we do, God is going to apprehend them. Anyhow, verse 17, "Abner had communication with the elders of Israel saying, 'You sought for David in times past to be king over you.'" And look at this for a moment. Once you give your life, once you make your decision to follow the Lord as Abner has done, to follow David, look at the lives that you're going to touch.

Abner turned around to all of the northern tribes and said, "You guys wanted to do it, it's time to do it." Now I'll tell you something about the northern tribes: they were still being hit by the Philistines. They were becoming weaker and weaker. They were still open game. The Philistines were fighting with them, not down in Judah, though. David was king, and David wouldn't allow the Philistines to have any kind of front, any kind of in to get into his people. He protected his people. There was peace in Judah in the southern kingdom, but not in the northern.

And everybody heard about that and said, "You know what? It would be neat to have David as king. I was thinking the other day, instead of fighting these Philistines all the time, man, it would be great to go down south." And I know some of you, deep in your heart, you're saying, "Man, I'd like to be a Christian. But I got all these questions, these things, family pressures, occupational things, and all these things come up in your mind. I want to do it, though. I've been checking out Christians and I've been watching them."

"And you know, I have one at work, a real one, and I watch them and they seem to have a joy and they seem to be always up. I'm watching them, but I kind of want what they got. I don't know what it is, but I knew them before. I knew them before, and something's got a hold of them." Look at verse 18. Abner says, "Now then do it, for the Lord has spoken of David saying, 'By the hand of My servant David, I have saved My people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines and out of the hand of all their enemies.'"

And so Abner just says, "You wanted it, now do it. It's time to do it." He's the only way you're going to be delivered. He's the only way you're going to be saved. Make Jesus your King this morning and the civil war will stop. Because there's a pulling of God's Spirit on your heart, God is pulling you one way and the enemy is pulling you another, and there's war going on. There's a battle happening here this morning. And it can be won if you'll just go and follow after. It's time to do it. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. So now do it, he says to them. I love that.

Remember what Elijah said in the Old Testament as he looked out to the children of Israel and he said this. Listen: "If God is God, then let's serve Him." And to all those that were around, Baal worshipers and everything, he said, "If God is the true God, then let's follow Him. If Satan or Baal is the true God, then let's follow him. But how long are you going to halt between two opinions? How long are you going to sit there and listen to the gospel and not respond? How long are you just going to not do anything but just leave here again in defeat?"

Because every time you leave here without the Lord, you leave in defeat. And you're out there just getting wasted and you're wasting time when you could get it on for the Lord. And so the Lord waits patiently, and again you're confronted: today is the day. But you must choose. I'll tell you something about David: he never forced anybody to serve under him. You don't see David going, "Yeah, come on man, do it!" David's just kicking back and he's just being who he is and just being right.

The Lord had anointed him, he is king. Listen, Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and He's not going to twist your arm and make you come. But He will send Abners to you who will have a message and they'll say, "Come on man, do it. Today is the day. It's your time to come. Don't put it off any longer." But you got to come willingly, and that's the thing that Psalms 110:3, let me read it to you. Psalms 110 verse 3 says, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."

You must be willing to come. You must say, "You know what? I want to do this. I don't know why, I just know that I'm hurting. I don't know what I'm going to do when I go up, I don't know what it means, but I want to do this. I know that I'm sick and tired of what's going on in my life, I need change. I need to live for the Lord." And the Lord is coaxing you to come, but you got to do it willingly.

Look at verse 19 now. "And Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin, and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron, and all seemed good to Israel and to all that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin. So Abner came to David to Hebron, 20 men with him, and David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast." David was very cordial. And Abner said unto David, "I will arise and go and I will gather all Israel unto my lord the king, that they may make a league with thee, that thou mayest reign over all that thine heart desireth." And David sent Abner away and he went in peace.

So Abner chooses to follow David, to make not David just the savior of his life, but King of his life. And I know a lot of people, they want fire insurance. "I want to know I'm going to heaven, so I'm going to do it." But when it comes to living for the Lord and having him be King of your life here, he's not. But I'll tell you something what's scary about that is you can't have him as Savior only. If he's going to be your Savior, he must be your King. You must make him King of your life. You can't have one without the other.

You must relinquish everything and say be King of my life and everything in my life. And then what will happen? He will reign over you and peace will be in your life. An awesome peace that passes human understanding, a peace with God, and then the peace of God will rule in your hearts and in your minds through Christ Jesus. It's great. "Who will deliver me from such a wretch that I am?" Paul cried out. He said, "I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord." He's the only way you're going to be delivered. The only way.

So Abner finds favor with David. First he's fighting with David, now he's following David, and guess what? He finds favor with David. And what happens when you find favor with the Lord? What happens when you come to the Lord? Warfare, right? It hits you, man. You start understanding spiritual warfare. I talked with a brother after last service, he goes, "I just come to the Lord a couple months ago, my life is going through it. But you know what? I really know the Lord, and I love the Lord, and I just want some prayer because my job's going through it, my wife's my family's freaking out, and I just came to the Lord and all these things are happening."

And I said, "Boy, is God going to use you, brother. Devil must be pretty mad, all these things happening at once like this." And I just prayed for him, he went out of there just going, "Yeah!" He knew that he needed to stay close to his Lord. Verse 22, "And behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop and brought in a great spoil with them. But notice, Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away and he was gone in peace. But Joab and all the host that was with him, they were coming, and they told Joab saying," I love these guys who like to tell others everything that's going on. "Did you know that Abner, the son of Ner, came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he is gone in peace?"

Joab then came to David and said, "David, what have you done? Behold, Abner came unto you. Why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone? Don't you know Abner, the son of Ner, that he came to deceive you, David, and to know thy going out and thy coming in and to know all that you're doing? He's a spy! He came in here to wipe out the kingdom. This guy doesn't really mean what he's saying. He's corrupt! We gotta kill him! We gotta get rid of him!"

Now what was Joab's motivation here? Abner killed his brother, right? It's revenge, man. I don't think he cares for the kingdom as much as he cares for his own revenge. It's interesting what motivates us to say and do things at times. We need to check out our motives, man. And if it's an ungodly motive, dump it. If that's what's motivating you to do something or to go against something, get rid of it. "Vengeance is Mine," says the Lord. Give it to the Lord, He knows what He's doing. We'll see that at the very end here.

Verse 26, "And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah, but David didn't know about it." So Joab's doing this on the side. "And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside, or actually outside the gate, to speak with him quietly, and then he smote him there under the fifth rib," probably took a little dagger and just shoved it into his heart, "that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother." So he did it for revenge.

So Joab, David's general, takes Abner out and kills him, thinking he's really got a victory here. Sweet revenge, you know they say. It's never sweet. It's always sour and bitter and you gotta pay for what you do. The Christian life though, I see right here as an example of how brutal it can get. Here's Abner, he joins and follows David, comes into the family, and then the general turns on him and is brutal to him. More than that, he inflicts pain.

And you know what? In the midst of God's army, there's problems. The Christian life is not all a bunch of easy-going stuff. There's problems within the family of God, isn't there? And somebody even in the family, it could be even a general, that pastor, that guy, what he did to me, you know? And it happens. Could hurt you bitterly. But it happens and that's part of being in the family of God. Let's not cover it up. It happens, there's problems in the family, but we just gotta just say, "Lord, help us through it, help us work through it." And He does.

But as I look at this situation, I see Abner as he's going out and he's falling in maybe the pool of his own blood as he falls down. I don't think that Abner was thinking as he was falling to the ground and as he's being translated and going into paradise, thinking, "You know what? I wish I would have kept fighting David. I wish I would have because of my family been more faithful to my family and to my occupation. I should have stayed with the northern tribes." No man, Abner's going to be with the Lord.

That's where we're all going, isn't it? We're all dying. We're rushing to eternity, every single one of us. If you stay in Ish-bosheth's camp, if Abner would have stayed there, you go into a Christless eternity. And I'll tell you something, one thing worse than living a Christless life, that's dying a Christless death. Come on, come into the Son of David's camp. Make your decision this morning. Get on God's side. Prepare your heart. Get ready for that great and glorious day of the Lord. Put your house in order.

Verse 28, "And afterward when David heard it, he said, 'I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever from the blood of Abner, the son of Ner.'" In other words, David's saying we had nothing to do with this, it's not from us. "We're guiltless. This is not what we wanted. This is not my heart." It's like Shamir when he came out and said what this Jew did over there in killing all those sixty individuals is not what we are representing here. This is not what we want. And he immediately came out with that.

And then he says, "Let it rest on the head of Joab and on his father's house, and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that has an issue, or a leper, or leaneth upon a staff, or falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread." In other words, he cursed the house of Joab. You sowed to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption, Joab. David didn't want to deal with Joab at the time because Joab was a very powerful, a very gutsy type of hard individual and he'd steer through it. So David stayed away from him. He's going to deal with him later, remember.

So it says in verse 30, "Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle." And David said to Joab and to all the people that were with him, "Rend your clothes and gird you on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." The King David himself followed the bier, followed the funeral procession. And they buried Abner in Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.

And the king lamented over Abner and said, "Died Abner as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falls before wicked men, so fallest thou." And all the people wept again over him. My question was when I read this, what does he mean by "Abner dieth as a fool dieth"? Why is that? And let me share this with you. Do you remember that Hebron was a city of refuge?

What is a city of refuge? They had them all over the land. They were places where somebody could run and find sanctuary if they did a crime. They didn't mean to run over the guy with their plow, the guy just got in the way with the plow and he killed him. And now the brothers and everybody's have a vengeance on him and they're going after him to kill him. They got a hit out on him. So he runs to the city of refuge and there he finds a place of sanctuary so they can weed through everything and find out who's really guilty.

And that's why they set up these cities of refuge. But I want you to notice in verse 27 of this same chapter, Joab deceived Abner to go outside the city walls. And when he went outside of the city walls, what happened? Abner was open game, right? And so he took a knife and laid it into him. Today there's still a city of refuge, and that city of refuge is Jesus Christ. If you want to find a place of refuge, you run to the Lord. And as you go to Him, you're going to find safety and peace.

But if we leave Lord, this is where we become a fool. To leave the city of refuge, to leave the Lord is being a fool. Brothers and sisters, do not let Joab deceive you. Do not let anybody deceive you and take you away from your defense. Do you remember when the enemy was after Nehemiah? And they wanted to get him, and they wanted to destroy him? They lied to him and said, "Come out from your work that you're doing in Jerusalem. Come out into the plains of Ono, Nehemiah."

And Nehemiah said, "Oh no! I'm not coming out. Because I know what you're trying to do. And I'm too busy serving the Lord here, I'm too busy building the things of God here, I'm too busy with the things of God to come out there and waste my time. I can't come, I'm sorry." How many of you are so busy in serving the Lord, in seeking the Lord, that you don't have time for Joab or the enemy to call you out? You're not going to let him call you out, you're not going to be a fool because you're going to stay busy with sleeves rolled up serving God.

Staying in the Word of God, staying in your defense, staying in prayer. Because I'll tell you something: the enemy's always going to try to get you away from the Word of God, from going to fellowship, from praying. That's your defense. So be warned, forewarned is forearmed. Verse 35, "And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day, David swore saying, 'So do God to me and more also if I taste bread and ought else till the sun be down.'"

In other words, it was the custom to fast that whole day when someone had died. And all the people took notice of it and it pleased them, as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. David's popularity is growing and he is beginning to just get raised up by the Lord. Everybody knows David and he's pleasing them. For all the people and all of Israel understood that day that it was not in the king to slay Abner, it wasn't his plot, or the son of Ner.

But I'll tell you something what this did, that Joab did when he killed Abner. He caused David not to be king for five more years. It put a wrench in the system for David to become king, five years it put off. We need the Prince of Peace in our own hearts. If we're going to have peace, I mean eternal peace, we need to come to the Prince of Peace. It's not going to happen in this world until He comes back, but it can happen in your heart. You got trouble in your heart? He wants to bring you peace.

And finally, "And the king said unto his servants, 'Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?'" Look at how Abner found favor with David. David calls him a prince and a great man. "And I am this day weak, though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, they be too hard for me. I can't handle these guys. And the Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness." And that's always the place of rest, isn't it? "Lord, You know what they're doing, You take care of them." It's not for me to lay my hands on them. But you're going to work it all out, because You keep good books, and You keep everything down, and You're going to be a just God across the board. Vengeance is not mine, You take care of those people, Lord. They came against me, but really they were coming against You, and I give them to You. You take care. What a place of rest.

Guest (Male): We have a lot of trouble in that area, don't we? Someone does something really mean and the first thing we do is try to figure a way to get even. Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a few moments with a closing thought here on Sound Doctrine. It's our sincere hope that you've been blessed by the words spoken today by Pastor Jeff as we continue verse by verse through the book of 1 Samuel. This great Old Testament account contains some of the most practical lessons we can learn about being a believer in Jesus Christ in the 21st century.

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Jeff Johnson: I can't but just go back to that last great message, actually it's the first and only message of Abner. Now do it. What a message. 18,000 turned towards David that day. Look at the effect it had. Make Jesus King of your life today, and it's never too late, and you're never too old or too young, you need to come this morning. Because as you come, you're saying I want to follow the Lord. And as you come and actually make a step towards the Lord, you're going to find favor with God. The peace of God is going to come in and rule in your heart. But you got to choose. Whose side are you on? Are you going to leave here fighting, or are you going to leave here following? That's your choice.

Guest (Male): There's much more to come in 2 Samuel. Don't miss a moment of the journey here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. A daily presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey.