Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Even if you've been a Christian for a short amount of time, you still have an important story to share. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: How's your history with the Lord? You say, "Well, I don't have very much history. I mean, I've only been saved for a couple of weeks, couple of months." That's all right. Share what you know. Share what God has done with you. And they looked at David's history. And people look at our history and they hear what we've gone through. I think testimonies are so powerful. We need to share what we know.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Sound Doctrine. In just about a moment, we'll hear from Pastor Jeff Johnson as he shares another message from his series in 2nd Samuel. Successful people are all around us, but few actually realize the source of their greatness, and even fewer still understand the purpose of it.

In chapter four of 2nd Samuel, David was about to become king of Israel. The source of David's greatness was God, and there was also a purpose behind it all. This is an important lesson for us to come to grips with in our own lives. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: Last time we were together, we were introduced to Abner, which was Saul's general, and we were also introduced to Joab, which was David's general. And we saw how for seven and a half years Abner fought David. And we looked at Abner as a type of a man who would struggle against Jesus Christ, who is the Son of David. Just always fighting God, always going against the Lord, and just not yielding to the Lord's work in your life and not giving Him your heart. Fighting God.

And we saw how Abner ended up following David, just giving up. And there are three reasons why he gave up. Number one is that he was dissatisfied with his lifestyle. He was an immoral person, and it wasn't satisfying his life. He was sick and tired. He had an immoral and corrupt leader. He was tired of his leader. And thirdly, he was sick of losing battles. He just was not gaining any ground in fighting David. It wasn't working out. It wasn't going like he thought.

And that's how it is with each of our lives. Because as soon as he gave himself over to David and joined with David, he found favor with David. And so will we find favor with Jesus Christ and with God when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, when we finally give in and cry out, "Uncle, I give." We will find favor. But along with finding favor, you will find warfare. And we need to understand that. And we looked at it. Remember, Joab tricked Abner to go outside of the city of refuge, and there he killed Abner.

And so we saw as Abner went to be in the place of paradise, David trusted God to deal with Joab in God's time. David didn't get his hands dirty. He didn't do anything about it. He just said, "God, behold what he's doing. And I'll trust You to deal with him." Because God knows how to deal with an evil heart. We need to know that and trust God with that. Chapter 4, in verse 1, it says, "And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled."

News of Abner's death stunned all of Israel, especially the king. As in the Hebrew where it says that his hands were feeble, he just dropped his hands like, "What can we do now?" It's almost like this nation did when both Kennedys got shot. I mean, how bad can it get? What are we going to do? And this nation was stunned, so Israel was stunned and in shock when they heard that Abner was dead. Verse 2, "And Saul's son had two men that were captains of bands. And the name of one was Baanah"—that's what I call him—"and the name of the other was Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. For Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin."

"And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and were sojourners there until this day." Verse 4, "And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel when they were killed. And his nurse took him up and fled. And it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame." Probably breaking his spinal cord in some way to cause his feet to not be usable. They were just—he was lame. "And his name was Mephibosheth."

Now Mephibosheth, we're going to deal with in chapter 9. We're going to look at his life and deal with him, so we'll put that off until later. But we were also not only introduced to Mephibosheth, but we were introduced to two assassins going on into verse 5. "And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went and came about in the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat. And they smote him under the fifth rib." Remember, we found out the fifth rib is a very close place right to the heart.

"And Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him and slew him, beheaded him, and took his head and gat them away through the plain all night." I think this is a warning to all of you who would have the tendency to sleep in. Because notice, he lay on his bed at noon. These guys came in. Watch that sleeping in. Then the old delivery man trick: "We're here to deliver something." That's how they got in.

And we know that God, in His sovereignty, allowed this to happen. For Ishbosheth, remember, was Saul's son, heir to the throne, king of Israel. And we see now his life being snuffed out. God allowed it. What's interesting here is that if he would have lived and David would have become king, it would have been hard. God takes care of all the little intricate things, and He allows things to happen. Sometimes we don't understand why or what He's doing.

But again, Nebuchadnezzar had to learn a real heavy lesson. And remember, God told Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel that for you to learn that God is the one that rules in the heavens, and He puts who He wants as king over the kingdoms and puts down who He will. "You're going to be insane for seven years until you learn this, Nebuchadnezzar." Because after all, it is the Lord who controls everything. And He does place men up and He puts men down. And so we see here Ishbosheth, his day came and he was dead.

Notice verse 8, "And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron and said to the king, 'Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life. And the Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed.'" They thought probably that this was a way to get ahead. And so they came to David and thought that he was going to reward them for this whole thing. And I love David's answer to them bringing the head.

Look at this, verse 9, "And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, 'As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity...'" David's answer to them bringing the head is a lesson that he learned that, oh, God help us to learn. And that is to keep our hands off of things. Don't mess around. And we're so good at getting our hands in the cookie jar, aren't we? "Oh, I'll help You out, God." And that's not what He wants us to do.

And David learned this lesson to keep his hands off of things, to trust the Lord with all of his heart, to lean not to his own understanding, to acknowledge the Lord in all his ways. And he realized that God is going to direct my paths. Would you turn with me for a moment to Psalms 37? I want to just go over a couple of verses here. Hold to 2nd Samuel. Psalm 37. Listen to this. What a lesson is here for us. "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb."

"Trust in the Lord, do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass."

What is he saying? Trust and obey. Just seek the Lord. And Lord, help us to commit these things to You. The things that we're dealing with today. The things that you're going through. The things that are in front of you that you're just constantly asking God. "Lord, help me to keep my hands out from trying to help You out." Notice what David says here in 2nd Samuel 4:9, "As the Lord liveth, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity." I am here because of what the Lord has done, not because of what you guys have done. I want you to understand that. This is God's doing in my life.

So these guys thought, "Well, let's bring the head of this guy to David, and it's going to be reward time for us. He's going to give us a reward because look at what we've done for David." Well, verse 10, "When one told me saying, 'Behold Saul is dead...'" And so David reminded them of 2nd Samuel chapter 1. Remember what happened? He reminds them. He says, "A guy came to me and said that Saul was dead, thinking to have brought good tidings to me. I took hold of him, I slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings."

"How much more when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? Shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand and take you away from the earth?" And David commanded his young men, and they slew them and they cut off their hands and their feet and hanged them over the pool of Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the sepulcher of Abner in Hebron. I want you to note one thing here as we were reading that. David calls Ishbosheth, the king of Israel, a righteous man.

You say, "How come he did that?" Because David realized that Ishbosheth didn't know what was going on. Abner set him up as king. Ishbosheth was just doing what he knew to do. And David understood that. You remember when Jesus hung on the cross? He said, "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." Yet this man, he says was a righteous man because he wasn't undergirding God's work. He wasn't mischievously trying to do things. "I know where this guy's coming from. You killed a righteous man, a man that was just there. And you went in and killed him. So you will be killed."

So they got their reward, I guess. Not what they expected, but this is what happens. They didn't understand David's character. They didn't understand that David doesn't put up with stuff like that. You don't mess around and think that you're helping God out by cutting people's heads off. You don't seek to do right by doing wrong to do right. The ends don't justify the means. And that's what was going on here.

Chapter 5, "Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron and spoke saying, 'Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.'" Now five years has gone by between chapters 4 and 5. The northern tribes who understand that the civil war is coming to an end, in other words, the northern tribes are being beat up bad. And they're seeing that this is going nowhere. They come to David. And here they are about to put David as king.

His coronation, his being set up as king by the northern tribes, is a beautiful type of an individual who finally, because their life is going nowhere, because the civil war is just eating them up and the tearing of their lives is too much, they finally say, "Okay, I'm going to let Jesus come into my life and be Lord of my life, Lord of my heart." That is the coronation of David that I see here. It's a beautiful, beautiful type of that. And so they come and they say, "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh."

They were coming because they wanted to unite with David. They knew that divided they would fall, but united we're going to be strong. Why should we go on keep fighting within ourselves? And oh, what a blessing if the body of Christ would come to this understanding. Why fight amongst yourselves? The enemy's out there, man. Let's bind together. United we're going to stand. Oh, Psalms 133, "How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."

And when we begin to see that as a church, as the husband of a family, as we begin to unite in prayer, get together and seek the Lord together, we're going to be strong against our enemy. And so this is what they were seeking to do. Notice number one, they appealed to David's being a relative. They said, "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. We can relate." Then verse 2, it says, "Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that led us out and broughtest in Israel. And the Lord said to thee, 'Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.'"

"So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and King David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over all of Israel." So first of all, they appealed to David as a relative. Then secondly, they looked to him in his past history. "David, we watched you. Even though we were the northern tribes, we watched you and what God was doing with you. You fought like a man of God. You were a successful person. You really got it done. And so we're coming to you."

And thirdly, they appealed to his spiritual authority. You see, we really need all three if we're going to minister to anybody in our lives. Number one, we need to relate to people. David related to them and they related to him. We need to be able to relate to people what God has done in our lives, to share with them. I remember when the guy that came to my house for the first time, I heard the Gospel. And this guy came in and I could relate to him. Because I looked at his eyes and I saw his heart. Not so much what he said, but I saw this guy really loves me.

And yet this guy was into drugs too. What's with this guy? And I was into drugs, so we can relate that way, but yet this guy's saying something that I really relate to. He really cares for me. And so the guy says, "Well, will you come to this church with me? Just come on." I said, "All right." He drug me down to church. I got saved. I could relate. We need to relate to people. Secondly, how's your history with the Lord? You say, "Well, I don't have very much history. I mean, I've only been saved for a couple of weeks, couple of months." That's all right. Share what you know.

Share what God has done with you. And they looked at David's history. And people look at our history and they hear what we've gone through. I think testimonies are so powerful. We need to share what we know. And thirdly, they went and acknowledged his spiritual leadership. We need to stay close to the anointing to the Lord. And then he says—actually they acknowledged and they said in verse 2, "Thou shalt feed my people Israel." A leader, someone who's going to minister to people, is a feeder. Leaders are always feeders. They always give the word of God out.

Now Israel, as many do, are slow to catch on. And so Israel finally says, "You are to be king! We see that now." After 11 years. This has been 11 years since David killed Goliath, and they finally anoint him king. They're slow to catch on. And you say, "Well, why doesn't anybody see that I really am called and I'm going to be a minister?" Take your time, man. It takes time. The Lord's hand's on your life, it'll be revealed.

So they anoint him. This is his third anointing, remember. First one was Samuel, second one king of Hebron, now king of Israel. Verse 4, "David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months. In Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah." 30 years of age he began to reign. Some say you begin to ripen until you're thirty and then you start to rot.

I don't know. I think they might be—they got something there. 30. 30's an interesting age. You can't even be a Levi priest until you're 30. Jesus was 30 when He began His ministry. David was 30 when he began his ministry. It seems that until you're 30, you're under-prepared, and then when you're over 30, you're in overtime. 30, there's something about that age.

Verse 6, "And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, which spoke unto David." This is what they said to David, "Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither," thinking David cannot come in hither. David's first act as king of Israel was to make Jerusalem the capital of all of Israel. Why? Because it's centrally located. And this is the place that God called to be the capital. Now you know why it's such a big deal in the news today. Jerusalem being the capital. That they won't change it to Tel Aviv, they're going to keep it in Jerusalem. This is the scripture that they go by.

Jerusalem's to be the capital of all of Israel. So David would seek to make it that way, taking it away from the Jebusites, descendants of the Canaanites. Those that when the children of Israel came into the land, it said they had a hard time driving them out. In fact, it says in Joshua 15:63, I think, it says that they could not drive them out. They couldn't drive them out of Jerusalem when they came into the land. I thought that was interesting. Here they're mocking David, and they're saying, "David, we're too strong for you. We have the blind and the lame on the walls because we know that our city is impregnable and you can't get in here."

Now if you know anything about Jerusalem, you know that it's beautiful for situation. Psalm 48. It sits in a beautiful place, the city of our God. It's a mountain surrounded by mountains. It's actually got a valley, a huge valley called Gehenna that's on the south side. On the east side, it has the valley of Kidron. And then in the north section is Mount Scopus, and then on the back side is a giant mountain that goes down into the plains out to the Mediterranean. So it's beautiful for how it's situated right there on a mountain in the middle and surrounded by mountains. A fortified city.

And so they were confident that they would no way be able to take them. I love to see how they react when we bring them to Jerusalem for the first time. I used to—we used to take groups on the Mount of Olives and put them up in the InterContinental Hotel, which really is an awesome view of all of the city. And they'd close the curtains in the hotel, and we'd get everybody in there at breakfast time. And I'd get everybody eating, then I'd say to the waiters, "Go up and pull the curtains."

And I'd say, "Everybody, look at this!" And the guys would pull the curtains and they'd look because they came in at night. They didn't see anything. This is their first hotel, they're just getting orientated, and then they open the curtains and there is the city of Jerusalem, Mosque of Omar, and you can see the whole city. It's such an awesome—everybody's mouths are, "Oh, wow, man. That's it. Wow." And everybody's blowing their minds. I love that.

Because it is a highlight of the whole Holy Land, to see Jerusalem. We spend more time in Jerusalem than anywhere else. Because so much happened there and is still happening there. It is the thorn in the side of many nations. Still number one news headlines. The greatest battles were fought there. Jesus died on a cross, Jesus rose again from the dead there in Jerusalem and just put the enemy down for good. So of course, that would be the city of the world. I don't think it's the greatest city as far as once you get down inside the city, it's dirty.

I mean, everybody, "Oh, Jerusalem!" and you go down inside of it and you go, "Ooh," you know. And there's a lot of hassles in there and there's crime in there and there's, you know, there's a lot of weird things that take place in the city of peace. And I really wouldn't want to live there. I'm looking for New Jerusalem, you know what I mean?

Guest (Male): We'll stop here for today. This has been Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson and a study in 2nd Samuel chapter 4. We pray you've been blessed by what you've heard today. 2nd Samuel is filled with practical insights for Christian living. And if you'd like to hear this study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app.

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We hope you'll join us for our next study in 2nd Samuel. It's going to be a good one. That's right here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff, a presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey. Have a blessed day in the Lord.