Once again, good morning. Our second Sunday of the month sermon series, In the Life of David, brings us today to 2 Samuel 15, 14. And we're going to look at David's retreat, the retreat that he orders here. And as I enter upon preaching the word, consider the charge that Paul gives Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 to preach the word, proclaim the word, the content is the word. And the next thing that he says is, literally, it's a compound word, stand on. So like stand on it, stand on that word. So in other words, there's got to be a confidence that my feet are on sure footing when I say, well, this is what the Word says, and so this is the truth. So include that in your prayers for me and all preachers of the Word for David next week, that we will stand on these things, that the Word will be the content, and that the labors that we expend on it are to that end, that we say, this is the Word. the best that I can bring it out and dealing honestly with it. Now I stand on it so that we can stand on it. And so today looking at 2 Samuel 15, 14, and David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, rise up and we will flee. For we have no escape from the face of Absalom. Make haste to leave, lest he hastens and overtakes us and thrusts calamity on us and strikes the city with the mouth of the sword. Let's pray. Lord God, teach us from your word today. And we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. So a question we're going to ask concerning this verse and the one after it is, to advance or retreat? And so I'll go ahead and give away the answer here. The gospel is always in advance mode, though we ourselves may at times need to retreat. And we'll expand on that as we go along. So in terms of review of the book, We've got the teaching of the Messiah that begins, as soon as man has fallen, he is taught that this one that will come to slay the serpent and he would come through Abraham, that he would be a king in the line now of David. And so those are the two significant figures in Old Testament history as Matthew saw it. When he began the story of Christ, he made Abraham and David the significant figures. We have looked at David's life with First Kings 15.5 in mind that says he kept God's commands except the one time with the matter of Uriah, that is, with Bathsheba then. We do see, when we consider that more closely, we saw it looks like there is one verse that talks about the king that did according to the first works of David, and so he was stronger at the first, but he still kept God's commands afterwards, which is important in what we see today. So we have David becomes king of Judah, first his own tribe, and then all of Israel. He does the business that was waiting for him as a king. And then we come to the sad and tragic episode of David's sin and its very steep consequences, his adultery in chapter 11. We then saw in chapter 13 his son Amnon raping his half-sister Tamar, and so we're still in the aftermath of that very dark episode. That Absalom took in his heroic sister Tamar, but advised silence. And after two years, he killed Amnon and then fled. We saw that David's heart was towards Absalom at the very end of chapter 13, going into 14, that Joab's wise woman has bound David to priority of family line over capital punishment, something that apparently didn't have a specific case law connected to it to this point, but which she successfully proved, said this case should be decided this way. And so Absalom was invited back. But he still was sour in his heart and did not trust in God for justice. He had already taken justice into his own hands, but he still hadn't learned his lesson. And so we see increasing signs of vanity in him. And so he's thinking, I could bring justice. If I had been in charge, I could have brought justice, seems to be what was in his heart. And so he has plotted deceitfully, even using worship as a cover, has plotted to overthrow the kingdom, to become king in place of David. So now today in 2 Samuel 15 verses 14 and 15, David decisively plans escape when he gets the word that Absalom, everybody has turned towards Absalom. He makes his plan to escape and his servants know to trust him. And there's really quite a lot to draw out of this. And so may the Lord give us good attention today. We could outline it this way. First of all, simply David sees that they must escape in verse 14. And then verse 15, David's servants are ready to obey. They know David, his decisiveness is part of his wisdom from God. And then we will seek to apply this. Does Jesus' counsel mainly advance or retreat for the church? We will look at what part eschatology The doctrine of last things plays in that. And then zero in on four areas, Jesus' example, and then Jesus' counsel, what he said to do. The apostles' example in Acts, and then what the apostles told us to do. So, kids speak. Kids, last time a good messenger came to tell David that most of the people of Israel were now following whom? Absalom. Mm-hmm, yeah. And so, again, here's our verse. And David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, rise up and we will flee, for we have no escape from the face of Absalom. Make haste to leave, lest he hastens and overtakes us and thrusts calamity on us and strikes the city with the mouth of the sword. So we see that David already had a healthy suspicion of Absalom. He's immediately ready to escape, no questions, no confusion. Now, of course, you should ask, well, then shouldn't he have been prepared beforehand based on that suspicion? And we've already answered that previously, no. Our chronicler has been telling us about Absalom's activities and what's behind them, but they were below the radar for anyone not a conspirator as proved decisively last time the 200 people who went with him in innocent ignorance. They're like, yeah, we're going, he's gonna pay a vow, we're gonna go with him. They saw all the things that everybody else saw and they didn't see anything going wrong. So, escape was the right option at this point. As with all his previous escapes, especially from Saul, David made the right choice. He never, stood and said, all right, here it is. Here's where, you know, we have it out. He always chose escape. Now he's back to that mode. He knew that in a siege, Absalom's army would be an eventually overwhelming force. They would be able to break down the walls of Jerusalem or climb them. So knowing when and where to concede ground is wisdom. It's a major lesson here today. David envisioned the likely haste of Absalom's attack and knew that they must match that haste in their escape. And he knew Absalom would be lethal. He will bring calamity and strike everyone with the mouth of the sword. And who was it that had taught Absalom his war strategies? Not necessarily, not the ethics of them, but how to be effective. Well, probably specific tutors, but probably including David, and if David had given it over to others, David would have known what Absalom was taught. He knows that Absalom will be able to overthrow Jerusalem just like we did. We overthrew the Jebusites. Second Samuel 15, 15, and the king's servant said to the king, according to all that my lord the king desires, behold, here are your servants. So they are in good order, despite what probably is a pretty panicky situation. They've observed David all along, and so they trust him. They've seen that David trusts God, not himself, that David trusts away from himself. That encourages them to follow David's example, trusting God, and assures them that he won't be thinking selfishly. Note that they count his repentance in the Uriah matter sincere and complete with no lingering caveats. So even though we know he wasn't as strong as he was before, still he's following God's commands now again. Kids speak. Kids, David's servants trusted him as their king. What king do we trust? Yeah, God and Jesus. King Jesus. So consider, David's decisiveness makes their compliance easier. A leader has to be able to finalize decisions. Sometimes he has to do it quickly when there's an emergency. David's wisdom included decisiveness. He had to deal with any doubts in his mind privately right then and there when he got the message quickly. He likely considered the expedience of a quick war council. Well, let's put our heads together and think about this a minute. But no time even for that based on where Absalom or one of his generals could be right now. Kids speak, kids. Being decisive means being wise about something that's hard to decide. So do we need to be decisive? Yeah, we do. All right, so now we come to the question, does Jesus ever counsel retreat? David's retreating here, so here we are in the kingdom of Christ. Does Christ ever counsel retreat? Which is really a huge question. It might not necessarily be best answered in those terms, though. The question might be better put Does Jesus have a basically defensive or offensive strategy for his church? Or maybe this, until Jesus' final victory, what is our relationship to a world that was hostile to Jesus and is still hostile to him in us? How we answer this question tends to reveal our view of the nature of the church and what God plans for the church. So the nature of the church, sometimes called ecclesiology, and what God plans for the church, eschatology, or at least an early part of eschatology. So, does God plan for the Christian population to exceed the unbelieving population, eventually becoming the dominant world power? That is postmillennialism, a postmillennial eschatology. And you can see how that would answer the question a certain way, wouldn't it? If you had that eschatology, this is where the church is going, this is the church's future, advance or retreat, you would be leaning towards advance, wouldn't you? Now, amillennialism is a second view. It tends towards postmillennium, since like postmillennialism, It sees Satan's binding in Revelation 20, verses 2 and 3, in the present church age. So amillennialism says Satan is bound right now. But a realistic amillennial might lean more towards premillennialism. Might because they say, well, he's bound, but then they have to say that just means he's on a leash. So, you know, he's still out there. They can't deny that he's out there. But he's very limited, you know, and they would look at, well, look, there's so little outright idolatry in the world, for instance, like there was before Christ. You know, that's an evidence that Satan's power has waned. And, you know, again, we've talked about these things in our eschatology Sunday school class. But the third view, premillennialism, does God plan for the church to always remain the few in proportion to the many unbelievers in the world. As Matthew 7.14 puts it, when he says that the gate is narrow, the path is difficult, and few there are that find it, the path to life. But the road is broad to destruction, and many go there. So post-millennialism, the main problem I have with post-millennialism, is they have to say at some point in church history, you will have to turn that verse on its head and say now 51% of people are Christians and you know even if it's up and down at some point it'll be 55% or 60% and it's never gonna go below 50% again. So now many go through that narrow gate and are on that road and few are on the path to destruction. I mean that is and they admit this that yeah that is what they hold. But the premillennials usually say no. The proportion of the church is going to stay relatively few. We don't know exactly what proportion. At this point, premill has been associated more than with a pessimistic outlook. We're always in the minority. They're always going to outnumber us. Woe is us. Well, I do not share this pessimism. In fact, I believe an optimistic Christian view of the present an optimistic Christian view of the present grounded in 2 Corinthians 2, 14 through 17. And that so optimism is really the proper domain of premillennialism. 2 Corinthians 2, 14 through 17, where Paul says that God always leads us in triumph in Christ. And through us diffuses the knowledge of him through the gospel in every place, and it is an aroma both of death unto death and life unto life. But notice his terminology. It's triumphant. The gospel is always triumphant. Well, what about those who it is an aroma of death unto death, which apparently is the majority? And you, as a pre-male, think it's always the majority. Still triumphant. Paul said it. always leading us in triumph whether it is received as life unto life or death unto death. So post mills, though they group awe mills with pre mills since awe mills, however optimistic they might generally be, hold to a huge falling away at the end like the pre mills do. So if you're an awe mill, a pure post mill is going to be, yeah, you're pessimistic too. They call us pessimilinealists. Importantly, though, Satan is not yet completely bound. Though he is not yet completely bound, according to premillennialism, he is restricted, as in the Book of Job. He always has been. But, you know, this is really one of my main contentions towards premillennialism. It's the only one that takes the language of Revelation 20, verses 2 and 3, you know, very seriously. This angel has a chain, he binds Satan, he puts him in abyss, he closes the door, he seals it. So, you know, it doesn't sound like he's on a leash, does it? And then when you read about it, you know, he comes out after a thousand years and is able to deceive the nations. But yeah, it sounds like he's completely bound during those thousand years. So if the church is not going to gain world dominance, how do we relate to an unbelieving world and a Satan who's out on the loose? Well, let's answer by considering then four areas. First, Jesus' personal response to confrontation, and then Jesus' counsel to us about confrontation. Next, the apostles' response to confrontation and acts, and then the apostles' counsel to us in the epistles. Jesus' example on confrontation. And here we got to say, Jesus both avoided confrontation and he didn't avoid it. So he avoided confrontation. Look at John chapter 7 and verse 1. John chapter 7 and verse 1. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now, I wouldn't have, you know, I wouldn't have thought that verse, you know, that wouldn't have sounded right to me, because Jesus, you know, he, when the crowd was ready to throw him off the cliff, he just walked through their midst, and that happened more than once, where he just walked right through the middle of a crowd, And you get this phrase in John that his hour had not yet come, four times in the book of John. And so if his hour had not yet come, why did he need to avoid anybody? But he did. And I'm wondering if he didn't avoid people simply as an example to us. You're gonna walk as I walk. There's times that you just have to use your head. I'm not gonna go right there where they wanna kill me. Now eventually he's obviously going to walk, but he is going to walk submitting to the fact that he is going to die. So John 7 and then 11, 53 and 54 is another passage where he's staying out of an area because of danger. Up until his hour, again, Jesus got out of dangerous situations. Again, when they're about to throw him off the cliff and he just walks through their midst. He modeled a retreat, but it was because it wasn't his hour. And again, the situations in John 7.30, in John 8.20 says that nothing bad would happen to him at this point because his hour had not yet come. But then in John 12.23, it says, and now my hour has come, and repeats it in John 13.1. So Jesus did avoid confrontation. On the other hand, he didn't avoid confrontation. He generally taught boldly in the temple, right? That's what he, when he was on trial, he said, why are you asking me? I taught all these things in the temple, go ask the people I taught. Kids speak, kids, did Jesus stay away from people who wanted to hurt him? Yeah, but did he also tell everybody the truth, even if he knew it would get him in trouble? Yes, again. Oh boy, I've got you all confused now, don't I? Well, maybe I'm confused. I hope not. This is one of those paradoxes. A paradox is an apparent contradiction, not a real contradiction. So when Jesus' hour came, He underwent suffering like a lamb led to the slaughter, it prophesies of him. And so the gospels say, and so he didn't say anything. Jesus wouldn't say anything at a certain point. He was passive, not resisting attack, not resisting persecution. As he said, my kingdom is not of this world or else my servants would fight. So, looking at Jesus, we would conclude, I think, though we don't have a coming known specified hour like Jesus, we are to, number one, use sanctified common sense, we might call it. Number two, be bold, speak the truth. And number three, though, to submit to suffering when it is upon us. All right, so now we move, and I'll make this specifically the application section. Now what about what Jesus told us to do in this area? Well, Jesus from the start seemed to indicate our persecution as a norm, right? It's right there in the Beatitudes. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. So it sounds like that's standard in his kingdom. And in Matthew 10, 23, he told us when they persecute you in this city, escape to the next city. So he actually counsels escape. But when caught, testify. In other words, you know, don't say, hey, y'all come get me out of jail, you know. Get an army, bring some hand grenades. No, he says, when you're in jail, now it's time to testify, right? Luke 12, 11 and 12. When you have to stand before synagogues or councils, you just trust the Holy Spirit to give you what to say in that hour. All right, so there's what Jesus tells us to do. Now, how did the apostles carry this out in the book of Acts? Well, Paul escaped, right? Acts 9.25, they let him down in a basket from the wall of Damascus. He escapes again in chapter 17.10. And then just a couple of verses later, he gets chased out of that place again. And then we do see that escape was pretty much always gonna be a transition to a new field of evangelism, and it specifically puts it in those terms in Acts 14, 6, and 7. And then Acts 20, verse 1, I'm not sure which one, if it's more him escaping or just transitioning to a new field, but really all of them, as long as he was alive, he was just transitioning to a new evangelism field. So that's how the apostles responded, was they also, they did what Jesus said. If they persecute you in this city, escape to the next. Finally, how do the apostles tell us to respond? Well, first of all, you've got the book of 1 Peter that is about persecution. That is the theme of the book. The book cannot be understood without that. So if persecution was not an expected norm, the book of 1 Peter would become just dusty history. Peter tells us to endure suffering, just not as wrongdoers, and that our main war is against our own wrong desires, that you wage war against fleshly desires, 1 Peter 2.11. All right, we have this example in Romans 15, 30 and 31, 2 Thessalonians 3, 1 and 2, both places he says, pray that we might be delivered, delivered from opponents who are opposed to us. Kids speak, kids. Should we pray that God won't let people hurt us? Yeah, yeah. And then first, Thessalonians 2.8, where Paul says, we were going to come to you, but Satan hindered us. Satanic hindrance enters into our equation. which again tells me that Satan's binding in Revelation 20 isn't in this age. First Peter 5, 8, he ranges about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So Satan will do his worst, which again has always been divinely limited. God will use Satan and Satan's human minions to test us. But the gospel will triumph anyway. It seems like it triumphs all the more, right? The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Also, we haven't lost during persecution. We have these many testimonies of persecution, For instance, 1 Corinthians 15.32, 1 Corinthians 15.32, where, if in the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. So he's saying whether he fought with literal beasts or not, which certainly that happened. He's saying that he still was a testifier of the gospel of Christ. Second Corinthians 1, 8 and 9. Second Corinthians 1, 8 and 9. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. So God puts us in those situations and says, you know, I'm in charge in those situations. And then we talked about 1 Peter being a book about that, and so you can see the consistent message throughout the book, 1 Peter 2.15. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. First Peter 2.20, for what credit is it when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently, but when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. Chapter 3 and verse 14. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. Do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. And chapter 4 and verse 12. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. Christ suffered, we suffer. We've seen that in Luke, haven't we? That's 13. That when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. And continuing in that chapter, verse 15, verse 16, go to verse 16, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. And verse 19, therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator. Consistent message of Peter. Kids speak, kids. But if God lets people hurt us, will he still be with us? Yes, yes, he will still be with us. So now that we have heard our Lord's counsel, do we answer our king as David's servants answered him? It's easier when we're not on the run, like today, right? We didn't have to worry about meeting here. We didn't have to say, well, we're gonna have to meet in the woods over there, and probably the woods over there wouldn't be a very good place right next to the church, but, you know, meet off in some hidden woods or something. It's okay to have easier periods, even for generations. Jesus was favored, apparently, for a good while, right? He grew in wisdom and stature and grew in favor with God and men. So Jesus was favored by men and he was 12 years old at that point, maybe until he entered his Messiahship. Plus, pleasing God invites his pacifying influences in our enemies, Proverbs 16-7, when a man's ways please the Lord, he will make even his enemies to be at peace with him. Now, you have to remember, it doesn't say he will make his enemies to be his friends, necessarily, but he will make them to be at peace with him. And of course, that holds to us, that's a general principle, and it can come to an end, and they can harm us. Therein lies one essential in remembering our persecuted brothers like we were with them. Hebrews 13.3 that I incorporate in our congregational prayer every time as we pray for those who are persecuted. Okay, for the walking wounded, even in a whole life that seems to be retreat, God supplies plenty of advance, we must learn how to receive it. All scripture is profitable for teaching, for conviction. Do I advance only in the flesh? Are my retreats my avoidance of walking in the spirit? All scripture is profitable for correction. I will not confuse egotistical bravado with gospel boldness on the one hand, nor excuse myself from representing Christ on some pretended justification on the other. And finally, all scripture is profitable for schooling in righteousness. Oh God, help me to be firmly resolute in the truth quietly confident in it, not myself, and wise in detecting danger. So, to advance or retreat? Well, God's cause never fails, but it is very much couched in weakness, even offense, as Paul describes the gospel in 1 Corinthians 1. In 1 Corinthians 1, 21. For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. And verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, knowing that it is that stumbling block and it is that foolishness. You think about gospel presentations today, aren't they doing the opposite? We need to take the foolishness out of it. We need to take the stumbling block out of it. But if you go right on to the very next verse, it says, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. In whom is the gospel powerful? In us who believe. But even there, the gospel's power is best manifested in our weakness. 2 Corinthians 12, 10. As to our relationship with the world, the gospel is God's triumphant power, both in its reception and its denial. Again, back to 2 Corinthians 2, 14 through 17. where it is a Roma of death unto death and life unto life. But again, how are we to deliver the gospel message to our neighbor? First Peter 3.15, it says, in meekness and fear. In First Peter, when anyone sees you suffering, basically, in that context of that book, says in our life, how can you have joy? How can you not be just broken? And then it says, be ready to give an answer, be ready to give an apologia, a defense with meekness and fear. So, advance or retreat. The gospel always advances when it is proclaimed. When the gospel conquers us, its power is manifested in our humility. When our faithfulness to God invites persecution, we are even more a witness in how we bear it, hoping in God. And go back to those verses from 1 Peter. Let's pray. Lord God, thank you for your words. We thank you for examples we see in the earthly kingdoms of David, and thank you for all that you have given us. that instructs us in similar principles in the spiritual realm. And so, Lord, let us walk wisely as well. Oh, we do thank you for our freedom. We pray all the more for our brothers and sisters who have to put retreat as part of their daily and weekly exercises. Again, we pray for them and pray you would give us a true sympathy with them. In Jesus' name, amen. And now let's turn in closing to the blue worship folder, to the sacred harp tunes, to number 32, Weeping Mary. And let's stand and sing as we are able. to my Jesus and He'll draw nigh to anybody like Mary, we will go to my Jesus See To let Jesus reveal the night Amen. You may be seated. And we come to the Lord's table. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread. And let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the establishment of the new covenant in your blood and your broken body. We thank you that in your body that you did all that we had failed to do, that you were obedient in every area where we had been disobedient. so that you could become a spotless lamb without blemish to carry our sins in your body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live to righteousness. Oh, Lord Jesus, we thank you. We pray we might think about your coming to evermore be bonded with us, to be our elder brother and our representative before the Father And so bless us in partaking of this bread now to think upon you, to honor you, and in that honor, Lord, to think honorably towards one another. For your holy namesake, we ask it, amen. Lord Jesus, bless now this cup, the cup you said, which is the new covenant in your blood, shed for the many for the forgiveness of their sins. And oh Lord, how sweet that sound to our ears, the forgiveness of sins that we who had transgressed and brought upon ourselves eternal separation from you. Yet you have taken that offense in yourself and have become a bridge between us and God, have become the ladder to heaven, the ladder of mercy. And so we pray now as we partake of this cup that we would be thankful that the price which was demanded, the just price of our blood has been answered with the spilling of yours. And so thank you that you did this because you love us. Lord Jesus, we love you. Amen. Lord Jesus, can it be that there is peace between us and the Father? Lord, our faith is so small. We know that if we truly believe this, that our rejoicing would be uncontainable. And so we pray, increase our faith. and that we would have peace in our souls because we believe that you truly have established peace, that the war in our souls against God has ceased. And so, thank you. And now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us complete in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing before him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. You are dismissed.