So 2 Samuel chapter number 18, verse one, and David numbered the people that were with him and sent captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab and a third part of the hand of Abishai, the son of Zariah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai, the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also. But the people answered, thou shall not go forth. For if we flee away, they will not care for us. Neither if half of us die will they care for us. But now thou art worth 10,000 of us, therefore now it is better that thou secure us out of the city. And the king said unto them, what seemeth you best, I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands. And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom. And so the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim. And there the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of 20,000 men. For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country. And the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of an oak tree. and his head caught hold of the oak, caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth. And the meal that was under him went away. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this evening. We thank you, Lord, for the song services. Lord, what a blessing it is. Lord, just to be able to come in, to rear back and sing and just worship you. but we're glad that one day, Lord, we will fly away. Lord, this world is not our home, but I'm thankful that, Lord, the things that I enjoy now, the blessings that I have now are temporal, Lord, and the things that I have, but, Lord, I'm so grateful that one day I will trade all of this in for things eternal. God, I will trade all this in for a heavenly home. Lord, I'll trade all this in for a place, Lord, that is beyond compare, a place where sin has no place and sin no longer is there. Lord, a place that there is no longer darkness, there is no more fear, Lord, there is no parting over there. Lord, there is no more sickness that we'll have to deal with. We thank you, Lord, that the promise of heaven isn't just something that sounds good, but Lord, it's an eternal, real promise, Lord, that we long for and we look forward to. Lord, help us as we're here, Lord, going throughout the week, Lord, as crazy as they can be, Lord, as hectic as it can become, Lord, help us not to lose focus of the glorious gospel that you've entrusted to us. We ask you, Lord, tonight that you just meet with us now in the preaching time of the service. Lord, help the word of God speak to our hearts. Help it to help us where we're living right now. Lord, we ask that you just go before us this evening. Lord, we'll give you the glory and the praise. Lord, for what you've already done, for what you're going to do, and what you desire to accomplish in the service tonight. Lord, I'm grateful. Lord, I didn't have to come with an agenda tonight. Lord, I just simply want to be used of you. And Lord, when we make ourselves available, God, that's when you can do the work. We ask that you do it again this evening, Lord, one more time. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We've been following David, we've been studying David, really we've been studying the book of 1 and 2 Samuel as we've looked at the life of David. And I think if you ask David as a young man what he thought being king would be like, he would have a different answer than if you were to ask him in 2 Samuel chapter number 18. And I think a lot of people, and myself included, we want things that seem good. We want things because they come with perks or we think they come with bonuses. But we often forget that the same thing that brings a great bonus into our life can also bring a great burden in our life. It's one of those, if we want the good, then you're gonna have to take the bad with it kind of thing. You know, you think about this, most pastors want to see bunches of salvations, and no doubt I want to see a bunch of people saved. I want to see the gospel go out in effect and have a great effect, not just in our church, but in our community. Most pastors, they get consumed with the number of salvations, but most of them don't want the headache of sanctification. Because those people get saved and now you've got to work with them. And that's the thing, if me and you are going out and we're reaching people where they are, they're going to be in the same place that God found us. A place that's often a mess, often a wreck, often life falling apart. And so we're going to give them the gospel that's great and that's wonderful, but at the same time, we're giving the gospel, we're going to realize there's a process of sanctification, discipleship that the Lord has called us to, that we ought to desire just as much as we desire salvation. Then we see here tonight, think about business leaders. Most of us would want to be the CEO because the CEO has perks. It has bonuses. If you're a CEO of IBM, you get to be a member at the Augusta National. It comes with all the perks and the bonuses, but how many of us know that managing people isn't the funnest job there is out there? Because people will drive you absolutely crazy. Now, tonight, I don't see pastoring as managing people. I see it as leading people. But at the same time I've been there I've managed people and in a fast-food restaurant Those are interesting people to manage those are interesting people to try to get to come to work Why do I need to come into work today? Don't you have bills to pay? Well, yes, but I feel a lot coming to work But I want my you're going back and forth trying to get somebody to come into work and I know it's even crazier now You're crazier now. I was I was driving down the road somewhere. I seen the fast-food restaurant said work today get paid tomorrow and I said, I wish that was around when I was working at Sonic. Instead of having to wait two weeks for $500. Work today, get paid tomorrow. But most people, they want that big promotion, but they don't realize that yes, it comes with some good things, but it also comes with some burdens that come with it. And even parents, we want kids because we want to have a heritage of the Lord. But really, at the same time, we're thinking, well, once they get grown, they can help around the house. They can vacuum. They can do the dishes. They can sweep. They can do all those kind of things. And they can. But the realization is, yes, there's good things that come with it. But most parents don't realize the burden of disciplining. One of the hardest things I do as a parent is discipline my children, because it's never fun. It's never easy. When it's done right and done the biblical way, it brings not just that spirit to the child, but even as a parent, you realize, man, if this is as far as I, this is as much as I taught them, this is all that they know, what have I been doing for the past six years of their life? And so we realize tonight there's a lot of things that come with bonuses, but at the same time, there's burdens that are attached to them. And I think if you ask David, as that young boy at Jesse's house, who's just been anointed king, he's excited, he's wide-eyed, he's bushy-tailed. I can't wait to be king. But if you ask David now, he said, boy, if I could go talk back to that young man. and tell him, yes, it's exciting, yes, there is a palace, yes, there is a throne room, yes, there are all those, but there's some burdens that come along the way. I believe if David could go back to young David, he would say something along this, young man, leadership isn't always easy. Leadership isn't always easy, and in our life, me and you are leading somebody. Whether it's our family, whether it's the church, whether it's those that work underneath us, those that we know by association, we're leading somebody. And we can all testify tonight that leadership isn't always easy. But yet, here we see David, it has not been easy for the past few chapters, the past book of David's life. But I guarantee, here's the interesting thing about David, he keeps showing up. He continues to lead in the hardest moments. Why? That's what God has called him to do. And we're gonna see here tonight as we continue this, in David's life, notice number one tonight, we see a change in David's plan. Chapter number 17, we looked at that last week about the sovereignty of God and how those three men show up in David's life and they got the beds and the basins and they got the cheese and the butter and they've got the bread and the corn and the barley and they've got a feast and it's prepared for David and somewhere once David and his men eat, they get rest, they were weary, but now they no longer are because God has providentially and sovereignly provided for them and now, David changes his mind. He's no longer running. He's no longer running from Absalom. He's no longer going to just go hide somewhere. The Bible says in verse number one that he begins to number the people. Why? He's preparing for a fight. He's preparing for battle. We see verse number one. And it says, and David numbered the people that were with him and said, captains over thousands and captains of hundreds over them. And so David, but here's the interesting thing, David said, all right, I'm gonna take the battle to Absalom, but he doesn't just automatically grab his sword, you know, this is no longer, you know, we find young David, is there not a cause? And so he grabs his sling, looks a giant in the face, slings a rock, God kills the giant. David runs over there with his own sword, with glass on sword, chops his head off and comes back to the camp of Israel. David said, but this time, I'm gonna have to plan. I'm gonna put some things into practice, gonna set some things up. And here's the thing, me and you, we all have problems to face. We all have an absalom, so to speak, in our life. Those problems that come from within, and me and you, we can charge blindly at them, be like the bull in the china shop, or we can step back and say, Lord, would you give me a plan? Lord, give me a proper way to deal with this. Because how many of us know when we don't deal with things in the right way, we just make a bigger mess. We just make a bigger mess of those things. So David steps back. He doesn't just grab his sword and say, all right, I'm gonna take Absalom out. Really, David wanted Absalom to live and he wanted reconciliation. Why? Because David was a man after God's own heart. God's heart is reconciliation and restoration tonight. And so David, if he's a man after God's own heart, he has God's desires. So he's wanting to restore that relationship with Absalom. And so he goes and plans, he arranges the people, he puts them in manageable groups, 1,000 and then 100. So we know at least if he's got, and he goes on and he puts them in the hands of capable men between Joab and Abishai and then Ittai. He puts at least three men over these groups. We know at least he has 3,000 men with him. Could you imagine trying to hide with 3,000 people? It's like trying to play hide and go seek with a little kid. When you're hiding together and all of a sudden, they're hidden, but they ain't quiet. Hush, they're gonna find us. Why? Well, they don't know where we are, Dad. If you keep talking, they will. Be quiet. But here, David has 3,000 men. Now, these weren't perfect men. We'll see that tonight. Joab wasn't a perfect man. Abishai or Rittai weren't perfect men, but they were loyal men. From the beginning, Joab's been loyal to David. And Joab, you can almost see Joab as he's a man with a very short fuse. And up until this point, David's kind of kept him in reign. He's kind of kept him where he needs to be. But we're gonna see tonight that eventually, once they're separated, Joab's fuse gets the best of him. We're gonna see tonight that David arranges the people, and here's the thing tonight, a good leader won't always be perfect. You said, preacher, I wanna lead right and I wanna be perfect. Well, me and you aren't perfect tonight, but if we're gonna be good leaders, whether in our home, whether in the church, or whether on the job site, we're gonna have to be loyal to the Lord. We'll find ourselves loyal to him day in and day out. That's how you be a good leader, you follow Christ. Because is that not where we all wanna go, after Christ? And so if we're gonna lead people, then we need to make sure ourselves, we're following after the king, so to speak. That's what these men did. And then we see down in verse number two, verse number, excuse me, verse number, yeah, end of the verse number two, that David had a desire to go with the people. Look at the end of verse number two. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you, myself also. Now why would David say that? Because there was a point in David's life where he stayed home from battle. And when he did that, that's why he's in where he is now. So that's some of the things that he's facing now. And here he makes the desire, he says, hey listen, I will go fight with you. I will be on the front lines. And we see here tonight when David makes this desire to fight Absalom face to face and to go into the battle himself, we see a different outcome this time. Notice this, and this is one of the great, great signs of a good leader. He listens to the people. He listens to the people. The people come to him and said, now King, David, if you go with us and we start to flee, Absalom don't care about us. Absalom will let us go away. Absalom could care less if he kills any of us. Absalom just wants to kill you. Remember how we looked at last chapter, how they came up with this plan to kill David and it pleased Absalom? So we know Absalom's heart and eyes, he wants to kill his father. Whereas David's trying to reconcile with Absalom. So Absalom would stop at nothing to kill David. So they tell David, hey, you stay back and you secure us or you provide the means for us, you provide the goods for us, you provide the necessities for us and we'll go fight the battle for you, David. And so, and that's one of the signs that here, David's the king. David could've run roughshod over him. David could've said, listen, I'm going to battle, y'all deal with it. Y'all figure out a way to make this work. Kind of like me, imagine if I came in here tonight and said, hey y'all, just wanna let you know, this Sunday we're starting a bus ministry. And you had questions about it. Preacher, who's gonna drive the bus? Where are we gonna go, preacher? Exactly who are we gonna pick up? How many are we gonna pick up, preacher? And I said, well y'all need to figure that out. We're starting a bus ministry this Sunday. You would say, preacher, that's a little crazy. Whereas now, if I come to you and say, listen, we'd like to start a bus ministry, why don't you pray about the best way to do this? Instead of, here's one of the things, as a leader, you're not called to run roughshod over, you're called to lead. And God will put people under your leadership who ask good questions, that make you stop and think, well, this probably needs a plan. We probably need to figure this out. We probably need to ask the Lord, what's the best way to do this? You see how discouraging it would be if we built this thing up because pastor said we're starting a bus ministry Sunday, and so we get the bus and we go to the neighborhood and there ain't nobody there to be picked up. Here, David, he listens to the wise counsel of these people in his army. He said, no, David, it's better for you to stay behind because if you come, Absalom's just gonna, he's gonna leave everything else behind. He's not gonna be concerned about it. We can flank him, we can do all that. He's just gonna run away from us straight towards you, David. So David, best if you stay behind and we'll deal with this how it needs to be dealt with. And so we see David's appeal to his men. He said, okay, I'll stay back. But whatever you do, deal gently with Absalom. Look at verse number five. And the king commanded Joab, Abishai, and Itzhai saying, deal gently for my sake. In essence, David steps back and says, listen, I know Absalom hasn't done anything to deserve mercy. He hasn't done anything to deserve grace. He hasn't done anything deserving for you to take it easy on him, to be gentle with him. It goes on to say in verse number five with Absalom, and all the people heard the king gave all the captain's charge concerning Absalom. That's gonna be important. It's gonna play out later on this evening in the furtherance of the chapter this evening, but here David steps back and it's a great picture of Christ. How many are glad tonight when Christ dealt with you, he dealt with you gently? He didn't have to. In his righteousness, he could have grabbed all of us and thrown us off into hell, but he didn't. He gently came to where you were and said, yes, you're a sinner. Yes, if you die in your sin, you're gonna go to hell, but you don't have to, because I died for you. I'm glad he deals with me gently. You know, and I've heard it said so many times. I was scared to death from the joy of my Christian life that I was gonna die behind the woodshed, that God was gonna take me back there and whip me till I died. That's how I heard it preached. Now, will God discipline you? Yes, he will tonight. But is it a punishment to you? No, it is trying to get you back to himself this evening. I'm glad the Lord deals with us in grace and mercy. I'm glad I'm not appointed to wrath this evening. Yeah, just like it is with my kids. I don't wait for, I'm not over them, peering over them saying, oh, I can't wait till you mess up, because I'm gonna go build a woodshed and I'm gonna take you behind it. No, I deal, we deal with the issues when they arise. We discipline when the problem arises. The same is true with God. God isn't over in heaven, I can't wait till you mess up. I've got my leather strap hot, I'm ready to take you behind the woodshed. No, he's calling you to himself tonight. He's the good shepherd. He's willing to bring you in this evening and deal with us. I don't know how he deals with you tonight, but I know how he deals with me. He deals with me gently. Hey, you don't have to do that anymore. You don't have to say those things anymore. You don't have to live, you don't have to think that way no more. I've changed you, you're different. Why don't you just follow me? So tonight, one of the things you can take home with you tonight is God is not up in heaven waiting to wear your tail out. He's calling you unto himself. Matter of fact, he wants to fellowship with you. He wants to sup with you. He wants to have that relationship with you. Here's the thing, if it would have been that case, he would have killed Adam and Eve physically and spiritually in the garden. What did he do? Yes, their spirit died. Sin had taken effect in their heart. What did he do? Oh, he dealt with them. He removed them out of the garden, no doubt. But really, it was for their good. It was for their good. But what did he do? He sacrificed on their behalf. He slayed animals so their sin would be covered. That's the God that I serve this evening. We see here, David is a picture of that tonight when he tells Joab and all the other two men, hey, deal gently with Absalom. to bring him back alive. Bring him back so there can be a chance at restoration. So we see David's heart and how he changes his plan. Yes, he's going to battle against Absalom, but his desire is not to kill Absalom. It is to get Absalom back into the kingdom where he's supposed to be, under the authority that he's supposed to be under. Then notice number two tonight, we see Absalom's demise. We see Absalom's demise. Unfortunately, Absalom doesn't make it out of chapter 18. Absalom dies this evening, but I want you to know some interesting things about this. Look at verse number six, we see the location of the battle. And so the people went out into the field against Israel. The battle was in the wood of Ephraim. Now if you study any kind of medieval history, study kind of any biblical history, you don't fight battles in the woods. Let me ask you, you dear hunters, you're in the woods, but are you in the thick of it? You have trees all around you where you can't shoot anything. Typically, I don't know, I hardly ever went. I've never seen any deer when I was sitting in a tree. When I did go to deer hunt, but I know this, typically you might be in the woods but you're in a clearing. You've got a shooting lane, you've got somewhere that's been cleared out where you can get a clear shot on a deer. So you don't just go running to the woods with your rifle saying, I'm going to find something. Rambo style, you might, I don't know. I just don't think it would work for me because I ain't running nowhere. Especially in these times, they would typically fight in a field, they would fight in a valley, a big open place. And they kept that up until like the Civil War. Even up until World War I, they would fight in the fields and they would just charge each other. But here, they're fighting in the wood of Ephraim, or the woods of Ephraim. Ephraim literally means a place of double fruit. So we're gonna see tonight, not only was there a physical that took place here tonight, a historical account that takes place, but there's great truth that maybe you can learn from it tonight. Isn't it amazing something happened thousands of years ago, maybe you can glean from? Last we looked, thousands of years ago, God was sovereign in David's life, so we'd be reminded how sovereign God really is in our life. So we see here tonight, they're fighting in the woods of Ephraim. It was a sovereign location for battles were fought in open fields and valleys, not forests. But the Lord had a reason for this. And we're gonna see it in the next few verses. Look at verse number seven and eight, there was a great slaughter. And when the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, there were, and there was there a great slaughter that day of 20,000 men. 20,000 men of Israel died. Those that were under the reign of Absalom, so to speak, the self-appointed king of Israel. 20,000 men died, that's an interesting number. Because last week, how many people did Ahithophel want to take with him? 12,000. And Hushai said that's not enough. Hushai wasn't lying. 20,000 died that day. And so if they'd went with the Hithophel's plan, they would not have enough. And here now we're gonna see, even though they brought all of Israel with them, they still didn't have enough. They still didn't have enough to stop what God was doing. But let me ask you, who did the slaughtering? Look at verse number eight. For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country. Look at the next part of the verse. And the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. More people died in the woods than by the sword. Let me ask you tonight, when was the last battle you heard about the woods killing more people than the soldiers? You say, preacher, how does that happen? They're scared, they ran into the woods, they probably tripped over a limb, different things like that. It really is showing that the Lord was really fighting the battle. The Lord was really fighting the battle. Why? Because the woods devoured more Israelites that day than the sword did. 20,000 men died, and the majority of them died in the woods, by the woods, by the tree. And we're gonna see here tonight that Absalom, Absalom found himself in the same fate, in the same place this evening. So we watch Absalom die, verse number nine, and Absalom met the servants of David, and Absalom, that great mighty king, the king of Israel, rode upon a mule. Absalom had chariots. It's interesting that he rides upon a mule. And it's an interesting thought, but we're gonna see here tonight that it's more than just an historical account. And the Bible says in the, let's see, in the mule went under the thick boughs of the, have y'all ever been on a horse that'll put you underneath a tree? Not fun. My wife's grandma had a horse that did not like to be rode. At least not by me. Didn't like to be rode, and I only rode Blaze a couple times. But every time I got on Blaze, he would take me underneath the tree. Why? He was trying to get me off his back. He was trying to get me off of him. And so I just bit the bullet, said, you know what, Blaze, I'm not gonna ride you anymore. You can go into the pasture, live a good life. They'll make glue out of you eventually. At least that's what I heard. They do with horses. That's what my dad told me, so if it's wrong, go talk to my dad about it. Well, you see Absalom dies, the mule takes him underneath the great oak, and the Bible says he hangs by his head in the great oak. Doesn't sound like a good place to be. Doesn't sound like a good situation to be in. But I want you to realize this, even though, look what it says in verse number eight. It says the bowels of the great oak, right in the middle of it, and his head caught hold of the oak and he was taken up between heaven and the earth. One commentator put it this way, he wasn't fit for either one of them. Wasn't fit for heaven or the earth didn't want him. But notice this here, here's absolutely, he's gained popularity, he's gained fame, he's now the king, and now he's hanging from a tree. Look what the Bible says the meal does. Just walks away. just leaves him there. Can I say this evening, when me and you sell out to the world, or if we sell out to the world, we live for worldly things, sooner or later we're gonna find ourselves hanging in a tree, so to speak, and what's the world gonna do? Just walk away from us. Just walk away from us. Brother Lester Roloff preaches a message called Paul in the Valley, and the meal just walked away. That meal was a picture of the world just walking away from Absalom. Doesn't even care, because why? There's nothing more they could gain from Absalom. He's just hanging in a tree by his head. And so we see that he's hanging there by his head and the Bible goes on to say to tell us that Joab gets news that Absalom's hanging by his head in a tree. Look at verse number 10. A certain man saw it and told Joab and said, behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak. And Joab said unto the man that told him, and behold, thou sawest him? Why did thou not smite him there to the ground? I would have given thee 10 shekels of silver and a girdle. Can I say that? I'm glad that certain men can't be bought. It said right there, verse number 10, I think, a certain man. And so Joab says, you seen him hanging in the tree? Why don't you kill him? If you would have killed him, I would have gave you 10 shekels of silver and a girdle. Said, preacher, what was he being offered there? What was he being asked to take in exchange for taking Absalom's life? He was offered money, 10 shekels of silver. 10 shekels of silver. Then he was also offered a promotion, a girdle. It was a sign of significance in that culture. But Joab was saying, listen, if I'd have gave you this stuff, you would have killed him. I'm glad certain men can't be bought. You go down and read verse number 12, and the man said unto Joab, though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver. He said, a hundred times what you were offering me. In mine hand, yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son. For in our hearing, the king charged Absalom and Hittite, and Hittite saying, beware that none touch the young man Absalom. Preacher, how do I keep from getting bought? How do I keep from selling out to the world? Be more concerned about the command of the king than a chance at popularity, than a chance at promotion. Be concerned about the king. He said, listen, the king said we're supposed to deal gently. We're not supposed to touch him. We're not supposed to do any kind of harm to him. You could have gave me 1,000 shekels of silver, you know, and I still wouldn't have done it. I still wouldn't have done it. And so Joab, Joab, we see in Joab, Joab makes a spiritualized, fleshly decision. He tries to make a fleshly decision sound spiritual. Look at verse number 14. Verse number 14, then said, Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And since Joab was saying, if he doesn't help us, you're too holy for me. You're too crazy. You really believe the king doesn't want us to hurt him? Joab said, I know better. I know what the king really needs. I know what the king really wants. Yes, he said that, but let me tell you what he really meant. And we see here, so Joab makes this fleshly decision, and he tries to spiritualize, he tries to make it seem like he's doing the right thing, but nothing that he does goes and agrees with what King David had told them to do. He told them to deal gently, and Joab is about to be anything but gently, or gentle to Absalom this evening. He chose disobedience to the king's command. Here's the thing, we do it all, we can get mad at Joab, look at Joab, I'd never be like Joab, we do it all the time. Lord, I did this and I'm gonna need you to bless it, Lord. Did you pray about it before you did it? It's one of those, you gotta stop back and say, all right, Lord, I don't know what to do, Lord, would you please guide me and direct me this evening? Instead of saying, all right, Lord, here I did, now I'm gonna need your blessing on it. And here's the thing, Joab wasn't motivated by mercy. Look at verse number 14. Then Joab said, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand. Took three darts in his hand. and thrust them through the heart of Absalom. Listen, if it was a mercy killing, if it was just putting Absalom out of his misery, one dart would have done it. Instead, Joab comes with three. Why? And Joab wasn't motivated. You go back and read about Joab, mercy wasn't his strong point. He was one of those, I'll be merciful to you when you earn it. And he looks at Absalom and said, you ain't earned it. So he takes three darts, thrusts them through the heart of Absalom and leaves him for dead. And then he calls in his young men, 10 young men with him, they carried his armor, and the Bible says they compassed around Absalom and they smote him. So not only did he thrust three darts through his heart, he takes them down from the tree and they mob beat him on the ground. And then they take him and throw him in the pit in the woods and cover him up with heavy stones. Joab was not a picture of mercy. And Joab, that short fuse went off and David was nowhere near to stop him. And so we see right here that Joab makes that fleshly decision, but he's trying to seem righteous when he does it. He was doing what the king really wanted, even though the king didn't say to do that. But the sad part about Absalom is we see Absalom's testimony that he leaves behind in verse number 18. And now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up his health a pillar, which is in the kingsdale for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called the pillar after his own name, and it was called unto this day, Absalom's Place. Think about some of the most wealthy men that this world has known. They've got buildings named after them. Museums and libraries named after them. Most men, most people strive to one day have a building named after them. Let me ask you now, what good is that? Absalom's been the king of Israel, so to speak. All he's got left now is a pillar. Let me ask you, how many knew that Absalom even had a pillar left? until we read it tonight. So many men strive for that, but reality is, they might name the library after that famous person, but when somebody more famous comes along, somebody with more money who donates more money, they will take that name off and put somebody else's on it. So now we don't need to strive for worldly things. We need to strive for worldly fame and worldly success because sooner or later, somebody more popular than you is gonna come by, and everybody's gonna forget about you. And that's what happened, that's the fate of Absalom. Yes, everybody loved Absalom. until he died, and they forgot about him, and they moved on, and they all went back to David. So we see here David, in notes number three tonight, we see David's reaction to Absalom's death. Verse number 19, it's interesting what happens here. Verse number 19, and then said, Ahamaz, the son of Zadok, let me now run and bear the king's tidings, how that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. Look at verse number 20, and Joab said unto him, thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Listen, you can go tell him, but you ain't telling him today. I'm gonna need you to wait a day. Why? Joe is probably trying to figure out how he's gonna explain this to David. How is he, he's gonna deal with this. And so a man, however you say his name, a him, a him, a Hamas, a Hamas, there you go, a Hamas, runs to, he's like, I'm gonna go tell the king that all of his enemies have been offended, Joe. I said, no you're not, not today. How many of us know what that's like? We make that fleshy decision, we're thinking, why did I just do that? Oh, now I'm gonna have to deal with that. Now I'm gonna, it's kind of like that buyer's remorse. That thing you've been hoping and longing for, you can't wait to have it. You know, for a while there, everybody wanted the hoverboard. I want a hoverboard, I want a hoverboard! And then you get it, you fall on it, you break your arm. Why did I even buy this thing? But here, Joab's saying, how about we wait on that? How about we wait a day before we send anybody? So, Joab desires a delay, but here's the realization, nothing stops the truth. Nothing stops the truth. Because another man in verse number 21, Joab said go, then said Joab to Cushi, go tell the king what thou hast seen. Cushi bowed himself unto Joab and ran. And so he sends off Cushie, he's probably thinking Cushie's gonna cover for me, he's gonna deal with it, and here comes Ahimaaz again. Please send me, Joab, I really wanna go. And Joab said, you ain't got nothing to say. He said, please go tell the king tidings. And the Bible says that he finally, Joab says, all right, go ahead, go tell the king. And so Ahimaaz runs, takes off, even overpasses Cushie on the way back to David, gets to David, and doesn't tell him the truth. doesn't tell him the truth. He goes down in verse number 30, let's see, is it verse number 29? Yeah, the king said, is a young man Absalom safe? And Hamas answered, when Joab sent the king's servant and me, thy servant, I saw the great tumult, but I knew not what it was. Oh, David, I've seen some things going on. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know what it was about. He wouldn't tell him the truth. He wouldn't tell him the whole truth, at least. I mean, what he said was true, but it wasn't the complete truth. because he knew what took place that day. But here's the thing, no matter how fast it's coming down the pipe, so to speak, in the media, I don't care how much it's building up, nothing outlasts the truth. The truth will always rise to the top, so to speak. The truth will always come out in the end. It'll always shake out, so to speak. The Bible says, be sure your sin will find you. The truth's gonna come out sooner or later. And the truth always comes out this evening. Here's the thing, we live in a day and age where truth seems so overtaken. Like everybody believes anything and everything. But there's gonna come a day where the truth is gonna rise up again and nobody's gonna be able to argue against it. And so Cushii comes in and he tells David the truth. That Absalom is just like those that have been avenged. He's dead. He's dead, he has died. Look at verse number 33, we see the grief of David. We see the grief of David. And the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, thus he said, oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee. Oh Absalom, my son, my son. Here we see a great picture of the Lord again. Here's the thing, he doesn't rejoice when a sinner goes to hell. He didn't come to this world to condemn man. He came that he might bring forth life. Give them an opportunity, give them hope. Wow, and here's the difference between David and the Lord. David desired to die in Absalom's place. Jesus died for me and you. He died in our place this evening. And so that's why the gospel is so important. That's why the gospel, we need to be sharing the gospel with those around us because Jesus died for every person. And when we get that ingrained deep in our hearts, we begin to realize every person that we come by is somebody that Jesus died for. That'll motivate us to share the gospel with them. That'll motivate us to tell, to give them a track, to give them our testimony however the Lord leads us that way. But when we realize that yes, David was willing to die for Absalom, but Jesus actually died for us. He took our place on the cross of Calvary. We see here the grief of David. David's desire was not to wipe out Absalom, it was to restore Absalom. To bring him back into the family where he was supposed to be, and that's the same desire for God this evening. God doesn't want to wipe me and you out. God wants to bring me and you back into that fellowship, back into that fold, so to speak, where we're in his word again, we're listening to him, we're praying to him, we're talking to him, we're praising him, we're worshiping him. He's willing to go to great lengths to make that happen for me and you this evening. And so we realize this evening how much God really loves us, that he's willing to want us to bring us back this evening. So we see here tonight, we see that yes, David, as a wide-eyed young man, was probably looking forward to the king, and now he sits back and says, boy, the king came with a lot of burdens. Being king came with a lot of problems. but I'm thankful that David continued to show up. David continued to lead even in the hardest moments because it's what gives me and you hope this evening. It gives us the example that we can see tonight that even when it gets tough, it's still right to lead in the right way this evening. It's still right to be who God called us to be this evening.