Will, would you please open your Bible to 2 Samuel 18, 2 Samuel chapter 18, as we continue on. I wanna pray and then get into our time together. Lord, thank you for your gracious work. Thank you that you didn't leave us hanging, you aren't the god of the deist that started the clock, wound it up, and then just left. But you are a caretaker, you are a caregiver, you are faithful, we can trust you, we can lean into you, and that Footprints poem is so true that at times we saw that one set as you carried us, and that's a lot of time, that's the case. And even when we desire to go our own way, you have a way of drawing us back. And so I ask you, God, for each and every one. We think of this story that we're working through this true story from your word of Absalom. It's a picture. It is a teaching us that we're prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love. And so I ask you now that as we're looking at your word here, that Father, we would rest in you and trust in you and look to you. And we pray all this thanking you in Jesus name. Amen. As curious as you think about the times that we live in, how do you view history? I put a flag up here. I try to put up different kinds of flags as the weeks progress. And Columbus Day is actually not this next week. It's the following week. falls on his, what I believe is his birthday, the 12th of October. But what's happened with holidays, you'll see, is it usually is on a Monday now. And that makes it so it's convenient for traveling, for having a Monday off and things along that line. As a child, we celebrated Columbus Day. We heard about him sailing the ocean blue in 1492. But as time goes by and more information comes out, you find out or you hear that he wasn't that great of a guy, that he did things that were wrong. And I hear that kind of stuff. And I want you to do this. I don't want you to be paranoid concerning the culture, but I want you to have an understanding that if the mass amount of culture teaches something that doesn't necessarily like two plus two is four. I think we're in agreement on that. All right. I hope. All right. But what you'll find is, and it seems to be the order of the day, the zeitgeist, the age that we live in, people are looking for anybody to blame. They will point fingers because then they don't have to feel bad about their stuff. And you'll see that. Statues get tore down. People, I remember bringing up Columbus one day and I was just having some fun with somebody and, well, I don't like him. He was an evil man. And I go, okay. All right, sister. And I started to ask questions. I said, how much, well, I just, I read a blog. All right. You do know, by the way, I'm going to put this out to you, that anybody can write anything nowadays, all right, and put it out. And just because it's on the internets doesn't mean that it's automatically true. All right. But you find out that there were things that happened, but we've got, all of us have been able to appreciate much of what is going on today because somebody had the guts to get in a boat and do what they did. And what you wanna say sometimes is you do know that there's things that you benefit from, from this person. Yeah, but they did this thing, okay. And if we looked at anybody, there's stuff, you do know that too. Like if we went down through history, if we dug enough, we'd find something. Even in here, there are people, one that we've been, Really growing to love is a guy, a man named David, who messed up big time, sinned big time. But I don't hear anybody unless they're messed up. I just don't like Psalm 23. You do know what he did. Yeah. And he owned it. And he acknowledged that he was in need of a savior. Now I don't know all about Chris, all right? Christopher Columbus. But my point on it is this, how do you view history? Where do you get your sources? Where do you draw from these things? Because I could start listing things of when he arrived, there were groups of people here that were really cruel people that would do things that were horrible. but people pick and choose what they want to hold on to, what they want to emphasize. And I'm saying that to you because all of history is messed up because we're a part of it. We bring our sinfulness to the situation. And there will be, I know it's hard to believe because I thought, Man, I'm cooler than my parents. My kids would have nothing on me compared to my parents. And so there are individuals that will say, or think to themselves, the way they live right now, what they value 200 years from now, There will be people that will study our culture and go, they actually believed this. And I could start listing the things. They actually thought this was okay. And we can't go back and go. hey, just so you know, what was going on was we believe this because people live in a time and they think they're right a lot of times with what they're doing. Sometimes they don't and they own it, whatever, but the reality is there will come a time where they will look at us and go, man, they really, and so my point on that being is, What can we look to that will help us so that less and less of that would be the case in our personal lives? And what I found is that there's this book that you and I open every Sunday, and I hope more often than that, that acknowledges the fact that people are messed up and that we need a savior. And so let me ask you this, why do you believe the Bible? Why do you think that that has validity? There is a science called apologetics. It's the willingness to defend the faith. And there are bunches of different ways that we can tackle this thing called the Bible. There's three schools of thought that over the years I've noticed that most of the time, defense of the Bible and having an understanding of the Bible fall into. And I've shared this before. If you wanna write this down in your notes, this has helped me. There's a school of thought called presuppositionalism. It's a long word that I'm not gonna spell for you. Presuppositionalism. And what it is, is this. This is the truth because God says that it's the truth. The Bible says it's the truth. Now, you might go, that's circular reasoning, all right? But I'm banking on the fact that he gave a book, and this is the book, and he's put before you these, it's a presupposition that this is truth. I fall into that camp. In fact, I fall into each one of the camps that I'm gonna mention to you today. So I believe it's God's word because it says it's God's word. But then there's other proofs that help me with that. There's also a school of thought concerning apologetics called evidentialism, evidentialism. And what that is, is there's evidence that this lines up with truth. A lot of times with even archeology, there'll be things in the Bible and they'll go, I don't know if I can, and then a few years later, there's some archeologist that digs up something and finds, oh, there's this thing called the Dead Sea Scrolls. It backs up the... the literalness of the word here, that this wasn't just something thrown together, that this has been around for a long time, let alone other evidences. And I would encourage you to read a book if you are a person that's like, I like that kind of stuff. That really grabs my heart. There's a book called More Than a Carpenter by a guy named Josh McDowell. Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter. I would recommend it to you as a book that gives evidence. And I want you to understand that there'll be times because God's done a work in your heart that in your mind and in my mind, boy, if I just give this to my friend that doesn't know the Lord, if I just give them this, they will immediately resonate with this. They will immediately jump on this and believe like I believe. And I wanna pop that bubble for you. I'm sad to say, but this is just the reality. You'll have that with a song. Sometimes you'll have this song, oh, this song, just does a, oh, this just ministers to my heart. And you cry every time you hear this song and you put that before your friend and you go listen and they go, I just didn't like it. And you're like, that song ministered to my heart. So evidentialism can do that. And a part of the reason that it's resonating so much with you is God's done a work in your heart. That's because you're like, oh, this makes sense to me. Last school of thought. Experientialism. Experientialism. That is a life that has been changed. You'll meet people, and I have friends from high school that were like really interesting. And you know, interesting's my safe word, all right? But they were interesting. And later, and they knew I was a Christian, not because I was so great, all right? It's because I would tell people. and talk about the gospel, and I'll have friends contact, hey, just so you know, I got saved. Remember you were telling me about this, but, and it wasn't me that led him to the Lord, God did this work later, and it was just, and they go, and he's changed my life, and he really did. There's a song that says, he lives. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. And people go, boy, that's a lame apologetic that you asked me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart. But you know it's the truth because he changed your life. He made your heart and life different. And you can't explain it because you know you, you know how you're wired. And so I say all that to you, that those are schools of thought that help us have an understanding of the defense of the faith, defense of the words that we would know, there's validity to the word of God. So history will be studied in many different ways. There'll be a lot of different viewpoints of things. And I love the fact that you and I can come back to a book that we can rest in because of it having a divine author ultimately, okay? So let's get into it again together because... I love how the word of God, even with these chapter breaks, almost provide us cliffhangers. Isn't that the case? I know that's the case for me as I'm reading the word and I'm going through it. We get done with a chapter and it's like, well, what happened next? You know, you want, I love that about if you ever binge any shows on Netflix or you binge a show and you're like, I got to wait a week. You know, we've gotten so spoiled, you know, By the way, you can read the Bible through the week, I want you to know. You can keep going. So let's look at this point number one. If you're taking notes, there's a spot in the back of your bulletin to do just that, but watch the refusal. Watch the refusal. Look at verse one in the first part of verse two with me. Then David mustered the men who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commander commanders of hundreds, and David sent out the army, 1 3rd under the command of Joab, 1 3rd under the command of Abishai, the son of Zerui, Joab's brother, and 1 3rd under the command of Ittai, the Gittite. I want you to look back earlier in chapter 17. Remember what had just happened? He had some faithful friends that came in contact with him and his band of people that were with him. He had 600 that were traveling with him and they had presented them a meal. It's almost like that Psalm 23, like I think it's verse five, you present or you have a meal in the presence of my enemies. David can literally say that lunch has been set before him and he's on the run. And so then he has to put an army together because he's gotten news that Absalom, who had gotten advice from two guys, remember? He got advice from Ahithophel who had told him, hey, let me just go out. Let me take care of this. We'll cut off the head of the snake, that being David in his mind. If we do that, then the rest of the people, it'll almost be like dominoes. They'll all fall. And Ahithophel's advice is not taken. And we find out from the hinge, remember you were talking about the hinge last week, that God was behind all of this anyways. And he believes in the advice of Hushai, David's friend. And he appealed to Absalom's vanity. Whereas Ahithophel said, hey, I'll take care of this. You just stay back. Hushai says, and what we can do is we'll get a big army put together and you will lead us. And what appealed more to Absalom's ego was that. And so he goes and he says, yeah, I like your idea better. And Ahithophel goes home. His advice has been rejected. He can see the writing on the wall and he takes his life. Well, David's army we see has grown here from 600, that was earlier, but people are starting to realize who really is the king and others are coming. And he systematically is organizing his men. I love the fact that David is a general. He's about 61 or 62 at this place. I'm 62 right now, so I can resonate with his age. I can't necessarily resonate with his giftedness, okay? He's still got this heart, but he's gonna send out his army under these three generals. And I want you to notice the three different people. He's got a Joab there, He's got Abishai, remember Abishai is the guy who's willing to cut off anybody's head at any time, you know, that guy. And then Ittai, and Ittai is a Philistine. He's from Gath. And so it's further proof that God isn't locked in. to the people of Israel just because somebody was Jewish, he's locked into belief. He's locked into those that are willing to follow. We see that with Ruth and others in the Old Testament. And so that's what's happened. and he's got the honor, this guy that grew up, he's a part of people that were actually usually enemies of Israel, but because he's shown his faithfulness, because he's proven himself to be a friend of David's, he gives him that leadership. Well, let's keep going. The second part of verse two, and the king said to the man, 62 years old, I myself will also go out with you. I'll do this. It's almost like we see the greater David saying this in Matthew 28, verse 20, teach and observe all things that I've commanded and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So this is the pattern with sons of David, David and his sons, that they would be somebody that would say, I'm gonna be with you in the fight. but I want you to look at the response of the people to him. Look at verses three and four. But the men said, you shall not go out. Now, remember they're talking to the king. you shall not go out. And I don't think they were saying it to him because you're old and you don't know how to fight anymore. It's not that, that would be foolish thing to say, all right? Because you ever notice, you ever watch these guys that as they get older and they're even in sports, now some of them, okay, it's time to stop, all right? It's time to stop, all right? But there are some that when you play sports with them, they play smarter. You ever see that? They'll do things and you're like, I'm thinking I'm young, I'm a whippersnapper. I'm not young, but anyways, back in the day, and you play this older guy in basketball. I'm like, I can jump higher than this guy. And you start to play him and he's learned how to position his body in ways that you're not getting rebounds. You're not, and he'll make these moves and do these things. And you're like, well, I think David is still very adequate. I mean, you look at how he even organized the army here. They could use his expertise, but they say to him, you shall not go out. Now look at their response. You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth 10,000 of us. Therefore, it is better that you send us help from the city. You think about that. He's the fairest of 10,000, all right? There's a song that has that. He's the fairest of 10,000. And they view it that way. And it's almost like they're following the advice of Ahithophel. They're willing to say to him, no, you don't go out, we'll go out. And ego, ego would say, now wait a second, and strap on, I'm gonna, I can still do this. but a willingness, a humble willingness to say, look, verse four, the king said to them, whatever seems best to you, I will do. So the king stood at the side of the gate while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. I love that picture. I love the willingness, the humility of David to say, whatever you say, I'll do. He's realized there's wisdom in that. And I also love the scene here. I don't know if you've ever watched any military movies from back in the day. You ever see the columns marching out and there is a commander watching them? And I get emotional even thinking about this. And they're marching and then they go, eyes right. And you can just see all of them. And they look at him and there's a saluting going on. And then they go, keep going. I feel like they are all looking out as they go into battle. We're fighting for our king. We love him. We want him to be safe. We want him to be protected. We want his kingdom to stand. And so he doesn't go. He knows better not to do it. So he stays by the gate and he watches. And Joab and the commanders are actually following the wisdom of Ahithophel. And if Absalom had followed the wisdom of Ahithophel, But God had, remember, God had clouded his mind. God had done a work. You saw that hinge verse back in the 17th chapter. Well, we'll see what happens with Absalom here. I don't want to ruin the story for you, all right? Point number two, watch the request. Watch the request. Now look at this. After all that Absalom has done, we think back to what Absalom has done against his dad. Look at the request. And the king, ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. So you think about this fact, this boy, this rebellious son with his flowing locks, all right, with his beauty from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, this good-looking kid who's done some bad stuff against daddy, who's done some bad stuff against Israel, who actually burned Joab's barley field, this spoiled brat, David still looks and says, would you please deal gently? Would you deal kindly with the young man Absalom? And if you don't get that, if there's not one part of you that gets that, then you and I may not understand the heart of God. He's ordering his three commanders not to harm Absalom. He calls him his young man. He loves his son. And you may be here today and you've got a son or a daughter that is not walking with God. or they're making decisions or doing things that you're like, what is going on? But you still love them dearly. And you want so badly for them to be spared. You want them to come back to the Lord. You want them to walk right. But everything in you is like, but please don't hurt them. Please don't hurt them. Because you love them. And can your heart go out to David here? Mine does. So it's a heart of love and it's also a picture of God. You think about the love of the Father for disobedient sons. That's God, that's God. Well, let's keep going. Watch the routing. Point number three, watch the routing. Look at verse six with me. So the army went out into the field against Israel and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. We gotta remember too about David. David is a smart general. He's a smart leader. He talked tactics. You almost have the idea, I don't know if you've ever watched those old World War II films where they've got the map out and they've got the pointer and they're going, you know, you go here and here and, you know, they're saying all this different stuff concerning battle. And you've gotta think that David, because he's been on the run, he ran from Saul so often, he knew that land, he knew the terrain, he knew the stuff. He knew what would it work for, you know, for Absalom's new ride, his chariot. I'm not gonna let him have the glory. I'm not gonna pick some flat land so that he can ride with his, you know, entourage of 50 men running in front. I'm gonna make this as difficult as possible. I'm gonna have him fight in the forest. I had opportunity to travel to Gettysburg. If you ever get a chance, there's so many of these places and you go around to see the battlegrounds of what went on, even in our own country. and the fight that went on in Gettysburg. If you ever watched that movie and you see that scene where they're in the forest and all the different stuff that's going on there. They've got trees that they're dealing with. They've got the bushes and all the different, it isn't like they set up things, okay, let's make this as easy as possible. They're dealing with what they're dealing with. And so that's what's happening here in the forest of Ephraim. And the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, And the loss there was great on that day, 20,000 men. Now I want you to look at this next line. The battle spread over the face of all the country. Now look at this next part of the verse, because it almost sounds like, wow. And the forest devoured more people that day than the sword. As I was doing study this week, I thought, well, that's an interesting verse. It doesn't shock us when you hear of hailstones. Remember in Joshua, where there's a battle going on and hailstones were coming down from heaven that were so big, more people died from the hailstones from God than from the sword of those in Israel. Now, do you believe that? That sounds, that sounds, Almost like a fantasy thing. It almost sounds like, and then you read this passage here, and the forest devoured more than the sword. And I, you know, my mind, it's scary what goes in my mind, you know, but I saw the Wizard of Oz. Remember those trees in the Wizard of Oz? Thank you, you're with me. I got sick people with me here, all right? And then those of you that aren't, you know, but you saw Lord of the Rings and you saw those trees walking with the, am I right? I know you're like, I fell asleep most of the time in those movies. I know, I know that's blasphemy with some of you, all right? But they're so long. But the Wizard of Oz, just to write something. But I thought, what this must've looked like. What this must've looked like. And I don't know, I'm just putting out, God could do that. I don't think it was that, because that sounds too interesting. But you do know in the Bible, we've got a donkey talking. God can do anything. And so I read this and I'm like, hmm, wonder what that looked like. It could be just the fact of people getting caught in the trees. It could be also people getting in there and then realizing we're losing and I'm gonna switch sides, come out on the other side of the forest and go, you know, I was with David. Put on a new tunic, I don't know, if it wasn't blue and gray, I don't know how that was playing out. But lots of things as we look in the word here and we look at it, what could this have meant? But I'm gonna take it for what it's worth, God did a work without the sword having to be used the whole time. I'll tell you, this is what's fun about Bible study. We can talk like this and you don't go, he actually believes apples were being thrown by trees. All right. But it makes it where you go, God did what he did and he took care of it. And we see here, you gotta remember, Absalom is the antichrist. Now you hear that and you're like, Antichrist, why would you say that? That's a New Testament concept. Christos means the anointed one. David was the Christos at that time. David is the Christ of that time. He's the anointed one of that time. Absalom is not the Christos. He's the Antichrist. And so God is going to do something here. He's going to take care of it. And I want you to watch point number four. I want you to watch the reprisal. Look at verse nine. And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Now, I love how God puts that sometimes in the Word. Like, it just so happened, but you know, no, God's behind this. The hinge, remember the hinge. Remember that he's behind the veil of what's going on. Happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule, by the way, was an animal of royalty. And the mule went under the thick branches of a great terebinth and his head caught fast in the oak. And you remember, a lot of times you head caught, what did that look like? Did a tree grab him? Or did he just, he was riding so fast, he looked back and he had his head caught? And a lot of times people will say, what was hair? It was his long hair got caught. because they're bitter about long hair. I don't understand that. I remember there was a song, I sent this song to Lori and Don as a song we could have sung in church. If your hair's too long, there's sin in your heart. Get it cut today, make a brand new start. But I don't know the rest of the words, and we're not gonna sing that, all right? I'm not bitter, but bald is beautiful. We do know that, okay? But we see Absalom riding in and he's on this vehicle of the king. He's riding in and he gets his head caught, his hair, his head, but it's almost like the source of his pride. I mean, we have the verses earlier that talk about it. His pride is what got him. And now he's hanging in a tree. Deuteronomy 21, 22, 23, this is interesting. And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God has given you for an inheritance. And then we see in Galatians chapter three, how Paul uses this verse it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. And so Jesus Christ is a picture of that, hanging on a tree for you and me, but now we have a son of David here who is hanging in a tree right now. And it's not of his own doing. He's not willing to do this. He's been caught. Look at verse 10. And a certain man saw it and told Joab, behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. And Joab said to the man who told, what, you saw him? Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you 10 pieces of silver and a belt. But the man said to Joab, even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king's son. For in our hearing, so this guy heard, for in our hearing, the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, for my sake, protect the young man Absalom. So this guy hears that. Why did you kill him? Because, and I know you give me that, but I remember what the king said. Look at verse 14. Well, let's keep going. Verse 13, let's finish up. So he knows Joab. He's been around Joab enough to know what kind of guy he is. And he said, yeah, if I killed him, if I killed him, and it came back that I was the one who killed him, I know you'd burn me, basically. I know you wouldn't, you just stand there while I own, you know, what I said, even after the king, I heard the king, what he said, look at verse 14. Joab said, I will not waste time like this with you. Isn't it interesting when somebody has an argument, sometimes you ever meet somebody and you're arguing, you got an argument and you raise a point and they don't got nothing to say, they go, well, I don't want to talk about it. And Joab knows he's got validity to what he's saying to him. I will not waste time like this. And he took three javelins in his hand. and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. Now, why three? Maybe because it would look like it was more, maybe it was representative of those three companies. We don't know. I do know that we've got a man who stole the hearts of Israel, but now his heart has stopped. And it also reminds us of another son of David who was pierced in his hands and in his feet and in his side. and he took sin so that you and I could have righteousness. Let's keep going, verse 15. And 10 young men, Joab's armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him. So you got this idea, those three javelins are jammed in to kill him, and then you get a bunch of people around to kill him. Sounds like something happened, I don't know if you ever heard, I just heard about this recently back in the 80s in Missouri. Skidmore, Missouri, there is a guy who was the town bully. And there's even a documentary called, No One Saw A Thing. This guy was so bad that like a bunch of people in town just killed him. And then when the law showed up, everybody said, I don't know what happened. And to this day, nobody's owned it. And I get the feeling that in this forest, All of these guys did this stuff so that when they would get back to David, they would go, well, who killed him? There's a bunch of people there. There's a, I don't, I'm not sure who did this. A bunch of people took care of this and he wouldn't know what to do. He could probably take care of that all. But the reality is that's not David's heart. We'll see that. People are always, are still the same is my point. Things don't change. And so Absalom, look what happens to him. Look at verse 16. Then Joab blew the trumpet and the troops came back from pursuing Israel for Joab restrained them. And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel fled everyone to his own home. So Absalom's life ends up in a pit. And I'm telling you, this is what happens when we go against God. Verse 18, now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the Kings Valley for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And do you remember a few verse chapters back, he had three sons, where'd they go? The people believe that they died at a young age. And so he's got no more children. So instead of just allowing his accomplishments and the others to go, hey, let's build a memorial to him, he builds one to himself. He called the pillar after his own name and it is called Absalom's Monument to this day. And so people that would go buy this at that time, they would go buy this and they go, what's that? Oh, that's in honor of Absalom. Is he buried there? No, he's not buried there. He's buried under a bunch of rocks. Verse 18. says that. Look at this is what happens to a rebellious son. This is a rule in Israel. Deuteronomy 21, beginning of verse 18. If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of a mother, and though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city at the gate of the place where he lives. And they shall say to the elders of the city, this is our son. This our son is stubborn, and fear. And so ultimately, this is what ends up happening with Absalom. He is in a pit with rocks on him. That's his legacy. Point number five, watch the report. Watch the report as we wrap up here. Then verse 19, then Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok said, let me run and carry news to the king that the Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies. And he's, he wants to do this earlier. He had run, he had run to David to give him some bad news. Remember he had, and they hid in a well and they put grain over it. Remember that? And then he got out and he ran to David. He said, hey, the news is you need to move across the river. You need to get away because Absalom is putting his army together. So that was bad news. The fact of this is what, and so he's like, I got some good news here. I'm going to share this. And Joab said to him, no, you're not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news because the king's son is dead. So he doesn't, because he knows when people show up to David with news sometimes, and if it isn't good news, remember what David does? It isn't usually good. So he's trying to spare this son of the priest, and he's trying to keep him safe. But then it goes on here, verse 21. Verse 21, then Joab said to the Cushite, go, this is a Gentile, go tell the king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed before Joab and ran. Then Ahimaz, the son of Zadok, said again to Joab, come what may, let me also run after the Cushite. And Joab said, why will you run, my son, seeing you have no reward for the news? What you're going to share is not good news. Why do you want to do this? He says, come what may. He said, I will run. He's badgering Joab, I want to be the one. And by the way, he knows he can run faster than the Cushite. So he said to him, I can just see Joab, run, just run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and outran the Cushite. So he's running with the news. And I want you to look at David's heart here. This is a dad, this is a dad who wants the best. Verse 24, now David was sitting between the two gates And the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall. And when he lifted up his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone." By the way, that would be a good sign. It would not be a good sign if there was a bunch of, run away! And they got a bunch of people running because they're losing. But one guy running, this is good news, okay? The king said, if he is alone, there is news in his mouth. And he drew nearer and nearer. The watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called to the gate and said, "'See another man running alone.' The king said, "'He also brings news.' The watchman said, "'I think the running of the first "'is like the running of Ahimez, the son of Zadok.'" You do know that people have a certain way of running. You ever watch certain people and you go, you could see them a distance and you go, oh, I know who that is. Because they run, we had a girl when we were growing up, I know this is gonna sound cruel, but I'm just telling you, we had her on a wanna circle. And when she'd run around the wanna circle to keep balance, she would go, And we always knew it was her. Not that we were a distance away, but it was always one of those things. Because you have the, how you run, there's a certain gate to it. There's a certain rhythm to it. And so this guy looks out and he sees, oh, that's Ahamas. That's who's running right now. I think that's who's running. And the king said, and look at this, David's heart. He's a good man. and comes with good news. Isn't that the way we are as parents? We want the best. We love our kids. And it almost makes you want to cry because he loves his kid. He's a good man. He'll have good news. He wants to believe the best. Then Emma has cried out to the king, all is well. And he bowed before the king with his face to the earth and said, blessed be the Lord, your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my Lord, the king. And the king said, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Is it well with the young man Absalom? This is what he wants to hear, but is it well with the young man Absalom? Ahimez answered, well, when Joab sent the king's servant, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I do not know what it was. And the king said, turn aside, stand here. So he turned aside and stood still. I like how Alistair Begg observes this. Just take this for a second. What happens there is quite remarkable. He bottles it. He's talking about Ahamas, the news. He bottles it. He gets cold feet. He just rambles and mumbles. He's like a pastor who has lost confidence in the gospel. He's like a pastor who is no longer able to actually tell the absolute truth, who is no longer prepared to say, the reason the good news is the good news is because the bad news is that you are lost before God. Oh no, please don't say that. Oh, you see, he makes himself irrelevant. If I get up here and I never tell you about the badness of sin, I always wanna say all good stuff to you and make you feel better. And the reality is there's a situation that's a sad, hard story, but it's the truth and it's part of the gospel that we are sinners in need of a savior. And he can't get it to himself to say it. He can't fully tell the whole story because he knows how it's going to be taken. But the reality is, it's the truth. Somebody had to die for us in Israel to have freedom this day. Like somebody had to die so that you and I could have freedom this day. And the reason that he had to die, this person named Jesus, this son of David named Jesus, is because we are sinners in need of a Savior. And that's part of the gospel. And look what happened with the Cushite. Cushite tells it like it is. I mean, he says it in such a way that after you get done hearing it, you'll go, that was good. Verse 31, and behold, the Cushite came and the Cushite said, good news from my Lord, the King, for the Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you. The King said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And the Cushite answered, may the enemies of my Lord the King and all who rise up against you for evil be like this young man. I like continuing with Alistair Begg. He's going on and he says, well, he's a good man with good news. And he turned aside and stood there. He's turned aside and stood there talking about Abishai. Frozen, that's a frozen pastor. Just turn aside, just stand there. But the Cushite does it. Cushite says, good news for the king. Same response. Here's my question. Is it well with the young man Absalom? And masterfully, the Cushite managed to say, no, it's not. And he's dead. Without ever actually saying the phrase, he is dead. Or even using the name Absalom. He's not being two-faced on this one. He's not trying to walk the line. He's trying to give the truth. And the truth is we are in need of a savior and somebody had to die so we could have freedom. Last verse, last point. Watch the remorse. Point number six, verse 33. And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, oh, my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom, would I had died instead of you? Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. That story just rips my heart out. David is greatly grieved. He's deeply distressed. Why? Remember when he sinned with Bathsheba, which started this whole mess of the results? Remember when that baby died? He washed his face and he went out and he goes, I know I'm gonna go see him again. But Absalom died as a rebellious, sinful son, most likely unregenerate. And David may have sensed that his son's eternal destiny was one of lostness. And here we hear a father that says, my son, my son. And in Christ, we have a son that says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Today is the day of salvation. I wanna give you the good news. The bad news is this, you're a sinner and you cannot do enough good things to save yourself. If you're resting in your accomplishments, you are lost and you will be eternally lost. And I'm gonna tell you the truth because I love you enough to tell you the truth. But there was a son of David who took your place. And listen to this, he lived a perfect life and he had, there's no reason for him to be put to death except for your sin and mine. And by putting your faith and trust in Him alone, you can have a home in heaven and forgiveness of sins right now. Today is the day of salvation. Would you turn your life over to Him? I invite you to that, let's pray. Father, thank you for your grace and your goodness and ask you now that you would do your work in each of our hearts and lives. And we're so grateful that your son didn't stay dead, but after three days, he rose from the dead and he lives, he lives. And it's in his name we pray, amen.