Well, tonight, let's turn in our scriptures to 2 Samuel, and we're gonna look at 19 this evening. If you're using the chair Bible, you'll find that on page 319, 2 Samuel chapter 19. And let me say, A word before we get to the text, but before that, let me pray. So let's pray now together. Our gracious God, we're so thankful that you have given to us the scriptures. And we're thankful that they proclaim Christ. Lord, we rejoice when we read Jesus say that Abraham saw his day and was glad. We know that the scriptures are about you, they point to you, and they culminate in you and your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came from your bosom in order to exegete you, the Godhead, to us. And Lord, we know that these are not simply lofty thoughts, but they're thoughts that sustain us in the midst of life's waves and the torments that we face day to day. And sometimes those torments are of a regular nature and sometimes of an irregular one. And yet, Lord, we know that your word is sufficient for all of them. And so we come to you tonight asking that you would feed us upon your word, which is the bread of heaven, and that you would sustain us, causing us to grow strong. Father, when we come to a text like the one we're going to look at tonight, we sometimes learn from a counterexample. And yet, Lord, as we look, even as we look at the opposite, we see the thing which that opposite reflects, and we long for it. And so help us tonight to long for more of Jesus Christ. And we pray these things in his blessed name, amen. One of the things that I love about the New Testament is it often tells us how to read the Old Testament. And sometimes you get that subtly and sometimes you get that not so subtly. And one of those places that you find it not so subtly is in First Corinthians chapter 10. And it says this, listen to this, it's an exciting text. It says, now these things happened to them. Now he's just rehearsed some Old Testament happenings. He says, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. And so here Paul is, and writing to the Corinthians, and he's talking to them about a variety of things that have happened in the Old Testament, and he says, these things were written for our instruction. And they're written for us upon whom the end of the ages has come. That is, we are living in the culmination, the climax of the ages, and that because of Christ. And those Old Testament scriptures are for us, for our instruction. We see in them types and shadows, all of them pointing to that culmination which is in Christ. Now, here's the beautiful thing about it. Some of these examples that were written for our instruction chasten us not to believe the way Israel believed. Sometimes they're moral examples. But a good many of these examples drive us to see the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the Old Testament is not just a moralistic text, though it does have morality to it. It's not just a text that's teaching us about how to have faith, it does. but it's teaching us that that faith rests in the Savior. And the Old Testament is Christocentric. It's about Jesus Christ, which is why the New Testament can pull him out so easily. And that's what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 10. We see Christ in the Old Testament. For example, Paul saw Christ in the rock. He saw him in the rock that led the people through the wilderness, that gave them water. He saw Christ in the manna from heaven. And tonight, we're going to see Christ in the text. Now, here's the interesting thing. Sometimes the way we see Christ in the text is to see him in a counter example, in the opposite. And tonight, that's the way we're going to see Christ. That's the way we'll meet him. And so I want us to look at 2 Samuel tonight, chapter 19. I want us to start in verse 16. Verse 16, and we'll read through verse 23. Listen to God's infallible and inerrant and authoritative word. And Shammai, the son of Gerah the Benjamite of Barhurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David. And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. And Ziba the servant of the house of Saul with his 15 sons and his 20 servants rushed down to the Jordan before the king and they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure. And Shammai the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan and said to the king, let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart. for your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my Lord the King. Abishai, the son of Zeriah, answered, shall not Shammai be put to death for this? Because he cursed the Lord's anointed. But David said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeriah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel? And the king said to Shammai, you shall not die. And the king gave him his oath. And Mephibosheth, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself, we're done. The reading's over. Well, this is the return of David. David has been away from Jerusalem a long time, and we spent a long time looking at the long retreat of David from Jerusalem when he was pressed out of his kingdom by his own son Absalom. And last time we were together two weeks ago and thought about this text, I drew a parallel between Christ's return and David's return to Jerusalem. And I wanna stay with that, but I wanna take a little different approach tonight. Last time I drew a direct parallel between Christ's return and David's return, and we saw those things that were beautiful about Christ's return. But I said to you, the last time we were together, I said, David is going to return, and he's going to return as not only gracious, benevolent king, but he's gonna return as judge, or at least he ought to return as judge. And tonight we see those upon whom his judgment ought to fall. I want us to think about that. And I want us to think about that from three different points. I want you to notice, first of all, David's decision, David's decision. And secondly, I want you to notice David's double take. And then I want you to notice David's descendant. So first of all, David's decision, David's double take, and then David's descendant. So first of all, David's decision. Now, we find almost a reversal when we look at this text. I mean, when you think about it, it's kind of interesting. David is returning, and the two people that we discover that he meets are basically the two people that he encountered on his way out of Jerusalem. For instance, the last person out is the first person he meets, that is Shammai. The last encounter he has on the way out of Jerusalem is Shammai. That is the first person he meets on the way back in. And then the second to the last on the way out is Ziba, and that's the second person he'll meet. Actually, he meets Mephibosheth and Ziba, and we'll see that relationship and what happens there the next time we're together. But it gives you the impression, at least as we're walking through this text tonight, it gives you the impression that what David encountered on the way out of Jerusalem is what David was going to encounter in reverse on the way into Jerusalem. And so we look at this and we think to ourselves, oh wow, we're about to be set up here with a complete reversal. And it's really not that. In fact, the only two people that are mentioned are the two people that I just mentioned to you. Those are the two people that we're gonna mention and counter as David enters back into Jerusalem. Now, why is that? Well, I think the reason for that is this. Both of these people, Shammai and Ziba, are people that should have met the judgment of David as he returns to Jerusalem. He is meeting those upon whom his judgment should righteously fall. But instead of judgment, in both cases, we find something that is absolutely less than satisfying. In fact, if we believe that God, at his coming, will come and make all things wrong right, then this is not a good poster story for that story. It's not a good advertisement. In fact, if we were to say to somebody, David is a type of Christ and his return will be like Christ, we need to make the exception and say, except in the judgment that he delivers at his second coming. Because the fact of the matter is, if you're waiting to be satisfied by David, you're gonna be less than satisfied. And so today, we're gonna look at Shammai, and next time, we're gonna look at Ziba. Now, I want you to remember who Ziba was, and if you've forgotten, I want you to go back to chapter 16. Remember, he's the last person that David encounters on his way out of Jerusalem, and in 16.5, he encounters this guy, and basically, this guy threw stones at David and his mighty men. That guy is a nut. He's standing up on the ridge and he's tossing stones at these guys. You just have to think to yourself, this guy is out of his mind. But not only did he throw stones at them, he said he called David a worthless man. Now, when we went through this text, I said to you that you should go ahead to chapter 20 and look at verse one, and there we find Sheba, and Sheba is an insurrectionist. And as such, he's called worthless. And so the term worthless has these political overtones to it, and so what we find is, we find that Shammai is basically saying about David, you've seized the throne unjustly. this is not yours to take. And we shouldn't be surprised at that because remember, he calls David a murderer and all of those things because of what he did to Saul, or at least what was perceived as done to Saul. And so Shammai is really David's last escort out of Jerusalem, and it's not a really happy one at all. In fact, Shammai is a really terrible character. Now he comes out, And in our text, in chapter 19, he comes out and it says in verse 18, it's a little bit hard in the Hebrew, but he basically says, he's described as wanting to do good to David. It's translated pleasure in our text, but that's basically it. He's come out wanting to do good to David. In fact, notice, you get this sense. Listen to what he says. He calls David twice, my Lord, the king. My Lord the King. Now, you might think to yourself, oh, he's just, that's understandable. He's just trying to address this guy with honor and he's done a really bad thing, an unwise thing, and now he's trying to do a wise thing. But if you go back to chapter 16, nine, Abishai says this to David on their way out. He says, my Lord and King, let me go cut his head off. That's the way that Abishai addresses David when he asked David to let him lop off this guy's head. And so now, this guy's learned. He's had ears to hear, he's paid attention, he comes up to David and he addresses him as my lord and king. He's like, I'm just like Abishai. I have that much respect for you now. Now, there are two things here that I want you to notice. First, I want you to notice what Shammai says. He tells the king, after he addresses him as my Lord, he tells the king, don't take it to heart. Now that's interesting, isn't it? Don't take it to heart. Now we've heard that before, haven't we? We've heard that phrase before. But before we talk about that phrase in other contexts, let me remind you about our church school today. When we think about the heart from the perspective of the Old Testament, what are we thinking about it in light of? We're thinking about it in light of our mind, our affections, our will. In other words, when we take something to heart, what we're doing is we're thinking those thoughts and we're feeling in ways commensurate with how we think, and we are acting in ways that both bring harmony to our mind and our affections. In other words, our whole selves are directed toward this particular thing. When somebody tells us not to take it to heart, what are they doing? They're saying, don't take it into your innermost self such that it becomes the guide of your whole being. And so your mind, your affections, and your will unite around that particular thing so that you act in certain ways according to it. Now, think about this. Amnon tells Tamar after she was raped, don't take it to heart. In other words, you could see that as a negative thing, or you could see that as, don't let this thing control you. Or you remember what Jonadab said to David when David thought that Absalom and all were killed. He said, that's not the way it was. That's not what happened. In fact, something else happened. Only one was killed. Only Amnon was killed. Don't worry about it. And so what does he tell him? He tells him, don't take it to heart. Well, here Shammai says, David, don't take it to heart. Don't take what I said to heart. In other words, don't let it become the center of your being such that everything you think and feel and do is centered around that toward me. Don't take it to heart. Don't take it so seriously. Now, on the other hand, we find one of David's men wants to take it to heart. And he says, and you heard me read it, he says to David, why should we not deal with this man in judgment? And the ironic thing is that David rebukes him. Why is it that David rebukes Abishai, who rightly wants now to deal in judgment with Shammai? He says, Abishai the son of Zerui answered, shall not Shammai be put to death for this? Because he cursed the Lord's anointed. Why shouldn't he be put to death? And David says, no, we're not gonna do that today. In other words, we're not going to render justice today. Now, I don't know why, we're not told why David doesn't render justice. But you might guess, you might speculate, you might say, well, it's the politics. You might say, maybe David realizes his position is tenuous. There were debates about whether to call him back, and so he doesn't wanna rock the boat, or maybe it's because Shammai brought 1,000 men out with him. I don't know. We're not told, but we are told that David said, we're not going to do this. Am I not king in Jerusalem now? And so David gives him clemency. Now, we sit back and we're a little bit astounded by that, but the story doesn't end there. And this is where I think it takes a turn that sort of emphasizes what I'm trying to get across to you. And that's David's double take. You have to fast forward to David's deathbed. And I want you to do that. I want you to go to first Kings with me. 1 Kings, just right after 2 Samuel. And in 1 Kings 2, and in verse 8, David is on his deathbed. And on his deathbed, he says this in verse 8, But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada And Nathan, the prophet, and Shammai, and Reah, and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah, who was trying to usurp the throne. And then he sets Solomon up on the throne, that is, David sets Solomon up on the throne, and then David is giving his final wishes to Solomon, and this is what he says. Look at 2.31, starting 32, David said, call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. So they came before the king. And the king said to them, take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my mule and bring him to Gihon and let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpet and say long live the king Solomon. You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be rule over Israel and over Judah. And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, answered the king, Amen. May the Lord, the son, may the Lord, the God of Israel, My Lord the King even say, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of the Lord King David. Now flip over to chapter two and look at verse 36. In verse 36, notice what we find. Then the king sent and summoned Shammai and said, now this is Solomon at David's instruction. Then the king sent and summoned Shammai and said to him, build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there and do not go out from there to any place, whatever. "'For on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, "'know for certain that you shall die. "'Your blood shall be on your head.'" So now King David has said to Solomon, don't let Shammai get away with what he's done when he chased me out of Jerusalem. And so Solomon calls Shammai and says, build a house because you're on house arrest. And now jump down to 245. We find that Shammai chases his two servants down to Gath. It's reported to the king that Shammai left Jerusalem, his house. And verse 45, we find King Solomon. Well, I'm going to start a little. Verse 43. The king also said to Shammai, you know in your heart all the harm that you did to my father, to David, my father. So the Lord will bring back your harm on your head. But King Solomon shall be blessed and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever. Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and he went out and struck him down and he died. And so the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. Now here you have this story where David is on his deathbed. He supports Solomon's kingship. He then says to Solomon, don't let Shammai go down to the grave in peace. And Solomon does what we just read. Now, think about this. What did Solomon say to Shammai before he killed him? He said this. He said, and let me go back to this. He said, but King Solomon shall be blessed and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever. He's reiterating 2 Samuel 7 and the covenant that God made with David. that one should sit on the throne forever. Now, if you were to go back to 2 Samuel 19, Abishai said this. Abishai said in verse 21, the son of Zariah answered, shall not Shammai be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord's anointed? Now, back then, David said, no, we're gonna give him clemency. But on David's deathbed, he said, you kill him. Solomon, you put him to death. Now that says to me that David knew that he should have put Shammai to death back in the return to Jerusalem. Why didn't he do that? I mean, think about what Shammai's curses amounted to. They amounted to the rejection of David on the throne, which meant the rejection of David's greater son, Jesus Christ. I mean, that's essentially what he was doing, is rejecting that. And to give this man clemency is not justice. And David knew it, which is why he issued his death on his deathbed. Now, I wanna tell you something, that's a less than satisfying image of Christ. In fact, what we see is we see the opposite, the very opposite of what we're going to see at Christ's return, and we all know it. I mean, there's a sense in which we all know when justice is not being rendered. We can feel it in our bones when somebody's trying to make an excuse. I mean, I want you to think about this just for a minute. I'm not sure I've ever told you this story before, but I remember being at the trial for my brother's murderer, and I remember how his lawyer was arguing. His lawyer argued that the man had no prior record and asked the judge and the jury if we were going to consign a man's life to prison for an entire lifetime, or maybe even death, because of 10 minutes of indiscretion. And, you know, even just saying that, you can feel the injustice in that. And I think that anyone looking at these stories, the story of Shammai, or later the story of Ziba, can feel the injustice in them. What's David doing? What's he thinking? He's certainly not acting in accord with his greater son. And that's what I want us to think about now, David's descendant. When David's greater son comes, he will come and he will set things right. I want you to just, I want you to hear a few texts. Romans chapter 12, for instance. Romans chapter 12 and verse 19. Listen to this. Beloved, never avenge yourselves. but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Or I read to you 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 5 and following, or how about Jude? This is what we read about the Lord when he comes. Behold, the Lord comes with 10,000 of his holy ones to execute judgment on all. and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him, those people are going to experience the judgment of God. When we go to the Revelation chapter six and we see the souls of those who have been martyred under the altar, what are they crying out? They're crying out, Lord, how long? And why? Because they are seeing the injustice of these people who have put them to death, continuing to live, and God says to them, not, we're not going to, we're not gonna punish them. Don't you worry about that. We'll let them go. He doesn't say that. What he says is they will get theirs in due time. Just wait. Just have patience. And so we can be assured, the word assures us that the son of David is not going to act like David at all. When the son of David comes, he's going to come as a judge. And on that day, on that day of his coming, he's going to bestow wonderful gifts upon those who are his. But that day is going to be a day of general judgment. And upon that day, he is going to separate the wheat from the tares, the goats from the sheep, and the goats are going to get the judgment and the justice that is coming to them. And that's why the scriptures tell us continually that we need to say to people, today is the day of salvation, because it is this kind of judgment that is coming for those who stand outside of Jesus Christ. But I'll tell you what. When it comes to the believer, and you've got to take this into your heart, when it comes to the believer, you have to recognize that we're going to be like the souls of the saints under the altar. There are times now in this life where we're going to cry out, Lord, how long? And his answer is, wait. because when he comes in his son, Jesus Christ, he will come with judgment. And I want you to understand something. The thing that we need to understand is that this will not be a day of personal vendetta for any one of us. In fact, the Proverbs tells us If you think upon, if you dwell upon, if you seek the demise of your enemy, God will turn away from that enemy and stop dealing with them. This is not a day of personal vendetta. This is a day when all the dishonor that has been rendered to the king of kings will be wiped away and made right. And because we stand in the beloved, The wrongs done to us are wrongs done to him. Remember what he says when he says to Saul on the road to Damascus, he says, why have you been persecuting me, meaning my body, the church? He is coming for them and on their behalf, and that's the way of it with us, and we need to take that to heart and live in such a way where we can cry out to people, today is the day of salvation. Come to Him now and experience the forgiveness of sins that I've experienced, lest you be judged upon His coming, and then it will be an eternity of fire for you. Unfortunately, that's the message tonight, but it's one that needs to be heard. that it is the day of salvation, it's the call of salvation to everyone who does not believe. And yet, it is the reassurance that God will set all things right in Jesus Christ when he returns. And I wanna say this final thing. I wanna say this to you because I think it needs to be said. Some of us are going to be standing on opposite sides from family and friends on that day. Some of us are going to be on the side of the sheep and we're going to look across and in the side of the goats, we're going to see our grandmothers, we're going to see our grandfathers, we're going to see our moms, our dads, some of our children. On that day, we're going to look across and we're going to see that the enemies of God are our own flesh and blood in this life. And that's a hard thing. And I want you to know that on that day, Remember what I said, it will not be a day of personal vendetta. It will be a day when the King is vindicated. And I know this is hard to hear, but on that day, we'll be glad for the King's vindication. We'll be glad for the King's vindication. Our Heavenly Father, We praise you and so delight in you that we want to be consumed by you, consumed by your love and your glory. And yet, Lord, when we think thoughts like we've just been thinking, we know they're difficult to think in this life, and they're hard to anticipate. And so it's our desire that you would not have us dwell upon thoughts like that, but that you would have us to dwell upon thoughts of Christ and his glory, of his benevolent love, his extension of grace, his call to salvation. And we pray, Father, with earnest desire that you would give us opportunities to share the gospel. And not only that, we pray that you would also give us a fire to pray for those who are lost. And so, Lord, we pray, asking that you would hear our prayers. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.