and he will draw near to you. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, we praise and thank you for your great mercies to us through Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, our mediator. And we come to worship you this day, Lord. We come to draw near to you. And as we just read, would you please draw near to us now? Lord, we need you to give more grace. And you've promised in what we just read to give us grace. And as it says in another place, grace upon grace, would you please meet with us this morning? Pour out your spirit, Lord, that we might be able to worship you in a way pleasing to you, that we might be fed as the sheep of your pasture. Lord, thank you. We have this great joy and privilege together as your people here at Reformed Faith. Lord, please come and meet with us and bless us for Jesus' sake. And in his name we pray. Amen. Turn with me in your hymnals to him, 295. 295. Crown him with many crowns. 295. Stand with me. is known Awake, my Sovereign, sing of Him who died for me, and hail Him as Thy Majesty through all eternity. Crown Him the Lord of love, Behold His handsome side, Rich roots yet visible above, In beauty glorified, No angel in the sky. ♪ And fully bear that sign ♪ ♪ That downward bend is burning up ♪ ♪ And blistering so bright ♪ ♪ Crown Him the Lord of peace ♪ ♪ Whose power of steadfast ways ♪ ♪ From mold to gold and water they sing ♪ and praise. His reigns shall know no end, and crown His prism clean. Fair flowers of paradise, their skin, their fragrance ever sweet. Crown Him the Lord of years, ♪ The potent age of time ♪ ♪ Creator of the rolling stilts ♪ ♪ In every supply ♪ ♪ All hail, Redeemer, hail ♪ ♪ For Thou hast died for me ♪ Thy praise shall never, never fail throughout eternity. Amen. Amen. Please remain standing with me if you would and pull out your bulletin insert. On one side of which is Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 through 17. We'll recite together in unison 3 through 16. the first nine of the Ten Commandments. Let's recite this together. You shall have no other God as before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, the seventh day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the seventh to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do in any work you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the soldier who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, seated, and thank you for reciting this with me week after week. The repetition is good for our hearts and minds. This is the very Word of God, and it's His Ten Commandments on which Jesus tells us that all the Law and the Prophets hang upon. So let's go to the Lord in prayer again together. Lord our God, we thank you and praise you for your very word. And these last several weeks, we have thanked you specifically for your commandments, your 10 commandments that we've been reciting together. And Lord, would you help us to be conformed to these commandments, not to earn our way to heaven, but that we might do what is pleasing in your sight. You've told us, O Lord, that you will know them, that is, your people, Christians, by their fruit. And so the fruit of the Spirit is consistent with these Ten Commandments. Would you help us to be conformed to these the very image of Christ, and specifically today, the ninth commandment, not bearing false witness, bearing true witness. Lord, would we be about upholding the truth? Lord, would we not slander our neighbor? Would we not spread false rumors? And Lord, it's so prevalent and easy to do so today on social media. Would you guard us from such? Would you guard us from even propagating something that we're not sure is true or not? Lord, we maybe all have done this sort of thing, gossiping or flat out lying about someone or even you. Would you forgive us and have mercy on us, Lord? Would you help us to know the truth? You've told us the truth will set us free, and we're knowing and propagating your truth. We will be guarded from breaking this commandment. Would you help us, Lord? For your name's sake, would you help us to obey this commandment? And Lord, where we have Broken it, would your mercies be poured out upon us for Jesus' sake, for your name's sake, and for our good. In Jesus' name, amen. Assurance or forgiveness this morning is from Micah chapter 7. Beautiful verses. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? brothers and sisters. He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. Praise be to his name and I don't think that as our technology advances and vessels are able to go to the bottom of the sea that we're going to find a pile of sins down there. Okay? This is figurative. Basically that it's a way he's casting it away from his presence because of Christ. If you would pull out your bulletin insert and let's stand and sing, if you're able, Psalm 86 together. I've got a note on there because I always forget to remind us that we sing through this twice. hear my prayer oh lord and my cry for mercy I will praise you I will praise You, glorify You You are the answer, I am more than me Hear my prayer, O Father, and my cry for mercy. In this day of trouble I will call to you. Teach me, O Lord, I'm longing for you. Give me an undivided heart. I will praise you, I will praise you, Lord, as I, Lord, am. I will praise you, I will praise you, Lord, as I, Lord, am. Lord our God, we thank you and praise you that you are so rich in mercy for poor and needy sinners like us, that at the right time you sent your Son to take on human flesh, to walk perfectly on this earth. as our substitute because we could never keep the wall perfectly without sin like Jesus did. And praise be your name that his righteousness is imputed to us by faith. That faith is a gift from you, O Lord, lest any of us should boast. Lord, we shouldn't boast because, as you've told us, everything we have is from your hand. And so would you help us to be humble before you, before each other, before the world, and yet bold in Christ, even as we come to your throne of grace, and bold to speak the truth in love and humility to one another, and to others around us. Lord, fearing no one but you. Someone said, he who fears the Lord has nothing else to fear. Lord, would we have a reverent fear for you? In all that we think and say and do, would we seek to honor and glorify your name? Lord, we need that spiritual gut check often, daily, hourly. As we sing, we need you every hour. Lord, we need you in this hour to help us to continue to worship you. We need you every minute of our days, Lord. You uphold all things by the word of your power. And by your power and strength, we can put to death the deeds of the flesh. learning more and more of the truth of your word that we might understand and by your grace apply it to our lives. Lord, would you help us in that even this morning as we hear the word preached and taught? Would you bless dear Pastor Thornton as he preaches this morning? Would you help us to heed? Lord, would you give us grace to focus and pay attention to sing to your glory? Would you to take what we have heard and learned to be filled by you, and then to take it and run on that this week, always seeking your face, oh Lord. Lord, we pray for the needs in our congregation. We pray for April this morning. Please give her strength and grace, and the same for Andrea, and please bless Joe's recovery. Lord, many others of us have physical ailments. Lord, we all have spiritual ailments because we're sinners in need of your grace and mercy. Lord, help each one of us. Lord, we thank you and praise you for the sweet time of fun and fellowship we had last night. Thank you that we can come together and do things like that. Would you give us more opportunities to do that? And Lord, would you bless and strengthen your people, not just here in this room, but wherever they meet today? Lord, there are those who are persecuted beyond what we could imagine. And there are brothers and sisters in Christ. Would you have mercy on them? Give them strength and courage, grace upon grace. Lord, we pray for them, we pray for us, and we pray for our continued worship service. In Jesus Christ we pray, amen. Turn with me for our Old Testament reading, 2 Samuel chapter 2. 2 Samuel chapter 2, I'll read verses 8 through to the end of the chapter. Give careful attention to God's very Word. But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mani. And he made him king over Gilead, and the Asherites, and Jezreel, and Ephraim, and Benjamin, and all Israel. Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David, and the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. Abner, the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, went out from Maanaim to Gibeon. And Joab the son of Zariah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. And Abner said to Joab, let the young men arise and compete before us. And Joab said, let them arise. Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ishmael, the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David, and each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath Hazurim, which is a giving. And the battle was very fierce that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. And the three sons of Zariah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. And Asahel pursued Abner. And as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, is it you, Asahel? And he answered, it is I. Abner said to him, turn aside to your right hand or to your left and seize one of the young men and take his spoils. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab? But he refused to turn aside. Therefore, Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died stood still. But Joab and Abishai pursued Adner. And as the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Adner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. Then Adner called to Joab, shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers? And Joab said, as God lives, if you have not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning. So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore. And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arava. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim, And Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants 19 men besides Asahel. But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron." Thus ends the reading. God's very Word. Please turn with me in your hymnals to hymn 691. Stand with me if you're able. It is, Well with My Soul, 691. like a river When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever, my Lord, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. ♪ No trial should come ♪ ♪ Let this blest assurance control ♪ ♪ That Christ has regarded my helpless disdain ♪ share His own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. I sing o'er the bliss of His glorious love. My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. It is well, it is well With my soul, with my soul It is well, it is well With my soul O Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sighed, the clouds be rolled back as the scroll, the drums shall resound, And the Lord shall be said, even so, it is well with my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Amen. Our New Testament passage is found in Peter's first epistle, 1 Peter chapter 5, beginning in... That was beginning in verse 5? 1 Peter 5, beginning in chapter 5, verse 5. B. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. It's the Word of the Lord. Good morning, everyone. Excuse me. I'm preaching to you today, Lord willing, from 2 Samuel chapter 2, the passage that Josh read to us beginning in verse 8. So I'll ask you to turn there if you would. We will be looking at some of those verses. Gracious God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of prayer, the privilege of gathering together, Lord, with your word and your spirit, and these precious people, Lord, all of us precious to you. We thank you. We praise you. Lord, be with also with those who are joining us through electronic media today, we pray. Open our hearts and our minds. feed us, Lord, feed your sheep. Strengthen us for the days that lie ahead until our dear Lord returns. And come quickly, Lord Jesus, we pray. Be glorified. Amen. Words that probably wouldn't be appropriate had been at his funeral. His name was Mickey Mantle, the famous baseball player. Some of you younger people probably never heard of Mickey Mantle, but he was world famous. He was a celebrity baseball player, one of the best. But at his funeral, he requested these words from a song by Ray Clark entitled Yesterday When I Was Young. And I want to share some of those lyrics with you. Yesterday when I was young, so many happy songs were waiting to be sung. So many wild pleasures lay in store for me, and so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see. I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out. I never stopped to think about what life was all about, and every conversation I can now recall concerned itself with me and nothing else at all. Yesterday, the moon was blue, and every crazy day brought something new to do. I used my magic age as if it were a wand and never saw the waste and emptiness beyond. The game of love I played with arrogance and pride, and every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died. The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away, and only I am left on the stage to end the play. Pretty sad. Pretty sad. It reminds me of these people in this chapter, Abner, Joanne, God has called us to be one. These people were part of Israel. All of them were to be united. They were in the promised land that God had promised Abraham that you know after the children of Israel wandered in the desert and then Many of them died off. The ones who weren't born in the desert died off because of their disobedience. And then their descendants came into the promised land and pretty much conquered it. And now we're reminded that they are to be one. But there was something that got in the way, and it was pride. And the title of this sermon is that Pride Precedes Destruction. Pride destroys everywhere it goes. Families, churches, businesses, teams. Pride is destructive. And yet it is God's will for us to be one in our families, in our church, we are to be one. Here's what Jesus prayed. Now, I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father. Keep them through your name. Those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. Did you catch that? That they may be one as we are one. Well, how was Jesus one with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, a perfect unity? We are to be one. And pride will get in the way, and pride will destroy. Now, Abner's dangerous pride reminds us to seek humility. Well, Abner was the main guy in the army of King Saul who had just died. Now, some of you, former military, probably have a much better idea than the rest of us what it would take to be the number one in the military. It would take a lot. A lot. I mean, they don't just take the man on the street. He is somebody who's skilled. Somebody who has leadership ability. A soldier. A top soldier. And that's what Edgar was. But he was also a deeply flawed person. He had just installed Isbochef as king. of eleven tribes of Israel while David had just been installed as the king only by one tribe. Eleven tribes against one tribe. Abner was responsible for this and it looks like that Abner had bad motives and that he was in this for himself. didn't want to lose his power. He didn't want to lose his position. He knew very well and even Saul had announced that David was going to be king. In first Samuel twenty-four twenty right there with Abner with him. Saul said this and now I know indeed that you shall surely be king. He's talking to David. He says, I know you shall surely be king, surely. And that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Abner knew this. And yet Abner has installed Ish-Bosheth. And that's not his real name. Because his real name was Ish-Bael, named after the false god Baal. who was into child sacrifice, temple prostitution, both homosexual and heterosexual, beastality, everything to make a home extremely unhappy. Oh. I mean, Saul named his son Ish. and the Israelites would not say it. So, they call it ishbosheth which means ish shame. Shame. Shame on Saul. Shame on Abner for supporting such stuff. And so, Abner calls for this summit at the pool of Gibeon. You can look it up on the And so you've got Abner's people on one side, you've got Joab's people on the other side, and they're sitting down. Well, why would they sit down? They're trying to come to some kind of an agreement, possibly a power play, on Abner's part, because Abner has 11 tribes, David has one tribe. And so you would think that Joab would say, oh, have mercy on us, Abner. Joab, first of all, is a strong man. But the point I want to make right now is that they're gathered around this pool. They're sitting down. Now, I doubt if Abner came in good faith. He came to, I believe, force his will on Abner and the one tribe. Now, I'll tell you why I believe that. If you look right here, they were told that they're sitting around. Next thing you know, Abner's saying, let's have a contest. Now, when you're calling men in mortal combat a contest, kind of like playful, you have no respect for human life. And that's exactly what he was doing. And besides that, this was an insane ordeal. So you got 12 men from each side with a sharp sword. And what do they do? They walk up, grab one another by the head, stab one another, and they all fall down dead. 24 people fall down dead. What kind of a contest is that? Not very well. Not very good. Maybe, we're not told here, but Was this some kind of representative thing? Remember David and Goliath, so Goliath is the representative, and David is the representative. And so David kills Goliath, and okay, they all run, the opponents all run. But this is 12 men against 12 men armed with sharp swords. They just walk up, grab each other by the head, and stab and kill each other, and they all fall down. not well thought out. This is Abner's pride coming up with an idea that is not well thought out, not well designed. It's just absurd. You know, notice there's no prayer. You know, God wants us to pray. Someone has defined pride as denying our dependence upon God. You know, we can't handle things by ourselves. We are fallen. We fell in Adam. We are fallen creatures. We need God, we need prayer, we need the Holy Spirit, we need the Word of God. And they're gonna go out here and solve this without any of that? Abner's denying that God has chosen David to be king, that Samuel has anointed him, that even Saul has confessed it. Abner's denying all that out of his pride. Oh, it was a mess. This gathering there by the pool not only results in the death of these 24 men, and I would say they were pretty choice men, because they were selected to go out there and represent, apparently, everybody else. Not only that, but before the day is over, Abner has lost 360 men. and Joab has only lost 20. Now, think of that, 360 and 20. And I believe that shows us God's favor on David. But it also shows us how this went so wrong, and things go wrong in our unity, whether it be in our marriage, whether it be in our church, the workplace, Things go terribly wrong where pride prevails, because pride precedes destruction. And we're seeing that Abner made a big mistake with his pride. Yeah, he had the greater forces, 11 tribes versus one tribe. But it is vain to trust in numbers. The Bible makes that very clear. Ecclesiastes 9-11. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill. Sometimes the best runner doesn't win the race for some other reason. Sometimes the best militaries doesn't win the battle because God is sovereign and God determines what will be done. We need to recognize that. We need to be people of prayer and people of humility. We need to, we shouldn't be saying, well look, I'm smarter than everybody at work, so I'm going to win at work. I'm gonna be smarter than my spouse and put them down and win over them. Or in the church. You know, whatever. Well, you know, this was not news to Abner, these scriptures. He should have known. Proverbs 22, 3. talks about Abner. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. That's what Abner should have been thinking. So Abner suggests this to Joab, and Joab should have been thinking about Proverbs 22.3, a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. Abner was a stumbling block. What is a stumbling block? You know, Jesus warned us about people being stumbling block. A stumbling block is somebody who tempts you to sin. They move you in the direction of sin. That is a stumbling block that Jesus warned about. Uh Abner said, you know, I may be, yeah, I'm talking about Joab. Joab should have said, Abner, maybe this isn't the best thing. You know, we came here to talk, obviously. We're sitting down here. Let's, let's talk some more. Let's try to work out a solution. You know, Joab should have reminded him that God had ordered Samuel to anoint David, that even Saul himself had said, David's going to be the king. Joab could have reminded him, you know, there's a need for diplomacy, there's a need for tact. As we work towards oneness, there's a need for honest communication. that pride is a denial of dependence upon God. Joab, now, he was no choir boy, could we say. Joab was a pretty rough character himself. You see it in the next chapter, after Abner has gone to David to talk to him, Joab, has a fit and basically calls David a fool. The history of the relationship between Joab and David, Joab, he's loyal to David, but he doesn't have a whole lot of respect for him. And yet David puts up with it. They were related. They were kinfolks. But Joab, he basically calls David a fool. This is the kind of guy that Joab was. He was courageous, he was a skilled soldier, but he was not a nice guy, and not even smart enough to be respectful to the king, unless he'd get away with it. In chapter three, moving forward a little bit, Joab came to the king and said, what have you done? Look, Abner came to you, why is it that you send him away? and he's already gone. In other words, he wasn't even killed. Surely, you realize that Agner, the son of Nur, came to deceive you to know you're going out, you're coming in, and to know all that you're doing. He's like, daddy, you don't know what you're doing. This is the king. Total disrespect. No tactfulness, no diplomacy. That's Joab for you. But you know, Joab should have been thinking about what the Bible says in Deuteronomy 4, 29 and 31, which Moses had preached to Israel. And here's what he had said. Seek the Lord your God and you will find him. Seek him with all your heart and with all your soul when you are in distress. Now see, Abner challenging Joab in front of all these soldiers. Let's have a contest. You bring twelve men up here, we'll bring twelve men, we'll have a contest. Well, Joab was put on the spot. You know, when we're put on the spot, we feel a lot of pressure. And that's when we need to shoot a prayer up immediately. Lord, you know what so-and-so just said, putting me on the spot. Setting me up for embarrassment. setting me up for a challenge. You know, if I say anything to go along with this, I'll look weak. You know, Satan's there too and Satan's going, Satan's looking for every opportunity to bring us down, to confuse us, for us to take the wrong reaction. Satan's always doing that too. And Joab falls right into it. Instead of thinking about God, and God's promise and God's command. Seek the Lord your God and you will find him if you seek him with all your heart. Well, it's a good time to seek him with all your heart when you're put on the spot and you're facing something of terrible consequences. The death of 12 of your soldiers, a futile contest. And even thinking of it as a contest ridiculous. 24 people fall down dead. That's a contagion? That's a plague? No. And that's, when you look at the outcome, 320 people of Abner dead because of this ridiculous stunt, and 20 of Joab's soldiers dead, including David's nephew, Swift of Faith. Don't forget the covenant, my friends. Now, we've looked at Abner's dangerous mistake. We've looked at Joab's dangerous mistake of giving in to pride, both of them. And now let's look at Aziel's dangerous mistake of his pride and his deadly decision. They said he had legs of a deer, heart of a lion, but not the head of a soldier of Christ. He was the youngest. You know, sometimes the youngest can get a little spoiled. I speak from being the youngest. Much loved, most spoiled, and the most self-willed sometimes. Esau had courage, but not counsel. You know, he was kind of rash. He's fast. He's a very fast runner. But he doesn't have good judgment without praying and without seeking the Lord. And so he starts running after Abner, the top soldier of Saul's army. Now, can you imagine? You know, I remember when Schwarzkopf was the top man when we were in, I think it was Iraq, War with Iraq, and you'd see General Schwarzkopf on TV making announcements. I mean, these are tough people. I remember I was eating with one of my classmates one time, He had retired from the Army. He had been stationed here at Fort Campbell. And he told me in about two sentences how to really kind of do what Abner did to SAL. Just that quick. When you're a soldier, as many of you know, you are trained. You're basically a killer for the right reasons. You're a killer for the right reasons, to defend our country. And thank you for your service. But you're not out there to play. Like, oh, let's play. Let's have a little contest here. No. So, we need to mind the soldier of Christ in this life. You know, we're told to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We need to know how to defend ourselves. We need to know how to put to death the misdeeds of the body. Our biggest enemy is ourselves. Our old fallen nature, that's our biggest enemy. That's our Goliath. We need to know how to do combat against our biggest enemy. Because stumbling blocks will come. You know, Jesus told Peter, Matthew 16, 23, He turned to Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me. For you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. That's what this runner was mindful of, the things of man. Look, I'm fast. I can catch Abner. And I believe he was chasing Abner. Abner didn't want to kill him because he's related to Joab, another very powerful man. He didn't want to kill the lad. So he warns him. He tries to get him to turn around. But submission is not his strong suit. This young man is not submissive. This was not a formal war. This, they had come to negotiate, not to fight it out all day, which is what ended up happening because of their lack of discipline. The scripture warns us to be carnally minded in his death. That's what he was. Actually, I was carnally minded. Look, I'm gonna whoop the number one man of Egypt. I mean, of Israel. I'm gonna take him down. I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna outrun him and overpower him. What does Joab do? He, after he warns him twice, he takes the blunt end of his spear and kills him with it. And people are so shocked. The scripture tells us that people just walk up there and just stop and look. They're so shocked. And saddened too, I would say. You know, he was proud of his ability to run. And, you know, we get proud of our gifts that God has given to us. We need to be careful. We need to be humble and realize that anything we've got is a gift from God and to be used in submission to God. Anything we've got, any ability we've got, every ability we've got is from Him. Maybe we took part in developing that. But we still are to be under the Lordship of Christ with whatever we've got. Beware of getting proud. And then the danger was somewhat diffused. After 320 of Abner's men had been killed, and now Abner's being pursued by Joab, and he gets to the top of the hill. because Ashael's brother, Abishai, and Joab, the other brother, they're pursuing Abner. And the sun was going down when they came on the hill of Amma, which is before Gaia, by the road to the wilderness of Gibeon. Now, the children of Benjamin, these were all followers of Abner. gathered behind Abner and became a unit. That's probably a pretty big unit. We're not given the number. This is 11 tribes. And they took their stand on top of the hill. Then Abner called to Joab and said, shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? He should have thought about this before he came up with this ridiculous contest. where there were 24 casualties of the strongest men. How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren? Don't miss that word, brethren. This is a family feud. That's why I bring up church. That's why I bring up marriage, family, and even work. We should care for the people at work as much as we can. Pray for them. Try to be kind to them. Try to be helpful to them. Brethren, he says. So, you see, he has kind of gotten over the idea that this is sport or play or a contest. This is life and death. Don't you realize that this will end in bitterness? And we're about to see, Lord willing, as we go forward in the weeks to come, what this bitterness entail. But I'm going to tell you right now, it entailed the death of Agner, the degrading of Joab, the grieving of King David. It's a terrible situation. Terrible. Somebody said other sins against God's law. Other sins are against God's law, but pride is against God's sovereignty. Pride is against God's sovereignty. The smaller the mind, the greater the conceit. They have been preached to by Moses and this was passed down. Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them for the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. That's true. That's repeated in the book of Hebrews for us. He will never leave you nor forsake you. So be one. Let's pray. Gracious God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you that Jesus prayed that we would be one. Lord, may we not be proud. May we seek humility. May we realize that we are dependent upon you. And help us to enjoy you, enjoy your help, glorify you. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Many times in scripture we read that the battle is the Lord.