Open your Bibles with me to 2 Samuel chapter 2. Let's continue our time in chapter 2, beginning in verse 12. We'll finish this particular section. As you're turning there, just an observation, if you will, in regards to Abner. I see Psalm 2. I see a man, and if you were to cheat and go, you know, a chapter ahead, Abner knew. He acknowledges that David is the anointed king that God gave to Israel, and yet he resisted And so we see once again, you know, an example of the resistance of God's anointed king. And at the same time, I wanna show you, and I believe within this week and next week, you will see, and this is important, how David responds even with Abner. as the Lord's anointed, one of tremendous mercy and love and care with those that are trying to dethrone Him, really is quite astounding. So, beginning in verse 12, Abner, the son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth, 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, 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, 12 for Benjamin and Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and 12 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 Hazarim, which is at Gibeon. 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 Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Achiel. Now Achiel was as swift a foot as a wild gazelle, and Achiel 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, Ashiel? 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 spoil. But Ashiel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Ashiel, 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 Ashiel had fallen and died stood still. But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. 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 Abner and became the one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. Then Abner called to Joab, shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know 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 had 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 Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Maanaim. 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 Ashiel. But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. And they took up Ashiel 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." May the Lord bless the reading of His Word. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious and heavenly father, we thank you that mercy triumphs over judgment. We thank you for the work of your son. Tremendously grateful for the word that is already declared this morning. And we would ask once again this afternoon, attend to your word. Warm our hearts, renew our minds with your word. Have your way by your Spirit, in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Sometimes victory is not defined by the land that we claim, but the aftermath we must face, and the consequences that we cannot ignore. Brothers and sisters, there are moments in history where triumph though one on paper, leaves us questioning the true meaning of success. And so this afternoon, I want to ask you a question. What happens when you have a major conflict but no real winner? Yes, the score was being kept and someone did in fact come out on top, but The losses were so heavy on both sides, the damage so widespread, and such little good came from it all, we begin to ask, what was the point? The cost was so much higher than any of the returns. The conflict seems like it was just a big waste. Yes, you might be the winner, but you know that there's nothing really to celebrate. Well, this sort of conflict is shown to us through our narrative this afternoon between Judah and Israel. And the loss is so painful that it reminds us how the mercy of Christ is so much greater than sword and spear. And so as we left off a couple weeks ago after years of waiting, David has finally become king. The man who was rejected by his people has now been received and enthroned in that ancient city of Hebron. Now David has only been made king at this point over Judah. He is not king over Israel yet. The rest of Israel is still under the house of Saul. And as we went through it, Abner, that is Saul's general, crowned Saul's last son, Isphosheth. And as we saw, David's first act, his very first act as king was an act of peace. He blessed that northern city of Jabesh Gilead for honoring Saul by giving him a proper burial. And then he offered them a covenant of brotherhood. I want to remind you that at that point, any typical king would have more than likely just wiped them off the face of the earth because they would have been considered a potential rival. Rather though, David extends kindness and mercy and peace. He offered an olive branch in hopes to provide unity. Now, not everyone shares David's peaceful transition of power. David sends off a letter of peace and brotherhood, and we see this afternoon that it is met with only aggression. For Jabesh Gilead is a town about 12 miles north of Maanaim, which is the capital city of Ishbosheth. David's message of peace will be met with a sword. Abner wastes no time to counter David's peace offer with military action. One commentator says it this way, quote, it is essential to understand that Abner is the aggressor in this whole affair. To leave headquarters east of Jordan, cross the river and come within five miles of Jerusalem shows that Abner is taking the offensive. What takes place then in verses 12 through 32 is not a civil conflict erupting from a chance encounter between the northern and southern militia. It is Abner's deliberate attempt to impose northern might on David's Judean kingdom." End quote. Brothers and sisters, Abner's aggressive military action then sends a clear message. David's peace offer has been rejected. And here, Abner flexes his military muscles as one who could easily invade Judah. Now, an army assembled on your border is definitely a threatening action, and so David's forces have no other choice but to respond in self-defense. Joab, that's David's general, marches his men out to Gibeon to defend against Abner's aggression. In fact, what we find here now is a face-off. Now, the town of Gibeon had a very large cistern, and so on one side, Abner lines up his men, and on the other stands Joab and his forces. Army against army, but even more than that, I want to remind you, this is covenant brother against covenant brother. As you know, wars are bad enough, but civil war is worse. Brother fighting against brother is not a pretty thing. And so Abner faces off Joab, brother against brother. And so will it come to blows? Who will throw the first punch? Will brother kill brother? Well, Abner speaks first and he offers up a duel of champions. Now this is what we would call representational warfare. The same vein as we know we covered in 1 Samuel, this would be exactly the same as David and Goliath. That is, instead of the entire army against army fighting, just your champions fight. For young men here in verse 14 means valiant professional soldiers. And compete refers to gladiatorial fight to the death. Yes, Abner's idea is to have the champions fight to the death to determine the war. Now Abner's offer, as bad as it is, there are a couple positive aspects we should at least acknowledge. First, it is an attempt to avoid all-out war. That is, to save the countless lives from being lost, and that is a good thing. For Abner and Joab are both facing off. They're on the edge of civil war. Covenant brother killing covenant brother is not a good thing, and so both these generals seem to know this, and they at this point can't back down, but they know going forward's not good either. So you just have the champions fight, and this is considered a positive. It does save lives. There's another aspect to this, though. This representational duel was considered an ordeal in order to consider God's will. That is, the duel is winner takes all. Whichever champions wins, that side wins the war. They see first places declaring God's will for those who should rule and be king over Israel. If Abner's men win, all of Israel goes to Ispacheth and vice versa. So the fate of the kingdom is riding on this duel. Now, despite the positive aspects we looked at with Abner's idea, there is also a negative side to it. This is primarily brother killing brother and Abner's suggestion then is the first punch. Now, for those of us that have brothers, You know, when you're not getting along, the first punch can be absolutely everything. You see, it's crossing a threshold into violence. If it's just a verbal conflict, everything's good, right? But once that first punch is thrown, everything is game. And my point is this, that Abner's idea puts violence on the table. Well, at this point, backing down is not an option. And so Joab accepts Abner's challenge. And so here's what we have. Each side puts forth 12 champions, 12 heroic warriors. Now this number reveals the prize for the winner, doesn't it? 12 is the number of tribes in Israel. It is the totality of God's people. Well, the winner then in this ordeal would be the 12 tribes. This is what they're thinking, okay? Well, once the gladiatorial games begin, things don't go as well as either side thought. For these warriors have all had the same training. They all chose at the same time the same move. Look at verse 16 with me. And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side, so they fell down together. They all grabbed their opponents by the hair and they thrust their sword at the exact same time. And you gotta think about this, they're paired off into twos, and so each guy strikes at the same time, and what happens, they all fall together. This is like a shootout where everyone pulled the trigger at the exact same time. All the champions, they're dead. No one is left standing. Here we have 24 special forces operators of Israel, and they fall dead at the very same moment. What does that mean? Well, it means this, there is no winner. And in terms of the ordeal, this isn't good. You see for them, for both Judah and Israel, they thought that this was going to reveal God's will, but with everyone being dead, we see that this ordeal is now inconclusive. And my point is this, this afternoon, God refuses to reveal His will through this particular bloody contest. God refuses to condone covenant brother fighting covenant brother. In fact, the word for opponent in verse 16 is interesting. It is the same word, listen to this, as neighbor. It is the same word in the command to love your neighbor as yourself. So you've got to get a hold of this. Instead of loving, these neighbors are killing one another. Surely there is nothing positive about this outcome. The only result is a field of 24 dead brothers, an acre of land stained with blood, and this is a tragedy. It will now be marked by a name. Note verse 16 again. And each caught his opponent by his head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side, so they fell together. Therefore, that place was called Helkath Hazarim, which is at Gibeon. Some theologians say that this name is likely a play on terms. It could either mean field of flint blades or field of sides. This is the spot where brothers took blades to the sides. Let God's people remember. and not forget. Now, this battle of champions was the first punch, and first punches are like sparks that can burn down entire forest. Remember now, Abner likely suggested this face-off to avoid all-out war, but with an inclusive result, there is nothing stopping further bloodshed. The stalemate in this gladiatorial game breaks now into full-out civil war. That is, the armies clash and the fighting begins, and it's hard. The battle rages intensely for quite some time. Now, as the battle spreads, our narrative is going to shift and zero in on a particular fight. We are introduced here to some new characters. The sons of Zeruiah, note verse 18. And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Achiel. Now Achiel was as swift of a foot as a wild gazelle. This was David's older sister, okay? So you guys get a hold of what's going on, just the closeness of family. This makes these three brothers mentioned David's nephews, okay? But Joab we know as David's general and Abishai we met in 1 Samuel was one of David's best warriors. So the only first introduction for us here is the youngest brother, Achiel. Now, being the baby boy doesn't make Achiel insignificant. Later on, we are told that Achiel was one of David's 30 mighty men. This kid, Achiel, he's an amazing fighter. And Achiel is also annoying for having some wills. This guy can book it. He's fast. He can sprint as fast as a gazelle in the open field. Now, this comparison of Ashiel to a gazelle should not be lost on us. I know it's been a few weeks, but as you recall, David likened Jonathan to a gazelle in his lament in chapter one. It carries then this connotation of beloved. He's one of the beloved and lovely. Ashiel is one of the precious warriors of Israel. Nacho may be super fast, but he might be a little thick in the head, and you'll see why I say that. For he sets his target on prize number one. He wants the big fish. He wants Abner. Nacho's drive to take out Abner does seem to be strategic. Abder is one of those with the power in Israel, and so if you get him, then the north falls. I mean, he's going right for the king on a chessboard. However, I would like to suggest that Achiel may be motivated a little bit more than that, possibly some personal ambition. He longs to take home the gold medal, that is to strike down the great general. And Oshio's chase of Abner and his refusal to stop is really tunnel vision for greatness, driven possibly by revenge and a taste for blood. Oshio is like a greyhound after a rabbit. Now while Oshio is characterized with rash zeal, General Abner is a little more thoughtful. He senses that no good can come from this chase. Now, I gotta be honest with you, in all out run, I'm trying to picture what this looks like, right? How can Abner and Oshiel have these conversations? I mean, you gotta get a hold of this, right? They're in full battle gear, and they're sprinting and running, and they're having this conversation. Does seem awful chatty for someone in battle gear, but nonetheless. Oshiel wants to kill it. I want you to look at verse 21. Abner said to him, turn aside to your right hand or to your left and seize one of the young men and take his spoil. Fashio wants a trophy, surely he can get one from another fighter. Now, at first glance, we may think Abner's suggestion could be out of fear. Man, this is a young warrior and he's fast. You could be thinking that he's afraid of Achiel and wants to stop having him being chased. But when we consider, and I want you to think about this, Abner's words, we could see the benefit that actually goes towards Achiel here. He warns, turn aside, and he does so multiple times. You get a sense really that this old war horse of a general is warning youthful zeal of Achiel. Abner's trying to tell him, look, son, nothing is going to come good from this duel or this encounter, so back down. It'd be better if you just break off your pursuit, go find you a young lad, and you guys battle it out. But Achiel's gonna take no heed to this. The text tells us Achiel would not turn aside from following him. He is locked in, and for him, Abner is his only target. Now, Abner shows impressive patience here. He speaks a second warning, and this time he gets more explicit. Verse 22, look at it with me. And Abner said again to Achiel, turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? And he says, why, how then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab? Abner can't outrun Achiel, but he knows he is the better fighter here. If it comes to blows, Abner knows he's going to win. And to his credit, Abner doesn't want to kill Oshiel. How could he ever look Joab in the face again? Well, Oshiel is pushing Abner into a corner. If he doesn't back down, Abner will have no other option. This civil war now that Abner initiated is now being put as placed himself between a rock and a hard place. He started this. He initiated this. He took that army and traveled miles and miles. He initiated the champions for fighting. This was his doing. He essentially begs Achelle to back down before something really regrettable happens. However, as we see, Achiel refuses. He's zealous for that trophy. He's too confident in his abilities. Well, Abner has been very patient, but now he tries one more attempt. Note verse 23. In 23, Abner strikes Achiel on the stomach, and it says what? Did you guys see it? With the butt of the spear. Now such a blow is blatantly intended as being non-lethal, okay? That is, you tend to take the sharp end of a spear if you want to kill someone, but the blunt end to the stomach sounds like an attempt to knock the wind out of the guy, to subdue, not to kill. So it appears that Abner tries to gut punch Achille and get away without killing him. According to our text, he either misjudges his own strength or Achiel's speed. You see, Achiel is moving so fast, he gets run through with the butt of the spear. The mighty Achiel gets impelled with the spear of Abner. Achiel meets sudden death, and he falls on the spot. Brothers and sisters, you can see as the text tells us, when a gazelle falls in Israel, It is a very sad day. Note at the end of verse 23 that even as the battle rages on, everyone, this is gonna be Judah and Israel, will pass by Ashiel's dead body. And what are they gonna do? They're gonna stop and they're gonna pause. You see one, regardless of whether you're one of Abner's men or David's men, they take a moment of silence. They pass by this horrible sight of Ashiel. and his dead body. Well, the Civil War continues, but the sight of such a loss reminds both sides that they are indeed brothers. They are bound by covenant, by blood, and that blood was just spilt out on the dust of a hill. Amidst the ensuing chaos, the blood of a brother cries out from the ground. And it doesn't matter what side you're on, this cry must be given its moment of silence. Well, the battle gets rolling and stopping is no easy endeavor. So with the end of their dead brother, Joab and Abishai are fueled with revenge. Before long, the sun is setting and Abner is cornered on the top of a hilltop. The men of Benjamin rally around him, and like General Custard, Abner makes his last stand. Joab has Abner besieged like a bird in a net. This is going to get ugly. And Abner knows it now. And so what does he do? Being pinned down and captured, essentially besieged, he calls for a sea fire. First, though, it's interesting, right? He initiated it, as we saw, but he rebukes Joab for his consuming sword. He warns that the end will be bitter. And then, of all things, he blames Joab for not calling off his men. Now, rightly, Abner knows that this civil war must come to an end. No good is going to come from this family bloodshed. And yet, somewhat snidely, Abner seems to place the blame of all things onto the other general, onto Joab. Just like brothers, they keep pointing the finger at one another. You know how when conflicts start, you blame, hey, it was your fault, you started it. No, it was your fault, you started it. But Joab, he gives it back. Verse 27, Joab essentially says, hey, if Abner would not have spoken earlier than the battle would have never started. That is, if Abner would not have suggested the duel of champions, then everyone would have pulled back that very moment. Yes, Joab responds by blaming the war on Abner's suggestion of a duel. Abner threw the first punch, and Joab is just trying to finish what Abner started. Now besides putting the blame back on Abner, Joab knows Abner's right here. The violence of brother against brother does need to stop. And so Joab blows the horn and the battle is over. Abner takes his men and they march the 40 plus miles back to their capital. Likewise, Joab takes his men and they march all night back to Hebron. Now on Joab's journey, he pauses and he does two things. First, he takes a tally of the fallen. Joab counts the score. Team Ishbosheth, 360 men dead. Team David, 20 men dead. And in this game, the one with the most points loses. By a wide margin, The favor clearly went to team David through Joab. Yes, this is a winning score, but it hardly feels like a victory. For now, Joab will go and he will have to do what? He's going to go and pick up the body of his own brother. He carries Achiel 15 miles or so down to Bethlehem to bury him in the family tomb. The man with the better score has to bury a brother. The team that came out on top does not celebrate. Rather, they hold a funeral. The loser retreats and licks his wounds, and the winner weeps at a tomb. Brothers and sisters, when brother fights against brother, there is no victor. In fact, as they lay Asher to rest, it's hard not to think of Cain and Abel. As both Israel and Judah paused and stood over Asher's dead body, they were listening to the blood of Abel crying. Yes, Cain's motivation was definitely more gruesome, but not by much. Remember, Abner is Saul's cousin. And in his actions, he is furthering the jealousy of Saul by forcing the reign of Saul's son. Additionally, if it was Abner who first marched out in battle in response to David's invitation of what? Once again, of peace. Then it was Abner's idea for the champions to duel. He is the one that struck the match. And the kindling was ripe for fire and for civil war. Now, Joab is not far from innocent, as Achiel foolishly would not back down from bloodlust for Abner. Abner realized he was about to do the deed of Cain. He pleaded with Achiel to stop. He knew if he killed the young warrior, he would not be able to look Joab in the face. The death of Achiel would ruin the chance for peace between, listen to this, Abner and Joab. Why? Because Achiel was not an enemy. Rather, he was a fellow covenant member. He was a brother. To kill a brother is fratricide. It is a death where the blood cries out like Abel. Now, I want to ask you a question. What does Abel's blood cry out for? Have you ever thought about that? Justice. It's a cry for justice. His blood screamed, satisfy me, Lord. Revenge me. And when such a cry is between brothers, listen to me, it never stops. It becomes an unceasing tit for tat. You hit first, you hit harder, will you hit below the belt? Look at what the beginning of verse 1 says of chapter 3. It says this, chapter 3 verse 1, there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. Ashel's death sparked an all out civil war, and a long one at that. The cry of his blood would not allow the swords of brothers to be sheathed. And where the sword consumes, there is no hope for mercy or peace. And my point this afternoon is this. Achiel's blood reminds us that we need a better blood than that of Abel. For if Abel's blood was the cry for justice, That means that it embodies the call for the law against us as sinners. In Ashiel's blood, we can also hear the law's demand for our own blood. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5, 22. He said, will be liable to the hell of fire. You see, when the law calls out for justice against sinners, we all stand condemned. And as sinners, that is those that are outside of Christ, Abel's blood cries out for our own death. It says the sinner must be judged. And so we need a better blood. We need the blood. of our Lord Jesus Christ. If Abel's blood calls out for justice against sinners, what does Jesus' blood say? Well, it speaks this, forgiveness and satisfaction. How does Jesus' blood speak forgiveness? Wasn't he also an innocent man who was murdered? Well, it can because Jesus willingly laid down his life to have his blood applied to the mercy seat, to the altar. And blood upon the altar does not call for justice, rather it satisfies justice. Our Lord's blood satisfies justice, listen to this, to bring you and I forgiveness. Our Lord's blood satisfies justice to forgive us. And where there is forgiveness, there is life everlasting. There's peace. So what will it take to end this civil war? I'll ask another question. Can the sword bring real peace? Has the sword ever brought real peace? And you know the answer. No. Only an act of forgiveness can bring real peace. To say it another way, the kingdom can only be established by mercy. And this is what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. He made peace between you and the Father. Through his cross work, we are reconciled in mercy. for His mercy has triumphed over judgment. In every single Lord's day, we are reminded that we are in the new covenant, the new covenant in His blood. Our life and salvation flows from this sacrifice. His spilled blood then speaks forgiveness over you, not judgment, and not the terrors of the law. Yes, His blood makes you and me the righteousness of God by faith alone. If left to ourselves and our sin without Christ, our lives would look exactly like this chapter, a swirl of evil which no good could come from. Amid all the chaos, the cry of justice will only bring death, but Jesus' blood speaks louder. than this chapter. He is our King who forgives. His mercy has triumphed over judgment and he has done it for you. And this is the grace to us as a church. And so when you hear the gospel, what is the response? When you've been forgiven much, what is the response but to love much? In our conflicts with one another, if we always demand restitution or justice, it will only snowball into civil war. The desire to get that last punch, you know, that last cutting word will only bring counterpunch after counterpunch. You see, violence only breeds violence. But in Christ, In particular, in His mercy, we are reminded that His forgiveness is greater than the sword. It is better than vengeance. Only mercy brings life and peace. And so we must flee from all of our grudges, and listen to me, any desire ever for revenge. Revenge is the Lord's. We've been forgiven much. Show mercy. We must forgive one another. Yes, 77 times we must forgive and forgive. Until glory, our sin will be constant. You and I will offend one another. And so our forgiveness needs to be equally consistent because of the mercy of Christ. We know that forgiving one another is not always easy. We know that it's not easy, but I'm gonna remind you, it shouldn't be considered a chore either. For when we forgive one another, we are displaying the love of our Savior who first forgave us. May the mercy of Christ flourish among us. May we take joy in the blood of Christ who has bought us. He is our mediator and he is a mediator of a new and better covenant. Our King whose blood speaks a better word over us every single Lord's day we come here. The word preached, the word displayed by the table, a word of mercy, a word of forgiveness that's greater than any weapon may grant us life and keep us until the day of resurrection. Are there any questions in regards to Chapter 2? Look at it with me. No questions? The story of Abner is really quite interesting, and we'll see that play out in Chapter 3. What interests me, once again, is David's response as the anointed one. It truly is fascinating to see the love that David displays, even in the midst of those trying to take away the throne, the patience, the mercy. And he points us right to Christ. Brothers and sisters, I mean, you're gonna hear me say it a lot, you know, Christ is in the Old Testament. And the gospel is right here. And we've got some hard narrative to look at. But I stand encouraged in the gospel and the Lord. And I've got to tell you, when I look at these characters that we see, I'm not David. I'll go so far as to say, neither are you. We're more like Abner and Joab and, man, these sinners that need mercy. And it's right there being proclaimed to us. And it is a beautiful thing. And so I just encourage you as you're able to look at these narratives. Read it in advance. If you guys have a moment, read 2 Samuel 3. We're going to dig in deep. It is my goal. It's not a promise, but it is my goal to cover all of chapter 3 next week. And then two weeks from then, Dr. Rinehan is going to give our IRBS report. And we'll pick back up. Lord willing. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and pray and we'll be dismissed. Gracious and heavenly Father, we do thank you for today. We thank you for the word proclaimed once again this morning. We thank you for your mercy and your grace, for your love, for your church. We thank you that you use weak vessels with such a beautiful message. Ask once again, allow your word to have its way in our lives. Allow us to be encouraged in our faith. Allow those in our midst, Father, that have not bowed the knee, show them mercy, awaken their dead hearts. Allow them to respond to this beautiful gospel. For them to see it, not with just with their own eyes, but eyes of faith. Awaken them to see what you have provided for them, for us as your church. We thank you, ask for your blessing and safe travels for the many that will be away this week. Allow them to return to us safely. I pray all these things in the name of Jesus, amen.