Would you turn in the Scriptures then to that passage we read in 2 Samuel 19, and we're going to look at verses 9-15 this morning. 2 Samuel 19 verses 9-15, and I'm sure you will find it helpful if you have it open in front of you as we look at these things together. Now after the defeat of Absalom, the people had begun to realize their folly. And basically what they're saying in verses 9 and 10 is, what have we done? We are so grateful for David, the king, who saved us out of the hand of our enemies and delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Absalom, verse 10, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? Why did we ever turn away from David, who had been so good to us and so powerful? David and Absalom have promised so much, and yet produced so little and they recognized that David was the rightful king and he must be returned to the city of Jerusalem. Now we looked last time at David's response to the news of Absalom's death and we saw that David's grief was genuine, yes, because David was Absalom's father, David had already lost His firstborn son Amnon and now Absalom had been killed and it's hard for parents to lose children. And David knows why Absalom has died, not only because he's rebelled against his father's kingdom, but it's also a direct consequence of David's own sin. And then of course his grief was passionate and there is a right grief in the presence of death. and even death, which is the result of rebellion, and that was the case. But then we saw that his grief was excessive, and Joab is a realist as he comes to David and challenges him about his excessive grace. In fact, as you read these words in verses six to eight, six to seven, you imagine speaking to the king like that. Well, Joab, he's a realist, he's a pragmatist, he's got no time for God's word or God's principles. He is sarcastic, he's insubordinate, but he's also a catalyst to bring David to his senses. And he needed, in spite of his grief, that God has provided a great and mighty victory. And God uses joab, drastic methods, to get David to consider these things. My friends, sometimes if we don't listen to God's word, and we don't listen to what God says to us, sometimes God uses drastic methods to cause us to take notice. And it's tragic when people set their hearts against the Word of God and won't receive His truth and His Word. And in fact we find, we could actually say that in verses 9 and 10, it almost seems as though the people are squabbling among themselves, uncertain what to do next. Now, this gets sorted out, but later in the chapter, we haven't got to them yet, in verses 40 to 43, this will break out even more, and they will come and they will complain again, and they will be filled with confusion, and they will have, well, the word in verse 43 is that they will use fiercer words. They had a right old argument about what to do, and that was, unedifying and unspiritual and ungodly. Well, never mind. But this was something of what was beginning to happen here. What did the people need? They needed a leader who would lead them and show authority over them and to inspire them. And David was the only man who could do that. Joab's shock tactics have brought David to his senses, and a good job too. And it had jolted David, and the issue becomes clear. But now, David waits with patience. If he is to return, he needs to be sure that the people are behind him again, that they have abandoned this folly in following Absalom. And really the question in verse 10 is the key, the end of the verse. Now therefore, why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? And this whole section is dealing with the matter of bringing the king back. Verse 10, why do you not speak a word of bringing the king back? Verse 11, the end of the verse, why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? Verse 12, ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh, wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? Verse 14, 43 later in the chapter, the same thing is that we have 10 parts in the King, and we have also more right in David than ye. Why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our King? Now David, to some extent, is a picture to us of the claim of the Lord Jesus Christ as King. Now he's not a perfect example because David was a sinner, but there are parallels and there are implications that follow from this. And I want to ask this question and I hope to deal with it in a sense in what we say this morning. Have our hearts turned away from our King? My friends, we will never have peace in our hearts and in our lives until the Lord Jesus Christ is King and He is central in our life and understanding, until we give the King His rightful place. Now we can say of our King that the King is coming. He has not come back to this earth yet, but He will do one day. He will come back. And His coming is nearer today than it was 80 years ago, 81 years ago, when the D-Day landings took place. And the enemy, our great enemy, the devil, is doing his utmost to try to destroy the work of God and try to attack the people of God. He'll never do it. but he's trying to do that. And my friends, I think there are some very important lessons for us in the way in which the people reacted to David here and how they brought him back, how they did bring him back to our reaction to our great King, the Lord Jesus Christ. So look with me this morning under a number of headings. Firstly, the unrecognised King, the unrecognised King. What had happened? Well, I'm sorry, in a sense, if you haven't been here for the previous messages on this passage, but the hearts of the men of Israel had been stolen away by Absalom. That's what had happened. Goes back through the previous chapters, Absalom's deception in winning the hearts of the people and then plotting against his father and then driving his father away from the palace and from the kingdom until he ends up in exile in the wilderness. But Absalom had perished. Absalom had failed. Absalom was a rival. My friends, there are many rivals to the king, the king of kings, to rule in your life and in your situation. But they'll all fail you. There's only one king who is worth following and worth serving. And although David had had to flee from the city, he did take with him those who were loyal. And we saw something of that as we looked into the previous passages and understand something of that. But my friends, are we easily swayed by other people's opinions? Are we easily swayed by a fast-talking and sweet-talking person to lead us away? Are we led astray by the attacks of the wicked one as he works in the minds and hearts of other people to try to draw us away from the things of God? Do we follow the minds and the thinking of others Or do we have strong convictions that are rooted in the principles of God's Word? Now, my friends, I don't want to prejudge the situation, but I don't think that that is going to be particularly a problem for you, dear friends, before me today. But I've seen it happen in churches. I've seen it happen in churches. And they're swayed by a powerful character or a powerful personality. And actually, what happens is they're led away, they're led astray from the things of God. And they're not standing for the principles of God's Word in a way that once they did. And that is tragic when you see it. Why did Absalom succeed so successfully at first? Because men's minds and hearts are incredibly easily influenced. I remember talking, this was many, many years ago, I was down in Cornwall, it was my early days down in Cornwall, talking to a fellow pastor in one of the churches, and we were talking about some of the issues of the day, and some of the situations, some of the things that were coming into the churches, and he said to me, he said, I have to confess to you, Ian, he said, I am so easily persuaded by these people. He said, somebody comes along and he powerfully presents a case to me and he says, and I'm convinced. And he said, somebody else comes along and presents another case so powerfully, he said, I find it so difficult to determine the truth. And my advice to him was go back to the word of God. and study what God says, and don't listen to these fast-talking people who will tear you away from the things of God or the principles, and they come so convincingly, and they sound so orthodox sometimes. But my friends, we need to be careful. And I say, I remember saying years ago, saying in one of, I've said it lots of times since, but I remember the first time I said this, I said, listen, I said, if I preach and you think that I am preaching error, come and tell me. And two or three people in the congregation came to me afterwards and they said, we would never dare criticize the preacher. And I said to them, you have a responsibility to me, that if you think I'm teaching error, that if I've gone off the rails, you need to come to me, because I need to know that, and we'll study the scripture together, and we'll find out what the truth is. There's a great example of that in church history, a man called Apollinarius. Apollinarius really thought that he had solved a great theological problem. He didn't come to the Bible with an intention of teaching error, not like some of the others, not like Arius and some of the others. And he was taken aback when the church of his day condemned him as a heretic, because he hadn't understood what the Bible was saying. And Apollinarianism is an error, it's a heresy. Now the sad thing about Apollinarius was that he didn't accept the fact that he was misteaching the Bible. But when he first appreciated it, you read the history for yourself, it wasn't the case of others, there were others who set out deliberately to twist and to change things. But this man didn't, and sadly he didn't accept, but he was a heretic, he was a heretic. My friends, we have to be careful. If you think that I'm teaching error, you come and talk to me. And let's look at the Bible together. Because I don't want to mislead you. I don't want to lead you astray. I want you to understand the truth. But people can be very easily persuaded. And that's why Absalom succeeded in this occasion. And the men of Israel were turned in rebellion against their rightful king and rejected David for Absalom. But now they realize their folly, but they don't know how to put things back together again. My friends, what's the matter with the world at large today? I'll tell you what, it's they've turned from their rightful king, God, the Lord Jesus Christ, They do not recognize Him for who He is. That's why the Bible says He is despised and rejected of men. Only three times while the Lord Jesus Christ walked to this earth was He publicly recognized as King. The wise men come and they recognize Him as King when He is a babe. And just before his death, the second occasion was just before his death, when he enters the city of Jerusalem and they sing Hosanna in the highest, the king comes. I'm not saying that other people didn't, but publicly, And the third time when he was publicly acknowledged, well he wasn't acknowledged because Pilate wasn't a Christian man, but Pilate said that he was king of the Jews. As far as I know, those are the only three public times. I'm not saying that others didn't recognize, of course his disciples did and others did. But only three times when he walked this earth was he publicly recognized in that way, at least as we have it in the scriptures. So often he went about unrecognized and unacknowledged. People said, where did this man get this teaching and this knowledge? They didn't recognize who he was and where his authority came from. And many people today have no room for the king. But one day he's coming, he's coming again. And all will have to acknowledge him when that day comes, the unrecognized king. Secondly, the powerful king, the powerful king. David could have marched on the city as soon as Absalom had been defeated, but he waits, he waits. He waits to see whether he will be readily accepted and welcomed back into the city. He could have subdued the rebels by force. He could have destroyed them. We'll say something more about that in a minute. He could have triumphed in his victory and asserted his authority. But he waits. He will go back as a prince. And I use that word deliberately. A prince as the Bible understands a prince. I hope you understand that. We talk about people, we talk about King Charles, he was Prince Charles for many years, because he was, as it were, the king in waiting. But Prince in the Bible is much stronger than that, and very often in the Bible, and particularly when we read of the Lord Jesus Christ being the Prince of Peace, in that sense, there is an authority that he has, which is a regnal authority, an authority of power, He is not in any way less than king when he is described as prince of peace. I hope you understand that. I don't want to go into the details of it in great detail now. But that's what I say when he comes back as prince in that biblical sense, in that spiritual sense. Powerful, but he will not use force unreasonably. He wants to return in peace. He wants to be welcomed by his subjects. He goes with strength of character, having won their hearts. He demonstrates his power by his gentleness and his wisdom. David does that. And in like manner, in a far greater way, our great Prince of Peace does that. He demonstrates his power by creation. He is the God who spoke. And we read in that wonderful passage in Proverbs about wisdom personified and it's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ being there when the worlds were created and as it were being at the right hand of God the Father and intimately involved as of course the Holy Spirit was as well, the triune God involved in this great work of creation. And the writer to the Hebrews, of course, takes that up and reminds us that he was and is the great Creator God in those wonderful words in the beginning of Hebrews, as we have him described in that way. Let me read them to you. God, who in sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past, unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, prince, we might say, of all things, that's the sense there, by whom also he made the world. And he goes on to describe his great saving work in those ways. And our king proves his power by his work of creation, but he also does this by his work of redemption. Romans chapter 14 and verse 9 is but one verse of many. For to this end, Paul writes in Romans 14 and 9, for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. He died and rose again, that He might be Lord, that He might be King of both the dead and the living. He is the Lamb, as the revelation tells us, seated upon the throne, the powerful King who cannot be overthrown. No one can overthrow Him. He has the right to rule, to reign. He is the powerful King. the unrecognized king, the powerful king. Thirdly, the righteous king. Now we have to say that because many of the kings of the Old Testament were not righteous. They were ungodly. They were corrupt. Many of them were corrupted by power. And in fact, that is, I was almost going to say, always the case. It's so easy that power corrupts. What's the saying? Power corrupts absolute, power corrupts absolutely. Well, that's true. And we see it illustrated in the Bible. And David, of course, had sinned grievously. And he had misused his power at times. And Solomon was unrighteous. But when we come to the New Testament, we find the Lord Jesus, and he could stand before his accusers blameless, blameless, perfectly righteous, without fault. I find no fault in this man, no fault. And yet, in spite of David's sin, and in spite of David's failure, he had been a good leader. And the men of Israel recognized that here. And the men of Judah, many of the men of Judah owed their lives to David. David was of the tribe of Judah, tribe of Judah and Benjamin. And they'd been with him as he'd fought his battles against their enemies. We'd seen that right through all the end of the days of Saul, when David had fought for Saul and for the kingdom. and kept many of the men of Judah safe as they had fought with him. And they had been with him as they'd fought their battles against their enemies, and he had done much good, and they had to recognize what they owed to him, and they do that here. But my friends, our king is much greater than David. Our king is perfect, sinless, perfect. And he has done much for us, far more than David did for his people. far more than David could ever have done for his people. Here is the righteous king, par excellence, far greater than David. His righteousness is all that we need. He alone is worthy of our respect and our honor and our trust and our love and our devotion and our obedience, all of these things. My friends, what a Saviour is our Saviour. A wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord, the old song says. Do you know Him? Is He a wonderful Saviour for you? Do you trust Him? He is sinlessly perfect. He is the righteous King. He alone is worthy, I say, of our love and of our trust and our obedience. We owe all that we have and all that we are to Him. My friend, are you a child of God? Are you born again of God's Holy Spirit? Are you waiting for this King to return? Will you rejoice when He comes again, when He comes in the clouds? Can you say, as we sang in that hymn a moment or two, rejoice, the Savior reigns amongst the sons of men. He breaks the prisoners' chains and makes them free again. Though hell oppose God's mighty Son, in spite of foes, His cause goes on. All power is in his hand, his people to defend. To his most high commands shall millions more attend. My friends, that's our friend, that's our God, that's our King. He is righteous, he is holy, he is pure, he is all-powerful. The unrecognized King, the powerful King, the righteous King. Fourthly, the delivering King. the delivering king. David was a mighty deliverer, and the people recognized that. Verse 9, they said, saying, the king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he has delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines. And now he's fled out of the hand of Absalom, he delivering. Those who had sided with Absalom, they recognized their folly and their guilt. With David absent, they had lost the one who was their deliverer, their savior from their enemies. So what does David do? David calls upon the priests who had remained loyal to him. Verse 11, Sadoc and Abiathar, the priests, speak to the elders of Judah to encourage and he stirs them up to action and he challenges them. My friends, Our Saviour has delivered us from our enemy, the wicked one. He is a greater deliverer than David was to his people, and he calls us to stir us up to action, to hear his word and obey his voice. David needed to use the priests, but our king doesn't, because he is our great high priest as well. He comes to encourage us to hear his word and receive it, his word of deliverance, his word of salvation. My friend, I say again, have you heard his voice? Have you heard his voice? You may have been in this church for many years, and you may have heard this gospel preached, but have you heard this voice? Has it come to you? You may be a child growing up, and maybe you're resenting perhaps sitting here in the church, and you feel, what a waste of a Sunday. My friend, you need to hear this voice of God. You need to hear this voice of God to your hearts. None of us are too young to come to Christ, and none of us are too old either. Are you a saved man, a saved woman? People have stopped using, well, I'm not saying everybody, but many people have stopped using that kind of language today. We ought to get back, I'm sure many of you do, but we ought to get more regularly, excuse me, We ought to get more regularly back to saying that and asking people, are you saved? I can remember when I was a youngster, that's what people used to do. Men in the ministry would come to me or other people or Bible class leaders and they would come to me and say, Ian, are you saved? Do we do that today? Not in an arrogant way, but do we challenge people? Do we challenge people? Are you right with God? My friends, that's what we need, is it not? Are you a saved man, a saved woman? Are you right with God? I remember years ago, I'd gone to a meeting with my aunt, she's now long since in glory, but she came back, she said, oh, she said, three people were saved souls tonight. My friends, we don't talk in that kind of language, do we, in that way? We might say, oh, somebody's become a Christian. Yes, well, of course, if they have, that's wonderful. But they've been saved. They've been rescued from sin and death and destruction. That's wonderful. He is our savior. I remember, forgive me, I remember a few years ago, when I was out in the Philippines lecturing to a group of students, and they were talking about this, and I was saying, don't you understand? And they were, with the very word, savior. And we were talking about this and encouraging them. It wasn't a debate, you know, wonderful. What blessing there is to bring back the king. He's our deliverer. The only place of blessing is under his hand and following his rule. Therefore, bring back the king. Now in chapter 18 and verse three, the men with David had recognized his value. Do you remember when Absalom was at the height of his power? power. And the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth, for if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die will they care for us. But now Thou art worth ten more than ten thousand of us, therefore now it is better that you sucker us out of the city. And they told David not to go with them at that point, at that point, because he was so valuable, so precious to them. My friends, our King, our King is precious. He is the chief among 10,000. He is the royal diadem of glory. Do you recognize his value? He is of surpassing worth to his people. He is the deliverer, the savior, the only savior of sinners, the only hope of mankind. The unrecognized king, the powerful king, the righteous king, the delivering king. Fifthly, the returning king. Here was David coming back to Jerusalem. David, by his own words, helped to fuel that desire for his return. Verse 11, As he spoke to Zadok and Abiathar, speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why ye the last to bring the king back to his house, seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house? The men of Judah ought to have been at the forefront. But they held back, they dragged their feet. They were reluctant. And David shows great grace to them. It was the men of Judah who had led the attack against David, and Amasa was the leader of the rebels. Now this may have been a good political move in verse 13, say to a maserat, they are not of my bone and my flesh, God do so to me and more also if thou be not captain of the host before me continually, and so on. That may have been political, may have been. But it was primarily an expression of grace and kindness and forgiveness. And my friends, that's what the Lord Jesus Christ comes to do. He gives us grace. He forgives us of our sins. He shows us kindness. He delivers us. He does us good. That is what God's mercy in Christ is. Do you understand it? through the King, God the Son. And David's words in verse 14, had a profound effect upon his hearers. He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the King, return thou and all thy servants, the power of his word. And my friend, that reminds us of the power of the word of God, the voice of Christ. when he comes to our hearts to follow him. And verse 15, David returns just as he promised. My friends, the day is coming when our King will return, just as he promised, just as he promised. And there's only one way to keep pure, and with a conscience, conscious sense, is to have a conscious sense that the King will return at any moment. I love those words, that's why we read them in 1 John chapter 3 and verses 2 to 3. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. That is the hope of his return. That is our incentive. That is our inspiration to be pure, to live a godly life. Again, I ask you the question, does the king have his rightful place? Is he supreme in your lives? Are your hearts inclined to follow Him and serve Him completely, utterly, devotedly? Our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son is coming again. He will return to this earth. Do you believe that? When He comes, He comes to judgment. He comes to judgment. That's why it is important to be ready now, to be prepared, to welcome Him when He comes again. Are you ready? Are you prepared? There's only one way, my friend, and that is to be saved by your sin, to be forgiven by Christ, to give up your rebellion and your opposition to him, and to seek his forgiveness and his mercy and his grace toward you. You deserve him to come in power to destroy you, but he is a God of mercy and a God of grace. And David, in a very limited way, illustrates that to us. But the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, the King of kings, is far greater than David. He is the God of mercy and grace. He is the Righteous One. He is the Deliverer. He is the Savior. Come to Him now. Welcome the King of Kings in your hearts. And don't delay, because delay is dangerous. Well, we're going to sing a great hymn that reminds us of his coming. 303, 10,000 times 10,000 in sparking raiment bright, the armies of the ransomed saints throng up the steeps of light. May these be days that we will look forward to with great anticipation that the Lord will come and what joy that will be when he does return. 303.