2 Samuel 16. We have 24 chapters in 2 Samuel. I'm not sure that I'm going to cover every one of them in the life of David, but we are surely going to the end of his life. And of course, it's the first chapter of 1 Kings where David dies. And so we'll probably cover that part of it. And then, as I told you this morning, I am planning to go to a series of the 10 commandments. I think the 10 commandments, I did that when I first came here and some people have asked me to do it again. And I think it would be a good thing to go over it again because indeed it's extremely important, especially if we're going to think the thoughts of God after God, we surely need to understand his commandments and these 10 words as they are called, and that we might have that in our minds, that we might hide his word in our hearts, that we would not sin against him. And so we'll start that sometime probably before the summer. And I don't know exactly how many more weeks we'll have in the life of David, but after the life of David, we'll go there. Chapter 16 of 2 Samuel. And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of asses saddled and upon them 200 loaves of bread and a hundred bunches of raisins and a hundred of summer fruits and a bottle of wine. And the king said unto Ziba, what meanest thou by these things? And Ziba said, the asses be for the king's household to ride on and the bread and the summer fruit for the young men to eat and the wine that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, and where is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he abideth at Jerusalem. For he said, today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. Then said the king to Ziba, behold, thine are all that pertaineth unto Mephibosheth. And Zibbas said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my Lord, O King. And when King David came to Bahuram, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, Shimei, and the son of Gerar. And he came forth and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David and at all the servants of the King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed, come out, come out thou bloody man. and thou man of Belial. And the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the king, I'm sorry, and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in thy mischief because thou art a bloody man. Then said Abishai, the son of Zeruiah unto the king, why should this dead dog curse my Lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee and take off his head. And the king said, what have I to do with you ye sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord has said unto him, curse David. Who shall then say, wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and to all the servants, behold my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone. Let him curse. For the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction. and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. And as David and his men went by the way, she may went along on the hillside over against them and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and cast dust And the king and all the people that were with him came weary and refreshed themselves there. And so David is here, you see, running from his son, Absalom, who stood in the gate for 40 years, receiving the good of Israel, beseeching them that they would follow him. And the name of Absalom became great and beloved as he stood there day in and day out being dishonorable in his own heart and mind to King David, his father. And so he finally won the hearts of Israel. That's very easy for a neophyte, for someone who is new to come and to win the heart against someone who is old, someone who has stood, someone who has been faithful in all these years. It's good that the younger group, you know, or it's easier maybe I should say that the younger group would come and follow the one who seems to have more energy, the one who seems to be willing to do better by them as they would surmise it. But here Absalom, you see, moved in his heart with a spirit of rebellion against his father And when his father sees it, and when this man comes out to curse David, and Abishai surely the servant of David wouldn't take it. He wanted to go literally cut his head off in front of David to put an end to his cursing. But David says, no, what is it that a man should curse me? when God himself has already cursed me? What is this man doing except what the Lord had already done? The Lord cursed me and the Lord led him to curse me. Now we see that David here that because of his lapse in holiness, his momentary pleasure with another man's wife that led him in his pride to cover it up with murder. And the Lord cursed him. He said, you know, you remember when the Lord said to him, you'll live, you'll not get the death penalty. He deserved the death penalty. He deserved the death penalty on two counts. He deserved the death penalty, first of all, for adultery, because in the law of the Lord, in order to, you know, the punishment for adultery, in order to rid it from the land was to kill those who participate, to stone those who participated in adultery. Now there are those who would go to John chapter eight and say, God has changed his mind. But in John chapter eight, when the woman was called an adultery, we just went through that. And I went through the proper understanding of that. The Lord affirmed that by, by saying, well, look, it takes two witnesses, two or three witnesses. So if you can throw a stone at her, and he said it in this way, he that is without sin, if you're not sinning against the law of God, then throw a stone at her. But none would. But the Lord says to her, go and sin no more. But the death penalty is very clear. that if you commit adultery, then you're under the sentence of death. And if you were in the nation of Israel and as they were being obedient to the law of God, none of these things would have been allowed. You would have forfeited your life in doing such a thing. Now, why? Well, you can go through the death penalties of the Old Testament and you can find out why. You see, death penalties are given for sins that destroy, sins that bring death. Now, there are four basic governmental spheres, and there may be more, but four basic ones that are in all of our lives. Obviously there's the self government sphere. That is a man that must govern himself. And, and it has been said, if a man will not govern or woman will not govern themselves, then they will be governed by no one else. There's never been a law passed that would make somebody obey the law. I mean, the law is passed or the law is given to us by God, but the fact that the law is given or the law is passed is not one person that has ever obeyed a law because the law was passed. There are other things that causes them to give obedience to the law of God. And if they refuse to govern themselves, and that's what our forefathers in this nation meant when they used the term self-government. They didn't mean that 50% plus one of the people could determine what is right and what is wrong. That is not. what they meant. They were too Christian in their thinking to ever have meant anything like that. In fact, democracy was the scourge. I mean, they looked at democracy as what it is in truth, that it is a scourge to any people. And those people who would use the Latin phrase, Vox Populi, Vox Dei, the voice of the people is the voice of God, that's in rebellion to God. No, Vox Dei, Vox Dei, the voice of God is the voice of God. And the people must submit to that. And if you will not submit yourself in character, you see, in your obedience, then it doesn't matter how many laws are passed. It doesn't matter how many statutes, as it were, that would be put on the books to try to govern a person. And so self-government is very important. And if self-government is violated in the sense, if self-government is violated by murder, if self-government is violated by kidnapping, if self-government is violated by rape or by these sexual sins of homosexuality, then A death penalty stands, you see, because it brings death. Now then the second sphere of government surely that we participate in is the family. And this is what more particularly we're talking about today. When a man or woman commits adultery, what do they do? Well, they murder the family. And if someone murders the family, then the death penalty from the Holy God comes to them. Also the incorrigible child. Now we're not talking about a three-year-old. I mean, if you can't control a three-year-old, somebody needs to control you. I mean, we're not talking about little children. In fact, you know, and I'll get into some of this and the family, you know, when we do the seminar, but you spank a four-year-old so you can talk to a 14-year-old. You see, you have to, and I make no apology. Let God be true in every man a liar. Make no apology for the use of the rod. For the Bible talks about the use of the rod. And in fact, it is the symbol of self, I'm sorry, the symbol of family government is the rod in the hand of the father as the father and mother stand at the head. of the family. And here you see an incorrigible child, a child that will not obey, a child that will not submit himself or herself unto the authority of God as given to the father and the mother by God to the family that they might stand before the children to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to teach them as they rise up, as they go out and as they come in, as the Shema in Hebrew, I'm sorry, in Deuteronomy 6 speaks of, you know, that. that you should, you know, love the Lord with all of your heart and with all of your might and with all of your soul, you see. And these are the things you teach your children and you teach them when they rise up in the morning, when they go to bed at night, you teach them when they leave the house, when they come back to the house, a constant atmosphere of discipline. But you see, if the mother and father are not disciplined, then how are the children gonna be disciplined? And if you continue to give in to your children or continue to give in to their whims, if you do not stand as the authority of God, a physical authority of God before them, you see, then what you're going to do is raise someone that there's a great possibility that will be incorrigible, one that will never submit himself or herself to any law and surely not to the law of God and what you're actually doing for the child. It is child abuse because not only are you ruining their lives upon this earth, but you are damning their souls to hell. And you have a responsibility I tell men who come into my office that want to marry a woman, or if we're talking in some kind of family counseling session, here's what I say. You are at the head of this family, and you surely will give an account for your soul, but when you marry a woman, then you must give an account for her soul, whether you accept that, whether you understand that responsibility or not, you will give an account for her soul when you stand before the true and living God. Choose wisely. You better not want, you young girls better never ever choose to give your life to someone, to enter into a relationship with someone that cannot be a leader of you spiritually. You don't marry projects, And if you do not as husband and wife, mother and father stand before these children to teach them because they come here with the attitude that they are God. And if you don't stand before them to teach them that they are not God, And when they try to exercise some kind of divine judgment upon the way you are raising them or over what they want to eat and not want to eat and when they want to go to bed or not go to bed, when they're trying to exercise some kind of divine judgment over you concerning those things, then you must meet that rebellion with the rod for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. That's not Brother Kerry, that's God. That's the word of the Lord to you. But you must be disciplined, you see. But if you're not disciplined, you're gonna raise a child. First of all. It's not fair to the child because then people will despise the child. I remember the old comedian, I really don't even know what his last name is, but I think his first name is Sinbad. I don't know, that might be his last name and that might be a stage name, but I don't know. But anyway, the comedian Sinbad. And he said, you know what I've noticed? That parents that don't whip their children, everybody else whips them. Well, But the incorrigible child you see will bring death to the family. So therefore, and it sounds so harsh to the modern ear, the incorrigible child should be taken to the gate and stoned. And you know what? That is the only death penalty that Jesus specifically mentions. in the New Testament that Jesus Christ himself specifically mentioned in Matthew chapter 15. Well, and then the death penalty comes for heresy in the church, for those who would lead people away from God through idolatry or through worshiping false gods. forsaking the true and living God and leading others to do so and to go to the high places. And then of course, civil government sedition and being a traitor to undermine and destroy civil authority brings the death penalty. But back to the family authorities, you see. So here is David, what did David deserve? David deserved to be, to have been taken out and stoned. along with Bathsheba because she didn't cry out. And then of course, when David killed Bathsheba's husband, now he's guilty of murder. But the Lord says, you're not going to die. I'm not gonna bring a death penalty to you. just gonna bring it to your children. The sword will never leave your house. Now, can you imagine this man who is a man after God's own heart? who remembered how God used him, gave him great power, even as a young man, to slay the giant Goliath. When the great men of valor, the great soldiers of Saul trembled and quaked in fear in front of this blasphemer of God, this champion of the Philistines that David was filled with such indignation because he was filled with such love and devotion to his God that he went there and stood in an impossible task and he himself by the hand of God, as God led that and took that stone that came, that seemed to be enchanted, that seemed to be released in a chance of a child, but that stone God guided until it sunk deep into the forehead of Goliath and brought the giant to his knees and David with two hands because the sword was so mighty, so big and so heavy and David so weak and so powerless with both hands cut off the head of that giant to the glory of God. He remembered that. He remembered the sweet times when he loved the Lord and sang. I mean, his heart was so filled with love and devotion to God. He took a pen and wrote Psalms that praise the Lord. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. And God gave him children, multiplied his efforts, and gave him great victories on the battlefield. And when he had opportunity to take the throne and the crown by efforts of his own, humanist efforts instead of that which God had had purpose in which God had brought about he and his love and devotion to God and his love and devotion to the king that God had established upon a throne. He never lifted his hand one time against Saul. But in that moment of sin and that moment of of passion that was denied biblically to him. He thought he would taste a little and everything would be all right. He never believed that in a moment, not only would he destroy a relationship between a man and a woman, Not only would he destroy a man's life, but he would destroy his life. And he would not lift his hand against Saul, but lifted his hand against his own children. And now here is his oldest son, the pride of his heart, seeking to slay him. And now David's relationship with the Lord will never be the same. And oh, the great desire of a godly father And David must have, a man after God's own heart, must have had these desires. To lead his children to God, that they would be in covenant relationship with Him. All that. I remember Liz Hammonds telling me that her father, who was a drunkard, and she said this publicly, I'm not saying anything she told me in private, that her father was a drunkard and he was so drunk one night that he came home He broke something, some, I don't know if it was a vase or some glass, something that was in the floor, and he walked over it, cut his feet, and so drunk, really didn't even. fill it or remember he'd done it. And he woke up the next morning and couldn't find any of his family. But the first thing he saw was this blood all over the floor and his heart was gripped with fear that he had killed them in a drunken rage. Of course that wasn't so, but the Lord used that to change his heart. and to save him, to bring him into his family as a child of God. And so his heart immediately, and I can tell you, here's an example, or here's an evidence that you are truly a child of the living God, is when your heart is turned to your children. You desire for them to have what you have, you see. And so Liz said that her daddy wanted his sons, a number, I can't remember exactly how many, but he had a number of sons and went to them to tell them of his newfound hope in Christ. And they said, well, old man, When we get old, we might come to Christ, but we're not coming. You see the life of this man wasted though he got to heaven. What about these sons? See that's what David is feeling here now. And so this man comes out, Shammai comes and begins to curse him. He didn't care. He didn't care if the king killed him. He was going to have his say. And so he came and really this You know, this one that came out of the house of Mephibosheth, the one who David had showed great mercy to. Here's this man who comes out and he's cussing him for all that he's worth. Oh, you bloody man, you son of Belial, which means your son of no goodness, emptiness, You know, you did this to my father, my father's house. And now this blood is coming back to you. And even your son Absalom is ready to slay. Well, we could talk about that. What makes a child despise a parent? Why would a son turn against a father? I can tell you because of the inconsistency of a father, because of the hypocrisy of a father. Not only would they not just simply Or maybe I should say, not only will they just simply reject, but they will despise. So Absalom knew what happened. Absalom knew what his father was, and now he despises him. And you know, this is not going to end well. It's not gonna end well upon the earth and it's not gonna end well in heaven. So here's David. This man curses me, what does it matter? He'd lost all his pride, all of his arrogance because now he's lost his son. And more than that, the favor, the favor of God. Verse 15 says, and Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel came to Jerusalem and Ahithophel with him. It came to pass when Hushai, the archite, David's friend, was come unto Absalom that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king. God save the king. And Absalom said to Hushai, is this thy kingdom? to thy friend? Why winnest thou not with thy friend? And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay, but whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel choose, his will I be. and with him will I abide. And again, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence. Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, give counsel among you, what we shall do. And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house. And all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father. Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house so all could see it, you see. So he could do this abominable thing in the face of all of Israel. And Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. What David did in secret against Uriah, Absalom does boldly in the day before all Israel. to humiliate and to smear dung upon the face of his father before the people. And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days was as if a man had inquired at the Oracle of God. or literally at the Word of God. So he substituted and they substituted Ahithophel's word for the Word of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom. Let's pray.