Tonight we return to 2 Samuel chapter 20, and we are picking up at verse 8, reading through verse 13. This is the word of the living and the true God. When they were at the large stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was dressed in his military attire, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened at his waist. And as he went forward, it fell out. Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa was not on guard against the sword which was in Joab's hand, so he struck him in the belly with it, and poured out his inward part on the ground, and did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. Now there stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.' But Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa from the highway into the field and threw a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still. As soon as he was removed from the highway, all the men passed on after Joab to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri. Let's pray and ask God's blessing. Lord, we thank you for the honesty and candor of your word, that it speaks truth to our ears. Give us hearts that believe and wills that obey your word, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. There are people in this world who are bad, and everyone knows it. These folk make no pretense of righteousness. They are criminals, and they never pretend to be anything else. But then there are people who are just as bad, but they wear it under a cloak of piety. They know the talk, and they can pass themselves off as believers. In reality, their hypocrisy runs very deep. Sooner or later they will be exposed for what they truly are, workers of iniquity. But until they are unmasked, they can fool a lot of people with their pious outward appearances. This second type of person is far more dangerous. They can deceive the less discerning and set a very bad example for them. For all of their outwardly impressive qualities, they should really be avoided at all costs. Joab is a clear and classic example of this second type of person. Joab was a bad man, but he sometimes masquerades as a good man, even as a righteous and holy man, a believer. So what are we to make of Joab? Should we trust him or not? Well, this evening's passage may very well help us make up our minds for good. So as we walk about the text, I want to start with the treachery of Joab. Then we're going to consider the sin of murder and finish with the false claim. There are three main characters in our verses tonight, with a fourth character providing background. The background character is Sheba the son of Bichri. He is the one who has caused all of this trouble in the first place, and King David wants Sheba and his rebellion to be extinguished. The three main characters in the passage are Abishai, Amasa, and Joab. Between these three, there are biological relationships. Abishai and Joab are brothers. They are the sons of Zariah. Amasa is their cousin. At the present moment, Amasa is the head of the army, while Abishai is the one leading the current expedition to ferret out Sheba, the son of Bikri. And currently, Joab has no official status. David had deposed him from being the commander of the army and had replaced him with Amasa. Well, that fact did not sit well with Joab. He had been a loyal subordinate to David for a long time, and he had literally risked his life for David. A turning point in their relationship came when David had ordered Joab to go easy on the young man Absalom. Not only had Joab refused to obey that order, but he had murdered Absalom and then buried his corpse under a huge pile of rocks. And then there was the confrontation when Joab arrived to find David giving vent to his sorrow over Absalom. Joab had strongly warned the king that if he didn't pull himself together and show a little appreciation to the troops, that no one would be remaining by morning. And of course, Joab was correct, and David realized it. He acted accordingly. But the king didn't appreciate being scolded like a naughty schoolchild. And that is when David determined to move Joab out of power and to put Amasa into power. Amasa, for his part, had been tardy in reporting back to the king. David had said three days, and three days came and went and there was no Amasa. David had then sent Abishai with the men in pursuit of Sheba, and Joab had tagged along because, well, he was Joab. But then finally, Amasa catches up to the group. He arrives at the large stone which was in Gibeon, and Amasa came to meet and to greet these men. Joab had his normal military uniform on, complete with a sword at his belt. And as Joab came forward, the sword slipped out of its sheath and into Joab's left hand. Unbeknownst to Amasa, Joab intended to murder him. This wasn't just a clumsy accident. This was a very purposeful move to basically prepare the weapon of destruction. So reaching out with his right hand, Joab took Amasa by the beard as if to kiss him. He greeted him with a pleasant greeting. And Amasa was completely fooled. He was entirely off his guard. Joab's sword hand, his right hand, was deceptively empty and was reaching out as if in affection. But the left hand was loaded. With one powerful and skillful stroke, Joab stabbed Amasa in the abdomen and Amasa's intestines came spilling out on the ground. There was blood everywhere as Amasa sank to the earth. And there, on the ground, he wallowed in his own blood, dying a very painful death. And this death was made doubly worse by the treachery of Joab. He had feigned to greet him as a brother. He had shown affection. And yet it was all false. It's as false as when Judith greeted Jesus with a kiss in order to betray the Savior. It was also very treacherous because Joab was a close military associate and a cousin to Boot. Joab's attack on Amasa had been unprovoked and without warning. Amasa had done nothing to deserve the kind of treatment he received from Joab. Recently I've been listening to a book about World War II, one of my great historical interests, and the book has been narrating the days leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And even those in the intelligence units in Pearl Harbor, who were supposed to know what the Japanese were doing, had no idea or belief that the Japanese would ever attack America. In fact, they were strongly convinced that it would be foolish to start a war that Japan could never win. And so when the Japanese bombers came flying through Pearl Harbor and began dropping their bombs on the shipping there, these people were absolutely utterly stunned. They could not conceive of what was happening. And that's kind of where AMISA is. as his cousin stabs him in the belly and slices open his abdomen and kills him so cruelly I think in many ways this was just as cruel and just as wicked as what Joab had done to Abner years earlier and so Amasa lay there on the ground dying a spectacle to everyone who walked past him. What Joab did that day was cold-blooded and premeditated murder. It was not justified self-defense, nor was it unintentional manslaughter. Joab very deliberately and knowingly took the life of Amasa as he had done to Abner as he had done to Absalom. It was all very calculated. Joab is a murderer. He had committed this crime with malice aforethought. It was a very sinful and bold and wicked action on the part of Joab. But why is murder such a great evil? Why is it something that we instinctively react against? Well there are many reasons and it begins with the fact that man is made in the image of God. This is clearly stated by God himself in Genesis chapter 9 verse 6. Whoever sheds man's blood By man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man." So God created man to be the image-bearer, to represent God. And whenever someone commits an offense and causes a murder against the image-bearer, it is really an offense against God Himself. The murderer is striking out at God, not just against man. God promises retributive justice against the one who sheds man's blood. It is a capital crime. It demands capital punishments. This early passage in God's Word establishes this crime of murder. as a capital issue. If you murder someone then you must forfeit your own life. Now note that this fact is expressed in the days of Noah long before Mount Sinai and the Mosaic Law. And because this comes in so early on in the days of Noah It applies to everyone everywhere, not just to the Jewish nation in the Old Testament era. Murder is still a capital crime. Murder demands capital punishment if there is to be justice in this world. Now I know as well as you do that this is not practiced in our society. In fact, many murderers are given very light sentences and find themselves out of jail quite soon. But you see, God says, this is still a strike against my image. And it still demands the capital punishment to set matters straight. So that's the first reason, because man is made in the image of God. A second reason that murder is such a grave sin is because of the sixth commandment. God says in Exodus 20 verse 13, you shall not murder. And then, just a chapter later, the punishment is added in Exodus 21 verse 12. He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death." And so it is a crime that God has forbidden and it is a capital crime that requires capital punishment. If sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God, then to murder another person is to willfully break God's clear and obvious commandments. And it is a sin that requires the death penalty as the appropriate punishment. We also find clear examples in scripture. Very early on we see Cain murdering his brother Abel. Because Abel was a righteous man and Cain was a formalist, Cain grew envious and malicious toward his brother Abel. And when they were out in the field together, Cain killed Abel. When God then confronts Cain and convicts Cain of murder, we read the following. God said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you. You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on earth. Now this is how scripture works, how scripture interprets scripture. You have clear, plain commands, laws, you shall not murder. And then you've got historical examples like this particular example of Cain or like Joab. And the examples illustrate what the commands require. And when you've got the clear commands and the supporting illustrations in these examples, it's a very powerful combination. Do you want to be under God's curse? Do you want to become a vagrant and wanderer on earth? Do you want the whole creation to rise up and rebel against you? If you are a murderer, you will not find peace and joy in that. Well, the Lord Jesus speaks to this sin of murder in his Sermon on the Mount. And in Matthew chapter 5, 21 and 22, we read, You have heard that the ancients were told, You shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court, And whoever says to his brother, you good-for-nothing, shall be guilty before the supreme court, and whoever says, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." Now in saying this, Jesus shows us that sin begins in the heart, not from the outward actions. And so when we have anger in our hearts against a brother, When we say harsh and hurtful things about them and to them, we are guilty of the root sin even though we may never raise a hand against our brother to physically slaughter them. Yet another indicator of the seriousness of this sin is found in the positive requirements of God's law. Basically, we have a positive duty to protect, to preserve, and to promote life. Rather than destroying life, we should seek to save life. This applies to ourselves and to others all around us. And so to murder someone includes the sins of omission in regard to our positive duties. We've broken the command to commit the murder. We have failed to keep the command to protect and preserve and promote life. And so it becomes doubly sinful. Good things you should have done to save life are left undone. And wicked things that God has forbidden are done instead. So you see it's not a small thing. For these reasons we simply cannot sugarcoat or excuse what Joab did here. It was entirely and thoroughly evil. He had no just cause to do what he did to Amasa but rather he was callously seeking his own personal advantage. He committed this outrage as an act of vengeance against a rival and as a way to regain his lost position of power. Now in addition to all this, There are a number of factors which further aggravate the seriousness of Joab's offense. Who he was, an Israelite, a man of the people of God, a man who had been entrusted with significant authority and leadership He was an example to many. People watched Joab and took their cues from him. And so who he was aggravates the seriousness of the sin. Who Amasa was? Amasa was a righteous man. Amasa was an Israelite. Amasa was the rightful commander of the armies of Israel at this time. Amasa wasn't just some private who was in a very low position. David had elevated him to be the new commander of the army. And so when Joab strikes Amasa, he is attacking David's appointed general-in-chief. And so Joab's place and position and Amasa's place and position Also making this more serious is the fact that it was deliberate and planned in advance. This was not a spur-of-the-moment accident. Oh, how did that happen? This was calculated. And the fact that it was planned and calculated makes the crime even more serious. And the fact that it was a deadly wound. Joab was very good at killing people. He knew what to do and he did it effectively. And so the fact that he was very expert in this makes it a far worse crime. The fact that he did it under false pretenses. He didn't say, Amos, I hate you and I'm going to stab you in the gut. He said, is it well with you, my brother? and approaches as if to embrace that makes it far more serious and so in all of these different ways and more as well this is a grotesque evil and his motives are purely sinful and selfish as Amasa lay there on the ground wallowing in his own blood Joab and Abishai, his brother, did one of the coldest things possible. Showing absolutely no mercy or compassion for their dying cousin, they continued their pursuit of Sheba, the son of Bichri. These are hardened men of bloodshed. They are as callous as they are guilty. And there Amasa died, a painful and an entirely unjust death." Now, the slaughter of Amasa didn't leave everyone as cold as it did the sons of Zariah. In fact, everyone who came by the spot stopped and stood still, staring at the bloody corpse of their commander. And these people, these warriors, created something of a traffic jam so that the army was actually halted in its pursuit of the rebels. To make matters worse, one of Joab's young men was stationed there next to the corpse of Amasa. And whether this was Joab's idea or the brainchild of this relative youngster is hard to say. But what is clear is the message that he repeated to everyone who came by. Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab. This is chilling. It suggests that allegiance to Joab and to David requires that you would ignore the obvious crime and simply blindly followed Joab in the chase after Sheba. Now when it comes to Joab's followers, this probably makes sense. But would those who were primarily committed to King David, would they see it this way? You see, Joab had no authority to do what he was doing. He had previously been dismissed by David. He was not properly even an officer in the army at this time. So on what grounds would people follow Joab, this ruthless murderer? What basis should they turn a blind eye toward Amas's corpse? And would King David approve of what Joab had just done to his commanding general? It's highly unlikely. In fact, based on how David had reacted to the murders of Abner and Absalom, it is certainly the case that David would not reward Joab for slaughtering Amasa. And so what this foolish young man says here is a false claim. David did not approve. So what did they do? In their callousness, they dragged the body of Amasa off the road, throw him in the field, and put a garment over him. And that will keep the people from gawking. Sad to say, it worked. And as soon as Amasa was removed from the highway, the logjam of spectators broke, and all the men passed on after Joab in pursuit of Sheba the son of Bichri. So what should we as believers learn from this very messy incidence? I think it teaches us that true followers of Jesus Christ do not and cannot approve of cold-blooded premeditated murder. We see this for what it actually is. It's gross iniquity. It is callous wickedness. We as Christians are committed to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. As Christians, we believe in a culture of life. We are committed to protecting, preserving, and promoting life, true life, the life which comes from the Lord and giver of life himself. As Christianity permeates a group of people, a society, it always brings with it a vibrancy, a liveliness, a culture of life. Spiritual life, physical life, life in every respect, life in every sense. We do not love death, nor do we approve of a culture of death. that's all around us. We see death for what it is, an enemy. Death disgusts us and we are revolted by death. And that in many ways describes our current cultural moment. I believe we are living in a dying culture that is obsessed and fascinated more and more with death. Let me give you just one example. The video game world has morphed from things like Pac-Man to things like Fortnite. innocent fun little games of puzzles on a very rudimentary computer screen, things like Pong, have been displaced by these extremely high-tech, lifelike games of bloodshed, of murder, where the player or players can assume these virtual roles, sometimes enhanced by artificial intelligence and VR, to actually commit virtual murders with virtual blood. there is probably a game out there where you could take a sword and slice open someone's abdomen and watch their virtual intestines spill out onto the ground. And this has become so widespread and so commonplace that it has begun to shape and mold our cultural expectations about death, about murder, about crime. And we as Christians look at such things and say, we just can't go there. We can't approve of these things. They are not innocent. They are not neutral. they are not sinless anything that feeds this culture of bloodshed and death is abhorrent to the Christian who loves life and serves the Lord and giver of life and so we really have a choice as we stand in the midst of this cultural moment Are we going to yield to the current of the culture and go where it takes us? Or are we going to stand against the culture in all of its wickedness and depravity? If we choose to stand against this culture that elevates and exalts death, if we are going to stand for life, we will be abused. We will face pushback. We will get resistance. Because all of the power brokers of our society have bought into the culture of death and they are pushing it hard. And we end up being a few brave, lone voices who say, we still believe in life. We still love life. And we want life to be the dominant, controlling issue. We don't want to live in a society that is pierced through with death and destruction. And so the choice comes with some cost, but the cost is worth it. Even if we pay the penalty that will be inflicted upon us by this society, God sees and God knows that we have resisted the evil of a culture of murder, and that we are standing For what God has said is good and true, the life that is real life, the life that the Son gives us. Let's pray. Lord, thank you that you are the Lord and the giver of life, and that you have provided us with the free gift of eternal life. And Lord, we are grieved to see how much and how thoroughly death permeates our society. And Lord, we want to see life once again exalted. We pray that you would give us strength and courage and that you would bless our resistance to the culture of death that would destroy us, would suffocate us. And Lord, we pray that you would turn back the evil of our time and that we would see surprising and delightful changes in hopeful and good directions. We pray this, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.