Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 13, continuing to look at the life of David, who's a marvelous, marvelous example, I think, of our own lives that Eben Wayne draw closer to God and farther apart. In his earlier years, he had a fantastic balance between personal grace, mercy, forgiveness, the things that Jonah was lacking, at least at that time in Jonah's life. But later it begins to become a bit confused. And we're going to begin reading at 2 Samuel 13 verse 37. I'm going to preach on the whole chapter of 14, but I'm only going to read the first few verses. But Absalom fled and went to Ptolemy, the son of Amihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled and went to Geshur and was there three years. And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had been comforted concerning Amnon because he was dead. So Joab, the son of Zeruiah, perceived that the king's heart was concerned about Absalom. And Joab sent to Tekoa. and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, please pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning apparel. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead. Go to the king and speak to him in this manner. So Joab put the words in her mouth." Father, as we look at this narrative, Pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to see the things that you would have us to see and the applications that you would have us to make in our own lives personally, in our families, church, as well as in culture. We just ask that you would be glorified in the continued worship that we respond to your word. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Rick Brown tells the story of a father who was trying to get his young daughter to quit getting out of her seat belt while he was driving. She would stand up in the back seat and he'd yell at her and tell her to sit down, get buckled up in your seat. And she would sit down and then she'd stand up again. But she knew just how far to push her dad before She knew he would pull off and give her a spanking, so she remained seated. But under her breath, she muttered, but I'm still standing up inside. And you could see that rebellion had not been dealt with in her life. If one of our kids said that in the car, it would be pullover time, definitely. But in that family, there were a whole bunch of other things that were going on. They were seeds of rebellion. that were not effectively being dealt with and would produce future rebellion. And that's sort of what's going on in chapter 14. And we're going to look at a dozen preludes to rebellion in chapter 15. But you can already see them simmering under the surface in this chapter. So you can kind of look at chapter 14 as the roots of rebellion. And chapter 15 and following is the fruits of that rebellion. Now, actually, in a previous sermon, I already demonstrated that there were seeds that had been sown for rebellion in Absalom's life, even when he was a young kid, because of the permissive parenting of David and of his mother, Ma'akah. And we're not going to deal with, repeat what I said about those seeds that were sown. I just want to list one of them. And it's the first point in your in your outline that blood was thicker than justice. In other words, David's family could get away with things that other people in the kingdom could not. Over time, his family had gained a stronger hold upon his heart than God's word had. And somehow he lacked the will to discipline his own children. So there was no justice that was being manifested in his home. He failed to discipline Amnon. It's one of the things that ticked off Absalom so much that he murdered his brother. In 1 Kings chapter 1, we saw that he never disciplined Adonijah ever. And in the previous chapter, that's chapter 13, we saw that Absalom literally was allowed to get away with murder because blood relations were stronger than God's justice. Now, this was certainly true on his mom's side. As I mentioned, his mom's name was Maaka. She was the daughter of King Telmai of Geshur. And let's go ahead and read again, chapter 13, verses 37 through 38. But Absalom fled, went to Telmai, the son of Amihud, king of Geshur. So this was his paternal grandfather. And David mourned for his son every day. So Absalom fled and went to Geshur and was there three years. Now by harboring a criminal, his grandpa was showing that he cared more about his blood relations than he did the justice that was his calling as a king. He was harboring a murderer. He probably would not have done that with anybody else. But because it was his grandson, he was willing to cover for him. Now here's the problem. Numbers chapter 35 says that with regard to premeditated murder, and you'll remember that the murder that Absalom engaged in had been premeditated for years, okay? So with premeditated murder, there could be no mercy, no lesser penalty, no ransom, no exception whatsoever for the death penalty. Deuteronomy 19 says the same thing. Now there was flexibility with some of the other capital crimes and other penalties for various crimes, but not with murder if the two or three prerequisite witnesses were present. Failure to execute a murderer defiled the land. Now, there were checks and balances with regard to this as well that we won't get into that were not present. That's why Cain was not executed. That's why David was not executed. Legally, they could not have prosecuted those two cases, but they could with Absalom. All of the prerequisites for him being tried were present. And David was not much better than his father-in-law on this score. He had already showed an unwillingness to punish Amnon according to the principles of God's justice. And when Absalom murdered Amnon and then fled to Geshur, David could have insisted that his grandfather uh... turnover david for trial and for execution he could have uh... uh... forced an extradition from gesture it would have been very very easy for him to have done so but he decided not to rock the boat anymore than it had already been rocked it may have been because of mock-ups of pleadings uh... we are not told but you can you can guarantee things would have been tense between david and mock-up if he had executed Abner. And it would have brought further grief to Absalom's sister Tamar. And so he just decided not to pursue that. And Grandpa Talmai no doubt realized, you know, over time things would cool off. And so he gave Absalom sanctuary. And they did cool off if you look at verse 39. King David longed to go to Absalom for he had been comforted concerning Amnon because he was dead. He was no longer angry. He wished that he could be reunited with Absalom. And so blood was thicker than justice. His paternal instincts of wanting to be around his son made him treat his son differently than he treated the rest of society. Now on a personal level, forgiveness and mercy is perfectly appropriate, but he also had responsibilities as a magistrate. And when this kind of favoritism is true of any society, it is right for God's judgment. When members of Congress are not judged by the same standard that you and I are judged, the country is really headed toward trouble. It's one of the seeds that almost guarantees a country's ruin. And once we get to chapter 15, we're going to be seeing that Absalom's revolt was actually God's judgment upon David for this and for other issues that he was involved in. Now since all of these national issues float out of David's family, let's apply it to our own families. If because you, quote unquote, love your children, you fail to give consistent discipline to them for infractions of God's law, what you're doing is you're raising rebels. And most people do struggle with this. I struggled with disciplining my children all the time. I hated disciplining my kids. But because I knew the fruits, the evil fruits that would come from failing to discipline them, I did it anyway. Too many parents get green when they think about administering strict discipline. It just makes them feel too bad. They don't have the heart to hurt their children's feelings. And so the first seed of rebellion I think is very nicely summed up in 1 Kings 1 verse 6 where it explains about a different son, another rebellion, Adonijah's. It says, and his father David had not rebuked him at any time. And the literal Hebrew we've already seen was, had not brought pain to him at any time. He's talking about discipline. Okay. So God's law mandates justice in the home. And when that is lacking, it's not just going to impact your children. It will impact society as a whole. As go the families of a society, so goes the justice of a nation as a whole. There is an impact between them. Now, the second seed of national ruin relates to Joab. We've already seen that David did not deal with Joab's murder, and it's probably understandable. He did not have the power probably to have dealt with him. So earlier when David had ordered Joab to get Uriah accidentally killed, Joab jumped at this opportunity because it would elevate him to an equal playing field with David. David could no longer keep harping upon Joab's approach to justice. He could no longer hold the death of Abner against Joab. However, when David publicly repented of his sin and even risked losing his throne in doing so, he removed that leverage point from Joab. Because Joab didn't repent. He constantly was going to be under David's criticism more. And so it was his lack of repentance that made him emotionally capable of this kind of stuff. So he sees another opportunity in chapter 14, verse 1. So Joab, the son of Zeruiah, perceived that the king's heart was concerned about Absalom. He could tell that blood was thicker than justice with David, just like it had been with him. earlier and it made him take a gamble and try to get David to bring Absalom back because he would once again have the high moral ground. Because Joab's killing of Abner was in some ways, you know, superior in a sense, morally superior to Absalom's killing of Amnon. So you can see why Joab would be pushing for this. To me it totally makes sense of the whole story. But in any case, Joab is more interested in regaining David's favor than he is in promoting justice. In fact, he blurts that explanation out of verse 22. He says, Today, your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, OK, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant. He longed for David's favor so much he was willing to overlook murder. Now in America politicians like Joab are not beholden to a king. They don't have to look to a king's favor but they are willing to make compromises in order to get favor with the lobbyists and with their voter base and with the managers of the Iron Triangle and with the rulers behind the rulers. And so the second seat of a country's ruin is when public officials are more interested in gaining favor and position than they are in promoting justice. It's a seed that produces bitter fruit. Now the reason I'm even going to bring all of these things up is because it gives us, God is giving us clues ahead of time that we could be facing national disaster. Proverbs 22 verse 3 says, a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. And so if all 12 of these seeds of national disaster are present in America, then it would be wise for us to take a little bit of precautions to protect our families, to think through how it's going to, a potential disaster could impact our families. And I am convinced we are headed toward that apart from miraculous intervention or repentance of the church or repentance of the nation at a national level. Now the third seed of national ruin is when Joab pursues what he thinks of as a good idea but he does so with deceitful means. Now he is convinced David's gonna be happy with this down the road, but he doesn't dare let David know what he's up to. He can't have an open sunshine policy and be honest. But the very fact that he has to hide what he is doing, use sneaky means, shows that his good idea is not really good. Verses two through three. And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, please pretend to be a mourner put on mourning apparel, do not anoint yourself with oil, but act like a woman who has been mourning a long time for the dead. Go to the king and speak to him in this manner." So Joab put the words in her mouth. It's remarkable how much deceit has had to be practiced over the last 150 years in order to foist bad policies upon the American public in the name of good. If politicians have to use secrecy, be skeptical that there's any good there. If they have to use deceit in order to promote their good policies, be skeptical that there is any good there. You know, when you've got congressmen and senators who vote in favor of massive bills that they have never read and never looked into, be skeptical that there is any good there. In fact, when the deceit that happens in Washington, D.C. is far more pervasive, in my opinion, than what was going on in this chapter, we're probably in even deeper trouble. Now, of course, the same principles apply in the family. When wives use deceit to get their way with husbands, even if it's good, what they're promoting, they think it's biblical. If they use deceit to promote that, if children use deceit in order to get their way with parents, then seeds of future ruin are being planted. We always disciplined deceitfulness far more severely than most any other sin in our family, because if you don't have a trust level, it's hard to make progress on anything else in the family. In Psalm 5, verse 6, David admitted, you shall destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. So if deceitfulness sets up families and sets up countries for God's destruction, then wow, there's a lot of countries and a lot of families that are going to have a tough time of it. And if God treats deceitfulness and bloodthirstiness as something that he always abhors, then God abhors America. It's hypocritical to pray God bless America without repentance now we can pray God bless America with repentance that would be an appropriate prayer But without repentance America can expect nothing but God's destruction and abhorrence the fourth seed of national ruin is liberal mercy that goes beyond biblical mercy and Sympathy that clouds justice now. We see this throughout the entire chapter, but it's just remarkably clear in verses 4 through 11 and When the woman of the koa spoke to the king she fell on her face to the ground and prostrated herself and said help Oh King and the king said to her what troubles you I And she answered, Indeed, I am a widow. My husband is dead. Now your maidservant had two sons and the two fought with each other in the field. And there was no one to part them. But the one struck the other and killed him. And now the whole family has risen up against your maidservant. And they said, Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may execute him for the life of his brother whom he killed. And we will destroy the heir also. So they would extinguish my ember that is left. and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the earth." Now it's a sad, sad story that she presents to David and one fell swoop she's going to lose all of the children that she has and have nothing left. Now she admits her second son had killed the first son and she admits That the avenger of blood and all of the other relatives think that he deserves the death penalty. They're coming after him But what she's saying she's asking david to show mercy to her to have sympathy with her plight verse 8 And the king said to the woman go to your house and I will give orders concerning you and the woman of tekoa said to the king My Lord, O King, let the iniquity be on me and on my father's house, and the king and his throne be guiltless. So the king said, whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you anymore. Then she said, please let the king remember the Lord, your God, and do not permit the avenger of blood to destroy anymore, lest they destroy my son. And he said, as the Lord lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground. Well, David's judgment is injustice, pure and simple. He is refusing to follow the clear mandate of God's law that there be no mercy for a murderer. David vows to protect this guy from the avenger of blood without any fair court trial. He hasn't heard the evidence from the avenger of blood. He's not heard the other relatives. The whole family, she said, has risen up against her on this. They think he's worthy of death. No. The only thing he has heard is her side of the story, and even she admits that this one son has murdered the other one. And so, it is squishy liberal sympathy that is driving him. Deuteronomy 19, 12 through 13 says, then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him. You shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you. God commanded that he show no pity, and yet here is David, Showing pity. He's playing right into Joab's hands by once again stooping to a lower moral ground. Now, it's understandable that anybody would feel sorry for this woman. I mean, obviously, she's in a tough place. But liberals allow those feelings to make them do away with biblical justice, and in the process, they bring disaster upon our nation. Many, many examples you could give, but the prison system was a liberal idea of let's be merciful to these people, rehabilitate these people instead of putting them to death. And the prison system has brought untold trouble upon our nation that would have been prevented if we had just followed the old ways of doing things in America of speedily applying the death penalty. And there are hundreds of examples like that of American leniency and supposed mercy that almost guarantees disaster in our nation. So liberal kindness, generosity, mercy, and social justice is anything but mercy and anything but justice. It's yet another seed for national ruin. Okay, the fifth seat of ruin was misdirection. Now, football players use this all the time, I think very legitimately. Soldiers use this in battle very legitimately, but in politics and in our day-by-day living, we really should not. In this case, it's a form of speech which paints something good as bad and paints a very bad decision as being something good. We have this kind of misdirection all the time in America. You know, when you're opposed to the homosexual agenda, you are painted as being hateful and spiteful and unloving and you're painted so bad that a lot of conservative biblical Christians go soft. They kind of cave in to what is being said. And I want you to notice the clever way that this woman words things in verses 12 through 17. Therefore the woman said, please let your maidservant speak another word to my lord the king. And he said, say on. So the woman said, why then have you schemed such a thing against the people of God? For the king speaks this thing as one who is guilty in that the king does not bring his banished one home again. Now, this is just remarkable. She is calling his failure to bring Absalom back a sin against the people. The people want him back. You're sinning against them. You are guilty if you do not bring him back. Now, that'd be a pretty stupid thing to say to a king if you didn't already know that he really wants Absalom to come back. So she's giving him reasons to do what he already wants to do. But I still find it remarkably bold. She's taking a risk here. Verse 14, for we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. She is claiming that there will be disaster on the nation if he does not bring Absalom back into the country. It's the exact opposite of what's going to actually happen. It was being soft on Absalom, bringing him back, that actually resulted in so many deaths and water, as it were, being spilled on the ground that could not be restored again. It was being soft on Absalom that caused disaster to fall upon Israel. But she claims the opposite. Failure to bring back Absalom will cause death and disaster. And we see liberals doing this all the time. They paint their absolutely disastrous programs. If you know anything about economics, you say, that's going to be a disaster. But they paint them as being the only good solution, the only thing for freedom and love of country. And they paint the constitutional positions that the conservatives take as being disastrous, destructive of freedom in a nation. And they can get away with it because the biblical concepts of justice really have been obliterated in America. Or if they know a little bit about them, maybe they don't believe them. They've been very muddied. She could get away with this because she's giving David reasons to do what he already wants to do. He's easier to deceive because he wants to be deceived, okay? But she uses misdirection to do it. Now she goes on. Yet God does not take away a life. God's pro-life, right? He doesn't want sinners to die. That's what she's claiming. She goes on, but he devises means so that his banished ones are not expelled from him. What she is doing is she's talking about God's grace. She's saying, yes, there are times when people are worthy of the death penalty, but God doesn't really want them to die. God has provided means of forgiveness and reconciliation. David, you shouldn't fight against God's grace. You shouldn't fight against God's forgiveness. uh... and uh... fail to restore absolute now i find it odd that one commentary actually misses the whole point missus the problem in claims what she's doing is a good thing that uh... she is forcing him to adopt god's forgiveness adopt god's grace in his mercy what the commentary completely failing to realize is david previously in his own personal life yes he had forgiveness but as a magistrate the civil government is not the vehicle of forgiveness, of grace, of mercy. It is the vehicle of God's justice. And so what she is doing, she is using misdirection by applying theology from one jurisdiction, that of the church, and applying it to a different jurisdiction.