A scripture passage this evening is 2 Samuel 10. Now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanan his son became king in his place. Then David said, I will show kindness to Hanan the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me. So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. But when David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites, the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanan their lord, Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent counselors to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it? So Hanan took David's servants and shaved off half of their beards and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips and sent them away. When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. And the king said, Stay at Jericho until your beards grow and then return. Now, when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Bethrehab and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Meacca with 1,000 men and the men of Tob with 12,000 men. When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men, The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rahab and the men of Tob and Meacca were by themselves in the field. Now, when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of Abishai, his brother, And he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon. He said, If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me. But if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight. So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans. and they fled before him. When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled, they also fled before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem. When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together and Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the river. And they came to Helam, and Shobak, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, led them. Now, when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. And the Arameans arrayed themselves to meet David and fought against him. But the Arameans fled before Israel. And David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobak, the commander of their army, and he died there. When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore. Let's pray before we look at this passage further. Our Heavenly Father, infinite, all-knowing God, You are in a category by Yourself, Father. You are all alone in it, and we are all dependent upon You. We're all created beings. All depended upon Your care. Father, if You stopped caring for us, if You did not sustain us, we would not exist. And yet God, You do sustain us. You sustain all of Your creation without effort. And You Supply to us, Father, all that we need. We have eaten today because You have supplied it. We have breath because You have given it. We know Christ because You have given Him to us and allowed us to know Him in an experiential way. Your wisdom, Your power, Your mercy, God, Your works, all of these are marked by Your perfect holiness. And God, we are aware that because You are holy and we are not, God, we cannot stand before You except that You have provided for us a Savior. God, our sins are beyond our ability to count. Our offenses are so often aggravated. But God, you have shown such remarkable love, such tender mercy. And God, we do rejoice to know that your justice has been satisfied by the atoning blood of Christ. God, we ask that You would give us spiritual eyes to see Him again tonight, and that You would fill us with His Spirit so that we would be preoccupied with only Him. God, we ask that other things that would distract would fade away, that they would not be so alluring in light of Him and His grace, His wonderful work, We ask God that You would give us faith to see our names engraven in His hand. That our souls have been redeemed by His blood. That His perfect law-keeping has covered our sinfulness. God, fill us that our fears would be driven away by the knowledge that You have espoused us to Yourself, that You have adopted us into Your family, and You've given us Your name and made us heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. God, we ask that You would fill us with Your Spirit, that He would be our comforter and our guide tonight, that He would be our sanctifier. God, lead us to the cross and show us Christ's wounds and stir our hearts to love Him more. Show us, Father, there also the wickedness of our sin and give us grace to feel shame because of those, even as we know shame removed because of Christ God, we ask that You would give us rest in the knowledge of His completed work. God, save us from presumption and self-despair and give us grace, Father, to be quick repenters. God, we ask tonight that You would help Matt and TJ and Steven and say, Travel through Europe and work on this next project with quick, busy schedules and lots of work to do. God, we ask that you would give them much grace as they interact with each other and with people in these locations. We pray for their families at home and ask God that you would bless them, care for them. God, we pray for Katie. and ask that you would give her grace to seek your face each morning and to rest in your love. And God, we ask that you would help her as she continues to work on language and has opportunities to point others to Christ. God, we pray again for Bob and Jill as they Prepare for this move and for what's next and ask God that you would bless them. Bless them as they search for a church home and bless them, God, as you plant them in a new place and use them for your kingdom's glory. We pray for Savannah as she prepares to move and ask God that you would bless her in Virginia and that you would grow her in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, and that there would be a noticeable increase of grace and faith as we see her in the days to come. God, we are glad that the body is Your body and You You add to it and You take away as You please. And God, as You send Bob and Jill and Savannah to other places, we're glad that You've brought the Becks and the McCaskill's and that You bring others. We thank You God for the ones that are about to be added into membership. And we ask God that You would give us all that we need. Individually, but God also as a body. to worship You, to minister to one another, and to minister to this world around us. Now God, give us help as we look into 2 Samuel 10. We ask in Christ's name, Amen. Well, 2 Samuel 10. One of those chapters in the Old Testament that I think has more significance than it appears, at a quick reading, if you just read through it quickly, you know, David tries to be kind to someone, he didn't want them to be kind to him, and there's a war. And what do you do with that? But there is a bit more to it than that. Chapters 9 and 10 in 2 Samuel are transitional chapters. In fact, there is a kind of a textual marker at the end of chapter 8. It's shown up several times before this, and I haven't really pointed it out, I don't think, but since Wednesday nights are perhaps a bit more teaching than on Sunday morning, I do want to point it out to you very quickly because I think it matters for what we're looking at tonight. So let me back you up into 1 Samuel just briefly, back to chapter 7. 1 Samuel 7. Verses 15 through 17, there's a kind of a summary statement. And the summary statement marks a shift in the direction that we take in the narrative of 1 Samuel. So in verses 15 through 17 of 1 Samuel 7, the Bible says, Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He used to go annually on circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizba, and he judged Israel and all these places. Then his return was to Ramah, for his house was there. and there he judged Israel, and he built there an altar to the Lord." So kind of a summation of Samuel's ministry. And then chapter 8 takes a very different direction. What happens in chapter 8? We want a king! Very different direction. They never had a human king before. And so that little summary statement is kind of a textual marker to say something new is coming. We see it again at the end of chapter 14. The shift that comes is Saul, the kingdom is being torn from Saul and given to another. That pronouncement actually happens in chapter 15, but the disobedience and the foolishness of Saul really begins to be highlighted in chapter 14. And in verses 47 to the end of the chapter, we're given this summation statement. I'm not going to read all of that. You can look at it, but as you look, you see that there's a bit of a summation here. The battles that he fought here are the commanders of his army, and it lists these various people. And then, as I say, the next chapter, the kingdom was being torn from you, given to another. And from that point to the end of chapter 8, we have the kingdom being removed from Saul and given to David, and kind of a contrast between the two. Here is Saul, who will not humble himself, who will not repent, who will not follow God. Here's David, who humbles himself, obeys God, and follows Him, repents. Now, in chapter 8, at the end of the chapter, 2 Samuel 8, Verses 18 and following, there's another one of these summations, one of these summary statements. So David reigned over all Israel, and David administered justice and righteousness for all his people. Joab the son of Zeruah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahalud was recorder. Zadok, the son of Ahitab, and Ahimelech, the sons of Abiathar, were priests, and Saraiah was secretary. But Naiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherithites and the Pelethites, and David's sons were chief ministers." And with that summation, things start to take a turn. We don't see it immediately. In fact, chapters 9 and 10 almost seemed like they would go better with the material preceding chapter 8. But... We'll see that in just a moment. We'll look at that in just a moment. But things take a different turn. If before, David has been highlighted as kind of an ideal king. He's one who listens to God. He humbles himself. He understands that he's the shepherd of Israel and a prince of Israel underneath the king. After this, we have in chapter 11, David's sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah and all of the awful consequences that follow. And things look much different from here to the end of the book. There is hope even in that as we see that David is not a perfect king. There's still grace. He does repent. But it also leads us seeing that Israel needed and we need someone much greater than David. We need Jesus. And so there's this marker showing that there's a transition taking place here. There's a major shift now in the narrative of David's life. Now, chapter 10 has elements that both look backward and forward, and of course there's the text itself in chapter 10. What I want to do tonight is to look at each of those. How does it look backwards, how does it look forward, and the text itself? And each one of these elements contains a bit of a surprise, something that's kind of jarring. So the first thing, how does it look backwards? The tie backward to chapter 9, I think we see in the first two verses, all right? Verses 1 and 2 again. Now it happened afterwards, that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun, his son, became king in his place. Then David said, I will show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me." Now, that sounds familiar at all. Chapter 9, verse 1, then David said, Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? So both of these chapters begin with David wanting to show kindness to someone, a son, because of the father. In chapter 9, he wants to show it to Mephibosheth for the sake of Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan. In chapter 10, he wants to show it to Hanan because of a kindness showed to him by his father, Nahash. They both begin that way. There are those similarities. But then things take a different course and the two chapters diverge. In chapter 9, David's kindness is received by Mephibosheth in a gracious way. Mephibosheth falls on his face before David, says, I'm a dead dog. What are you doing being so nice to me? And David shows him grace and he receives that grace. In chapter 10, Nahash hears the desire of David to show kindness to him and he rejects it. He didn't want any part of it. So... In that way, it's similar to chapter 9. There are some similarities and a tie back to that. These two chapters both speak of the kindness that David desires to show. Surprisingly, the kindness that he speaks of, both in chapter 9 and in chapter 10, is the covenant kindness. It's the same word that's expressed when God shows us covenant kindness, the loving kindness of God, the loyal, steadfast kindness of God. David says in chapter 9, I want to show kindness to Mephibosheth because of the covenant with Jonathan. He expresses that he wants to show the same kind of kindness to this guy who is not an Israelite, Hanan, because of the kindness that his father Nahash showed to David. Now, we don't know what kind of kindness Nahash showed to David. In fact, the other information we have about Nahash is not very... Complimentary. Do you remember Nahash? Nahash is the king of the Ammonites who besieged the city of Jabesh Gilead earlier in 1 Samuel. You remember he besieged the city and he told the people, I'll let you go and we can have a peace treaty, but here's the condition. I'm going to pluck out every one of your right eyes. And so they asked for time to see if anybody would come help them. And Nahash was so confident that no one could come help them that he gave them time. Word came to Saul, and we see Saul's first real act as a king. He was out in the fields plowing, but the Spirit of God came on him when he heard about what was happening between Nahash and the people of Jabez Gilead, and he ran to their rescue and defeated them. So that's the last thing we really hear about Nahash. But somewhere, Nahash has done a kindness to David, and evidently there's some kind of an agreement between them as David is now king, and some kind of a treaty, and his father has died. David, not just being polite, but wanting to show kindness to him, reaches out to him. Nahash, This young king has advisors and they advise him that David cannot be that nice. He doesn't just want to be kind to you. Don't you understand? He's a spy. He's sending spies here so he can figure out where the weaknesses are because he doesn't want to be kind. He wants to come and fight. He wants to go to battle and take the city, take the nation. If you read chapter 8, you might understand why they might think that. Chapter 8, all these battles. But that wasn't his intention. But Nahash buys into that. And so his response is, no thank you. I don't want your kindness. But it wasn't that nice. It wasn't that clean. Nahash delivers a response that is a real slap in the face to David and to the Israelites. This delegation of men is sent by David to them to express his condolences. to express his desire to continue whatever treaty they have and to show kindness. But Nahash seizes the delegation and shaves off half of their beards. This was an affront to these men. Israelite men wore their beards and they only really shaved if they were grieving about something. or perhaps as a part of a vow to God. But otherwise, they didn't shave. And for their beard to be removed by another like this was a humiliation. Well, Nahash, not Nahash, Hanun, Hanun doesn't leave any doubt about who did the shaving. You know, he doesn't shave at all so that they might could say, I'm grieved. I've made a vow. He shaved half of it. It's obvious something's going on here. He doesn't stop there. He cuts their clothes at the waist. John's mentioned on Sunday, we see the pictures of people wearing what looks like bathrobes or flowing gowns, toga kind of things. So, if you cut a robe off at the waist, obviously you've exposed them. It'd be like stealing someone's pants. And he sends them back home like that. It's not just a humiliation in front of him and his court. He sends them home to be humiliated before David and the royal court. This is a slap in the face. This is an act of war. Hanun has said no thank you to your kindness and figuratively poked David in the eye and dared him to do something about it. And it's really remarkable because obviously Hanun and the Ammonites are the weaker force. David is the superior king militarily. And you see this because when the sons of Ammon decide that they're in trouble, they go hire mercenaries. We need some help. They reach out to the Arameans and bring them in to come and help them. And yet, Hanan, the Ammonite, still is so suspicious of David and wicked. That's his response. He rebels with a willful rebellion. I don't want your kindness. Well, in this, As surprising as that might be, in some ways, we do see some glimpses of spiritual realities, don't we? In David's reaching out to Hanan and to Mephibosheth, we see glimpses of Christ who reaches out with kindness to people who do not deserve kindness. Mephibosheth had no claim on kindness. Hanan has no claim on David's kindness. There's no way that Hanan can come to David and say, you owe me. Pay up, it's time for you to show me the kindness that I deserve. He has no right to do that, and he doesn't do that. But David shows him a kindness that is undeserved, that has nothing to do with Hanan. In fact, as he expresses it to Mephibosheth, it is not just a kindness for the sake of Jonathan, but it is the kindness of God. And we would have to think that it's the kindness of God at work in the heart of David that would also make him want to show kindness to Hanan. David, grateful because he has received such kindness from God, wants to show it to others. In the rejection of that kindness, We see spiritual realities also. As God shows kindness, as grace is announced, the gospel goes out. There are people like Mephibosheth who receive that. They're glad to receive it. But there are people like Hanan, aren't there, who reject it. And they don't just say, I don't want your kindness. But their rejection is an affront to God, as much as cutting off the garments of the Israelite delegation was an affront to David. It is a wickedness to refuse God. It is a wickedness to hear that there is this kindness extended towards you when you have no right to expect it. It is a surprising, shocking kindness that He would ever look at you with favor. It is a wickedness to turn away from that and say, I don't want it. I will not have it. And in it, there really are echoes in kind of a microcosm of Psalm 2, where the people are devising a vain thing. They're raging. Here the Ammonites and the Arameans are pulled into it, and they're raging against what David has said. He wants to show his kindness. They devise a vain thing as they intend to go to war and show David what they think about their kindness. And that's what our heart does, isn't it? Until conquered by Christ, we hear the gospel, we hear about grace and we think grace, what grace? I don't need grace. I don't want grace. And it is an affront to God. Second. In the chapter itself, as we continue reading, Hanan sends the delegation back, and verse 6 says that the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David. And it's not that they, the way it reads, it's not that they are watching David and they see his response and they think, oh no. But rather, they understand what we did was despicable. And it's only natural that David would respond in kind. They're suspicious of David when he announces kindness. I want to show you kindness. And now they're still suspicious and they suspect that he will react like they would react when the evidence is that David is not preparing for war. David is showing great restraint. He hasn't responded other than to tell his men to let their beards grow back. But the Ammonites are sure that he will. And so they arrange their army. They send out for the Arameans or the Syrians. And hire them to come and to help them. And when it's obvious that they mean to do battle, David then sends out the army and apparently not the entire army, but the mighty men. We see more about them later in 2 Samuel, but he sends out his mighty men with Joab to confront this threat. Even then it appears to be a mostly defensive move. When the Arameans flee, he lets them go. When the Ammonites flee back into their city, he lets them go. The army withdraws. He doesn't push forward and seek to conquer them until they try to fight again. And so David's not responding saying, you know, you've offended me and it's time for me now to go on the offensive. That comes later. But now he shows great restraint. And so he sends out Joab and the mighty men to fight. And when they go into the battle, Joab is momentarily outmaneuvered and he realizes that he has the army of Ammon in front of him and the army of the Arameans behind him. He's in a dangerous position. And so he turns to his brother Abishai, and he tells him, we'll divide the forces up in such and such way, and I will fight the Arameans, and you fight the Ammonites. And if I see they're too much for me, you come and help me, and if the Ammonites are too much for you, I'll come and help you. And so they do, and the battle is won. But the surprising thing in this passage is in verse 12. In his speech, he says, Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in his sight. This is the only theological statement in the chapter. It's the only mention of God in the chapter. And it's from the mouth of Joab. Now, perhaps you don't remember much about Joab, so let me give you a reminder. Everything else we see about Joab is not sparkling. You know, it's not something that would commend him to us. If you remember in chapter 2, chapter 3, somewhere in there, when David was the king of just the tribe of Judah at Hebron and all the other 11 tribes are following Ish-bosheth. Joab's the commander of the army and Ish-bosheth's commander is a man named Abner. And Abner comes to pick a fight. There is a fight. And in the ensuing battle, Abner, the northern tribe's commander, runs, and he's chased by Joab's brother, Azahel. We're told that Azahel was very swift, and he's trying to chase him down. He wants to kill Abner. And Abner warns him, if you want to get somebody, if you want to get some plunder, you better go after somebody else. and he keeps chasing him until Abner stops and with not the sharp end of the spear, but the button of the spear, he strikes him in the chest and the spear goes all the way through him. He warned him, but he wouldn't turn away. Joab, Azael's brother, is enraged and he wants vengeance. He wants to kill Joab. Later, Abner and David come to an agreement. They have a treaty. And Abner, so full of vengeance, breaks that. And under the cloak of peace, kills Abner. And if you remember when we looked at that, the text is pretty clear. It's not about justice. It's vengeance. He broke that treaty. His brother was killed in war. And they were in the gate of one of the cities of refuge. The elders were supposed to hear that case, if it's to be heard at all. And they get to decide. He takes it away from them and has his vengeance on Abner. Later, in chapter 11 of 2 Samuel, after David understands that Bathsheba is going to have a baby, And he intends to kill Uriah. It is to Joab that he sends the message. Put him in the hottest part of the battle and draw everybody else from him so that he dies. And Uriah doesn't say, David, are you sure about that? David, do you understand what you're saying? In fact, when he sends back the message to David, he has them just go with a battle report. The messenger takes a battle report and there are people who have died. And he says, if David says anything about how many people have died, just tell him, Uriah the Hittite is also dead. David's not going to say anything else about how many people have died once he understands Uriah is dead. There's not much to commend Joab to us. But here, Joab is the only one in this passage who speaks something that is in reference to God and is a true statement. And it's Joab's character that kind of makes the statement jarring. Of all the people to say it, it's Joab. What does this mean? Are we to understand by this that Joab is a believer? And look what he said. Well, obviously, people can say true statements and not be a believer, right? You think of Balaam, who's a false prophet and wants to curse Israel, and he can't. Every time he opens his mouth, blessings come out. But he wants to curse Israel. Is he a believer? Well, the Bible doesn't tell us about Joab, whether he's a believer or not, whether he's redeemed or not. But we look at his actions, we look at his life, we're told of it, other than this one statement. And we would have to think, probably not. And yet he says this thing. But saying the truth doesn't make you to believe the truth or to follow God. And it is a warning to us, isn't it? We can say true things and speak good theology and not know God. It's not enough. We can say right things but not know Jesus and not walk in a relationship with Him. It's also a warning in this way, though. I mean, do we ignore what he said because we're suspicious of him? We see his character in the rest of Scripture, and we think, ooh, he doesn't like a good fella, so I'm just not listening to anything he says. But what he says is truth, and it's recorded for us here in Scripture. And so there's this warning that we cannot ignore the message just because of inconsistencies of the messenger. Certainly, we want to be careful, and I don't mean go scroll through false teachers to see if you can find a nugget of truth. But you understand that every messenger has inconsistencies except for Jesus. You know, there's no one who stands up in front of you with the Bible open and says everything perfectly or has no inconsistency of life. And we don't have the option as recipients of the truth. We don't have the option to ignore the truth because the messenger isn't always consistent. Well, all of that. What exactly does he say? This, I think, is very helpful to us. Just the very last part of verse 12. As he encourages Abishai and the army to go out and be courageous, he says at the end of verse 12, And may the Lord do what is good in his sight. What he says, in essence, is expressed in other places in scripture like this. Will not the judge of all the earth do right? Or to put it another way, God is good. We'll trust Him. Now, I think this is very helpful for a couple of reasons. One, because of the immediate context in which he says it. Joab isn't lounging on a beach somewhere, you know, with the waves rolling in and says, God's good. He'll do what's right. Life's easy. Joab is at war, and there's an army in front of him and an army behind him, and he doesn't know whether he'll live or die. But God is good. And we'll trust Him. It's also helpful, though, because of a broader context that's here. In chapter 7, we saw God make some very specific promises to David. And in chapter 8, we saw those promises beginning to be fulfilled right there on the page. Chapter 7 promises, chapter 8 fulfillment. Pretty awesome to look at. But what about when you don't have a specific promise? What about when the circumstance you find yourself in is not one where you can point to a verse and say, see right there, God said it applies to me and to my situation. And so I trust it's going to happen this way because God said it. It's wonderful when we have those promises, without a doubt, and it's wonderful, but what about when we don't? Your marriage is on rocky ground. Is there a specific promise that says if you do A, B and C that your marriage will be restored? I don't know that verse. Or that your kids that are wandering away, that you do these things and they will come back and they will follow the Lord. I don't know that verse. Or your loved ones in the hospital and you're not sure they're coming home, but if you do this, there's this verse that says this, right? I don't know that verse. But there is this truth that He says here, and it is a true truth. It is true. God is good. The Lord will do what's right. It's true, even if Joab's the one saying it. Third, The passage also looks forward. We've seen how it looks back to chapter nine, and it really ties all the way into chapter eight, because some of this battle occurs, there's a summation of it in chapter eight, so there's a tie backwards. There's the present circumstance, but there's also a link forward. Chapters 9 and 10 provide a context and a backdrop for David's sin in chapter 11 and 12. Chapter 10 ends after Joab is surrounded and they fight and the Arameans flee and the Ammonites flee. The Arameans are not content with that on their record. And so they get more Arameans together to go and fight. And this time the entire army of Israel goes along with David and they defeat the Arameans and conquer them so that they now pay tribute to Israel. But the chapter ends with the Ammonites withdrawn into their city and end of story, kind of unresolved. Chapter 11, verse 1, Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. Now, kind of a summary statement, because if you get to the end of chapter 12, this is still going on. Chapter 12, Verse 26, now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and captured the royal city. And the chapter concludes by telling us about that defeat. So, the battle in chapter 9 provides a context and a backdrop for David's sin in chapters 11 and 12. I don't want to get into that, the sin itself, You know, the period of unrepentance and then the repentance, all that right now, we'll deal with that later. But I do want to show you how the two things provide for this backdrop, how these chapters provide for the backdrop. In chapter eight and nine, once again, there are I'm pardon me, chapter 9 and 10. There are these repeated kindnesses that David attempts to show to Mephibosheth, to Hanan. But then there's also the kindness of the concern that he shows to his own men, the delegation that comes back embarrassed. He doesn't make them come home in that state. He allows them to regain some of their dignity before they come home. We see something of this in the way that he defends Israel in the first of these battles, but he doesn't just go out and prosecute this war and try to wipe these people out. He defends himself, but the picture is he would rather show kindness than fight. He's willing to fight, but he'd rather show kindness. And so kindness, kindness, concern for people. Chapter 8 leads us to think that this flows from the goodness of God shown to him. And so that's kind of the backdrop then for coming to chapter 11, where there is no concern whatsoever for Uriah and Bathsheba. No thought of kindness. Adultery with Bathsheba. And then he begins to try to manipulate the situation so that he's not exposed. And then when he cannot do it that way, he murders Uriah. And listen, this isn't something that's implied. Even in his message to Joab, it's not implied. He spells it out. In chapter 11, verse 15, David had written in the letter saying, Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him so that he may be struck down and die. How do you say it any plainer? Kill him. I want him dead. Where's the kindness? Where is the concern? This is one of his mighty men. When we look at this, we're familiar with chapter 11. How many times have you heard this? Probably hundreds of times. We read it and we may think, oh, David shouldn't have done that. Are you really shocked that David did that? I think chapter 8 and 9 are given to us. So as we read, I keep saying 8, chapter 9 and 10 are given to us. So as we get to chapter 11, it is appalling. How could he do that? But the truth is something that's shown to us here, that we have the capacity to live duplicitous lives. To do what appears to be right in one arena, while at the same time over here we're destroying ourselves. David can show kindness to Bathshebosheth and to Hanan, even as he pulls back the soldiers from Uriah. and leaves him to die. It's also, though, I think a good warning for us that just because we were walking in godliness yesterday, that's no panacea, that's no safeguard against a fall today. The godliness, the obedience that David displayed yesterday and the day before that did not keep him from terrible sin the next day. There's mercy for each day, there's grace for each day, and we need to come and draw from the wells every day. And while I do think this is written in a way to make us stop and be a bit appalled at David's actions, It's also, though, it's shocking that we would be shocked, isn't it? Because we are sinful people. And the temptation is to think, I can't believe David would do that. And maybe by implication, I couldn't do that. And the truth is, we could. We're quite capable of it. And we'd be far better off to say, you know, except for the grace of God, there go I. Because that's true, we should be willing to show much mercy to people. Not regardless of consequences, not ignoring consequences, but mercy. And Remember that the best of men, the best of women were people who are fallen. And there's only one savior, and it's not David. David points us to one who's better than him, one who is mighty to save. The only savior, the only mediator between God and men. Well, May God help us to keep a well-beaten path to the mercy seat, warned by David. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this chapter and the truths here. And we ask God that we would not soon write them off, but convinced of our sinfulness, convinced that we drink iniquity like water. God, may we turn to Christ again and again and draw from him what we need to walk closely to you and to hate the sin that makes you mourn. We ask in Christ's name, amen.