Student Sunday
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What is God’s will for our lives?
The story of second Samuel is filled with heartbreak, failure, and brokenness. All of which being a direct consequence of sin. David rapes Bathsheba, murders her husband Uriah the Hittite, and loses his newborn after being confronted by Nathaniel. A few years later his daughter Tamar is raped by his son Amnon, Amnon is murdered by his son Absalom, and Absalom runs away for three years. Absalom is only brought back to Jerusalem because Joab tricks David by sending a woman from Tekoa to convince David to bring his son home. Even then David does not see Absalom for another two years.
This is where we will begin today in 2 Samuel 15. A family divided. A son’s anger kindled against his father.
A False King Plotting for the Throne
A False King Plotting for the Throne
So when Joab came to the king and told him, he called for Absalom. Thus he came to the king and prostrated himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.
Absalom after five years of separation was brought before David and was pardoned with a kiss. For most, a pardon from the king meant their lives would never be the same. In chapter nine, David brings Saul’s only remaining descendant to the throne room. Any other king would kill the last descendant and remove any opportunity for someone to make a claim for the throne. Saul was an unkind king to David. Several times he tried to kill David. Rather than kill Mephibosheth he brought him into his house, pardoned him, and gave him a seat at the his table as if he was one of David’s own sons. David thought that in pardoning Absalom he would be restoring a son back to his table. This was the last thing Absalom wanted.
What good is a pardon if the recipient does not want forgiveness?
This question is one that we ourselves must answer. Christ has offered us a king’s pardon. He has paid the penalty of our sin and offered us a seat at His table as sons and daughters. He frees us from the chains of sin and oppression of guilt and shame. He does this not based on our merit or effort but because of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. That we might be raised to walk in new life with Christ through faith in His life, death, and resurrection. There is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If we are honest we tend to respond more like Absalom. We want the grace of the king but we don’t want the life change that comes with being forgiven. We want to continue in our rebellion, free to do whatever makes us happy rather than what makes us holy. We want to live our lives free of consequences rather than living free from sin. I think we all at one time or another feel this way.
Jesus is inviting us into a life of Sacrifice, Suffering, and Joy rooted in Sufficient Grace leading to Eternal Glory
Now it came about after this that Absalom provided for himself a chariot and horses and fifty men as runners before him. Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way to the gate; and when any man had a suit to come to the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And he would say, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” Then Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but no man listens to you on the part of the king.” Moreover, Absalom would say, “Oh that one would appoint me judge in the land, then every man who has any suit or cause could come to me and I would give him justice.” And when a man came near to prostrate himself before him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. In this manner Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel. Now it came about at the end of forty years that Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed to the Lord, in Hebron. “For your servant vowed a vow while I was living at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the Lord shall indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.’ ” The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’ ” Then two hundred men went with Absalom from Jerusalem, who were invited and went innocently, and they did not know anything. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom.
Absalom steals the hearts of the people with a lie. Every day he would wait and watch at the gates of the city. He would promise solutions and justice that he had no authority to carry out. Absalom’s promises were empty. Satan seeks to sway our hearts in similar fashion. Our enemy is looking to lead our hearts away from our true king. He makes empty promises saying that our sin can make us whole and happy. He plays on our insecurities and he plays on our pride. As the father of lies he makes sure to put as many in our head as he can. We live in a world with no morals, no absolute truth. They say you can be whatever you want, believe whatever you want, identify as whatever you want and anyone that goes against your truth is canceled.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jesus is the truth and if our aim is to follow Him we must know the Truth.
Jesus calls us to be...
Truth Seekers
The hearts of the people were easily swayed but God’s truth is an anchor for our souls.
A person who builds their life on the truth of God’s word will find that when the storms of this life come, their house will have been build on a firm foundation
Beware beautiful words and flattery
The people never once spoke to David they just took Absalom’s word for it. Christ invites us into His word so that we can hear about Him directly from the source.
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Truth Speakers
Jesus tells us that our words are an overflow of our hearts. What do our words say about us? I don’t only mean do we lie or not. I mean was God glorified by the words we said, the promises we kept. Did we respond with grace to those around us. Were our words loving and encouraging. Was God magnified by our words and hearts. Being a truth speaker means taking captive every thought and word for the glory of God.
A Broken King Weeping in the Garden
A Broken King Weeping in the Garden
Then a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Go in haste, or he will overtake us quickly and bring down calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” Then the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king chooses.” So the king went out and all his household with him. But the king left ten concubines to keep the house. The king went out and all the people with him, and they stopped at the last house. Now all his servants passed on beside him, all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had come with him from Gath, passed on before the king.
David was brought to a cross roads. Would he stand and fight against Absalom or would he flee? Whether it was out of cowardice or wisdom I don’t know, but David the anointed king decided to abandon the throne. In times of adversity it can be easy to forget the promises of God. When we are feeling the weight of our circumstances we can easily forget the victory that God has won for us.
The Promises of God are a Light shining in our darkness
Jesus, on the night He was arrested, gave His disciples a word of hope while they ate.
“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Jesus was preparing His disciples for what they would soon go through. Some would be boiled alive, some stoned, some crucified, some exiled, some beaten, some imprisoned. The disciples would have tribulation, but they would also have courage in Christ’s victory. Whatever we might go through whether it is self inflicted or inflicted by others, we can be sure that there is victory in Christ. As we focus on what He has done our fear turns to worship.
Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again? Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah. Then I said, “It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed.” I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
God is promising to work all things for Good
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In times of tribulation we must remember and hold firm to the promises of God!
So the king leaves the throne, but David wasn’t completely alone as he left Jerusalem
Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why will you also go with us? Return and remain with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile; return to your own place. “You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander with us, while I go where I will? Return and take back your brothers; mercy and truth be with you.” But Ittai answered the king and said, “As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.” Therefore David said to Ittai, “Go and pass over.” So Ittai the Gittite passed over with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. While all the country was weeping with a loud voice, all the people passed over. The king also passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness.
All those who went with David were in some way or another obligated to him that is all except Ittai the Gittite. He had no reason to be loyal. He was a stranger and a foreigner, David wasn’t really his king. David even says that Ittai had just shown up recently. There was no reason he should have stayed with David. David tries to let Ittai off the hook but Ittai remains faithful to David. How differently would David’s reign had looked had he had more faithful friends like Ittai. A good friend isn’t only a friend when its convenient or when they are getting something out it. A good friend stays around even when it is difficult.
A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.
What kind of friend am I?
A good friend loves like Jesus. He was a friend of sinners. He loved people despite their failures and flaws. He knew every mistake we would ever make and yet He calls us friends. More than that, He loves us enough to not let us stay broken and dead in our sin but instead He offers to heal our sin sick soul
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. “You are My friends if you do what I command you.
By grace we can call God our Friend
Now behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him carrying the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar came up until all the people had finished passing from the city. The king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then He will bring me back again and show me both it and His habitation. “But if He should say thus, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him.” The king said also to Zadok the priest, “Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace and your two sons with you, your son Ahimaaz and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. “See, I am going to wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.” Therefore Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and remained there.
David knew the presence of God was not his to control. He didn’t hold it captive or use it to cement his authority as the anointed king of Israel. God’s presence belonged in Jerusalem. Instead David entrusted himself over to the will of God saying, “If it is God’s will to bring me back to Jerusalem then I will see the Ark again. If it is not God’s will than I will die. Let God do what seems good to Him.” David displays for us what it looks like to have a heart of worship. David says its not about what he wants but about what God wants. And if God wants something contrary to what David wants than that is okay. Let God have his way. Imagine what our lives would look like if we adopted that same attitude! Not my will but yours be done! Whatever might come. If it costs me my comfort, if it costs me my preferences, if it costs me my life, let Christ be magnified in my life! True worship isn’t about singing songs. It is about putting our lives on the altar and giving Jesus freedom to do whatever He wants. Lord you don’t like this relationship in my life? Its gone. You don’t like this show I watch? Its gone. You don’t like the things I watch on the internet? The music I listen to? The things I talk about? You don’t like how selfish I am? How prideful I am? How greedy I am? You don’t like how much I drink? You don’t like how bitter and unforgiving I am? You don’t like how apathetic I am during worship? How lazy I can be? All of it gone! Shine your light into my darkness! Drag every evil thing into the light and onto your altar. Kill it! Burn it! Stab it! Whatever you want to do Lord have your way in me! Lord if You want nothing to do with sin than I want nothing to do with it either and when my heart begins to turn and love worthless things God we will repeat the process. Lord as many times as it takes until I leave this life and stand before You in Your kingdom. Have Your way in me!
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Is my life an act of worship to God?
And David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went, and his head was covered and he walked barefoot. Then all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went.
David’s journey had brought him across the brook Kidron into a place that has become sacred to us as Christians. His walk brought him to a place called the Mount of Olives. Look at the state King David is in.
He is a mess. weeping, sobbing, gasping for breath with every step he takes.
He is stripped of his glory. There is no crown on his head. There aren’t even shoes on his feet.
Here he is, once again on the run from a wicked king.
Sometimes losing everything is a reminder to us that God is all we need (We don’t always understand that God is all we need until God is all we have). David is not alone in his journey. There is One who walks beside him, One who knows his suffering, One who is acquainted with his grief. As king David passed through the Mount of Olives, there would be one who would come along the same path. A King of all Kings who was from the line of David.
A Promised King Praying in the Garden
A Promised King Praying in the Garden
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. “Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!” While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.
An enemy of the crown had stirred mankind’s hearts away from God. This crime didn’t take place at the city gates but in a garden at the beginning of time. Satan deceived Adam and Eve and convinced them to rebel against God. Since then the hearts of man have been turned against their creator. Our wicked hearts were dead in their sins, but Jesus came to restore our hearts.
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
To restore what had been lost, our King left His throne. He was not forced off like David, but He left His throne because of love
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
And where Absalom had been a rebellious son, Jesus was an obedient Son. Absalom recieved a kiss of pardon but it meant nothing to him. Jesus recieved a kiss of betrayal from a man He called friend, even still Jesus was persistent in His love towards sinful man.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
So here Jesus is. A king off His throne. A Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief. Preparing to surrender His life in one of the most brutal executions ever created.
How does Jesus respond in the garden of grief?
How does Jesus respond to this call on His life?
Not my will but Your will be done!
Jesus had no Ittai the Gittite. He was abandoned and alone
The disciple slept
The disciples fled (one of them even ran away naked)
The disciples fought against His decision
Even though Jesus was alone in His suffering, He had Joy
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Our response to grief tends to be more like the disciples than like Jesus. Through our grief, Christ is working in us an everlasting joy, but we sleep through our sanctification, avoiding it by filling our lives with as many distractions as we can, we run away from the process, and we fight His hand.
Rather than wallowing in our sorrow, Jesus is inviting us to walk with Him in joy.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Even though Jesus was alone in His call, He was Obedient
Our response to the call of God is the same as how we respond to grief
We are sleeping through the call
We are too afraid to answer
We are fighting God’s will in our lives
What does Jesus say to God’s call on His life? Not my will but yours be done. My prayer for us today is that we would say yes to the call of God on our lives. Even if it costs us our comforts. If it costs us our time. Money. resources. Our lives. I pray we would value obedience and sacrifice more than our own will. This is what we signed up for. Answering the call to follow Jesus means sacrifice.
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
In all our grief, in all our suffering, in all our sacrifice we can trust that God’s grace is sufficient for every need.
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Our faith in trials is rooted in God’s Sufficient Grace
Even when we fall short, God’s grace covers our sin. His power is perfected in our weakness. Sharing in Christ’s suffering, being obedient to His call on our lives, choosing joy in any circumstance is not something we do in our own strength but something we do by resting in God’s grace and forgiveness.
As Jesus sweat drops of blood He began to water the soil of the garden with an everlasting fountain. The process of redemption was beginning. Where once the garden of grief produced fruit of sorrow, now by the grace of God the garden of grief was becoming a garden of joy. Jesus would go to the cross, drink the cup of God’s wrath, and rise again on the third day all so that we could make our home with Him in a new garden of glory.
Our faith in trials looks forward to Eternal Glory
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
A Resurrected King Sitting on the Throne
A Resurrected King Sitting on the Throne
Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father as King forever on the throne of David.
He has offered to us freely the gift of salvation. He has redeemed us from the curse of sin and turned our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh
He is offering us freedom under His grace and eternal life with Him in glory
How will we respond to the good news of the Gospel?
Pray
Pray