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Man so second Samuel chapter 15. We're gonna look probably just the first 14 verses tonight There's just so much in this chapter to kind of try and unpack a lot of lessons that we can learn from this So I'll probably finish this up either Sunday night or maybe next week But I want to look at these just this first portion here where it's dealing with with Absalom and how he goes about Getting himself in position and winning the hearts of the people Before he springs his trap here on David and his rebellion and you know, what we see here is is Absalom's You know his mo or what people would say, you know, it's modus operandi, you know Which is basically just the way people do things right just the mode of operating one's usual way of doing something and you know We should take the time to look at this because you know, we're gonna run into Absalom's We're gonna run into Judas's and I believe Absalom is a type of Judas We're gonna have those type of people that come into our lives come into our churches and you know This can help us understand You know the reality of that and also kind of how these people work how they do things When people come and they want to attack leadership when they want to you soup you soup authority, you know There's a way that they do it, you know They're not always just real obvious and I think we can learn some things by looking at Absalom's mo here and the first thing I want to point out is that Absalom plotted Okay, this wasn't something he just woke up one day and decided I guess I'll just do this now and went ahead and did it There's a lot of time that's gone by in the life of Absalom in this story by the time we get to this It you know, if you remember back in second Samuel 13, we won't you don't have to turn it says But when he fled remember after he killed his brother Amnon and he fled He said he fled and went to tell my the son of a my HUD the king of Gesher and David mourned for his son Every day so Absalom fled and went to Giescher and was there three years So at a minimum, he's there three years. I believe this is probably the time, you know, and this is you know A lot of this just me making application. Okay. I can't say a lot of this is, you know set in stone This is what happened But you know It could be very well very likely that this is maybe the time where Absalom started to think about what he was gonna do About how he was gonna go back to the kingdom and how he's gonna you know Take over the kingdom and rebel against his father and you know, why would he want to do that? Why would he even want to you know, disrupt things and create a civil war, you know, really? It's because of he's bitter about what happened with Amnon and Tamar and David's, you know Not really doing anything and it says David was very wroth we don't see him taking any action So, you know, that's all speculation on my part, you know, it's you know, maybe not but what happened but I believe there's a very good There's a likelihood that that's what's going on here. He's there three years He's been removed from his inheritance in Israel. He's away from his friends and family. He's on the run I mean, I you know, you could see how he might be upset He might be sitting there just kind of stewing about this thinking about it thinking I was gonna get his revenge he's gonna get back at David and This is a lot of time what happens when people You know rebel against leadership or they lash out at leadership is a lot of times They're just bitter, you know a lot and a lot of times they're straight up just a Judas Whenever these Judas has come along whenever these Absalom's come along They seem to stir up other people around them and they carry away other people and a lot of times the people that they carry away Are people who are just bitter? They're not really necessarily Evil and wicked they just see, you know, they're spiritual out, you know, they just say well This is my chance to get out of church and blame You know the pastor because some Absalom comes along and we'll see that's is what date what Absalom does He points out a fault and David it says look look what he's doing. You know, there's no one deputed, you know, there's no one Deputed of the king to hear every matter, right? He's pointing out a flaw in David and then he's drawing he's winning the hearts of the people And a lot of times that's what people do when they've been you know get caught up with an Absalom or a Judas like that You know, they'll just get carried away. They might not go all the way with the Judas You know, they might break off from them too but they'll get carried out of the congregation just because of the fact that they're what bitter people take time to get better and That's what's going on with Absalom here I think he's there and he's just stewing on everything and he starts to you know Plot you put together this plan in order to what get back at David why because he's bitter about things And look we have to work out for bitterness in our lives because I'm telling you this right now You know, you're surrounded by sinners even right now You're surrounded by people who have faults and shortcomings And I know it's gonna come a shock to a lot of you even here in the pulpit Okay, you know even I am a flaw. No, it's true. You know, I'm flawed. Okay It's alright. I can admit it right maybe not as much as some of you not escape Well, you know what? I am, you know, probably worse than some of you who knows but you know I I am a flawed person, you know, and if you're gonna come church here long enough, I'm gonna say something I'm gonna do something, you know, I'm gonna preach something whatever that you're gonna disapprove of and you're gonna say well I'm offended. You know, I'm angry about that. I don't think you handled that right? I don't think you should have said that whatever and people are welcome to their opinion I'm not saying you have to make you have to be just Lock-stock-and-barrel with every single thing I do and say it. I'm not saying I'm not gonna make mistakes But here's what I'm saying If you're gonna sit there and hold people's mistakes and people's shortcomings and people's flaws over their head Just prepare yourself to be a bitter person because that's what's gonna turn you into where you're just criticizing Everybody and just looking at them under a microscope and picking them apart and you know what? You're gonna end up being a bitter person. You're gonna spend three years over there, you know Giescher just just brooding about things like Absalom did and Of course Absalom, you know, he went a step further than just being bitter he actually actually decided to you know act on that bitterness to actually sit here and Plot right Absalom begins to plot and part of that as we'll see here, you know is to regain David's trust That's what we saw in first Samuel 13 You know in 14 is where he he gets back there in 14 And He you know, he uses Joab to kind of get him an audience with the Kings memory comes back But the King wouldn't see him for a full two years, but before he can do anything, you know He's got to regain David's trust to make David think that hey, I'm on your side You know, I'm not trying anything here. So what's he do? He goes we remember the story He goes and burns down Joab's field, right? Well just goes to show you the Absalom's they're willing to you know Manipulate people right and Joab kind of put himself out there On behalf of Absalom, you know, he went out there he and he kind of just took it upon himself Do you know to send the wise woman of Tekoa and have her you know? Give the parable to David that we read about last week and and to get Absalom back and how does Absalom repay the favor? By burning down his barley field right because he wants an audience with the king But it's all part of his greater plan to regain David's trust to make him think everything's fine We've buried the hatchet and then he's gonna sit there and and and work to eventually overthrow him Absalom's are the type of people that sit there and they plot They don't they don't just wake up one day and say I'm gonna be an Absalom. They think about it They go about how they're gonna go about it and they you know, they make plans they manipulate people They use people to their advantage and eventually they spring the trap, you know, another example of this would be Judas You know Judas is one who plotted right remember after the alabaster box of that precious ointment was broken upon the feet of Jesus And he says, you know, why wasn't this given to the poor? Right, and it's funny. That's what triggers these Judas is so often is money you know, they they you know, they get all triggered about a bank statement or something like that and all of a sudden these Judas has Just come out and then they you know, that's what happened here He gets triggered over this this this waste of money this apparent waste of money and ends up What running to the Pharisees and coveting them for 30 pieces of silver that he would betray him and it says in Matthew 26 16 and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him So look these Absalom these Judas is what they do is they plot they plan they sit back they bide their time That's what they do and you know, it's not this they're being passive while he's plotting You know Absalom is also preparing Absalom plotted also Absalom also prepared and he gathers an army See there in verse 1 and it came to pass after this the Absalom prepared him chariots and horses and 50 men to run before him now I don't know if that was just commonplace back then if you were you know, Somebody of wealth or somebody of position, you know, he's a prince. He's the king's son, you know He's kind of a somebody in Israel if that was just something, you know, this is just like the equivalent of having you know Some some 36 is on you know, some rims and and and some neon lights in a system or whatever But he's got all this stuff, you know, he's got some maybe he's just got status But to me it seems kind of odd like why why are you gathering an army? Why do you have 50 men to run before you, you know? And again, it just maybe it was just common, but you should kind of see the Absalom is preparing to do something But again, he's already worked to win back. David's trust and then he you know, he has and his plan is a very long-term plan So first of all, he gathers his forces. He gets people over on his side And then he puts himself in the right position, right? He plots he prepares and he puts himself in position Look at verse 2 and Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate, right? He didn't just go stand in some corner somewhere, you know behind the barn trying to influence people He went where people were gonna be He went where there's gonna be a lot of people coming and going and a lot of people of prominence Okay, because if you remember in Scripture back then the scripture tells us that being in the gate, you know That was where the elders went, you know, for example in Proverbs 31 verse 23 It says her husband is known in the gates when he sit at them on the elders of the land a lot of times That's where people of influence would go the people that make decisions and things like that They would sit in those gates because then you're seeing who's coming who's going you're meeting with people because back then, you know They didn't have you know Facebook and everything else. You had to actually go meet with people to have these conversations So that's where you know, that's but is it interesting that's where Absalom puts himself and of course It makes sense when we because we know what he's trying to accomplish that he would put himself in the proper position that he would put himself in a place where he's gonna have Influence where he's gonna have prominence where he's gonna be able to begin to sway people to his side And that's what the that's what people like this do they put themselves in the right position, you know They want to seek, you know a a certain position perhaps, you know in the church You know, they've got to be the pastor right or they've got to have some kind of rank somewhere in the church And and don't get me wrong, you know the desire the Bible says that if a man desire the office of a bishop He desireth a good work. So it's good to desire a good work It's does it's good to desire to be a bishop You know would to God that we had more men that would stand up and and take on the role of a bishop You know of a pastor, you know and start churches, you know, they're desperately needed It's it's a great need and unfortunately, there's not very many people that are willing to do it You know, it's not very many people that what desire that good work, but it's another so that's good But look when you have somebody who's insisting on it, that's usually a very, you know, nine times out of ten That's a very bad sign when you have somebody who's insisting on being a pastor, you know Perhaps they don't meet one of the qualifications, you know, they don't have any children or they're divorced and remarried You know go read 1st Timothy 3, you know, go read Titus in in chapter 1 Those are things that those are qualifications. You must have in order to be a bishop and a deacon Okay, but people who say well, you know Those don't really apply here or they have these cute ways of wiggling out of it or trying to explain in a way You know They have no integrity with the scripture and what they're what they're really showing you is that they're bad people Because they're insisting on being in that position They're putting themselves in a position and you know, that's something that's characteristic of an Absalom and a Judas They want to get into a position or maybe it's not even a position Maybe they just want to get into a good church, you know, go in and feign themselves to be something that they're not and And and and to do you know because they have bad motives because they want to draw away disciples after them So this is how Absalom's work. Okay. This is their modus operandi This is they they plot, you know, they're a lot of times they're bitter people they and then they prepare, you know They gather their forces they get strength they get momentum They get people on their side and then they seek positions, you know where they're gonna have influence over other people Maybe it's not even you know an official position within the church. Maybe they just want to get a big following of people Maybe they just want to make a lot of friends with people, you know I've seen that where they just we're just gonna befriend as many people as we can We're gonna attach ourselves to the new people in the church and bring them under our wing and have them over and You know cook them all this food and and get them on our side and have them convince them that we're good people Okay, but the whole time what they're really doing is plotting against leadership and it sounds crazy You know and you might look at me like I've got two heads up here but it's a fact and we've seen it over and over and over again and If you haven't if you've never seen it just stick around, you know, it'll happen So Absalom he plots he prepares. What else does he do? He I have saloon persuaded, right? Because he couldn't you know, everyone loves David It's kind of an amazing thing that he could was able to be as successful as he was in His scheming here because Absalom or excuse me, David, you know was loved of the people remember when he oh he is slain as 10,000s, right? He's gone out and they lauded him. They praised him people love David It's amazing that Absalom was able to turn their hearts the way that he did but hot So but how did he do that? You know, he did that in two different ways. Okay one The most obvious one is probably through flattery. Okay, and this is a lot of times how Judas is and Absalom these types work is through flattering people They don't ever just show up and say hey, I'm gonna commit insurrection you with me, you know, hey, I'm looking to to you know Start an uprising against the king Who's in on it, you know, most people wouldn't fall for that I'd be like no thanks, you know I don't feel like getting killed But if he can slowly over time build build your confidence because this is what Absalom really is He's a con man and he's in it for the long con, right? if you get if he can get you gain your confidence through flattery and Get you over onto his side and then when he finally does decide to spring his trap You people will just go right along because they'll think well I've known Absalom for so long and he's always been so nice to me I can't imagine and I keep hearing people say he's some wicked person, but I just don't see it I mean, I wouldn't be friends with a wicked person after all because I'm so discerning and so smart and so spiritual But that's how flattery works and people that are good at it. You know, they're very subtle with it You know, sometimes it's real obvious when they're just you know, flattering you telling you stuff. You know, it's not true about yourself They're like they're like you're so good-looking you're like look I own a mirror like you're not fooling anybody right and look There's always a difference between flattery and genuine compliments I understand that but this is one part how one way which Absalom's work they persuade people Through flattery look there verse 2 and Absalom rose up early It stood beside the way of the gate and was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment then Absalom called him and said of what city art thou and he said thy servant is one of the tribes of Israel and Absalom said unto said unto him see thy matters are good and right. It's interesting that he doesn't hear his matters He just he just say where are you from? Oh, you're from Israel. Your matters are good and right You know, hey, hey, what do you believe about this doctrine? It's just totally unbiblical, you know Someone just has some completely unbiblical view. Oh, you know what? You're right. I could see where you're coming from Why they're just trying to gain your confidence They don't even ask he doesn't even look into what their matters even are. He just instantly. Oh, they're good and right You know bad people they you know, they want to be friends with everybody. They they accept the people they're plotting against You know, they'll they'll they'll take all opposing sides. I mean, that's what you see so much on this online crowd People that get kicked out of churches leave churches and turn into you know, wicked people Railers and everything else that they do online, you know, they'll end up being friends with the Flat Earthers that you know a year ago They were mocking, you know, but all of a sudden now we're with the Flat Earther or something like that They'll just it doesn't matter. You know, what your matters are good and right because you know what the enemy of my enemy is my friend That's what it comes down to with these people thy matters are good and right But there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee Absalom said moreover all that I were made judge in the land and every man hath any suit or cause might come to me and I would do him justice and You can kind of see where he's coming where this bitterness lies in him because he's saying look there's no man to To there may have not been any man deputed of the king, you know I mean, I don't think he's telling a lie here Because the thing about if he went around saying that hey, there's no man deputed of the king people be like Oh, actually there is you know, they that wouldn't have worked So maybe that's what he's bitter about the fact that there is no man that's deputed of the king There was no man to hear his cause with Tamar, you know, and and the king did nothing about it So you can kind of see where he's still hanging on to that bitterness a little bit me This is probably a true statement. He said I would do him justice, you know He feels like justice might not have been done for him on his kid on his side But notice he's saying, you know, I'm just here for the people. I would do you justice. I would hear everybody I'll work everything out. I'm the good guy, right and it was so that when any man came nigh to him to do obeisance He noticed it was not until they did obeisance, you know, oh you do no basins You're on my side now, then he lays that flattery on extra thick, right? He put forth his hand and took him and kissed him Look, you know if that ever happens these days, you know, that's not gonna win anybody over That's a that's probably just gonna you know, you're gonna get a dental bill or something like that But you know, but back then that was kind of a custom right? They would take people by the hand It was a common greeting, you know, they would kiss them on the cheek that kind of a thing. It's probably what's going on here But you know notice that's another form of flattery, you know, he's just being so grateful. He just oh, thank you You know, you're on my side. You're you're doing obeisance Let me take you up and just show you how much I love you So he's laying on this flattery real thick and on this manner Verse 6 did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel Now this is what he's doing. He's slowly persuading the people to come over unto his side. That's how people like this work Okay, and the other way that they they do this that they persuade people is that they not only flatter them But they also sow discord and they sow discord and it's this was really subtle. Okay with with him, you know, sometimes People who are sowing discord are pretty obvious, right? Even if it's not against leadership or anything like that Maybe they just want to talk trash and another Christian And they just want to get a bunch of people rallied around them because they have some some beef with somebody You know and they'll just go and they'll just say, you know, they'll be real obvious about like hey Did you hear about so-and-so? Did you know he or she does this or that? You know, they I this is what I heard and they're just what are they're doing is they're sowing discord You know in discord, that's something that's really wicked and you know, that's sometimes it's really obvious But with with these Absalom's and these Judas's they're a lot more subtle about it. Okay notice there again in verse 3 It says an Absalom said unto them see thy matters in good and right, but there is no man Deputed of the king to hear thee. What's he doing? He's pointing out a perceived flaw in David It was real subtle Right and he's saying, you know, and I just and oh that I were you know made such that I could judge everybody But notice he takes that subtle jab at David doesn't he by saying look there's just no man deputed of the king You know and people say you know what there is no man deputed of the king Why you know Absalom's right there should be somebody that should hear all this stuff and that's a what that is It's very subtle sowing of discord by Absalom and that's what sometimes a lot of times that's how these these types work The real smart ones anyway, right the ones that are a little less intelligent That are just out there to wreak havoc and don't have some greater scheme. They'll just sow discord. It'll be so obvious It's you can just say you can call them on it right on the spot. He's being very subtle now Go over to Proverbs 6 and keep something in Proverbs. We're gonna come back several times tonight But he's you know, he's kind of talking trash on David there, isn't he saying look there's no man deputed of the king You know, this is some kind of a flaw It was very subtle, you know the Bible forbids that we would curse our leaders, you know People that are in authority thou shalt this is Exodus 22 thou shall not revile the gods that small G Okay, which is just another way of saying like Lords. Okay, that's not don't let that confuse you Nor curse the ruler of thy people. Okay or curse the ruler of thy people Look, we shouldn't be people who want to curse or revile those that are in authority over us And you know, you could you could take this to some to some other places and you can apply this in other areas You know the Bible tells us that we should obey magistrates. We should be subject to powers Okay, then we should not revile these people or curse them But what about in the house of God is the house doesn't the Bible tell us that there are those that have what the rule? Over us, you know that we should obey those that had the rule over us as those that watch for our souls You know, we should not receive you know criticism and And and and and trash talk about you know, our pastors and those that are in authority We shouldn't do it and especially people we're gonna go so far as curse the ruler of our people Okay, and that's what you know when Paul quoted this you say well curse, you know, that's a little bit different than just you know Talking trash. Well when Paul quoted this in Acts he said thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people So you can see how it means both things It's not just wishing a curse on somebody or pronouncing a curse on somebody but even just speaking evil of them You know and that's not something we should do. That's a type of sowing of discord that people do Look at Proverbs chapter 6 verse 12 a naughty person a wicked man walketh with a froward mouth verse 13 He winketh with his eyes. He speaketh with his feet. He teaches with his fingers Frowardness is in his heart. He devises mischief continually, right? There's that plotting like that He that the Absalom has he so at discord That's what wicked people do When you have somebody who's sowing discord in a church when somebody's sowing discord Against leadership that Bible says that that is a wicked person You know and as soon as you see that in somebody soon as you recognize what's going on You should just mark that person as somebody who's wicked You know and I'm saying this because I just see it over and over and over again when these wicked people come when these Judases when these Absalom's rise up and they start to speak evil about the rulers of our people and they start to bash Pastors and they start to you know, try to drag them through the mud So many people just instantly side with them. And what you're doing is you're siding with the wicked person Because they're sowing discord. That's what they're doing. Does the Bible not say that someone who sows discord is a wicked person It says it over and over and over again go over to uh We'll just look down at verse 16 these six things that the Lord hate You know, it's not just that they're wicked. God hates this kind of behavior and He says yea sever an abomination unto him a proud look, you know, there's Absalom a lying tongue Absalom again hands that shed innocent blood and heart to devise its wicked imaginations feet that be swift and running to mischief a false Witness that speak it lies and he that soweth discord among brethren You know someone who wants to break up the unity in the local church. Somebody wants to draw people away from a good church It's somebody who's sowing discord that Bible says that they are wicked and that God hates those type of people it says that God considers them an abomination and you know What's sad is you can read all that and warn people and that then these type of things happen where people rise up and they attack a preacher they attack a pastor and then people just get drawn right away with them and They're end up siding with very wicked people You know, there's a lot more we could go to Proverbs 30 or Psalms 36 We won't keep something there in Proverbs that go to first Timothy chapter number five first Timothy chapter number five I'm nuts and look people often misconstrue what I'm saying here. I'm saying look we shouldn't you know, criticize the preacher We shouldn't receive you know Accusations or we should recognize when people are trying to sow discord or stir people up against leadership and look I'm not saying that you know, we should never have a critical thought, you know that there isn't a time to scrutinize somebody Right with that I'm not promoting that we just you know If the pastor has some glaring flaw that we just sweep it under the rug and pretend that it never happened Okay, there are times when you have to address things, you know when there's some you know, the qualifications are broken, you know if he doesn't have a You know a good report with them which are without he gets caught in adultery or fornication Well, you know, it'd be adultery no matter what, you know or drunkenness or all these type of sins that could disqualify a preacher I'm not saying that, you know, we don't address that. Okay, but you know what people people like to I don't know what it is Well, I do know what it is is a lot of times They're actually bitter and then they got some you know, Absalom in their ear telling them, you know We try, you know egging them on and they actually start to you know, nitpick preachers because I see this a lot they start to just you know pick them apart and they they're they're quick to accuse them of things and jump on the Bandwagon and just try to put them down and bring them down and the Bible tells us in 1st Timothy chapter 5 look at verse 1 It says rebuke not an elder but entreat him as a father You know I'm not saying you can't ever be critical if there's an issue that you have to deal with with the pastor if you perceive something's Wrong and you want to address it. There's you can do that. But look there's a way to go about it And it's not by jumping on a bunch of YouTube comments, you know Or make it some anonymous account to try and you know vent your frustrations against your preacher The way you do it is you treat him as a father now think about you know And this might be a lost concept on many today Hopefully nobody in this room is that you know, I would assume that you know good kids in this room know how to entreat their father You know, they don't just walk in and tell dad how it's gonna be right. They think that they want something from dad They want to tell that something they say hey dad, you know, they come to him humbly meekly They you know ask questions and they do it in the right spirit. There's a way to go about it Okay, so I'm not saying you can't just you can never have a critical thought you can never rate You know any concern you might have you should just it's missily instantly dismiss. Sometimes there are times to you know To ask the pastor or inquire about something. You know what? Don't you're not going to get to the place of just instantly rebuking him and look people do this all the time People do this all the time You know, we'll get these listeners in these emails that will though I've been listening to pastor Anderson for years and then they'll just they'll write you some letter You know, you'll bat you'll look at the backlog of the history of their emails It's just like you're at they start out with the flattery. It's just like oh, he's the greatest preacher ever You're like a dad to me and they'll just go on and I'm not making this up This is stuff that they say and multiple people. I got I got a witness Right so we got the people that are just writing and it's just like these long texts to just about how much they love the church and Love the preaching and love the pastor and then you know He gets up and says something that they disagree with on vaccines or kovat or something And the next thing is no he's you know, he's a FEMA pastor, you know, he's a he's a wicked rapper But I mean, it's like they turn on him like that, you know It'd be one thing if they just kept that to themselves and went back to their you know Dull life of not going to church anywhere But what they do is they they they take the time to write us and rebuke our pastor and rebuke him Over the internet right and where the Bible says to rebuke not an elder or they get in the comment section Just gonna tell they're just gonna tell the preacher no pastor Anderson or whoever how it really is And they're just blowing off their mouth and this is a command in Scripture to rebuke not an elder You know and if there's some preacher that you have, you know, you don't agree with or you have You just don't see things the way he does it, you know, the best policy is probably just keep it to yourself Especially when it's not your pastor You know what? I mean? It's like What does it matter to you what some other pastor in some other part of the country thinks about whatever? You know, they're not they're not the ones watching for your souls they're not the ones looking out for you your local pastor is the one that's doing that and You know what? Your local pastor should be entreated as as a father if you ever have to go to him and express some kind of a concern And you know, it doesn't just apply, you know, remember it's it's him that sows discord among brethren That's wicked among the brethren not just him that does sows discord against the preacher. It's among brethren That's why it says there If you look it says in verse 75 verse 1 rebuke not an elder but in treat him as a father and the younger men As brethren, you know, we shouldn't be quick to just rebuke our brethren either You know, we should treat our younger younger men as brethren, you know And maybe we just have a skewed understanding of what it means to treat Someone as a brother, you know, cuz sometimes brothers can get pretty violent with each other, right? I mean, they'll just start going at it. Okay, but you know that what he's getting across here is like, hey How would you actually treat your flesh and blood brother? I mean, I know sometimes brothers get into it, right? But there's always that love right? There's that kinship. I didn't have a brother. Yeah, it's sisters. I still love them, you know, but it's You know That's something that's there. Okay. That's just this natural affection this natural law. That's just there for your brother you you know There's that's a bond that isn't easily broken. Okay that and it's not one that is gonna put up with discord You know a lot of times even if brothers don't really particularly like each other They like people who you know, put the other one down even less, you know I might not be my brother's biggest fan But if I see if he gets in trouble or someone else has give him a hard time You know now you've got a bigger problem on your hands right now. You got two brothers to deal with or whatever Okay, that's usually how it goes. So again, you know, we should be careful how we what am I getting at? We should be careful how we not just treat the elder but even you know, our brethren and our sister Okay, we should be careful about how we treat one another and too often Christians I see are just so quick to rebuke each other You know rather than endeavoring to keep the the the bond of unity and the spirit of peace They they just are quick to just jump down each other's throats and just quick to just get after each other and puke one another And call each other out. It's it's not good. Okay, the Bible speaks again against it Rebuke not an elder and treat him as a father and you know what and treat the younger man as brethren And the younger women as sisters with all purity. That's what the Bible says You know if we don't do that, you know for ones that are just always talking behind our brother's back talking behind the pastor's back Sowing, you know, if we're not in treating them as we ought to respectfully, you know, what we're doing is we're tail-bearing Say no, I'm not tail-bearing. I'm just telling I'm just trying to ask for prayer for somebody You know, hey pray for so-and-so. They're really struggling with whatever sin, you know, that's tail-bearing, you know And the Bible says and I'm running out of time But the Bible says a lot about tail-bearing go to second keep something in 1st Timothy But go to 2nd Peter chapter 2 2nd Peter chapter 2 Look these these Absalom types they tail-bear they they criticize they tear down they sow discord Because they can't stand that, you know Authority a lot of times people just despise authority in their lives They get bitter about the fact that somebody told them they were wrong once And look we're living in a snowflake generation where you can't tell anybody that they're wrong about anything ever They want some guy who wants to walk around and put a dress on and say I'm a woman and you say you're wrong You know, then you get cancelled right because you can't tell somebody that they're the gender they were born in Born with you know, they can choose whatever it's ridiculous That's what we've gotten with this, you know, this touchy feeling generation of people that just can't be told that they're wrong You know, you actually are a man you actually are a woman, you know I don't care if if you want, you know, and you say are why are you taking the time to talk about this? Oh, I don't know because they just named the the the woman athlete of the year is actually a man some transgender man You know, I know an Olympic lifting and I saw the in my newsfeed just today and they got the dudes, you know doing a whatever lift and it's like you can see The amount of hair in that pit That's not a that's not a lady. That's a man. Nope That's a woman now and it's happening all over in these sports arenas now Where these these dudes, you know are calling themselves women and going in an MMA might fight with a woman and just beating it There's like that special forces guy who all saw that one that special forces guy Like this Jack Marine whatever who decided to become a woman and go into MMA. It's just like just annihilating these women I mean he's male. I don't wouldn't call him a man because I don't kind of man just like wants to go beat up women You know, he's just male at that point real men don't hit women Even in a sporting contest You know, but what what's that a result of is that people don't want to be told no, you're not that You know, you could you can be whatever you want, you know, you know You can we're never gonna tell you no wouldn't want to discourage you right and people They don't and even if we're not gonna go to that extreme Obviously even people sometimes within churches and places like that when the preacher comes to them or preaches a sermon says hey You're wrong about this and you need to fix it You know, sometimes people just get bitter and what they start to do is actually despise authority They actually start to hold resentment against what was said, even even if they know it's right They'll start to be full resentful towards that person just because they got up and said hey, here's what it says You know deal with it and then they'll actually start to resent the person the messenger, right? This is a very wicked attitude. This is what you see in Absalom. I believe too. He's rebellious He's fighting against the system, right? He's trying to you know, commit insurrection here And he's doing it through tail-bearing but look at 2nd Peter chapter 2 verse 9 says the Lord knoweth how to Deliver the ungodly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust in the day of judgment to be punished But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government Presumptuous are they self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities Look somebody who is ready to just so discord and throw the preacher under the bus and try to turn people against the pastor Or turn people against you know people in authority. There's no fear there. There's a lack of fear Now the Bible tells us we ought to be subject to powers that we should, you know, fear God and honor the king, right? But here we see him, you know the people that that that don't want to do that that despise governments They are not afraid to speak evil of dignities go back to Proverbs chapter 26 Proverbs chapter 26 It says it again in Jude that there's there's these filthy dreamers that defile the flesh Some of their characteristics are that they despise Dominion. They don't want to have anybody having Dominion in their lives You know when having authority and here's the thing, you know, this would probably be good for the kids who think that you know Once I get on my parents house, I won't have any room. I won't have a boss Or they here's here's a real smart one I've seen you know, I'm gonna get out I can't stand on my parents rules, so I'm gonna go join the military Like you don't think people don't tell you what to do in the military I mean they tell you when to wake up go to bed brush your teeth when how far you're gonna run when you're gonna run Where are you gonna go to work what unit you're in they tell you everything you're gonna do how you're gonna cut your hair What you're gonna wear everything So, I mean I've seen that I can't stand my parents rules joins the military Idiots And look, here's the thing. You're we're always someone is always gonna have Dominion in our lives There's always gonna be somebody there that has some kind of you know authority over us to some degree. I Mean it's and you'd say not all these grown men in the room not nope, not them. Yep. It's called their boss it's called their supervisor, you know, and if we Decide that we're just we're gonna despise Dominion and we're just gonna you know, just be complete rebels You know, somebody else is gonna have Dominion over us. It's called the judicial system There's gonna be a there's gonna be a nice guy with a shiny badge with a nice, you know car with these cool lights on it That's gonna come around and tell you what to do He's gonna say assume the position and he's gonna put cuffs on you and then he's gonna take you another place where they're gonna tell You what to do So, you know, it'd be good to just listen to the authority that God has given you in the first place Listen to the to the parents that God has given you the advice that they're giving you the commands that they're giving you listen to the Word of God Listen to the preacher who expounds the Word of God and tells you thus say it the Lord Don't think that well if I just you know buck that and just get rid of all that then I'll be this free agent to Do whatever I want. Oh, no, you won't You'll still have somebody there to tell you what to do and put you down and put you back in your place And that goes for all of us But again, look at Proverbs chapter 26 verse 20 It says where no wood is the fire there the fire go without so we're note There's no there is no tail bear the strife cease it. So this tail bearing the sewing discord. What's the what's the end goal? strife Discord, right as coals are to burning coals and wood to fire So is the contentious man to kindle strife and notice that the contentious man the one who's going to You know be the tail bear or so discord. He's a man who what kindles the strife Right now what is it the kindle of fire? It's just to get it going right you just get that you start out that little bit and you know get the pine needles and the dry leaves the little twigs and you and you get the little spark going and You get it and eventually it just gets going on its own and then you can you know It'll spread on its own, you know, like the coals right? It uses the illustration the coals think about your barbecue Okay, I've been looking into barbecue in a lot. So this is a good illustration for me You know if you want to do that low and slow burn you just put a few Brickettes in the end and it'll just spread all the other ones, right? That's how people who so discord are they just get a little they just get one or two people just get a little faction going of people They just get their 50 men to run before them. They get their few chariots They just they just start to slowly one person at a time sway their hearts to them. And eventually it just takes care of itself That's how people are when they so discord. It's something that slowly takes root because it says there the words of a tail bear, excuse me, it says, uh Well, anyway what we see is that these ungodly people That that's so discord, you know what they what all what also are they they are patient Okay, because think about the the idea there of sowing discord, right? It's talking about because you sow seed right like parable of the sower went out and he sowed seed and in time You know stuff sprung up it takes time So these people these absolons are also what they're very patient, you know, they plot They prepare they persuade but as they sow that discord They sit back and kind of wait for things to take place if you would go back to 2nd Samuel Where we were verse chapter 15 and this is another characteristic that Absalom had he was very patient. Okay You know, he is three years waiting to be brought back in the land thinking about you know, twiddling his thumbs You know stroking a shaved cat hmm, you know, how am I gonna get them back, you know, like, dr claw or something like that and Thinking about you know, how he's gonna get David and then he say well, I'll get back there. I'll regain his confidence I'll build some I'll get some strength. I'll get some men with me. I'll go down at this gate I'll start to you know, take subtle jabs at him Tell everybody how great I am how much I would be so much better of a leaner than they are. I'll flatter them I'll sow discord. Okay, and again that's sowing of the discord Infers that it's a it's something that has to you know It takes time for the discord to to to sway people right to to infect people to spread That's what Absalom was. He was patient It says in verse 6 and on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel So remember, you know So again, this is something that takes time because it's not like he's just getting everybody together wants to telling him this He's catching them as they come by as they come to him, you know, and he's taking time to this That's why it says and it came to pass after what 40 years that Absalom said to the king I pray thee let me go now and pay my vow. It's 40 years of him doing this a Slowly sowing discord slowly getting people over to his side. He didn't steal their hearts all at once That would have been very hard to do I believe because David wasn't was popular David was well liked by Israel, but you can see just through the through the subtleness of someone like Joab How they can even sway People who would were who were once loyal To their side to come over to their side and be loyal to them. How do they do it patiently? Using flattery through sowing discord slowly over time And it came to pass after over 40 years the Absalom said to the king I pray thee Let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed on the king in Hebron And what's interesting here in verse 8? It says for thy servant vowed a vow while I bowed at Giescher in Syria Saying if the Lord bring me again indeed until Jerusalem Then I will serve the Lord and the king said unto him go in peace and so he rose and went into Hebron I mean doesn't shouldn't that have just like stood out to David? It's been 40 years. He still haven't paid this vow You were three years in Giescher and you say to Florida if you bring me back in Atlanta, I'll go pay this vow in Hebron I'll go I'll do this sacrifice or whatever right and then 40 years go by it's like oh, I Forgot about that. Whoops, you know, he checked his to-do list and was like that one was way down there somehow. I just got buried right But that's what David's thinking because David's like go in peace Right and this all goes back to what I've been saying over the last several chapters ever since David commits that sin with Bathsheba in Order for God to bring about the judgment that he prophesied on David is that I believe that he took some of David's Discernment away that he lacked a little bit of wisdom. I mean, how else do you explain everything? That's that's been taking place in these stories where it's just like it's so obvious what's going on He's running around with chariots and 50 men everywhere and he's like, oh, yeah, I forgot 40 years ago I was supposed to go pay this vow. Do you mind if I go now? It's a Hebron where they like they or where you just see people being ordained kings later over and over again And David just misses it just goes right over his head But again what this 40 years going by what does that tell us about Absalom that he's in it for the long con Look, these are the worst types of Absalom's and Judas's people who will sit and let years go by And they're just plotting Getting people over their side, you know, keeping a file on every perceived infraction and Just and just waiting to just spring their trap because a lot of times they're they're effective because my last point is that you know, not only what did Absalom plot and plan and prepare and persuade and Was patient is that Absalom prevailed? You think oh he went and did that and everyone and saw through it and came back to David. Nope. It worked That's that's the scary thing about these people and that's why I'm preaching this Because people need to understand this that this type of thing really happens even within little little churches like ours You know and I preached a sermon a few weeks back, you know about You know false brethren reality and response and I talked about the fact as we begin to do more work You know, we're getting into that new space because we're growing and as we continue to grow they reach more souls I'm telling you. It's just a matter of time before some Absalom slips in here and tries to do something I've seen it over and over again and not just in our church But in other churches and I just have to keep preaching it one because that's kind of what this story is about I don't you know, I feel like it might be in a bit of broken record, but I can't help it This is where we are in the scripture. Okay? But that's what makes them dangerous They're in it for the long call long con and you know what it works There's look there in verse 10 But Absalom sent spies throughout all tribes of Israel saying as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet Then you shall say Absalom reigneth in Hebron when with Absalom went 200 men out of Jerusalem that were called and they went in their Simplicity they went not knowing anything and Absalom sent for a hit the fell the guy tonight David's counselor from his city even from guy low While he offered sacrifices and the conspiracy was strong meaning that he had a lot of people on his side I mean if you're spending spies throughout the whole land saying, okay, today's the day, you know, just listen to the trumpet That's what it means by the conspiracy being strong. These people are already inside. He's got David's counselor on his side. He's coming with him and it says and the conspiracy was strong for the people increased continually with Absalom and there came a messenger to David saying the hearts of Israel are after Absalom and David verse 14 and David said on to all the servants that were with him at Jerusalem arise and let us flee For we shall not escape from Absalom make speed to depart lest he overtake us suddenly and bring evil upon us and smite the city at the edge of the sword so the most you know alarming thing about Absalom's is that When they are patient and they plot and they persuade people and they sow discord that it actually works To the point where Absalom was able to sway an entire nation against a king like David That's how powerful these people are through their subtlety Right, so I'm preaching this because people need to understand that Absalom's exists. Why do you why is the Bible telling us the story? Why does he want us to know it's so much about Absalom? Why is he showing us how his his mo? Why is he showing us that because they exist? You know, they're gonna come it's a pattern that these type of people have You know what and they have an effect it works. They bring people around to their side But you know, we're gonna end here. We believe know if we've read we know the rest of the story Yeah, it works for a little while. But ultimately Absalom's have an end. That's the good news as it comes back on their head You know, they never they never get all of it, right David We know retains the kingdom You know and people might creep into churches and sow discord and draw away disciples after them and all these other things But you know what? It's usually yeah, they don't get everybody You know, we're gonna shut the church down and it's like they get two families You know, that's not shutting the church down And a lot of times you're taking people that needed to go anyway You're doing us a favor, right? That's what that's the good news Okay, but a lot of times unfortunately even good people get to carried away with it, too So, I mean look how quickly Israel when they realize what was going on, you know We'll read about it in the coming weeks Was welcome David back once they saw Absalom for what he was which tells me that there were a lot of good people Who just got caught up with Absalom's, you know, his dissimulation who just said, you know Absalom's right and he seems like such a nice guy Right. That's who I'm preaching for and those you know people like that They need to understand that these people are real that they have an effect and ultimately they have an end which is not good Okay, let's go ahead pray