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Second Samuel chapter 18 beginning in verse number one the Bible reads and David numbered the people that were with them and set captains of Thousands and captains of hundreds over them and David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah Joab's brother and a third part under the hand of Atai the Gittite and the king said unto the people I will surely go forth with you myself also But the people answered thou shalt not go forth for if we flee away they will not care for us Neither of half of us die will they care for us, but now thou art worth ten thousand of us therefore now It is better that thou sucker us sucker us means help us out of the city And the king said unto them What seemeth you best I will do and the king stood by the gateside and all the people came out by the hundreds and by Thousands and the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Atai saying deal gently for my sake with the young man Even with Absalom and all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge Concerning Absalom so here we have the battle finally ensuing of course David and his men have fled from Jerusalem and Absalom had taken over the city He'd gone into the concubines in the sight of all Israel and if you remember the good advice of Ahithophel Was that if Absalom wanted to stay in power? He should have just pursued David immediately while they were weary before they could get organized and just wipe out him and his men and You know it'd be over, but if you remember David had a spy in there who's shy they gave bad advice of hey, let's wait Let's get all the men together from Dan to Beer Sheba and let's all go out after him and that gave David time to regroup And what we see here in this story is that David is Dividing up his forces into three different groups with a different man as a captain of each of the three groups He's getting organized. He's got a good battle plan, and they're gonna finally go to war, but he tells the captains He says deal gently with the young man Absalom for my sake now remember Absalom is the enemy He's the one who has you know rebelled and caused all of this But yet David still loves him as a son It's still his son and his heart still yearns for him So he says just deal gently with him for my sake you know want to win the battle But if you can let's preserve his life alive Now it says in verse number six so the people went out into the field against Israel And the battle was in the wood of Ephraim and the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David And there was there a great slaughter that day of 20,000 men so just because of the wickedness of Absalom and this rebellion 20,000 people die and you know David can say oh deal gently with Absalom for my sake But Absalom has occasioned the deaths of 20,000 people I mean it's it's it's really a terrible Thing here and war is always a terrible thing It's something that should be avoided whenever we can you know the Bible teaches Us that we should not you know go after warfare There are people today that think that warfare is something virtuous or good now go to James chapter 4 if you would a Lot of Christians today are pro war and and they they get all stirred up about going to war at the drop of a hat When really there are a lot of evil forces at work that want to take us to war all the time wrongfully Now look what the Bible says about where war comes from in James chapter 4 in the New Testament It says from whence come wars and fighting's among you Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain Ye fight and war yet ye have not because ye ask not ye ask and receive not Because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust so according to the Bible the source of warfare is The lusts of man and what is lust lust is covetousness It's desiring something that does not belong to you, and if you look at the wars that are fought today They have to do with people desiring money or desiring land or desiring resources if you want to figure out What's behind it you know follow the money because that's what the Bible says here that it comes from lust and the Bible says the love of Money is the root of all evil and of course warfare is a great evil The love of money is at the root of it. There are a lot of people who profit from and make a lot of money on Warfare and they sell that the tanks they sell the weapons they sell the ammunition They loan money to the different sides because when when countries go to war they always go into debt They always borrow money to do it and there are plenty of bankers That are ready to loan out a bunch of money So that people can keep warring and then they make a whole bunch of money and interest so they have an agenda to foment Warfare between different groups of people and this is where the term military industrial complex comes from people who make money off of Warfare and they want to keep the United States and other countries in a condition of perpetual warfare for financial gain and Lives are slaughtered in the process You know 20,000 here 20,000 there people die in order for other people to become rich and in this case We have Absalom who just wants to have power He has a lust for the wealth and power of being king Getting all the wives and the money and the fame and the glory and because of his lust 20,000 people have died in this battle as a result of his sin and his wickedness now it says in verse number 7 it says where where the people of Israel were slain Before the servants of David and there was there a great slaughter that day of 20,000 men for the battle was there Scattered over the face of all the country and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured and Absalom met the servants of David and Absalom rode upon a mule and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak and his head caught hold of the oak and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth and the mule that was under and Went away now remember the Bible had already told us how Absalom had very long hair And of course the Bible says it is a shame for a man to have long hair But that a woman's hair is a glory unto her and so, you know, of course in the New Testament the Bible clearly teaches In 1st Corinthians 11 that is a sin for a man to have long hair and that's why it's ridiculous when people have pictures of Jesus with long hair. There's no such teaching in the Bible Women are supposed to have long hair men are supposed to have shorter But if you remember Absalom would let his hair grow very long He would cut it once a year, but the rest time he would let his hair grow very long Well now he's riding on the mule and he's in this very thick forest and his long pretty hair gets caught in the tree and Yanks him right out of the mule and he's literally hanging from the tree By his hair now the verse that comes to mind here is where Jesus said whosoever humblest himself shall be exalted But he that exalteth himself Shall be abased Can you imagine anything more stupid and humiliating? Then you're gonna take over and you're gonna be king and you're gonna rebel against you and you're hanging by your hair from a tree So he looks like a fool doesn't he by the way if you're a man and you grow your hair long You're gonna look like a fool just just by that alone But secondly if you exalt yourself if you lift up yourself God says you'll be abased he'll humble the proud of heart the proud of spirit And so when you start to feel yourself getting all arrogant and cocky and proud Just remember that God can take you down a notch and God can publicly Humiliate you just in order to keep you humble and he often does that and so remember the words of Jesus that whosoever exalted Themself shall be abased. That's why the Bible says let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth Strangers and not thine own lips and so here we see Absalom humiliated. He's in a very dangerous position. Obviously. He's just a sitting duck Just hanging by his hair in a tree between heaven and earth the Bible says now it says in verse 10 and a certain man saw it and told Joab and said behold I saw Absalom hanged in an oak and Joab said unto the man that told him and behold thou sauc'd him Why didst thou not smite him there to the ground and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver And a girdle and the man said unto Joab though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand yet Would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son for at our hearing the king charged thee in Abishai and Atai saying Beware that none touched the young man Absalom Otherwise I should have brought falsehood against mine own life for there is no matter hid from the king and thou thyself Wouldest have set thyself against me then said Joab I may not tarry thus with thee now Here's what's going on. Basically the guy comes and tells Joab. Hey, I saw Absalom hanging from an oak and he said Why didn't you just kill him? he says well you heard where David said to deal gently with Absalom for my sake and and Basically Joab is promising that he would have given him a big reward. You know, I would have given you money I would have given you this girdle But he he's a liar because the fact that you know, the guy says to him at the end of verse 13 thou thyself Wouldest have set thyself against me. He say no, here's what would have happened if I were to kill them then when David gets mad and says who killed Absalom you would have been like he did and Just based on Joab's life that's what he would have done, you know when you look at the rest of the story and the rest of how Joab is and It's funny because when the guy points this out to him and says no I I wouldn't take a thousand bucks from you Because of the fact that you yourself would have accused me because you know that I'd be in trouble with David and David would But you know would have probably put him to death or Joab would have killed him and then instead of you know Refuting what he says he just says I may not tarry thusly like I don't have time to talk to you about this You know, I don't I just sit here going back and forth with you, but it's true. He's a liar now It's interesting because in this passage Joab actually pictures the devil, you know I'm just gonna kind of get into the symbolism here of what's going on this chapter because look at the next verse it says in verse 14 then Joab then said Joab I may not tarry thus with thee and he took three darts in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak and Ten young men that bear Joab's armor compassed about and smote Absalom and slew him So what's interesting about this passage if you if you kind of look at the symbolism the deeper meaning, you know Besides just the surface meaning and when we read the Bible we should always Primarily focus on the the main interpretation, but there are also other underlying symbolic things just because the Bible is so deep But some similarities with the devil first of all, the devil's a liar, you know The Bible says he's a liar and the father of it He's the father of lies and here we see Joab lying. Of course lying to this guy Oh, I would have rewarded you and then I know you wouldn't have you would have accused me and gotten me arrested and killed But he's a liar, but not only that but if you remember in the book of Revelation the Bible talks about how Satan Took basically one-third of the angels with him. Do you remember that? Basically, it said that he took the third part of the stars of heaven and they were cast down with them So, you know if you understand that he's talking about the fact that one-third of the angels rebelled with Satan and became you know, the demons or the devil's the fallen angels Well, it's interesting here because you know, David's bands are divided into three parts and Joab has one-third part Following him. Okay. So again, that's another Symbolism of him representing the devil not only that but if you think of Absalom as being the unsaved person of this world Okay, the unsaved man who is hanging in the balance as it were between heaven and hell, you know pictured by him Hanging there by hanging in the balance between heaven and hell, you know God wants to show compassion on the loss the Bible says but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. So even though Absalom is rebelling and sinful and wicked, you know God basically wants to extend mercy unto him, you know, but then of course the devil wants to see him Destroyed and of course when you see the darts that makes you think of the devil also because that word darts is used in conjunction with the devil in Ephesians 6 when it talks about having the shield of faith wherewith we shall be able to Quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Okay referring to the devil So these three darts I think are symbolic of you know the devil basically Attacking him because the fiery darts of the wicked have to do with the fact that The devil wants to bring doubt in God's Word and cause people not to believe the Bible The Bible says of course that if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost Whom the god of this world talking about the devil had blinded the minds of them that believe not So the devil has blinded the minds of them that believe not the Bible says when anyone hearth the word of the kingdom and understand If it not then cometh the wicked one and catch it the way that which was sown in his heart This is he that received seed by the wayside So we know that the devil does have an agenda of trying to stop people from getting saved That's what he's doing. He blinds the minds of those that believe not He wants to catch away the Word of God and take it out of their heart when they hear it He wants to distract them Also, the Bible says that the devil will use religion because of the fact that it says that the devil himself is transformed into an angel of light and that his ministers are Transformed into ministers of light so there are all kinds of false ministers that are the ministers of the devil That basically, you know preach a false gospel in order to cause people to go to hell I mean, that's the devil's goal That's his plan to take as many people to hell With them as we can and whether or not we can understand why he would desire to do that That is what he does. And so that's what the Bible teaches So that's just some of the kind of underlying symbolism in this passage when he says, you know deal gently With the young man Absalom for my sake the Bible teaches that we should deal gently with those that are lost the Bible says in meekness Instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth The Bible says let your speech be all way with grace seasoned with salt that you'll be able to give an answer to every man and you know when we go out soul-winning our goal is To get people saved and so we don't you don't want to just go up to somebody who's unsaved just guns-a-blazing It's better if you can be gentle and try to lead them through the gospel and show them the Word of God and try to Get them saved gently because forgot for Christ's sake, you know, he said deal gently with the young man Absalom for my sake Even if they are bad people It's like Jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do A lot of people are just in ignorance And so we want to gently bring them the gospel and try to win them with Christ now There are some people that the Bible does teach should be rebuked sharply, you know, for example in Titus chapter 1 He talks about the false teachers of the circumcision who were teaching a lot of Jewish fables and preaching lies and they were leading astray groups of people with false doctrine and Heresy and he said rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in faith not giving heed to Jewish fables and of commandments of men That turn from the truth So the Bible says that there are you know times to rebuke like a false prophet that would come to you But here's the thing your average unsaved person is not a false prophet You know your average unsaved person is just deceived They're just you know led astray in a false religion and the Bible says it meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil Who are taken captive by him at his will so the Bible is saying that a lot of these people are just victims of the devil's Deception and we want to gently try to help them and lead them out of that deception try to get their eyes open to the truth because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and we need to Shine the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ that they might be saved. That's the goal and And you know, we need to keep sight of that when we're outsold and that the goal is to get people saved That's why the Bible says of some have compassion Making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. That's why I'm against this kind of obnoxious You know bullhorning Type of of a soul winning if you could even call it soul winning. It's it's more like soul losing You know They go out soul losing where they go out and just scream at people about everything under the Sun Except for the fact that salvation is by faith alone, right? you know we were out it's funny Miriam and I were walking through downtown Phoenix a couple weeks ago and There was this guy that was just angrily screaming on the corner waving a Bible around screaming and we walked right by him and I could not understand a word that this guy he was even saying He's just yelling and screaming real angry and preaching but I couldn't even figure out what the guy's saying. Okay Miriam did you figure out what the guy said? Is Miriam here? Where is she? Oh She's back there. She was she's like I understood a little part of it. She had some part of it I I wasn't sure if she was gonna be able to tell me the little part she remembered but this guy's just yelling straight He's I guarantee that guy's not getting anybody saved My I mean I was embarrassed by the guy and I'm a I'm a bible-believing Christian I mean, whoa What's people who are not Christians think of this this loony tunes guy on the street corner? Angrily screaming stuff that nobody even knows what he's talking about. It doesn't make any sense. And you know what it's not biblical And people can sit there and say oh every preacher in the Bible is a street preacher Look, there's a difference between being outside and preaching to people and being a street preacher Okay, because the difference in the Bible is that they're preaching to people who are listening They're actually talking to specific people. They're actually listening to them Okay in the sense of you know You walk up to somebody and start talking to them or you have a group of people Assembled and you're talking to that group of people this random yelling at cars that drive by And and screaming at people in downtown Phoenix just making everyone uncomfortable. What's your goal? You just have to what is the goal? If the goal is to get people saved That is not the way to do it because even if you talk to these people They'll tell you that they hardly ever get anybody saved They'll brag about how they did it every week for a year and they had one saved or something It's like what in the world? Yeah, the whole world's going to hell buddy There's somebody dying every three seconds or something and you're telling me that you got one person saved in the whole year That's just not gonna cut it That's not the book. I don't see that in the book Show me the book of Acts where they got one person saved in a year Well, but and you know look Well, but it's just all about that one soul It's worth it for that You know what? It is worth it for that one soul, but it's a lot more worth it for a hundred souls or ten souls and you know People go overboard with this value of one soul thing Because guess what? If one soul has value then two souls have double the value buddy, and you know what while you're letting the whole world go to hell because you're just gonna use a stupid ineffective method that doesn't work and Get one person saved every five years if you're lucky that the whole world perishing That's not what God ordained in the book of Acts. They're actually getting the job done They're actually succeeding you notice that they actually say hey we went to Asia Minor and we got the gospel to every person Hey, we went here. We started a church. We went over here. We started another church We're over here and preach the gospel to all these people and they're getting people saved and the Lord's adding to the church dailies That should be saved and people are being baptized and they're succeeding. That's what the Bible teaches you know men like Jeremiah they travel throughout the whole world and Preached unto all nations God told Jeremiah you're gonna be a prophet to the nations and he showed up in this country and went to their leaders and preached Them he went to another country and preached them. He went to every nation under heaven and preached unto them he got something done he achieved something and this defeatist mentality of just Failing and failing and failing is not biblical if you're failing over and over again Then you're doing something wrong because God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Not to say you're not gonna have setbacks or that things aren't gonna go wrong or you're not gonna go through rough patches But if you're just going years and years and years failing failing failing and people aren't getting saved something's wrong time to change your course there and do something else because if you preach the gospel the Bible says he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed Doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with them and I'm not saying it's necessarily gonna happen overnight but I'm also not one that believes that you know, you just go years and years and Nobody gets saved. Yeah, if you're not preaching the gospel if you're not soul-winning Then you'll go years and years without have anybody say and so you have to remember that the goal of preaching the gospel is to get people saved Not to just show how tough you are how bold you are to just go out on a street corner It's me. You know what I could go out on a street corner and scream with the best of them I I know how to scream But you know what that just doesn't do anything for me I just that's just I can just think of better ways to have fun than that and if I want to do Something for the Lord then I want to do something serious for the Lord like actually going out and actually giving people the gospel and Getting them saved What actually works which is one-on-one and if you find me preaching to a group of people? It's gonna be people that are actually listening to me and if they're not listening then I'm gonna shake the dust off my feet I'm gonna go somewhere else and I'm gonna find somebody who wants to listen to the Word of God And I'm not gonna cast my pearls before swine or just waste my time with people, you know Give not that which is holy unto the dogs Neither cast ye your pearls before swine. Oh, it's like that verse just isn't in the Bible or something to people Hey, let's go down and preach at the gay pride parade What does the Bible call sodomites dogs? Give not that which is holy unto the dogs or cast your pearls before swine Lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you I don't want to get rendered by them Keep me away from those people. So it's just you know, we need to just reevaluate What what is our goal? What do we want to do with soul winning? You know, we're trying to seek and to save that which is lost That's the goal not to just go out and scream at people and and that's why the Bible teaches that gentleness You know, we should try to talk to people that are unsaved with gentleness because we ourselves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived So, you know you got to remember that and and you know Not just get angry at someone for lacking understanding when we all have lacked understanding in the past We want to just gently try to bring that person along and of course, there's another story when somebody's a false prophet But you know what? Most of your unsaved people are not false prophets Are they and so we need to deal with them gently and and want to you know Give them the gospel and get them to be saved So here Joab, you know just slays Absolutely. He's not really the one that finally kills He puts the three darts and in his heart and then these ten young men they all fall on him and slam Now maybe all ten of them fall upon him just that way the blames not on one person Where it could be pointed to David as hey this guy did it by getting a lot of people involved in the sin By getting ten people involved then it's kind of like we're all gonna come nobody's gonna tattle because we're all involved We all have blood in our hands. So they all get involved in the in the killing of Absalom so it says in verse 16 and Joab blew the trumpet and the people returned from pursuing after Israel for Joab held back the people and They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the wood and laid a very great heap of stones upon him and all Israel fled everyone to his tent now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar Now doesn't this sound like a guy who exalts himself? Hey, I think I'm gonna build myself a giant monument in my own honor I'm gonna rear up a great pillar unto myself and it says that he reared up a pillar Which is in the Kingsdale for he said I have no son To keep my name in remembrance and he called the pillar after his own name and it is called unto this day Absalom's place. Oh, isn't that so cool to have a place named after you? Absalom's place now actually that's ridiculous. Actually, you're a loser You know and and this is this is what all that the world can do They can't leave behind a spiritual heritage or legacy all they can do is just rear up a pillar in honor of themselves You know reminds me of these people that are really wealthy and so they they give all kinds of money To get their name on some plaque somewhere or some metal tree somewhere with their name engraved on it That they donated to some you know winery or some art gallery or some whatever the place You know what I'd rather have children To carry my name on and a legacy that's gonna be gone That's gonna be here after I'm gone then to just rear up some pillar and here's the thing whether or not you have Physical children we can all have spiritual children because the Bible teaches that every time you win somebody to Christ You have begotten them in the faith So forget, you know, just oh, well, I you know, I don't have children or what No, wait, if you win somebody to Christ That is your spiritual son or daughter right there and so what the Bible is is showing us here is a man who basically Exalts and praises himself and the only thing he has left after he dies to leave behind as a legacy is a big pile of rocks and a big pillar that's called Absalom's place, you know and and just stop and think about it when you pass by these metal trees with all the names Do you really stop and read those names and even care about any of those people's names or who they are I mean think about I mean you go to someplace so there's all these names engraved in stone of this person donated $50,000 this person donated $100,000. I mean when you see that do you really just see that and say wow You know, mr. John Smith You are amazing. I wish you could say, you know, you don't even care. It's just a bunch of meaningless name vanity of vanities say at the preacher Vanity of varies all is vanity Okay, the only look only one life so soon has passed and only what's done for Christ will last The legacy that we leave behind Are the people that we win to Christ? It's the physical children that we have and bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord That's our legacy not our name engraved in stone somewhere and even if they engrave it in stone It's gonna be permanent. It's all gonna be burned up one day Anyway, even that which is permanent even the everlasting mountains and the perpetual hills will be laid low You know at the second coming of Christ's all gonna be destroyed Anyway, you know that which is eternal the Bible says are the things which are not seen But that which is seen is temporal. So just stop and ask yourself What are you living your life for that which is temporal or are you laying up treasures in heaven? Where moth and rust do not corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for your treasure is there were your heart be Also, I'd rather have treasure in heaven That's gonna last for eternity than an earthly monument of a giant pyramid or a giant obelisk or a giant pillar Or all these different monuments that man makes for himself thinking that somehow that's going to immortalize him You know the great pyramids but the people that are that made those pyramids these kings for which they were made Are dead and they're in hell and it doesn't really matter that they have that big pyramid Most people probably could not even name who can name the men For the great pyramids. Come on kufu, right? Caffrey Anyone? Hello anybody out there? Yeah. Well, you're proving my point right now. Nobody even knows nobody cares How many pyramids are there? How many of the great pyramids are there? There's three of them, right? But but how many people could really name those three people nobody cares and even if we name their names does that do them any good When they're in hell No And so this is just a really sad picture of a guy who who has a pillar and a pile of rocks to show After he's done with his life and the Bible says in verse number 19 then said ahime as the son of Zadok Let me now run and bear the king tidings How that the Lord had avenged him of his enemies and Joab said unto him thou shalt not bear tidings this day But thou shalt bear tidings another day, but this day thou shalt bear no tidings because the king's son is dead Then said Joab to Cushai go tell the king what thou has seen and Cushai bowed himself unto Joab and Ran then said ahime as the son of Zadok yet again to Joab but howsoever let me I pray thee also run with Cushai and Joab said wherefore wilt thou run my son seeing that there has no tidings ready But howsoever said he let me run and he said unto him run then ahime as ran by the way of the plane and overran Cushai so here's what's going on these two messengers these two runners ahime as and Cushai Ahime as says to Joab hey, I want to bear the tidings and I want to tell David the good news that we've won the battle and Joab says no, you don't want to go run and tell him because the king's son is dead And that's not what he wants to hear he doesn't want to hear this negative message that Absalom has died So he says why don't you bring tidings another? Day why because Joab likes ahime as and Joab doesn't want him to bring a negative message because he doesn't want him To displease the king he wants him to be in the king's you know pleasure So he doesn't want him to tell him a negative message So then he tells this other guy Cushai you go run you go tell him the news tell him everything you've seen today so then ahime as says well, I want to go run with him anyway, and Joab says why do you want to run since you don't have any tidings right you don't have anything to say Because I just finished telling you that you don't want to tell the king this negative message So you don't have anything to say well. Let me just do it anyway. Let me just run with him anyway Okay, fine. Go ahead. Go run with him with no message. Okay, and then he outruns Cushai he gets there first okay now Let's finish this up, and I'll kind of explain to you some of the symbolism here of what this is showing us so it says and David sat between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate under the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man running alone and The Watchman cried and told the king and the king said if he be alone There's tidings in his mouth And he came a pace and drew near and the Watchman saw another man running and the Watchman called into the porter and said be Another man runneth alone, and the king said he also bringeth tidings now these men would run with tidings or messages Now why would they run? Why would they not ride on horseback? Because a lot of people would think if you want to send a message from point A to point B You put them on a horse well This is before they had a telephone or it I mean the only way they're gonna get the message is through human means and so the reason that they ran Was that number one if you were on rough terrain a human being can cover rougher terrain Than what a horse can cover and remember the area was a very wooded area and you have all these trees I mean you can't look what Absalom did when he's trying to get through on a mule He gets caught in the trees and everything so it's gonna be a lot Faster on foot because you can be more nimble and agile a human being is smaller than a horse But not only that a human being can actually outrun a horse on very long distances now on short distances A horse is gonna win of course a horse is much faster than a human being but over long Distances a human being has more endurance Than a horse if that human being is in good shape as obviously these men are because that's what they do they're runners That's their whole job. That's their whole task is to be able to run messages to different places So this is actually the most efficient way to bring the message is just by running on foot That's what these guys are doing now. It says here in verse number 28 Or look at verse 27 and the watchman said me think at the running of the foremost is like the running of a high mass the son of Zadok and The key he just recognizes his running style apparently He says and the king said he's a good man and cometh with good tidings and A high mass called and said of the king all is well And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king and said blessed be the Lord thy God Which had delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king and the king said is the young man Absalom safe and a high man has answered when Joab sent the king's servant and me thy servant I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was now. He's a liar That's not true. He knows that the king's son is dead, so he brings the good news We won the battle everything's great They've been defeated, but then he says well what happened to Absalom. Oh, you know there was a big commotion I don't really know what happened to him so he withholds the negative part of the message and only brings the positive part of the message and The king said in him turn aside and stand here And he turned aside and stood still and behold Cushai came and Cushai said Tidings my lord the king for the Lord has avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee and the king said unto Cushai is the young man Absalom safe and Cushai answered the enemies of my lord the king and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt be as that young man is meaning he's dead and The king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept and as he went thus He said oh my son Absalom my son my son Absalom what God I had died for thee Oh Absalom my son my son Now what is this picturing? What's God trying to show us here with this story well in the Bible? Preachers often are represented by runners now the reason why preachers are Represented as runners in the Bible is because they are bringing a message and they're bringing tidings the Bible says How beautiful are the feet of them the Brit that preached the gospel of peace and bring glad? Tidings of good things so those who preach the gospel are symbolized by people who bring glad tidings of good things running how beautiful of the feet of them that preach the house was talking about somebody running on foot and Bringing the good news so when God talks about his prophets throughout the Bible He'll often refer to them as runners, and he'll even say of some prophets He says I did not send them yet. They ran. He says I Didn't send them, but they ran anyway, okay? So there are false prophets prophets that God did not send that are running But not because they've been told to run not because God has sent them to run and not because they're bringing the truthful message But rather they are running for the same reason that a high man is running here for their own glory Why is the high man running here is it because he's delivering important information that needs to get to David no? Because Q shy is already bringing the message Q shy is already bringing all the tidings that David needs no a high man is running For one reason for his own personal glory and for his own Aggrandizement so that he can get there And he's the fastest runner and he's gonna get there and he gets to tell the positive news and be the good guy Oh, he's a good man. It says at the end of verse 27 He's a good man and cometh with good tidings well listen You could be a good man and come with bad tidings if it's the truth I mean does it make you a bad person because you bring bad news if it's true oh But he's so good because he brings good news good tidings all the time now Here's the thing the Gospels good news, but you know what there's also some bad news You know there's the bad news that you're a sinner. There's the bad news that you're going to hell There's the bad news that you know God's angry with the wicked every day And then there's the good news of salvation through Jesus the gift of God's eternal life But you see one of the marks of a false prophet a preacher that God did not send yet They ran is that they only want to deliver the positive side of the message And they want to withhold the negative side of the best isn't that exactly what this guy's doing so a high man is picturing the positive only preacher the Joel Osteen of this world you know the one who comes and tells you a lot of positive things and The look are the positive things that a high may as told are they true Yeah So the problem with most preachers is not what they say it's what they don't say that's the problem See a lot of preachers will get up and say a lot of great things about loving your neighbor and Jesus loves you And you know there are a lot of true great things and and they might even be a great Motivational speaker or a life coach that you might even listen to things that they say and get improvement in your personal life by following their plan for you know being healthy and exercising or eating a better diet Or you know working hard at your job or being nice to your spouse or being nice to your parents or what you know I? Mean obviously a lot of positive things flow out of the mouths of a lot of these TV type preachers But the problem is what they won't say because God sent them to preach the whole council and God's message is hey if you're not going to bring the whole message, then just don't even run don't even go If you don't have all the tidings if you don't want to bring the message. Yeah, you know I don't want to bring bad news then don't run But if you're going to run you need to bring the right message And that message involves a positive side and a negative side now the faithful messenger Kyushai Does he show up with just a hundred percent negative all doom and gloom? No, he does have good tidings He does have a positive message to bring but he faithfully brings both good and bad news But he just tells the truth Okay, and he even tries to soften the blow of the bad news You know he tries to put it in a nice light But he faithfully delivers the bad news and you know what if you're going to be a real preacher of God's word You have to deliver the bad news and the good news and when you hear a preacher Where everything's always positive all the time, and it's just sweetness and light unicorns rainbows and four-leaf clovers that tells you that that guy was not sent by the Lord and And and the Bible even talks about that where where preachers are rebuked like in the book of Jeremiah He rebuked he rebukes a false teacher, and he says well every every prophet that's ever come before always preached negative You know and he said the prophet of peace you know we'll believe it when we see it because all the previous prophets have all preached doom and destruction why because it's the truth and He was pointing out Jeremiah was pointing out that a sign of a false prophet is when they say peace peace when there is no peace and They want to bring a positive only message and just ignore the negative information kind of sweeping another rug and what's the motive I? Mean I I've often wondered Why be a pastor if you're not going to preach the word of God faithfully if you're not excited about getting people say if you Don't care about having integrity if you're not going to preach the whole word of God then what's the point? But you know what the answer is in this passage The point is for your own personal glory You're going to preach what people want why because if you preach what people want to hear people are going to lift you up and Glorify you I mean Joel Osteen is a pretty popular guy He's glorified. I mean I I don't I can't even count how many doors I've knocked where people say well. I don't go to church, but I do listen to Joel Osteen. I love that guy Such a great message so positive, and you know what Joel Osteen is welcome on all kinds of TV shows You know he's welcome with world leaders and and people like they're very comfortable with him It's a very popular guy, and you know what I'm sure he probably enjoys being a multi-millionaire And he probably enjoys having hundreds of thousands of probably millions. I bet you he has millions of people who look up to him as being a Great man of God I'm sure that feels good for his ego to be lifted up and to be loved of all men and praised and and to be You know hobnobbing with the important people of this world and and you know With with members of Congress or with you know stars And movie stars and politicians. I mean I guarantee you that the mayor Where is he Houston is that where he is? I'm sure that the mayor of Houston Will pretty much give him whatever he wants as far as you know if he needs a building permit or whatever you know I'm sure the mayor of Houston Will come and have lunch with him whenever he wants I'm sure that the the governor of Texas is probably on a first name because he's such a powerful person because he has a huge Church I Think probably the biggest church in America Okay, and he has all of his TV and radio ministry and everything look it's for the glory of it But see the true preacher of God's Word because he's not in it for the glory Will preach negative if it's true You know he'll preach negative and positive both and he's gonna be hated and execrated of the world Jesus said if they hated me they'll hate you Marvel now my brethren if the world hate you he said if the world hate you know that it hated me before it hated you He warned all the disciples that they were gonna be persecuted And the Bible says yeah, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution So that's the test right there of your motives You know if your motives are for the truth Then you're not gonna hold back and just try to be popular and grow and be buddies with everybody You know that's a sign of a false teacher, and that's what we see here, so here's the thing One guy is a great runner He's fast. He gets there on time. He delivered, but but it's not the right message the other guy is a little slower But at least he shows up and gives the right message. You know and so that's kind of a picture of zeal and knowledge You know the Bible says of the Israelites that they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge Ideally we want to mix zeal and knowledge we want to run fast and want to bring the right message But you know what if I had to choose between the two I'd rather slow down and get the message right Then to just oh man. We're going we're doing so much for going so fast for me, and you got the wrong message You know slow down and get the message right Slow down and read your Bible guys and actually figure out what it says and get the message right You know teach the right doctrine then to just oh man. We're so excited We got to reach you know and oh you know this false Pre-tribulation rapture doctrine where it's like Jesus could come back tomorrow, so we just got to go out and get everybody saved. You know no Whoa there tiger We're gonna be here for a few more years Slow down get the message right, and I'm not I don't want to slow you down too much I just want to slow you down just enough so you get the right message And not just come running in so fast Okay, what are the tidings? There was a great tumult I don't really know what happened Well that's just not gonna cut it you know you need to know The right you need to know the message in order to be an effective messenger for God So there are a lot of you know deeper symbolic things kind of going on under the surface in this story Different parallel and here's here's what's like sometimes when you talk about these type of symbolic things people will say hey You got that wrong actually this person represents this and this but here's that usually it's all of the above because the Bible's so deep There there's a lot of symbolic Meaning just layer upon layer You know I mean earlier earlier in the passage Joab represented the devil You know slang Absalom, but at this at this point. He's sending the messengers You know we could liken that unto God sending his messengers and God's telling a guy hey Don't go if you don't have the message you know, but but then you could look at it another way Where he's the one who's saying hey, ho ho hold back the negative So there's a lot of different symbolism and layer upon that that's what's so great about the Bible the Bible has so many lessons in it you could read it a hundred times and you'll learn new things every time and At different stages in your life different things that you need to hear at that stage You know God will open those things up to you But the truths are timeless and the story here has so much great teaching but the surface meaning of the story is just that basically Absalom is defeated in battle and David wins a great victory he gets his throne back But it's a bittersweet victory because he's sad about the fact that his son was killed he would have rather seen his son basically repent and get right and and and you know basically submit himself unto David as king, but Unfortunately that didn't happen. You know unfortunately. It was just too late for him Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word Lord Please just help us to learn the lessons from from this chapter Lord help us to be Runners Lord help us not to just walk through life so many people today so many Christians are apathetic and lazy Lord I pray that our church would be a church that runs not a church that just goes at a snail's pace But Lord help us to get the message right help us not to trim the message to be positive only But help us to run as fast as we can Lord and get the right message out to the mat Not to one person or two people, but to the masses Lord and in Jesus name we pray Amen