The Divided Kingdom Of The Heart In 2 Samuel:4

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We considered this process that God does in all of our lives to build us into the people that He would have us to be. That God is more interested in working in us than through us. And we'll see that some today to some degree. But here in 2 Samuel, we'll cover quite a bit, I hope. We're not so much looking at that as the life of the people. If you'll remember a couple weeks ago, we considered as Saul has exited the scene. David becomes king in Hebron, but he's only part king of the nation of Israel. Saul's son Ish bosheth, the Ish king, right? Ish king is on the throne there in Israel. And we've considered how this really parallels our life. That we all serve somebody, as Bob Dillon said. We're all going to serve somebody. It just depends on who that is. Is it the rightful king, Jesus, or is it our flesh? Is it the world? And we saw that a couple weeks ago on Palm Sunday, but we're still looking at it here in a few chapters of 2 Samuel. So 2 Samuel 2, verse 8. But Abner, the son of Nur, commander of Saul's army, took Ishboshet, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim. And he made him king over Gilead, over the Asherites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel. So here it is, a divided kingdom. That's what we're playing with here. A divided kingdom. And we saw that parallel in our own lives: a divided heart. Who we worship. Do we worship ourselves on the throne? Is it the flesh? But it's a divided kingdom. And as we look at that, we see the people, a little bit of a picture for us resisting David's rightful rule, right? And it's an ugly situation here as Ishboshev is ruling over Israel. Now skip to verse 12, and we'll see it get ugly. Verse 12. And Abner the son of Nur and the servants of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, went out from Mahonim to Gibeon. And Joab, the son of Zariah, and the servants of David went out to meet them by the pool of Gibeon. So they sat down, one on one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. Then Abner, the son of Joab, said, Let the young men now arise and compete before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. So they arose and went over by number twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishboshas, son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. And each one, picture this, each one grasped his opponent by the beard or by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side. So they fell down together. Therefore, the place was called the Field of Sharp Swords, which is in Gibeon. So there's this little bit of a competition. And even the way it sort of starts out, it's just kind of weird, right? Let the men compete before us. And they line up 12 on one side and 12 on the other. And then this weird kind of dance takes place, right? As they grab each other by the head, they throw their swords into the other person's side, and they both fall down together. Weird, right? But here we see it's a civil war, right? And every time I read this in my devotions, I read this portion, you just shake your head and you go, well, that was senseless, right? That was senseless, like so many battles in our life. Senseless. A civil war. We know of civil war in our country, and there's reasons to fight wars, right? But it does in so many ways feel senseless. Senseless hurt and harm in so many ways. Um, now notice just to kind of add a little color to this, um, notice what happens next. Um verse 18 now the three sons of Zariah were there, Joab and Abishai and Ashael, and Ashael was fleet afoot as a wild gazelle. So Ashhael pursued Abner, the enemy, right? And in going, he did not turn to the right, he did not turn to the left from following Abner. Then Abner took, looked behind him and said, Is that you, Ashael? And he answered, I am. And Abner said to him, Turn aside to your right hand or to your left that you lay hold of one of the young men and take his armor for yourself. But Ashael would not turn aside from following him. So Abner said again to Ashael, Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I face your brother Joab? However, he refused to turn aside, therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out his back, and he fell down and died on the spot. So whoa, we just made it one more step higher. What pointlessness, senselessness, right? And you look at this: so much sensel death, and you shake your head. Now, here's what's going on it's a civil war. It's fighting within and senseless. Now, this is all happening because there's a division in the country. Is David King? Is Is Boshef King? And there's political espionage stuff going on. But you look at it and you go, that's the turmoil I see in our lives as believers when we refuse to set Jesus as King solidly in our lives. It's a good picture of it. And it's easier to look at in the lives of others, I think. Senselessness. As we determine, you know what? I'm gonna do what I want to do. My life, the decisions that I make, I know what God says, but I am going to be the master of my own destiny. And you look at all the senseless hurt, as people say, who I marry, that's my decision, not God's, how I live day to day. That's my decision, not God's. My focus and what I'm really striving for, my decision. And we put our desires on the throne, and what comes from it, if we really understood, is as senseless as all of this here in 2 Samuel. Senseless hurt. Um, you know, I think of that that hymn, you know, that uh says, oh what uh what is that? When we do not, oh there it is. Oh the peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. And and and we look at it and we go, God didn't intend for life to be like this, but we've made it that way because of these decisions that we make. And here you see it: God's plan, our plan, God is king, and the senselessness of all that. Let's look at chapter three as we move on. Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David, but David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. And sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Ammon by Ahinuam, the Jezreelitis, his second, Hileab by Abigail, the widow of Nabal, uh, the Carmelite. The third, Absalom, the son of Makah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Gesher. The fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggath, the fifth, uh Shephethiah, we're running out of names, I guess, and the son of Abatai, and the sixth, that I'm not even going to try by another wife of David's. And it all happened there in Hebron. So here we read uh something one probably don't enjoy reading, this awkward, slightly, slightly embarrassing side note of David's wives and children. It's polygamy, right? And every so often you come to this subject in the Bible and you go, ew, is this really something God wants? No, it is not. Now, we're not told that here, and David did wrong in this, but this isn't the way God established it. To give you a little insight, spend some time with Abby and Ethan uh there doing they're looking at what now? Spend some time and we talked about marriage. And we started with a passage of what Jesus says in Matthew 19, verse 5. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and the two, notice the math, the two shall become one flesh. So, how did God establish it in the very beginning? Two become one flesh in marriage, a man and a woman married. Now, he spells it out there, but also in Deuteronomy 17, he spells it out for kings. This is what a king should do when you have a king. They shouldn't multiply gold, horses, or wives, not necessarily in that order. Um, and and he says this specifically because the wives will turn their heart away from the Lord. And and and and it's not the way God established it. So here we see David, a man after God's own heart. Man after God's own heart. Notice the word though, a man. David is a man, and he went the way of the world in so many different ways and paid the consequences of it. So just because it's here doesn't mean God ordained it or improved it. Although we find that God will use it at certain points, uh, even in the genealogy of Jesus. You want a really interesting read, read the genealogy in the book of Matthew, and you find there that God used some of the ugliest situations to bring about some of the best stuff, mainly Jesus. So here we have to throw that in, uh a slightly ugly point there in the life of Jesus. But verse six, we zero in on a man named Abner. Now it was while there was war between uh the house of David and the house of the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul. So Abner here, uh Abner comes up through the ranks, he's Saul's general, and now that Saul is gone, he's strengthening his hold on Saul's house. He's their notice, a political opportunist. I don't like that guy, really. Now, but see what he does here in verse 7. And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizbah, the daughter of Ahiah. So Ishbosheth said to Abner, Why have you gone into my father's concubine? And Abner became very angry at the words of Ishbosheth and said, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? Today I shall show loyalty to the house of Saul, your father, and to uh and to his brothers and to his friends, and have not delivered you into his hand, the hand of David. And I charge and you charge me today with this fault concerning this woman. May God do so to Abner, and more also, if I do not uh do for David as the Lord has sworn to him, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Beersheba. And he could not answer Abner another word because he feared him. So here we go. Abner stands up, he makes the move on uh really the power here. He takes Saul's concubine, which was an ancient political move to show power, and Ishbo Sheth calls him on it and says, Wait, hey, what what are you doing? And Abner responds, Am I a dog that you're gonna talk to me? Saying, I have no idea what that means, but I think it was insulting, right? Am I a dog's head? I don't know, maybe, but he gets so mad about it. He says, You're gonna confront me on this thing. I'm gonna flip my allegiance and I am gonna make David king, just like God said. And that's what Abner does. Notice verse 12. Verse 12. And Abner sent messengers, messengers on his behalf to David, saying, Whose is the land? saying also, make your covenant with me, and indeed my hand shall be with you to bring all Israel to you. So you see Abner here, the political opportunist, right? He's finding a way to uh power. Now, he never really chooses the side, does he? He's untrustworthy. It reminds me so much, and come back because we're talking about us here right now. Um, it reminds me so much about what Elijah told the people there on the mountain, on Mount Carmel. He's facing off with the prophets of Baal and Elijah comes to all the people and he says, This how long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, follow him, and the people answer him not a word. So check it out. Elijah calls the people on this idea. Why do you keep going back between two opinions? Why do you falter between two gods? Are you gonna worship Baal? Or are you gonna worship God? You're wishy-washy. And and notice that that's the way we can all be. We can all be fickle. I don't know about you, but I feel it sometimes. When I look back at my past, I can realize on Sunday morning, I could be worshiping, hands up, whatever. I can be saying, God, you know, my life is yours in my heart. And then before the sun sets, I can be just a nasty heart, a gossip, you know. I can be bitter and resentful. I can engage in all sorts of sins. And my life sometimes is like this, you know. And I look, man, I'm just I feel like a little bit of a turncoat, you know. And here's Adner. Now that's gonna come to bite him before this is over, but but the truth is there for us, as Jesus said, of money, Matthew chapter 6, verse 24. No one can serve two masters, or either he will hate one and love the other, or else he'll be loyal to one and despise the other. You can't serve two masters. It doesn't work well for us. It didn't work well for Abner here. Now, notice verse 22, zero in on that there, chapter 3, verse 22. At that moment, the servants of David and Joab came from a raid and brought much spoil with them. But Abner was uh not with David and Hebron, for he had sent him away, he had gone in peace. When Joab and all the troops that were with him had come, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Nur came to the king, and he sent him away, and he has gone in peace. And Joab came to the king and said, What have you done? Look, Abner came to you and you sent him away, and he is already gone. Surely you realize that Abner the son of Nur came to deceive you, to know you're going out and you're coming in to know all that you are doing. And Joab had gone to David's, gone from David's presence. He sent messengers after Abner, who brought him back from the well of Sarion. But David did not know it. Now, check this out. And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him privately and stabbed him in the stomach. This is a very brutal mourning, isn't it? So that he died for the blood of Ashel his brother. So it didn't work well for Abner taking the side of Ishbosheb, taking the side of David, flip-flopping all over the place. It didn't work well. Uh Abner is ambushed by Joeb, and we get it, but it's brutal. Now, verse 31 through 39, you can read there, David mourns him and has a pointed word for Joab. Now, it hasn't been a great, uh very peaceful day, but it's getting even worse here. Chapter 4. That's what we needed before we had hot dogs, hamburgers, and had a wedding shower. Chapter 4, verse uh one. Notice. When Saul's son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and Israel was troubled. So Ishboth Shet here, the king, hears that his general Abner is flip-flopped, and that he is now dead, and he loses heart and is troubled. Now, what follows is an even more bloody story, a horrible end. Let's read it in verse 5. Verse 5, the sons of Rimen, the Barite, Rachab and Bana set out and came at uh came at about the heat of day to the house of Ishboshef, who was lying on his bed at noon. And they came there all the way into the house as though to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach all again. Then Rachab and Bana, his brother, escaped. For when they came to the house, he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. Then they struck him and killed him, and well, they took his head. And they were all night escaping through the plain. And they brought the head of Ishboshad to David at Hebron. Now that's enough, right? That's absolutely more than we can handle, I think. Um this brutal death of Ishbusheth, you know, from from Ashael and Abner and Ishbosheth. It's just a brutal story here. And you look at this, David's gonna mourn what happened. He's gonna say that wasn't right, it wasn't good how you handle this. He's learned to trust God with his future. But for us, there's no other application we can get from this. Then the cure for having another king in our life is exactly what we see here, and we won't forget it, right? Um, another king in our life. What does it take to have the story straight? It takes something brutal. Let's turn to Colossians chapter three. I think we need to turn. Turn to Colossians chapter three, verse five. We're gonna take the time to see the Remedies for the flesh in our life. Colossians chapter three, verse five. Hear what Paul says. Says this. Therefore, put to death, I think King James says, mortify, mortify, right? Utterly annihilate your members which are on earth. Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Paul says, you want to deal with the flesh. Do exactly what happened to Ishbosheb. You gotta mortify the deeds of the flesh. Let's turn again to Matthew chapter 5. See what Jesus says. Doesn't get any better than that, does it? Matthew chapter 5. See what Jesus says on this remedy. Verse 29. Jesus is talking about lust. He says there, if you look at a woman to lust, you've already committed adultery in your heart. But then he says this if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, cast it from you. For it's more profitable for you that one of your members perish than your whole body be cast into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. For it's more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. So another graphic story here by Jesus. He says, How do you deal with lust? Pluck your eye out. I mean, we got sound effects for that and everything, right? You pluck your eye out, yeah. And uh and and you deal harshly with it, you mortify the deeds of the flesh. And and of course, Jesus wasn't saying we all need to pluck our eyes out, because the one thing you find is that you can still sin even without eyes. You can, you can still lust even without eyes, right? And and yet the principle is here: deal harshly with the things that cause you to stumble. If it's a relationship that just always leads you to gossip, maybe you just gotta get rid of it. You know, if it's that thing that causes you to lust, you might need to just cancel the subscription, right? Um, whatever it takes, check it out. Whatever it takes to have power over sin in your life, it's worth it. Whatever it is, it's worth it. To have the spirit ruling our life versus the flesh telling us what to do, Ishbosheth is a good picture for us. But one more thing, let's turn to Romans chapter eight. We'll finish there. Romans chapter eight. Similar idea here, Romans chapter eight, verse uh thirteen thirteen book of Romans. For if you live according to the flesh, if it rules your life, right, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. As many as are led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God. Bless you. You know, this is an important part of it all. You gotta be aggressive with sin and the flesh and the things that cause us to stumble, right? Immorty the deeds of the flesh. But notice what Paul says in Romans. He says, it has to be done by the spirit. But if you by the spirit put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And that's an important thing. It's not just about self-control in our will do this, you know, making those right decisions, you know, not going past that place anymore on your way home, right? It's it's the spirit. That's the only way we can win against the flesh and mortify the deeds of the flesh, is by the spirit, he says, put to death the deeds of the body and and live. Resisting the flesh comes by drawing near to God, to lean into God. It comes from that relationship of God, help me. God help me not to do those things and say those things and be that person. It comes with that promise from James 4, verse 7. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, he'll flee from you, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. And there's this wonderful promise of God, I just really want to be close to you. God, I want to do the things you want me to do. God, I need your help, not relying on the flesh, but relying on his spirit to give you what you need. And so it's it's one of those studies, again, where we look at it and we go, well, who's king in our life? Oh, we we could talk about that every week. And every week we could have something new that we're struggling with. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's the future, you know, finances, all those things that start with F. But whatever it is, we have new things all the time that we struggle with. But the key really is, God, you got to get me through this. You got to help me crucify those things. God, I want to be near you. Um, living in the spirit. So I encourage you guys this week, look at life through spiritual eyes. It's not just a flesh and blood thing, but God wants to give us victory with so many things in our life, and it happens as we draw near to Him. So, God, take these things and pray that you would make them real in our lives, even today. God, we're weak in our flesh. We're more than weak in our flesh. We're we're dead in trespasses. God, we need your spirit to make us alive. I just pray for my friends that we'd find the grace to draw near to you this week. Time in your word, time of prayer, but just personal time with you. That we would cast all those cares on you because God, you do care for us. God, I pray that this will be more than just something in our head. It would be in our heart that we would know you more. I pray for my friends. I ask that you would just um just strengthen and encourage. I pray that you would protect them in all of their ways. God, uh, their lives would just bless your heart in so many different ways. God, uh be with us in these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.