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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.

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We're going to pick up where we stopped last week. We're going to be in 2nd Samuel, starting with the 15th chapter in verse 6. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. We read last week that David showed his son Absalom mercy and allowed him back into his presence. But the problem was by this point, Absalom had become so bitter, all he could see was his dad's fault. And all he could do was continue to nurse his offense. It is not being stabbed in the back that hurts the most. It's when you turn around and see who's holding the knife. That's what gets you. Verse 10. Then Absalom, David's own son, sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, absalom reigns in Hebron. Now, Hebron, or Hebron, however you want to say, it was the capital seat of Judah at that time. And by this time in Absalom's life, he kind of became an expert at leveraging people's disappointments and people's pain. He was kind of like a snake in waiting. And he knew it was his time to strike, to take the throne from his father. You know, all of us experience disappointments in life, whether it's in relationships, in school, in our health, in church, even a career. But again, by this time, Absalom had kind of become a ninja at using people's pain points against them for his purposes. And with Absalom went 200 men invited from Jerusalem, and they went along, watch this innocently, and did not know anything. Like sheep to the slaughter. It's so easy to get caught up in people's personality and not really discern the heart of the folks we're following. I have found preachers could say nothing and the whole room shout because they hit a note and had a certain tone of voice. And this was happening here. He was hitting some notes. There's a certain tone in timbre about young Absalom. And we already covered this in the last couple weeks. Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel, the Gilonite, David's counselor. A little background here. It's important when you study the scriptures, you'll find that Ahithophel was actually Bathsheba's grandfather. So what we see here is Absalom studied all The Angles. And Ahithophel had become David's chief strategist, his chief counselor. The Bible says in another place that when he spoke, it was like the very word of God. But Absalom was paying attention, and he knew that the king hurt him when the king seduced his grandbaby. So what Absalom did is he stepped in to exploit the pain. Now, there's something you need to understand about Satan. He is a bully. The places we are wounded the most is where he also aims the most. It's a little bit like boxing, you know, once you get that scar, you know, right there in your brow, the guy keeps hitting it and hitting it because he knows that blood's going to blind your eye and it's a weak point. And eventually he's probably going to be able to take your head off also. When you're boxing, you know that one of the goals, the reason you hit people in the body, not so much you think you're going to knock them out as much as to cause a person's hands to come down. And when their hands come down, you have a clear shot at the head. So what's happening here is Ahithophel's been worked by the adversary, and now Absalom comes in for the knockout, it says. And the conspiracy grew strong for the people with Absalom continually increased in number. Now, Absalom was very, very calculated. And what we see here is he's about to trick 200 men into giving him the appearance that he had a much larger following than he really had. But this show of strength, though, as we read the text, was big enough to bait David's aggrieved Ahithophel, chief counselor, to join his team. And again, the challenge here is people are looking at the outside, but not discerning the heart and the insides of people. Now, a messenger came to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, arise and let us run, let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom. You see, when I was a young boy, boys moved to the side of the sidewalk when a man passed. But now adults move to the side when boys pass. When we don't train our children when they're young, we'll run from them when they're old. Verse 30. So David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives. David's night with Bathsheba happened in private, but the consequences are now seen on the mountaintop. And he wept as he went. And he had his head covered and he was barefoot. He was broken, he was ashamed. He was shattered. And all the people who were with David covered their heads and also went up weeping as they went. David's night in Vegas with Bathsheba not only impacted him, but his entire family and everyone who followed him. Sin has greater consequences than we have ever imagined. Let's go a little bit back in time. So everyone might not have been here for every part of this series, but let's look at God's response to David wiling out in Vegas. 2nd Samuel 12:11. He didn't think anyone saw, but God was paying attention. He misses nothing. Nathan says, thus saith the Lord. Look at this. Pay attention to me, David. I love you and everything, but I'm going to have to discipline you. I will raise up adversity. That term, adversity, literally in the Hebrew, is rebellion. Just as you rebelled against me, your behavior with Bathsheba, I'm going to raise up rebellion against you from your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. What David did to Uriah's wife would happen to his own with compound interest. Watch this back to 16 and 20. Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, give advice as to what we should do now. Ahithophel had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. And Ahithophel answered, absalom, go into your father's concubines. This is about to get ugly and really, really dirty. Whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. What Ahithophel is saying here is, do something to your daddy that will make him hate you the way I hated him for what he did to my granddaughter. You'll see a pattern in life and a pattern in scripture. Hurt people, hurt people. But then he says, then the hands of all who are with you will be strong. He was saying, when people see that you burned every bridge of reconciliation with your father, people will understand that you mean business. Because Ahithopel's taking a big risk here because he had everything to lose by joining Absalom. And he also knew that his father was a great man of war. David was nobody to play with. And he knew that if father and son ever reconciled that everyone that lined up behind his son would probably be killed, beheaded, or at least be pushed out of the nation. So he gave Advice that would make that impossible. Bitter people give bitter advice. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on top of David's roof, and Absalom went in into his father's concubines. With all Israel watching, can it get worse than this? But verses like this are the reason why we must be careful not to take vengeance in our own hands. Because you will always go too far. The person steps on your toe, but you punch him in the jaw. The person was a little sarcastic, you tear them down, and by the time you finish, they wish they were never born. The reason we're to leave vengeance to God is because God is God and let God be God. And vengeance is God's prerogative. And we're not in position to get vengeance right the way God is. So Absalom went into his father's concubine in the sight of all Israel. So Amnon raped Absalom's sister, but here Absalom goes further and molests his stepmothers. You see? For in the same way Jesus said, you judge others, you will be judged. And what measure you use, it will be measured to you. He became the judge, and the judgment came back on him. You see, David never lost on the battlefield. But because he couldn't keep his zipper zipped, he lost his most important battle for his home. 2nd Samuel 18. And David numbered the people who were with him. So he left the palace. His son goes into the palace and sleeps with his concubines and his wives, if you will. And when the Bible says that the people were numbered, typically a king numbered because he's preparing to go to war. And it's prudent to assess your resources before you take any type of military move. When you're in crisis, it's important to take stock. But notice this is important. God judged David by allowing him to reap what he had sown in his family, but God still allowed him to fight back. You see, God may be disciplining you. And some of the things happening in this season may have something to do with God's hand. But let me tell you how the devil operates. He's not fair. Now, God very well may be spanking you, but while God is spanking you, Satan's trying to clock you. Satan's trying to stab you, Satan's trying to cut you. While God is doing his thing, he's trying to add to it, to wound you forever. Do you get what I'm saying? You may be wrong, but never let the devil take more than he should do. Not just Surrender, say, well, God is mad at me and this is my situation in life. God was dealing with David. But God still graced David to fight back. Keep watching. And David set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. He divided his army into three divisions. He's still a great warrior under three generals, Joab, Abishai and Ittai. Let's go to verse five. Now the king had commanded Joab Abishai and Ittai saying, watch this. Deal gently for my sake with a young man, Absalom. As horrible as Absalom behaved, David still loved his son. Every Absalom, under the sound of my voice, your heavenly Father still loves you. God still wants to protect you. Let him. David had to function as a king and deal with the threat to the nation. But it didn't diminish his love for his son as a father. And there are things God must deal with as our sovereign, but that dealing will never negate his love for us as a father. Even in our our discipline. He wants to keep us safe. He just wants to train us and teach us and guide us. Deal gently for my sake with the young man. All of us have a little stupid hidden somewhere on the inside of us. And he was reminded he's just a young man. Deal J. He don't know nothing yet. So the people of Judah went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the field of Ephraim. Civil wars are always the bloodiest wars. I think it was hundreds of thousands that were lost even in America's civil war. And those are the worst and the bloodiest. And I'll tell you, as a pastor, you've not really begun to pastor until you faced your first church split, led by a friend, in this case a son. Then the people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David. David fought back even in his judgment. Actually, in this period, when you go to the psalm, I don't remember if it's the sixth psalm or which psalm it is. We hear David praying to God and God answering him. So even in God dealing with you, God hears a sinner's prayer. David was victorious, but only after tremendous loss. This was horrific. But God was like, listen, David, don't start nothing. Won't be none now. It didn't have to go like this. And a great slaughter of watch this 20,000 took place there that day. Death was everywhere, bodies strewn all over the place. For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside. And the woods. The woods devoured more people that day. Than the sword. Woods typically don't kill people. Though David had a lot of this coming, God still fought alongside him in unusual ways. So even after you fail as a father, fail as a leader, as a person, you can cry out to God and he will hear you. Now, there may be some consequences, but the God I know still knows how to take care of a brother, how to protect a young man, a young woman. You hear what I'm saying? Even though you may be reaping some of what you sown, you still belong to God. Then Absalom met the servants of David. It says Absalom rode on a mule. Important figures in that time often rode mules. But watch this. The mule went under the thick boughs of the great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth. Now we read about, you know, they would weigh his hair annually, and it weighed about 5 pounds, and it was about 5ft long. And everyone you know went to this weighing because, you know, the Bible says he was unblemished. He was an extremely handsome, the most celebrated man in the kingdom at that time. We also talked about the fact that hair represented vitality and strength in this time in history, you notice as you get older, your hair tends to get a little bit thinner. So thick hair represented again, vitality and strength. And it seems that his long hair. I don't know what happened. Maybe his bobby pin came out or his. I don't know. Or squincy. I think that's what you call it. But it seems his long hair got stuck in the branches. His own strength, his own vitality is what killed him. What was his glory became his curse. A big head can take you to an early grave. Say it again, Michelle. Say yes. Say yes. Because no one is as empty as a person full of themselves. So here, the writer of the inspired text here kind of pauses and says, yeah, you know, he's caught, you know, by his head and his hair and the branches. But then it goes on and explains a little bit. So he was left hanging between heaven and earth. So he became a testimony. He was an example of what can happen to us when we live by our own strength, when we decide to take vengeance into our own hands. When you seek revenge, dig two graves, one for your target and one for yourself, because ultimately it's going to wipe both of you out. Absalom killed Amnon, but his pride and his glory got him caught in the thicket and he himself died. But watch what happens next. And the mule which was under him went on, how many know mules aren't known for their smarts, but this unintelligent animal was smart enough not to let a fool keep riding its back. Given an option, that is a word for you. But watch the king. 20,000 dead in Israel because of his traitor of a son. The king said, is the young man Absalom safe? At first you say, this is criminal. Now you should be concerned about what your son did. And I think he is on some level. But his sensibilities as a father overrode his sensibilities as a monarch. Our children may disappoint us, but they are still our children. Skip to 32. The affections of a father overrode his sensibilities as a king. Love can be complicated. And sometimes God has to deal with us in a way that's hard. Not because his heart's not with us, but because he is a sovereign and he has a responsibility to the moral law of the universe. He has to uphold order, but as he does it, it breaks his very heart. And the king said to the cushite, is the young man Absalom safe? You see, verses like this are the reason why David was called a man after God's own heart. Again, though God or David fought against Absalom as a monarch, he still loved him as a father loves a son. God is dealing with us as he must, but his heart is breaking as he does. So the cushite answered, may the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to do harm be like that young man then. Verse 33. Already he's offended the generals around him. It's like, hey, all them people dead, you're talking about your son. You know, hey, you're supposed to be leading the nation. Leave your personal stuff alone and at home. But the king couldn't handle it. The Bible says he was deeply moved. Hebrew, literally, he was trembling. He's physically. He couldn't handle what had just happened. And he begins to look for some privacy. And he went up on the chamber of the gate and wept. Sometimes all he can do is cry. Because he knew that his son stepped out into eternity in rebellion against his father and against his God. You know those 20,000 men? Yeah. Many died in battle, but they went into Abraham's bosom. But Absalom stepped into eternity in rebellion against the Almighty. So he goes to the chamber over the gate and he wept. And again, sometimes all you can do is cry. And as he went, he didn't care what the generals were saying. He didn't care what the people were saying. He said, oh, my son Absalom, my son. Lips trembling, snot dripping, throwing dirt in the air, probably tearing his garment, probably pulling on his own hair. My son Absalom. He knew that his son had died in rebellion. And the grief that struck David, he could not hide. And the Bible takes pain to record because that's how God would feel about any of us stepping into eternity in rebellion against God. And then David, a man after God's own heart, he says this. He said, if only I had died in your place. A parent sees a child in the hospital, especially a young child, you know, tubes hooked up, pain. And, you know, man, you just. Lord, could I just take their place? That's the cry of any parent's heart. You know, you hear about something that happened to your child in school, you're like, lord, can I just possess his body or her body for a moment and go deal with them stupid kids that they're dealing with at school? Just for a moment. That's the heart of a parent. And when Jesus, he had a revelation like none other, throughout the Old Testament, he's called Jehovah, Some say Yahweh, Adonai, Lord, Sabbath, all these different names. But Jesus said, when you pray, you say our Father. Jesus called God Father because to truly get a revelation of God, you got to know a father's love. So now we have the king, the dignified individual in expensive garments, and the person everyone's looking at that stands out in the crown, trembling and weeping, saying, if only I had died in your place. You see, David was a sinner himself, and he was helpless to atone for Absalom. But thank God, our Heavenly Father had no such limitations. 1000 years later on Golgotha's Hill, God did what David's heart cried for. O my son, Absalom, my son. If only I had died in your place. O Absalom, my son, my son, my son. God weeps for you. God cares for you. God literally cries for you. And passages like this help us see the mind and heart of God. Years ago, when I was in college, I gave my life to Jesus and I started living holy and all that good stuff. And I remember there was another guy that was part of the same campus fellowship. And, you know, I went over to his dorm and I knocked, but I heard some things behind the door. And I don't even think this was a. It didn't matter. I guess it was something about him. But I think God was trying to show me. And I knew what was happening behind the door. And I cannot explain the sadness, the sorrow and the hurt that gripped me. What God allowed me to do is feel what it's like to love somebody abusing themselves, harming themselves and hurting another. And I have remembered that all the days of my life. And it's not so much I'm trying to be a goody goody. I just don't want to hurt him the way I felt that pain that day. And David now is gripped by the Holy Spirit. You got to be sure of that. And he's weeping for his son, Absalom. My son. My son. It was too late for Absalom. He died in rebellion. He went to his fate. So all that was left was for his daddy to cry. My prayer is when you and I, everyone, livestreaming, everyone in this room, get to that place where we step from time and space into eternity, that God is not holding his face, saying, o Absalom, my image bearer, my son, my son. My prayer is that when I step outside of this life into the next, I step into my reward, into his presence, into fullness of joy, into deeper communion, deeper fellowship. Because my own strength and my own glory, my own power, I didn't get mesmerized by it. I didn't let it hang me up on a tree somewhere. But I looked to Jesus, who himself was hung on a tree on my behalf, who took my punishment and my shame. And because I look to him in life, I live.