Sermon: Losing One’s Head

You take a copy of God's word this morning and we will turn open to the book of Second Samuel as we continue our way through that book. If you wanna grab a Pew Bible Bible right in front of you, you can turn right to page 2 7 2 in the Pew Bible 2 7 2 in the Pew Bible this morning. We're looking at Second Samuel in chapter 19, verse 41, and we will go to the end of chapter 20, chapter 19, verse 41, and we'll go to the end of chapter 20 this morning,

2 7 2 in your pew Bible.

Let's go ahead and pray before we open God's word up together this morning.

Father, we are thankful that you are the same from age to age as we just sing That you know the beginning and you know the end and you know everything in between. You see it all with one view.

We say such a God is worthy of our trust this morning and worthy of listening to his voice, he sees and knows all things. So we pray even this morning that you would quiet our own souls, our own spirits, the voices we have heard through the week, the things calling to us later in this day and that we would hear your voice this morning. You are eternal God, we pray all of this in the strong name of Christ, our Lord and our savior.

Amen. This morning, two Samuel chapter 19, verse 41 through chapter 20, verse 26. This is the holy in err, sufficient word of God. Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, why have our brothers, the men of Judas, stolen you away and brought the king in his household over the Jordan and all David's men with him? Well, the men of Judah answered the men of Israel because the king is our close relative.

Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king's expense or has he given us any gift? And the men of Israel answered, the men of Judah. We have 10 shares in the king and then David also, we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. Now there happened to be there a worthless man whose name

was Sheba, the son of Bity, a mite, and he blew the trumpet and said, we have no portion in David and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tense, oh, Israel. So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba. The son of Bity at the men of Judah followed their kings steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem. And David came to his house, a Jerusalem and the king took the 10 concubines whom he had left care

for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them but did not go into them. So they were shut up till the day of their death living as if in widowhood. Then the king said to Amasa, call the men of Judah together to me within three days and be here yourself. So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed, that had been appointed him. And David said, Abishai, now Sheba the son,

obituary will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your Lord's servants and pursue him lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us. And there went out after him, Joe Emen and the Chaite and the Pite and all the mighty men, they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba, the son obituary. Now when they were at the Great Stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Uh, Joab was wearing a soldier's garment

and over it was a belt with a sword and its sheath fastened on his thigh. And as he went forward it fell out and Joab said to Amsa, is it well with you? My brother and Joab took AMSA by the beard and his right hand to kiss him, but Amsa did not observe the sword that was in Jo's hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow. And he died. Then Joab

and Abishai, his brother pursued Sheba, the son of Bitchery and one of Jo's young men took his stand by Amasa and said, whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab and Amasa le wallowing and his blood in the highway. Anyone who came by seen him stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. When he was taken outta the highway, all the people went out

after Joab to pursue Sheba, the son of Bity and Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth Macau and all the b***h rights assembled and followed him in. And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him and Abel of Beth Macau. They set up a mound against the city and it stood against the Rampart and they were battering the wall to throw it down. And a wise woman called from the city, listen, listen,

tell Joe AB come here that I may speak to you. And he came near her and the woman said, are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she had said to him, listen to the words of your servant, and he answered, I'm listening. Then she said, they used to say in former times, let them but ask counsel of able. And so they settle the matter. I am one of the those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel.

Why will you swallow up the heritage of the Lord? Joy? I have answered far be it from me, far be it that I should swallow up or destroy. That is not true. But a man of the hill, country of Aram called Sheba, the son obituary has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone and I will withdraw from the city. And the woman said to Joab, behold his head shall be thrown to you over the wall. Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom

and they cut off the head of Sheba, the son of Bity and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet and they dispersed from the city and every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel and Aya, the son of Jehovah, was in command of the cites and the pite and Addam was in charge of the forced labor. Jehosaphat, the son of UD was the recorder and Shiva was secretary and Zadar and Abby aro were priests.

And Ira, the Gyr was also David's priest. Though the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of God is forever. Thanks. Speak to God. Amen.

Well, at this point in two Samuel, there is very little that I think can surprise us anymore. Uh, we have seen the depths of the depravity of man throughout this book. We have seen civil war and betrayal and murder and rebellion and on we could go this, this book is really just a living picture of the depravity of mankind. It's on for display in our passage this morning. It, it's so dark that God is not even referenced in this passage except in kind of a

side point by that wise woman in the city. What we see instead in this passage is the insanity of sin. The insanity of sin. I've entitled this sermon losing one's head. And in this chapter, people lose their heads, both metaphorically and also literally, metaphorically in anger and jealousy and pride. And literally when this rebellion meets its end at the city of Abel, if we think back, I want to think back to the beginning with you

and I mean the beginning, back to the beginning of the Garden of Eden. And as Adam and Eve are there in the Garden of Eden, they chose to eat from the fruit of the tree, the knowledge of good and evil. And that choice by definition is what I would call insanity. One of the supplied definitions that Merriam Webster's dictionary gives for insanity is this. It is quote, extreme foolishness or irrationality. And that explains Adam.

God has given Adam and Eve all the garden. He had given them all the fruit of the garden, all the fields of the garden. He even walked with them in the cool of the day in the garden. They knew all the blessings of God. There was one thing that was off limits and that was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But that one thing was too much for Adam.

He chose to eat from the fruit, not in order to know what was right and wrong or what was good and what was evil. He already knew what was good. What was good was not to eat from the tree. What was evil was to eat from the tree. For God said, you shall not eat to the fruit of the tree, of the knowledge of good and evil upon pain of death. Now, he ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not to learn what was good and evil,

but to be the determiner of what was good and evil.

He was setting himself up at the center of the universe to unseat God as God. And that's the essence of sin.

Sin is irrational. It's an irrational attempt to dethrone God and to crown ourselves, to put ourself upon the throne and to say, this is good. So I'm doing this. This is evil. So I'm abstaining from that to be the determiner of what is good and what is evil, and that is what it means to lose your head spiritually. Martin Luther defines sin as this way. He said it's quote, the nature of the heart, which is by its very essence, hostile to God

and loves nothing but itself. And so it's no surprise that we go from Genesis chapter three where you have the fall in the the garden, and immediately we enter into Genesis chapter four and the two offspring of Adam and Eve there. And Cain chooses to murder his brother Abel. So putting so at the center

and what began in Eden never stopped Every sin that you and I commit, every sin that is committed in the history of humanity since then is yet another attempt to unseat God and crown ourselves. And when self seeks to take the throne, destruction follows.

That's exactly what we've seen in Second Samuel, and we see it again. Last week we finally came to the end of Absalom's rebellion, Absalom, that sinner of a son who decided to rebel against his father and creates an entire civil war. It has now come to an end. Absalom is dead. David is crossing back over the Jordan River, and now it seems like David can rest, but no sooner is he headed into Jerusalem than sin erupts again and in the form of another civil war.

Our first point this morning, sin always attempts to put self on the throne. Sin always attempts to put self on the throne. You'll remember that David was welcomed back to Jerusalem by Israel and David then went to his own tribe, the tribe of Judah, and said, shouldn't you be the ones that are welcoming me back? And Judah chooses to do so. And so they decide to escort David across the Jordan and now the Israelites with a little foreshadowing of

what will come upon David's death. They confront Judah, they're jealous, they're seeking self, and the nation divides and a man rises in the midst of Israel. Sheba a man that is after self and he's going to lead them in this rebellion. And off we go into another civil war and it's no small disturbance. David says in verse six to Abishai that Sheba could do more harm than Absalom. The eruption of the sin is a serious threat.

Sin is always a serious threat because it is. It is an attempt to put ourself on the throne.

And whenever we place ourselves first,

it causes destruction.

I think any leader among God's people knows the threat is real and it just keeps coming. And that's because sin doesn't rest. It doesn't take a break in this world. It just keeps coming.

David in one sense, is unique as a leader in the history of humanity, but in another sense he is. He is not so unique as a leader in the history of God's people. Leadership among God's people often feels like a continued onslaught of attacking sin. Your parents feel this way. You have one child that is struggling with this or that sin issue and you've been tending to that child and helping that child to put to death that sin

and to grow in righteousness and to look to Christ in faith and to rely upon the grace of Christ in their lives. And all of a sudden they turn a corner and you think, oh, we've been through such a long stint with them and they've turned the corner and here we are, we're walking into green pastures. And then another kid erupts with a new sin and it just keeps coming.

Elders in a church lead through a major scandal or disruption caused by sin. They emerge from the deep waters only to take a breath and get hit by a new wave of sin. This time multiple, maybe marriages erupting in sin

and it requires hours of counsel and prayer and discipline. A president, a king like David leads a nation through a major conflict. Only fine that a new threat has raised its head. Why? Because sin doesn't rest.

It doesn't rest in this world. It doesn't rest in this heart, it doesn't rest.

I often think the Christian life, let alone leadership in the Christian Church, it reminds me of a game that was an arcade game when I was a kid. And it was a, you had this, this mallet that you would pick up and there were 12 or so holes on the desk in front of you and there were these fake heads that would emerge out of the hole and one would pop up and you were to knock it down before another one popped up. We called it whack-a-mole. That's what it feels like.

It's just a sin just keeps coming. It's just a whack-a-mole. David's whack-a-mole,

and it can be exhausting.

Absalom sinful rebellion has ended. David is in the midst of grief, but sin doesn't take a holiday. So you can't take a holiday. You can't say, I just got past this sin. Ha. No. Our adversary, crouch is like a lion looking to devour you. Sin does not take a holiday. You don't grow weary in doing good. You keep up the good fight. You seek to persevere by his grace.

You keep whacking a mole.

You know what could have stopped it in the text? And that leads to our second point. Sin is reigned in by obedience to God's law. Sin is reigned in by obedience to God's law. You often see the law as a weight, and it is a weight in the sense that it convicts you and I of sin in before coming to know Christ. And it's a law that we can't fulfill. But once you are in Christ, oh, that law is such a gift. It is such a gift because it helps us.

It keeps us from losing our heads in sin.

Mr. Shorter catechism. It's one of my favorite shorter catechism questions. It asks, what is sin? That's one of my favorites because it's so clear. What is sin? Sin is any want of conformity unto or any transgression of the law of God. What is that law of God that you and I are to conform unto? What's that law of God that we're not to transgress?

I do remember when the scribe comes to Jesus and the gospels and he says, what is the the greatest commandment? And you remember Jesus's response. The greatest commandment is the love, the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. Ah. And the second is like it here to love your neighbor as yourself. And then he says this, and all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. How can you summarize the entire law?

Love God and love others.

And you can see sins failing to love God and love others. You can see it erupting in Israel and Judah in the text. Sin always attempts to put self on the throne, failing to love God, failing to love others, and simply loving self. They are selfishly angry, sinful people losing their heads

and the dialogue in verses 41 through 43, it sounds less like leaders of God's people and more like children on a playground having a spat. Israel wants to know why Judah gets to bring King David over the river. Well, we turn to him first. Judah responds, verse 42, because the king is our close relative and then they react back. Why are you so angry Israel? Judah could have extinguished it. They could have not fed that flame of disruption

instead of retorting back. They could have extended love, they could have extended understanding. They could have extended grace, let alone Israel should have never started this dispute.

They didn't have to come in this way. They could have given the benefit of the doubt instead of being suspicious and accusing, but neither did. And so Judah protests, we've taken nothing. Israel's responds back. Verse 43, we have 10 shares of him that is, there are 10 of us. Tribes we're a lot more important than you are Judah.

So as Gordon Ketty commented on those verses, he said, when suspicion rules a person's heart, all the evidence just proves the other fellow guilty. They were suspicious of each other. So whatever they heard from the other, they just knew you. You, you're trying to one up me. You're trying to get ahead of me. You're trying to sideline me. You're trying to get more than me. You're trying me.

They lost their metaphorical heads. Sin does that. It aims at that. It relishes in that you'll notice how the sin, the scene ends in verse 43, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. Ah, how superior Judah must have felt walking away from that conversation. We won this debate. Great, right?

And because of that sin, even greater sin is going to erupt war between them.

Like how often know it from my own life,

know it from watching others, from ministering others. How often self-centered human beings seek to win verbal battles at the expense of unity self instead of love? That happens between nations, it happens in nations, it happens in families, it happens a lot in marriages, it happens in friendships.

So first, that's what sin does, but it's reigned in for the Christian. It gets reigned in by obedience to God's law, loving God, loving others.

Struck me a couple of years ago when reading the Bible, that today's church often dismisses the New Testaments abhorrence of sin that's rooted in divisiveness and in the New Testament. These sins are often placed right alongside of sexual sins, strife, slander, gossip, factions, quarreling, enmity, jealousy, rivalries, the New Testament, treats, gossip and division with the same seriousness that we treat sexual sin. Why? Because disunity destroys.

Paul says, consider others better than yourself. Is that how you think of others in the church? Is that how you think of your spouse? Is that how you think of your children?

Love your neighbor as yourself instead of losing our heads and anger and bitterness and wrath and slander. What would it look like to love your neighbor as yourself?

What would it look like to actually consider others better than yourself?

I mouth it, but actually consider it. Believe it.

Because that's pursuing the kingdom before our own personal self-interest. And this Judah could have done, Israel, could have done Absalom, could have done, Sheba could have done, but they all lost their spiritual heads in the moment they lost sight of the bigger picture. The kingdom and the glory of God forsake it all for self.

That's what lasts the kingdom, the glory of God,

which leads to our third point.

Morality matters for legacy. Morality matters for legacy.

The narrator is, is emphasizing this in the text He, he shows us three legacies in this chapter. And he does it by the wording. A, a worthless man, a wise woman. And then he does so by example, a powerful man with a ruined character. Before we're even told Shebas name, we're told that the man was a man of rebellion. In verse one we're told that quote, he was a worthless man. A worthless man. Why are we told that even before we're told his name.

Because he chose self. He was all about self. He so discord. He was rebellious. He was opposed to the kingdom. Sin always attempts to put self on the throne. But then you'll notice that the narrator provides a counterpart. In verse 16, we're told that this woman of Abel, before we even hear a word from her, we're told what she is. She's a wise woman. Sheba a worthless man. She is a wise woman. Why is she a wise woman?

Because as it says of her, she is a woman of faithfulness and peace. And you'll notice what she's concerned about. She's concerned about the Lord's inheritance, the people. She's loving others and she's loving the Lord. She is not about self.

And then you have Joab,

Joab self first lack of characters on full display. Once again, Masa has been pointed, the head of the army and Joab will not have anybody over him. Trump him. He's jealous, he's envious, he's proud, and he's murderous.

He approaches AMAs. Verse eight and following, he has a a sword that is fastened to his thigh. And as he approaches amasa, he allows that sword to fall to the ground so that he can convince Amasa that there is nothing to worry about. There's no threat here.

And then he grabs the masa's beard with his right hand. It's a, it's a sign of of love. He's pulling him near to give him a holy kiss.

But as he does, so he reaches down with his left hand and he grabs that sword and he clutches it and he drives it up and he impales a masa.

And it's such a severe blow. What the author tells us in verse 10, that there was no need for a second blow.

Moss's entrails are spilled on the ground and he's left a wallow in his blood.

That's Joab

Power without restraint, loyalty without obedience, strength without righteousness. He exemplifies the truth that sin always seeks to put self on the throne.

And notice the legacy that each of these leaves. Sheba was a worthless man. He was opposed to the kingdom and loses his head because of it. The woman is wise because she supports the kingdom. She's others centered. She's concerned about the people of God. She's concerned about, as she says, quote, the inheritance of the Lord, loving God and loving his people. She's a wise woman and goes out in history as a wise woman.

And her legacy is life for herself and for the people around her.

And Joe. He's a powerful man with a ruined character. A man who had so much power in his time. If he walked into this room, every one of us would turn our heads and look at Him. There's Joab.

He was a leader, he was forceful. His sword was feared, but that's not his legacy.

History remembers Joab, not for his victories, but for his violence.

And he goes down in history as a ruthless, petulant, angry man. He killed Abner in chapter three. He killed Absalom in chapter 18. And now a masa in chapter 20, A lifetime of losing your head and sin will eventually define your legacy.

David is upon his deathbed one, Kings two. He gives instructions to his son Solomon, who follows him as king regarding Joab. And listen to how David refers to Joab, his right hand man. Joe has been the commander of his forces.

This is how David speaks of him. You also know what Joab the son of Zuriah did to me. How he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner, the son of Nir and Amasa, the son of Jahar whom he killed avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war. And then he gives this instruction to Solomon. Do not let his gray head go down to SHEEO in peace. He was not a man of peace. So don't let him die in peace.

All his leadership, all his power, all his victories, meant nothing in light of the fact that he was a sinfully, murderously, angry man who never looked to God and never looked to caring for God's people. He was about self.

And in that way, he was opposed to the king in his kingdom. If I can say it this way, Joab was a man who also lost his head constantly in anger. He was a man of passions.

Dale Ralph Davis said it this way. He said, there is such a thing as acknowledging the king's sovereignty and disregarding his will. Such folks will have no place in the kingdom. At the last, there are scores of Jo Abs on our church membership roles, acknowledging the king's sovereignty,

but ignoring his will.

Jesus warns of such. In Matthew seven. He says, not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven. Joab is a clear example that it's possible. It's possible to stand near the kingdom and still oppose the king. It's possible to be engaged alongside kingdom people and yet ignore the king's will. He's a reminder that proximity to God's work

and even leading God's people is not the same as obedience to God. Sin always attempts to put self upon the throne. But up until his dying breath that it could have all changed. For joeb, all he had to do was turn to the king of kings

and all would've been forgiven.

An always attempts to put sofa in the throne as disastrous, which leads to our final point. Sin always loses to sovereignty. Sin always loses to sovereignty.

Sheba flees north, he gains little support. So further north, he keeps going. He ends up in Abel of Beth Macaw. And there Joab tracks him down. He lays siege to the city. He creates a rampart to batter down the walls. And that wise woman shows up and calls out to Joab and says, look, we're not looking to die for this man. So off this head goes and over the wall, the rebellion ends, sin loses.

Joab thinks he's gotten away with the sin. He is in charge of the army. Again, even returning to Jerusalem, he is now the big dog. He's ended yet another civil war. He is ended back to back civil wars. He has once again selfishly taken matters into his own hands. He seems to have won. And sin does this. It makes you feel like it's won you. You won by abiding by me. It tells you, but it always loses to sovereignty.

It's just a matter of time.

Solomon puts him to death

and his legacy is infamy.

In the end, those sins seeks to place. So first, it always results in placing self last. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven. And all these things shall be added to you.

It's truly insanity to pose a sovereign king. Absalom found that out. Sheba found that out. Joab found that out. But ultimately Adam found that out. Satan found that out. And every single sinner born into this world finds it out.

Christ is sovereign king and sin always loses to sovereignty.

Astonish reality is, is is how that occurs though to me.

It's not by you and I bucking it up.

It's not by us securing the victory and triumphing,

the sovereign king becomes nothing.

That's what Paul says in Philippians to he became nothing.

The sovereign king empties himself and becomes nothing. Be the sovereign king becomes a servant. He says,

obedient. Obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This sovereign king comes into the world and he lives obediently to the law of God. He loves the Lord God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. And he loves his neighbor as himself perfectly

what we call the active obedience of Christ.

So that then he can die in our place upon the cross and atoning death in our place, obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, what we call his passive obedience.

And that as odd as it sounds, and you've heard it so often, you don't even think about it. I don't think about it. It's meant to grip us it. It should shake us every single time we hear it. It's a triumphal death.

He triumphs over sin by his death

and then raises on the third day.

He secures the kingdom by his death.

Sovereign king

Establishes a kingdom that can't be thwarted. Sin can't undo it. It triumphs over sin, it banishes sin, it destroys and kills sin. Sin always loses, always loses. Sin always loses to sovereignty.

Sin has an expiration date.

His sovereignty does not.

He reigns now and forevermore.

Every head that raises against this king will eventually bow before this king. And every enemy is laid as a footstool beneath his feet. 'cause Jesus Christ is the sovereign king.

So let me fence the table here before we go back there. We're coming to the table this morning.

There's so many things that the table signifies and seals. But you know one of the things that is signifying to you this morning, do you realize the table you are coming to? It's the king's table.

The king's table.

And he invites you to come and take a seat at his table,

the sovereign king who hates sin because it seeks to de thrown him.

You say I, I don't know if I should come to that table. Then last night,

I didn't want to tell you what I did last night. This morning, oh my, the way I walked into this room this morning

kicked my dog this morning,

Yelled at my kids this morning, treated my wife, surely not how I want to be treated this morning.

Had evil thoughts about that person across the room this morning.

I was jealous of that person this morning

and on we could ago I, I don't know.

And he says, come

it's the king's table. You sang it this morning. His mercy is more. It's more than your sin. He's sovereign. Sin is not. So if you are in Christ, the guilt of your sin has been paid for. If you're in Christ, the weight of your sin is no longer your weight. If you are in Christ, that dominion of sin that had had over you requiring you to obey its dictates no longer rules you,

he triumphed on the crawls for you. He didn't just generally die for sin, though he did. He died for your sin. Your sin.

He says, come take a seat. There's peace.

Some of you this morning, don't know yourselves to be in Christ. You say, I don't know about this Jesus, but here's what you do know. You know you're a sinner.

You're a sinner. And if what I've said this morning is true, that sin is seeking to place yourself upon the throne, then you are an enemy of God. You're an enemy this morning.

But that can change in a half second, half. Second, Joe Abbott could change form in a half second. He could have gone down in history as a wise man.

All he had to do was look to the king,

trust in that king as a savior, submit his life to that king and say, you King Jesus died for me.

And you have peace.

He's a sovereign king. Your sin is not too great for such a sovereign king.

Thanks be to him.