Sermon: The Lord’s Keeping

You take a copy of God's word this morning, we're gonna turn back to the book of second Samuel after our break here in January. Uh, we're back to Second Samuel where we left off. So this morning, second Samuel chapter 17, we're looking at verses one through 29. If you wanna grab a pew Bible in front of you, it's right there on page 2 6 8 of the Pew Bible 2 6 8 in the Pew Bible.

And this morning, two Samuel chapter 17 and we're looking at the entire chapter this morning. We pray before we open the word together.

Father, we do continue in worship this morning and we bow ourselves humbly before you and we say as an act of worship that we want to have minds that are alert. We want to have ears that are open, that we want to have hearts that are soft

and we would truly hear your voice this morning as you speak through the word red and preached. And we find that as we hear it red and preach that you are opening the eyes of our hearts to get more of a glimpse of you and the person of your son by the power of your spirit and that we are indeed worshiping you, our triune God, father, son, and holy spirit and that you are soliciting that worship from us that are gathered in this place

and this not fall upon us as dry dead words, but as the living word that it's, and we pray all of this in the strong name of Christ, our Lord and our savior. Amen. Two Samuel chapter 17 verses one through 29. This is the holy ander sufficient word of God. Moreover, a hit ael said to Absalom, let me choose 12,000 men and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic

and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king and I will bring all the people back to you. As a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man and all the people will be at peace. And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel. Then Absalom said, call Hai the archive also and let us hear what he has to say. And when Huai came to Absalom, Salm said to him,

thus has a hit spoken Shall we do? As he says, if not you speak, the Hai said to Absalom This time the council that HITO has given is not good. Isha said, you know that your father and his men are mighty men and that they are enraged like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides your father is expert in war. He will not spend the night with the people, behold even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place.

And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say there has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. Then even the valiant man whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear for all. Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and that those who are with him are valiant men. But my counsel is that all Israel would be gathered to you from Dan to Beersheba as the sand by the sea for

multitude and that you go to battle in person. So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found and we shall light upon him as the do falls on the ground and of him and all the men with him. Not one will be left If he withdraws into a city, then oh Israel will bring ropes to that city and we shall drag it into the valley until not even a pebble is to be found there. And Absalom and all the men of Israel said the Council

of Whoe, the archive is better than the Council of Hitha fill for the Lord has ordained for the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Oph fill so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. Then Hai said to AK and Abby Athar the priest, thus and so did Oph fill council Absalom and the elders of Israel and thus and so have I counseled now therefore sin quickly and tell David, do not stay tonight at the fors of the wilderness, but by all means Passover lest the king

and all the people who are with him be swallowed up. Now Jonathan and ah, him IE uh, were waiting and in Rogel a female servant was to go and tell them and they were to go and tell King David for they were not to be seen entering the city, but a young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the ma house of a man at Baharim who had a well in his courtyard and they went down into it and the woman took and spread a covering over the well's

mouth and scattered again on it and nothing was known of it. When Absalom servants came to the woman at the house and they said, where are aha A and Jonathan and the woman said to them, they have gone over the brook of water and when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. After they had gone, the men came up outta the well and went and told King David, they said to David, arise and go quickly over the water for thus

and so as a hit AEL counseled against you, then David arose and all the people who were with him and they crossed the Jordan by daybreak, not one was left to have crossed the Jordan. When a hitha fell, saw that his council was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself and died and was buried in the tomb of his father. Then David came to Maja Naim

and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. Now Absalom had set a masa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was a son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash sister Aria Jo's mother in Israel and Absalom and camped in the land of Gilead. When David came to Maha Naim Chobi, the son of Nahash from Rabba, the Ammonites and Maki, the son of Amio from Lo debar and Barr Zite,

the Gil Gileadite from Rosalie brought beds, basins and earth and vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parch, grain beans and lentils, honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd for David and the people with him to eat for they said The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness, the grass withers and the flower fades. The word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

It's been a month plus since we've been in the book of Second Samuel. So let me give us a little bit of the context and set kind of the scene for us and where we're at. You'll remember that in the book of second Samuel, it catalogs David and his rise to the throne of Israel and we've witnessed in David both the highs and the lows as king, but more than that, the highs and lows as a child of God, you could say in many ways

that David exemplifies the best of us and he exemplifies the worst of us. David is a great sinner and he is also a great man of holiness, a man of great weakness and a man of great repentance. He sinks to lows that frankly become examples for millennia about don't be like David in this way and yet he will reach heights that maybe are only surpassed by the Lord Jesus Christ and that he alone is called a man after God's own heart.

And where we're at here in Second Samuel is that David is experiencing one of the great lows in his life. His son Absalom has rebelled against him and Absalom has entered into Jerusalem at the head of an army and he has driven David and his followers out of Jerusalem and out of the city and Absalom has gone into David's concubines and Absalom has ascended to the throne and is now playing King of Israel. Well David is on the run

and you may remember that a hitha was David's chief counselor was his chief advisor and was one of his nearest and dearest friends. And when Absalom rebels hath uh, Hitha EF fell, this chief counselor and chief advisor and friend of David abandons him. But worse than that, he doesn't just abandon him. He rather joins the rebellion, he defects to Absalom.

It's been said that a aef fell is the Judas of the Old Testament and I think that's right. There is that passage in Psalm 41 where Jesus will quote it when he is at the table instituting that last supper in Judas is there at the table and Jesus will quote Psalm 41 verse nine a psalm that David wrote that many believe David wrote that verse referring to a oph fill where Jesus will quote it and say, even my close friend

and whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.

He's being betrayed. David Betrayal has to be one of the greatest sins, painful sins to be afflicted with in this life to experience it hurts like few other things,

a man so close to David, so trusted by the king and yet so ready to betrayed.

In second Samuel 11 and second Samuel 23, we read about Oph and we read that he was the grandfather of Bathsheba and so many scholars believe that his betrayal, that it was rooted in bitterness, that a hitha fell, had nurtured, that he had allowed to build up in his own life regarding David's sin with his granddaughter Bathsheba. And if that that is the case, then this was a patient, this was a calculating, this was a bitterly engaged

personal enemy of David

In chapter 16 ended with this comment about haha fill in those days the council that ah Hitha fill gave was as if one consulted the word of God. So was all the council of a hitha fill, esteemed both by David and by Absalom. This is not the enemy you want A hitha fill is wise, but he's not only wise, he's persuasive, but of even more concern is not only that he's wise and not only that he's persuasive, but he's present.

He's present with Absalom and this is a killer combination. If you are a David, a hit's enemy

and that's how chapter 17 begins. It's ominous. Here's the wise persuasive present counselor with Absalom and he says to him, let me choose 12,000 men and I will rise and pursue David tonight. He wants to attack David and he says he wants to attack David while David is down. Asel says David is weary, he's discouraged, he says, I will quote, throw him into a panic and all the people who are with him will flee and I will strike down only the king

and I will bring the people back to you. It's a sound plan. Give me more troops than David has all go out at the head of that army with an overwhelming force and I will find him out there. He's already discouraged, he's already weary. All we have to do is just give him a little push. But you know what? I'll just kill him. And when I kill him and I come back and he's dead, all the rest of the nation will roll up and will exalt you as king.

It will be total victory.

Think about David and his trusted friend, his son, his nation have all turned against him and now this wise persuasive present counselor with SM has a plan that seems a gued defeat for David. David is done

except he's not because neither Absalom nor even the great hael is God

and this God is a God of providence. You see, neither Hael nor Absalom is in control. God is our God is a God of providence.

Three points this morning the pres, the presence of God, the preservation of God and the provision of God all under the overarching truth that our God is a God of providence, the presence of God, the preservation of God, the provision of God. Let's start here with what many of you, if not most, maybe all of you believe in this room, that our God is a creator God, you believe that all things were created out of nothing by the word

of this power, that he created all things and the space of six days by the word of his power that nothing exists apart from him creating it in the beginning was God, nothing else. He created all things.

But most of you believe he's not only creator but he's redeemer. Our God is creator and he is a god of redemption as well. That in on that fateful day in the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that when they ate from that fruit of the tree, they fell in sin and all of creation fell with them in that first sin. And so every single person that is born into this world is born into this world

as a sinner, hostile to God, an enemy of God. And God is an enemy of theirs except our God is a God of redemption. He's a redeeming God. And so he sins his only begotten son into this world to live a perfect life for sinners to die in atoning death upon the cross, for sinners to be buried on the third day, uh, to be buried and to raise on to rise from the grave on the third day for sinners creator God, redeemer God. But he's not that alone. He's also a God of providence.

What's providence? Here's how the Westminster largest catechism defines Providence. Question 19, the answer God's works of providence are his most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, ordering them in all their actions. To his own glory are God the true God does not sit idly in heaven. He doesn't sit there upon his creating all things out of nothing and and just twiddle his thumbs. He isn't distant and neither is his only action in this

world, the act of redemption of sending his son and working salvation through the life and death of his son. Now our God is active.

He's not absent, he's present. He's far from distracted. He doesn't turn a blind eye to his people. He he doesn't turn a deaf ear. He's not dumb.

Our God is creator. Redeemer is a god of providence who orders all things, who ordains all things, who governs all things, who appoints all things for the good of his people and for his own glory. All things, everything,

everything

Hil thinks he has. David Absalom feels pretty secure and confident.

Uh, Psalm two where the psalmists will say that the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. And then the psalmist says He who sits and throne above laughs. It's just a laugh of derision. You don't know, you don't understand.

They think they are truly sovereign, that they are in control. God is in control. He alone is truly sovereign. No one in nothing else. And as sovereignty is not a a sword that remains in its sheath, but he wields it in this world never stops wielding it

hit has great advice. It it sounds foolproof. What we're told in verse four that Absalom and the elders thought this seemed right, let's do it. But then you get that curious verse five, Absalom calls who shy the archive and asks for his counsel who shys the B team? They've already heard from the A team, a oph fellow is the wise man, he's the great counselor. Why in the world do they turn to the B team who shy? The text doesn't tell us Absalom's motive,

but we know again to remind us about what has happened who shy is also a counselor. He was also a friend of David's. But you'll remember that when Absalom leads this rebellion that Huai remains loyal to David and he goes out to meet David and says, David, I will flee with you. And David says, no, no, no, who shy, don't flee with me. You'll be a burden to me most likely because Hue was an old man and for him to flee with David

and his mighty men, it would've slowed them down. And so David instead says to hue, you remain here in Jerusalem and you can do great service to me here in Jerusalem. He tells him chapter 15 verse 34, you'll defeat for me the council of a hitha. And so Huai teams up with the two priests, Zadok and Abby Athar who remained loyal to David, it appears that they also lined up at least three others who kind of served as messengers go between.

And so the three of them plus the additional three, they form this kind of shadow undercurrent of undermining Absalom's rule and reign and a way to get messages to David. This is what's happening. That's what's happening. This is what you do need to do. This is where you need to go.

So again, why does Absalom ask for who's counsel?

Because it wasn't only a HiTA fill that was present.

God was he's present. He actively rules, he actively orders. He actively directs all things. This is why you pray.

If God isn't sovereign over all things and also present, then why pray.

But he is.

He's not absent. He's the God of providence. He's active in the world in every day actions of every creature, each and everyone. Hebrews one three tells us that he sustains all things by the word of his power, but it isn't simply as one theologian said a basic maintenance program West, Mr. Confession rightfully says he directs, he disposes and he governs his creation. Paul will say in that famous sermon of Acts 17 at Theus

that this creator God quote, made the world and everything in it and he himself gave to all mankind life and breath and everything. And then he says this about providence. He is determined allotted periods and the boundaries of man's dwelling place. You live in Lansing because of God's providence or if you're favored, you live in Holt because of God's providence as Jesus says, he closed the grass of the feud. Even Sparrow falling from heaven, Jesus says is

by God's appointment, God is active in this world. Nothing happens in this world apart from his willingness decreeing it, nothing

He's far from absent, he's present. Paul will go so far in Acts 17 to say He is actually not distant from each one of us. No, he says in him, we live and move and have our being.

So you remember when David would know this, remember when Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers and then he reveals himself to his brothers when he is second in the land of Egypt, only second to Pharaoh and his brothers are standing before him and they are trembling with fear.

You remember what Joseph says to them? It was not you who sent me here, but God.

He will say to them later what you meant for evil. God meant for good God is at work because God is present. He's always present.

Now, having said that, we put in philosophical terms as theologians tried to do. We would say that God is the prime mover. He is the first cause of all things that come to pass, but by his providence, often what he ordains comes to pass through secondary causes.

Of course, we have to put this qualification and say that God doesn't need to employ secondary causes. If he desired to do so, he could bring all things to come to pass in and of himself without utilizing any secondary causes. And yet he chooses often to use secondary causes. That is he uses events, he uses people, he uses actions in this world to accomplish his will and his purposes. So for example, God may decree that this field produce corn,

but he uses secondary causes. He decrees that the sun would shine upon that field. He decrees that the clouds would be filled with rain and would dump that rain upon that field. He decrees that the farmer would go out and spread corn seed in that field. He decreed that that soil would be filled with nutrients to feed those seeds. He decreed that that farmer would go out and he would weed that field, but all of it was according to his decree that

that would be a field that produces corn and he uses all those secondary causes.

Second Samuel 1531, just a few chapters before we read and it was told David, a HiTA fill is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said this, oh Lord, please turn the council of hit fill into foolishness. You notice that he understands that God is present and you'll notice that God's sovereignty did not engender passivity on David's part, but rather it moved him to action, action in the form of prayer. God, by his decree, does not neglect secondary causes

but establishes them. And so David readily embraces it and prays, what about sin? Then Absalom is sinning. The scriptures are clear. God's not the author of sin as James says, and yet in his providence, even sin is and ordered by him to accomplish his purposes for his glory and for the good of his people. That is to say sin never wins. Wickedness never gets the upper hand. Evil never triumphs.

As Michael Horton said, God does not act in and with evil but over and against it as church and said, God therefore properly does not will sin to be done but only wills to permit it. As we see in the Joseph narrative, as we see in this passage as David f flees for his life, as we see in the greater great story of the crawls and repeater on that day at Pentecost where he's preaching that great sermon to the Jews that are gathered there

and he will say to them in that great sermon, he will say this, Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. He wielded it and then he says, you crucified and you killed by the hands of Lola men.

God governs all things including wickedness, including rebellion, including sin, but he does so in a way that he doesn't do violence as a Westminster confession of faith. He doesn't do violence to his creatures that as you and I were created as human beings with wills. And so though he ordains all things, I always choose what I do. I'm not a robot, I'm not a puppet. I choose always from the options that are available to me

and I will always choose in any given moment what I most desire in that given moment.

God and the sovereignty never violates our persons we choose and equally never violates His holiness as he ordains all things.

Even these choices, as the Westminster says, even secondary causes are not taken away by God's will but rather established by his sovereign will. He's actively present in his creation, willing and working according to his good pleasure. So why when Absalom has a a oph fills wise, persuasive, present counsel, does Absalom still ask for who shines counsel? The answer is because not only was a hitha fell present, God was

he actively rules. He actively orders and directs all things. He's not absent.

Another way of saying this, he's with you.

He's with you and Jesus, those wonderful words that he says is He's getting ready bodily to ascend to the right hand of the Father. He he's going there bodily to heaven. And what does he say? He reassures the disciples by saying low, I am with you always. I'm with you always. Even to the end of the age. And what did he ascend to? A throne.

He rules and his rule and his reign is active in this world because he's present in this world.

He's not idol, he's present.

And here in this text we witness it and you let kings plot together, let enemies plot together our God reigns and he's present.

Second, the preservation of God, God and his providence is always preserving his people according to his covenant. Love always who shy gives His counsel. He, he notes that in verse seven, hit O is known for good counsel. He says, but this time the council of hit O has given, he says is not good and hue points out. But David, he, he's a, he's a mighty warrior. Everybody knows that David has been a mighty warrior. He also points out that he's surrounded by mighty men.

These are courageous men. They're stirred up right now like a a she bear having her cubs taken away and he, and he says to them, he says, look, don't you know who shy says that even now because he knows war so well, he's probably already hiding himself. And yes, he has a smaller force, but what he'll do is he'll come out in just little ways and he'll attack your forces Absalom think gorilla warfare like Vietnam. And so you won't be able to secure a great victory.

What will happen is, is he will just do these little attacks and you will start to lose men and then what will come there will become a report back to Jerusalem. Not that David is dead, but that Absalom has lost men.

So Hue says, I got a better idea. How about we call all the nation out from Dan de Beersheba, we get a Lord army, massive army and we go out after him and we go out and we go out after him. But instead of this time as a hitha, Phil was saying and he's the head of that army and so he gets the praise. You lead the army Absalom and you'll come back not only as king but you'll come back regaled as he who is the conquer

and everyone liked it. And notice verse 14 and Absalom and all of the men in Israel said, the Council of Whoe, the archive is better than the Council of HiTA fill. But now this is the key, isn't it? It's what he says. Immediately after that the author gives you some behind the scenes commentary for the Lord had ordained to defeat the good council of Hitha fill so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. This is an explicit text about the providence of God.

Why did God ordained to defeat the good counsel of Hitha so that he might bring harm upon absm? Why? Because God was preserving his people. He was preserving his covenant king. He was preserving the line of David so the Messiah would come into the world so that he might have a bride for his son. Our God is a God who preserves his people

by this new accepted counsel. David is given time to retreat, to continue to see God's preserving providence and the hiding of the messengers and the will of Baharim. We see it as David and his army cross of the Jordan to escape the army of Absalom. And none of this is by chance, none of this is by accident. None of this is just happenstance, but it's all according to the will and the decree of God because he preserves his people.

You say, but that's not always the case, pastor Jason. That's easy to say. I mean this person loses their job and you say, well, I could see how the Lord maybe was working that together for their good and he was preserving them or this Christian is slandered or gossiped about. No, I can understand that he can work that for good and he is preserving that Christian in the long run, but what about the martyrs of the faith?

Sure doesn't seem like he preserved them.

Uh, but he does and he did eternally.

You know when the psalmist, when David the psalmist says in Psalm 23 that we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it's a shadow of death.

It's not the full dark cloud of death. It's not what it once was. It's just a shadow. When Jesus, on two separate occasions about Jairus's daughter and about Lazarus, he will say they have fallen asleep. He, he is referencing the fact that death is not what it was

When, when Paul says that death has lost its sting, it's a neutered enemy. The Christian, the person that is after God that is united with Christ truly goes from life to life. They're preserved

and those martyrs before the throne have all the more glory and glory as you see in Revelation

preserved unto even greater glory.

It's a great sermon clip of Vodi Baum who died this past year.

He was a preacher and he was preaching a sermon. I don't know when it was, but he was preaching a sermon and he was talking on this point and he said to the congregation, he said, when they hear a rumor one day, he said that Vodi Baum is no more. He then starts screaming. He says, don't you believe it? Don't you dare believe it

though I die. I will rise with Christ. Don't you pity me? He screamed in that sermon,

God in his providence preserves his people. We go from life to life

no matter what the world is screaming around you, no matter how many enemies are surrounding you, no matter how many lies or or crossing across your mind, no matter how many fears are trying to find a way to grip your heart, he preserves his people. You go from life to life

or God is a God of providence. He's working all things for our good. He's preserving us. Can't always see it, don't always understand it, but it's true.

Third, the provision of God, provision of God in God's providence. He provides. You see it here in the text in both what is taken away and what is given. Verse 23, we read of Ophthal leaving the meeting. He saddles his donkey, he leaves Jerusalem, he goes to whatever his city is, and there he goes to his house and there he hangs himself. Even the most brilliant and powerful of the enemies of God's people become nothing.

Nothing. And it wasn't Joab that slayed him. It wasn't David who slayed him. It was God. God had numbered his days.

Del r Davis says this, he says, the man who lifted up his hand against Yahweh's appointed king, his end is a sign of what will happen to all the enemies of that king and kingdom. You cannot attack the kingdom of God without sooner or later being crushed by the power of God. Every single enemy of God and his people will be laid to waste every single one.

And the more you live in this world, I think the sweeter that truth becomes,

cancer doesn't win,

sickness doesn't win, death doesn't remain. Atheists don't triumph. Islam doesn't get to raise a banner for all of eternity. Hell gets no claim. The devil is banished. All his and or enemies are being laid as a footstool beneath his feet. All of them. A day is coming when you will have zero enemies, zero.

And you will be seated with him upon his throne and all of them will be laid at your feet.

But it's not just what he takes away. That's what he gives

In this providence. When David arrives at Maha name, he's created by various individuals. When they give him and his followers verse 28 beds, basins, earthly vessels that they had to leave everything they, they have nothing lost all their possessions.

They're given wheat, barley, flour, parch, grain beans and lentils, honey and curds and sheep and cheese, all for David and for the people with him. Quote for they said, the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.

The givers of goods and the givers of food in this passage are moved with compassion for David and his followers. So they provide, why were they moved with compassion for David and his followers to the point that they were willing to give in such a demonstrative way? Why?

Because The sovereign God of the universe was moved with compassion for David and his followers and so was giving to them in a demonstrative Way.

This Is the same God when the person of his son looks out upon the crowd and says they are like sheep without a shepherd, Has compassion.

The same Lord who looked upon all of those that were gathered, the 4,000 and the 5,000 a soul, that they were hungry and had compassion. So he multiplied the loaves of bread and the fish, the the same Lord who said, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest, compassion, the same God who said I am slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

James will say it this way. Every good gift, Every Good gift comes from above from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to Change. This sovereign God does not change. He's Compassionate towards his people and provides for his People. And every good Gift is from Him.

Why? How? Because he is a God of providence. He sustains, he preserves, he governs. David, experienced every child of God, experiences it from our highs to our lows, from our sin to our holiness in life through death.

God is a God of providence. He's present, he preserves and he provides praise be to him. Let's pray.

Our Father, we are thankful this morning that you are a God who is not distant, who is present in this world, who is active, moving ordaining, sustaining, governing.

May we never doubt that you are a God who is present. May we never doubt that you are a God who preserves. May we never doubt that you are a God who provides.

And when those doubts and those lies come across our mind and our hearts, would you oh, remind us once again of who you are, who the scriptures declare you to be and what we have experienced for we know it to be true.

We want to give you the praise and the glory that is your to do. We pray all of this in the strong name of Christ. Amen.