[0:00] 2 Samuel chapter 16, 2 Samuel chapter 16 is where we will be at this evening, 2 Samuel chapter 16. As you're turning there, this will be more, you know, there are teaching and preaching moments.
[0:17] The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4 that God gave some to be teachers and preachers. So there are sermons to be preached and then there are sermons to be taught.
[0:28] We have application to each of those and we can make our way to the cross. Charles Spurgeon used to say, wherever you're at, dig a ditch and go straight to the cross.
[0:40] So wherever you're at, plow a straight row to the cross and find your application there. But as we study throughout the Old Testament, we see so much truth to be taught and so much revelation there that is given.
[0:53] And it just teaches us not only the attributes of God, but also the attributes of man. And this evening is one such passage. And I will tell you, I've never, well, it's been a number of years since I've preached through the book of Ephesians.
[1:07] And never have we preached through it here. But in my youthfulness, I preached through it in my church.
[1:18] I pastor prior to this. And there's no way I did it justice. I have just been so overwhelmed with the book of Ephesians and just feel so inadequate.
[1:28] Just really opening up that book because that is so rich. So I'm excited about going through it with you and I'm excited about getting into it. It's a challenge each and every week to study it because it is just so deep.
[1:42] It's contained in just six short chapters. But we are 2 Samuel chapter 16 this evening. If you remember, let's put it in context, okay? Absalom's revolt is in full swing now.
[1:54] In the 15th chapter, Absalom declares himself to be king. David flees. Remember the premises for David's fleeing of Jerusalem.
[2:06] It was to spare Jerusalem the ransacking and the pillage of when Absalom and his men came in. Right? We saw just the mercy of the king.
[2:17] It's his rightful throne. It is his place. But he understands, too, he's being chastised for his sin. The corrective action of God is falling upon him.
[2:27] He gets that. The prophet had declared these things would happen to him. But we saw so much application and so much foreshadowing of Christ through the 15th chapter.
[2:39] We can carry that throughout the whole ordeal without separating the disciplinary action of God upon David for his sin and his rebellion. We also see the sovereignty of God even in the midst of all of these things and the foreshadowing of what's going to take place in the true king of kings and lord of lords who is Christ.
[2:58] Now, that's a good way of saying God is just in disciplining David for his sin. But God is doing so much more than just showing us his discipline on David.
[3:09] Okay? Because God is just in every discipline that he deals out to every one of us. But praise be to God, the disciplinary action of God on our lives isn't written in the word of God for everybody to read it.
[3:21] Right? So we don't just look and go, that's what David deserves. David's getting what he's deserved. We need to pause and stop and see, I mean, how much more discipline did God take upon all of his people throughout history?
[3:34] But why is this one recorded in such great detail? What is it pointing to that is so much more than that? And when we saw that in the king's response to these things and how he humbled himself, he really accepted this.
[3:50] He took on the disciplinary action of God. We saw even the foreshadowing of how he left Jerusalem and he went through the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives. He ascended the mount.
[4:00] Now, so much of that just points to the king later on that would leave Jerusalem, depart from Jerusalem, go through the same valley, ascend that same mount on the night of our discipline, not his discipline.
[4:11] But we come this evening to the 16th chapter and we see not necessarily what's going on with the king, but I want you to see true hearts revealed. True hearts revealed.
[4:23] Okay? So when I read the text, you'll see it. We encounter four men in this text. I'm not counting Absalom. Okay? We encounter four men in this text in connection with what's going on in the life of the king.
[4:37] And we see who they truly are. We see their hearts being revealed because of what's taking place with the king. Everything is centered around that, this rebellion, this revolt.
[4:48] And we encounter these four men and we see their true hearts being revealed. You see them being exposed. Because when we open up the New Testament and we read of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, and we look in the New Testament slows down right there in the garden, right?
[5:08] That last, what we call Passion Week, it slows down in the gospel. And it takes so much time focusing on what happens. Why? Because the hearts of men are revealed about what they truly are.
[5:21] The hearts of men are revealed when they come in contact with the king. Right? For three and a half years, Judas looked okay until that night. The Pharisees, their true hearts are revealed on that night.
[5:35] Pilate and all the hearts of the leaders of the Roman Empire are revealed on that night and the day following. We see the hearts of men being reviled. The true heart of that, the thieves on the cross on either side of him are revealed on that day.
[5:49] Right? One is mocking. The other is repenting. Hearts are revealed in connection with the king. And we see this here in the 16th chapter. So let's read it. We'll read it together and then we'll get into it.
[6:03] The Word of God says, Now when David had passed a little beyond the summit, that's the Mount of Olives. Now when David had passed a little beyond the summit, behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of saddled donkeys, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, and a hundred summer fruits and a jug of wine.
[6:22] The king said to Ziba, Why do you have these? And Ziba said, The donkeys are for the king's household to ride, and the bread and the summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for whoever is faint in the wilderness to drink.
[6:34] Then the king said, And where is your master's son? That's Mephibosheth, by the way, okay? And Ziba said to the king, Behold what he is saying in Jerusalem, for he said today the house of Israel will restore, or the house of Israel will restore the kingdom of my father to me.
[6:51] So the king said to Ziba, Behold all that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours. And Ziba said, I prostrate myself, let me find favor in your sight, O my lord the king. When king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shammai, the son of Gerah.
[7:11] He came out cursing continually, as he came, he threw stones at David, and all the servants of the king, of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men who were at his right hand and at his left.
[7:22] Thus Shammai said when he cursed, Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed and worthless fellow. The Lord has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned.
[7:33] And the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed. Then Abishai, the son of Zariah, said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?
[7:47] Let me go over now and cut off his head. But the king said, What have I to do with you, O son of Zariah? If he curses, and if the Lord has told him, Curse David, then who shall say, Why have you done so?
[8:00] Then David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who came out for me, seeks my life. How much more now this Benjamite? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him, Perhaps the Lord will look on my affliction, and return good to me, instead of his cursing this day.
[8:18] So David and his men went on his way, and Shimei went along on the hillside parallel with him, and as he went, he cursed and cast stones, and threw dust at him. The king and all the people who were with him arrived weary, and he refreshed himself there.
[8:31] Then Absalom, and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. Now it came about when Hushai the archite, David's friend came to Absalom. The Hushai said to Absalom, Long live the king, long live the king.
[8:47] Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why do you not go with your friend? Then Hushai said to Absalom, No, for whom the Lord, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain.
[9:01] Besides, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father's presence, so I will be in your presence. Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your advice.
[9:15] What shall we do? Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go into your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.
[9:27] So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. The advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was if one inquired of the word of God.
[9:39] So was all the advice of Ahithophel regarded by both David and Absalom. 2 Samuel chapter 16, True hearts revealed. True hearts.
[9:49] Four men exposed by the king. We see their true hearts. The true hearts that we see are the hearts of Ziba, the hearts of Shimei, the hearts of Ahithophel, and the heart of Hushai.
[10:01] Those are your four men. Okay? Take David, and you take Absalom out of the picture. These men are exposed by the king in his darkest hour.
[10:14] I'll go ahead and tell you that three of them are bad, and one is good. We'll leave it at that. I know on the forefront, you read this, you say, Oh, there are two that are great, and there are two that seem to be bad.
[10:26] But we'll get into it, and we'll see why. Okay? The first exposure we see is the man of deception. The man of deception. It tells us that when David had passed a little beyond the summit, behold, Ziba came.
[10:41] We need to understand now that David is out of the city. He is beyond access to the people in the city. He has left the city, so therefore, no word is coming out from Jerusalem to David.
[10:52] And it is at this point when he has went a little further beyond that Ziba shows up, and Ziba comes, and he's got the two saddled donkeys with him, and kind of rightly so, David is a little suspicious about all these bounteous gifts that are put there before him, and he asks him, What are these for?
[11:06] And Ziba says, Oh, well, this is for my king. This is for his men. This is in case anybody's weary. And here are two donkeys for my king and his whole household to ride upon. Be careful, because we are subject to do exactly what David did.
[11:19] That is, we are subject to judge by first appearances. And it seems as if what Ziba is doing is being a blessing. It seems as if what Ziba is doing is being loyal.
[11:29] It seems as if what Ziba is doing is done in righteousness. But be careful, because hearts are really exposed in the presence of the king. Ziba comes, and he brings these gifts, and he presents these gifts to the king, and he presents them with a declared motive that he wants to be loyal to the king.
[11:46] And the king asks a question, and it's a question which we must pay attention to. What has happened of your master's son? That is, where is Mephibosheth? Why isn't Mephibosheth here?
[11:58] Ziba gives the answer. And in Ziba's answer, he says, well, Mephibosheth says, now that David is gone, the kingdom is coming back to me. So he is painting Mephibosheth in a bad light. Because what we have here is a man of deception.
[12:12] You need to understand who Ziba is. Ziba was the groundkeeper of the inheritance of Mephibosheth. That is, all of the land that belonged to Saul, which would have rightly belonged to David when David ascended the throne.
[12:25] When David brought back Mephibosheth to be a blessing to a descendant of Jonathan based upon his covenant relationship with Jonathan, he gave to Mephibosheth all the land that belonged to his grandfather Saul, which would have been a substantial amount of land.
[12:39] And he gave it to him, but since Mephibosheth is lame in both feet, he cannot tend that land. So Ziba and his sons tend that land. He is the groundkeeper, if you will. He is the caretaker of all of the land.
[12:51] And now he comes and he makes this bow declaration, essentially that Mephibosheth has thumbed the nose, so to say, at David and says, I'm glad that David's out of here. The problem with that is that Mephibosheth is set at the table and he's been accepted as one of the king's sons.
[13:06] He has dined with him, right? He's been enriched by him. He's all these things. And David, wrongly, makes this real quick judgment and says, within all that belongs to Mephibosheth I have given to you, Ziba.
[13:20] He gives the land, right? Everything that belongs to him, he gives it to him. The reason this is wrong is because, as Paul Harvey would say, we don't know the rest of the story until David comes back into Jerusalem.
[13:30] And in the 19th chapter, starting in the 24th verse, you find Mephibosheth coming back on the scene. In chapter 19, verse 24, Mephibosheth comes and he has not taken care of his feet.
[13:40] He has not taken care of himself. He is unkempt and he has left himself that way since David has left. And David asked Mephibosheth, why did you not come to me? The truth begins to be exposed then because Mephibosheth says, your servant Ziba has betrayed me.
[13:57] He tricked me and he left and he has cast me in a bad lot. Now I'm paraphrasing a little bit. You can read it or we'll get to it in a few weeks. Essentially, what has happened is Ziba is deceiving because he saw this moment of the king's darkest hour as a moment of opportunity of self-promotion and self-exaltation.
[14:17] He saw this opportunity and said, Mephibosheth cannot go himself but I can go and I can make myself look better than him. And he saw the darkest and lowest moment of the king to be a moment of opportunity for him who was an opportunist.
[14:33] And in his deception he was granted all the land of Saul. The humility of Mephibosheth when we read this later on, David says, well I've already given him my word that he has all the land so you'll have to split it.
[14:45] Mephibosheth says, what is the land? I don't care about the land. Let him have the land. I'm just glad that the king is back. See, the reality is that there are some when the king of kings is put on public display see this as an opportunity for gain.
[15:01] Thus was Judas Iscariot. In his deception he wanted to be one who would profit from the misfortune of the king.
[15:14] Satan has a way of moving in the hearts of people and moving in their weaknesses and we find Ziba doing this. We find him being one later on that pays the ultimate price.
[15:25] Because of his deception when David dies, Solomon because David tells Solomon to be careful of Ziba because he is a man of deception. Solomon tells him and I know I'm getting ahead of myself and we'll eventually get there but I'm just trusting that by the time we're there you forget it and we'll have to read it together right?
[15:43] And we can look at it anew again. Solomon tells him that he cannot leave that land that he has to stay within the confines of Jerusalem that he must stay upon that land which he inherits. And for a number of years Ziba does that until one day some of his livestock wanders away and Ziba thinks oh well I can leave the land if I want to even though Solomon had told him the moment you leave you will die.
[16:03] Ziba leaves the land Solomon finds out and brings him back and he pays the ultimate price. Why? Because what he wanted was the land and that's all he got. A heart of deception really is revealed in the presence of the king and that heart shows itself for what it really and truly is and unfortunately when that heart leads itself its end is destruction.
[16:24] Number two we see a man of disdain. There's the man of deception there's the man of disdain. Ziba encounters the king we see his deception.
[16:36] It says and when the king had came to Bahurum behold there came from there a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei. Here's a man of disdain. Noah Webster defines disdain as having a heated hatred or animosity towards one that would hurl hatred at another to have contempt of heart and contempt of mind towards an individual and if there is a man that has that for king David then it is this man because as he comes in his humility remember David has his head covered his feet are bare he's weeping as he goes he's bearing the consequences of his sin what is worse than one of his own children the one who is the heir apparent to the throne who is now revolted against him and led even his counselor Ahithophel in this what is one who would come in this and David is broken and he's mourning over this and everybody that's going with him is also mourning and they're weeping and in this moment of sorrow when he comes to this place which is the land of the Benjamites because Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin we find here Shimei who comes out and begins to hurl abuse at him and throw stones at him and casting all these things in his manner because he has such disdain for the king he doesn't want anything to do with him he begins to call him a man of bloodshed he begins to declare his own guilt he begins to declare his own unworthiness to be a king because in Shimei's mindset
[17:57] David is only there because he usurped the throne from Saul because he's of the family of Saul right he wants to stay loyal to his own blood and he really has contempts for the anointed and the appointed of the Lord God's appointment of David to be king matters little because he has such disdain that he fails to look at the sin of Saul he fails to look at the reality that Saul had the kingdom ripped from him because he did not live according to the commandment of God and given to another who is more worthy all he sees is what his family could have profited all he sees is what he lost in that man and now he begins to hurl abuses and insults at him it is striking that when he does this and this is some of the humility that we saw of the king that David still had his mighty men David still had 600 traveling with him David still had all the soldiers and we know that David is a man of warfare David is a man of battle if David could face Goliath in the valley surely he could have faced Absalom on his way in right there is nothing that could have resisted David so the only thing that led to Absalom being able to come in was
[19:02] David's humility and surrendering and giving that up and here it says that David has his mighty men beside him don't lose point of that or don't lose sight of that David's mighty men are beside him while the abuses and the curses and the stones are literally being hurled at him by this man of disdain and yet the king does nothing as a matter of fact those with the king wanted to go lop his head off right what is this dead dog that he should curse my lord the king I'm going to go take his head off his shoulders and David says don't do that who are you why because no abuse that was hurled at David could ever appear to be greater than the sin he knew of himself he says if God has told this man to curse me what is that to you my own son wants my life right now should not this man over here see David didn't see himself in an exalted position David saw himself as being worthy of the discipline which he was receiving and he left the outcome into the hand of the Lord he said if the
[20:08] Lord wills he will bring me back and restore me he understood that we are reminded of the king who went through that land who was mocked and beaten and never said a word he went as the book of Isaiah says like a lamb being led to slaughter his face was marred beyond recognition he was beaten and bruised for our sins he carried and bore the weight of our sin knowing that he was guiltless and sinless but yet our sins he bore because he knew that the mockery of men was fitting for the sin of mankind he knew that the price that he was paying was fully worth what we had to have he knew these realities it says in the book of Isaiah that God was pleased to lay upon him our chastisement and part of that chastisement were the abuses that were owed to him and you remember they put the sign above his head the king of the Jews that's only partly true because he is king of the Jews but he's also king of kings and lord of lords right he's the king of all the world and mankind walking by him the hearts of men were revealed when they stood at the foot of cross and they hurled abuse to him and said he saved others let him save himself and they mocked him and they ridiculed him and they had such disdain for he who was dying for them but this shouldn't surprise us because even today nothing would bring up more disdain in the hearts of some people other than the person and work of Jesus
[21:37] Christ because hearts are really revealed in the presence of that king he divides he separates he angers he who paid the price he who bore the guilt he who took our shame is quite often the recipient of such hatred such animosity and such disdain because hearts are revealed isn't it a shame that he who really is the king humbly at least up until this present hour receives such hatred being hurled his way but there will be a day David says if the Lord wills I will come back David marched back into Jerusalem David marched over this same hill David encountered this same individual again I'm getting ahead of myself who comes to him and humbles himself later and David spares him and says go your little way right but there will be a day where the king of kings comes back on a white horse with flaming eyes of fire who comes back clothed with the righteousness that is his own who has the sword of the spirit hanging on his side who has the name of the
[23:19] Ahithophel it tells us that Absalom comes into Jerusalem and Ahithophel is with him he has this man I've already told you that Ahithophel probably has ulterior motives in his joining of Absalom in this revolt and it is actually probably Ahithophel that gives this revolt any kind of credence or any kind of power because Ahithophel is the leading counselor of King David and when he joined himself to Absalom in Hebron that gave some credit to Absalom being declared as King it is the presence of Ahithophel that gives a little credit to his popularity because apart from any of the counselors of the king then there would be no credence to what he is declaring well you're the king of who the common man well that really doesn't matter because all the wise men are with David so we're going to stay there but Ahithophel probably has a motive because he's the grandfather of Bathsheba so he has seen the sin first hand we don't know but we can at least ascertain that what happened with Uriah probably bothers him a little bit he was
[24:24] David's counselor before these events he was David's counselor during these events he was David's counselor for a little bit after these events and then he joins Absalom because he has seen sin unchecked and unchecked sin has really began to reveal the heart of this man he comes into the city with Absalom and it tells us in our passage that the council of Ahithophel those days was seen as the word of God by David and by Absalom that is it was as certain as if God had said something this is the reason that the next man we will meet Hushai is left there in Jerusalem by David and we'll get to that we don't want to get ahead of ourselves but Ahithophel is one who gives such good counsel and we notice that Absalom doesn't seek the will of God or the word of God he seeks!
[25:13] the counsel of this man and when he comes into Jerusalem the word that was what you have done in secret will be done to you in public so midday they put a tent upon the roof of the king's house for all of the city to see and everybody knows what is going on but this word to make yourself odious in the side of the king really what we find here is Ahithophel is making an unrepairable breach!
[25:56] chance for repairing the relationship because for the usurper of the throne to take on the concubines of the king was a public declaration that I have taken his place and there will be no way that we ever repair the gap Ahithophel gives his counsel because he doesn't want just to remove the king he wants to destroy the king the heart of this man is for destruction the heart of this man would be not just to cast David out but to remove him completely and to destroy his very presence we see this played out in the life of Christ we see this really if we bring the type and the foreshadowing over to the Pharisees their desire was not just to remove Christ but to destroy him they are those who give counsel to Judas Ascariah they are those who have a mockery of a trial when the
[26:58] Sanhedrin is gathered together with the Pharisees and the Sadducees in the middle of the night they are those who go against their own rules and regulations and find him guilty they are those who want to destroy this king they are those who think they have good advice that all should follow we turn the page into the next chapter or we look just across the page into the next chapter and you will find that this man whose heart was set on destruction will eventually end up destroying himself Ahithophel is one of those in scripture that takes his own life ultimately because his counsel was not followed we will see that his heart set on destruction in the end only destroys himself the one religious sect that we see in the life of Christ is still in existence today the Pharisees the Pharisees are the legalists they're still there at that time the
[28:00] Sanhedrin and the high priest was comprised most of the Sadducees and the Sadducees thought they had their way Sadducees are no longer in existence! because they've died out because their heart of hatred has really destroyed themselves we see this being played out throughout history we see it being lived out throughout scripture but we see that the hearts of men are revealed in the presence of the king there's the man of deception there's the man of disdain there's the man of destruction we we ask ourselves when we come into the presence of the king are we that man or are we that woman right we check our own heart we want to be the last one number four we see the man of dependability the man of dependability mark my word because I say it quite often and I'm so fortunate that we see it being played out in the
[29:01] Old Testament this way and it is always good to keep in mind because when you're reading hard passages of scripture you need to look for this and I know you probably tire of hearing it but it's worth repeating God always has his man or woman God always has his person even in the darkest moments even when it's all falling apart even when it seems as if the plan and purposes of God are not being worked out according to his sovereignty and according to his intended will when it seems as if nothing could go right God always has his man when every intention and thought of man was desperately wicked God looked across the earth and he found Noah right God always has his man when Cain kills Abel God enables Eve to give birth to
[30:01] Seth I mean we could go throughout scripture and see this in the time of the period of the judges I mean there's still Ruth right she's still there and in that time we find that Ruth is just being committed to Naomi and going and going back and we see this God always has his people in those dark dark days God always has them reading and some of you right now are reading through the books of the minor prophets and those are some of the darkest days of the nation of Israel some of them during the Babylonian captivity many of them right at the beginning of the Babylonian captivity some of them as the Babylonian captivity is about to come and disciplinary action and we're reminded that God always has his man even in those hours maybe it's a shepherd that hears it maybe it's someone of priestly descent hears the word but
[31:03] God always has his person and we see this person in Hushai who is defined again as the friend of King David isn't it good to be defined as a friend of the king because the 15th chapter ends so Hushai David's friend came into the city and Absalom came into Jerusalem and then we meet it again in the 16th chapter in verse 16 now it came about he's the friend of the king he comes and he is a man of dependability his heart is going to be revealed here he doesn't look very dependable look at what he said I'll cause you to pump the brakes and let's look at what he said around our house we have this saying words are important word is important what we say we want to say what we mean and mean what we say and I say that that's really when we come to the word of God words are important we say what we mean and we mean what we say because Hushai has a purpose for being there the king had told him he wanted to go with
[32:06] David and David says you'll do me greater help if you stay in Jerusalem because then you can thwart the council of Ahithophel which by the way is exactly what he does we'll see that later you can find out what's going on in the inner circle and then you can report back to the priest and his sons and they can bring word back to me all these things come about the only reason this could happen was because the heart of that man was a heart of dependability he said he doesn't look very dependable let's look exactly what he says and what he doesn't say because remember he is standing in front of the leader of this revolt Absalom he is standing in front of the one who declared himself king and let's just see how dependable he is to David it says that when he came there Absalom looked at him he says long live the king long live the king now what does he say long live the king it really matters which king he's talking about right he does not say long live Absalom long live Absalom he says long live the king long live the king because it is absolutely possible to be in presence of the enemy and declare allegiance to the king he is saying what he is saying and he means long live the king we keep going on because
[33:12] Absalom says is your loyalty is this he said did you not go no I didn't go for listen to this and read it for whom the Lord this people and all the men of Israel have chosen his I will be and with him I will remain now he gives this threefold declaration right whom the Lord has chosen this people have chosen and all the men have chosen his I will be and with him I will remain Absalom vainly assumes that's himself but did the Lord choose Absalom no did all of the people of Israel choose Absalom no in his pride and in his vanity Absalom said oh he's talking about me the Lord chose
[34:12] David all of Israel went to David all of the men stood before David Hushai's declaration is that man I will be I will serve that man because how he says and what he says matters and he says besides whom should I serve should I not serve listen to this in the presence of his son who the one that God has chosen I'm going to serve in the presence of his son he doesn't say I'm going to serve his son he says I'm going to serve in the presence of his son as I have served in your father's presence look at what it says so I will be in your presence notice the dependability of Hushai never once does he declare allegiance to Absalom he says I will be here and I'm going to serve in your presence but I'm serving the king which is exactly what
[35:12] David had asked him to do friend listen to me when the king departed the king left behind a friend and he asked the friend to be in the world but to not be of the world right to know where his allegiance stood to know who he was committed to but to be in the presence of it Jesus says it this way in John chapter 17 father I pray for them for they will be here when I'm with you right I'm making I know I'm paraphrasing a little bit father I don't pray that you take them out king and their allegiance is to another though they're in the presence of someone else they may be in the presence of the enemy but they're serving the king in his presence and they're serving the king which you have chosen oh father and they're going to serve the king of kings and lord of lords in the presence of the enemy and lord I pray that their hearts they will know where their allegiance stands friend
[36:24] Hushai is that man he never wants to declare his allegiance to Absalom Absalom in his pride assumes he must be speaking of him but we shouldn't be surprised when pride gets in the way of the enemy we have to understand the dependability of the friend of the king and we want to be those people who have hearts of dependability!
[36:51] I may have to be in front of him but I will know that when I am in his presence I am really serving another I may have to be here and I may be sitting here and walking you say well he sure got real close well let the enemy believe what he wants to believe because if he wants to believe a lie he can I know I know I'm here for a reason and I'm here to serve the true king in the presence of the enemy it's the same way we ended the last message we had when we were looking at this because here is the people that God has left behind right when the king departs he always has his people he always has his men he always has his women and he leaves them among the enemy and he you are going to have to be in peculiar circumstances you are going to have to be in uncomfortable realms but you need to understand where your dependability lies and you need to have settled in your heart which king you are serving we see this here we see it in this man but more importantly we see in this chapter four men with their hearts exposed!
[38:12] Ziba looked good on the outside but really he was self serving he was a man of deception we meet Shimei who is there cursing he has hatred for the king Ahithophel really is a man of destruction he just wants to destroy the king praise be to God when meet Hushai he is a man of dependability his heart is set on serving the king even if he is in the presence of the hearts testify about us because the hearts are revealed the hearts are revealed when the king is exposed and we want to ask ourselves what do our hearts say we'll fall in one of those categories but we want to be those who walk in dependability let's pray and then we'll be dismissed Lord I thank you so much for this night Lord I thank you for your word I thank you for the encouragement and even the challenge that we can have in our study of it together so Lord as we walk through this week that you have before us
[39:20] Lord we pray that we would be men and women of dependable hearts Lord that you've called us to serve in this wonderful time of opportunity is it easy no but is there great opportunity yes Lord may we know who our allegiance stands with may we know the king of kings and lord of lords who's still on the throne and may we serve you with dependability with conviction with love and adoration and Lord may we serve you in a place where you've put us and may it be for your glory so that on that day there be no shame in our hearts there be no shame on our face when the king returns again because we know the king is coming so Lord let us let us serve you faithfully now while the opportunity is present and we ask it all in Christ's name amen so
[41:01] Thank you.
[41:31] Thank you.