2 SAMUEL 4 PURSUE GODS HEART MORE THAN PEOPLE2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 4 Pursue Gods Heart More Than People

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. 2 Samuel chapter 4, continuing our journey through the life of David, watching him journey towards the throne and the fulfillment of all that God has promised him.

And we're going to get to see that take place in chapter 5, so we're almost there. But one more chapter to get through before David is on the throne over all Israel, and some important truths to consider this evening here in 2 Samuel chapter 4, as we continue to consider what it means and how it looks to pursue God's heart.

Chapter 4 of 2 Samuel is a short chapter, and so let's go ahead and begin by just reading through the whole chapter. We'll start in verse 1 and just follow along as I work the way down. 2 Samuel 4, verse 1 says, When Saul's son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled.

Now Saul's son had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baana, the name of the other Recheb, the sons of Rimen, the Barothite of the children of Benjamin, for Baroth was part of Benjamin. Because the Barothites fled to Gittim and have been sojourners there until this day. Jonathan, Saul's son, who had a son who was lame in his feet...

He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. Then the sons of Rimen, the Berlethite, Rechab, and Baana, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who was lying on his bed at noon."

And they came there all the way into the house as though to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah, his brother, escaped. For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom. Then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him, and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain. And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, Here is the head of Ish-bosheth.

Verse 1.

Thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag, the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. How much more when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth? So David commanded his young men and they executed them.

Here in 2 Samuel chapter 4, we have maybe what you would not consider as the most exciting chapters of all time.

But it is an interesting account that takes place. And as we talk about this chapter this evening, I've titled the message, Pursue God's Heart More Than People. And that's kind of an incomplete thought, but you can kind of fill in the blank after the idea of the people. So more than you pursue people's support or help or favor or, you know, the things that we look to people to provide for us, we...

We need to understand the right perspective and put God's heart in priority before all of those things. And we can see that demonstrated in a few ways here in this chapter this evening. And we'll work our way through those looking at three different aspects of pursuing God's heart more than people.

But before we get into the passage, I want to just kind of throw out the concept so that we can begin to think about it and allow God to speak to our hearts because there is a balance that we have to maintain. There is a balance that God calls us to in our walk with Him and in our relationships with the people around us. I've shared many times, and I think it's clear throughout the scriptures, that God has not designed us to be independent from other people.

God has designed us to be interdependent, that we are the body of Christ, that we can't be all that God wants us to be just under the idea of it's just me and Jesus. I don't need anybody else in my life. That doesn't work. That God has designed us to be reliant upon and permanently connected to other people in our lives.

The balance, though, the thing that we have to keep in mind and keep our hearts in check and regard, there's a tension to that truth, and that is we also need to guard our hearts so that people don't become so important that they replace God in our hearts and in our lives.

Jesus said very clearly, if you don't love your father, or if you don't love me more than your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters, your family, you know, if you don't love me above everybody else, you cannot be my follower.

And so there is this tension that God has to be first, but you can't go too far and say, well, it's just me and Jesus. I don't need anybody else. I don't need to pray with anybody. I don't need to talk to anybody. I don't need anybody's help. You know, I don't need to hear from God through anybody else. Like, you know, it's just me and Jesus. That's all that I need.

Well, that's too far. That's not balanced. And that is inappropriate. And yet, on the other side, we can't say, you know, I absolutely need these people in such a way that, well, I don't depend on God. I don't rely upon God. I'm not looking to hear from God directly. But, you know, you tell me what is God saying. You tell me what does God want. You provide the help and the support and meet my needs. And there are these two sides that we can kind of go back and forth between sometimes.

And this evening, I want to encourage you to find the balance, but that you would pursue God's heart and make sure that it's more than

then whatever it is you're looking for people to provide in your life, we need people's support. We need their help. But we need to make sure that we're resting in God to provide that support and the help. And many times he does use the people around us, but that our eyes and our focus and our heart is on God. And we'll see that a few different ways as we work our way through the passage this evening. The first way that we'll look at is found in verses 1 through 4.

And here I want to encourage you to trust God more than people, more than you trust the people around you. Now, hopefully you have people around you that you can trust.

Hopefully there are people around you that are solid support that you can rest upon, that you can look to and trust in. But at the same time, you need to trust God more than those people that are around you. Check out verse 1. It says, This really centers around this verse here in verse 1.

Saul's son hears about Abner's death. We talked about Abner's death last week in chapter 3 of 2 Samuel and how Joab kind of underhandedly and sneakily killed Abner when he wasn't expecting it. Abner was the commander of the army for Israel, the northern kingdom at this point that was divided from the southern kingdom where David was the king. And so there was this tension between those guys and they were trying to work it out. But Joab...

said, no, I'm going to take out Abner because he killed my brother. And so now Abner is dead. The commander of Ish-bosheth's army is dead. And as we look at Ish-bosheth now, in verse 1, when it says Saul's son, it's talking about King Ish-bosheth. His commander is dead. Abner is dead. And the result is he gives up. He loses heart.

Now we get the impression from this passage, but also the passages leading up to it, that Ish-bosheth was not a very strong king. In fact, he was not a strong king at all. We have Abner, and we see him as a strong commander. He was in charge of the army. He was the one who was making decisions. He's the one who made Ish-bosheth king. He's the one who really maintained order for the nation and brought the people together together.

And here we can see that for Ish-bosheth, his trust was in Abner. So now that Abner has died, he lost heart. Now that Abner has died, the one that he trusted in, the one that he rested in, he's died. And so now Ish-bosheth has no foundation. Abner was his foundation.

And this is an example we need to learn from, that we don't make this mistake and trust people and make people our foundation when it's God who needs to be our foundation. And yes, God uses people in our lives, but we need to trust God more than

Now the next couple of verses, verses 2 through 4, kind of provide some context. As it talks about Israel being troubled, we get a better understanding of why Israel was troubled here in these verses. In verse 2, it says,

had two men who were captains of troops. So still talking about Ish-bosheth. And now that Abner is gone, he's got a couple guys who are captains there in the army who decide to take action.

Now, there's some talking about their family and how they've moved, as it talks about, you know, Bereth was part of Benjamin, but they fled in verse 3, and they've become sojourners and get them to this day. And what it's talking about there, what it's describing is when Saul and Jonathan died, it seems that the Philistines really took over much of the land of Israel.

And so there was this kind of dispersion that took place. And so there was this scattering, there was this fleeing and

Abner has been trying to bring the nation back together under Ish-bosheth as king. But now that Abner is gone, there's still all of these people scattered. And here these two brothers who were affected by the invasion of the Philistines into their territory are going to now try to take matters into their own hands and resolve this situation in the way that they think is best.

But so now we have a weak king who's given up. He's lost heart. He's completely distraught because the commander who was the one who was kind of like barely holding everything together, he's died. And so now who's going to take charge and who's going to lead the nation? Well, verse 4 introduces another guy.

Named Mephibosheth. And we're going to get more into the story and his place in 2 Samuel. I think it's chapter 9. Later on, David is going to invite Mephibosheth to be part of his family, essentially, and deal kindly with him. But you would understand that as Saul is the king, when he dies, well, the rain would pass on to one of his sons. Well, the only son surviving was Ishbosheth.

After Ish-bosheth, the next heir would be Mephibosheth because he was the other surviving descendant from Saul. He wasn't Saul's son, but he was Saul's grandson. And so Mephibosheth was there, but he was at this time about 12 years old. And it describes here his medical condition. He was lame. In verse 4, it says, Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in his feet and

He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened as she made haste to flee that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

And so it's probably describing that scene when the Philistines are coming. They're invading the land after the death of Saul and Jonathan. And the woman in charge of Mephibosheth gathers him up and runs off. But she's a little bit clumsy and they fall and he is severely injured. So he's lame for the rest of his life as a result of this scramble to make haste to flee.

And so the point here is that Mephibosheth is not in any shape to be a strong leader to bring the nation back around. He's 12 years old. He's lame. He's not going to be the hope of the nation. He's not going to be the one who brings everybody together and, you know, helps the nation stay together after the death of Abner, after, you know, the situation with Ish-bosheth and his losing heart, his giving up.

And so here again, it describes for us and gives us some context to understand what it means when it says all Israel was troubled. You could understand their condition. Their leader is a weak leader. The one who is really the power behind the throne, he's now dead. Now their leader has given up. He's lost heart. There's no one else in sight who can really take the reins and really be a solid support for this nation. And so all of Israel now is troubled.

specifically Ish-bosheth. He's troubled. He's lost heart because the one that he rested in, the one that he trusted in, is now gone. And here he is thinking, how can I survive without Abner? Have you ever lost heart in that way? You know, you've rested in someone or something and

had your hopes set, had your expectations, you know, set on certain things, and it was where your trust was. And when that doesn't come through, then you know what that's like to feel that losing heart. You know, you had built up. I remember when Kim and I were first, very, very, very first time, you know, we went to look for a house to purchase, right?

And, you know, we were ignorant and didn't know what to expect. And the very first house we looked at, we were like, oh, this is it. This is our house. And we're like, you know, this is just amazing how it worked out, you know. And hopes got kind of built. And, you know, we kind of started to plan our life in that home and think about how we would rearrange it and decorate it. And, you know, we put in the, how could they not accept our bid? You know what I mean? Like, it was just like, oh, yeah, it's so great. It's perfect. It's perfect.

And then, oh, no, that's not the house for you. And going through that process, oh, my goodness, we got to the end where we had put in, you know, bids on so many houses, we'd lost track. And we had learned to, well, we're just not going to put our hopes up. We're just going to expect we're not going to get the house, you know. It's like we don't want to keep going through that roller coaster, right? And you know what that's like to have that hope, that expectation, you know. You're kind of like holding your breath, like,

that's gonna fix it. You know what I mean? That's gonna be the solution. And that was Abner for Ish-bosheth. And the thing I want to encourage you with tonight is to make sure that first and foremost, it's God who fills that place in your heart, in your mind, in your soul, that you're trusting God more than people and more than anything else in your life.

I like what Pastor David Guzik said about this. He says, This is an important point for us to learn.

We are weak when we are trusting in man, when we're trusting in ourselves, when we're trusting in our strength, when we're trusting in our resources, or when we're trusting in others around us, or situations and circumstances around us. When our hope and our trust and our rest is in those things, we will find ourselves in a very weak position because we

Well, if you haven't discovered this already, you are going to fail yourself. You're not going to come through and be the solid support that you need. You can't. You're going to fall short, as well as everybody around us. We all fall short, and nobody can meet that need that you have like God can. Now, again, there is the balance, though. And because we've had the experience of

You put your hopes, you know, you put the bid on the house and then it fell through and it's like, well, I'm never going to bid on a house again. You know, I'm never going to, it's like, I don't want to go through that again. I don't want, and that can happen to us with people. We've

We have trusted in people. We have been let down. We have had those experiences. And then that can bring us to the point where it's just me and Jesus. I don't need anybody else. It's just me and Jesus. That's all that I need. And it's an overreaction. It's not where God wants us to be because, well, there is the balance. We need people in our lives.

We need to work with people and even trust in people, but we just have to be careful that we don't trust people more than we're trusting God. That God still remains first and foremost in our hearts and in our minds. We have to guard our hearts so that people don't replace God. And so I would ask you to consider this evening, where is your hope? What is it that you're hoping in?

Is it in God or is it in yourself or your achievements or some person? Where is your hope? Think about your future. What is it that your future is resting upon? Is it secure in the Lord or is it secure, you think, in some person, in some situation, in something? Your joy, where's your joy? Where's your joy?

Where do you find your joy? Is it found in God? Again, Ish-bosheth, you know, for all of these answers, Abner was his hope, Abner was his future, Abner was his joy, and when Abner is gone, he has lost heart. And that is the problem. When we put our hope and our trust in things, in people, in ourselves, more than in God. Trust God more than

than people. Again, we need people in our lives, but there is that balance we must maintain. Jesus says, if you don't love me more than everything else, then you're not worthy to follow me. You need to put Jesus first and really trust in him. He will use people in your life. And so we need to allow them in, but we must guard our hearts and trust the Lord first.

Well, as we continue on in verses 5 through 8, we get point number 2, and that gives us another thing to consider for our hearts and our relationship with trusting God more than people, and that is to seek to please God more than people. As we think about pursuing God's heart,

As we think about the people around us and the interactions that we have, the relationships that we have, and some of them are very deep and some of them are very important to us and that is appropriate and good. But in the midst of that, we need to keep centered on and to keep coming back to, it's God who I must please first. More than pleasing anybody else in my life, I need to please God first.

And what we're going to see happen is these two brothers, they work together to kill Ish-bosheth because they're trying to please David. Now, it's very clear they don't have any idea what's going to please David.

But their interpretation of what's going to please David is what motivates them to take the action that they take in putting Ish-bosheth to death. Again, in verse 5, it says, Then the sons of Rimen, the Barathite, Rechab and Baana, set out and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who is lying on his bed at noon. And they came there all the way into the house as though to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baana, his brother, escaped.

Here, these two brothers, they're looking at this situation. They've heard that Abner has died. They've seen that Ish-bosheth is not a strong king. He's not going to rally the troops and, you know, hold the nation together. It seems inevitable, you know, the nation's going to crumble. And so there's really only two obstacles left for the throne as far as their perspective and David is concerned. They know that David has been called to be king.

They know that and they'll testify of that. But there's two obstacles. The first is Ish-bosheth. The second is Mephibosheth. And that's why it goes through that history in those previous verses. So Mephibosheth, he's lame. He's 12 years old at this time. They're not threatened by him. They think, well, he's not going to take over. So we don't have to worry about him. Ish-bosheth, he's going to linger on for a while. So it would be best for us to just take him out so that David can take the throne.

And David will be so pleased with us that we have provided the kingdom for him and, you know, made these arrangements on his behalf. That's their perspective. It's distorted. It's uneducated, but that is their perspective. And verse 7 says, For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom. Then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain."

So it describes this scenario where they leave their house. They walk all day. They march all day. They arrive at Ish-bosheth's house at just the time where he's taking his afternoon nap. And they sneak into the house and

And they put him to death while he's sleeping in his bed. Now, you can understand this is a

a dishonorable way to kill somebody, right? This is not, you know, the honor and the badge of honor really to like die in battle or, you know, kind of like we talked about last week in chapter three, the death of Abner. It was a dishonorable death, not because of anything, you know, that Abner did, but because of the way that Joab killed him and here, the way that these two guys put to death Ish-bosheth, it's,

It's dishonorable. It's not a good approach that they take. And it's shameful what they do as they go and they kill him in his bed while he's sleeping. They cut off his head and then they escape all night, it says, through the plain. And so they leave his house. They run as fast as they can towards Hebron to meet up with David. And as they meet up with David in verse 8, they

They say, here is the head of Ish-bosheth. I don't know if they brought a silver platter along, but that's kind of the idea. They're like, you're welcome, David. Here you go. You ever have someone give you a gift and they're like, you're welcome. And you're like, I don't want that. You know, like, that's not a gift that I want or enjoy. It's not, this is what's happening here. These two guys think that they're giving a good gift. They're convinced that David is going to be so happy with them.

Because they say, here's the head of the son of Saul, your enemy. Remember that guy, David, who tried to kill you, who gave you so much grief and pain, and he tried to take you out so many times and made years of your life just miserable as you were out in the wilderness. Remember that guy? We've provided you the head of his son. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. We know. We're amazing. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Yes, we'll take all the rewards you want to give. Yes, yeah, we're awesome. You're welcome. That's what they're kind of thinking. That's what they're expecting. They're saying, look, this guy sought your life. His dad sought your life. And the Lord has avenged my Lord the King this day of Saul and his descendants. David.

Check out this head. Look what God has done for you. Man, isn't it amazing? The Lord has avenged you. You know, they're holding him by the hair of the head, you know, just like hanging there. The Lord has avenged you, you know, you're welcome. Really convinced. David is going to be so pleased. But they don't understand the heart of David. They don't understand that although Saul considered David an enemy,

David never considered Saul an enemy. David had sworn to Saul that he would not wipe out Saul's family. He had also promised Jonathan that he would protect Saul.

their family because, well, they all knew that God had called David to be king. They all knew that it was going to happen. It was inevitable. It was just a matter of God's timing and God's plan. And the normal routine was the new king would go wipe out the family of the old king so there would be no threats to the throne. But David still highly regarded Saul and his family. He was the Lord's anointed king.

He had made commitments to Saul. He had made commitments to Jonathan. I'm not going to harm your family in that way. I'm not going to do the customary thing and take them out. Although Saul counted David as an enemy, David never did. But they didn't understand that. F.B. Meyer, the commentator, has this to say about the situation. He says,

These men knew that if they were in David's place, nothing would please them better than the removal of the last obstacle to the throne. He says their nature is coarse. They're not holy. They're not godly. And they don't grasp what it's like to have a godly nature, a godly character. They can't understand. Why wouldn't you be happy at what we've done? You know, it just...

They couldn't fathom that that would have never even crossed their mind. What was on their mind? Man, if I was in David's shoes, I would be so pleased right now. Someone has brought me the head of the son of my arch enemy. Oh man, I would reward them greatly. I would give them half the kingdom. You know, like in their minds, this is their concept. This is their understanding.

We have this thing that we refer to as the golden rule, right? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's the golden rule. It's a pretty good rule if your heart is golden, but if your heart's not golden, these guys did unto David as they would have others do unto them. They thought, this is what I would want, so I'm going to do this for David. More important than what I would want is

in someone else's shoes, more important than what they would want in their situation, the thing that we must consider, what does God want? So as we consider these two brothers, I want to encourage you to seek to please God more than people. There are people around us that, well, we would love to help, and maybe they want help, and maybe we could put ourselves in their situation. If I was in their shoes, this is what I would want.

Or maybe they're very clear about, well, this is what I need. This is what I want. And we talked about this a little bit last week in pursuing God's heart for the people that you help. And it's important that

that we keep in perspective God's heart is more important because sometimes those who are in need, sometimes those who are in that position, they're going to be asking for things that are not good for them and that are not what God has for them. And we have to learn to prioritize and to seek to please God more than people. There's a lot of things that we can do to please people, but it's a very dangerous trap to fall into sometimes.

to be trying to please people. We need to put God first and seek to please God. These two brothers thought, well, this is going to please David, but they were sorely mistaken. But as we consider this passage still a little bit more, I want to also kind of digest it a little bit from a different perspective. And I would ask you to consider what's the difference between what these two guys did and what Ehud did. You remember who Ehud is?

You could check it out later on. We're not going to get into the details tonight too much. But Judges chapter 3. Ehud, he's famous for being the left-handed judge. And it was noted that he was left-handed because, well, he was able, because he was left-handed, to hide a knife. It was at a time where the nation of Israel was under oppression. And there was the king, his name was Eglon, the king of Moab.

The Moabites were oppressing the people of Israel because of their rebellion against God, as is the pattern in the book of Judges. Ehud was the one chosen to bring the tribute of

So they were ruled over by Moab, and Moab says, you have to bring tribute, bring taxes essentially, but more hefty than what we might understand as taxes. And so it was this thing that they had to bring before the king and pay their homage to the king and recognize you're Lord over our land. You are the ruler over us. And so Ehud, this left-handed judge, this left-handed deliverer,

brings the tribute but because he's left-handed he's able to attach his knife in such a way that well they wouldn't think to search there they wouldn't expect you know they do a quick pat down okay yeah he's clear he's no weapons he's he's safe goes to the security at the airport yep no problem you know no flags pastor pule didn't have to tackle him okay we're good but then he gets before the king and he says hey king i have a i have a message for you it's a secret message

The king says, okay. He sends everybody out. I want to hear a secret message. And while they're just there alone, he pulls out his knife and he plunges it into the king of Moab, into King Eglon. Again, they're not in battle. There's not, you know, that kind of context happening. This is unexpected, sneakily. I sneak a knife in. I put this guy to death. Let me ask you, this judge is celebrated in the book of Judges, right? Judges chapter three says,

What's the difference? Why is this guy in Judges 3 celebrated and these two brothers in 2 Samuel? Well, it's not a good thing that they have done and they're put to death as a result of their actions. What's the difference? I would ask you to think about that. I mean, the circumstances are not very much different, right?

The sneaking in, there's a knife involved, there's the killing involved, there's this running away afterwards involved. I mean, what's the difference? And I would suggest to you that the difference is found in Judges 3, verse 15, which I'll just read to you. It says, Here's the difference.

God called Ehud to do what he did. There's a lot of variables that we could talk about. There's wickedness, there's sin, there's those kinds of issues that we could discuss in the context of this whole situation. But I'm kind of boiling it down to bottom line is God told Ehud to do what he did. And the problem with these two brothers was that God didn't tell them to do this. If God had told them to do this,

It would have been a different situation entirely. But the problem was God didn't tell them to do this. And this is where I come back to the point. We need to seek to please God more than people. Did God tell you to do that? Is that God's heart? Is that what God has expressed? Is that what God has said?

Not, is that what you want? Not, is that what they want? Not, is that what you would want in their shoes? But is that what God wants? God can make exceptions to his own rules all day long. He can do that. He's allowed because he's God and he could tell us, I want you to do this. But we need to be careful that we don't just do that.

Well, what we think is going to please somebody or ourselves or what we would be pleased with in their shoes, but what pleases God? That has to be the question that burns in our minds and in our hearts as we take actions, as we offer help, as we work on behalf of other people. We need to seek to please God more than other people. And so Ehud's actions are radically different

The circumstances are the same, but the heart and the motive are different because it's the Lord who raised up Ehud and sent him on this mission. Again, I would ask you to consider, how is it different what Ehud did back in Judges chapter 3 to what Joab did in 2 Samuel chapter 3? I mean, Joab had similar circumstances, right? He pulls Abner aside. It's a thing that is disguised. Abner's not expecting it.

While they're giving a hug, Joab pulls out a knife and guts it. Very similar to what Ehud did. What makes it different? The Lord did not tell Joab to do that. Joab wasn't seeking to please God. He was pleasing his own self. These two brothers, they were not seeking to please God. They were seeking to please David so that they could be pleased with the reward that David would offer, right? It was their self-interest, but

but convinced that David is going to be pleased. All the while, the whole concept, the whole idea of pleasing God is not in their minds at all. And that is what we need to check in our hearts. Am I seeking to please God more than people? I mean, it's a temptation for us to want to please people for a variety of reasons. Sometimes for our own interests, sometimes it just feels good, whatever. We want to please people.

We want to please our family, right? We want to, you know, meet their expectations and accommodate them. We want to please people, but we must keep the priority and please God first. That is foremost, and that is most important.

Here, these guys are completely lost. In verse 8 again, it says, Completely misunderstanding the heart of David and the heart of God.

Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. He says, verse 8 reveals the captain's stupidity. They're just stupid, he says. Saul was not David's enemy. The Lord did not avenge David. David was not pleased with what they did. But then I think he says something interesting. What terrible things people do in the name of the Lord, thinking to please him. It wasn't just that they thought David would be pleased, but

But they even took this action in the name of the Lord and applied the Lord's name to it and says, look what the Lord has done. Oh, how terrible it is that we would take actions that are not at all in agreement with what pleases God, but we attach his name to it. And we say, look what God has done for you. Look what God has done by my hands. Look what God has done through me. But it's not at all in line with God's heart.

We need to seek to please God more than people. Put God first. What he thinks, what he wants, what he desires must take priority. So many times we are completely mistaken, convinced this is going to please you. This is going to, you know, this is going to be so great. But have we considered, will it please God? I was speaking at another church one time and it was,

just a couple minutes before the service was about to start, and this usher comes up to me, and they, you know, he's got the usher uniform on. I mean, it's, it was more serious than, you know, Richard sitting in the back, you know, it's, it was an usher, right? But he's a young guy, and I mean, fired up, like, he's just, like, talking, and just, like, yeah, passionate, you know what I mean? Like, you can just feel the energy. He comes up to me, and he says, Pastor, you don't need to be afraid.

And you know me, my mind is thinking, you know, I'm about to go speak in someone else's pulpit and there's gonna be a lot of people and, you know, I don't know what to expect. And you know what I mean? Like I'm thinking ministry wise, but he comes up to me and says, you don't need to be afraid. And I'm starting to think, okay, yeah, right. Yeah. Thank you for the encouragement. I don't need to be afraid. You know, God's going to minister to these people. And you know, that's where my mind's at. But then he goes on to say, if anybody tries to get at you during service, I'm going to take him out.

And suddenly I could kind of tell the background that he's come from. And for five minutes, he goes on to reassure me that he will take them down. He will, you know, beat them up. He will wipe the floor with anybody who tries to take you out. Anybody who tries to hurt you, pastor, I'm going to take care of it. I got your back. And, you know, I was, then I was more concerned about like, does that happen a lot around here? I mean, is that something I should expect? You know, it's...

He's a young guy, so give him lots of grace. But you can kind of see that perspective, right? He's thinking, oh, pastor's going to be so reassured. You know, he's going to be so pleased. Boy, I'm going to just express my support and I'm going to take care of him. And I'm like, well, don't hurt anybody on my behalf, you know, just because they have to go to the restroom in service or something. Like, you know, what pleases God?

You know, we can get caught up in, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to meet your needs. I'm going to, oh, you're going to be so blessed with what I can do for you. But what does God think about what it is that you want to do? And the help, the support, the whatever it is that you're looking to give, are you seeking to please God more than man? Are you seeking to please God more

So Pastor Pooley comes up to me, oh, you'll be really happy with me, Jerry. I totally cussed this guy out right before service so he wouldn't mess with you. I'm like, I'm not that happy with you. You know, like, that's not pleasing to me. It's not pleasing to the Lord. We can be so off base many times because we forget to put God's pleasure first. And again, it's a balance we have to maintain. We need people and we need to meet people's needs and we need to be considering what would I want in their shoes? All of that needs to be involved.

But it needs to be centered on and built upon the foundation of what pleases God. And that is the highest priority in our attempts to minister to one another. Well, finishing up the chapter in verses 9 through 12, it brings us to the third thing to consider about pursuing God's heart more than people. And that is to live so that God is glorified more than people. We need to live in such a way that God gets the glory of

for what takes place in our lives. And as we read through these verses, we can see and learn from David's example to not encourage the behavior of those who would

you know, the pleasing of others ahead of the pleasing of God, and he deals with them. But we also want to consider the heart and the character of David in the midst of this. In verse 9, it says, But David answered Rechab and Baana, his brother, the sons of Rimen, the Barathite. And he said to them, As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity, when someone told me, saying, Look, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good news,

I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag, the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. How much more when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth? So David commanded his young men and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner and

Here in verse 9, David makes a very important declaration. He says, He's making a promise to these guys. He says, as the Lord lives, but in talking about the Lord, he says, look, the Lord is the one who's redeemed my life from all adversity.

adversity. And that's the thought I want to come back to in just a moment as we look at the rest of these verses. But keep that in mind. It's the Lord who has redeemed my life from all adversity. From there, David refers back to 2 Samuel chapter 1. And there was the young man who came from the battlefield. And he said, hey, Saul is dead.

thinking that David would be so happy with the news. Thank you for bringing the news to me. You know, he brought Saul's crown and he thought this is a good thing. And without recounting all of, you know, 2 Samuel chapter 1, David says he thought he was going to get a reward for his news, but I had him executed because of the way he handled Saul, the Lord's anointed. He goes on to tell these guys, what you have done is even worse than what this guy claimed to do.

We don't even know if his story was true. We weren't able to check it out entirely. But what you have done and testified against yourselves about is worse than what that guy claimed to do. He says, you've behaved wickedly. How much more when wicked men have killed a righteous person? What you've done is inexcusable. It's wicked what you've done. The way that you've behaved yourselves, it is not right. It's not pleasing to God.

And David says, you've killed a righteous person. It would be slightly less bad if you had behaved this way against a wicked person, but you behaved this way against a righteous person. That is, he wasn't deserving of this death. He didn't, you know, he wasn't owed this. He hadn't earned this. It wasn't the culmination of his rebellion against God that has brought him to this place. No, you've killed someone that God didn't ask you to kill. You've brought judgment, right?

To someone that God was not wanting to judge. You've killed a righteous person in a dishonorable way. He points out he was in his house on his bed. What you've done, it's three strikes, you're out. You behaved wickedly. You did that against a righteous person. And you did it in such a way that it was a dishonorable and shameful thing to do. David says, shall I not require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?

Now you're going to die, but you've earned it. You've deserved it by your behavior, not like Ish-bosheth, your wicked men. What you have done is worse than what we saw in chapter 1. G. Campbell Morgan says this about the situation. While it's true that God overrules all the doings of men and compels them ultimately to serve his high purposes, it is equally true that no servant of his can ever consent to do evil that good may come.

David here sets us a very good example. It's interesting to consider because in the very next chapter, you know, if you consider it's just the next verse, it's not even, you know, there wasn't chapters and verses all broken up in the original text. In the very next verse, now all of Israel is going to come to David and say, you be king over us. And so the end result is what these two brothers wanted. The end result is now David is going to be king, which is something that God has promised to him.

The end result is something that David has wanted in the sense that he knows this is what God has put before him and he's been on his way to this. And so it's the fulfillment of things that David's been looking forward to and working towards and suffering in the midst along the way as he looks forward to these events. I mean, all of this is coming to the point where now he's going to be king again.

And he's going to enter into some glorious years of abundance and blessing there in the kingdom as a result of this situation. But he is very careful to not reward these guys for this, but to really distance himself and to make a clear statement. This is not the way that God wants us to behave. And that's what G. Campbell Morgan is saying. You know, God's able to work all these things together for good.

But that doesn't mean that we can use whatever means that we want, that we can take whatever measures that we think are necessary, that we can, you know, go about things in such a way that is dishonorable to the Lord and think that that's okay. He says, no servant of God's can consent to do evil in order that good may come. That is not the way that God wants us to handle things. Even though the end result God is able to bring together for good,

That is not an excuse for us to use whatever means are quote-unquote necessary. You know, what we think is needed, even though it doesn't really honor the Lord. We need to live so that God is glorified more than people. That these guys don't get the credit for giving David the kingdom. That Joab doesn't get the credit, you know, for giving David the kingdom. That David doesn't take matters into his own hands. Now,

if you think about it, you kind of go back through David's life. He made sure that he lived so that God is glorified more than himself and more than anybody around him. That God was the priority and he would not take on questionable behavior in order to accomplish what it is that God said he would do. What it is that God said that he would want to accomplish. Now again, going back to verse 9 says,

He says, it's the Lord who has redeemed my life from all adversity. God gets the credit. All those years in the wilderness, David says, it wasn't my cunning. It wasn't my, you know, great strategies. It wasn't my skill in the wilderness. It wasn't my army that I had with me. It wasn't my strategy. You know who redeemed me throughout that whole time? David says, it was the Lord. David lived in such a way that God is glorified.

More than him and more than his men. Now again, the next chapter, David is going to be anointed, or not anointed, but appointed as king over all Israel. He was anointed many years earlier in 1 Samuel 16. And so finally, after years and years and years of all kinds of affliction and difficulty, finally, the promises that God has given to him are going to be fulfilled. But he was very careful along the way.

To make sure that when the promise is fulfilled, it was fulfilled by God and not by man. And so David, as we watched through his life in 1 Samuel, he refused to fight Saul. He fought Goliath. He was bold and valiant. He fought the Philistines. He was a fighter, but he refused to fight Saul. He wasn't going to take matters into his own hands and take the kingdom that God had promised to him.

And so when he had the opportunity to kill Saul in 1 Samuel 24, David says, no, that's the Lord's anointed. That's his job to deal with that. That's not my job. I'm not going to take the kingdom. I'm not going to take God's promises. I'm not going to take, you know, what it is that God wants to give me. I'm not going to get the glory for the work that needs to happen that God has promised he will do. And then in 1 Samuel 26, when he had another opportunity,

And Abishai is like, look, David, Saul's right there. I can just one stroke. He won't feel a thing. I'll just knock him out. I'll take him out. And David restrained him. He held his men back. Abishai, you don't get the glory for me having the kingdom. Who gets the glory? God gets the glory. David here sets a really good model for us of pursuing God's heart, making sure that God is glorified by the actions and the choices and the decisions that he makes.

And so I would ask you to consider who is your redeemer? Are you able to say, like David says in verse nine, the Lord who has redeemed me from all adversity. You know, sometimes we get out of adversity and we are taking the credit for

for the rescue for the redemption that takes place oh man i was in this situation at work and there was all this difficulty and this drama this tension and this happened and this happened and she said that and i said that and then and then and then you know what i did i redeemed myself and i get the glory now i'm not saying that we are not allowed to defend ourselves in those kinds of situations what i'm saying is we need to look to please god

And sometimes God's going to say, hey, I want you to speak up and defend yourself and address this situation very boldly. And when God tells you to do that, that's one thing. And if God had told David, I want you to take out Saul, God could have done that. And God does do that kind of thing. Later on, the name's escaping me right now, but there's another guy, God anoints him king and says, I want you to go kill the current king. And so go take him out. And he has to go take him out because that's what God said. And God can do that.

But God didn't tell David that. And so David keeps himself in check. He keeps his men in check and he checks everything by the Lord. Is this the way you want me to take the throne? Is this the way you want me to handle this? Is this the way that you want that promise fulfilled? And as we think about pleasing God, pursuing God's heart more than men, it means that we need to check and see who's getting the glory for these things that are happening in my life.

Who's getting the glory for this relationship? Who's getting the glory for this redemption? Who's getting the glory for this rescue, for this victory? Who's getting the glory? We need to make sure that it's God, that God has that place in our lives, that we are trusting in him and resting in him. Again, more than people. Not like Ish-bosheth who, you know, who got the glory for Ish-bosheth's reign? Abner. Abner did that. Abner did that. And Abner did that. Abner did that. And when Abner was gone, he lost heart.

Don't put yourself in that situation where you're trusting people more than you trust God. Put yourself in a position, in a situation where God is first and he's the one that you depend on and that you rely upon above all else. And you still have to rely upon people and people are still going to be part of your life and there's no escaping that. But we have to guard our hearts and keep the balance.

God will use people in our lives, but it's God that we trust in. And when people fail us, it's not God failing us, it's people failing us. And that is to be expected. That is part of life. But God doesn't fail us. And so we don't have to lose heart and give up like Ish-bosheth because we can trust and know that God is still going to come through on his word, on his promises, on our behalf.

Our job, what we need to focus on is to seek to please God more than people. Make sure God is the one that you are looking to honor and to please. There's a lot of motivations that are happening in our hearts for all the actions that we take, and it is hard to kind of navigate and even understand our own hearts many times. None of us are going to do this perfectly, but as often as you can, as much as you can, seek to please God more than people. Check your heart. Check your motivations. Check your mind. Where's it at?

Why are you doing these things? Is it to please yourself? Is it to please others around you? Or is it to please God? Because you need to live in such a way that God is glorified, that he's the one who rescues you. He's the one who takes care of you. He's the one who redeems you. He's the one who delivers you out of all affliction. He is the one who is your redeemer. Pursue God's heart more than people,

And again, that's kind of an incomplete statement, you know, more than people's support, more than people's love, more than people's pleasure, you pursue God's heart. Put God first. That's his rightful place in your life. Let's pray. Lord, I lift up each one of us to you this evening. And Lord, you know the various things that are on our hearts and the ways that we are interacting with people right now in our lives and the situations that are unfolding. And Lord, there are these kinds of situations going on where people,

It is easy for us to trust in people around us instead of you. And Lord, you've placed them in our lives and in such a way that we do need to interact and be part of their lives and they need to be part of our lives. But Lord, I pray that you would give us great wisdom and discernment to make sure that we're not trusting in them more than we trust in you, but Lord, that we would be looking to you to supply our need, to satisfy our soul, to deliver us from whatever it is that we face.

God, I pray that you would teach us to please you. Lord, that our desires, that our goals, Lord, that our objectives would be to honor you first and foremost. I pray that you would give us frequent reminders, Lord, throughout the day and throughout the week, that we would have a moment to stop and reflect. Why am I doing this? Lord, does this honor you? Is it to please you? Lord, help us to be pleasing to you. Even as we're

That old song that we would sing, Lord, the words of our mouth, the meditation of our hearts, Lord, that it would be acceptable and pleasing to you, Lord. Not just the outward things, but to our very core, Lord. May we be people who are pleasing to you, the way that we think, the way that we talk, and the actions that we take. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to keep ourselves in a place where you are glorified, that we are not taking matters into our own hands, cutting corners to try to accomplish things

what you have declared you will do or what we think you want to do lord that we would recognize lord the end does not justify the means but lord you want us to honor you not just in the end but all along the way so lord would you help us to keep you in a position where you are glorified where you get the glory for the work that happens in our lives and in our hearts lord where you get the credit that men testify of you and that we can declare

You are the Lord who delivers us out of all our adversities. Lord, it's you. It's not me. It's not someone else. Perhaps you use them. Perhaps you call us to certain things. But Lord, in the end, it's you. You're the one we trust in. You're the one we serve. It's in your name we pray. Amen.

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