2 SAMUEL 20 PURSUING YOUR OWN HEART ENDS IN DISASTER2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 20 Pursuing Your Own Heart Ends In Disaster

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. Well, here we are this evening in 2 Samuel chapter 20, and we're continuing to look at the subject of pursuing God's heart here in the life of Jesus.

of David. It's kind of the final season of David's life as well. He is a much older man than when we first began, and he was just a shepherd boy. He has been king for some time, and he's had some difficulties that really have flowed out of his sin with Bathsheba, and then trying to pretend like it didn't happen and cover it up by killing Uriah and all of those things. And we've been seeing the aftermath of that in his life

for quite a while now in these few chapters that we've been looking at past chapter 12. We're just looking at, you know, what happens and the things that take place when we don't pursue God's heart. And so David has come back to pursuing God's heart, but here in chapter 20, we're looking at actually some different examples. David's there in the mix, but there's a few different people involved. And so I've titled the message this evening, Pursuing Your Own Heart, and

ends in disaster. And we're going to look at a few different examples of different people and their part in this as David has now come back to Jerusalem after his son Absalom has rebelled and is reestablishing his kingdom. And there's different people involved, but

One of the tragedies that we see throughout this is that there is not a pursuit of God's heart in this team that is around David and the people that are around David, but really kind of each one is after what their own thoughts and what their own heart is seeking for. And so they're focused on those things instead of focused on the glory of God, focused on pleasing God. And so they're focused on those things instead of focused on the glory of God,

And it ends in disaster for each one of them. And there's great destruction as a result. And so it's a reminder for us to pursue God's heart because the alternative is to pursue our own heart. And pursuing our own heart, and there's different forms and fashions that that takes, but it always ends up the same way. It ends up in disaster.

I always like Proverbs 4, verse 23, where it tells us to keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. God has given us a responsibility to keep our hearts. That word keep, it means to guard. It's the word that's used of a watchman who stands guard. And here we're instructed, we're told to guard our hearts, right?

to help ourselves, to pay attention to ourselves, to keep an eye out because if we begin to pursue our own hearts, well, all of that brings out, you know, the issues of life flow out of that and pursuing our own hearts is,

pursuing our own agendas, pursuing our own plans and ideas is going to bring disaster. But if we will keep guard of our hearts and keep ourselves in line with the pursuit of God's heart, we'll keep ourselves in a place of blessing, in a place where God can work in a beautiful way. And so pursuing your own heart ends in disaster. We'll look at five bad examples.

Five hearts to watch out for in our lives so that we don't get off track and get caught off guard in the life that God has called us to live. And so the first one we'll look at is to watch out for an opportunistic heart. And we see this here in verses one and two. Here's what it says. And there happened to be there a rebel whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri,

Here in this midst of turmoil, really, David is just barely returning to Jerusalem.

And we saw kind of that journey back last week in chapter 19. He's just barely getting into Jerusalem, and now there is another rebellion. He just recovered from Absalom's rebellion, right? But now here is this guy, Sheba, and it describes him as a rebel, or like...

the King James Version, a worthless man, a rebel, a worthless man. Those kind of go hand in hand. And he comes up with a catchy phrase. He says, let's make Israel great again. And with that catchy phrase, he's able to stir up a lot of people.

I'm somewhat joking, but here he says, we have no share in David, nor do we have an inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tents. And in the Hebrew, it's much more rhythmic. And so it was a catchy phrase. And he makes this proclamation,

and causes Israel to disperse. But it tells us in verse 2, Judah, the one tribe, they stay loyal to David, but pretty much the rest of Israel, they're loyal.

uncertain about whether or not they want David to be king again, because this rebel has stood up and announced this and is going to be trying to lead a rebellion against David. If you remember, we ended last week in chapter 19.

in the last couple of verses, Judah and Israel, that is the northern tribes and the southern tribes are kind of arguing amongst each other. And hey, David's one of us, the tribes of Judah would say, and the other tribes, the other 10 tribes say, hey, there's 10 of us. You know, we have 10 parts to the king. You only have two parts, you and Benjamin. And so there was this battle between them and that's the context for this. So there's already some,

little bit of argument arguments there's already some uh dispute and uh some you know unsettling between the these two groups and it's in the midst of that that sheba sees his opportunity and says now's my chance this is a good time there's unrest there you know there's a little bit of uncertainty now's my chance to step in and take charge of the kingdom

Watch out for an opportunistic heart. That word opportunistic, it means to exploit chances offered by immediate circumstances without reference to a general plan or moral principle. Now that's just a general dictionary definition, but I like it. I think it's important for us to consider. To exploit chances that are offered by immediate circumstances. So the circumstances are such that while there is this opportunity,

That wouldn't normally be there necessarily, but here we have this opportunity. It's unique to take advantage of that without reference to a general plan or moral principle. Now, as believers, as those who are talking about pursuing the heart of God, we're not just talking about a general plan. We're talking about God's plan. We're not just talking about moral principles in the sense of general morality, but we're talking about God's word. What does God's word say?

And so the thing at hand is that an opportunistic heart is going to look at circumstances and take advantage of things in a way that isn't necessarily in line with God's plan or in line with what God's word says and God's principles. Instead, it's going to look at the circumstances primarily and be eager to pursue those things for what I can get out of it for me.

myself. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, Sheba saw the tribal conflict as an opportunity for promoting himself. Because he was a Benjamite, he hoped to get a broad support from Saul's friends and David's enemies. Once again, the people deserted God's chosen king for an opportunist.

Here's a chance. Here's an opportunity. I can have power. I can get what I want. And so Sheba begins to promote himself because he sees, well, the climate is, it's ready for that. It's ready for someone to step in and cause disruption and take charge. And he says, well, I'm the man to do it. Here's Sheba promoting himself, thinking that he can get the support, thinking that it's an opportune time for him.

Think about this in contrast to what we considered on Sunday with David in 1 Samuel chapter 24, where there's David hiding in a cave and Saul goes into the cave to attend to his needs. And David here has the perfect opportunity to kill Saul and take the kingdom. Now, if David had an opportunistic heart,

He would have listened to his men and killed Saul and tried to take the kingdom that way. Because look at the circumstances. Look at this incredible opportunity. It's never going to come like this again. We're never going to have an opportunity like this. This is the only opportunity. And, you know, think about all the promises that God's given to me, David might say, and this is the way to do it. And so here's my chance and I need to take this chance. And if he would not have regarded God's plan,

if he would not have regarded God's principles and to disrespect God's anointed, if he would have thrown out those things and just pursued his own opportunistic heart, David would have killed Saul and would have gone down a very different path.

We need to be careful that circumstances don't become the dictators of our life. That, hey, this is an opportunity. And this is one of the tactics, of course, of sales and salespeople, right? That, well, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You got to buy it right now or you're not going to have the chance. You know, that will never happen again.

and, and there's that opportunistic heart that's like, oh, here's an opportunity. I can get what I want, you know, for $500 less or whatever it might be, and, and oh, that is tempting, right? But, but what is God's plan? If we're going to pursue God's heart, we can't just live by the circumstances. We need to take those things before the Lord and say, God, what is your plan? Not just what are the circumstances allow, or what can I take advantage of, or how can I make this work to my advantage, but

What's your plan, God? What are your principles? And to compromise on God's principles and what God has said, because, well, there's this incredible opportunity. It's an opportunistic heart. It's the pursuit of our own hearts and not the pursuit of God's heart. And you can know, you can count on that will end in disaster. For Sheba, he's going to end up dead as a result of this. And there's going to be some destruction that goes along with that.

Well, moving on to point number two, we're going to look at verse number three, and that is watch out for a power hungry heart. Here, just looking at one verse, verse three, it says, now David came to his house at Jerusalem and the king took the 10 women, his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house and put them in seclusion and supported them, but did not go into them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

Here we have an interesting thing for us to consider in verse 3. Now, the context for this is back in 2 Samuel 16.

That is, when David was leaving Jerusalem because Absalom was coming and he was taking the throne and he was overthrowing the kingdom, David left 10 concubines behind at his palace while he fled to the wilderness. And so the concubines were there to take care of the house and to take care of things while he was gone.

Well, when Absalom comes into Jerusalem, he is given advice, counsel by Ahithophel. It's found in 2 Samuel 16, verse 21. Ahithophel said to Absalom, "'Go in to your father's concubines, "'whom he has left to keep the house, "'and all Israel will hear "'that you are abhorred by your father, "'then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.'"

As Absalom is seeking to establish himself as king, he looks to the counselor Ahithophel for counsel. And Ahithophel's counsel is to violate these women that David has left behind. These concubines are David's wives. And without getting into all of the particulars of their customs, they were wives, but kind of a different class of wives. But they were David's wives nonetheless. And

So this was a morally reprehensible thing that Ahithophel counseled, and Absalom goes ahead and carries on and does the counsel that he was given. In doing so, Absalom thought very little about what his actions would do to these concubines. He was consumed with, he was thinking about establishing himself.

He was coming into power. He was, you know, establishing himself as king. And Ahithophel's counsel was to further establish him, to further divide between him and David, and to keep everybody on his side and to know that he is now the king. For their culture, it was a normal thing for a new king to take the concubines of the previous king as a

a testimony, as a declaration, I'm king, I'm in charge. And this was one of the ways of representing that. But in Absalom doing this, a great crime is committed against these concubines. And he had no regard for the hurt or the harm that it would cause them. And just stop and consider that for just a moment.

With his power-hungry heart looking to establish himself, it brought him to a place, it caused him to be in such a condition that what it cost others for him to get what he wants didn't really matter.

And that is the destruction, that is the disaster of a power-hungry heart. That when we're thirsting and craving for something for ourselves, and you could substitute power for anything else, you're hungry for something and you're pursuing that. And what happens is that the people around you, they become of little value unless they are useful to you to get what you want. Right?

And this is all that these women were for Absalom. Listen, this is so opposite of the heart of God.

You can't get more opposite from God's heart in this. That people are so important to God. We talk about being used by God and God using us. And sometimes we're kind of oblivious to it. At least I am. It's like I'm always thinking of that in a positive sense. But sometimes you're talking to somebody, yeah, God wants to use you. That doesn't necessarily come across in a positive way. Because being used by someone else is...

typically in a negative sense, right? It's like they're just using you to get what they want. And that's not the way that God uses us. God gives us the privilege. It's a good thing that God uses us. He uses us in a good way that it's for our benefit and it's our privilege to be part of his work. That's God's heart that we are benefited and blessed by participating in what he is doing. But Absalom is not pursuing God's heart.

He's pursuing his own heart. And in his hunger for power, his valuing of these women is only in how useful they can be for him to accomplish his purposes. So opposite of God's heart. Ahithophel, same thing. He thought very little about what his counsel would do to these concubines. He wasn't concerned with them. He wasn't concerned with their well-being and the rest of their lives. But here comes David.

the man who pursues God's heart. Now, after all of this has happened and David, Absalom has been defeated, David has now returned to Jerusalem. Just right now in verse three, David came to his house at Jerusalem and the king took these 10 women, his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house and put them in seclusion and supported them, but did not go into them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. We may not understand

Catch all of the details here in verse 3. We're somewhat removed from the culture. But what David is doing here in verse 3 is treating these ladies well and taking care of them. While not resuming his relationship that he had previously with them, that he couldn't do. But in spite of the tragedy that they've experienced, the crime that has been committed to them,

David makes sure that they are well taken care of for the rest of their lives. Now, their life is forever changed. That can't be changed. David can't reverse the things that were done to them. So they live out the rest of their lives in widowhood. Essentially, you know, their husband has died. David, that relationship has died, and they are no longer able to have that relationship with David anymore.

But David doesn't just cast them off. They're not just, you know, well, you're useless to me then, you know, if I can't have that relationship with you, so get out of here. No, David is concerned for them and for the rest of their lives. He takes care of them. He puts them in seclusion. Don't think of it as like, you know, just stay there in the closet. No, no, this is, you know, you're protected, you're sheltered. He's putting them in a place of protection. He's taking care of them and it says supporting them.

But his relationship has changed. That can't be changed. Their life has changed forever as a result of this crime that has been done to them and against them. But in spite of that, David is doing his best to take care of them and make sure that they are provided for through the rest of their lives.

Pastor David Guzik says, As I mentioned earlier, this kind of all goes back to David and Bathsheba and the overflow of that. It's not a direct cause of David's sin, but this is part of the aftermath. Absalom's sin against them was direct.

And so he, you know, treated them horribly because of his pursuit of his own heart, his power-hungry heart. And this is something for us to be mindful of. When I allow these kinds of hungers and thirsts, when I allow these kinds of pursuits to occupy my heart and to consume my life,

It brings me to a place where people, I'm not going to treat them well. They're useful, but only in certain ways and not in ways that are godly or good or that benefit them. And we need to stop and consider. And it's a hard thing to reflect on sometimes and we don't want to think about it too much, but your sin can affect the people around you. These ladies, for the rest of their lives, their whole life has changed and your sin can

your walk with God or lack of a walk with God, it can have a huge impact on the people around you. And for the rest of their lives, their lives may be changed because you are pursuing your own heart instead of pursuing God's heart. I think this kind of passage and this kind of message this evening is important for us to consider as we've been talking about pursuing God's heart because the options are not that, okay, well, you can like, you know, have a pretty good life

Or, you know, you could go for the ideal and go for the ultimate and really pursue God and, you know, seek after and do even better in your life. That's not really the options. The options really are you can pursue God's heart fully and completely all out and seek to glorify God and seek to know God and seek to please God. Or you will be going a different direction that is destructive. Destructive.

to you and to the people around you. And this is something that we need to realize and hold on to, that we don't get callous in the issues of our lives or that we don't get complacent in dealing with our relationship with God, that we keep our foot on the gas in pursuing God's heart because we

I don't want to pursue my heart even for just a few hours and wreck havoc in the lives of the people around me because while I'm seeking after what I want and what I need and what I think and affecting their lives, possibly for the rest of their lives, making an impact in that way. And so watch out for the power-hungry heart. Watch out for the opportunistic heart. These things that our hearts pursue can bring great disaster.

Well, we also need to watch out, point number three, for half-heartedness. We need to watch out for being lukewarm, somewhat committed, somewhat interested in what our king has called us to. It's kind of the opposite of power hungry, but a little bit different. In verse four, it says, and the king said to Amasa, assemble the men of Judah for me within three days and be present here yourself.

So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he delayed longer than the set time which David had appointed him. And so now we're going to look at this guy Amasa. Now Amasa was Absalom's general, right?

in the revolt against David. And so when Joab led David's men into battle against Absalom, Absalom had Amasa leading his men into battle. He was the general on the opposite side. But David in chapter 19 had reached out to him and offered to give him the position of general to help to make peace and to bring unity between the two groups once again. And

Also because David, you know, was growingly dissatisfied with Joab and frustrated with Joab. And so he gives Amasa this opportunity. He's making him general. Here's your chance, Amasa, to solidify your position. We have this rebel. Go gather the troops and be back here in three days so that we can deal with this situation. And so here's Amasa. His king gives him instruction and he sets out to do it.

But the issue we find is that he's not very serious about it. His king gives him a timeframe. Here's what I want you to do. Assemble the men of Judah and then you be back here with them within three days. But it tells us in verse five, he delayed longer than the set time which David had appointed. He went to go, he went to assemble the men. He started to do it. He had a, you know, that was his objective. That was what he intended to do, but he didn't finish the job. He didn't complete it.

His king gave him instruction. He set out to do it, but he was half-hearted about it. It's something for us to consider. Your king gives you instruction. How serious are you about it? How many times do we know what the Lord says and we set out to do it, but we fail to finish it. We fail to see it through.

And here, this is what happens with Amasa, and it ends up in disaster. His half-heartedness is going to cost him his life. We'll read through the next few verses here. In verse 6, it says, And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, the son of Bichri, will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he find for himself fortified cities and escape us.

So Joab's men with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and the mighty men went out after him, and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri. When they were at the large stone, which is in Gibeon, Amasa came before them. Now Joab was dressed in battle armor. On it was a belt with a sword fastened in its sheath at its hips, and as he was going forward, it fell out.

Then Joab said to Amasa, are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not notice the sword that was in Joab's hand, and he struck him with it in the stomach, and his entrails poured out on the ground, and he did not strike him again, thus he died. Then Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued Sheba, the son of Bichri. Verse 11. Meanwhile, one of Joab's men stood near Amasa and said, whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab.

Watch out for half-heartedness. What happens to Amasa? First of all, he's half-hearted. He doesn't complete the task. And then he's finally getting around to come back

David has already instructed Abishai, hey, take the bodyguard. He takes his personal guard. That's the Cherethites, the Pelethites, the mighty men, you know, take those guys and go get to work on this. Because if we put it off, there's going to be great harm that's brought as a result of this rebellion. It'll be worse than what happened with Absalom.

And so Abishai sets out. He starts the work. Joab is probably in the midst of that group. Now he's been transitioned to, you know, one of David's bodyguards because now Amasa is the general. But now they encounter Amasa and here Joab comes up and he's sneaky. And I think it's interesting the way it describes it. In verse 8, it says, Now Joab was dressed in battle armor. On it was a belt with a sword fastened in its sheath at his hips. And he was dressed in battle armor.

And as he was going forward, it fell out. Now, I don't read that and think, wow, what an interesting accident, right? I think Joab was practicing his dance moves a little bit. He was like working his hips a little bit so that he could like just, you know, do his hip just a little bit and boom, his sword would come out. I think he was practicing like a quick draw so that he could sneakily, you know, just kind of like, boom, shoot out the sword and

So that now, as he comes to Amasa, Amasa is not suspecting that. It's in his left hand, not his right hand. It's not where Amasa would expect to look for a weapon. He reaches to him with the normal greeting to kiss him by the beard. Don't try to do that to me. My hips will do something different to you. But

He does this, and Amasa is not seeing the danger here, and Joab takes opportunity and puts him to death. I really wanted to look up, but I forgot, and I didn't have time, actually. But, you know, Mr. Miyagi gave an interesting lecture to Daniel, Daniel-san, right, about being on one side of the road or being on the other side of the road, and if you try to go in the middle of the road, you get squished, right? Here's Amasa. He's half-hearted, right?

He starts to do the work. He doesn't really finish it. When Joab comes, he's just like not paying attention, not realizing there's any danger. He's half-hearted. And so he's now laying in the road as a result. Just like Mr. Miyagi said, he got squished. This is the danger of half-heartedness. And as he is there...

It tells us in verse 11, it says, one of Joab's men stood near Amasa and said, whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab. And so there was this like, people would come along him. It was the first time there was a traffic jam caused by looky-loos because they would come up, they would see his body, they'd stop.

And so he finally moves it out of the way and helps the people to not be half-hearted. Hey, we're going with Joab. Oh, but look at that. He moves that out of the way so they can keep their focus on Joab. Okay, we need to go forward and finish what we started and continue on with this task that is at hand. He helps the people to not be half-hearted, to not be distracted by the body of Amasa. We need to watch out for half-heartedness.

Again, bringing it back to us, your king gives you instruction. How serious are you about it? Amasa is taking his time. I'll get it done. I mean to do it. I intend to do it. I plan to do it. One day I'm going to do it. Eventually it's going to get done. Listen, when we talk about pursuing God's heart, we need to not just have good intentions about one day doing that, but we really need to match the intensity of God's heart.

And so when it's God's heart for us to go a direction, we can't just partially go or hope to one day or intend to one day, but we need to match his intensity. If the Lord is saying, you need to engage in this right now, you need to be wholehearted, you need to be focused on, you need to go this direction, you need to complete this command, you need to do this, then we need to do that and not

partially start to obey and, you know, one day I'll finish cleaning the garage. One day. And it just sits there day after day. A mess, you know, just a wreck. We cannot approach the pursuit of God's heart that way. Your king has given you instruction. How serious are you about it? Are you lukewarm in the things that God has called you to? Paul encourages us in the book of Colossians chapter 3, whatever you do,

The particular context that he writes this about is slaves obeying their masters. And he says, look, you're serving somebody else, but don't think of it like that. And understand, you don't actually serve that master. Whatever you do, do it unto the Lord. And if you're doing it unto the Lord, do it

heartily. Give it what all that you got. Give it everything that you can, knowing that God will reward you. And so your king says, go track down that guy. Don't half-heartedly do it. Don't partially do it. Your king says, go this direction. You know, have this devotion. Your king says, you know, invest in these things. Don't be half-hearted about it. Do it heartily as to the Lord. And maybe it is

Not a direct command from your king, but maybe it is from one of his delegates, your boss, or some other authority. That's what Paul is saying. Do it heartily as to the Lord, even when it's not directly the Bible says, you know, go do this. But you're instructed and you're responsible to go do that. Do it heartily. Watch out for half-heartedness in your life.

That you do things partially. You have great intentions of doing all kinds of things and finishing it one day and finishing it really well. But your intensity needs to match the intensity of the Lord in the things that he has called you to.

Well, looking still in the same portion, but verse 9 and 10 focusing on Joab, I have point number four, and that is watch out for a self-centered heart. In verse 9 again, it says, Then Joab said to Amasa, Are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not notice the sword that was in Joab's hand.

And he struck him with it in the stomach and his entrails poured out on the ground and he did not strike him again. Thus he died. Then Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued Sheba, the son of Bichri. Here I put in verse 9 and 10 as a separate point again to look at Joab once more because it's an important thing for us to reflect upon. The self-centeredness that we see in Joab. And we've seen this kind of behavior in Joab for a while, but for years...

I admired Joab in his loyalty to David for years, like years and years, like decades kind of years. It wasn't until, you guys might remember, it was a couple years back, we went through a series that I entitled Ministry Minded.

And in going through that, looking at some different examples, I went through the example of Joab and the Lord just gave some extra light to not something that was hidden, but something that was always there. And I just failed to see that I always, my perception of Joab was, you know, he was loyal to David. And yeah, sometimes he went overboard, but for good reasons, you know what I mean? Because he loved David and he wanted to protect David, right?

The more I consider the life of Joab and revisit some of these different things and different aspects of his life, the reality about Joab is that he was loyal as long as it suited his own interests and his plans. And when it filled his agenda, when it met his agenda, he was loyal to David and had no problem with that.

But he also had no problem completely throwing out what David desired and David commanded whenever he wanted something else. And so when David gives the instruction about Absalom, he's like, throw that out. That's not what I want. So I'm going to do what I want. And Joab really, although he appears to be loyal in many ways and on many occasions, his heart is really focused on himself.

And he protects David in as much as it keeps him in the position that he wants to be. If he wanted David's position, then David would have been in trouble. But he didn't really want David's position. He wanted his position. And so he would fight to keep David where he was so that he could stay in the position as general that he wanted. He liked where he was. He wanted to stay there. And so he fought for his own reasons, for his own interests, for his own plans. And

It's going to bring disaster, not only to himself, but also to David and to the kingdom. We don't see immediate results from it like we saw with Amasa, right? His half-heartedness cost him his life right then and there. But later on, David's going to give instruction to Solomon in 1 Kings 2. And he tells Solomon, you know what Joab, the son of Zeruah, did to me.

David says, three strikes, Joab's out. Joab did evil to me and to two commanders. To Abner,

Now that was a while back here in Samuel that David had brokered a peace deal with Abner, who is leading the northern army, the armies of Israel. And Joab later encountered Abner, broke that peace deal and killed Abner because again, his position was threatened. His job was threatened. Abner was going to take his spot. He didn't want that. So he kills Abner. Now here's Amasa who is scheduled to take his spot and he kills Amasa.

He kills these guys who are not his enemies. He killed them, David describes, in peacetime. He shed the blood of war. These men were not at war, but they were at war because Joab was self-centered, and he was pursuing that. He was pursuing his own heart. He wasn't pursuing God's heart. He didn't care about the glory of God. He didn't care about what God wanted. He didn't care about what David wanted. He cared about what he wanted.

wanted. And so later on, he's going to experience disaster. David instructs Solomon, do you deal with them? And then with Absalom as well, same thing. He came against Absalom, David's son, even though David had instructed him not to. Watch out for a self-centered heart. The timing of the disaster might be delayed, but I would remind you of Galatians chapter 6,

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. If you sow to your flesh, he says, you'll reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, you'll reap everlasting life. It's interesting, Paul goes on to say, let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. The sowing and the reaping doesn't happen immediately. The sowing happens for a while, and then comes the reaping in due season. And that is...

reaping the good, and that is also reaping the wages of sin that have been sown. And when we're pursuing our own heart and pursuing self-centeredness, you may not experience all the disaster right away. And it may look like, hey, it works out for Joab. He still gets to be general. At the end of chapter 20, we see that he's still the leader of the army for the rest of David's life. He's the leader of the army. It looks like it worked out for him to have that heart and to pursue those things. But

No, it doesn't work out for him and it brings great disaster and he will reap what he has sown. Watch out for a self-centered heart. Well, finishing it up, we're gonna just look at verses 14 through 22. And the point is watch out for a defensive heart. I wanna read through these verses and then reflect on a couple of thoughts from it. In verse 14, it says, he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth Maaka,

And all the Barites. So they were gathered together and also went after Sheba. Then they came and besieged him at Abel of Beth Ma'aka. And they cast up a siege mound against the city. And it stood by the rampart. And all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. Then a wise woman cried out from the city, Here, here, please say to Joab, come nearby that I may speak with you. When he had come near to her, the woman said, Are you Joab?

He answered, I am. And she said to him, hear the words of your maidservant. And he answered, I am listening. So she spoke saying, they used to talk in former times saying, they shall surely seek guidance at Abel. And so they would end disputes. I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, far be it from me.

Far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy. That is not so. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. So the woman said to Joab, Watch, his head will be thrown to you over the wall. Verse 22. Then the woman, in her wisdom, went to all the people, and they cut off the head of Sheba, the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab.

Then he blew the trumpet and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem. Here we have this encounter. They catch up with Sheba. He's hiding out in this fortified city. And they begin to wage war against the city. But this woman calls out and says, wait a minute, wait a minute. What are we fighting for? Let's talk about this. Joab, why are you trying to kill us? Well, Sheba's there. Oh, why didn't you say so?

Hey guys, she says to the rest of the city, we should just get rid of this guy and we don't have to be under attack anymore. So they kill Shiva, throw his head over the wall and resolve the dispute. A wise woman delivers this whole city. But as I was thinking about this and reflecting on this, I started to think about how this played out.

Think about how this unfolded a little bit. Because in verse 15 it tells us, they came and besieged him in the city. And they cast up a siege mound against the city. Now, a siege mound, they're building fortifications around the city. They're going to camp out around the city to withhold all of their resources until finally they give up and either are conquered or surrender. Right?

And so here's Joab leading this army and they're mounting, they're waging war, they're building mounds, they're fully involved in this battle. And then, verse 16, a wise woman cried out from the city. Just think about this for a moment in your head. The battle has begun, siege mounds, they're, you know,

They don't just like fall together in five minutes. I mean, there's digging involved. There's work involved. There's strenuous labor. There's real work happening. There's real war taking place. And they haven't even talked about why yet. Defending yourself many times is our first response when it feels like we're under attack. But it may not be the best response. Try to picture this. Okay, here you are in this city,

You're the watchman on the wall and you see an army coming. Here's this army marching towards you and they're coming right here. And you're looking around. There's no cities around me. They're coming for me. So you sound the alarm. We're under attack and the city, you know, boards its gates. It prepares. It goes into, you know, DEFCON whatever number is important. And, you know, they're on the alert. They're defending themselves and they're prepared for the battle.

And here comes the warriors and they begin to build the siege mounds and they're fighting before they've spoken. It allows for that they've perhaps been fighting for a little bit of time. The city has no idea why until this wise woman speaks up and says, why are we fighting? Now, if this wise woman would not have spoken up, this would have ended in disaster.

Because the city went into defensive mode immediately. We have to protect ourselves. We have to defend ourselves. And Joab would have waited them out. He would have destroyed the city to get to Sheba if this wise woman had not spoken up, if she had not intervened. It's a really good illustration for us to consider our own hearts because we can often be defensive. Someone comes at us and we perceive it as an attack.

Whether it is or not, we perceive it as an attack. And before we've even had a chance to really talk about it, our walls have gone up. We're in fortified mode. We're in fighting back mode. And there is this battle that's going on before we've stopped and considered, why is this battle going on? Now, this battle is going on because Sheba was hiding in their midst. Maybe they knew that. Maybe they didn't.

Many times when we have these kinds of battles, again, we're in defensive mode, but before you defend yourself, would you stop and consider that maybe Sheba is hiding somewhere within your camp? That maybe there is an issue that you don't see. Maybe what you perceive as an attack, and maybe it is an attack, or maybe it's not an attack, but maybe you perceive it as an attack, and you're in defensive mode, but you're not recognizing that

Well, there really is an issue. There really is a rebel in there. There really is someone who is going to do harm and bring destruction. The reality is sometimes we miss the huge plank in our own eye. Remember what Jesus said? Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and do not consider the plank in your own eye? When we're in defensive mode, it's easy for us to miss the plank in our own eye. And I would encourage you to watch out for a defensive heart.

To stop and think. When there is a battle, when there is an attack, and maybe you think you know why, have you stopped to really check your heart? Have you stopped to really allow there to be some kind of conversation? Have you stopped to consider that you might be as horrible as that person is saying you are? That's maybe not easy for you to think about, but it can be the truth. We sometimes miss planks, not little specks,

In Jesus's example, the little speck is in the other person's eye, the plank, the huge issue is in our eye. And here we are attacking back because we don't see the issue in our own eye. Our walls are up and we're defending, we're fighting, we're defensive. It's the opposite of being teachable. It's the opposite of humility. Not that there's never occasion to fight, never reason to fight. And sometimes there are reasons to fight. Sometimes there are reasons to defend ourselves in the pursuit of God's heart, but not in the pursuit of our own hearts.

We need to be careful and watch out for defensiveness. Last week, we saw Joab rebuke David. Not a good guy. Rebuked the guy who pursues God's heart. And David received it. It was the truth. He may not have wanted to hear it. And this was the guy who just killed his son. He didn't want to hear it from him, least of all. But he spoke truth. He needed to hear it. And so David received it. He was teachable. He would be able to receive the truth, even if

from someone he didn't want to receive from. The reality is when we get defensive, we're typically guilty of worse things than what we're defending ourselves about anyways. I always loved the example of Pastor Romaine, Pastor Chuck's old assistant pastor, and people would be complaining about him and talking about how he wasn't a good pastor and bring all these accusations against him. And he would say, you don't even know the half of it. I'm way worse than you even know. My heart is way worse than you know.

So why am I going to get defensive about these attacks? Because it's not even as bad as I actually am. But oh, we want to defend ourselves and we can easily get caught up in that battle. Proverbs chapter 29, verse one, he was often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Watch out for a defensive heart because God's going to bring you correction. And it may not be through your favorite people. It might be through Joab's.

You keep hardening your neck. You keep hardening your heart. You keep ignoring and you keep those defensive walls up and well, disaster is going to come because you wouldn't allow the Lord to teach you. Watch out for a defensive heart. Be brave enough to consider maybe this thing that they're accusing me of, maybe this thing they're saying about me, maybe this attack is actually true. Maybe there's some merit in it. Maybe Sheba does live within my walls.

Watch out for a defensive heart. Watch out for a self-centered heart. Watch out for half-heartedness. Watch out for a power-hungry heart. And watch out for an opportunistic heart. These are some examples of the kinds of hearts that we have that we can pursue in pursuing our own heart. These all end in disaster. The only safe place to be is in the pursuit of God's heart, seeking to live for Him, to glorify Him, to honor Him, to please Him.

That's the only way that we can protect ourselves from the disasters that we will bring upon ourselves in our own pursuits. And so let's take some time this evening to pursue God's heart. Kim's gonna close us in a couple songs. And I would encourage you to just allow the Lord to search your heart. Invite the Lord to search your heart. Are there areas of your life where you are pursuing your own heart?

where you are opportunistic or maybe power hungry. Maybe you're half-hearted and some things that God has, you know, called you to and spoken to you about. Maybe you're self-centered and hey, you go along with the program as long as it fits what you want. But, you know, when it's different, then well, I'm going to do what I want to do. Maybe it's defensiveness that you need to allow the Lord to bring in some brokenness and some humility and ask the Lord to help you to receive truth and receive correction and

and rebuke so that it doesn't end in disaster for you. Pursuing your own heart ends in disaster. So let's pursue God's heart. As Kim leads us in this time of worship, as usual, we just open up the opportunity. If you would like to pray for one another, encourage one another, help each other, as the Lord leads, feel free to do that. Let's take this time and pursue the Lord's heart, just between us and the Lord or together, however the Lord leads. Let's make sure we put Him first.

He's the focus. He's the passion. He's the priority. Let's worship him.