Your Sin Has Great Consequences: 2 Samuel 18:19-33

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Bible Guys. Hi, Chris, Hi, Jeffree. Man, it's going to be here, yeah, Jeffrey, Jeffrey. Yeah. You can call me Christopher if you're Christopher. Yeah. Okay, So we are here today wrapping up the story of David and Absolom and his rebellion. But before we get into that, we are going to do a segment that Desire has prepared for us. Called would would you rather? I like these these are great? Rather you have to choose? Okay, so you want to just take turns of reading them? Okay, ready, yep? Would you I haven't read any of these? Would you rather have a personal soundtrack that plays your life's background music? Or a narration that describes your every action and a dramatic voice. Wow? I think we've had different personal soundtrack questions before we have, but this one is. But this is good. A narration that describes your every action in dramatic voice. Because we've chosen soundtrack. Before we have we have? Yeah? Because I said bad to the bomb. Yeah, narration that describes your every action. Yeah, I would have to go with the music because music is more tolerable than I caused the voice. Yes, right, I don't know. I like the voices in my head. We're pretty good friends. Calm down, what do you say? What? Tim? I know? I smell it too funny? That's great, Okay. I think I would choose, although having having the voice would be fun, I think I would choose the music. The music, all right. Number two? Would you rather have to always speak in rhymes? Oh jeez? Or only to be able to communicate through dad jokes? For sure? Rhymes for sure? Well? Because rhymes are you? Can you drop it? Rhymes like dimes? Oh geez? No? Hey? Uh what do you what are you saying? He says, Uh, you have a gift for rhyme? Yes, yes, some of the time. Some of the time. Right, that's right. No more rhymes now? And I mean it. Anybody want a peanut princess bride? So it has to be rhymes, you know why? Because they're more that you can still be intelligent, that's correct, and intellectual through runs. Yes? So well, would you rather live in a world where it rains food once a week? Or where it snows candy once a year? Oh, no question, ra. Range. Hang on a minute, go ahead and finish that. Yeah, it has to be range food. You literally tried to answer the question while you were yawning. Yes, Hey, did you ever Do you ever see the movie Cloudy with a Chancey Meatballs? I don't think so. It's an animated Yeah, I know about it. I just still think i've seen it. So this guy invents something he puts up into the clouds and then it used the moisture in the clouds to produce food, or he has a remote control so anyway it rains food, then it gets out of control. But basically, yeah, that was the premise behind it. And yeah, I think I would like that. You'd rather have it rain food once a week, the right kind of food, right kind of food? Yeah, I would totally choose snow candy once a year. Yeah, well yeah, yeah, I'm a candy guy. Well I'm not a candy guy. I love I'm a chocoholic. Well, I and your recovery is admitting it, but I have no intention to recover. So you know that the other day I came home and apparently my wife had made a dark brownie, chocolate brownie with chocolate chunks and then chocolate chips on top of that, and I had had set a peace out. My son even made a little note and said for dad, and I. Felt obligated to eat it because because it said four dad. Yeah, I eat all the brownies in our house by obligation too. Yes, yes, But anyway, I took one bite of it and it had chocolate chunks and chocolate chips and it was dark chocolate. And I one bite of it and I was like, I have to throw this away. I cannot stomach this chocolate, so I had to get rid of it. Okay, So I'm pretty sure you're not a Christian. I'm pretty sure you and I in that area. All right, here we go? Okay? Is this me you? Okay? Would you rather wear a sign that says I'm awkward everywhere you go? Or have everyone around you suddenly forget how to talk? What everybody around you can't talk, you. Can't talk into your room and everybody's like. What is happening? Or you have to wear That's the question, that's the question. That is such a wild and weird question. What would you rather? I would definitely have to go with the awkward. Yeah. I don't think you have to wear the sign though, what do. You mean, oh, everybody, everybody? According to this, i'd have to wear it. You have to wear the sign? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that would be far more functional, Your life would be more funcional. You'd have to just explain the way once. Yeah, I lost. I have to wear the sign the rest of my life. Yeah, okay. And then number five, would you rather be famous for your cooking skills but never be able to eat again? Or be known for your singing voice but only be able to sing off key, but. If you don't eat again, you die? That's ray? Well there's that. Hey, you know what I should read? Would you rather be famous for cooking skills but never be able to eat again and live a month? Yeah? Or and never be able to eat your own food again? But it doesn't say that. I know. But well, you also said other things. I didn't say live a month. What I'm saying is, if you want to correct that one, well, that's what it means. Be famous for your cooking stills but never be able to eat your own food again is really the issue. Okay, I said live a month because that's the ultimate conclusion of. What she said. I know, but it's yeah, all right, so obviously we have to choose the singing voice but only be able to sing off key because you know, there's no requirement to sing right, right, you just quit singing, right, yes. Yeah, but be known for it though. Everybody's like, oh, Jeff, just sing sing one more time, Chris, I gave it up. No, no, no, actors. Actors are famous for acting and then quit acting. I read this as you're famous for being bad. Well, you're famous for your singing voice, but only able to sing off key. Right, In other words, like your famous like like remember those old American idol auditions where they would highlight the bad ones. Yeah, that's that's why. That's how I read it. Okay, I don't know, but you became like really really bad. Yeah, maybe maybe that's what it is. I'd still rather have that, because you know, the other one has is extremely limited to about thirty or forty days. Yeah, that's that's right. And by the way, I started to get excited. For you at the beginning of this question because it says, would you rather be known for your cooking skills? Be famous for it? And I was like, Oh, this is for Jeff, I get excited for you to eat again. Yeah. Then I thought that's not him. That's not it. Yeah. I'm a big fan of the eat inside of things, which. Is why you're a fan of the Does anybody ever become a fan of cooking if not for eating? I don't know. I like it all right. Time to move on. By the way, speaking of cooking, this story is really cooking up. We've been cooking up a big ending. Again. Once again, our skills are going through the roof. Yes, our ability. Transitional segues are our forte is terrible. Okay, we should do that. From now on on. Worst segues ever. Dad joke segues essentially what it is really funny. Yeah, okay, now it's terrible. So here's what we have. This young man Absolom decides he's gonna commit a coup against his dad. He has very long hair, he's a very handsome man. David his armies finally have to square off against him, and that doesn't want to fight him, and Joe ab winds up killing Absolom because Absolom's hair gets caught in a tree and they find him and they go and yeah, and he dangled. He dangled. Yes, that's a biblical word. It is. So then here's what happens, because David had said, go ahead and fight, uh, but just be gentle with my son, right. And then Joe Ab, one of the generals, kills David's. Son in a very non gentle way. Yes, less than gentle, very much less than gentleness. So Second Samuel, chapter eighteen, verse nineteen says, Then Zadok's son him As said, let me run to the king with the good news that the lord has rescued him from his enemies. No, Joe, I told him it wouldn't be good news to the king that his son is dead. You can be my messenger another time and not today. Then Joeb said to a man from Ethiopia, go tell the king what you've seen. The man bowed and ran off. This guy, this guy doesn't know what David does. You disposed a guy. Yeah, But Hima asked, continue to plead with job. Whatever happens, please let me go too. Why should you go my son? Joe AB replied there will be no reward for your news. Yes, but let me go anyway, he begged, and Joe finally said, all right, go ahead. So him As took the less demanding route by the way of the plane and ran to Mahannam ahead of the Ethiopian. But hey, that's saying something when when anybody can beat an Ethiopian in a long run. Yeah, those Ethiopians are are are famous and have been forever been famous for those long runs. So this guy beats him by a less demanding route. While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates of the town, the watchman climbed to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked, he saw a lone man running toward them. He shouted the news down to David, and the king replied, if he is alone, he has news. As the messenger came closer, the watchman saw another man unning toward him. He shouted down, here comes another one. The king replied, he also will have news. The first man runs like a him As the son of Zadok. The watchman said, he's a good man. It comes with good news, the king replied. Then him As cried after the king, everything is all right, And he bowed before the king with his face to the ground, and said, praise to the Lord, our God. Who has handed over the rebels who dared to stand against my lord the King. What about young Absalom? The king demanded, is he all right? Him As replied, when Joeb told me to come, there was a lot of commotion, but I didn't know what was happening. Wait here, the king told him, So him As stepped aside. Then the man from Ethiopia arrived and said, I have good news for my Lord the King. Today. The Lord has rescued you from all those who rebelled against you. What about young Absalom? The king demanded, Is he all right? The Othman replied, may all of your Ethiopia or may I just realized I said Ethiopian wrong, and then my brain corrected it after I got past it. Let me complain, Let me say it again. And the Ethiopian replied, may all of your enemies, my Lord the King, both now and in the future, share the fate of that young man. The king was overcome with emotion. He went up to the room over the gateway and burst into tears, And as he went he cried, oh, my son, Absolom, My son, my son, Absolom. If only I had died instead of you, Oh, Absolom, my son, my son. Wow, that hard. That's tough. That's a tough one. Yeah, I am, well, there you go. I hate that, yep. Yeah. So so there's a note here in the Life Application Study Bible, which we promote, although we get no. Money for that. That's right, they should. Sponsor the Bible, guys, do you think by now? All right? But anyway, it says why was David so upset over the death of his rebel son? Number one? David realized that he, in part was responsible for Absolom's death. Nathan the Prophet had said that David had killed Uriah, his own sons would rebel against him. Number Two David was angry at Joeb and his officers for killing Absolom against his wishes. Number three David truly loved his son, even though Absolom did nothing to deserve his love. It would have been kinder and more loving to deal with Absolom and his runaway ego when he was younger, which is what we've already covered, right. So I just think that it's just tragic all the way around. I mean, think about all three of those fronts we've talked about it before. I honestly believe that there are signs and hints of David completely having this godly perspective of knowing that it was his sin long time ago that put this into motion. And so you know, David just has no choice but to feel completely responsible, not just as the commander of the army, but a person who decided to rebel against God. And then all of a sudden, these consequences come along, you know, and here they are just consequences of his you know, think. About the different sins that we do. Sometimes we have a sin in our life for a mistake in our life that only affects one relationship, you know, because it's an offense against that person or something like that. And then there's you know. Things that we do in our lives that somehow involve all of our families sometimes, right. And then there's things that we do sometimes in our lives that involve let's just say, if we're like a prominent leader, right, I mean, we just read something from a church in our area that something bad happened, remember, and all of a sudden it's thinking, well, how many lives are that can affect? And then think about the king or the president of a nation, right, who does this wicked thing, and that person is supposed to be known as a person who loves God, is a person who's responsible for leading everybody spiritually, and all of a sudden he has a sin. And now the consequences of those kinds of sins affect the entire nation. And so here's David who does this wicked thing by killing your Ayah, taking Bathsheba as this queen does it in front of the entire nation, and then all of a sudden gets called out, and then the nation gets to witness the curse played out. Think about that. Yeah, so the entire nation, those who really love God, those who are paying attention, all the grandmas a are sitting beside the fire, you know, and the grandfathers. They're looking at their families and they're saying, you do realize what's happening here, kids, don't you right? And and they're laying it out and so David has no choice but to think about all of that. And so so it's just sat on so many fronts, you know. Yeah, did did did Nathan say that that was a curse? I was just thinking about. This, Well, he said your sons will rebel against you. Yeah, was that prophetic. Well, so a curse it must happen. It's it's it's the will of God that must happen, as opposed. To are you asking about the term curse? Yes, okay, right, So God didn't force this thing to happened, and Absolom wasn't required to do it to fill the curse. Instead, it was a prophetic thing that God said, I know what's going to happen now because of this bad choice. In previous podcast, we both have said. Preferred that it was a curse. It was a curse, I know, but that's what I'm questioning right now. Yeah. And then also. I know for a fact that we read a note in the Life Application Study Bible and they viewed as a curse. Sure, it says so back there in Second Samuel chapter twelve. So here's here's the answer of verse eleven. It says, this is what the Lord says, because of what you've done, I will cause your own household and rebel against you. Yeah, so you did it so secretly and I will make this. So the question is, can't curse be used interchangeably in something like that? Well, so I think it is a curse. Then, yeah, that's what I was asking, as opposed to prophetically, if God was just looking in the future and going, because you did this, it's going to scatch cascade down, and this is what it's going to happen. Your son is going to instead. What God's saying is I turned your son against you. Yeah, well, doesn't it also say something after that? And second Samuel, it says, uh, and then all of your house, all of your children, will live by the sword. And he also said that he's going to sleep with your wives. He predicted that. He predicted Absolom' that's what I was getting to. Oh wow, I didn't even piece that together. I remember. I remember that now because it's it's something that you want, right. I want to forget it whenever I read it. I want to forget it. Like you hear something like that and you're like and you just sort of want to just put that out of your mind. At least I do, right, And so it's like and so that's why I'm like, yeah, I didn't even piece that together. He predicted that, Yeah, yeah. It'd be in public view. You did this in secret, and it's going to come out in the public. So this was kind of a foreordained thing. This was it was going to happen. Yeah, but Absolum, it's it's a shame because on the same side, Absolom didn't have to do these things right, so God knew it was going to happen. And that's what God is saying is all these horrible things are going to happen. But Absolom was doomed from the beginning because David was still God's anointed. Remember when David refused to kill Saul when Saul was in the cave, or he refused to kill Saul while Saul was out in the field sleeping and he comes up to him and instead he just cuts off the edge of his robe and it shows him right. David was like, I'm not going to touch the Lord's anning it. I'm not going to mess around with the one God chose. If God put him in that place, and God's going to take him out of that place, it's not my responsibility to take him out. But Absolom decided, my dad doesn't have the courage to lead, I'm going to take him out right, and he decided to raise his hand to But God hadn't announced yet. The Absolom was the one. Absolom was the heir apparent that throne was Absolom someday, right, and he decided he was going to go do the right thing the wrong way. I kind of have compassion on Absom a little bit on the front end of it, going, you didn't bring judgment against my brother. Right, my stepbrother comes and rapes my sister, and you didn't do anything about it. And so I am the blood avenger. I'm the one that's going to come and I'm going to bring judgment when you can't. And so he sees weakness and he decides he's going to rise up. And he could have justified his behavior by saying, somebody, you know, nature abhors a vacuum, right, and leadership vacuums usually caused somebody to go, I'm going to be the one that steps into that spot. But you weren't the one chosen yet. You were the future king, you're not the current king. And he was doomed from the beginning because God had said that he was going to give David a long rain. God had already said that his kingdom would last eventually. So it's possible to do the right thing the wrong way, is what I'm saying, and I feel bad for Absalom in this way. David was in this decade of just abdicating his responsibility and passivity. He doesn't mentor his son, he doesn't pull his son in when his son is willing to come home. He just doesn't do the right things by his son. And his son is a leader and steps in and fills a leadership vacuum, brings judgment against his stepbrother. He does all the things. You can totally see how Absolom justifies his behavior. Yeah, if I don't do it, nobody's going to do it, and and usually that's going to lead to a terrible catastrophe. And that's what happens in this situation. I just and so here's David grieving for so many reasons. Yeah, it's centered on Absolom, but he's grieving over so many missed opportunities. And it's just it's such a sad story here. Yeah. And I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine losing Amin and then facing you know that your daughter Tamar being completely disgraced, Yeah, and then now losing Absolom, And I just I just feel so bad because think about it, Uh, if you were very successful and were totally rich and powerful and some sort of industry and your family was in ruin. You know, you, being a Christian man of faith, you would consider that a fail, a complete fail. So it's you know, it's it's like it's like. You know there. I remember one day. I remember one time there was a guy who lived across the street from me, and he would blow his driveway every day and we would talk, and uh, he had all this money and he was talking about moving out of our neighborhood and getting this mansion and talking about being a millionaire by the time he was like thirty, and he was making so much money and he had the coolest job with security and everything else. And uh. And I remember we invited him over at one time and we were just you know, in our twenties as youth pastors. And he comes over with a bottle of wine, you know, you know, as a as a gift coming over. You know, he didn't know us, and and uh, at the time, you know, anyway, it doesn't matter. Comes in and I'm thinking, man, this guy's awesome. I mean he's good looking. Man. He was you know, like muscular. He's a security guy. And I remember walking him out and I said, gosh, man, I said, it must be nice to be you, or I said something like that, and he looked at me and he said, are you kidding me? And all he did was talk about his wife and his kids and his home life being not great at all, and you know, the possibility of divorce and everything else. And he said, I would trade everything I have. To have what you have. He said, you and your wife and your kids are beautiful, and he said I would trade everything to have what you have. I just remember thinking, Wow, here's me looking at everything he guy has and he's saying, it's nothing compared to what you have, right, because we had a great home and great family, great kids. I would imagine that is probably hitting David at this point, right He's thinking about his entire life. He's thinking about his quest, his mission, his kingdom, his responsibilities, everything that he's accomplished, and he's looking at what has happened to his three kids over the past few years and thinking, I would have rather died than absolom. Yeah. Horrible, Yeah, it's horrible. So we have to get out ahead of those things. A lot of the biblical challenges to us is to make our decisions ahead of time, to get out ahead of these things, to make wise choices before we get to these points. Don't take your foot off the guests. Don't get lazy. Don't start thinking just because you have victories in the past that you will always have victories. Don't think that you're winning today because you won yesterday. Today is a new day. Jesus says that right. Jesus talks about it from a worry standpoint. Don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow's going to have his own problems. Today has its own problems. Let's worry about today. Let's focus on now and and and So. We can't get passive in our parenting. We can't get passive in our marriages, we can't get passive in our career path. We can sometimes get just tired and decide we're not going to stay focused, and as a result, the others around us that we are trying so hard to help, they wind up suffering. If we move into place instead, we need to get good counselors, and we need to have a new mission, and we need to have a new battles to fight. Once David felt like his battles were done, David just kind of mailed it in from that point on until this battle. Yeah right, So Well that's a good place to end and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow on the Bible GUS