David's Abuse from Ammon

As we continue to make our way through the life of David, trying to understand this man and his ministry and how his life pertains to your life and mine. And so as we study David, we realize that in chapter 10, once again, his desire is to extend kindness to one of his enemies. In chapter nine, he extended kindness to Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the grandson of Saul. And we saw that in chapter nine, that relationship was one that exemplifies how it is the gospel comes to us through a God who extends his kindness.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse number four, that the love of God, the love is patient and the love is kind.

And it says it with a definite article because it's a particular kind of love that's described by God. The Bible never defines love for us. It just describes love. Love can't be defined in words. It's described in action. And so the Bible describes God's love, the particular kind of love that we are to express to one another by being patient and being kind. The word for patient is macrothymia. It's not the word for long-suffering when it comes to circumstances. That's a different Greek word, hypomone, which where you are long-suffering under events or under circumstances.

But macrothymia is a word that spikes about being long-suffering with people. And to love, you must be long-fused. And God is just that. He is long-fused with us. That's why when you sin, you don't die. Oh, you're dead spiritually when you're born, but instead of killing you, the minute you sin, God is long-suffering with us because he's not willing that any should perish, but come to the knowledge of him as savior. And so God is patient, he's long-suffering. And all the while during his patience, he kills us with his kindness.

And that's what love is. And so it gives us two positive aspects in 1 Corinthians 13, beginning in verse number four, of love. That's why in Matthew 11, 28, remember Christ says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy. It's the word for kind. My yoke is kind. It's not burdensome. It's not harsh. And when we look at kindness in the Bible, we realize it's a result of the love of God.

And yet we realize also that when we love as God loves, and we are long-fused with people, and we extend kindness to them, sometimes people respond to that kindness. And we see great things like in chapter nine with Mephibosheth. He responded to the kindness of David. He came when called. He bowed before David and honored him and said that he was the servant of the king. He saw himself as nothing but a dead dog. He saw himself as worthless because whenever you're saved by the king, you always see yourself as unworthy.

And that's how Mephibosheth saw himself one as being unworthy. And he responded well to the kindness of David. And because he did, he received blessing. And we talked to you about those blessings last week, about the standing he received with David because he was a son now in David's house. He would eat at the table regularly because he had fellowship with David. He was one who was able to understand the support he would receive because David would make sure that he was taken care of. And so we begin to see the rewards that Mephibosheth received because he responded to the call of kindness by David.

Well, now we come to chapter 10 and David is in the kindness mode. And so he wants to extend kindness to somebody else. And as he extends kindness this time, it's not received, it's rejected. Which by the way, is the way most kindness is received. Not positively, but negatively. And sure enough, it's received negatively by Hanun, the king of the Ammonites. And so we begin to see that sometimes even in our lives, when we extend kindness to people, it's rejected. It's not received very well. But you're going to see some unique things in chapter 10.

We want to help you understand David. We want you to understand the picture he portrays. But there's some other things we want you to understand as well. Things that we will open up to you as our time goes on. Because you'll see some things that maybe you might not see just by reading the text. But it's interesting to note that as David exemplifies Christ in demonstrating kindness and how that kindness is received and the blessings like one as Mephibosheth would receive. Two, in chapter 10, we realize that through that rejection doesn't come blessing, but bloodshed.

Remember what it says in the book of Romans, the second chapter. We read it last week, verse four. Do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? And then he says this, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation.

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God.

God promises that when you respond to his kindness, grace is received, mercy is seen, but if you are stubborn and you harden your heart to his kindness, then you're storing up wrath for yourself, that at the revelation of Christ you will see his judgment. Well, in chapter 10, we understand a little bit about those who spurn the kindness of the king. Let me read it to you.

We'll make a few comments and help you understand the significance of this chapter as it relates to our life. Verse number one, now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun the son became king in his place.

Then David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me. So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. But when David's servants came to the land of the Ammonites, the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it? So Hanun took David's servants and shaved off half of their beards and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips and sent them away.

When they told it to David, he sent to meet them for the men were greatly humiliated. The king said, stay at Jericho until your beards grow and then return. Now, when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth Rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers and the king of Mecca with 1000 men and the men of Tob with 12,000 men. When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men and the sons of Ammon came and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Mecca were by themselves in the field.

Now, when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. But the remainder of the people, he placed in the hand of Abishi, his brother, and he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon. And he said, if the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me. But if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God.

And may the Lord do what is good at his sight. So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans and they fled before him. When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled, they also fled before Abishi and into the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem. When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. And Ha-Dezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the river.

And they came to Hilam and Shobak, the commander of the army. Ha-Dezer led them. Now when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed Jordan and came to Hilam. And the Arameans arrayed themselves to meet David and fought against him. But the Arameans fled before Israel and David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobak, the commander of their army. They died there. When all the king's servants of Ha-Dezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them.

So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore. What does this mean, this chapter? What is portrayed here? What are the results that we receive from understanding chapter 10 of 2 Samuel and David, the king of Israel? The first thing you need to understand is the charity for Ammon.

It's number one, because of the death of the king of Ammon, Hadash. Death always should bring consolation and compassion. When someone dies, you want to be kind to them. You want to show kindness to their family. That's what David wants to do. David wants to extend kindness. Why? Because there was a death in a family. Let me explain something to you.

The reason God extends kindness to us is because there's a death. We're dead in our trespasses and sin. If we weren't dead in our trespasses and sin, we would not need the kindness of God. But because we are dead, God extends his kindness to us. And so because of the death of the king of the Ammonites, David wants to show kindness. And Hanun, the son, became king. Notice that it was because of the deeds of his father that David wanted to show kindness to Hanun.

Now the Bible never records for us, this is important to understand, never records for us what Nahash did for David. We don't know the kindness he showed to him. It probably was during the time he was a fugitive and he was running from Saul that somewhere during that period he came across this king of the Ammonites who extended kindness to him some way, somehow. Now we know that he did because David says he did. We just don't know what it was or when it was or where it was. But because of the deeds of Nahash, David wants to extend kindness and mercy to his son.

Think about that. David never forgot the kindness that Nahash showed to him. Even though Nahash is an Ammonite, even though he's an enemy of Israel, Nahash showed kindness to him and David never forgot that. And that reminded me today as I was in my study thinking about the fact that, you know what, how many times do we forget all about the kindness that God has shown to us? The Bible says in Psalm 103, verse number one, you know the verses very well.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits, who pardons all your iniquities. That's absolution. God absolves all your sin. He removes it all from you. He pardons your iniquities. Who heals all your diseases, all your soul's diseases, that's restoration. Who redeems your life from the pit, that's elevation. Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion, that's coronation. Who satisfies your years with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle, that is satisfaction.

The psalmist said, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. These are the benefits you receive because of the tender mercies of God, because of his kindness. He elevates you. He coronates you. You are the one who becomes a king in his palace. You are one who is honored by the Lord God himself. He redeems your life from the pit. He restores you as an individual. He satisfies your years with good things. But you know what? We tend to forget all the great things that God has done for us.

We forget about his tender mercies. The ironic thing about this is that David never forgot the kindness that an enemy of Israel showed to him. Never forgot that. And so when he dies, he looks for a way to show kindness to his son that he might reap the benefits of the tender mercies of the king of Israel. Notice too, it truly is the desire of David to do so.

Why? Listen, if you experience mercy, if you experience kindness, you want to extend kindness. You want to exemplify kindness. If you haven't experienced it, you can't extend it. If you haven't experienced it, you can't exemplify it. But if you have, you do. That's David. David had experienced the mercies of God, the compassion of God, the kindness of God. So the natural byproduct of that is to somehow extend it to those who are in desperate need of kindness. That makes sense, doesn't it? That's the way we should be.

Ask yourself, are you a kind person? That is, do you extend kindness to those who so desperately need to understand a God who is kind? Do you exemplify that? We told you last week that when you live according to the character of God, you're always at your best. You're always at your best when you exemplify the character and nature of God. And in chapter 9, David is at his best. In chapter 10, listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you. In chapter 10, we believe that this is another instance where David is at his best because he wants to show kindness again.

But at the end of our time, I'll show you that that might not be the case. But more on that in a moment. He wants to extend kindness. So we see it because it's his desire. It came about because of the death of the King of Ammon. It came about because of the deeds that the King of Ammon had demonstrated to David when David was fleeing from Saul. He remembered what had happened to him. So David goes after him. David sends his messengers to bring the message of consolation, to bring a message of mercy, to bring the message of kindness.

So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. That's what he wants to do. And so it says these very words. The princesses of the Ammonites said to Hanun, the Lord, do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and to overthrow it? This is point number two.

This is the contempt from Ammon. He listens to unwise counsel and he listens to them and he rejects the messengers. He rejects them in such a way that when they arrive, he shaves off half of their beards, which is humiliating to a Jewish man, to any man in the Middle East at that time, because the beard was such symbolic to their manhood. It truly was. That which separated the man from the woman was the facial hair, so everybody could see that, but it was really instrumental in man's demonstration of his maturity.

So he shaved off half their beards and then he cut off their garments from the hip down. Now understand this, that men at that time did not wear undergarments. So when they cut off their garments, they were completely exposed. They were completely humiliated and I'm sure there was a mocking of them. There was a scorning of them. There was a laughing of these men of Israel and they were mistreated horribly, made fun of, mocked, scorned. And I think about that and I think about the fact that, you know what, always God's messengers will be scorned and mocked.

Christ said, if they're against you, they're against me. If they ridicule me, they'll ridicule you, but if they're against you, it's like them being against me. And that's exactly what happens in this story. They really are, this really is an affront to David, the king of Israel. They're mocking the king. Remember what the Bible says in the book of Hebrews 11 chapter.

It says, others experienced mockings and scourging, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. These are the ones who gained approval from God. They were mistreated. Christ says in Luke chapter six, these words, blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and cast insults at you and spurn your name is evil for the sake of the son of man.

Be glad in that day and leap for joy for behold, your reward is great in heaven. And the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets as well. What happened is that these men, these servants of David had gone to give a message of consolation, a message of mercy, to show kindness to Hanun, the new king of the Ammonites. And they were spurned. They were rejected. They were humiliated. They were mocked simply because they came to give a message of grace, a message of truth, a message of peace. And yet it was not received.

The Bible says in Luke 10, verse number 16, he who despises you, despises me. And that's exactly what happened. Verse number five, when they told it to David, he sent to meet them for the men were greatly humiliated. And the king said, stay at Jericho until your beards grow and then return. David was concerned about his servants. David was concerned about his, how his servants were treated. Because David as representative of the king of Israel or who was the king of Israel is representative of the ultimate king of Israel who cares for all his children who are mistreated.

And he would take special note so much so that the Ammonites became a stench in his nostrils. That's what it says in verse number six. And so we moved to point number three, and that is the conflict with Ammon.

Now, when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, that is, it became a stench in the nostrils of David. In other words, David was ticked. David was ticked because, you know, he had shown kindness to Mephibosheth that was received. And so he's in a good mood. He's got the kindness mode going on. It's almost as if he's looking for somebody else that he can extend kindness to. He finds it, extends it. It's rejected. Not only is it rejected, he's mocked. His servants are humiliated.

David, the king of Israel, not a happy camper. And so he becomes infuriated because Ammon had rejected his desire to show compassion. You know, when you extend mercy and kindness to people, you expect them to respond. But I want you to notice that when God extends mercy and kindness to people, most people don't respond.

They just don't. And the unfortunate thing about that is that as David was angry at the response and would go to war with Ammon and slaughter many, many men, so too, when man spurns the mercy and compassion and kindness of God, God will go to war with him. You would think that Ammon would be afraid to go against the king of Israel. You'd think he would, because David had conquered the whole land of Israel. All the promises that God had given to Israel in terms of a land, David had conquered. He was in charge.

And you would think that Hanun would say, you know what, this guy, David, he's a powerful man. I'm not going to go against him. But he was just arrogant enough to do so, only to his demise. You will think at the end of the world that the world will realize, and they do, because we've talked about it on Sunday, that all the plagues that come upon man during the book of Revelation and all the turmoil that they're facing, they know, they know it's the Lamb. We read it in Revelation chapter six. They want to hide themselves from the presence of the one who sits on the throne.

So they're recognizing that the one on the throne is the king. He's the God of the world. You'd think that they would come to a place of repentance, because amidst all of the turmoil of the tribulation upon the earth during the book of Revelation, chapter six and 19, God still is extending his kindness and mercy, because he has witnesses, 144,000 Jewish evangelists, two witnesses, one like Moses, one like Elijah, Revelation 11, an angel that flies around him in heaven, proclaiming the gospel of grace and kindness and mercy extended to fallen man.

And you'd think they'd come to a place of repentance, and they would want to submit to the king. Having recognized Christ as king, having recognized Christ as Lamb, you would think they would come to their senses, but they don't. They do not. Because as we read earlier in Romans chapter two, their hearts become hardened. That's why the book of Hebrews gives a warning. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the day of provocation in the wilderness. Don't turn against the words of God.

Don't spurn the words of God. Don't harden your heart to the things of God. Listen to what he says. Repent of your sins. Give your life to Christ. Don't turn away. But people in the world still turn away and spurn the mercy and kindness of God. And even during the tribulation, in spite of all the turmoil, they still want to go to war against the king of the world. That amazes me. In spite of all the kindness that God bestows, and all the things that God does, that's why we read Romans 2 verse number four again, because it's because of the goodness and kindness of God that leads man to repentance.

That's what really leads man to repentance. Because in the book of Revelation, all the things, all the judgments that are poured out upon man, when man's skin is being burned, when man is chewing off, as Revelation 16 says, the tips of their tongues, because the sun has burned them so bad, to redirect the pain from the burning of their flesh, they gnaw off the ends of their tongues so that they can redirect that pain to a central location. And the Bible says they still will not repent.

And so what God does is that he allows the bowls of judgment to pour out, so the great river Euphrates dries up, so the kings of the east can make their way to the valley of Megiddo, so they can gather their armies against God for the great war against God. That really baffles me that the world would know that Jesus is king, that Jesus is lamb, and that all these plagues that have come upon them are from a divine nature, God himself, and yet they still think they can go against God and defeat him.

That is the power of Satan's deception. They still think they can beat the king of Israel. They won't. The Bible tells us they won't, but they think they can. So here is the king of Ammon. Here is the king that listens to unwise counsel and decides that he will go to battle against David because David's going to come after him. And David does. David says Joab, his commander, and they go to war. And as Joab goes to war, he realizes that he's surrounded. He's got the Ammonites in front of him. He's got the Arameans behind him.

He's surrounded by the enemy. And so Joab divides his men. He divides the mighty against the Arameans because they're more powerful than the Ammonites are. And yet they go to battle. Listen to what Joab says. This is so good. Verse number 12. Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous. Isn't that good? Be strong. Let us show ourselves courageous. What did God say to Joshua? Be strong and courageous. I read those words today and I thought to myself, how many of us as fathers look at our sons and say, you know what?

I want you to be strong. I want you to be courageous. I want you to show yourself a man. You know, I realized that today that most men are raising young boys who are controlled by young women. I don't understand that. I don't get that. We want to raise our sons to be strong and courageous, to be bold, to be vigorous, to be warriors for God. And Joab calls his soldiers around and says, you know what, guys? We've got to be strong. We've got to be courageous. Why? He says simply this, for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God.

For the sake of our people, for the cities of our God, ultimately, purposefully, it's for God himself. The reason you're to show yourself strong, the reason you're to be courageous is not because you're just a man, but because you're doing it for the glory and honor of God. This is all about the people of God. This is all about the cities of God. This is all about God himself. The reason we do what we do is for God's sake. We want to honor God. And then he says this is so good. And may the Lord do what is good in his sight, because God's going to do whatever he's going to do.

God's in charge. If we die, we die. We live, we live. But we're going to go to battle trusting God for all that he says. Folks, this is crucial. When we look at our lives, we must ask ourselves, are we building young boys to become strong men of God?

Are we building them to stand firm on the faith and not to bow to peer pressure? Are we training them to defend the faith? Are we training them to be bold for Christ? Not too long ago, my son came home to me and said, I got a concern, dad. I said, okay, this is Cade. He was 14 at the time. He said, I'm concerned about some of the languages that my coaches are using. So tomorrow I've asked to meet with them. I said, okay. He says, I need to talk to them about their language because they're supposed to set an example for us as, as athletes.

And the example they're studying is one of negativity, not positive. It's one that's dishonoring to the Lord. So do you mind if, if I go to them and talk to them about this? I said, no, I think that's what you need to do, son. So he calls the coach and says at the time, I already done that, but to clarify the time, he goes to the coach and says, coach, I respect you as my coach. And I want to honor you as my coach. But I got to tell you, the language you use is inappropriate and the language you use does not exemplify the character of Christ.

And the language you use is something you've told the players they can't use. And so therefore your example is a negative example and not a positive example. And I'm concerned about that. That coach said, I have a meeting to go to, let me cancel it.

And we'll sit and talk. So he canceled his meeting and the coach sat and talked with him for an hour about how to be a positive example to the players, asking the 14 year old, how he can be a better positive example to all the athletes on his team. I want my sons to be strong. I want them to be courageous. I do not want them to back down to anyone at any time. I want them to be able to be bold for Christ. I want everybody to know that they are committed to Christ and they were not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

I want them that my whole life is building into my sons. I built into my daughters too, but that's my belly, my wife's role more so than mine. But I read this today and I thought to myself, how many of us as men are talking to our sons? You better be strong. You better be courageous. You better not back down. It's all about the kingdom of God. It's all about the people of God. You're doing it for the glory of God. You go to war and you go to war for God and don't let anybody, anybody cause you to turn.

You stand strong. Is that the kind of boys you're raising? Is that the kind of sons? Because they will become the leaders of this church in the future. They will become teachers, elders, pastors in the future. We've got to train them to be strong and courageous and then to let them know that whatever God decides to do, God's going to do. I told Kate, I said, you know, you go do this. You might not ever see the field again. You want to never play again, but that's okay. Your integrity is more important than your ability.

Your stand for Christ is more important than your play on the field. Stand for Christ, honor him, and he will honor you. Live by that verse in second Samuel or first Samuel, and you will always succeed in the kingdom of God.

That's the way we need to train our sons to be strong and courageous for the people of God, for the sake of God, and then let God do what God's going to do. Let the chips fall where the chips fall, but be strong and be courageous. That's what Joab did. They went to war. They went to war. Of course, what they did, they won because David, you know, he almost always won. That's what he did. He was a winner. He wasn't a loser. He was a winner, and they won, and yet they went back, and they came at him again because evil never stops.

It never stops, but David was ready, went to war, and they won. Now, let me backtrack for a moment because you need to understand something about chapter 10 of second Samuel.

I want you to remember Psalm 119.96. The commandment is exceedingly broad. That is, the word of God is really, really wide, okay? It says in Psalm 36.6, God's word is deep, so deep that no one can fathom. Now, think about that for a moment. God's word is wide, so wide you can't comprehend it. It's so deep you can't fathom it. Psalm 119 says, it's so high it is established in the heavens. So, God's word is exceedingly broad. It's very deep that no one can fathom, and it's so high it's established in the heavens.

First Peter 1 says, it's so long it will endure forever. Why is that pertinent to our study of second Samuel chapter 10?

Simply this, the contents of a chapter, the contents of a verse can never really fully be exhausted in our lifetime. It just can't. We think it can, but let me give you an example.

I hear it all the time. Someone will come up to me after a sermon, like last week, and say to me, I've never ever heard that before. And I've heard all kinds of sermons on David, but I've never heard that before, or I've never heard it said that way before. Well, just because you never heard it said that way before, or never heard that take on that story before, doesn't mean that it's wrong. It doesn't mean that you have exhausted everything. It means that God's word is so deep it can't be fathomed.

It is so high it's established in the heavens. It is so broad and so long that it endures forever. We forget that the treasure we hold in our hand is our riches that cannot be exhausted in this life. It cannot be, because it is the eternal word of God. And so, no verse, no chapter, no paragraph has ever been fully exhausted by any one man. Never will it be, nor can it be. You need to understand that God's word is like God himself. It's filled with his attributes. It's filled with him. He is infinite.

And so, therefore, we need to understand exactly what God is saying. And what God does is very unique. God chooses a passage to manifest his goodness, his glory, and his kindness. And yet, in that same passage, he will manifest man's depravity and sinfulness. Let me give you an example.

Book of Exodus, life of Moses, Exodus 3 and Exodus 4, where God comes to Moses and calls him. And Moses does not respond immediately, does he? He gives God all these excuses as to why he can't go. And God gets angry with Moses. But at the same time, it accentuates man's unworthiness and inability to accomplish what God calls him to do, because God has to work in and through that man. Jonah is another example. Jonah becomes a great testimony for Christ during his earthly ministry, because he uses Jonah in a positive way.

As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the earth. Jonah becomes a type of Christ when talking about his burial and his resurrection. Yet Jonah was the guy who ran from God when God said, I want you to go to Nineveh. And Jonah said, I'm not going to Nineveh. I'm not doing that. I'm going the opposite direction. He rebelled against the call of God. And so you read Jonah chapter one and you read about Jonah's rebellion against God and what God did when he jumped overboard and he was swallowed by a fish.

And God now uses that as a positive example to help us understand the resurrection of Christ. Same thing is true in 2 Samuel chapter 10, where we're studying this evening. David becomes an example of God in his kindness, in his mercy, in his going after Hanan, the king of the Ammonites, to extend kindness to him, to be the kind of person to him that God would be to any enemy that's his, right? And yet it accentuates the sin of David. You say, well, what do you mean by that? You need to understand that this is so good because it helps you understand 2 Samuel chapter 11.

That's the next chapter. And we have to bring all these things together to understand what God is doing in David's life before we ever get to 2 Samuel chapter 11. So if somebody comes next week because they want to hear about David and Bathsheba and just jump right into it, they've missed everything leading up to 2 Samuel chapter 11. You need to understand what has happened in David's entire life to understand 2 Samuel chapter 11. Most people don't get that, that that's the way it is. And one of those episodes is in chapter 10 of 2 Samuel.

Let me show you. Go back with me, if you would, to 1 Samuel chapter 11. 1 Samuel chapter 11. Now we didn't cover 1 Samuel chapter 11 because that was all about the life of Saul before David came on the scene. 1 Samuel chapter 11 verse 1. Now Nahash, who's Nahash? He's the king who dies in 2 Samuel chapter 10. Right? Now we know who Nahash is. The Ammonite came up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, make a covenant with us and we will serve you. But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, I will make it with you on this condition that I will gorge out the right eye of every one of you.

Thus, I will make it a reproach on all of Israel. Nahash was a, was an evil man. Why pluck out the right eye? What's the significance of that? Simply that when you go to battle and you got one of your eyes gone, when it comes to shooting something, you're likely going to miss, right? Like Barb down here with her eye patch on. So when she goes to shoot her husband, she's going to miss. That's what happens. I mean, your accuracy is going to be so far off that you won't be able to shoot anything straight.

Nahash was an evil man. He was an Ammonite. Why would David, why would David want to show kindness to man who was evil against the people of God? Ask yourself that question. You see, well, David was that kind of man. That was his nature. That was his character. David was a kind man. David wasn't a cruel man. He wasn't a harsh man. He was a kind man. So David exemplifying Christ would be kind to his enemies. We would say that's a good thing, right? We would say, you know, it's good to show kindness to the ungodly.

It's good to extend mercy to the ungodly. It's good to be selfless. It's good to be reaching out to those who do not know God. And that's what David's doing in second Samuel chapter 10.

Thus we would think, right? That would be a natural reaction, a natural understanding to what David was doing is showing kindness to Nahan, the king of Ammon after his father Nahash died or Anun, I'm sorry, excuse me. So you would think that that would be a natural result. But here's a monumental problem in the of people today. That we act in kindness, we act in mercy, we act in love, right? But we don't act in truth. And therefore truth is compromised because our emotions govern our behavior. Say, what are you talking about?

Well, you got to go all the way back to the book of Deuteronomy. So go back to Deuteronomy with me if you would. Deuteronomy chapter 23. And you begin to understand a little bit more of the story. You need to get both perspectives on what's taking place in second Samuel chapter 10.

Yes, David does exemplify the character and nature of God. There is much symbolism here in David's life. He's the kind of man that we would hope to be when it comes to showing kindness to our enemies. We would think that that's the case. And that's good because that's what God does. But the flip side of that is something you need to understand based on Deuteronomy 23. Verse three, no Ammonite, Nash was what? An Ammonite. Or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord. None of their descendants, even to the 10th generation shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord.

It says the 10th generation because it means every generation after that. Because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt. And because they hired against you, Balaam, the son of Beor from Pthor of Mesopotamia to curse you. In other words, God says, you know what?

No Ammonite, no Moabite is ever going to be a part of the assembly of the Lord. Because they did not show kindness to you. Didn't God tell Abraham way back in Genesis 12, those who bless you, I will what? Those who curse you, I will. Those words are still real for today as they were back then. And because the Ammonites, the Moabites did not bless Israel by allowing them to have food and to have water. Instead, they cursed Israel. God says they're cursed.

Now read verse number six. You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days. Never. That was the command given by God himself. You shall never have peace with an Ammonite. Never. God says, I've shut the door on the Ammonites.

So David, in second Samuel chapter 10, wants to show kindness to the king of Ammon. Now, the perspective on chapter 10 begins to change about the life of David. Because in spite of his desire to be kind, merciful, and loving, if it's not governed by truth, it's always wrong. Please mark that down. Truth is the only thing that matters. Nothing else matters. You must understand that. And one of the common errors that we make in the evangelical church today is that we set truth aside to be diplomatic.

That's what David was doing. To be political. To be politically right. To be diplomatically right. He laid aside the truth to have peace with the Ammonites. When God said, you shall never do that. Now you have to ask yourself, why is it David did? Because David was beginning a downward spiral where the truth of God would be set aside based on how he felt. How often do you do that? You feel a certain way and you're willing to set the truth aside so that you can feel good about yourself or help somebody else feel good about themselves.

That becomes a monumental error that will cost you and would end up costing David for the rest of his life from 2 Samuel 11 onward. He would begin to set aside the truth for the sake of what he felt on the inside. He would begin to set aside God's holy word to do what he as king wanted to do. After all, he's king. That's what happened when he would take for himself many wives. When God's word said, the king can't do that. But David did anyway. You see, those become slowly the breakdown in our lives spiritually.

And the more we set aside God's word to fulfill an emotional desire, then it becomes habit forming. And we make excuses about, well, it's okay to set it aside here. This is what I want. We find that all the time in relationships, don't we? Maybe it's a family relationship. We'll set aside the truth to maintain a relationship because the relationship is more important to us than the God of the Bible, our relationship with him. And so we're willing to compromise truth, eternal truth to maintain a temporal relationship.

Really? Yes. That's what we do. And we think that we can disguise it by saying it's mercy. It's love. That's the big one. We're showing love to people. We're showing kindness to people. We're good people by doing this, by setting the truth aside and saying it doesn't really matter that much what God says.

What matters is how I feel. And that is one of the biggest problems in the church today. And it's all modeled to us by King David because that's what happened in second Samuel chapter 10.

Did he go to war? Yes. Did they win? Yes. Because God is a God of grace and God wasn't gonna let the Ammonites win. God would step in and blow up David's plan. He would blow it up in hopes that maybe David would come to grips with the fact that the Bible says don't do it.

But he didn't. In second Samuel 11, God doesn't step in and doesn't blow it up. David engages in sin and then he engages in more sin and more sin and more sin. And thus he reaps the consequences forever. See that? Simply because he was learning to set aside the truth for the sake of a relationship that somehow he could maintain and gain the approval of man more so than the approval of God. That's why the Bible says in second Samuel chapter 11, at the end, these words, when the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house.

And she became his wife and she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord. Maybe your translation says that what David did was not pleasing to the Lord. Why wasn't it pleasing to the Lord? Why was it evil? Because David simply set aside the truth for his feelings, for his emotions, for his inward desires and passions to fulfill his little agenda. Folks, this is a major lesson for us. For some of you, it'll be a wake-up call. A wake-up call to say, you know what?

This is what God's word says. This is what I must do, no matter how I feel or no matter how somebody else feels or no matter how I make, I might make them feel. Because in all reality, the truth of God is always, always right. That's why the Bible says, you speak the truth in love.

You speak it in love. Why? Because ultimately, without truth, there is no love. Right? Without truth, there is no love. Because how would we know what love was without truth? We would not know. And so David becomes that prime example. This is why you need to take with me throughout the whole end of chapter 10 to understand that yes, God's word is unfathomable. It is so deep, so wide, so long, so high to understand everything that's there. And we did not even exhaust chapter 10. We haven't exhausted one chapter yet.

And next week, we will see the effects of one man who values relationship over truth and the consequences for the rest of his life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight, your word, the truth that's portrayed and the opportunity we had to study it. Our prayer, Lord, is that we as people would be strong and courageous, unbending in our commitment to truth, unwavering in our loyalty to God and his word, always wanting to stand for the sake of the gospel. Lord, we need more men, more women to stand strong.

We don't need, as you said, when you went out to see John the Baptist, he was not another reed blowing in the wind, going back and forth and back and forth with every whim and every new idea. No, he was strong in his presentation of the truth. May we be that way. May we learn from David's life. That no matter how, how our emotions and our extent of kindness might be perceived, may it always, always be under the authority of the truth of God's holy word. Pray in Jesus name. Amen.