Here now God's holy word. After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Methag-Emah from the hand of the Philistines. Then he defeated Moab, forcing them down to the ground. He measured them off with a line. With two lines, he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line, those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's servants and brought tribute. David also defeated Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zopa, as he went to recover his territory at the river Euphrates. David took from him 1,000 chariots, 700 horsemen, 20,000 foot soldiers. Also, David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for 100 chariots. When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zopa, David killed 22,000 of the Syrians. David put garrisons in Syria, Damascus, and the Syrians became David's servants and brought tribute. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went. And David took the shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of Hadadazer and brought them to Jerusalem. Also from Bethah and from Berethi, cities of Hadadazer, King David took a large amount of bronze. When Toi, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadazer, then Toi sent Jerom, his son, to King David to greet him and bless him. Because he had fought against Hadadazer and defeated him. For Hadadazer had been at war with Toi. Jerom brought with him articles of silver, articles of gold, and articles of bronze. King David also dedicated these to the Lord along with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued. From Syria, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, from Amalek, from the spoil of Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zopa. And David made himself a name when he returned from killing 18,000 Syrians in the Valley of Salt. He also put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom he put garrisons and all the Edomites became David's servants. The Lord preserved David wherever he went. So David reigned over all Israel and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. Joab the son of Zariah was over the army. Josaphat the son of Iliad was recorder. Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests. Zeriah was the scribe. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And David's sons were chief ministers. Amen. That's far God's word. Paul, could you get me a tissue? I'll probably be sneezing a little bit. So forgive me. This week, actually it was Saturday, I watched a movie with my kids. It's a Disney classic, a cartoon, the Robin Hood, the animal version of Robin Hood. Robin Hood is of course the hero and he's a fox. You have a bear, the bad sheriff is a wolf, and the king, or the so-called king, is Prince John. Prince John's a poor excuse for a king, as the legend goes and as this movie depicts him. No one likes him. He doesn't really have control of the people. The people don't submit to him. They don't at least willingly obey him. They have to be forced, more or less. He has only his cronies follow him. His administration's poorly managed. And he's not a warrior. He's a poor excuse for a king. That is the exact opposite of what we have in this chapter. In this chapter we see preeminently the glory of first David, but ultimately the son of David, Jesus. Specifically as his role as a king. He is worthy to be followed. This chapter presents a man, a king, who is worthy to be followed. All of you are following somebody. all of you are. And I want you to see what this passage, this purpose really serves is to show you how worthy Christ is for your devotion. The context is important. 2 Samuel, the author of 2 Samuel, is not giving us a strict chronological account of David and different aspects of Israel's life. We just heard God communicate, reveal to David this thing we call the Davidic Covenant, that Solomon and all the other sons of David, that he'll never have a son not to be reigning over his people. And then we see a fulfillment of that, a miniature fulfillment of that. We see how God's blessing David in this chapter. It's not strict chronology. The text says, after this it came to pass. We know it's not strict because on one hand, in the first verse of chapter seven, it says he had rest from all of his enemies all around. And however we want to look at it, even if you want to look at that as in some sense consistent with a chronological account, you have in chapter 10 the fact that Hadadezer appears again, that Syrian king. But the reason why I bring that up is partly because I want you to understand how to interpret the Bible and to understand it. But it's also because what we see here is a deliberate attempt to show us something of David's glory, his strength. He's not Saul. He's not like King Saul. He's a mighty king. He's worthy to be followed. And we learn in this passage that Jesus, ultimately pointing to Jesus, Matthew Henry writes, all David's victories were typical of the success of the gospel against the kingdom of Satan in which the son of David rode forth conquering and to conquer. So I want us to consider the son of David preeminently tonight. Jesus as king defeats his enemies is obeyed by his subjects and rules his people with justice and wisdom." Jesus as a king, he defeats his enemies, he is obeyed by his subjects and he rules them with justice and wisdom. Look with me verses 1-5 as well as verse 13. Jesus is worthy for you to follow Him. He's worthy. He's glorious because He defeats His enemies. He's a victorious warrior. Notice, this is a theme here, verses 1-5. The Philistines, He subdued them all the way to Methag Amah. Methag Amah is Gath. If you recall, there are five major cities in the Philistines. There are five lords of the Philistines, and Gath is one of them. This is a serious invasion, if you will. He subdues them. Not just the Philistines, but Moab, verses 2-3. Are you bothered by some of the destruction that we see in the Old Testament? Make no mistake about it. We don't know exactly how he did it, but David subdued the Moabites to such a degree that he destroyed two-thirds of them. Two lines he put to death, one full line he kept alive to till the land to serve him. Some people don't like that. I want you to think about this for a moment. Now, God told his people that you're gonna go and you're gonna take the promised land. You're gonna judge these people, they're wicked. I want you to remember that. All of us, even us now, apart from God's grace, all people deserve death. They do because of sin. Penalty of sin is death. Now David was actually, in addition to that, acting by divine command. This is a fulfillment of prophecy. I want you to see again David's worthiness here. Numbers 24, verses 17 and 19. I'll read that in a moment. You recall Israel coming out of the Exodus, coming out of Egypt, and Balaam, the king of Moab, hires Balaam, this quasi-good, but mainly bad prophet, to curse Israel. And he does it. At the end of the day, he does it. What he does is he blesses Israel. Then he says this, Numbers 24, 17b-19, "...a star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter..." That's a reference to a king. "...a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of Tumult." and Edom shall be a possession. Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession. All Israel does violently out of Jacob, one shall have dominion and destroy the remains of the city." Philistia, Moab, verses 3-4 we see his victory over Hadadazer, king of Zopa. This is a... he's part of Aram, or the Syrians. He's in the north. And David destroys him. 1,000 chariots, 700 horsemen, 20,000 foot soldiers. This is a mighty victory. He hamstrings all the chariots. He makes them unfit to be horses. Now I want you to think about that. Was that a wise thing for David to do? Why didn't he take them for himself? What is the king supposed to see? David is a law-abiding king. In the main, he is a law-abiding king. He is remembered in the Chronicles as a man who is after God's own heart, or as a man who obeys God. He is following the law. Deuteronomy 17, 16. Referring to the king, he shall not multiply horses for himself. We sang in Psalm 33, and again in Psalm 20. David in Psalm 20 says, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but not me. I trust in the Lord God. The Syrians, in verse 5, He also defeats them. They are part of Aram, or Syria, except it's not in Zopa, but in Damascus, which is a little bit farther south. It would be natural that they would come out and defend their brothers. What happens? 22,000 Syrians are defeated. Who likes a champion? Who admires a winner? David's a winner. And again in verse 13, he made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Syrians in the Valley of Salt. There are times, especially in evening service, where I kind of want to just teach on something. And here's an example. What is your Bible? Especially if you don't have the New King James. What does it say here? David made himself a name when he returned from killing 18,000 Syrians in the Valley of Salt. You recall I shared with you a story about J. Gresham Machen. And how he really struggled to believe in the veracity of the Bible. He went to Germany and there were people saying, hey, the Old Testament has got a bunch of errors in it. This is one of those verses where people claim that. Believe that we should understand this to be a reference to the Edomites. If you have a New King James, if you have your pew Bible, you'll notice there's a little mark there on verse 13. And this footnote. I often don't really pay any attention to them, but this one's true. This is a good one. It says the Septuagint, the Syriac, and some Hebrew manuscripts read Edomites. Then it says to compare 1 Chronicles 18, 12, and Psalm 60. They believe that it was the Edomites. I want to explain that to you. The New King James and the King James kind of have a policy of we're just going to follow the received Hebrew text. But our understanding of the veracity of Scripture, the preservation of Scripture, is in the original manuscripts. They are without error, and that we have God's Word preserved for us. But we don't necessarily say that the new King James is infallible. We have the Scriptures. The testimony of the preservation of scripture compared to something like the Iliad, I think it's the Odyssey, I've forgotten the numbers, but it's just like, it doesn't even compare. If the scripture was the major leaves, the next comparable document's like peewee baseball or something. Just incredibly well preserved. But I want to go into this a little bit, because how do we explain this? And again, those people who say there's errors in the Bible. The difference between Syria, verse 13, Syrians, which is Aram in Hebrew, and the difference between Edomites, Edom in Hebrew, is one letter. That one letter is the difference between a curved mark and a straight 90 degree mark. It is very easy to make a simple typographical or copyist error. That is what we have here. What people do is they make a lot of money. They get a lot of mileage out of these little one letter errors. They say the Bible is full of errors. The Bible is not full of errors. The Bible is trustworthy. We have it. It's true, it's 100% true, 100% correct. You might, in some cases like this, need your pastor to explain it, or some scholar to kind of help us understand. You might have to have access to some manuscripts in England to just verify one little letter, but we have the Scriptures. Now my point here is to point you to the kingship of Christ, specifically that He defeats His enemies. What enemies are you fighting? Christ is your king. He is your champion. One enemy that we fight is our sin. I want you to think about, we don't fight the same way. Jesus says my kingdom is not of this world. It is a spiritual kingdom. There is a spiritual fight going on. Because we are united to Christ by His Spirit, God's people can defeat their sin. God's people can defeat their sin. Romans 6.11 Likewise, you also reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin." Dead indeed to sin, but alive to God. We sang about bondage from Psalm 107. Jesus has delivered us from bondage. Sin is no longer our master. We, by the Spirit, can put to death the deeds of the body. This is how Jesus saves us. This is who we look to. You're struggling with sin. You feel like you can't shake your sin. The gospel to you is that in Christ you can shake your sin. And it's a lie to say, just do it. The devil comes alongside you as it were, and he says, just do it. Jesus is a champion. He defeats our enemies in another sense. We face a fight. We go out, Tim and I, and I know many of you do in other ways. You share the gospel. Are you ever afraid to open your mouth to share the gospel? Think about the Christians in Pakistan. What's gonna happen to them? Is it worth it? Does Christ really subdue his people to himself and change their hearts? I want you to think about Revelation 1. We heard, I read that to you. What's coming out of Christ's mouth? Two-edged sword. The Word of God. There's a lot of data in the scripture referring to this. Ephesians 6, 17. That passage of scripture about the armor of God. What armor do we have? Well, we have the helmet of salvation. Then it goes on and says, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Listen, you're talking to your friend, you're talking to family members. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your King and speak the truth to them. Share your testimony. Memorize scripture so you might be able to share it. But by all means, open your mouth and trust. What does it mean for Christians who are doing evangelism to trust in the Lord? Go out and open your mouth. I get excited when I preach the gospel in the streets of Fresno, because I don't know what the Lord's going to do. He could save someone right then and there, because He's a champion. And all those who are His, all those He tempts to and desires to change and to bring to saving life, He will. And don't be discouraged when you don't see success. You've been probably sharing the gospel and witnessing in some way to a lot of people. Don't be discouraged. Your words are not in vain. Sometimes our words are an aroma of death. They're an aroma of death. They're having their effect. Christ is a champion. He defeats his enemies. What else do we see in this passage that points us to the glory of Jesus' kingship? Well, unlike Prince John, who is a poor excuse of a king, people don't obey him, at least not willingly. Jesus is obeyed by all of his subjects. Part of the reason why we should see His glory and follow Him and honor Him. We see that verses 6, basically verses 6 through 12. Jesus is obeyed by all of His subjects. Verse 6, then David put garrisons in Syria, Damascus. And the Syrians became David's servants and brought tribute. There's three places where we have this sentence. I mean, they're our servants. They're bringing tribute to David. They're paying homage to David. They're submitting to David. We see it in verse 2, so the Moabites became David's servants and brought tribute. We see it in verse 14, he also put garrisons in Edom. He put garrisons in all of Edom and all of the Edomites became David's servants. We see it in the way that they dedicate They're gold and silver to him. They give it to him. You know, what David wants to do, what his agenda is, we're going to give him it. All this money, all this gold. What's David going to do with this? What's his agenda? It's the temple. He's not going to build it, but his son is. He's going to provide the peace so that Solomon can do it. So we have verse 7, shields of gold by Hadadazer. Verse 8, large amounts of bronze. The verses nine through 10, very interesting. The only person in here that willingly, he's not compelled to submit. Listen, everyone's going to submit to Jesus Christ. His people come willingly on the day of his power. His enemies though, in the end, they will submit to him. I don't necessarily think we should read verses 9 and 10 and say that Toy, king of Hamath, became a Jewish proselyte, if you will. I'm not certain of that. But we should key into this idea. One commentator writes, the reactions of the surrounding people to David's kingship is a pattern of the reactions of Christ's kingship. Christ's people come to him willingly. His son is Jerom. Jerom's name means the Lord is exalted. He comes blessing David. He comes greeting him and giving up articles of silver, articles of gold, articles of bronze. Verse 11, or verse 12, we see that in all the nations, they're giving up their precious things, what's valuable to them, their money. They're letting David use it. They're submitting to him. We also notice that David does all this by the Lord's power and for his glory, just like Christ. Divine power is what made David so powerful. Divine power is what makes Jesus so powerful. Notice this phrase at the end of verse six. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went. We see it again at the end of verse 14. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went. And David did not do this selfishly. He did not do this seeking his own glory. He did this to glorify the Lord. What did he do with the gold and the silver and the bronze? Verse 11, King David also dedicated these to the Lord along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued. He's seeking the glory of God. He's going to build a temple. This is exactly what Jesus did as well. There's places where, of course, the glory is for Christ and the Holy Spirit seeks to glorify Christ, but Jesus gives the glory to the Father. One place where that's clear is John 14, 13. Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Are you subservient to Christ Jesus? Is He your King in that way? Are you following Him? The silver and the gold, your precious things, are they dedicated to Him? I'm not just talking about money, I am including that. Is your money directed toward the things of God? The proportion. What about your time? Do you give God your time? Are your goals in life? You all have goals, family goals, personal goals. Are your goals consistent with a Christian's life? What they should be seeking in? I've catechized my children recently, what's the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, to enjoy Him forever. That's what we're going after. We're in God's program, in Christ's program, His agenda. were subservient to his laws. Let me ask you this question. You're just like me. You struggle to obey the law. Not really what I'm asking you. Is there anything that you know in your life where you're not obeying Christ? You don't plan to. That's a little different. God's people obey Him. They follow Him. When's the last time that you have confessed your sin to the Lord and repented? God's people do that. They do that. Now, before I leave this second point, if you notice in your bulletin, I had different wording. He subdues His people to Himself. I want to kind of come back to that idea. Because in some sense you need to know that King Jesus will be submitted to. He will be obeyed. But the beauty of King Jesus is He makes His people. He makes His people willing to obey. Psalm 110. Psalm 110. His people in the day of His power, He will make them to be volunteers. He will make them willing. You're struggling to obey. You're struggling to submit all of your life to Him. And you're the one that needs to submit your whole life to Him. What's so beautiful about King Jesus is He empowers you. He empowers you. One of the reasons why you should love Him and follow Him. One of the reasons why He's so glorious. There's a third reason that you should follow King Jesus, and that you should love Him. And there's a third way in which we see His glory as King. That's found in verses 15 through 18. And it's the fact, thirdly, that He rules His people with justice and wisdom. Look at the idea of justice. Verse 15, so David reigned over all Israel, and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. This sentence is forensic. This verse has got legal connections to it. This language is used throughout the Old Testament to refer to how a king conducts himself as ruler. In a practical way here, for David, he carries out a Supreme Court kind of idea. Okay? There are judges throughout the land. People have issues. There's disputes. He's the final one, and He is just. He doesn't accept bribes. He doesn't accept bribes. He will render to those what they're due. He will render to those what He will do. You will Submit to King Jesus, whether willingly or by compulsion, if you don't know the Lord Jesus, and He will deal with you. If you don't turn to Jesus in this life, you don't repent and believe in Him, then He'll judge you. He's just. Don't think that your sin is a trivial thing. You need to take care of your sin. The only way you can take care of your sin and your guilt is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He will render to each one what they're due, whether it be good or whether it be evil. God is just. He's the justifier, the one who has faith in Jesus. One of the reasons why you should thank the Lord Jesus and glorify Him and praise Him, is that He is still just and forgiving you. It's not that Jesus just kind of sweeps sin under the rug. He died for your sin. Because He's just. He has to. Sin must be punished. He rules with justice. He rules with wisdom. 16-18. Verses 16-18. We see the wisdom of David. Now I would like to think that I would be a just judge. I'm going to go to jury. Potentially I'll have jury duty two weeks from now. I've been thinking about that. I think I could be a just judge. But I might not be very competent. There's a difference. and understanding the laws and such. David was wise. He was a competent king. He administered his kingdom well. We see that in the way he set up his kingdom. He's got three divisions. At least we know that much. He's got a military division, a civil division, and a religious division. Joab, the son of Zariah, was over the army. Benaiah, verse 18, the son of Jehoiada, was over. These men here are essentially the bodyguard, maybe an elite force. He's got a religious division. Verse 17, Zadok the son of Hittub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests. These were the Levitical priests. Now David was not... David is definitely a unique figure. He is a prophet and a priest and a king. He is unique. And he did perform priestly functions. But this verse, some people will say, look the king is above the ecclesiastical branch. He is above the priests. That is not the case. The king is not above the priests, he is under the law. It is a difference. It's important. We believe in the separation of church and state, not in the same way that our nation does. But one evidence of that is Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. He went into the temple to make a sacrifice. And the priest said, it is not for you Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, to the sons of Aaron. But he does have them. And these priests were different than his sons. If you notice at the end of verse 18, Another place it's difficult to interpret, not because of what the Hebrew might say, but just how to understand it. The text says, the Hebrew says, and David's sons were priests. David's sons were priests. The ESV renders it that way. But we have reason to believe that there were different types of priests. There's different ways of taking words. Words have a range of meaning. And the New King James rightly translates the word priest as ministers serving in some capacity. You know, priests serve the Lord. These sons were serving David. They were doing that over big things or chief things because they were the king's son. Second Samuel 20, verses 25 through 26 is another place where we see that usage of priests. Military, religious, and civil. Verse 16, Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahiliad, was recorder. He was kind of like a moderator of a session. Didn't have power in himself, but he brought to the mind of the elders what to rule. He was the chief of staff. Hey, king, you need to deal with this. That's kind of what Jehoshaphat was doing as recorder. Zariah was the scribe at the end of verse 17. He published the orders. He kept track of what has happened. This all goes to show David's wisdom, his wisdom. I want you to think about the wisdom of Christ and judging as king. I failed to mention that in Hebrews 1 verses 8 through 9 it refers to the justice of Christ We know that Christ is also wise. He is the wisdom of God. But I want you to think about that. Here you are. You're in Fresno 2018. You have questions. Is God really wise? Is Christ's word really the best way? Is the blessed man the Psalms one man or woman? Is it really wise to follow God? I want you to think about something. Is it really wise to follow Christ? This is a truth. It's kind of a maxim. Everyone will do what they think is best for them, what will make them happy in any given moment. So let's say you're thinking about something that's coming. You're premeditating a possible sin. Am I going to obey God or not? It could be something like pornography. It could be something like gossip. Lying kids. Am I going to lie to my parents? What does Jesus say? No, don't lie to parents. So you have this situation where you can see it coming. You will do, in the moment, what you believe to be best for you. And I want to ask you, do you think Jesus' plan is the best for you? It's wise for you? I hope you say yes. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, but his delight is in the law of the Lord." Jesus said the thief came to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I came to give life, to give it more abundantly. Do you believe that? Do you believe Jesus is wise? Do you think his commandments are wise? If you do, you will follow him. Jesus as King defeats his enemies. He is obeyed by his subjects and he rules his people with justice and with wisdom. He is not like Prince John in that movie, in that Disney. That foolish king, that poor excuse for a king. He is a glorious king. Who else would you want to follow? Who else would you want to follow? You all need a champion. You all need a King. And you have it in King Jesus. Follow Him. He's worthy of it. This is who He is. He's a mighty King. He's who you need in regard to your sin. He's worthy of your trust. This is who He is. Follow Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus, our king, our champion. Father, we ask that you would grant us greater strength to obey him, greater trust to follow him, to believe that he's wise. We pray that he would go before us, that he would defeat all of our enemies. Father, help us to see his glory and to see no one else's glory, to see him as supremely to be followed. For we ask in Jesus's name, amen.