there happened to be there a rebel whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri of Benjamite. And he blew a trumpet and said, We have no share in David, nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, O Israel. So every man of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah and the Jordan as far as Jerusalem remained loyal to their king. Now David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in seclusion, and supported them, but did not go into them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. And the king said to Amasa, Assemble the men of Judah for me within three days, and be present here yourself. So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, But he delayed longer than the set time which David had appointed him. And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your Lord's servants and pursue him, lest he find for himself fortified cities and escape us. So Joab's men with the Charithites, the Pelathites, and all the mighty men went out after him. And they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. When they were at the large stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came before them. Now Joab was dressed in battle armor. On it was a belt with a sword fastened to its sheath at his hips. And as he was going forward, it fell out. Then Joab said to Amasa, are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not notice the sword that was in Joab's hand. And he struck him with it in the stomach, and his entrails poured out on the ground. And he did not strike him again, lest he died. Then Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued Sheba, the son of Bichri. Meanwhile, one of Joab's men stood near Amasa and said, whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab. But Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he moved Amasa from the highway to the field and threw a garment over him. When he saw that everyone who came upon him halted, when he was removed from the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth-Mekah and all the Baraites. So they were gathered together and also went after Sheba. And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-Mekah, and they cast up a siege mound against the city. And it stood by the rampart, and all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. Then a wise woman cried out from the city, Here, please say to Joab, come nearby that I may speak with you. When he had come near to her, the woman said, are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she said to him, hear the words of your maidservant. And he answered, I'm listening. So she spoke saying, they used to talk in former times saying, they shall surely seek guidance at Abel. And so they would end disputes. I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? Job answered and said, Far be it for me that I should swallow up or destroy. That is not so. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him only and I will depart from the city. So the woman said to Joab, watch, his head will be thrown to you over the wall. And the woman, in her wisdom, went to all the people and they cut off the head of Sheba, son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. Then he blew a trumpet and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem. And Joab was over all the army of Israel. Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherithites and the Pelothites. Adoram was in charge of revenue. Jehoshaphat, the son of Eliad, was recorder. Sheva was scribe. Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. And Ira, the Jarite, was a chief minister under David. Amen. Some of you may have noticed that during the baptism this morning of Murray, that I was holding Benaiah. And the reason why I was holding Benaiah was because he's beginning to be a little bit more difficult to control. You've probably heard of the terrible twos, and he's definitely two years old, and he's making that known. And of course, there are times when he just does not want to do what his mommy or his daddy tell him to do. He rebels. A rebellious heart is very evident if you recall perhaps your own childhood and perhaps even your own experience now. If you have kids, you can see that in them. You don't have to teach children to rebel, to resist, to say, I don't want to go to bed and I don't want to clean my room and I don't want to do this and I want that. Now, Benaiah is, of course, not as bad as he could be. He's actually a sweet boy at many times. But he struggles. He struggles with rebellion. And it's a struggle that I know I feel in my life, and it's perhaps a struggle that you feel in your life. And it's real. As God's people, As those who have the Spirit of God, we still struggle with a rebellious heart. And certainly as we look outside of us and into the world, a way of describing the problem that the world has is that they're in rebellion. They're in rebellion against Christ. And what we're gonna see tonight is not just rebellion generally, but we're gonna see what it looks like. And we're going to see that it matters. And we're going to see, most importantly, its cure. And perhaps you're struggling with issues in your life, and you wonder, what really is the cure here? Is there a cure for the hearts of little kids, like my son? Is there a cure for the rebellion in the world? Is there a cure for rebellion in the church? Well, we come to this chapter, and 2 Samuel 20 is considered by many, and I'm presenting that to you, it's really the end of a section in this book. It's a section about rebellion, trouble. David commits adultery with Bathsheba, many chapters before this. He murders Uriah. And there's a sense in which that kicks off this section. Before that, David was virtually all good. Israel was growing. He was defeating God's enemies in battle. And then now we see a bunch of just trash. It's difficult to even read. What use is this for the church now? I mean, this is difficult. And this is really the last portion of that. There's not just rebellion with Absalom, but also another rebellion with Sheba. And there's a lesson here for us, and that lesson is this. Spiritual rebellion includes unprincipled and convenient behavior. It brings multifaceted and painful consequences, but it's cured by mortification and death. Okay, spiritual rebellion includes unprincipled and convenient behavior. It brings multifaceted and painful consequences, and it's cured by mortification and death. I wanna speak to you from this chapter on that lesson under three headings. First, I want you to see the definition of spiritual rebellion. We need to know what spiritual rebellion is. There's lessons here for us. There's lessons here for us. It's not just something we observe in our kids. It's something that affects all of us. We need to know what it looks like and how to define it. First, look with me at verses 1 through 2. We see here that spiritual rebellion is unprincipled behavior. Perhaps that's the most basic definition. Sheba is a Benjamite. He's a member of the visible church. He's a member of God's visible people. He's the son of Bichri. He was there in Gilgal the previous chapter. He sees David and how David interacts with Israel and Judah as he's coming across the Jordan. He blows a trumpet and he says something that's not true. It's not according to the principles of Scripture. He says, we have no share in David. David is not our lawful king. We don't have an inheritance with him. Who is this guy? The son of Jesse. completely contrary to God's will and even God's law. Just a few chapters previous in 2 Samuel 5, the elders of Israel, what did they do? 2 Samuel 5 verse 3, Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and king David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king, over Israel. The truth of the matter is, the principle is, that David is the lawful king. He's ruling over them. And Sheba is going to say, no, it's not true. He's going to live inconsistent with the principles of God's Word and of God's will. And so every man of Israel deserts David. Of course Judah stays with him, his tribe. And Israel deserts David and follows Sheba. It seems not physically, as we see later on in this chapter, but certainly in sympathy. Their hearts with Sheba. This is a problem. It's not uncommon for this idea to go on in the church, in my life, in your life, to just simply disobey the law, just to simply go against the principles of God's Word. It's not really all that uncommon. I'm aware of a situation this past week where a man, a Christian man, He says, well, I know that there are two lawful reasons for divorce, but I mean, I'm really miserable and things just aren't working out. And I think I should just get a divorce. You know, God's people are not perfect, but they follow the principles of God's word. James chapter 1 verse 22, really simple point that James makes. He says, don't be a hearer of the word only, be a doer of the word. And that's Sheba's problem. He's just completely, maybe it's a definition of rebellion in its most basic sense. Now you can say to yourself, have you said to yourself, I know that God would require me to speak words that are edifying. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only such a word that is good for edification. But you know what? Sometimes, four-letter words are cute. People do it. It's kind of the thing to do. And so it's okay, you know, if it's cute, if it's popular, I'm just gonna do it. Unprincipled. You know, I know the Bible says do not work on the Sabbath day, but you know, I'm just going to do work on the Sabbath day anyways. Or perhaps, have you ever thought to yourself, well, I know the scriptures say that I'm to live for Christ, I'm to sacrifice, I make sacrifices to Christ, I'm to deny myself and I'm to pick up my cross and follow Christ. But you know what? I like living a comfortable life and I just don't really feel like making sacrifices and it's working out for me. These are all, of course, principles. These are ways in which God's people today can be Shebas. One commentator writes, there are Shebas in the church Some of them are evangelicals of the stricter sort. They rebel against rightful authority. They are determined to go their own way, to call their own shots. Unprincipled behavior. Well, there's also another way of looking at rebellion. And the reason for that is because there's really two rebels in this chapter. The second rebel is Joab. And I want you to think about spiritual rebellion in its definition. Because we need to know what it is in order to know it's secure. We need to know if we're not walking with Christ and submitting to his rule. Now verses four through verse 13 introduces another rebel. It's where we see this convenient behavior. I'm gonna describe what I mean by convenient behavior in a moment. There's a certain sense when we could say verses 4 through 13 introduces kind of another scene. Sheba's the rebel, he's running off and we're going to get to Sheba and Abel in a second and all of a sudden there's this scene with Joab and Amasa and Joab kills and murders Amasa. It's actually very consistent with the theme. Who is Joab? Joab, he's a different type of rebel, but he's a rebel too. We have some providential circumstances here. Verses 4 and the next couple of verses where, for reasons we don't know exactly why, Amasa had a hard time forming the army. Now he was the new commander. He replaced Joab. I'm sure Joab didn't like that. It took him three days, or he was commanded to form the army in three days. It didn't work out. Not really sure why, the text does not tell us. David in the meantime says, listen, we need to act quick. Quick, that's exactly what Absalom did not do with me. He should have done that. And he didn't. And we need to act quick. We need to get the standing army right now. We just need to go. So he talks to Abishai. And so there's a little bit of confusion. The master's not really with his troops. And it's in those circumstances that he meets Joab. Perhaps a few days later at Gibeon, we'll see that in these next verses here. In this context, Joab does what he does. He acts in classic Joab way. He's a coward. He presents to Amasa as if he's at peace with him, but he's really not. And there's, of course, a lot of narrative here, but the bottom line is that Joab kills Amasa. He takes over the army. This is the scene where everyone knows Amas is dead. He's in the middle of the highway. They're moving out, probably in formation, moving quickly. They see Amas is dead, and one of Joab's men says, listen, if you're with David, just follow Joab. Joab is now the commander of the army. Yeah, we know David appointed Amas, but he's dead. And it's really Joab is the commander. So Joab is getting what he wants. Now, how does this have to do anything with convenient behavior? Well, think about it. Joab is not a Sheba in the sense that he is supporting David. He is obeying David. He is, in some sense, submissive to David, but only if it's convenient for him. One commentator puts it this way, referring to Joab, he is extremely loyal to David. He is extremely loyal to David, but essentially unsubmissive to David. There is such a thing as acknowledging the king's sovereignty and disregarding his will. Yes, David, I'll serve you, and I will fight in your army, but only on my terms. And I'll obey you, but really only when it's convenient for me. And when I want to be the commander of the army, I'm going to do that, and I'm going to disregard your command for me to be a subordinate commander. When I think of Joab, I think of I don't know if you've ever experienced this or seen this. I've played sports all my life, and so I've seen this. Maybe it's an NBA basketball, a professional basketball team, and a player on that team, or maybe it's just a high school quarterback who's really, really good. And in either case, you get a sense that this player, even though he's under the authority of the coach, he's so good that he can get away with murder. Now this quarterback can call his own play. I never did this when I was in high school, by the way. I wasn't the only good player, but only if you've ever seen a team where you have a star on it, and he basically does what he wants to do. Yeah, he follows the coach, but when he really wants to do something else, and it's convenient for him, he does something else. That's what we have with Joab. That's what we have with Joab. And all of us, as Christians, We need to wrestle with this idea of really obeying God when it's convenient for us or in all things. And the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your strength. And the idea is all the time, just part of the time. And this is Joab's issue. And it's an issue for us as God's people to think through. You know, you can be someone who's really in rebellion, not because you fight against Christ openly, or that your life is marked as disobedient, but just that one thing, you know, that Monday. You know, on Monday I'm not really into it, or at this time in my life, or this situation in my life, I'm not going to obey that because it's just not convenient for me. That's Joab. That's Joab, at least certainly in this passage of Scripture. Are you, in some way, in rebellion? Well, does it matter? Does it matter? Are there consequences for rebels? And this passage of Scripture points at those consequences. It does matter. It is kind of a big deal. And we'll see that in verse 3. and verse 22. So secondly, the consequences of spiritual rebellion. The consequences of spiritual rebellion. Now the consequences are multifaceted and painful. Verse 3, multifaceted. There's a sense in which it really begins in verse 1. Sheba is another example of this. But let me illustrate the point with verse 3. Now David came to his house at Jerusalem and the king took the ten women as concubines and he had left to keep the house and put them in seclusion and supported them but he did not go into them so they were shut up to the day of their death living in widowhood." The consequences of spiritual rebellion are multifaceted. When we sin as God's people we don't just affect our life and in the immediate time but our sin can affect other people and down the road. That's what we see here. Verse 3 is a fulfillment of a prophecy that Nathan gave Samuel. David sinned and as a result of that sin Absalom sinned. And now you have women without a husband, living in widowhood. Now we've looked at polygamy, okay? We've looked at polygamy, we've seen how it was never God's intention, it's not God's intention now. But there's a certain sense in which these concubines could have enjoyed some type of relationship with David, have the hope of children, and to increase the house of the king, if you will. Certainly not God's will in some sense. But in another sense, these women now, because of David, they're widows. They're widows, but they're not widows. David's still alive. They're not gonna have the hope of any kids. Why? What did they do? I mean, that's miserable. It's miserable. But the problem is, is that David wasn't thinking about that when he sinned against Bathsheba, was he? And this passage of Scripture is not very digestible, is it? I mean, it's difficult. It's ugly. But I want you to see that. I want you to realize the consequences of sin are heavy. They can be heavy. It's like a domino effect. Kids, have you ever played dominoes? You know, you line them up, you knock one down, and it just goes all the way down. That's what's going on here. We see this in the life of David, and it's to be a warning to us. It can be depressing, and also it can be a warning. Are there consequences for spiritual rebels? There are. Now, multi-faceted, even for God's people like David who knows God, God still gives him over to consequences. But if someone never repents, never turns to God in seeking forgiveness, and they remain a rebel to the day that they die, that's just what happens. They die, not just physically, but eternally, the second death. That's what we see here with Sheba. What happens at verse 22? What happened to Sheba? He remained resistant. He didn't plead for mercy. What did Shimei do? Yeah, Shimei in the previous chapter. He came to David and he asked for forgiveness. There's forgiveness to be had, but for those who do not come to him, there's death. And it's just a basic point. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Those who do not come to God through Christ, they die. I was speaking to my mother-in-law, and I'm not trying to embarrass you mom, you didn't do anything wrong, don't worry. But just yesterday we were cleaning our yard, and we put all the grass and the shavings and all our yard waste into the green garbage can that the city of Fresno gave us. And I just put it out to the street. It's four or five days until the pickup comes, but when we're out there, it's in the front yard, it's full, I'm not gonna drag it to the backyard and then bring it back. And my mom was like, well, can you do that? Is that okay? And I said to her, well, I mean, I don't know of any law that says I can't do that. I've done it before. And she's like, well, back in Alabama and in Opelika, I was fine. I put up two hours early, and I was fine. And I'm like, well, if I'm wrong, if there's some city ordinance, please correct me after the sermon. But I was like, well, mom, there's not going to be any consequences. It's not a big deal. I mean, I don't know of any law. And so I just did it. I'm still out there. There's not going to be any consequences. The problem is that with spiritual rebellion, There's consequences. I might get in trouble. And that's what I want you to see. That's what God wants you to see. These difficult passages of scripture, they serve as a warning to us. Kids, you're a sinner and you need a savior. And that's the cure. I'm getting ahead of myself here. There is a cure. There's a practical cure and then there's a fundamental cure. I want you to see that. It's here in this chapter, plain as day. The cure to all this. There can be peace in the church. There can be peace with God. And it comes practically through mortification and death. Mortification and death. So spiritual rebellion is cured by mortification and death. I want you to see a practical cure, then really a fundamental cure here. Now mortification is a technical word, it's a theological word, it's a word that I've brought up recently. The idea of Christians, by the power of the spirit, in their own life, putting to death sin. not just resisting sin, not just turning away from it, but going after it and getting rid of it in their life, in their mouth, in their mind. That's what I'm talking about here. We see that from verse 14 through verse 22. And I don't think this is a spiritualization of the text. Think about it for a moment. Joab at this point is the lawful, the hand of the king, the lawful king. He's coming to render judgment upon a rebel. And he, in classic Joab way, just assumes that Abel is in on the rebellion. And so he besieges this city. And there's a woman who says, what on earth are you doing? Joab, what on earth are you doing? I'm one of the peaceable and faithful in Israel. What is going on?" And so Joab tells her the situation. Now I want to stop here for a moment and just say a word about this woman. I do believe that there's more here to be said about the cure for rebellion than there is about reason and discussion. But there is something to learn from this woman practically. She seeks for peace. She starts to talk. She reasons. She's a wise woman. This is emphasized in this text. And the question I have, the question you should be thinking is, where are the elders? Where are the men? Why does it have to be a woman? Well, we don't know. But Matthew Henry says something very helpful. Now, Matthew Henry was a very faithful commentator years ago, orthodox man, never would be accused. of confusing proper gender roles and leadership. He says something very interesting. You know, the men fail. The women need to step up, especially in serious circumstances. Listen to what he says here. It seems none of all the men of Abel, none of the elders or magistrates offered to deal with Joab. They were stupid and unconcerned for the public safety, or they had not sense enough to manage the treaty. But this one woman and her wisdom saved the city. Souls know no difference of sexes. Though the man be the head, it does not therefore follow that he has the monopoly of the brains. Many a masculine heart, and more than masculine, has been found in a female breast. Nor is the treasure of wisdom the less valuable for being lodged in the weaker vessel. I think it's important to mention that. But more importantly, and to the point, the thing that brings peace to this city is ejecting the rebel. And that's the point. This city takes the wisdom of the woman, this unnamed wise woman, and they say, you know what, we need to get rid of this. We're not gonna shelter. rebellion in this city. We're not gonna harbor rebellion against the Lord's anointed in this city. We're gonna kill it and cast it out. And because they did that, the city was spared. And there's a lesson here for us. If God's people have a certain posture to sin, it'll end up killing them. Be killing sin or sin will kill you. It's a Puritan quote. Neville Chamberlain, I've mentioned him before to you. He was the Prime Minister of Great Britain before World War II, kicked off in all of its intensity. And Neville Chamberlain had this posture toward Hitler. Peace in our time. Peace in our time. Of course, Hitler had every intention of conquering Great Britain. There's no peace with someone like that. That's not the posture to have against Hitler, and it's not the posture for God's people to have toward their sin. Jesus said, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Get it out. If there's something in your life that's causing you to sin, then just get rid of it. Get rid of it. Now, That's a practical cure. There's a certain sense which it's not really a cure, it's a plan. You by the Spirit can identify that this music that I'm listening to is not very helpful and it makes me think about sinful things and you can remove it by grace, by the power of the Spirit, you can identify that. If you think about it, that's not really a cure. You may be in a situation where you just can't seem to do that at all. Well, there's a better cure, there's a more fundamental cure, and that is death. I'm gonna explain what I mean. God's people, by the Spirit of God, by the Holy Spirit, have the power to mortify their sin because Christ has died, he's opened up reconciliation and pardon for them, and he's given them his Spirit. And there's a death in this passage of Scripture that brings peace to the kingdom. And it's not a stretch to not see that being the case and pointing us to Christ. Think about it for a moment. Verse 22, Sheba dies. Then we have verses 23 through 26. In verse 22 itself, every man to his tent. Joab returns to Jerusalem where the king is at. The king's reigning from his city. And then the narrator, the author here, includes these verses. I'm not gonna get into the details too much. You have just different officers representing, or different officers of David's administration. You have the bodyguard, Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. He was the commander of what would be considered the bodyguard. You have Joab, of course. You have these different people here. What's the narrator saying? The narrator is saying this. There's peace in the land. David's king. The rebellion has been quenched. There's peace. And what I want you to see is that though you and me, though we're sinners. Everyone on this earth has sinned against God. There is a death available for sinners. You don't have to die. to bring peace with God. Jesus. Jesus died. Jesus died. Romans 5.1, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You can go to God and you can say, God, I've rebelled against you. I deserve death. Forgive me. Forgive me because of your son, the Lord Jesus. That's why Christ died. Because God, in a very real sense, is like Joab. He's coming. He's coming. Punish spiritual rebels. And we need, we need a substitute. You wanna be Sheba? Are you a believer in the consequences of sin? Do you believe God is holy and just? Your hope and my hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He died on Calvary for sinners. Trust in Him. Go to Him. Depend upon Him. One thing is certain. Either you will die for your sin or Christ has already died for you. Go to him, he's the cure. He's the cure for spiritual rebels. And if you come to him, he will accept you, he will receive you. And he will give you his spirit where you can grow. And you can deal with that issue in your life that you hate. By his spirit you can put it to death. Spiritual rebellion includes unprincipled and convenient behavior. brings multifaceted and painful consequences, and is cured by mortification and death. I'll just conclude by asking you a few questions. Do you recognize spiritual rebellion in your life? Is there any way in which you can identify with this? Do you think it's serious? What's your posture towards sin in your life? Is it like the way I viewed the land waste? A question that my mother-in-law brought up, it's not a big deal. It is a big deal. But there's hope. And that hope is a person in Jesus Christ. Go to Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we read about and we think about the history of your people and the history of the church and the old covenant and we see a lot of sin. We see a lot of pain. We see a lot of punishment. We see a lot of blood. We see things and we read things that we really don't even want to talk about with our kids. That we know that there's a purpose to it. We know that you would have us to think deeply about heavy matters at times. We know that this helps us to understand more about why we need your son, Jesus, and why you sent him. We ask that you would help us to know ourselves rightly, that we would know where we are in rebellion, and that we would have a poor and contrite spirit that turns to you and turns to your son. and the mercy that can be had there. We pray for that for us as a church and as families and as individuals. We ask that you would help us to have hearts that are soft towards you. Father, we thank you for our forgiveness that we have in Christ. We thank you that you have sent him to be our substitute, our Sheba, to die the death that we deserve. We bless your name for that. Hear our prayers for we ask in his name, amen. Let's respond to the.