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A Royal Shambles (Part 2 of 2)

2 Samuel 14:1–33
Program

While sin may provide a season of enjoyment, it ultimately offers false promises of satisfaction it cannot fulfill. Listen to Truth For Life as Alistair Begg follows King David’s ongoing saga of alienation, which illustrates why sin always ends in tears.

From the Sermon

A Royal Shambles

2 Samuel 14:1–33 Sermon Includes Transcript 40:20 ID: 3518

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Regular Reminders

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

The good news of the gospel can so easily be forgotten or taken for granted. If we begin to feel that we need to go beyond it, or we find it irrelevant in our lives or affections, we should be concerned, not complacent. Just as young children need regular reminders to keep them from forgetting what they need to remember, we need to recall routinely the transforming power of Jesus Christ in human hearts.

Why? Because the gospel is not just the way in to salvation but the way of salvation; it is not only the ABC of the Christian life but the A to Z. It is the word to which we must “hold fast.”

As Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 4:3, life without the gospel is like living with a veil covering our eyes: we are blinded by our own sin, by our pursuit of comfort or doing “enough” good, or even by our own theology or religious adherence. This clouded vision is common to all mankind; by nature, we all face a No Entry sign at the gate of heaven. The road is flooded, and there is apparently no way through. But the gospel, the glorious news, is this: there is one who stands ready to clear the way. In His living, dying, and resurrection, Jesus lived the life we can’t, died the death we deserve, and conquered death once and for all so that all who believe can have a relationship with God.

On the day we first understood the full weight of this—the day when God’s grace opened our clouded eyes, unplugged our ears, and softened our hardened hearts—we could run no other way than toward Him, crying, “Save me!” As the old hymn says:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.[1]

Now, having run to Him as the gospel bids us, we need to remain with Him as the gospel reminds us. So, where does the gospel find you today? Are you living in this freedom? Or are you still occasionally living as though imprisoned, trying, trying, trying with all your might to find the freedom only Christ gives?

To the Christian, the gospel is and must be as water in a dry land. It is the priceless, payment-free water that the Lord Jesus offers—it is the water of life (Revelation 21:6). Be sure to rehearse to yourself the simple gospel today, and every day, so that it never grows cold to you and so that you live in the freedom that Christ died to win for you.

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

The Light of the Gospel

1Therefore, having xthis ministry yby the mercy of God,1 we do not lose heart. 2But we have renounced zdisgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice2 cunning or ato tamper with God's word, but bby the open statement of the truth cwe would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3And even dif our gospel is veiled, eit is veiled to fthose who are perishing. 4In their case gthe god of this world dhas blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing hthe light of ithe gospel of the glory of Christ, jwho is the image of God. 5For what kwe proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with lourselves as your servants3 for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, m“Let light shine out of darkness,” nhas shone in our hearts to give othe light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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Footnotes
1 4:1 Greek having this ministry as we have received mercy
2 4:2 Greek to walk in
3 4:5 Or slaves (for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface)
Topics: Gospel Legalism
Footnotes
1 Charles Wesley, “And Can It Be, That I Should Gain?” (1738).

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.

Polluted by Holy Motives?

Polluted by Holy Motives?

… Guilt from the holy things.

What a veil is lifted up by these words, and what a disclosure is made! It will be humbling and profitable for us to pause awhile and see this sad sight. The iniquities of our public worship, its hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness, irreverence, wandering of heart, and forgetfulness of God—what a full measure have we there! Our work for the Lord, its emulation, selfishness, carelessness, slackness, unbelief—what a mass of defilement is there! Our private devotions, their laxity, coldness, neglect, sleepiness, and vanity—what a mountain of dead earth is there! If we looked more carefully, we should find this iniquity to be far greater than appears at first sight.

Dr. Payson, writing to his brother, says, "My parish, as well as my heart, very much resembles the garden of the sluggard; and what is worse, I find that very many of my desires for the improvement of both, proceed either from pride or vanity or indolence. I look at the weeds, which overspread my garden, and breathe out an earnest wish that they were eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? So that I may walk out and say to myself, 'In what fine order is my garden kept!' This is pride. Or, so that my neighbors may look over the wall and say, 'How finely your garden flourishes!' This is vanity. Or I may wish for the destruction of the weeds, because I am weary of pulling them up. This is indolence."

So even our desires after holiness may be polluted by ill motives. Under the greenest sods worms hide themselves; we need not look long to discover them. How cheering is the thought that when the High Priest bore the iniquity of the holy things he wore upon his brow the words, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD," and even so while Jesus bears our sin, He presents before His Father's face not our unholiness, but His own holiness. O for grace to view our great High Priest by the eye of faith!

Devotional material is taken from Morning and Evening, written by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright © 2003, Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. Used by Truth For Life with written permission.

Daily Bible Reading for January 8

Genesis 8, Matthew 8, Ezra 8, Acts 8

The Flood Subsides

1But God dremembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And eGod made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2fThe fountains of the deep and fthe windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end gof 150 days the waters had abated, 4and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of hArarat. 5And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

13In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15Then God said to Noah, 16“Go out from the ark, iyou and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and jbe fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

God's Covenant with Noah

20Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And when the Lord smelled kthe pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again lcurse1 the ground because of man, for mthe intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. nNeither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22oWhile the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, pday and night, shall not cease.”

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Footnotes
1 8:21 Or dishonor

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

1When he came down from the mountain, dgreat crowds followed him. 2eAnd behold, a leper1 came to him and fknelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3And Jesus2 stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4And Jesus said to him, g“See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, hshow yourself to the priest and ioffer the gift that Moses commanded, jfor a proof to them.”

The Faith of a Centurion

5kWhen he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but lonly say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant,3 ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10When Jesus heard this, mhe marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with nno one in Israel4 have I found such faith. 11I tell you, omany will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12pwhile the sons of the kingdom qwill be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place rthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you sas you have believed.” tAnd the servant was healed at that very moment.

Jesus Heals Many

14uAnd when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw vhis mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15He wtouched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16That evening they brought to him many who were xoppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits ywith a word and healed all who were sick. 17zThis was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: a“He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

The Cost of Following Jesus

18Now bwhen Jesus saw a crowd around him, che gave orders to go over to the other side. 19dAnd a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave ethe dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

23fAnd when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but ghe was asleep. 25And they went and woke him, saying, h“Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26And he said to them, “Why are you iafraid, jO you of little faith?” Then he rose and krebuked the winds and the sea, and lthere was a great calm. 27And the men mmarveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even nwinds and sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals Two Men with Demons

28oAnd when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes,5 two pdemon-possessed6 men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29And behold, they qcried out, “What have you to do with us, rO Son of God? Have you come here to torment us sbefore the time?” 30Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. 31And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” 32And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. 33The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the tdemon-possessed men. 34And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, uthey begged him to leave their region.

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Footnotes
1 8:2 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
2 8:3 Greek he
3 8:9 Or bondservant
4 8:10 Some manuscripts not even in Israel
5 8:28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes; some Gerasenes
6 8:28 Greek daimonizomai (demonized); also verse 33; elsewhere rendered oppressed by demons

Genealogy of Those Who Returned with Ezra

1These are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: 2Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of uIthamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, vHattush. 3Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of wParosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men. 4xOf the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men. 5Of the sons of Zattu,1 Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men. 6Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men. 7Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men. 8Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men. 9Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men. 10Of the sons of Bani,2 Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men. 11yOf the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him 28 men. 12Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men. 13Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men. 14Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

Ezra Sends for Levites

15I gathered them to the river that runs to zAhava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there anone of the sons of Levi. 16Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and bMeshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, 17and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and3 the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. 18And cby the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of dMahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18; 19also eHashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of fthe sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20; 20gbesides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all hmentioned by name.

Fasting and Prayer for Protection

21iThen I proclaimed a fast there, at the river jAhava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, kto seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 22For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, l“The hand of our God is for good on mall who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” 23So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Priests to Guard Offerings

24Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: eSherebiah, eHashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. 25And I weighed out to them the nsilver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his ocounselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. 26pI weighed out into their hand 650 talents4 of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents,5 and 100 talents of gold, 2720 bowls of gold worth 1,000 darics,6 and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold. 28And I said to them, q“You are holy to the Lord, and rthe vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. 29Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, swithin the chambers of the house of the Lord.” 30So the priests and the Levites ptook over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

31Then we departed from the river Ahava ton the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. uThe hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. 32vWe came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. 33On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were wweighed into the hands of xMeremoth the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, yJozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of zBinnui. 34The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.

35At that time athose who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, btwelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. 36cThey also delivered the king's commissions to the king's dsatraps7 and to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and they aided the people and the house of God.

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Footnotes
1 8:5 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks of Zattu
2 8:10 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks Bani
3 8:17 Hebrew lacks and
4 8:26 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
5 8:26 Revocalization; the number is missing in the Masoretic Text
6 8:27 A daric was a coin weighing about 1/4 ounce or 8.5 grams
7 8:36 A satrap was a Persian official

Saul Ravages the Church

1And bSaul capproved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and dthey were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3But eSaul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he fdragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Philip Proclaims Christ in Samaria

4Now gthose who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5hPhilip went down to the city1 of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6iAnd the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him jand saw the signs that he did. 7For kunclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8So lthere was much joy in that city.

Simon the Magician Believes

9But there was a man named Simon, mwho had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, nsaying that he himself was somebody great. 10They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, o“This man is the power of God that is called pGreat.” 11And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had qamazed them with his magic. 12But when rthey believed Philip as he preached good news sabout the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, rthey were baptized, both men and women. 13Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And tseeing signs and ugreat miracles2 performed, vhe was amazed.

14Now when wthe apostles at Jerusalem heard that xSamaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15who came down and prayed for them ythat they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16for zhe had not yet afallen on any of them, but bthey had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then cthey laid their hands on them and dthey received the Holy Spirit. 18Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20But Peter said to him, e“May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God fwith money! 21You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for gyour heart is not right before God. 22Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, hif possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23For I see that you are in ithe gall3 of bitterness and in jthe bond of iniquity.” 24And Simon answered, k“Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

25Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, lpreaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

26Now man angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south4 to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27And he rose and went. And there was an nEthiopian, a oeunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, pwho was in charge of all her treasure. qHe had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31And he said, r“How can I, unless someone sguides me?” And the invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

u“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he opens not his mouth.

33In his vhumiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and wbeginning with this Scripture xhe told him the good news about Jesus. 36And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! yWhat prevents me from being baptized?”5 38And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39And when they came up out of the water, zthe Spirit of the Lord acarried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

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Footnotes
1 8:5 Some manuscripts a city
2 8:13 Greek works of power
3 8:23 That is, a bitter fluid secreted by the liver; bile
4 8:26 Or go at about noon
5 8:36 Some manuscripts add all or most of verse 37: And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

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