2 Samuel chapter 16 the bible reads in verse 1, 'And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.' Let me just bring you up to speed quickly in the story here. Of course Absalom has rebelled against his father and has taken over Jerusalem.
First he declared himself king in Hebron and then when David realized the hearts of the men of Israel were with Absalom. Then David and his entourage and all the people that were loyal to him crossed the brook Kidron, they left Jerusalem and now Absalom has come in and occupied Jerusalem. This man Ziba that comes and meets up with David and his men and brings all these gifts, the bread, the summer fruits, the wine, et cetera was a servant from the house of Saul. This is going back to a story several chapters ago where David had asked the question, "Is there anybody left that is from the lineage of Saul that I may show them the kindness of God for Jonathan's sake and for the oath that I've made with Jonathan.
Of course there was this lame young man named Mephibosheth in the haste about fleeing from the Philistines the nurse had dropped this little boy and injured him and he was lame on his feet. He could not walk properly for the rest of his life. When David brings in this lame man Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth is very fearful because he doesn't know. Is David just trying to clean house on all of Saul's family just to make sure there's no threat to his throne? Of course David shows him mercy and kindness and is a blessing to him. He told him he could have all the land that would've pertained to his father, and he also told him that he would eat at his table all the days of his life. That he would be in the royal family, as it were. He'd be able to be there and dine with him and so forth. Ziba his servant would till the land and take care of everything.
Obviously Mephibosheth can't effectively run things because he's lame on his feet. This servant Ziba comes and he brings all these gifts and he's doing kindness unto David in his hour of need. He actually has a wicked ulterior motive, I believe if you study this passage carefully, because look at the next verse. It says in verse 3, 'And where is thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.' Ziba here is accusing Mephibosheth of wanting to take the kingdom for himself now. Of thinking to himself, "Since David's on the run and Absalom has illegitimately taken the throne maybe this is a good opportunity for me as a descendant of Saul to get my throne back. Today Israel's going to restore me to the throne." This is what Ziba is accusing him of.
Remember, whenever we read the bible we always need to be careful to not just take everything that a person in the bible says as gospel.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: A lot of time the bible is recording the words of someone who was lying.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: This servant here tells this story. We don't really know if it's true because it's just saying "this is what Ziba said". It's not God saying it, it's not the holy spirit saying it. It's just telling us, "Hey, this is what Ziba said." A lot of people get confused on this, but every word of the bible is true. This verse is true in the sense that it's true that Ziba said that.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: What Ziba said here I do not believe is true.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: Look at David's reaction. David believes the story. In verse 4, 'Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.' Ziba is being granted all the possessions of Mephobosheth. Ziba makes this accusation and then David says, "Okay, well in that case everything that belonged to Mephibosheth now belongs to you." "Oh, I must humbly beseech thee that I may favor." He's giving these formalities. The reason I believe he's lying is that number 1, this is not a very likely story.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: That this lame Mephibosheth actually thinks that he's going to be able to just rule over Israel. Number 2, David has been very kind to him and he was very gracious with it, why would he do this? Thirdly, actually Mephibosheth is going to show up later in the book and he's going to contradict what Ziba's saying. Then at that point you have to ask yourself, "Well who do we believe? Do we believe Ziba or do we believe Mephibosheth?" Mephibosheth actually shows up with physical evidence. When Mephibosheth shows up at the end of the story he has not taken a bath, he's not washed himself, taken care of himself, anointed himself, or trimmed his beard or his hair or anything since David has left. He shows up dirty and looking ratty and unkempt. He says, "Look at me, I have not washed my face, I haven't done anything to take care of myself or groom myself since the day that you left."
Obviously someone who's trying to make a play for being the supreme leader of the land and taking over the kingdom is going to make themselves presentable. He was in mourning and he was not making himself presentable which shows Ziba was lying. When David hears Mephibosheth tell him that, and when he sees the physical evidence of Mephibosheth's appearance then David just says, "Look, I've said unto you and Ziba, divide the land." Basically he's just angry that there would be this fighting or feuding over the land. Clearly Mephibosheth has done no wrong. When you read the story, when you look at the evidence Ziba's lying. What can we learn from this? The bible often warns us about the flattering tongue. Also we have to be careful, sometimes when people give us gifts they could have an ulterior motive.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: It's wonderful to get gifts and of course I don't want down on gifts. I love getting gifts, everybody loves getting gifts.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: I love giving gifts. You don't want to just think, "Oh man, I'm never going to get Pastor Anderson a gift because he's going to think that I'm a Ziba, that I'm out to get him or something." Obviously the greatest gift of all, the gift of God is eternal life.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: Through Jesus Christ our lord. We have to be careful that just because someone gives us a gift, or just because someone gives us compliments and someone tells us how great we are and is very polite to us, we need to be careful that we do not just from that point on just think to ourselves, "Hey this person can do no wrong," and just trust that person implicitly. That's the mistakes that's sometimes easy to make. Somebody gives you a gift you're thankful. You ought to be thankful when somebody gives you a gift. Somebody compliments you, you're thankful. Great. We've got to be careful not to let our guard down and just assume that everything that that person says is gospel. It's a problem today in churches when Christians just think that they can trust everyone just because they're from church. This is how people get into trouble.
First of all, when it comes to your children, do not trust people with your children.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: In this day that we're living in, as is was in the days of Lot, in modern America today there's so much perversion and filth and smut in our world. You should not let your little kids out of your sight. You need to keep them under watch either of mom or dad and keep a close eye on them. A lot of churches that I've been in they just want you to drop your kids off with complete strangers. Just stick them in a Sunday school or a nursery with people you don't know from Adam, but it's okay because they're from church. Not only that, but sometimes they would even want us in other churches to go on our of town retreats and drop our children off for overnight babysitting with people that we'd never even met, but they're from church.
Even if I had met those people, even if I had gone to church with them for years I would still not drop my kids off with them overnight because of the fact that there are too many perverts and weirdos out there in 2015 to just be dropping your kids off with whoever. You should be very, very discerning about who you leave your kids with. Honestly, I leave my kids with my mother. That's about it. I don't leave my kids with any strangers or anything, or any church members, or friends or anything. You can't be too careful. They say that 1 out of every 4 girls will already admit to saying, "I've been molested", by the time they're 17 years old. Isn't that horrible? Isn't that terrible? That girls by the time they reach adulthood, 1 out of 4 have been molested.
That's just the ones who are courageous enough to say that they've been molested. There are probably others who are blocking it out, don't even want to remember, don't even want to think about it. It's not that they're lying when they say no, it's just they don't even think about it. Our minds are designed to block out horrible events so that we don't even remember them or think about them. Others are probably just embarrassed or ashamed. That's how a lot of these perverts get away with perpetrating their crimes is that they'll try to shame the victim, or the victim will feel scared or ashamed. The bible's real clear that it's not the victim's fault when a molestation takes place. The bible says, "It's as if a man rose up and slew his neighbor." That's what it's like. One person is the perpetrator and one person is the victim.
With this kind of thing running rampant in our country today, 1 in 4 girls this is happening to, we can't be too careful. Churches are often the places where a lot of molestation takes place simply because of the fact that people are trusting at church. Predators and pedophiles are looking for a place where they can get access to children and be trusted. If you look at people who are molested the vast majority of time it's by someone that they know, someone that's trusted. It's not someone that they're meeting for the first time, usually. It's someone who's been grooming them and they've met them either through church or through a family friend or relatives, whatever, extended family. Over time they build the trust and then they come in and work evil.
This happens all the time in schools also. This is a reason to home school your children. You drop your kids off at the public fool system and who knows what's going to happen to them? All you have to do is just Google "bus driver molested kids" or "school teacher molesting kids" or "school janitor molesting kids". "Oh, but Pastor Anderson they do a background check." Yeah, but there's always that first time. Can you do a future check? By the way, most of these perverts get away with it for years before they ever get caught, so the background check's not going to show you. Not only that, event he ones that have been caught, and arrested, and sentenced, and they went through that revolving door of going to prison. Even though you get 10 years for some financial crime, you go through 3 or 4 years for being a pedophile. They ought to be killed, they ought to be executed.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: Rapists should be killed.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: Especially child rapists should be executed speedily.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: If our country were just that's what would happen. Instead they put them in prison where they can get together with a bunch of other pedophiles and learn the tools of the trade and come out and have 7 devils in them worse than the one that they had when they went into prison and then go out and do it again. Even then you'll read in the news about, "Oh, this guy was working at a school and he'd already been convicted and it just didn't show up on the background check." Do you really think that all the government's computer systems are all just always accurate, and always perfect? They never make any mistakes. They run such a tight ship and they do everything and it's so much of a well-oiled machine. I mean, do you really believe that?
Congregation: No.
Steve Anderson: The government screws up everything that they touch.
Congregation: Right. Amen.
Steve Anderson: How do you expect this background check to just be gospel? Even if it were gospel it can't tell you what's going to happen in the future. I remember my wife told me that when she was a kid there was this Catholic priest in her town that she believed was a pedophile because she'd heard the stories from the boys in her town that had gone on these trips with this pedophile priest and she believed him to be a pedophile. My wife told me that, she told me about this story. Then after we'd been married for years and years it was in the news. You'd think, "why would a German priest get in trouble for being a pedophile make the news in America?" Here's why, the current pope at the time was a German pope, Ratzinger. What did he call himself, Benedict. I guess if my name name were Ratzinger I'd probably call myself Pope Benedict instead of Pope Ratz whatever, Ratzinger.
He basically turned out that Ratzinger, the pope before this pope, was the guy who was that pedophile priest's boss. He was the next one up, the archbishop, or the cardinal or whatever position he had. He had helped sweep it under the rug or whatever when people were charging this guy with being a pedophile. That pope had helped protect this guy and sweep it under the rug. Then 20 years later when the guy finally got busted actually, after doing it for 20 years. He was doing it when my wife was a kid and he just got busted a few years ago. Then when he finally got busted it was a big scandal for the pope. It was like, "wow, Ratzinger was helping to corroborate with this guy to make sure he didn't get into trouble".
That's all the pope is, they just take one of these pedophiles-
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: The pedophile priest becomes the pedophile bishop, pedophile archbishop, pedophile cardinal, pedophile pope.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: Yes, the pope's a pedophile.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: "Oh, but this current pope." This current pope is constantly praising homosexuality and acting like, "Oh man, who am I to judge? Yeah, Atheists are going to Heaven. Yeah, homosexuality is great." Pope Benedict Ratzinger, he was supposedly the more conservative pope. He's like more fundamental Catholic. Protecting pedophiles, hanging around with a bunch of pedophiles.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: It doesn't make any sense, folks. The whole religion is warped and wicked. It's the biggest cult in the world, worshiping a man, the pope. Then this current pope makes that guy look fundamental because this pope is a super liberal pope. It's almost like they rolled out the strict guy who's real strict, Benedict, and then he retires and then they bring in the real liberal. It's like the Hegelian dialectic is what they're doing. The problem, reaction, solution, antithesis, synthesis. That's what we see with Benedict and Francis. It's all by design and the person who's behind it-
Congregation: The devil.
Steve Anderson: Is the devil. That's who's pulling the strings at the Roman Catholic church and all of these wicked false religions. All that to say this, don't trust people from church with your kids. It's not just in the Catholic church. Obviously the Catholic church is filled with them, because the bible talks about false prophets being perverted.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: Obviously every Catholic priest is a false prophet so obviously they're going to be perverted. Plus, the whole thing of taking a vow of celibacy and then you go and dorm up with a bunch of dudes, that appeals to them anyway.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: All the little altar boys and whatever that they do. Beyond that, though, the bible says that there shall also be false prophets among you that will creep in.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: He says that they have eyes full of adultery that cannot seize from sin, beguiling unstable souls. Who's more unstable of a soul than a child? Cursed children, the bible says. We need to be careful not to trust people with out children. It's important that I bring that up every once in a while simply because of the fact that it's such a big issue in our day. New people are constantly coming and I just want to make sure everybody knows where we stand on that. Don't get offended if you're saying, "Oh yeah, little Johnny will come over to our house to spend the night." If somebody says no thanks don't get offended, because honestly people are just trying to protect their kids. It's nothing against you personally because it's always the people you don't suspect.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: Even if I don't suspect people, I still am going to keep my guard up. My motto is, "Suspect no one, trust no one." I'm not going to trust people. I don't go around suspecting everybody, but I don't trust people with my children. Most of you in here, I wouldn't leave a suitcase full of a million dollars cash at your house and just say, "Here, watch this for me overnight." Here's the thing, why would I drop my kid off with you when my kid is more valuable than a suitcase full of a million dollars?
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: The money is worthless, it's vanity. "Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither."
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: When it comes to my children, though, that's something that I actually care about. I don't want to trust my kids with anybody. You need to be careful. Watch your kids, keep an eye on them, and don't just leave them unattended. It's really important that you do that, especially when they're real young. You need to also make sure you talk to your kids and let them know. We always tell our kids, "If anything weird happens tell us. Let us know. You're not going to get in trouble. Tell us about anything that's a little bit weird or out of place." Then you can catch it early before it turns into something worse. By the way, that 'AIDS: the Judgement of God' movie's got some great tips. Remember that little black and white video put out by the Engleood Police Department? That was great. That's some good tips. Every child should be played that video in the school system right now, in fact.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: I don't think it's going to happen, but they ought to. All that to say this, people sometimes flatter you and give you gifts and then you think, "Oh, that person would never harm me because they've given me gifts and they've said nice things to me, and they've been so good to me." Honestly we need to keep our guard up, we need to be sober, be vigilant, because our adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: We need to always be aware of that. This Ziba seems like really nice guy. He's bringing all these great fruits and bread and everything and he's there to save the day in the hour of need. You know what? He's actually evil. When you make an accusation like that, first of all he's accusing him of a crime that's worth of death. Treason is punishable by death, treachery. He's accusing him of treason, that could get him killed. Think about it. That could get Mephibosheth killed when you're saying, "Hey, he's trying to take the kingdom and he's trying to rebel and do a coup d'etat. That could get him killed.
The bible says if you accuse someone of something that has a certain punishment associated with it that's the punishment you deserve for making that false accusation. If you accuse someone of murder and they didn't really commit murder, then you're to be put to death if you're a false witness in a trial. That's what the bible teaches. Very serious wickedness that Ziba is doing here if he's lying, which I believe he's lying. I think it's pretty clear. Look at verse number 5, 'And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:
The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.' Nothing could be further from the truth. The blood of the house of Saul? David did not harm anyone of the house of Saul. Saul died in battle. Saul was killed by the Philistines, I mean he killed himself, but first he was wounded mortally by the Philistines. Saul's sons died in battle with him, Jonathan and his other sons. The only son that was left, David's been treating him well and had him at his table. He didn't kill anyone of the house of Saul. This false, railing accusation is coming from Shimei. Not only that, he's throwing rocks at him, cursing him.
When the bible says cursing him it is not what ... A lot of times we think of, "Oh, cussing."
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: The word cussing is actually a slang that comes from the word cursing, they just took out the R there and shortened it to cussing. Basically, to the world, cussing is when you use a word that is not on the approved list of, "Hey these words are acceptable and these words are not." The biggest problem with that list is that some words in the bible are on that list.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: There are words in the bible that literally will be censored from television. They'll go ahead and show you promiscuity and one night stands and people going to bed together after the first date and they'll show you sodomy and they'll blaspheme Christ, but then someone will use a bible word like "bastard". That's a bible word. Or "damn" or "hell", it's like bleep it out, censor it, and everything like that. Or, "hey, we need to rate this for mature audiences." No. The bible says the words of the lord are pure words.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: The bible says every word of God is pure.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: Honestly, I think it's part of the devil's agenda to take biblical words and to label them as cuss words when they're bible words.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: Think about that. He's getting people to condemn words in the bible.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: Why would the devil not want us to condemn words that are in the bible? Let me tell you something, if you condemn words that are in the bible, you're not right with God. Period.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: "Well, but we need to respect society and people aren't comfortable." Look, I understand respecting society. I'm with you. When in Rome do as the Romans do. Paul said, "unto the Greeks I became as the Greek, under the barbarian I became as a barbarian, unto the Jews I became as a Jew." He said, "I become all things to all man that I might by all means save some." Obviously we don't want to just go out to offend people, but here's the thing, if people are offended by biblical words thought, that's something where ... Basically "bastard" is a bad word. Then they hear it in the bible and it's like, "Oh man, listen to the mouth on God." He's God.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: He's the one that made your tongue.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: He decides that we'd be going to hell without Jesus. Isn't that a pretty basic answer of Baptist doctrine? When I said we'd be going to hell without Jesus this girl went, "You just said a bad word. You just said hell." Here's what's funny. I went to that church for years and the pastor never said hell. For years.
Congregation: Wow.
Steve Anderson: The bible says hell 54 times, but I went to that church for years and my dad, finally ... I talked to my dad about it and my dad said, "I'm going to confront the pastor, why have we been here?" He politely confronted him but he said, "I want to ask him why we've been here for years and hell's never come out of his mouth." My dad walked up to him and said, "Why have you never preached on hell? I've been here for 2 years, you never talked about hell, you never mentioned hell." He said, "I know I should but it's just so negative I just don't like to." Who asked you what you like? Preach the word.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: Be instant in season out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. God didn't say, "Hey, preach what you like."
Congregation: Exactly.
Steve Anderson: No. He said, "Preach the word." He said, "Rebuke, reprove." You got to be negative sometimes when you preach. You can't preach only the positive.
Congregation: Yeah. Right.
Steve Anderson: You can see how demonic this is where a pastor never mentions hell. His church member thinks hell is a cuss word and is afraid to even say it in the contest of, "Hey, Jesus saves from hell." Wouldn't even say it. What kind of a church is that? I'll tell you what, these churches have been so sanitized of anything negative that now you can't even preach on hell without people freaking out in these churches. I'll bet you a whole bunch of the people in that church weren't even saved looking back.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: I talked to a lot of them and they didn't really know the gospel. It's ridiculous. Here's the way I see it. If you're going to be so prim and proper that you're so polite and prim and proper that you're more polite than God, and you're more polite than Jesus, you're probably too polite.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: Jesus is the example.
Congregation: Amen. Amen.
Steve Anderson: The bible is the standard for what's right and wrong. If you're going to tell me what's right and wrong it needs to come from the bible.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: You can't just sit there ... I've even heard a story about the pastors reading the passage, he got to the verse and he skipped the verse because he said it was inappropriate for children. Good night. Who shall we teach doctrine? They that are weaned from the breast. Priest [inaudible 00:26:30] priest had lied upon lied from a child. We want our children to know the holy scriptures that are able to make them wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: Don't ban words that are biblical words and say that they're cuss words. You're blasphemous if you say that God's word is a cuss word. When the bible used the word "cursing", here's what a curse is. Cursing is when you wish evil upon someone, that is what a curse is. A curse would be ... Here's where our word cussing came from because of the fact when they would curse someone, a common curse would be "Go to hell", then they say, "Oh, hell's a curse word, or a cuss word." No, there's nothing wrong with the word hell. Obviously we should not tell people to go to hell, unless obviously they're a reprobate or something which is very few people. You might tell them to get AIDS and die, or whatever.
The bible says that there is a time to love and a time to hate. That's another sermon. The bottom line is that cursing is when you wish evil upon someone. The bible clearly tells us that when someone curses us, we are not to return cursing for cursing. Somebody curses us, what would be a common curse, "go to hell", "damn you" would be another one. That's part of where that gets classified as a cuss word. They might just curse you by telling you to die or whatever. Whatever evil or ill that they wish upon you. We're not justified, the bible's clear in a lot of places, to curse those who curse us. Just because someone curses us, that does not give us the right to curse them. If somebody curses you, you shouldn't have a knee-jerk of returning, railing for railing, cursing for cursing.
Here's the thing, just because someone curses you, number 1 it does not mean that they're a reprobate or an evil person. It could just mean that they did wrong in the one instance by cursing you. Number 2, the bible says that we're to overcome evil with good. Therefore our enemies, we're supposed to bless our enemies, and love your enemies, pray for them that spitefully use you and curse and persecute you. When the bible says love your enemies it's talking about your personal enemies, people who've done you wrong, people who've harmed you. This guy comes up and starts cursing David. Not only that but he's throwing rocks at him. This is pretty extreme. He's also lying about him and making false accusations about him and he's being cursed here because he's wishing evil upon him. That all the blood of the house of Saul would come back upon him, which of course he did not shed that blood so this is a completely unjust curse.
It says in verse number 9, 'Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. And the king said, What have I to do with you' brother Davis? You're saying yeah to that, no I'm just kidding. 'What have I to do with thee, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him. It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.'
Why would he say, "The lord told him to curse me"? I think the reason that he said that is because David knows that he's done wrong. David has a guilty conscience because David knows that he ... I shouldn't say that he had a guilty conscience because he did confess it to the lord and repent and he's gotten things right with the lord. David knows that he's done wrong and David knows that he's being punished for his sins. We're going to get to that later in the sermon tonight. A very crystal clear point on which David is receiving punishment for his sin with Bathsheba. Here Shimei is completely off base to curse David about the Saul thing because David was completely innocent. David has committed another crime that is unknown unto Shimei because he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. That's why these bad things are happening to David.
David sees this cursing and rocks being throw at him as chastisement from the lord for the sin that he has done and the wrong that he has done. He knows that God is going to punish Shimei more severely if he does not return cursing for cursing. The bible says that when your enemy falls you're not supposed to rejoice because then maybe God will turn away his wrath for him. The bible says in Romans chapter 12, let's go to Romans 12. Keep your finger there in Second Samuel 16 we'll come right back to it. Go over to Romans chapter 12 quickly. It says Romans chapter 12 verse 19, 'Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.'
David's saying by not returning cursing for cursing here, and by blessing in response to cursing he's heaping coals of fire of Shimei's head. It says, 'Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.' Back to Second Samuel 16. He's saying, "My own son is cursing me, how much more may this Benjamite do it?" It says in verse 13, 'And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.' It's so amazing to me how all throughout the life of David you see David over and over and over again, I think more than anybody in the whole bible, loving his enemies and not returning evil for evil.
Think about all the people who've cursed David, who've tried to kill David and he turned the other cheek. Think about Saul and all the other enemies, David is above reproach in this area when you look at him. Where he's constantly loving his enemies and blessing those that curse him. He is the example for that in the bible. Then it's funny because then people will turn around and take the words of David in psalms where he does talk about where it is appropriate to curse certain people. What's known as the Imprecatory Psalms, there are 18 I believe psalms where he's cursing the enemies of the lord and cursing wicked and perverted evil sick people.
People will take those words and they'll say, "David was wrong about that." No, David ... Then they'll try to point at Matthew 5:44 as if Matthew 5:44 is some new revolutionary teaching that Jesus just came on the scene and taught love your enemies and it was just unknown the the Old Testament. No, because all throughout Leviticus that's taught.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: He said in Leviticus that "if your enemy's ass fell in the ditch", oh no he said a bad word. If your enemy's ass falls in the ditch, or your enemy's ox falls in the ditch you lift it out. You help your enemy, even. The bible teaches to love your enemies and David was doing that before it was cool. David was doing that in the Old Testament, long time before Matthew 5:44. Jesus is expounding and teaching that which the Old Testament has already taught.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: That wasn't a new teaching. People have misunderstood and perverted that scripture that it's something new. They'll do that with a lot of things in Matthew 5 because they don't understand Matthew 5. What the reality is that David did love his enemies, David did bless those who cursed him, this is a great example. Many times he kept his cool and did not return evil for evil, but David understood that those that hate the lord, and those that love violence, those who are perverted reprobate sons of Belial, they do need to be cursed. The bible says if people preach another gospel let them be a cursed.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: He didn't say bless them he said, "bid them not God speed. He that biddeth them God speed is partaker of his evil deeds", there is a time and a place for these things. If want to know what the time and the place is we could study the life of David, we could study the teachings of Christ, and we could study the book of psalms. When we lay out all the evidence we could get a correct view. Sometimes people want to overly simplify things in the bible. Some things in the bible is simple, salvation's simple.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: The gospel's simple, but there are some things in the bible that are deep. The bible says that "there are the deep things of God that God reveals to us by his spirit." 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' Of course the Atheists who are not even claiming to believe the bible, and of course homosexuals will love to quote verses like "judge not" and "love your enemies" and twist their meaning to say "love pedophiles."
Congregation: Right. Yeah.
Steve Anderson: Don't judge any homosexuals for being the sick individuals that they are. Don't let Atheists tell you what the bible says.
Congregation: Right. Yeah.
Steve Anderson: They don't know the bible. It's impossible for them to know the bible because the bible is a spiritual book and you have to be saved to understand the bible. If you're not saved you're not going to understand it. Of course liberal Atheist hippy sodomites are going to scoff at my teaching this. "Aye, you're contradicting yourself." No, you're just not able to understand the bible.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: Every Atheist fool will tell you, "Oh, the bible's filled with contradictions." Here's what they're really saying, "I don't understand the bible. I'm too stupid to synthesize it all."
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: "I'm too stupid to figure out how they can both be true."
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: That's what they're really saying, but it's all true. There's no contradiction and we look at the life of David and we look at the book of psalms and we look at the teachings of Christ, they all show us the same message. In my personal life I've never been confused on this. I've never been confused. I've never been conflicted because it was always really obvious to me when people did me wrong, stole from me, attacked me, smote me, whatever it always made sense that I'm not supposed to curse that person. I'm supposed to pray for that person and love them and pray for them to be saved. That always made sense, but then when I see a child rapist, pedophile, some dude comes here in drag or whatever and I know that the bible says he's a hater of the lord. The bible says that all those men who burn in their lust toward another man are haters of God.
Congregation: Right. Amen.
Steve Anderson: The bible says, 'Do not I hate them, oh lord that hate thee.'
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: 'And that I grieve with them the rise [inaudible 00:37:49], I hate them with perfect hatred.'
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: 'I count them mine enemies.' Those that hate the lord, that's different than mine personal enemies. When it says "love your enemies" it's those that have done you wrong.
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: Which is the situation here. Then there are the enemies of the lord, the enemies of all humanity, the sons of the devil, the sons of Belial. Big difference. In this passage we see this with Shimei. Let's see what ends up happening too Shimei in the end. If we go to First Kings chapter 2 we can find out what's going to happen to Shimei. Let me just point out something if you want to do a little further study on Shimei, Shemei is brought up in the book of Zechariah. The bible talks about people mourning when Jesus Christ will be pierced.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: It says, 'they'll look at him whom they pierced.' That scripture was fulfilled in John 19. The scripture was fulfilled as it was written, 'they'll look on me whom they've pierced'. In Zechariah when it talks about Jesus being pierced it says that people would be morning. He said, 'The house of David apart, the house of Shimei apart, and the house of Levi apart.' Why would he bring up those names, David, Shimei, Levi, those types of people? The reason why is because they represent the 3 tribes that predominantly made up the southern Kingdom of Judah. The southern Kingdom of Judah was predominantly made up of those of the tribe of Judah, those of the tribe of Benjamin, and those of the tribe of Levi. The reason why is because if you remember the Benjamites were ...
Remember he said, "Take 10 tribes to Jeroboam the son of Nebat take 10 tribes." The 2 tribes left behind would be Judah and a lot of the Benjamites were also part of that southern kingdom. Then the Levites were scattered all throughout. Since the house of God was in the southern Kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem, the Levites wanted to stay true to the lord and wanted to follow the teachings of the lord are going to come down into that southern kingdom, whereas most of the 10 tribes stayed up in that northern kingdom and worshiped those golden calves that were set up by Jeroboam. Obviously there were some people from the other 10 tribes who came down into the southern kingdom, but the vast majority of people living in that southern Kingdom of Judah were of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.
That's why when Paul wants to show that he's a Hebrew of the Hebrews he says, "Hey, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin" just to show you that I'm of a legit tribe that can trace its ancestry back. At that time they could Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. That's why it talks about them being segregated out. Those of Judah are getting together in mourning, those of Benjamin are getting together in morning, those of Levi are getting together in mourning. A lot of people will wrongly try to ascribe that scripture in Zechariah to the second coming of Jesus Christ and say that's what it's about. Here's the thing, it would be impossible at the second coming of Christ for the tribe of Judah to be separated out and weeping, and then the house of Shimei be weeping over here, and then the house of Levi since they've become so intermingled that no "Jew" can tell you even what tribe they are anymore.
How could they break out into the house of Shimei and the house of David, house of Levi when those distinctions no longer exist? It doesn't make any sense. Shimei, and the reason I bring that up is that Shimei becomes a representative of Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin because he was one of the chief Benjamites. He was a well-known man of Benjamin. He was an important man of the tribe of Benjamin. Just like David was important in the house of Judah. Let's see what happens to Shimei in the end. It says in verse 36, 'And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither.' This is King Solomon telling Shimei build a house in Jerusalem and don't go anywhere.
It says in verse 37, 'For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head. And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.' Why is King Solomon making this pronouncement on Shimie saying, "look, you need to build a house in Jerusalem, you can't go anywhere, you're going to stay right here, and as soon as you cross the brook Kidron you will die." Shimei agrees to it. He says, "okay, no problem". Why would he make thart rule and why would Shimei agree to that? Flip back to verse 8, this is David speaking to Solomon giving him some final instructions before he dies.
'And, behold,' verse 8 'thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.' David;s saying, "look, I turned the other cheek with this guy, I swore unto this guy that I wouldn't put him to death, but this guy, you know what he's like. You need to deal with this guy because he's basically someone who cannot be trusted. He's someone who's evil."
What ends up happening is Solomon makes this pronouncement which actually makes sense, because when Solomon becomes king there were actually a lot of people who were trying to challenge his kingdom throughout his reign. Especially toward the very beginning and the very end. This guy has been in the past a treacherous guy, a subversive guy, a rebellious guy who doesn't think that the house of David is legitimate. Even though it is, even though it's ordained by God and anointed by God. The rationale behind this is I'm gooing to keep you right here in Jerusalem where I can keep an eye on you. To make sure you're not crossing the brook Kidron and going around and getting together with other nations and forming some kind of a coalition that could come in and overthrow the government and bring in the house of Saul, what have you. Bring in the Benjamites into leadership.
He says, "You're going to build a house in Jerusalem. I'm not going to put you to death." He's honoring that ruling of his father, but he says, "I'm just going to have you live here where I can watch you and keep an eye on you." Shimei says, "Okay, no problem." Solomon was very wise and Solomon knew that when you make rules like that with people and you tell them you can't go over that river. We're going to agree on this that the day you go over it you're going to die. He knew that over time people forget stuff, or they relax on it. "I know I wasn't supposed to but it's been a few years, everything's fine." He told him don't do it.
It says in verse 38, go back to verse 38 at the end it says, 'And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. And it came to pass at the end of three years,' for 3 years this guy abides by it. 'It came to pass at the end of three years that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish the son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath. And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to' more cussing 'Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the LORD, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word that I have heard is good.'
He made the agreement. 'Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged thee with? The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head; And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever. So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.' What's the bible teaching us here? That god has a way of dealing with our enemies, we don't have to take things into our own hands. We don't have to take vengeance ourselves. If we trust the lord God will bring their wickedness upon their own head.
That's why he said 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.' God will avenge and recompense. We don't have to take things into our own hands. Here he ended up digging his own grave here by making an oath unto the lord and then violating it by crossing the brook Kidron and then going after his servants and so forth. Let's go back to Second Samuel and quickly finish up here in chapter 16. That's what's going on in that story with Shimei. It says in verse 15, ' And Absalom, and all the people the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king.'
This is David's friend and this is the guy who was loyal to David and went with David and fled with David. David told him go back. He told him to go back and be a spy. "Go back and defeat the good council of Ahithophel, give Absalom the wrong advice and be a spy and send me the message and tell me what's going on." This guy is an infiltrator. He's a good guy because he's infiltrating the bad guys, but he's a spy. What's he doing? More flattery. What's the bible teaching us? At the beginning of the chapter what do we see? Lies, flattery, sedition. What do we see here? Same thing, now it's from the other side. What's the bible showing us repeatedly? That when people come to you and praise you and say a lot of nice things to you that you still need to be on your guard.
Absalom falls into the trap. Absalom gives into this and thinks that Hushai is actually loyal to him. Absalom is skeptical at first, in verse 17 he's suspicious. 'Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy kindness to thy friend?' He's like, "Aren't you friends with David, is this how you treat your friend?" 'Why wentest thou not with thy friend? And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide. And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.' He's lying. It's not true.
Look at verse 20, 'Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do. And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.' Does that sound like a pretty wicked thing to do?
Congregation: Yes.
Steve Anderson: First of all, lying with his father's concubines is wickedness in the first places, is a violation of the commandments of God. Number 2, to do the thing in the sight of all Israel. Obviously they don't actually see it taking place because he puts a tent. Thank you for putting that tent up, at least. He puts up that tent and he goes in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. This is a wicked thing to do. Ahithophel is telling him to do something that is wicked, that is wrong. Here's the thing about that, in verse 23 this is where people get confused in this story so I want to make sure we don't misinterpret this. It says, 'And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.'
The bible's clearly telling us it wasn't just with David, but that it was also with Absalom. A lot of people would look at that and say, "Wait a minute, God wanted him to commit this sin? God wanted him to lie with all these concubines in the sight of all Israel?" This is what we have to understand, it's never God's will for us to commit sin. To say that it is God's will for us to commit sin is false doctrine. A lot of times people will justify their sins and say, "I just think it was God's will that I ..." No. It's not God's will for us to commit sin. What did the bible say? This is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. What's he doing here? Committing fornication. What about the guy in First Corinthians 5, what was he doing? Committing fornication. It said that had his father's wife.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: These are the dad's concubines. Is he married to these women? Are we supposed to be married to 10 different women? He's not even married he's just basically going to bed with 10 different women. This is wicked, publicly committing this shameful act. People will say, "Wait a minute it says here when man enquired Ahithophel it was like enquiring at the oracle of God." What the bible's saying here, and I want you to understand the distinction here. It's not saying, "Whatever Ahithophel tells you to do, God wants you to do." That's not what he's saying. What he's actually saying is that when Ahithophel gives council, it's always the right advice. Just like God would have the wisdom to know what is the right course of action and if we ask God how to win, he's always going to be able to tell us how to win.
It's saying here that this guy never gets it wrong. This guy, if you ask him for advice, if you seek council from Ahithophel he will give you the right advice. That doesn't mean that he's giving you godly advice or righteous advice, but here's the thing. What Ahithophel is advising is a strategy that will work. He tells him, "If you go in under your father's concubines, here's what's going to happen. Then you're going to be abhorred in the sight of your father. Everybody's going to know that there's no going back." If he didn't do that, if he did lie with concubines people might think, "Let's see how this plays out and maybe there can be come kind of a reconciliation and things are going to be fine, then David comes back. Maybe the Nunez with Absalom ways, all of his campaign promises." Remember he made those campaign promises? "If I were king then I'll do this and I'll fix this."
Once they get a few years into it and realize that it's not panning out the way they wanted, then they might start to long after David and say, "Oh man, I miss David." It's like the stupid billboard, the George W. Bush, "Miss me yet?" Like he was better than Obama or something. We're in Bush's fourth term, folk.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: With Obama, but anyway that's another sermon. I saw a really funny one, though. It showed King George III of England and it was like, "Miss me yet?" That was a good one for those of you that get it. What he wanted to do was say, "We want to make sure that there's no going back. We want everybody to burn their bridges behind them. If they see you going in under the concubines then they are going to be in this thing and there's no going back and there going to be perfectly loyal." That's the strategy and it was a strategy that would work. The next thing that Ahithophel councils, in the next chapter he gives him good council. He gives him the right council, and then Hushai the spy comes in and gives bad advice, gives a bad strategy. They end up going with Hushai's bad strategy and they end up losing and being killed.
Here's the thing, Ahithophel knows that he's always right. Everything he says is always right, so when Ahithophel gives the advice in the next chapter and they don't follow it you know what Ahithiphel does? He goes out and kills himself because he knows we're going to lose. Ahithophel's like, "We're doomed. I don't want to face David when he comes back." He just knew if you're not following my advice, you're an idiot, you got it wrong, and he kills himself. That's what's going to happen in the next chapter. That's what it means. I just want to make sure you understand what it means when it says that when a man enquired council from Ahithophel it was like enquiring at the oracle of God in the sense that you know that you're getting the right advice. This guy was the guy that you go to when you need advice. This guy is a smart guy.
Here's the thing, just because you're a smart guy doesn't mean that you're righteous. It's better to lose with integrity than to win by being a wicked person.
Congregation: Right.
Steve Anderson: That's why the bible even says too, that the children of this world are wise in their generation than the children of light. Sometimes the people of the world will have more wisdom and they'll know cunning ways to do thing like that unjust servant in Luke chapter 16 who is basically cooking the books. It says 100, change it to 80. He's cooking the books for his own gain and the loss of his boss. That's what the bible's saying here. It's not saying that he's telling him to do something that's godly. What he's saying is he's giving him the right advice. This is also fulfillment of prophecy, this is the last place we'll turn. Flip back if you would Second Samuel chapter 12. The lord actually prophesized that this is going to be something that he allows to happen and he's going to give them into the hand of someone else, his concubines.
Look what the bible says in Second Samuel 12:11, 'Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house,' that's Absalom, 'and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.' Again you say, "It says here God's doing it." What's God doing? God gives them over. God gives the 10 wives over to Absalom and then Absalom commits this wickedness and God allows it to happen. It's a very important distinction, though, that it's not God's plan or God's will that people do wicked things. It's not God who is actually committing the wickedness.
God does not commit sin, but he will often deliver people into the hand of others who will sin. For example, and we can see this all throughout the bible, but God delivered the children of Judah into the hands of the Babylonians. What did the Babylonians do? They came in and they killed and they raped and they pillaged. Does that mean that God is for those things, and God's for killing, and raping, and pillaging? No. God did deliver them over to have that done unto them and then God punished the Babylonians for doing it. God delivered the concubines into Absalom's hand, but God's going to punish Absalom.
Congregation: Yeah.
Steve Anderson: For doing it. You have to understand it's a lot like Romans 1. What does Romans 1 teach? That God gives people over to vile affections through the lust of their own heart. We have to understand, God is not the author of confusion. God is not the author of the filth of Romans 1 that is deals with in the latter part of that chapter. God gives people over and then through the lusts of their own heart they commit these wicked things. God gives it up and gives it over. It's sort of like when the bible says that the lord delivered up Jesus and then it said the Jews with wicked hands took him and crucified him. The lord delivered him up but it was the Jews that slew him with wicked hands. We can't just excuse the Jews. I've even heard some people say, "The Jews did the right thing by killing Jesus. They were slaying the lamb. Kill the Passover, Amen." That's what people have said, bizarre. No, he said, "You will wicked hands have slain him."
Congregation: Amen.
Steve Anderson: "It was God's will that he be killed so they were just fulfilling God's will." Here's the thing, a lot of times people do wicked things and fulfill God's will in the process, but God could've fulfilled that another way and it's not God controlling the action of the wicked. It's not God who says, "It's my will that you do wicked things." You say, "I don't understand the distinction." Study the bible, because it's there. The distinction is there and the bible is careful to make that distinction in many places. What are some of the main lessons from this chapter? First of all, don't believe everything you hear. Don't just trust people blindly. We saw that both at the beginning and end of the chapter. Secondly, if people are wicked unto us and curse us we don't have to recompense evil for evil. We should bless those that curse us and let the lord deal with it because he will bring their wickedness back around on their own head.
Thirdly, what we learned from this chapter is that if we go out and do evil and commit wickedness, it's going to come back around and get us. David committed adultery secretly. Uriah wasn't as publicly humiliated as David was when his son publicly committed adultery with his concubines and humiliated him in front of his ... Not only that, but tenfold. Do you notice how David reaps tenfold what he sowed? You always reap what you sow, but you reap more than you sow. You sow one seed you can get a whole tree out of it. Our wickedness will come upon our own head if we do evil. Three important lessons from this chapter.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you for your word, lord, and these stories and some of these things in these stories are a little bit of a strong read of the word. We have to do some digging and studying to understand them, lord. Thank you or giving us understanding through the New Testament and through other sciptures that can help explain some of these deep concepts in places like Romans 1, Romans 12, The Book of Ax, lord. Help us to understand these things, lord. To keep studying our bibles and learning and not to just take an overly simplistic view of things in the bible where we just think, "If you can't explain it to me in 5 seconds then I don't want to hear it." Lord help us to be diligent, to study, to show ourselves approved. In Jesus name we pray Amen.
