All right, so we're in 2nd Samuel, chapter 19, and we're on verse 9 where we left off last week, and so this is David has just defeated his army, has just defeated the forces of Absalom, and David has been rightly rebuked by his general Joab and David has probably come to an understanding now that it's a good thing that he survived and in Absalom did not. But this poses a voluntary for many people in Israel because most of Israel had not followed David. There's only a small band that followed David, and David was greatly outnumbered all Israel, and all the elders of Israel are the terms that are used of those who followed Absalom. So now we get this response of all Israel, those who hadn't followed David across the Jordan River. What their response is now that Absalom is dead, and David is going to be coming back to Jerusalem to reign as King. So we begin here with verse 9. 2nd Samuel, chapter 19, verse 9, this is God's word, eternally true. Throughout the tribes of Israel, the people were all arguing with each other saying, the king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled the country because of Absalom, and Absalom whom we anointed to rule over us has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back? King David sent this message to Zeta Kanabayathar the priest. As the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at its quarters? If you are my brothers, my own flesh and blood, or you are my brothers, my own flesh and blood, so why should you be the last to bring back the king? And say to Amasa, are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely from now on, you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab. He went over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, return, you and all your men, then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. Now the men of Judah had come to Gilda out to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan. Shema, son of Dara, the Benjamin from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David. With him were a thousand Benjamin, along with Zeba, the steward of Saul's household, and his 15 sons and 20 servants. They rushed to the Jordan where the king was. They crossed the fort to take the king's household over, and to do whatever he wished. When Shema, son of Dara, crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king, and said to him, may my Lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my Lord, the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind for I, your servant, know that I have sinned. But today I have come here as the first of the whole house of Joseph to come down and meet my Lord, the king. Then Alba, son of Zaria, said, shouldn't Shema be put to death for this? He cursed the Lord's anointed. David replied, what do you and I have in common, your sons of Zaria? This day you have become my adversaries. Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel? So the king said to Shema, you shall not die, and the king promised him on oath. The fivoshep, Saul's grandson, also went down to meet the king. He had not taken care of his feet, trimmed his mustache, or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he safely returned. When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, why didn't you go with me, my fivoshep? He said, my Lord the king, my Lord the king, since I am your servant, since I, your servant, am lame, I said, I will have my donkey saddled and will ride on it so that I can go with the king. But Zeba, my servant betrayed me, and he has slandered your servant to my Lord the king. My Lord the king is like an angel of God, so do whatever pleases you. All my grandfather's descendants deserve nothing but death from my Lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who sat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king? The king said to him, why say more? I order you and Zeba to divide the fields. My fivoshep said to the king, let him take everything, now that my Lord the king has arrived home safely. Now let's skip down to verse 39, chapter 19, verse 39, so all the people crossed the Jordan and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Bars' ally and gave him his blessing, and Bars' ally returned to his home. When the king crossed over to Gilgal, Kim Ham crossed over with him. All the troops of Judah and half the troops of Israel had taken the king over. Soon all the men of Israel were coming to the king and saying to him, why did our brothers the men of Judah steal the king away and bring him and his household across the Jordan together with all his men? All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel. We did this because the king is closely related to us. Why are you angry about it? Haven't we eaten any of the king's provision? Have we taken anything for ourselves? Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah. We have ten shares in the king. And besides, we have a greater claim on David than you have. So why do you treat us with contempt? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back the king, but the men of Judah responded even more harshly than the men of Israel? Herein's our reading. We have a response of thankfulness that's printed for us in our bulletins. The word of the Lord. Thanks indeed, God. Thanks indeed. Let's pray. You know my story about when I was a freshman playing lacrosse, and the coaches didn't show up for practice, and they had been threatening all day that we were going to really run because we had lost so badly the day before. I think we had been up our own to the world, and ten was a big school, and they had a varsity team, and we were basically a JV team that we played varsity squads. So we were scared and we didn't want to run during that practice. The coaches didn't show up, and they hit the 15-minute rule. We bolted, and we left, and we threw off the fetters of our king, the coach, and we went from the practice field over to another part of the high school campus, and then as we got over there at the entrance of the football field, we were standing wondering, so what do we do next? We saw his little brown Chevy Chvette, and come and head toward the practice field, and we thought, uh-oh, and sure enough, he got out and saw no one was there, and somehow he knew where we were, and he came down to where we were, the entrance of the football field, which is a good way it's away, and he came out and slammed the door of his Chevy Chvette with its open window and the glass of the window shattered. And so then we were really in trouble. We looked at each other, and without speaking a word, said by telepathy. Similar situation for God's people here. What do you do when you have left the Lord's anointed? What do you do when you have declared someone else is your king? That you want someone else to lead you more than you want God's anointed king to lead you, and now the one you chose is no longer on the scene. In fact, here he's dead, and yet they're left there, wondering how is David going to respond to us? Do I spend the rest of my life in hiding? Do I go to some other, do I go up to Canada and escape the draft? What do I do? And we're instructed in this passage about what we can do when not when we've left the, not when we've left David, but when we've left his great son, Jesus. And what do we do? What's our response when we have people we love? We haven't left him, and we've stayed in his church, and we love him and obey him, but we have people we love who used to be in the church and aren't anymore. And Paul had people like that and knows in his circumstances, and there are people like that throughout scripture. We write about the prodigal son. He's a son. He's a covenant person. He's one who's loved by his father, but yet he throws out the fetters of his father, so to speak, and he thinks there's a better life out there for him somewhere else. And so he heads out, and then he realizes, that's not true. Things are better. Things are not only things that were things better for me back there, but things are better right now for my father's servant than they are for me out here outside my father's realm. And so he gathers himself up and says, perhaps, perhaps my father will receive me. I'll just go, and I'll say, just take me on as a servant. I'm not worthy to be called your son anymore, but I'll serve you. And he goes and he doesn't know what to expect, and there's that great line there when he came to his senses. Right? What makes sense is for somebody to be under the kingship of Jesus, to be under the kingship of David. And he has real like debate about that. They talk about that in the front part of this passage in verses 9 and 10. That's what makes sense, and they realize, we haven't done what made sense. What were we thinking? And they come to their senses, and so they gather their courage, and they go back to David. But for us, what do we do? What do we do if we find ourselves in a place where we have gone outside the church, where we have no longer Jesus as our king? What do we do when we have loved ones who have gone out like the prodigal son? And how do we treat them should they have a return? That's what we're looking at here. And so we've entitled this Rebels returning to Jesus. Rebels returning to Jesus. This is what God's people were, under Absalom. Almost all of Israel had followed Rebelld against David. God's choice to be their king. They rebell against him, and then they return to him. So what's going on with this? And so if you like to sell blanks and an outline, you can do that. If you want to just listen, that's fine too. But number one, God says to you and to me this morning, keep your life simple and blessed. Just keep it simple. Keep your life simple and blessed. Don't complicate things. Keep your life simple and blessed. Always, always be under the loving, conquering rulership of Jesus. And we see this in verses 11 through 15. The Israelites realize this. They say, you see that there? The king in verse 9 there. The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. They're referring back to the days when they were under David before they had rebelled under Absalom. The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. Not Absalom. But now he's fled into the country because of Absalom, whom we anointed over us. And Absalom has died in battle. And so they debate about bringing the king back. But wouldn't it have just been simpler if they had just followed David? If they had just said no to this other proposed king, Absalom. But nope, not going there. David's provided everything I've needed. Life's been good under David. I'm not going someplace else. This is why I don't look for other calls in a pastoral ministry. It's like I'd be crazy. Right? Things are good for me here. Everyone loves me here. Everyone listens. For someone who's teaching and preaching to have people that actually come and are learning and want to learn and assuming that they don't know everything. And they love me and don't create trouble. So, way to go. All of you. But they haven't made life simple. They go out and they get another king under themselves. Judah Heights realized this when David says, hey, all Israel's talking about bringing me back his king. I haven't heard from you guys yet. You know, there was all, you know, not all of the population of Judah, Southern Israel, followed David over the Jordan River to go to Mahanam. And so, David, it's the approach is the Jordan from the east. It comes and gets close to the river. He says to his own people, hey, Israel's talking about bringing me back. What about you guys? And Judah says, oh, yeah, of course, you know, they go out and they bring him back. They bring him back in. They just, they're the ones who just kind of stayed with Jesus. And those who've gone over with David realized it's not better outside of David. And it's wise for us in the church to realize it's not better outside the church. If you're a kid who's grown up in the church, especially if you've grown up in the church in heaven at as much contact with kind of the outside, the outside world, trust us. Talk to somebody who's been in the outside world and they will tell you it's not, it's what's kept even say it's a wild world out there. It's hard to get by just upon a smile. And so, it's not better outside. And if you're wondering if it is better outside, if there are people who have experienced things that, and sin is actually a better experience for you and a sinful lifestyle is actually fun like everyone's claiming it is. Know that it's not. Talk to people who've been out there. It's not better out there. And so that you guys realize that Jesus declared this about himself, Bob Reddit for us, John 635, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never grow hungry. And he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Now, don't be a prodigal son. Don't go outside the church. Don't go outside of where you're going to have this book taught to you. Don't in your life be a person who's not reading this book. Jesus says, no, come to me. I'm the bread of life. On the one who gives living water. You come to me. You won't be hungry. You won't be thirsty. Like the prodigal son had come to be. So you want God's blessing and life stick with the great son of David Jesus. As he's realized one experience God's blessing again. They come to experience God's blessings because they knew that it was under David. David was the key to there being blessed. That was the covenant that God had with David. That through you David, through your sons, I will bless my people. So you be righteous David and lead my people and righteousness David so that I can just simply do what I want to do. Bless my people. And so that's the case for us. Just simply stick under Jesus and be blessed by him. Massive chef got this, didn't he? Now, Massive chef got dropped and so he was lame when he was a baby. He got dropped and David. Massive chef was the son of Jonathan. So you got King Saul. You've got Jonathan, who was David's close, close friend, who died in battle with his father, Saul, Mount Gilboa at the end of first Samuel. But then, Massive chef survives and David takes in the Phoebe chef. He promised not to extinguish Jonathan's line. He made that promise on oath to Jonathan. So he takes in the Phoebe chef and the Phoebe chef was in Jerusalem in this passage until he comes out to meet David because David had invited him in and the Phoebe chef had sat at the table with David. David, he ate breakfast lunch and dinner with David from the hand of David's bakers and cooks. David took care of all the Phoebe chef's needs. But the Phoebe chef had desired to go out and meet David. But his servant Ziva had said no, stay here. You'll be at whatever he said to him. You'll be a burden on David or whatever. And so, the Phoebe chef, when David gets near to the Jordan River, he goes back out to David and he realizes that his servant, the Phoebe chef, had a servant named Ziva. And Ziva, we saw like in the chapter two before, had come. I think chapter 16 had come to David and said, hey, Mfibeshev thinks this king ship is going to come to him, which was a lie. And so David hands all the possessions in Mfibeshev over to Ziva. But then Mfibeshev comes to David here in this passage and says, I've been slandered by my servant Ziva. And David says, okay, say no more, I believe you, the Phoebe chef. I'll just divide the inheritance between you. Because I promise this to Mfibeshev, or I promise this to Ziva, he doesn't really deserve it. So divide it between you. But Mfibeshev gets how great it is to be under David. He understands all I need in life is to be under David. I don't need land. I don't need possessions. I just need David as my king. And he says this great state, which is the sentiment of everybody is David returns to Jerusalem to reign over God's people. Do you see it there? Verse 30. Verse 30, look there. David has just said, you know, you and Ziva, divide the fields. I'm not going to put you to Jeff. I understand you got lied about, you're okay. Divide the fields. And the Mfibeshev says, let him take everything. No, the Lord, the king has arrived home safely. I don't need anything else. I don't need that stuff. I just need you, David. And that's to be us. That's to be our understanding of how good it is to have Jesus be our king. That this heart has this response that Mfibeshev has toward David. Your king gave it. That's all I need. That's to be our understanding. Jesus is that good. So Paul writes in Colossians 1, 23. And here's what Paul says, continue in your faith. Establish and firm. Not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. Paul gives us this, you know, our point one here. Just continue. Continue in the faith. Continue in your hope in the gospel. It's better here than outside. Or Philippians 3, 12, Paul writes, I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. That's the call to us. Just stick with David. Don't complicate your life. Don't have a period in your life where, you know, you've heard probably from others. It hasn't happened. I don't think it all on our church. Praise be to God. But you've heard this from people. They grew up in the church. They go to college and they go wild. You know, they're partying and all kinds of stuff and that kind of thing. And it takes seven years. They come back in the church and they're 28. You know, and they say, what a waste. What have I done? I've just blown this eight years. You know, it's kind of like if someone told you I'll give you a million dollars for walking or running a mile. And it doesn't matter when you finish, I'll give you a million dollars. Okay, but God start now. So you start. Yeah, that's what it is for someone growing up in the church. They start and they're walking along or running along whatever it is, but they get two thirds of the way. And here's the picture. You're two thirds of a mile long. You got one third left. And you say, uh, maybe a million dollars isn't so great. And so you head backwards and you go back a third of a mile and you get back to that one third of a mile point there. And then what do you got? You come to your senses and then you got two thirds of a mile left to get back to where you would have been. You know, just or a third left to get back to where you would have been and two thirds left to get back to that million dollars. Just don't spend that time being don't spend that time being crazy. It's just you'll you'll get there. You'll get to that point like the prodigal son where you'll say this is silly. I just wait if I had just kept going forward or just simply stopped there and taken a breath and then walked. You know, I would have been fine and I'd have this million dollars now, but instead I still got two thirds of a mile in front of me. And I just walked back a third instead of walking forward a third and getting a million dollars. And so that's the message here. Don't complicate things. Just just stay, just stay with David. No number two, number two. If you have complicated your life and stepped outside of Jesus blessing that comes to his members, the members of his kingdom, return. If you have complicated your life, return. And this is what we see with about everybody in this passage. Most of the people in the passage have complicated their lives by following Absalom. So versus nine and ten, northern Israel, they complicated their lives by following after Absalom. So they're in this inward debate, this internal debate amongst themselves should we go back to David and we say, yeah, you know, he's the one who fought against our enemies and made us safe. But it's complicated because they had abandoned 15, 13, 16, 15. It's as all Israel had followed after Absalom. And so they're left to argue over it. And they do decide to return when we look at the end of our passage versus 40 through 43, they come back. First is half of them. Israel's big, but then the rest of the half of Israel come back to David and they're all there. And they decided to follow David. So you should, you should too. Verses 16 through, 16 through 23. Who comes back there? It's Shema. Remember Shema? He's the dirt and rock sky. When David was leaving Jerusalem, gathered all his people, all the loyal folks, and he left Jerusalem and he's weeping. I think he writes Psalm 23 at that point, walking through the valley of the shadow of death, that valley on the east side of Jerusalem, and vowing that he'd returned to the house of the Lord at in verse six. But it's her walking away and tired and depressed. Shema is on the top of the hill and he's a descendant of Saul. He's a Benjamin, and he's throwing rocks and dirt upon David. Literally, rocks and dirt upon David's head and upon the heads of his army officials. And he's the one about what David said. Don't go up there and get him. His avishai back then said, don't go up there and get him. Perhaps the Lord has told him to curse me. David understood, part of this going on is discipline. If not all of it. Nathan the prophet had told him that as a result of his sin with best Shema and his killing, his killing, Eryah the Hittite, her husband, that trouble would come to David, and then it would come through his family. And then there would be war and battle to that would come to him. And so now Shema comes and says, and he says to them, he says, let's not, let's not have it back on Shema. David let's him come back. And Shema was cursing David. He was cursing David, and David just receives him back. And in fact, on oath, on oath, he says, you will have your, you will have your life. So that's Shema. The mischievous chef comes does the same. He comes back to David and David as well, forgives him and assumes that the false report is false. And so what happens to those who have stepped outside of David's rule or for us, stepped outside, stepped outside of the church? Today, stepping outside the church, we realize is stepping under another king. Stepping outside the church is stepping out under another king. It's like for these people, they were stepping outside to Absalom. John 19, 14 and 15, we read. And John 19, 14 and 15 was pilot, says to the Jews, he says, what shall I do with your king? And they say, we have no king but Caesar. They stepped outside of having a son of David reign over them as king. Now, there are two ways we can discard Jesus as our king. First way, A1 there, two ways we can step outside our kingdom, outside the kingdom and kingship of Jesus. Number one, you can step outside Christ kingdom, you can step outside Christ kingdom physically by not coming to worship nor to other fellowship events of the church. So, there's very much this sense where you're just not physically present anymore in the church. That's one way you can take on another king, no longer have Jesus being your king. Perhaps an equivalent to this is with Mrs. Mifibicef. He's not in David's realm for a while. This is functionally and substantively what's going on when a person is outside the church. Jesus is no longer having say in his or her life. Jesus, they're not hearing any longer the words, the words of Jesus king. Hebrews 10, 25 that we open the worship service with this morning. So, this was not for sake, the assembling of ourselves together. Now, we've kind of got a funding assembling right now. A few of us are together, the rest of us are together by Facebook. But we're not to do that. We're not to be outside of the church or to be under Christ's kingship. Number two, another way you can step outside of Christ's kingship. You can step outside of Christ's kingship over you by not aiming to obey his commands. So, think of Old Testament Israel. There's a king and it's David and he's got these commands. But if you don't want to obey David's commands which were the commands from the law of Moses, you could go to some other kingdom or you could stay in Jerusalem or stay in Judah or Israel and just simply not pay attention to law of Moses. And that's another way today we can be different or outside of Jesus' kingship. It's that we're not following his laws. To follow the laws of Scripture is to follow our king who has dispensed those laws. And so Paul puts it in a certain way in Romans 16 through 18. That's what we saw in Bob Red. It's Bob Dylan, right? You got to serve somebody. Maybe the Lord, maybe the devil, but you got to serve somebody. Maybe the devil, maybe the Lord, I forget what the words go there. But that's what Paul says. You're going to serve somebody. Somebody is going to be your king. And so, have that be Jesus. Have that be Jesus. But somebody can step outside of Christ's kingship by simply not aiming to obey his commands. And then be, but you can return if you've stepped outside of the kingship of Jesus. You can return to Jesus and to the realm of his kingship the church. You can do that because when you do, you will find forgiveness. If you stepped out of the church, if you've gone and you walk back the third of a mile, you can come back. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you walk five or two thirds of the mile. It doesn't matter if you walk behind the start line. What we learn in this passage is that the king receives all who come to him. And that's what Jesus says, right? John 6, we read it. Jesus says, of all who come to me, I will turn away none. But if anyone comes to Jesus and is like, you know, the shimmi, I've sinned. Jesus just simply forgives them. There's no amount of sin that you can do away from Jesus that you don't get forgiven for by Jesus. And this is what David, Jesus, great forebearer proves to us. He proves to us that what we have in Jesus is one who always forgives us just like David, always forgives those who return to him. Colossians 1, verses 13 and 14, Paul speaks of those who come to Jesus from outside of his kingdom in the church receiving the forgiveness of sins and transfer from the dominion of Satan, the dominion of darkness that came out of the world. It's represented by Absalom here. Jesus says, whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. That's John 6. And so regardless of what you've done, regardless of where you've been, Jesus never drives away anyone who comes to him. Let's see. This return to Jesus is returned to receiving his protection, to return to receiving his protection in this in the next life. So it would be good for you, good for you to return. If you're a person who's headed out of the church, either in your heart, in your obedience to him, or you've left the church and you're not attending anything anymore, it's a good thing for you to come back in because when you come back in, everybody who comes back in, to the kingship of Jesus gets his protection in this life and in the life to come. So the end of Ephesians 1 says, God the Father's placed Jesus over everything and everything in the universe is under Jesus' feet for the sake of the church. And so if you want Jesus' rulership and protection over you as the great king who like in verse 9 with David defeats all your enemies, you need to be in his kingdom. Because that's, Jesus is ruling and defending everyone for everyone who's in, everyone who's in his kingdom. 1 Peter 1 verses 3 through 5 puts it this way, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade that's kept in heaven for you through faith or shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time. This speaks of Jesus protecting you, Jesus protects all who are citizens of this kingdom, protects them in this life and protects them in the life to come. Now number 3, number 3. Now if you're in the church and someone you care about has headed out of the church into rebellion against Jesus or they're in the church and they're just rebelling in their ways, not obeying his laws, then this pray for, pray for and encourage him to return, pray for and encourage him or her to return. Here's the good news, a rebels come back to Jesus, rebels come back to Jesus, if you don't believe it, just look at this passage. These are all rebels except for the Fibishath kind of Amasa. You know what Amasa was? Look at her for. David sends word out. He's like the prodigal father, right? He doesn't even wait for Amasa to come back and beg for forgiveness. He says, go tell Amasa, come and I'll make you general and Joav's place. You know who Amasa was? He was, you know, Joav and Amasai and Asahel were all David's cousins or nephews, nephews. Amasa was a nephew of David as well from another sister. You know what Amasa had been doing? He was Absalom's main general in the rebellion against David. That's who Amasa was. Amasa was David's nephew who joined in with David's son to be the chief general leading the troops against David's men as they came out from Mahanam to meet Absalom. And David tells Amasa in verse four, hey, come back. Not only will I forgive you, I will bless you and I'll give you a position in my kingdom. So that's Amasa. Rebels come back and we'll find out Amasa does come back and he starts serving David in the chapters ahead. Number two, Shimai, not number two in your outline, but Shimai comes back. He was a rebel who turned rocks and dirt upon David and his troops. He comes back and he bows before the king and he says, I sinned and he receives also forgiveness and blessing from the king from David. Then there's the prodigal son. He comes back to the father and Jesus is telling this story so that in case we didn't get it in this and similar path from this and similar passages that we understand, if we leave, when we come back, there's forgiveness. And so the prodigal son comes back and there the father is throwing a feast for him. And then we've read about an ex-9th, Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was not an unbeliever. He was a good, zealous, Jewish kid who grew up learning about the Old Testament. He was a Pharisee and he's persecuting the church and he's a rebel against Jesus. That he's seeking out like a mosa, like Absalom, like all Israel. He's seeking out everyone who would follow David's great son. He'd gone to Damascus to jail to imprison or to kill those who were followers of Jesus. It's gotten special permission to do that. But he comes back in to having hope in the son of David when he hopes in Jesus. So good news. Rebels come back. Rebels come back. So pray. Be all rebels who return are readily forgiven. They're all readily forgiven and this is to Jesus delight. A mosa in verse 13, Shema in verse 22, the fivosheth in verse 29. Rebellious Israel who followed Absalom in verses 40 to 43. In Ephesians, we find out that we're these great rebels. All of us were Ephesians 2, 1 through 3 following the desires of our flesh and under the prince of the power of the air and not under Jesus. We're these great rebels but then in verse chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, God forgives those who come to the great son of David to his great glory and delight. This is out of your declaration. The gospel, you can see it there. Ephesians 1, 7, Paul writes this, in Christ we have the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And right above the in verse 6, he tells us that Christ's forgiveness to you, Christ's forgiveness to any person who comes to him is, quote, in accordance with his pleasure and his will and his to the praise of his glorious grace. So here's what's going on. God desires to show off. I'm not a huge John Piper fan. He's okay. He takes little snippets and takes them too far. Sorry, Piper fans. But one thing he got right, one time he was preaching to came to our seminary and he was preaching it, preaching it, chapel. And he said, God is a show off. That's what glory means. The glorified is to show off. You know, somebody who walks down the beach, while oiled up with their muscles is in his glory, right? You may not be able to speak a whole sentence, but there he is in his glory. You know, and you know, showing off his muscles from his body building and all all slick that showing off. But there's one who can rightly show off who is right to show off. And that's just God. That's where I think Piper got it right. God is a show off. And he should be the only one showing off. And our job is to glorify God. And that means we're showing off who he is. We're showing off what he's done. We're showing off how he treats his people. And one of the things that God delights to show off about himself is how merciful and forgiving and patient and gracious and loving he is. And so when somebody who's been walking in utter sin comes to Jesus and he forgives them, it's the Christ's glory, right? To the praise of his glorious grace, he forgives us. When Jesus forgives somebody, he gets praised for being forgiving. He gets praised for being gracious. He gets praised for being merciful. He gets praised for being compassionate. And so know this as you pray for loved ones who have stepped outside of Christ's kingship who once were within. And that's kind of what we're properly talking about here in this passage because that's who these people are. They've all been under David at one point. Be encouraged to pray for these folks because Jesus delights to show them forgiveness. He will look forward to that day when he can say on, oh, I will not take your life from you like he says to ship. And that's what Jesus says to each person who comes to him with saving faith. He says, all knows by my blood which I have spilled, I seal this testament. This is a language of the book of Hebrews. I seal this testament that you will not have your life taken from you. I give you now eternal life, physical life now, spiritual life now. And when your physical life ceases now, you will live on. Right? John 11, he believes in me, though he dies, yet shall I live. Christ the lights, the Father the lights through his son to forgive people, to show off his mercy, his forgiveness, his grace, his patience and his compassion. So, Ephesians 2.7 puts it this way, God forgives in order that in the coming ages, primarily final judgment, in the coming ages he might show off the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness and Christ Jesus. At final judgment, Jesus will be glorified, the Father will be glorified, the Spirit will be glorified because it will be seen their incomparable or incomparable grace. That the grace of God is rich. That's what will be shown at final judgment when all of us undeserving sinners who have faith in Jesus are given a welcome, take the inheritance, receive the blessing that I have prepared for you from before the foundation of the world. So, pray for wandering friends and loved ones who have left the church, they can come back and the history of God's people in Scripture is that they do all the New Testament, we see this, Saul of Tarsus, the prodigal son in the New Testament, all these people in the Old Testament rebels coming back and that God forgives, God forgives Saul of Tarsus who was staying there at the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7. And then number 4, another note for us from this passage, number 4, readily receive returning church members, those who have gone out and lived it wild, received them back, simply being glad for their return. God's people don't get this all right, David does here in this passage in chapter 19, but the people don't get it quite right, do they? Right, when Shema comes back and Shema is in his real light, he's a Benjamin, Avishah says, don't let him come back in, he was cursing you. Or the Judah Heights and the Israelites to the end of this passage, in verses 40 to 43, they're arguing, you know, Judas says, hey, you know, he's our king, we're his flesh and blood, and the Israelites say, no, well we have 10 shares in him, we have 10 tribes that were all under him, we have a greater share in him than you do. And the Judah Heights argue back in the last verse of this text is that they respond even more harshly than the men of Israel. And the message is for us, don't be harsh when people come back in, just be glad. Welcome them with open arms, we're to be prodigal, we're to be prodigal fathers, running out to meet these prodigal sons who've come back just simply glad. And when they start to apologize, you know, like Shema here, the prodigal son say, hey, we're just glad you're back. You know, it's like Rafiki, you know, none of that matters, it's all in the past, all right, it's all the past, just move forward, great, you're here. Now walk in faithfulness with us, join with us and give praise and glory to our great descendant of David, clean Jesus. The church was little conflicted about how to treat Saul Tarsus, weren't they? Part of that was fair, they were concerned for their lives, they thought he's trying to trick us to bring us out to show ourselves his Christians, he's going to write our names down, come back later with Temple Guard and get us imprisoned. But Barnabas comes up and he encourages the people in Jerusalem and the folks in Damascus see that Paul is sincere, Saul is sincere and that he actually has been converted, but the message is there to receive in converts to the church, to receive in those who have come to their senses and come to follow Jesus. There to be welcomed in warmly, so our summary here, regarding rebels, this is what this passage is about, how do you deal with those who once were under Jesus in the church? And now either by their own disobedience, while staying in the church, or by just leaving the church altogether, have rebelled against Jesus as their king. So regarding rebels, Jesus always receives, Jesus always receives and so should the church, all who come back to him, Jesus always receives and so should the church, all who come back to him, forgiving them, forgiving them. For you, next sentence, the best thing you can do for yourself is simply always to keep, that's where they're always, always to keep Jesus as your king. If you've left him and are hearing this, having left him, just return to him. That's the best thing for you, is the bread of life. You don't have a soul that's thirsty and hungry when you're with him. He will protect you from all your enemies now, and when you die. So always have Jesus as your king, participating in this kingdom, the church, and living by his laws, the laws of this kingdom. And then lastly, as you have neighbors and friends and family who were in the church and now aren't anymore, pray. Pray and encourage those who've left the church. Pray and encourage those who've left the church. Just as this debate's going on in the front of this passage in verse 9, where people encouraging, yes, we should go back to David. He's really good. Things were better for us back then. Let's all go back to David. And that's how we should be with these folks. We should be encouraging them and then praying for them and not judging them for being outside. Now drive them away. Just encourage them to come back in. Pray for them. Don't cease in your prayer for them. Pray and encourage those who've left the church for because Rebels return. Rebels return. Let's pray.