2nd Samuel chapter 15 beginning in verse 1. This is God's word eternally true. In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with the chariot and horses and with 50 men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, what town are you from? He would answer, your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel. Then Absalom would say to him, look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you. And Absalom would add, if only I were appointed judge in the land. Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me, and I would see that he received justice. Also, also whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand to a cold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice. And so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel. At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. While your servant was living at the shore in Aram, I made this vow. If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron. The king said to him, go in peace. So he went to Hebron. Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, Absalom is king in Hebron. 200 men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently knowing nothing about the matter. While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for a hitherto, the guy on night, David's counselor, to come from Gailah, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength and Absalom's following kept on increasing. A messenger came and told David the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. Hereins our reading, there's a response of thankfulness, it's printed for us in our bulletins. The word of the Lord. Thanks indeed. That's correct. I have an older brother, his name is Mark, five school years ahead of me, about four and a half actual years, and we're on very good terms, and he's always a great big brother to me. Sorry, he's been a good big brother to my kids, and anyway, so, sorry, I love my brother. We held about a lot of stuff together, including the highest-date game last night, we're always texting back and forth about stuff. I love my brother, and he always loved me, never competed with me. Just looked down and said, how can I help John? And great, great brother. But imagine I went up to him and said, I love you two, Mark, and I went up to him and I ripped his arm out of its socket. So, he had blood gushing out of his arm, right? Like Dana Carvey, and Kevin Newell and his horns and fronds when they try to lift up the barbell, and it's too heavy, and the arms get ripped out. It's out of their socket. Or I say, I love you, Mark, and I take his ear, and I rip it off his head. Or I love you, Mark, and I take my fingers, and I poke them in his eyes, and then I pull his eyes out of his head. A lot of great images for you, huh? Just feel his ear. Matt said, I could just steal his car or something. Do I love him if I do those things, even though I say I love him? No, I don't. Not if I rip his arm off. Not if I take his ear. He needs his arm. He's an orthodontist. Don't get your orthodontics done by someone with one hand. He needs his leg to walk around. He needs his ear to hear. He needs his eyes to see. And if I take those things from him, I don't love him despite what I profess.
And if I say, but I'm doing this because I love my father and his father, I'm not. My dad doesn't, didn't want that for my older brother, Mark. My dad loved my brother, Mark very much. They, they worked together. They were in practice together, and my dad was always fond of my brother, Mark. I don't love my father and I don't love my brother if I do those things to my brother, do I? That's what scripture argues with us here and in other places as well. The background for this text here is about David and all David's done for God's people. Now recently we've been looking at in the fall about David's things he hasn't done well. His adultery with Bathsheba, his getting, making sure Bathsheba's husband is killed in battle. Those weren't good things, but yet David repents well. That's when the Lord loves him so much. The Lord knows everyone you and I will sin. The issue is, but how will we repent? Will we say, well, I haven't done anything wrong like Saul the King would do when confronted by Samuel. The issue is when we're confronted with our sin, how do we respond? And David responded well time after time. And so David's been a great king. Think of this. David as a boy, a teenager most likely, an early teen most likely, he faced Goliath. 40 days, Goliath taunted the armies of Israel. David's older brothers didn't fight Goliath for the sake of the Israelites. Saul, who was a whole head taller than all the Israelites, didn't go out in battle against Goliath, but David shows up and he says, I'll give my life for my people. Sure. Who is this guy to taunt the armies of a living God? And so David goes out and he saves all of Israel from the Philistine army as a teenager. And then he goes out and he's quickly, he's placed as a general under Saul and his division underneath him is more successful than any division in Israel. And so the song becomes popular in Israel. Saul has killed his thousands and David, his tens of thousands. David has done much and we have this account. And in 2nd Samuel 8, when David takes kingship over all of Israel, by the way, David didn't usurp the throne and he forbade his own people from doing harm to Saul, even though Saul was trying to kill David. So David's been good all this time and 2nd Samuel 8. David, we have this accounting of how David went after nation, after nation who were enemies to God's people, trying to bring harm to God's people and how David went out and defeated them. And if you were a soldier in David's army, you had no need to fear. If you were a kid in Israel, when David was your king, you had no need if your such was the extent of what David did for God's people. They had it good because of David. And even David's failings with dealing with his two sons that we've been reading about as they've gone into adultery and incest and murder.
David's governed not by sinning in regard to being too harsh, but he sins in regard to not being king with his own family. And he gives his sons an excuse or he gives them a pass because they're his own family and he shouldn't have done that. But to his credit, he was being gracious and forgiving. But this one son whom he's given a pass, whom David says, okay, you can come back to Jerusalem though he had fled. Absalom had fled out of the country to Gishur under another king. David gives him a pass and lets him come back into Jerusalem. Being kind and gracious to him and all the pain that this brings to David even to see his face, absolute killed his older brother. This son uses that favor of his father, David, and mounts a rebellion against him. That's the background we have here. We have this great king who has meant so much to the well-being of God's people. And yet there's one among God's people who's leading people away from David. This is true, of course, for us as believers, as Christians. The command and scripture in Deuteronomy 17 was that the king over God's people was not to be a king who extracted from his people for his own sake. That's what the kings of the nations do. They extract from their people for their own sake. They take the best bakers, they take the best of the crops out of everybody's fields. They take good tax money so they can build themselves, their own palace. Notice David doesn't build himself, his own palace, a foreigner built it for him.
David has been this. He's been a good Deuteronomy 17 king. He has given his life for the people. He's sacrificed himself for his own son, Absalom.
And yet he's treated this way. But Jesus comes on the scene, and he says in Mark 10, 45, for the son of man came not to be served like the kings of the nations. They come to be served by the people. He said, I come not to be served, but to serve in the give my life as a ransom for many. Now, there was Old Testament sacrificial language in there with ransom. He's coming to give his life as a sacrifice to cover his people's sins for their well-being. And so Jesus is this David king, this son of David who comes to give himself as king for the sake of his people. Hebrews 2.14, Jesus came to earth and by his death he might destroy him who has the power of death. That is the devil. So we all approach death. I love that line, and I greet thee who my sure Redeemer art. Grant us courage and but sure to face death as it approaches us. That's not the right word over there. But it's good to give us boldness and confidence because we know Christ and because Christ is fighting for us. And as we approach death's approaching out or as we come to death's approaching hour, that we would be bold and confident. And so Jesus has done that. He has taken the keys of death we've read in Revelation from Satan himself.
So God gives us then as Jesus has gone to heaven, human governors over our soul, spiritual governors, as David did over Israel, and those people are elders. And so we read about those. First Peter 5, people who know us, who guide and direct us, who answer our questions about about life and about God, and what I should do here, what I should do here, give us a feedback. You know, I was thinking this. Is that okay? Do what do you think? And is that biblical? What should I do here? God gives us physical people, elders, who he ordains for our well-being. And that's what Peter talks about when he talks to other elders in 1 Peter 5, 1 through 4. He says, you know, be shepherds over God's flock. Not for your own good, not for your own purpose, but for their sake. Not to extract, but to give. He was 13, 17. When he tells God's people there to obey their leaders, he says, because they keep watch over your souls. Jesus has given us leaders who keep watch over our souls, shepherds, for watching out for us, for our own well-being. Titus 1, 5, Paul tells Titus. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might appoint elders in all the towns. So Jesus does this for us. He provides for us governors over us, does good things. And then in the end, what Jesus the good king does for us, so he not only comes to give his life, he not only gives us governors over us and his word now for our lives now, but when we die in the end, we have this passage that we had in our declaration of gospel. All the Father gives to me, I will raise up at the last day. And so Jesus is this good king who sees to our spiritual well-being, all the forgiveness we need, all the direction in life that we need through his word and elders who help us understand his word. And then when we die, who brings us into the Father's presence and his own presence in heaven? Jesus has been this good king, but yet how is he treated when he comes here? We saw a bunch of verses about that as well. But Jesus' desire for us now as his people is that we be one. We be one as a flock under him. And so Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10 through 13 there, he says, that's the goal to be one, not to be divided into a Paulicist group and Cephasist group and Paul's group and this group in that group. He asks a question rhetorically, is Christ divided? What's going on? Why division? Why division in the church? And so this passage addresses this from these painful circumstances in David's lives. So that's the context of this passage and our context here. And so as we go on here, if you want to fill out blanks and an outline, you're welcome to do this. Number one, God warns us from this passage to beware. That's your blank beware. Beware of those who would divide the church and scripture calls them wolves. Beware of those who would divide the church. That's beware of wolves. Jesus calls them, I've listed it for you there in Matthew 7, 15. It calls beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. So what do wolves look like? Sheep. Wolves don't look like wolves. Jesus tells us. Wolves look like sheep. So look carefully. Got to pat them on the side and see if that moves. Or lift that up. Do you see wolf hair underneath there? That's that wolves are bad. And you know, UNC State people over there in that way. But he says wolves, you know, beware. And if a wolf is in sheep's clothing, where's the wolf among the sheep? And this is what Paul weeps about when he's talking to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20. And in verse 28 or verse 29 there, he says, savage wolves will rise up among you. And to devour the sheep. Wolves are not outsiders. Wolves are not atheists on a world touring circuit giving lectures outside the church. Wolves by biblical definition are people inside the church. And they look like believers. They're wearing sheep's clothing. They're coming to Sunday school. There's Sunday school superintendents. There are officers in the church. There are all kinds of things they're coming each week. Maybe church is their thing. You know, I'm from Central Ohio, so I know what people's thing is. It's Ohio State foot. They're not a church in Columbus, Ohio that is not mentioning the game this morning. And people are staying home from church this morning because they are in mourning. Matthew said to me this morning, I'm sorry for your loss and I thought you don't know how true that is. You know, I'm just having to, you know, from Ohio State lost last night. From the time they lost through this morning having to rebuked myself for caring about that way too much. But wolves and sheep's clothing are among the church. Understand that. They're among the church. And Jesus says, beware of those who would divide the church. Was Absalom outside? No, he was inside. He was living in the heart of Israel in Jerusalem. He was the king's son. How do you get closer to the king than that? Right? Isn't it safe to trust one of the sons of the king? He wouldn't do anything to harm the king, right? See, but we're warned here. Beware, examine. So beware of those who would divide the church. They're called wolves in scripture. They're inside the church. And A, they're don't go with them. Don't go with them. We see this in verse 11 and verse 12 here in this passage, verse 11, 200 men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. Now we find out to their credit at least at first. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently knowing nothing about the matter. Now the matter Absalom's intent, we'll talk about that in a minute. Absalom's intent was not just to give them a good meal. They thought it was. They went innocently, but 200 people went. 200 people were unwise as to Absalom's character over these four years. They hadn't asked themselves the question, how is Absalom talking about David at the city gate of Jerusalem? Why is Absalom there? Has David appointed them to be there? Does David even know this is going on at the city gate? They had followed Absalom just unwisely, innocently, and Jesus says, be sure to circuits, but innocent as does. Okay? So be innocent in terms of, being pure and hard toward the Lord, but realize people get snuckered. People are snuckering you. We were talking about the coin flip last night at the game and the ref flipped the coin and he flipped the coin and he flipped it and he looked at it and it was on heads and Clemson had called heads and he didn't do this and he didn't let the coin drop and I thought that's odd and all my life. Now that didn't mean a difference in the game really, but I thought that's odd and I thought boy if I were a, I mean so it showed up for Clemson's thing and then he turns to the ISD players and says what is his coin and they're like heads and says that's what Clemson called. Clemson, what do you want? So I thought wow if I were a coach I would train, they're all wiped up, train my guys. If you think there's something funny with the coin flip, challenge the ref right there. There's no penalty and he's miked up and again that's that's me as an Ohio State fan speaking but you know our girls and I were talking about this and I thought there are all kinds of things people are doing that you just you know all the time I get snuckered by stuff and two days later I figure out what I should have said and what I should have done. There's no way you can let's your lawyer, you know lawyers think of all that stuff in advance and that's why they're lawyers they're good at that stuff and I'm just you know innocent babe walking through being unwise sometimes so how things get, how things get done but we wear those don't go with them third John, third John 10 yeah that that uh diatrophies is maliciously gossiping about John the apostle just be wise and don't follow diatrophies outside of the outside of the church but actually that's what happens you're reading first John which is probably written later that there's a whole group first John 219 who's left the church with diatrophies so it's absolute reincarnated so to speak so don't go with them now here's a qualification number one qualification don't follow people away from the church or any church that you're in unless those people are delivering you from unbiblical teaching and practice so if you're in a church where the pastor and the elders are teaching the Bible is full of things that are untrue and someone is leading you out of that church who's saying I believe the Bible is true and if they're teaching you as they did in some of the churches in Revelation that adultery as an act of worship is an okay thing to do and somebody and that's going on in the first century and someone is leading you out of that church no God says no adultery that's okay to follow that person who's leading you out in an unbiblical church in its teaching and in its practice so don't follow people away from the church unless they are those people are delivering you from unbiblical teaching and practice or they're leading you in specifically in biblical that's your next word biblical teaching and practice so someone's leading you in biblical teaching and practice and away from the church who like liberal church theological liberal churches today say Jesus was just a man all people are saved okay if you're being led out of a church like that be led as long as that person's teaching you know no not all people are saved um Clemson's a great team by the way they are I was scared for three weeks when we found out we're going to play Clemson because they're just they're awesome so and and just you know as believers on that team and that kind of thing but I didn't I didn't think about that before I started talking about here that there's some Clemson folks are amongst us but that good team but as someone leads you in biblical stuff follow um and to finish off this line uh and if those people are also taking all possible steps slowly to avoid a division so biblical people should seek not to divide the church if at all possible but if they get shut out if the leadership is all teaching Jesus is not God's son Jesus is just a man everybody's saved and there's no repentance among church leadership then if that leader says you know I think if you believe the Bible I think we need to go someplace else now number two um Jesus and Paul Jesus and Paul fit in this qualification as they gave the Jews of their lives plenty of time to line up under the father's choice for anointed king from among the sons of David that is Jesus so Jesus spends plenty of time among the Jews and then the apostles among the Jews spend plenty of time giving them opportunity to come under the royal son of David Jesus and in fact Paul and as they go out into the into the world where do they go first if there is such a place in each town they go to they go to the synagogue and they give the Jews the opportunity all of them to believe and they stay in the synagogue as long as they're allowed to stay in the synagogue but if they get forced out then they get forced out but they're they're doing that they don't they don't come to a new town and start condemning the Jews they come to a new town and go through his slower processes they can't of declaring the Jews great king Jesus the son of David has come and he means for us salvation as a people there so Jesus and Paul fit into this qualification they gave the Jews plenty of time so just know that about churches today you want to follow someone who gets mad about something in one sermon and goes off and does a church but you want this if there is anything where there are people leaving an unbiblical church you want that to be a slow and patient process where the fact that maybe the church might be divided here that that would be a thing of to grieve over one thing to our denominations credit that when they were working for 20 years to bring the church back from unbiblical belief and it wasn't until all those who believed scripture in its entirety was true were shut out of all national leadership positions in 1972 that they said well now we can't do anything I mean we don't we don't have to probably make any change and so it was with great reluctance and grieving that the PCA formed so that's that now be wolves know this wolves are against wolves are against God's anointed Jesus they're working against him wolves are not well-intentioned people hey scripture does not speak of wolves does not speak of abslam and oh that's too bad he got this wrong they say no they know exactly what they're doing what's diatrophys doing he's gossiping not by mistake he's not just repeating things he thinks is true he's gossiping maliciously and if anyone receives John the people I'm sending to you the church if anyone receives him and welcomes them into the people I'm sending into their houses diatrophys excommunicates them from the church diatrophys was a church official someone close in someone who already had power like kind of an unofficial de facto way abslam day by virtue of just being David's David's son so wolves are against God's anointed Jesus just like abslam was against God's anointed David and they're working against him so we see this in verses two through ten here in this passage we see it in John 17 21 and 22 Jesus says my prayer is not for them alone that is his eleven disciples my pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one Jesus prayer is it all be one so if you have somebody who's trying to make God's people Jesus sheep two they're working specifically against the purposes of Jesus okay now just to step back here if you have someone who's leading you to be biblical out of an unbiblical situation and you have people wanting to stay in a church that says all people are saved Jesus is not God's son those are not Christ sheep by definition if you are not declaring Jesus is God and he forgives sins you are not one of Christ sheep that's the basic core belief in all the New Testament Jesus is divine son of God begotten not made God of God light of lights begotten not made before all worlds as the Nicene Creed puts it and if you declare Jesus is less than God you're not one of Christ sheep if you declare that anyone saved and that Jesus's death therefore you just means nothing you're not one of Christ sheep okay so such such a split is not dividing Christ people it's just the lineage the lineage eating who Christ people are but if you're in a church for the Bible is being preached and I don't mean you know different denominations you know Baptists believe some different things than us Episcopalians who believe the Bible believe some different things than us there are different Presbyterian denominations to their non-denominational things you know they believe all different things than us but if you ask them do you believe Jesus is God son they say oh yes do you believe you need Jesus to go to heaven they say yes we say hey brother hey sister they're us they're Christ sheep okay but if someone is dividing Christ sheep like this by definition they are working against the purpose of Jesus where he's praying to his father to make all his people one united now see here's how to recognize the wolves are working against God's annoying to Jesus working against him and his purposes to make all his people one as Jesus himself prays to the father and his Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 10 that all be one not of a Paul is not a Paul out of seaface but here's how to recognize them and we see this all in epsilon what's epsilon do what's a wolf do has a wolf operate what's a wolf's intent and purpose why are they doing what they're doing number one they build power they build power they build a power base okay so you've heard the term church politics these are church politic people okay they build power they do that in different ways you see epsilon here he winds and dines people invites him to a feast he builds build power they're all about power looking verse 1 and the course of time epsilon provided himself he provides for himself not given to him provides for himself a chariot and horses and with 50 men to run ahead of him he's he's gotten his own army going up and running and by the way if you read Deuteronomy 17 about God's king he was not to collect for himself chariots and horses in a standing army that was specifically forbidden of him to provide a standing army of God's people or to go to Egypt to get more chariots and horses and so this has this reverberation of being a non-godly king today epsilon here but he builds power he builds power for himself now that's Deuteronomy 1716 word talks about not collecting chariots for yourself some 20 verse seven some trust and chariots and summon horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God so in the one half you have David trusting the name of the Lord his God that's what David says to Goliath remember he says you come to me with a with a shaft and a spear you know spear but I come to you in the name of the god of Israel now I will feed your flesh to the birds this day David comes in the power and the strength of the Lord and that's what he relied on as a king to win his battles the Lord but non godly kings would rely on horses and chariots and spears and swords and various things of human power and that's what wolves do in the church they rely on things of human power alliances were we've been up on that terms since about 2002 alliances and and and bringing people into friendships so that you can use them and make them loyal to you we see epsilon doing this as he sits the city gate going he's building he's building power um diatrophys was building power too if anyone was loyal to John the Apostle he put them out of the church got them excommunicated follow me yeah it's like being in nazi germany germany follow Hitler or lose your life um i say at 31-1 what are those who go down to Egypt for help who rely on horses who trust in the multitude other chariots and the great strength of their horsemen but do not look to the holy one of Israel or seek help from the Lord uh so wolves uh play church politics get themselves into positions of power in the church positions of influence the Pharisees um they were not an old testament directed group you'll not find the term Pharisees in the old testament okay they were a group that had gathered power and gained power during the couple hundred years before before Jesus came but they forged a relationship with pilot didn't they um they forged a relationship with the roman government and they become concerned when Jesus comes on the scene because that relationship that they have of power aided by the roman government was being was being threatened so in john 922 Jesus healed the man born blind in the temple and what the Pharisees do they threaten to cast out all who will stand up for Jesus cast out from the synagogues all who will stand up for Jesus they acknowledge the miracles been done they say it um but they'll cast up just like the altrufees just so if you follow if you follow Jesus you're out of here okay absence working such a conspiracy building power using power um to to build their own following and then two um they use people for their own ends they use people for their own ends uh again verse one uh you absent builds an army um first peter five two says in contrast elders sort of be people eager to serve not to be served um elders to be people expend themselves for the sake of others rather than absolute here it gets fifty men to run ahead of him not at the front of the troops absolute he's behind the troops it's getting fifty as a buffer through using men to keep safe abstinence okay three so use people to their own ends um the Pharisees use Judas the Pharisee use pilot to get rid of Jesus they don't care about pilot they don't care about Judas but they use them for their own ends number three they slander and gossip about current leadership lying about it what wolves do they slander and gossip about current leadership lying about it look at verses three and verse four verse three then Absalom would say to him to the person who would come into Jerusalem to see David to for David to judge their case where they were being treated unfairly they thought um Absalom would say to them look your claims are valid and proper but there is no representative of the king to hear you and Absalom would add if only I were appointed to judge in the land then everyone who had a complain or a case could come to meet and I would see that he receives justice he's slandering David isn't he David won't give you justice David doesn't have anyone to see you trust me I'm a rat that's from Bin Anderson pajamas uh trust me you know I'm the king so he doesn't have it he doesn't care here your case is valid where they really all valid everyone but he said that he's creating the favor of people um he was slandering his father David accusing his father David have had not having a system in place to have justice administered using his father of not providing justice or caring for justice for his people and so that's what Absalom does uh third John third John 10 you know again Demetrius maliciously gossips uh about John and and his cohorts there and then the Pharisees say as in John 924 uh as they're dealing with the man born blind in the temple that Jesus is healed the Pharisees say this man speaking of this man is a sinner okay the slander slander and gossip number four these are ways to recognize wolves fourth way to recognize wolves wolf they self-promote they self-promote and boast of themselves so Absalom's a self-promoter and I just read those two verses for you verses three and and four he says boy if I were king if I were judge and King and judge the king was the final judge and Israel if I were judge of Israel you would certainly have justice so he boasts of himself um Luke 20 46 Jesus said be where are the teachers of the law they like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the market places and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets okay so that attitude is in there when John talks about in 1 John the people when he's talking about the people who have left the church with diatrophes he talks about the fruits of the flesh by which you can tell people who don't have God's spirit and one of them is both the boastful pride of life it's one of the characteristics in 1 John 2 15 the boastful pride of life is what comes out of the sin nature and this comes out of absolute and that comes out of wolves too a self-promoting of themselves well on this way well on that way boy if I were leading this it's eye eye eye look at me putting themselves at the center of things to getting around them devotees from which they can eventually raise their rebellion so they self-promote they boast of themselves absolute here he make gives himself an army he gives himself a chariot it wasn't like David where David was given these things by Saul to serve Saul absent self puts himself in the position of being leader of a small army and then 5 5 wolves falsely to care for you this is big this is absolutely knows he's going to do this he goes out and he says I'll give you just oh yeah your your your case is very valid boy wish somebody could get well I'll give you justice he professes to care for he doesn't care for them he's building their loyalty so he can raise this as as verse 12 or 13 calls it conspiracy he's working a conspiracy in part of his conspiracy is to give people this sense that he boy absolute cares for me right they come and they see that the son of the king and they start to bow down and he grabbed their hand and kissed them okay professed care for them outwardly looks like he really cares but inwardly the Lord tells us what's going on here axles up to no good he's just building a group of people where he can divide gods people and related to this number six wolves seek to steal hearts in the church that's what axles doing you know the best way to someone's heart is through their belly right that's expression and so they wind and die people they bring people and give them a meal that's what axles I'm doing says come down to this feast and and so he goes down to have this feast and invites these 200 people come with them as invited guests and he steals he steals the hearts of the people and so that's what we see that's what we see here in verse 6 here look there absent behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice and so that is in this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel whom did their hearts to whom did their hearts belong to David and the Lord David earned their hearts David earned their loyalty because he spilled himself out for them and Absalom comes in and says some lies at the city gate Absalom's gone into no battle for them Absalom didn't deliver them from Goliath in the Philistines or the Moe vites or the Aminites or any of these peoples we read about in 2nd Samuel 8 he didn't do anything for them he just goes to the gate and says words they want to hear and invites them to a meal no cost to himself and he steals he steals their hearts all these people David literally said I'm willing to die for them their hearts are stolen from them
2nd Corinthians the whole book was basically Paul writing to the Corinthian church over the same matter he said I came to you I brought the gospel to you I spill out my life for you I didn't even I didn't even ask for any money from you in fact I refused to take it and I worked as a tent maker just so you couldn't impune my motives at all I didn't extract anything from you Peter is out there with his wife and they're getting money from the church and all these other people are getting money from the church and that is good and right 2nd Corinthians 8 a worker is worthy of his wages he don't muzzle on ox while he's treading okay pastor should get paid Paul says but he said I didn't even take any pay from you when I was with you because I loved you so much I didn't want to be a burden to you and then these super apostles come along and he talks about them in 2nd Corinthians and he says why are your hearts after these guys what have they done for you except slander me and say you shouldn't follow me that you shouldn't listen to me or pause an old fool so this happens this is what wolves do the wolves in Paul's day and and and a court for these super super apostles in Jesus' day they were the Pharisees and David's day it was Absalom and have some steals the people's hearts and so in verse 13 David unawares of all this going on another bananas and pajamas reference there for you bananas and pajamas fans a messenger came and told David the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom wow a message to get as the king these are spiritual shepherd he conquered Jerusalem and nobody could he established all this wealth and stuff so the temple could be built and he wanted to build it and the Lord says no not you you blood in your hands because you've been a man of war but your son Solomon he'll build the temple for me so David's in everything the people need and he's done it for these people he didn't build a palace for himself higher and higher him king of tire build a palace for David and all the people just leave him
so they seek the wolves seek to seal they seek to steal the hearts of gods people away from legitimate ordained leadership the people who have actually been praying for them for the last 10 years or two years or 20 years when not even their own family were praying for them they had elders praying for them going down a church directory saying these issues are going on in this person's life and praying for them all quiet in a closet not with flowing ropes who've been going to funerals and going to and doing weddings and grieving with those who are grieving doing all kinds of things the elders for these people in practice just like David going out and really fighting for gods people and just someone else comes along flavor the day absolute and the people say oh look at that air following him right he looks cool number seven wolves also may work at these things for years they may work at these things for years until the time is right to strike so you see this little note in verse seven four years absolutely that's a long time to go to the city gate day after day four years he waits and finally four years of passing he thinks I think I've got critical mass I've enough people I've seen at the gate and promised and and caused the court to go their decision to go their way that they'll be loyal to me and so that's when he strikes goes up to David gets permission goes down to Hebron uh right he wasn't allowed to go out to the side of Jerusalem that was part of his conditions and coming back and he sends out secret messengers okay but but he he waits for the time to strike but it took a long time so realize that never say in a church that you're in but they've been a member of the church for you know three years or or 15 years Jesus says beware of the wolves they look like sheep their sheep that have been in the church 15 years 13 years 20 years 30 years but look at their actions are they slandering current church leadership have they've been building power have they been putting themselves in positions of power in the church have been they've been self promoting themselves have they been building around themselves little disciples around themselves have they been using people for their own ends have they been tossing out slanderers comments here and there are gossiping maliciously about current church leadership look at those things have they been professing that they care for me have they wind and dined me have they given me gifts have they been generous to me now that's good that someone give you me that's good to have someone be generous to you it has to be commended among us gods people but we look at motive we say are they doing this to use me to turn me against those who are actually loving me and praying for me and crying with me when I lose a loved one so they may work at these things for for years and then eight wolves also another way to identify them they may lie to ordain leadership in a rain so that's what absentee does he says hey I made a vow when I was up and they under the king of disjure and I need to go fulfill the vow down in hebron can I do that and David doesn't give him the the nth degree quiz he just trusts him he says okay well if you made a vow and you need to fulfill it down in hebron go you have my blessing I give you this exception from leaving the the area of Jerusalem they just trust them and so this may be a person who has church leadership's trust okay Absalom had David's trust David had no idea the hearts were being of the gods people were being stolen away from him or that there was a conspiracy verse 12 going on so they may lie to ordain leadership in a range a secret meeting okay that's what Absalom does down in hebron and notice it's outside the normal meeting places of the church huh why didn't Absalom just go into Jerusalem in the king's presence and say hey everybody you want me to be your king dad is that okay no he knows what he's doing is wrong that's why he's sending out secret messengers that's why he's meeting outside the confines of Jerusalem because he knows what he's doing is evil and as Jesus said those who walk in darkness do not come to me because they don't want their evil deeds to be exposed so he says right after John 6 they're John 316 those who are of the light come to me because they know they have forgiveness for their sins but those who have the darkness they avoid me because if they come to me their evil deeds are exposed or John picks it up again in 1 John 1 those who walk in the light versus those who walk in in darkness those who walk in darkness will find corner they won't do it in a church setting they won't stand up and give an announcement and say hey everybody who's interested in a church split I'm having a meeting here in the church sanctuary right after worship you know pastor Fred's gonna be there and you know whatever it no it's done in secret because it's a legitimate so just recognize that if you're ever called to a secret meeting say what outside the normal meeting place of the church secretly sending out messages messages to join in the rebellion without naming it a rebellion notice that absent gets people to come to him into Hebron without saying hey we're going to mount a rebellion from Hebron come on down they go down as the writer of second scene this is quite innocently and so recognize that about church splits and about wolves they won't announce to you their intention okay the absence intention was to be king in place of his father David but he doesn't announce that to people until it gets to crux time and then he says okay now's the time when you hear the trumpet announce that I'm king and the people at that point have a choice don't they they can either say well it's too late now I'm already here but it's never too late you know some of you have been in situations like that where you've been invited to a church split or church rebellion and you've said why is this meeting happening why isn't the church leadership here and said well I'm here but I'm not joining I'm not joining those kind of things happen in the church throughout the world very often sadly so we see then verse 7 verse 10 the secret messengers are sent we saw it in what we read from Matthew and John Matthew 25 55 through 57 the Pharisees arranged for the arrest of Jesus after dark and they have a trial in the middle of the night you have all these statements in the gospels and Jesus calls them on it in the Garden of Deathsemony he says hey you know when it was light outside I was in the temple every day this week preaching in the open but now this is your hour the hour of darkness the hour of secrets they knew and they stated that we read it this morning Jim read it for they knew they can't take Jesus in the open daylight because Jesus people recognize the good things that Jesus is doing among them so they do it they do it secretly they do it secretly sending out their own temple guard in the middle of the night using an errant disciple of Jesus paying him 30 pieces of silver blood money that then they won't take back when he repents and tries to to give the money back they say what's that to us they pretend like they cared for them until they used them once they used them and have what they needed they said we don't care about you go do what you want hang yourself we don't care okay um and then nine wolves also you can recognize them they may be receiving a treatment of peace from trusting legitimate leadership who get caught unawares and this is a challenge for church leadership just to be aware of this kind of thing going on but recognize that church leadership may not be aware it's going on church leadership may be trusting of these people like David was for absent even pilots surprised right he's like I've found nothing wrong with this may surprise what why are they bring yes why are they bringing these people to he recognizes that these Pharisees were competing with Jesus he tries to get Jesus released and he can't do it with the Pharisees so he goes to the people because he says surely the people will call for their king and even calls Jesus their king to encourage them to call for Jesus to be freed but they choose Bravis instead but Jesus pilot is surprised by all this as David was surprised that the people's hearts had been stolen from Jesus and then ten ten um they have they have room a room mode of to be king or queen of the church and want people to see and declare them as that apart from proper procedure and ordination so I have some had no official title um he just was kind of getting it done and having people say hey you're king now and people do that in the church if someone wants to be in church leadership have them go through ordination where all the people approve them and that kind of thing um third John 9 diatrophes motive John says diatrophes who loves to be first that's what diatrophes was about that's what epsilon was about he loved to be first that was his that was his motive the Pharisees loved to be first uh Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and then the chief priests in the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and they say what are we accomplishing they asked here is this man performing many miraculous signs they acknowledge he's doing the miracles here is this man a doing performing many miraculous signs if we go if we let him go on like this everyone will believe in him see they were threatened they were competing with him they wanted to be king they didn't want everyone to go with Jesus and then they say and then the Romans will come and take away both our place as rulers over Israel and our nation or verse uh John 12 19 so the Pharisee said to one another see this is getting us nowhere look how the whole world has gone after them after him that's the Pharisees real concern they weren't concerned about whether you're really a son of David or not they weren't concerned about whether he should be king or not their concern was that people were going after him instead of them and that was epsilon's concern and that's the concern of the wolf the wolf is terribly frustrated that there's ordained leadership elected by the people who have been gone through a stringent process of things um and hopefully to to sort out all uh evil doers and then eleven many who are not Christ sheep may follow them many who are not Christ sheep may follow them perhaps innocently at first perhaps innocently at first but nonetheless follow them when they see what's going on and so that happens in verse 11 um John 1027 Jesus talks about the sheep hear my voice and they follow me and when they hear the voice of a thief or a robber they don't follow so wolves and dividers speak the language of the world first on four five speaks of this they speak in terms of politics and power in the church they slander weapons of the world slander they promise you favor if you follow them they may socially bully you to do this they may relentlessly ask you to join them over and over again they may apply great peer pressure they may call in their favors because they've been generous to you they may question your loyalty and make you feel disloyal and like you're doing something wrong for being loyal to ordained church leadership um and John says in first John four five those who are outside of the church those who are outside of the church may may follow them we won't talk about this much but you know this all this thing there sorry so there we are I mean they're the groups groups in the church there's the world which is out here that's kind of that's kind of obvious people should say oh I don't follow Christ but then inside the church inside Israel um their believers like David and their unbelievers like absolutely trying to take authority away this is not to scale the the church is not that big there but they're unsafe Israel in Israel and in the church and they're causing problems in it the Bible defines these people as wolves we see it in Pharisees the Pharisees that's limited to the autopsy so inside the church they're non-believers this is why the people get exiled they're people inside Israel that aren't believers but inside the church they're also unsafe we're not causing problems you know our kids are three-year-olds someone who's interested in hearing the gospel they come into the church they're not a believer yet they don't have saving faith yet but they're not causing problems they're not trying to take leadership they're not slandering anybody they're just there and they're listening and Jesus is like awesome great keep listening that's what we say in the Lord's Supper you know glad you're here just keep listening and we hope that these truths continue and then there are saved believers in the church too in this box here but just recognize this wolves by definition are here in in the church and what a wolf speaks up some in the church will follow them outside outside okay and then number 12 they may be part of the leadership of the church an official ordained person or one of their relatives we see this in verse 12 a hit the fell was David's chief counselor he was an official and David's administration and he follows epsilon epsilon himself as a relative of the chief officer of God's people he's David's son and then we see this even later in 1 Kings 12 with Jeroboam he had been an official okay so in Jesus it was the leadership of God's people the Pharisees who were leading people away from Jesus we're causing a split from the son of David who had arrived and so recognize that that sometimes wolves are part of church leadership are related in some way to church leadership that's what we see here in absence conspiracy so summary Jesus expressed Jesus expressed goal is that his people be warned what he prays for it's what the apostles work for that is that his church is not experienced division that they not experienced division
and his goal is that the church not put up with dividers Paul says the Titus warned a divisive man once warned him a second time and then have nothing to do with him so Paul tells Titus Titus gives leadership to the churches and Crete and then I am to recognize dividers by these traits of epsilon by these traits you see here in epsilon in this passage and in the Pharisees as well as they steal many of the people who are in the church away from the legitimate leadership just as the Pharisees took it away from Jesus forced people to yell for bravest instead of Jesus as a diatrophysed took people out of the church as well as epsilon took people from under David and we are not to follow them we're not to follow these wolves and if a leader in the church and if you are a leader in the church you're to warn the church of them just like John says when I arrive I will expose diatrophys and what he's doing and perhaps that's why diatrophys pulled the rip cord took his people and left and by the time first John was written I think the group has already left because John said when I come I'm going to expose them for what they're doing so the church leadership has to do that too let's pray