People Are Not Who They Always Were

Praise the Lord everybody. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Remember when I was dating Amy, the stone age. Jay was just a little guy. Now I'm looking up to him. Joel wants one thing in life. He wants to be five foot 11 so he can be taller than me. I'm praying against it. Amen. I just want to say, let me echo, it's great to have my good friends, great leaders, great voices. One of the most committed to apostolic truth friends I know, Brother and Sister Dibble, we love you very, very, very much. And thank you for your voice and the movement and what God is doing through your life and ministry. And you're going to get to hear from them at some point. So I'll resist the urge to say too much. Maybe save some of those expressions for there. And I just want to say, I know he's, I know you're my nephew,

but man I am so glad, Brother Turner, that you're here. There is a reality that comes from the context of ministry. And you have to absorb it yourself. You all are in a unique position to learn, to glean, to grow. And if you do, if you take advantage of being raised underneath someone like maybe a Paul Mooney and you absorb the truth and his, you will grow and that will create opportunities. If you don't, if you foot away your time, you're going to arrive at moments with heartache as somebody else has picked over you because a wise servant will be exalted above a son that causes shame. Okay, it was all free. I want to move to the word of the Lord. Excuse me this morning. I'm going to go to 2 Samuel chapter 15. I'll read two verses of scripture. Then I'll give you my weird title.

I'm just going to say it to you in the rawest form in the way that God kind of spoke it to me. It's not a great title, but it's just the way the Lord spoke it to me. It helped me, maybe you could think of a better title and come help talk to me about it. I want to preach a little bit. I'm going to go slow on people are not who they always were. 2 Samuel chapter 15 verses 30 and 31. And David went up by a cent of Mount Olivet and wept as he went up. He had his head covered and he went barefoot and all the people that was with him covered every man his head and they went up weeping as they went up. And one told David saying, A hithafel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, Oh Lord, I pray thee,

turn the counsel of a hithafel into foolishness. People are not who they always were. Now I know it's an odd text. I really wanted to do this, but I kind of repented of it this morning as I was out there praying again in the truck as I arrived at IBC. I wanted to get a bunch of old pictures of staff members. I wanted to show you pictures of Chris Henderson while he was a student. Then I remembered I'd have to also pop up my student picture and my teal blue. Brother Dibble, I had a European cut, half cut double breasted purple suit. It was the 80s, what can I say? Oh, you were there. It's terrible, sister. Don't tell on me too much. But I had a teal blue suit. Not only did I have a teal blue suit, I had a teal blue suit that had the same fabric

made for the tie. Because I was styling and profiling. God help us. People are not who they always were. Turn to your neighbor and say, Thank you Jesus. Now what does that mean? People can change. I want to preach something today. I thought I'm going to preach this to your future. And I felt a little check from the Lord. And I know that I'm not preaching to your future. Some in a sense. I'm preaching to some of you. I'm going to preach to you right now. I'm going to say I'm going to preach, I believe, to most of you, an issue that you have faced in your past already. Or maybe you're currently going through. And then I do want to say something to your future. I love this passage of Scripture, not because it's pretty, but because it's real. And if you're going to be in ministry,

you have to be real. The Bible says that this context of the passage is when David's son, Absalom, is rebelling against him. Not because he's the rightful king, but because of out of desire and out of ambition and because of carnality. This young man is leading a rebellion against his father. And the Bible says that David knows this. He goes out weeping. He's weeping for his son. He's weeping for the people. He's weeping for the state that things are in. And as he goes out, the Bible says this wonderful little passage discloses Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. Now you have to know that in 1 Corinthians chapter 20, or sorry, 1 Chronicles 2733, the Bible says, and Ahithophel was the king's counselor. Somebody close to David. Somebody that was a very, very close friend. You can look at the context of this on your own.

You'll find out that they were, David and Ahithophel were, they rose, they rise together. They work together. They had all of these moments where he was his counselor, his advisor. And the Bible says that Hushai, the Archite, was the king's companion. And it's good to be a companion by the Turner, but there's something different about having a counselor. He had a unique relationship with David. And the Bible says in 2 Samuel chapter 16, verses 15 to 23, it says, and Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem and Ahithophel was with him. And it came to pass when Hushai, the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom. That Hushai said to Absalom, God save the king, God save the king. Now you gotta like Hushai a little bit here because he's being tactful. He's sent back and David says, go back, perhaps the Lord will use you

to help me in this rebellion. So Hushai is saying, God save the king, God save the king, but underneath his breath it's like a mumble, not you. Absalom. The Lord begins to help David in this process. And I just want to read a little bit and then we're going to dive into the text. I'm going to be aware of the time. But if you allow me, I think I want to help you today. And the Bible says in Absalom said to Hushai, is this the kindness to thy friend? Why witness thou not with thy friend? Why didn't you go with him? Isn't David your close friend, Hushai? Isn't he your companion? And Hushai said unto Absalom, they 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 Absalom is so blind by his own ego

he doesn't even see that Hushai is speaking of David. And again, whom should I serve? Should I serve in the presence of, should I not serve in the presence of his son? He's going to do that with Solomon. And I have served in thy father's presence so will I be in thy presence. I'm going to serve you too, but not in the way that you think. Then said Absalom to Ahithithel, give counsel unto me what we shall do. And Ahithithel said unto Absalom, go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house. And all Israel shall hear it that thou art abhorred of thy father. Then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong. Burn all the bridges with your dad and then people will know that you're truly going to be against him. Because if they side with you now

what if you reconcile all the conspirators will be destroyed and killed and you and your dad will be okay. But if you go in and you sleep with all of his concubines, then they'll know he's never going back. The Bible says that so they spread Absalom's tent upon the top of the house and Absalom went in into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And the counsel of Ahithithel which he counseled in those days was as, it wasn't the voice of God, but it was as if a man had inquired at the Oracle of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithithel both with David and Absalom. So here's what I want you to think about today. How could such a godly man a man with a tremendous reputation that if you could get a counsel with Ahithithel how is it that this godly man

would join a vain and rebellious leader against God's anointed? Well the only way to know that is by going back and reading some of those portions of the bread program you hate. Genealogies. Second Samuel chapter 23 verse 34 says Elyphilet the son of Ashbihai the son of the Makathite and Elam the son of Ahithithel. So Ahithithel's son brother Turner was Elyom you go to Second Samuel chapter 11 and verse 3 the Bible says and David sent and inquired after the woman and one said is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Elyom the wife of Uriah the Hittite and what you can miss is Ahithithel's son is Elyom and Elyom you ready is the daughter of his daughter's name is Bathsheba so Ahithithel Bathsheba is his granddaughter I can imagine that he was there when the announcement was made we're going to have a baby pop

you're going to be a granddad it's going to be a great occasion I can imagine as he watched that young lady grow up and begin to to grow in stature and beauty and she marries a godly man Uriah the Hittite and he's a good man he's a godly man he's a man of such character that he won't take advantage of certain opportunities when his brethren are out to war he won't even do those type of things he has such character what a godly man what a marriage to support and what a marriage to celebrate not only that he's such a man of character I imagine the news when he runs in one day and he says hey grandpa hey did you know that your grandson he's been picked as one of David's mighty men he's raised as such prominence the touch of God is on him

he's a man of war he fights for the right thing not only is he a man of character he's a man of battle but we know this story how David sin with Bathsheba's granddad and his own Joab come David don't do this this is your good friend's granddaughter and then not only does he sleep with one of his best friend's granddaughter he murders the grandson and this is how you can see how a godly man begins to descend through the path of bitterness there's a principle in this text Hithafel knew it wasn't kept secret the Lord disclosed it and he arranged the murder of Uriah the Hittitan and there's two different agendas that are united one in Absalom out of probably that issue with his sister that David never dealt with and then you gotta Hithafel bringing his carriage alongside because there's a principle in life

and in ministry you need to know that bitterness is a powerful unifying force in life and in ministry but it's always dangerous and it's always destructive when I was talking I said God Ferguson I said God maybe I'm preaching to their future but I already know I felt the check this morning some of you have already been hurt some of you have already been wrong so I'm trying to save you from going down a path that will destroy you 2 Samuel chapter 16 verse 24 and the Bible said then Absalom said to Hithafel give counsel what we should do and I'm gonna give you an observation because now that Absalom is king he's only good at rebellions he doesn't even know what to do he doesn't have the character or the wisdom or the gifting to lead as a king when he gets there and the Bible says in verse 24

and Hithafel said go in to your father's concubines David shouldn't have had him but he's left them there for the house because David never dreamed his son would go in and commit such sacrilege and then all of the hands of the Israelites will be strong and they'll be with you because they know you've burnt the bridge and the character of Absalom and Hithafel is shown right here because Hithafel is advocating the same thing done to his granddaughter take advantage of her and Absalom acts out 10 times the sin that was committed against his own sister see here's the danger of bitterness the Bible says Paul writing in Romans chapter 12 verse 19 dearly beloved now you need to underline this in your heart today avenge not yourselves you need to pray God deliver me from the temptation the lust of self vindication let the Lord vindicate you

dearly beloved avenge not yourself but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay say at the Lord why does God say that I'm going to help you today you cannot control bitterness it will always go way beyond what you intend and Hithafel is one of the greatest counselor in Israel's history he has tremendous influence he has an earned reputation among God's people and he's going to throw it all away to express his bitterness it's fascinating to me brother Turner there's no Psalm 51 or Psalm 32 for Hithafel or Absalom that's the Psalms of repentance that David went and sang publicly he sinned openly so he sang about it publicly I have wronged them I've wronged God, I've wronged people and I'm sorry I'm contrite about it and see that's the problem Absalom is going to be dead Hithafel will commit suicide

and 20,000 young men will die because of his counsel why? because there was no repentance he wouldn't acknowledge the repentance in David he instead harbored that hurt and that hurt turned into anger and anger turned into bitterness and then he took God's vengeance in his own hands Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 says look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God how can I fall of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled 20,000 are going to die Hithafel and you will mar your legacy to express your vengeance and God had given you a gift and a legacy and you were a leader and you threw it all away I'm going to try to lay in quick today Hithafel's advice what did he say to Absalom you need to attack in this momentum

and it was great advice if he had just listened Brother Drew he would have won the victory but Hithafel said give me 12,000 men David now kill him you give me 12,000 men right now I'll go out myself give me 20 times his number now somewhere in there is a latent statement about David's power for war and a reluctant praise maybe even as Hithafel knows who he is he doesn't want power he doesn't want position he doesn't want authority he just wants David dead and Absalom is being dragged into this expression of personal bitterness but God sent Hushai and he appeals to Absalom's pride well you know David's fired up all of his men are angry and man you don't want to be like a bear robbed of her cubs you're going to go out there and man you know the reputation of your dad and his mighty men

what you really need to do is you need to gather all the tribes from Dan to Bear Sheba gather all Israel to you and you need to lead it yourself Absalom so you can get the glory Bible says in 2 Samuel chapter 14-25 but in all Israel there was none excuse me to be praised as much as Absalom for his beauty from the soul of his foot even to the crown of the head there was no blemish in him I remember Joel forgive me dude I remember Joel was a young guy he walked in from Children's Church and I hassled him I've been with him since he was born I'll pay for the psychology later I apologize to his wife in advance I said what did you learn in Sunday school today dude about Samson that angle of flight I'd never leave it alone

I'm like no no no you had to say more than that what did you learn about Samson and then he said something he said he's just a little dude man and he said it was strong on the outside but he wasn't very strong on the inside and some Sunday school teacher did their job that day aren't you glad for a church and if that's true then it's same as true of Absalom he looked good on the outside but he was pitifully weak on the inside you be careful what you attach yourself to because you can look on the outward appearance but God sees the heart men of low character end up being weak and they're manipulatable praise, ego, ego and all of that thing inside of Absalom allows him to be manipulated and the Bible teaches us that Hushai kept his integrity by stating the truth

in a particular way Absalom was blinded by his own ego and we see God's providence for David at work 2 Samuel chapter 17 verse 14 the Bible says it and Absalom in all of the men of Israel said the council of Hushai the Archite is better than the council of Ahithithel and then you get this statement for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good council of Ahithithel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom unforgiveness led to bitterness bitterness to ungodly counsel and ungodly counsel they end up trying to murder God's anointed and Ahithithel dies he sees the weakness in that leader that he connected himself to and brother Turner instead of instead of publicly repenting he commits suicide Ahithithel because he saw his own demise coming and was unable to see forgiveness as a possibility because he will never give it to anybody else

Bible says he said his house in order he hung himself see what's the problem with all of this see it's David's true repentance Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 those public Psalms he's saying he wasn't just going through motions how do you know brother Kilman because he has concubines and multiple wives and he committed adultery and that's stupid and wrong but he never multiplies wives again and he never committed adultery again he truly repented from sin and so why does God say to you to me vengeance is mine and I will will pay say at the Lord because only he knows the heart how do you know Christ is our example Father forgive them while he's on the cross what's Father forgive them for they know not what they do he forgave Peter who denied him vehemently with cursing he forgave the cowering disciples that ran and left him to face it alone

the ones who couldn't even watch with him one hour in prayer what are you saying brother Kilman you have to learn to forgive because that's the ground on which we all stand the Bible says forgive that she may be forgiven music will come and start just maybe playing a little bit Matthew chapter 18 verse 22 Jesus sayeth unto him Peter I say not unto thee you don't just get to forgive somebody seven times in one day until seven times no no no but seventy times seven four hundred and ninety times a day Peter Jesus why should I forgive like that because you're going to need it Peter because at some point you're going to believe that you're not even forgivable and I'm going to have to say go tell the disciples and Peter because he doesn't even think he's a disciple anymore and you ready that fruit

that rich fruit of forgiveness is going to spring forth in your life if you make sure that the root is right now but if your root is bitterness it's not going to help you I'm going to be a little vulnerable tonight I know I run the risk of none of you know the people they were good they were good godly people they were just human beings like me I grew up as a young man in church I was about to go into my freshman year high school and I love my mom and pop they were heavily involved in the church work all their life and I remember there was just issues issues it's kind of like a church we make fun of the children of Israel for murmuring and complaining and we forget we just did that in prayer that it's modeled in the Psalms

because God knows our weakness that we need to bring to him so there was some attacks that came against leadership and you know they weren't evil people here they weren't evil people they were just weak people and I remember as a young man being furious angry my dad is a wonderful man he will witness to you in a heartbeat he's a tremendous communicator probably the best evangelist I know he can bring more people to church he can talk to a stump and get it to church there's about eight people sitting on the seats of Calvary Tabernacle that he's won in the last three or four years to the Lord he's got zeal sometimes it gets him in trouble though like the Apostle Peter but my mother is one of the most Christian people I know she has a fault that's given too much it's absorbing hits when she should

it's alright man human but I remember people begin to talk about my family it was especially hurtful to me because they were talking about my mother they lied just weak people and I remember I was there and I got this stumbling block right and I'm not minimizing the hurt that you faced I'm not minimizing the wrong that's coming into your life it was wrong but I begin to harbor bitterness and then because of my own lust going into high school I was at distance from God because of my own anger and bitterness and resentment and that distance allowed me to really easily yield to my flesh I was back soon for about a year and a half and I remember there was a just tremendous thing that the Lord did a man came in and he was used in the gifts of the spirit I'm not talking about weird

but walk back and you know that hoe he read my mail thing it wasn't fake I didn't have to wait he wasn't practicing forget all that nonsense about practicing when it's from God it'll be right and I remember I got back in church by the devil and I'm sitting in the service and I'm just like I was raised on the pew Lord I felt like I spit in his face and walked out I had privilege I had opportunity and how could I treat God that way I was repent and the Lord spoke to me in a moment he said to me because I was looking around all these wonderful people human people and he said you wanted me to judge those people didn't you he said if I was that kind of God you would have never made it home because you ready let me just say it to you

people are not who they always so it's hard it's hard now I know some of you are going to leave you're going to have opportunity I'm not impressed by people that sell their gifts and through ego and through manipulation the desire to have a big name I don't even sweat that anymore I'm not even trying to reach people like that today but you're going to have temptations through opportunity but it's harder when you have excuses because of real hurts and if rebellion has destroyed more ministries before they ever really got started I wonder how many bitterness has stopped from finishing well why is this in the Bible Brother Kilman because it's one of the greatest dangers of ministry and life and you're kidding yourself if you don't think you're going to be tempted by it now stand with me I'm closing I promise I want to do a little work here

let me give you let me give you three little points first of all number one David sinned never never never you don't have to minimize the fact that people were wrong David sinned he was responsible he was a stumbling block for many so I'm not minimizing his sin number two here's the problem though you have to understand that stumbling blocks will come in this falling world in this falling world and you're going to have many many many many times you're going to be hurt you better decide right now what you're going to do and then number three nursing hurts instead of giving them to God and forgiving others will destroy us see I feel like I have to say this today don't expect too much false expectations is where a lot of hurt comes from so to expect too much of God's people is to have a weak sentimental view of life

and that softness ends in bitterness what are you saying brother Kilmer part of the cure against the real temptation of bitterness is this acknowledging that you're dealing with human people it's not an excuse to sin but you're human too and you're going to need forgiveness so when they do it when they sin forgive you're ministering to the real condition of human beings but also remember you're ministering from the condition of being a human being we're going to go over today and we're going to be with that wonderful good man for the road was today I'm going to quote him one of the greatest things I've ever heard him say he said brother Kilmer none of us are smart enough to be right all the time but the more we mature we can become more right most of the time how many of you have ever been wrong

then no you ready you got to forget here's what I want you to do I want you to bow your head see I know some of you have been hurt right now I know some of you have been hurt don't expect too much from human beings they're human and part of that is to say I'm a human being too and if you can get that understanding in you right now that that's the ground on which we all stand it will help you deal with the humanness of the church you'll read the book of acts and you'll go wow that doesn't just sound like my church that sounds like me when Paul and Barnabas get in a fight over a young preacher and they separate company we're just reminded again in the revelation of the lord forgive forgive so I want to ask you I know this is a hard place to end

probably this sermon is not about what you do in the next few moments some of you meet may mean to take an hour two hours and get along with God and say Lord I know this root is in me and it's maybe anger now it's hurt now but I just I got to get it out now I got to get it out now before it turns into a root of something else that I can't yank out of my spirit help me to love Jesus as you so that I can be free to minister to the church that is weak right there where you're at would you just begin to pray Lord help us today God I'm thankful I'm not who I was I know there's still weakness in me Jesus I'm thankful that you've given me grace and mercy and opportunity to grow and when I've bungled it Lord

you've helped me pick up the pieces helped me to have compassion the same compassion necessary for me to be saved and to grow helped me to have that same compassion for others come on we have we have compassion for sinners most of the time compassion for saints some of the time compassion for other ministers and fellow Bible college students hardly ever if you're not perfect I can't love you are you lovable are you perfect have you never sin perfection means I have nothing left to repent so how many of you are glad for grace so right there where you're at just say Lord help me to have grace for your people right in your own way just begin to cry out to the Lord God search my heart search my heart oh God for things that I need to forgive others of this altar is open if you'd like to respond

however you feel to respond right now we're just going to have a time to let this this word that we heard settle into our heart settle into our spirit however you feel to respond right now maybe you need forgiveness from God today or maybe you need to forgive others just take some time right now to examine your heart look at your heart say God I need you to help me I need you to talk to me right now