2 SAMUEL 5:1-10 [THE CONQUEST OF JERUSALEM]
A man who reads through his Bible without picking up on the need of the
New Birth falls sort of grasping it’s central message
Of course, it is true that there is a greater theme again/Bible
Bible is not a man centred Book, but a God centred Book
Therefore, we always look for that which tends to the glory/God
But we see the glory/God in the regeneration of sinners
When Paul spoke about his new birth experience, he noted of the NT believers (who could hardly believe it!)
But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
And they glorified God in me. (Galatians 1:23-24)
That is what a true testimony must ever do
Bring glory to God and the wonders of sovereign grace
Now the Bible teaches the New Birth in several ways
[i] In a narrative form: John 3:1-21
[ii] In a doctrinal form: In Paul’s epistles
[iii] In a practical form: 1 John gives the evidences/new birth
[iv] In our passage, the Bible employs the picture form
A historical, literal, actual OT incident maybe used to convey the Bible’s teaching of the New Birth
Please remember: without the New Birth, no one can see the Kingdom of God – Jesus Christ Himself said so
Let’s look at our passage and the incident at hand:
3 main thoughts:
1) THE RESISTANCE THAT WAS SCANDALOUS:
A/ Let’s look at the context of our passage
After years waiting/persecution, King David finally comes to possess the throne/Israel as intended by the Lord (v1-2)
The COI came to David and anointed him to be their king (v3)
This was something that was done freely, even though it was decreed and ordained of God beforehand
Divine sovereignty and man’s will need not always collide
Bible brings the two supposedly clashing thought together
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power (Psalm 110:3)
On God’s side: Shall be …day of thy power
On man’s side: They are willing – not forced or compelled
v1 shows the great affection that they had for David
He was one of their own – bone/their bone and flesh/their flesh
They wanted him to reign over them
B/ Such could not be said of the original inhabitants/Jerusalem
Their cry to David was simply “Thou shalt not come hither” (v5)
(This shortened down defiance is in the 1 Chronicles 11 account)
There was therefore a city wide resistance to the reign David
C/ Jerusalem was a city that had a lot going for it
In Psalm 48:2 we read that it was beautiful for situation
It sat up on a hill (a.k.a. Holy Hill of Zion) and it was surrounded by
other hills and drew/draws the admiration of all onlookers
This reminds us of man in his original estate
Man was created the highest of all the earthbound creatures
He was made in the image of God
He was created upright and all very good
Even though man has fallen – yet he still gives (although defaced) evidences of the image of God
It is like going to an old ancestral home that is in ruins
Overgrown with weeds and great decay/destruction
But here and there you can see part of the original beauty
Perhaps the remnants of a carved window etc.,
That is how man is to be viewed
Evolutionists say that he is just an advanced monkey/ape
Just another animal on the list of many animals
Bible: No! He has a soul made in the image/God
This makes the resistance which man has to God (as seen in the defiance here of Jerusalem to David) totally inexcusable
D/ Why did the Jebusites (as they were known) resist David?
Answer: They did not want David’s God and His laws
Wanted instead to continue to wallow in their sins
Did not want a consciousness of the true God
Did not want purity of life and Sabbath observance
There may well be other issues in there to be worked out
But the bottom line was spiritual
These people said what the Jews said later re: the Lord Jesus
“We will not have this man to rule over us” (Luke 19:14)
This is fundamentally why this incident is recorded
E/ Further pictures the unsaved in that they were confident that they could continually resist the advances of David (v6)
Some think this means that they felt they could afford to put the blind and sick on the walls and it would be secure
OR: That they would resist right down to the last man so that even the sick/blind would refuse surrender and would rather die
This thought presents us with a two fold thought
[i] That the unsaved can and do resist the gospel
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Act 7:51
Their resistance is likewise sin motivated
This is the greatest danger unsaved folk are in:
They can, do and will continue to resist the claims/gospel
Let no one think that they can delay coming to Christ until later
One who is thinking favourably about coming to Christ now may not be so favourable later on
There is such a thing as a judicial blinding of the heart
Mercies that are ventured now and snubbed may be withdrawn
[ii]
Yet, there are sinners out there who will be brought savingly to Jesus
Christ – not against their will – but despite how it presently operates
IOW: Grace will lay hold upon many and bring them/Christ
Consider the words/God until a pretty fearful Paul/Corinth
Corinth was noted for its depravity/debauchery
Paul stands trembling as he seeks to build a church there
Then
spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but
speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set
on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. (Acts 18:9-10)
These were people still unsaved
We learn later on from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 of some of the great vices that they were in bitter bondage to
But they were marked down to be converted by the grace/God
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy (Romans 9:15)
2) THE RESOLVE THAT WAS VICTORIOUS:
A/ David was determined to take Jerusalem for himself
Jerusalem was right in the midst of the Promised Land
Morally it stood as a blot of the landscape
Righteousness/holiness demanded its removal or its reformation
As it stood, it was hated of David’s righteous soul (v8)
It was an affront to the God of Heaven and the status quo could not be maintained without honour
B/ Grace determined that it would be taken
Other places that were removed from the map altogether
But here is a city that would be overthrown and reformed
C/ David was under no illusion of the task at hand
[i] The city is described as a strong hold (v7)
Hence the boast (if such it be) that they could afford to man the walls/ramparts with even the most useless of people
It is no easy thing to win the heart of man to salvation
Heart is a strong hold of Satan
Christ told a parable about the need to overthrow and bind the strong man before his goods could be taken (Luke 11:21)
Never let us think lightly of sin
Sin fortifies the soul against the God of Heaven
There is no such a thing as a light sin
Said of Ahab:
And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to
walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife
Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and
served Baal, and worshipped him. (1 Kings
16:31)
Here was a man who held very liberal views about sin
Therefore he went from one deep sin to another with very little thought and ended up being one of the wickedest men/Bible
[ii] David knew that he had a real job on his hands because: he offered the chief captaincy to the man who could take it (v8)
The height/reward signifying the greatness of the work involved
D/ David did more than take stock of the situation and make decent offers to induce his heroic officers to take the city
He devised a strategy to achieve his great end
In v8 he ordered the one going to climb up some subterranean passage (possibly even a sewer) and gain access to the city
How instructive this is!
Regeneration involves the heart of man
A new heart will I give you… (Ezekiel 36:26)
Religion cleans up the outside but leaves the wicked heart intact
Regeneration cleans up the inside – renews the wicked heart
– and subsequently enables the cleaning up of the outside:
Neither do I condemn thee – go and sin no more (John 8:11)
The plan was that the one who would access the city via the underground passages would then open the gate of the city
What does regeneration produce?
Consider one particular sinner we read of in the Bible
Her name was Lydia – a well to do businesswoman
I don’t think that she was outwardly very wicked
But nevertheless, she needed the new birth to get/Heaven
How does the writer/Acts word it?
The Lord opened her heart so that we attended to the things spoken of by Paul (Acts 16:14)
E/ The 1 Chronicles account says that it was Joab who took/city
This is not without significance:
[i] Joab = Jehovah is my Father
This shows again that regeneration is a divine work
After He is called the Father/Lights…
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)
Man cannot regenerate His own heart
This was one of the major heresies of Charles G. Finney
But regeneration is a divine work
Man is said to be born from above i.e. of God (John 1:13)
[ii] Joab took the city with his sword – he smote the inhabitants
For
the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
Regeneration involves a rooting out of sin from the heart
We are reborn by the Spirit of God unto holiness
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit (i.e. spiritual)
This is accomplished through the Spirit of God taking the preached word of God and applying it to the soul/sinner:
Being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)
So the source of the new birth is in the will of God
The agency of the New Birth is the word of God
Preachers
preach the word – publishers publish the word – rank and file
Christians gossip the word – and God in His sovereignty takes it and
uses it to bring people from darkness to light
This is the resolve that was victorious
The city was taken
3) THE REIGN THAT WAS GLORIOUS:
A/ When David took the city, he was crowned King/Israel there
The salvation/God makes Him both Lord and Christ
He is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)
None of this Saviour-but-not-Lord business!
When David took this city – He was crowned
B/ God’s salvation is unto holiness
Of course, Christians sin and often seriously
No – We don’t want to quench the smoking flax
No – We don’t want to break the bruised reed
No - We don’t want to be holier than God and unchurch people who need to be loved and helped rather than only condemned
But we are looking/folk who shoot straight even/if…fall short
God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness
He has given us many great and exceeding precious promises to aid us in this life long process of sanctification
Therefore the Apostle declares:
Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2
Corinthians 7:1)
This is what salvation is all about:
He shall save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21)
C/ We mentioned earlier (Psalm 48:2) about Jerusalem being beautiful for situation - true no matter who reigned there
But the Psalmist David went further:
“The joy of the whole earth”
This could only be after he came to reign in it in righteousness
D/ This is the salvation which we preach
The necessity of regeneration
The beauty of regeneration
Appeal
THE END