Make forgiveness a way of life
Key Passage: 2 Samuel 19:15
Date: June 7, 2024
Second Samuel chapter 19. We have been on the life of David now for about a year and a half.
We are at the point that Absalom tried to take the throne. David left the throne, left Jerusalem, went over to a little town called Mahanaim, and they had the civil war, battle. Absalom, his son, that was rebelling, was killed.
By the way, last week, vacation Bible school was going on, what we discussed dealing with grown children. If you can get to hear it, especially if you have got grown children, I would advise you go back on YouTube and listen to it. But now he is coming back to Jerusalem. He is coming back to Jerusalem. I want you to kind of see some things that go on very briefly tonight about David and how he deals with some people and some situations as he is coming back to sit on the throne again. We are in chapter 19 and verse 15 right there. If you are there, would you say amen? Amen. Second Samuel 19:15. Would you please stand, if you are able, out of respect for the Word of God as I read tonight. Second Samuel 19. We are going to begin in verse 15. I am just thrilled to see everyone here on a Wednesday night. What a blessing you are in God’s house. God is pleased with that. He is pleased with that. Right, we ought to be a very important service, right in the midweek service. So crucial to get your battery charged.
Verse 15, Second Samuel 19:15: “So the king returned and came to Jordan; and Judah came to Gilgal to go to meet the king to conduct the king over Jordan.”
I kind of pause for just a moment and say a word or two. We will not discuss it fully tonight, but it is a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ. This old world rejected Him; the old world crucified Him. One day He is coming back for us. He is going to take us out of here, but then we are going to come back with Him after those seven years. He is going to come back. It will be a wonderful, wonderful time. We will get to come back with the King, and He will set up His throne in Jerusalem. He will sit on the throne of David. We will rule and reign underneath Christ during that time. This is a wonderful picture of that. Can you imagine when Jesus comes back to Jerusalem to sit on the throne? David is coming back to Jerusalem to sit on the throne here also. A wonderful comparison. But we are not going to focus on that tonight, but I will not just throw it in there.
Verse 16: “And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted, and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him. And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, and they went over Jordan before the king.”
Let me just pause for a moment. I am trying to just say a couple things to read a little more of a Bible study on Wednesday night, but I am not sure why Shimei has the thousand Benjaminites. He is from that tribe of Benjamin. We know that. I am not sure. Maybe he had them with him when he is going to apologize to the king. He wants witnesses being there of his tribe. Some would say maybe he is trying to force his hand a little bit. I do not think so. David typically does not go that way, if you will, and he has his warriors with him. So I do not think that, but he has some of his buddies with him. And then Ziba also, the servant of Saul, and then Mephibosheth—we will talk about that a little bit later on.
Verse 18: “And they went over a ferry boat to carry over the king’s household and to do whatever he thought good.”
“And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king as he was come over Jordan, and said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned; therefore behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”
But Abishai—now Abishai, that is Joab, General Joab’s brother—Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?”
And David said, “What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be an adversary unto me? Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? For do not I know that I this day am king over Israel?” Therefore, the king said unto Shimei, “Thou shalt not die,” and the king sware unto him.
Would you pray with me that God would work on our hearts very quickly tonight?
Father, I feel certain You have led me to focus on what we are going to focus on tonight. So, Lord, would You just take that? Would You apply it? Would You give us a vision of trusting You, even when people do us and others wrong? And Lord, live in a happy and a full and a free life because of that. Lord, would You use David tonight to give us that vision? And Father, we will brag on You and thank You and pray for what You do. Lord, we ask for these things in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
You will remember as David is fleeing Jerusalem and Absalom is ascending the throne, David is at the bottom. And Shimei—remember he is from Bahurim—and David crosses through that city on his way over to Mahanaim. As he is coming there, Shimei—I take it in my mind’s eye a little before he reaches, maybe the city gate—Shimei is out there. Now this is when David is at the bottom before the civil war. Shimei comes out there and he starts cursing, literally cursing the king. Now the Bible, we have already studied. Remember the Bible says David had a man on his left and his right. It seems like probably those men ran to kind of protect David the king. In fact, Shimei starts picking up dirt and rocks, throwing it at the king. I mean, just, you talk about kicking someone when they are down. Exactly what Shimei was doing. And you remember, you remember his warriors there said, “Man, let me go take his head off his shoulders. I will make sure he cannot put it back on either,” you know. “Just let me add him.” And David said, “No, maybe God will see what is going on here. God will have mercy on me because of what Shimei is doing.” Now, that is what Shimei, by the way, going against the king at that day and time, it should have been: Shimei, he is gone. It is over. But David had mercy. David said, “Maybe God will require of me good for the evil he is doing today.”
And now the civil war, David’s men have won, Absalom is dead. David is coming back. Old Shimei, the old rat—oh, please forgive me, David—he is begging for mercy. Same thing. Abishai said, “Man, let me get at him. I will have—he will not be breathing tomorrow, guarantee of that, buddy. Let me just take care of him,” you know. “He will not know what hit him,” you know. And David said, “No, no, no, nobody is going to die today.”
Now, I want you just think about that. Think about the forgiveness, the mercy of David. Really, this guy deserved it, and that day and time to die. But I want you just think about the mercy and forgiveness. Can I encourage you not to make forgiveness a way of life? I mean, not just a one-time deal, but make it a way of life for you. It is a wonderful way of life. You know the Bible says God is ready to forgive. And just, just—and I want you just try to contemplate that where you make forgiveness a way of life.
Do you ever think about David? David was a forgiving man. Saul chased him for years and tried to kill him. And yet David, it seems, had no bitterness. In fact, when Saul was humbled, David mourned over that. And in fact, the man that killed him, David had him killed. He is a forgiving man. Maybe that is some of the reason why God used David so much.
What about Abner? The man that was the general up north in Israel, those ten tribes that were leading them, the southern part, Judah had made David King for seven years, but the north had not done that. And Abner was their general. And yet when Abner wanted to make things right, you know, David forgave him. And David fed him a good meal, a feast. Now some others in his kingdom, Joab killed Abner. But David said, “I want everybody to know I had no part of this thing here,” and he mourned over that. But David could have been mad. Abner led, was part of the people up north leading them against David, him and Saul’s son. And Mr. Abner forgives.
I am not sure where David learned to forgive. Maybe it was when David was a younger man. Remember, we studied in him, and remember Nabal that David had taken care of, and his men had taken care of his sheep and his herdsmen. And then David was going to cross past with him, and he said, “Hey, could you help us out a little bit? We are in time of need.” And old Nabal was just a mean old man, and David was going to go kill him. Remember that? And Abigail, she came. Remember she had all that food? She said, “Do not do that, David. You do not want the blood on your hands.” Maybe that is where David learned. Maybe when David was backslidden, remember we studied it up where he went, he had gone to some tribes, and he was a bloody man for a—maybe he learned, “I do not want any part of that.” But somewhere on the line, it just seems that David became a forgiving man. So many opportunities for David to hold a grudge.
Can I say this about Shimei? David knew that old Shimei and his—oh, please—he knew that was an act. Because remember later on when he is about to die and Solomon is going to be on the throne, remember he still warned Solomon, he said, “Hey, you better watch Shimei.” Later on, Solomon had Shimei killed because he did not keep the deal he was supposed to. But I am saying David knew what was going on. It was not that Shimei got everything right. David was a forgiving man. Can I say this? “Well, if they get everything right, I will forgive them.” That is not true forgiveness, friend. Praise the Lord, we do not have to get everything right for God to forgive us because nobody gets everything right. I sure have not. And kept me, to be honest with you, have not either. Just forgiving. Make it a way of life—forgiveness.
Look over in Matthew 18, if you would. Keep your finger there. We will go back to it. But look over Matthew 18, and verse 21. Matthew 18:21, if you would, please, very quickly tonight. I say, try to be brief tonight. I know I could feel the wave of disbelief coming across. I could feel that. Miss Maria, you did not have to say “yes” so much there. I have seen that now, you know.
But look over Matthew 18. Look at verse 21, if you would please. Matthew 18:21: “Then came Peter to him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’” Seven is the number of completion. Seven times, that is it. Jesus saith unto him, “I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.”
I am going to another place. He was talking about parallel scripture, someone. It is more like a daily thing. Can I tell you what I believe God is saying? After you have forgiven 490 times, it has become a way of life. That is a wonderful way to live. There is so much more peace there. You do not have to keep score of everything. You do not have to remember who did right and wrong and all the rest. God remembers all that. He is talking about making forgiveness a way of life. And it is the best thing, the happiest, most joyous, the most free way to live. Look, just let forgiveness be a way of life.
But let us read on. We are going to read a little bit tonight specifically for this passage. I want you to think about this story he gives. Stick with me. Do not let your mind wander. Think about it. Verse 23: “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which had a mind to take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”
It is amazing the difference according to who you read by. A talent is a lot of money. Some will say this is $3.5 billion. Some will say all the way up to $7 billion, according to what commentary you read, you know. Either way it is, it is a whole lot of money. I will take $3.5 billion. That would be all right by me. I mean, we have a property built pretty soon, amen. But this guy owed him so much money—just billions, not millions, but billions of dollars. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”
Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion. It is amazing how much compassion is brought up in this passage. And he loosed him and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence.
Now, pence again, according to who you read by. I like for the Bible to interpret the Bible. You remember over there in Matthew, the guy that went and worked in the morning time, he agreed for a penny. So if you say that is a day’s wage, and I am just kind of making it easy, would you say it is $100? If it was $100 for nearly a day’s time, that would make this $10,000. That is still a lot of money to me. I know Brother Patrick and Marlene, it is just pocket change for them. They have all that money, you know. But in comparison to three and a half or seven billion dollars, it is pocket change. See? So the comparison here.
Verse 28: “And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me that thou owest.’” And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” And he would not. But he went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. By the way, he would have had a better chance of getting his money if he let him go. Hard to make money in prison, you know what I am saying?
So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their lord—remember the king that was reckoning—unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all of that debt because thou desiredst me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?” And his lord was wroth, and he delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not”—what are the next two words?—“every one his brother their trespasses.”
Now, friend, after God has forgiven you and I of all our sins and our debt—I mean, we deserve to go to hell and burn forever and ever, with weeping and gnashing of teeth and utter darkness and hot lava, if you will, just burn for all eternity—and yet God forgave us of all that. And shame on us, shame on me if I do not forgive every one his brother. Amen. That is what I teach you. Father, that means you lose your salvation. If you are saved, the Bible says you shall never perish. “I will have no eyes cast them out.” No, He is not teaching that, but friend, if you will not forgive someone, you are going to live in torment. Utter torment. And it is sad when a child of God, the fellowship with their Heavenly Father is broken, they have no peace, they have conviction from the Holy Spirit, and they live in torment because I will not forgive.
Friend, I am saying the whole passage that you are starting with—no, not seven, seventy times seven. Make it a way of life. Do not hold grudges on your spouse. You are probably going to get hurt worse by your spouse than just about anybody because they are the closest to you. They are right by your heart. Your life is that rib, right there by your heart, and somebody else can say something that does not hurt that bad, but if your wife says it, she is right there by it; boy, it is going to hurt. And wives, you are devoting your life to your husband, and you are just amazing how giving wives are. And husband, when you belittle her and you do not appreciate her, you will hurt her really like nobody else can because she is giving her life to you in so many ways. And, friend, do not hold grudges. You are going to get hurt anytime you are close to someone. You are going to get hurt. And yes, you must deal with it. Sometimes you need to talk it out and solve issues, but do not hold grudges. Make forgiveness—oh, have I? Benjamin Franklin said this: He said, “To do an injury puts you below your enemy. Revenging makes you even with your enemy. Forgiving sets you above your enemy.”
Oh, forgiveness. Can I say this? You are going to reap what you sow. Do not fall—this is all aside. We are not going to get done early. We keep chasing these rabbit trails, but let us shoot the rabbit while we are there. Do not fall for this thing of karma. Friend, that is reincarnation. There is no reincarnation. Now, there is a Bible term way before karma was ever around called, “You are going to reap what you sow.” “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” But do not use this worldly phrase and junk karma. Friend, we do not believe in reincarnation. You die as—as a point of that—man wants to die, and after this is a judgment. You either are going to go to heaven or hell. Do not fall for that junk. But you are going to reap what you sow. And look, if you are mad, I just believe they need to pay for what they are going to—how they treated me, what they said, what they did. You are going to be treated the same way. You are going to reap what you sow. How about sowing forgiveness? It is just a wonderful way to live. Making it a way of life.
Samuel Holmes was in Frankfort, Kentucky. True story. He had murdered someone. His boyhood friend, Mr. Young, visited him. Now, here is the thing about Mr. Young. He was a hero—a noted hero. There had been a wreck, and he had swam out and he had saved some people, whatnot, from the wreck. And everyone knew about it. He was known as a hero. So he went to visit his friend, and he got burdened about his friend that was to be executed. So he went to the governor—Young did—and he petitioned the governor for a pardon because he was a hero. He was able to get the pardon for his friend. So he had the pardon, and he goes to jail to visit his friend. Before he gives him the paper, the pardon, he talks to him and he says, “Hey, if you had a full pardon, you could go free. What is the first thing you would do?” You know what the man said? He said, “I would go find that judge and that man that witnessed against me and I would kill him. Revenge.” True story. Mr. Young just kept that paper in his pocket. They say he walked out of the jail, full pardon, and he tore it up.
Oh, friend, forgiveness is always a better route. Always a better route. Just make forgiveness a way of life. It is such a better, better life.
Now, let me say this. I am going to try to hurry. I have been trying all that long; it has not been working so far, you know, but I am trying. But you remember the story of Mephibosheth and Ziba. Mephibosheth is Jonathan’s son. Saul was his grandfather. I remember Saul and Jonathan, all of them killed on Mount Gilboa and all that. So later on, David hears about Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was crippled—a story there—but he is crippled. So David tells Mephibosheth, “Hey, come over here. I want to be good to you. I want you to eat at my table. And all the property and the things that Saul owns, I will give it to you.” He did so. He gave it to Mephibosheth. And now Mephibosheth was crippled, so he gave him Ziba to be his servant. Remember that Ziba had all those kids, servants? So he said, “Hey, y’all can take care of all this land that I am giving to Mephibosheth.” So Ziba was Mephibosheth’s servant. Remember when David fled Jerusalem? Ziba came and said, “Well, that Mephibosheth, you have been so good to, he says he is going to get on the throne. You are leaving because of Absalom.” But old Mephibosheth, he says he is going to sit on the throne. And boy, I tell you what, you are so good to that guy, he is doing you wrong now. And now David is coming back after it is all over. Ziba was there where he read that.
Now let us just keep reading here a little bit. I want you to notice. Look in Second Samuel 19. Look at verse 24, if you would, please. Verse 24, if you would: “And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king; and he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day that the king departed until the day he came again in peace.”
“And it came to pass when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, ‘Wherefore camest thou not with me, Mephibosheth?’” And he answered, “My lord, O king, my servant, Ziba, deceived me: for thy servant said, ‘I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame.’ And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes. For all of my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king, yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right, therefore, have I yet to cry any more unto the king?”
And the king said unto him, “Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land.” And Mephibosheth said unto the king, “Yea, let him take all; forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.”
Now here is what I want you to realize. One of them was lying. We have discussed it. I think Ziba is lying. I have told you the reasons for thinking that. We have already discussed that. But here is what I want you to notice tonight: just bypass him. Did you notice David did not take the time to find out who was lying? I think David could have figured it out. He may have already known. But he did not. He did not even have a royal search, “Let’s figure out what is going on.” I mean, David, he could say, “Look, somebody is lying here. I am going to get to the bottom of this and bring justice to it.” He is king, actually. But he did not do that. He just heard enough. “We are going to divide the land.”
Now here is the thought. Here is the thing. I think God would want us to get from this: Friend, you are not going to be able to bring justice to every situation. If I get stuck, I have got to bring justice to every single thing, I am going to be a nervous wreck. Friend, if we are not careful, us Christians can be what they are called tallykeepers—who did right and who did wrong? And we will spend our life being tallykeepers. “Well, I know the truth about that there.” And you have a lot of peace about it too, do you not? I am saying David is the king here. And David, he does not get in the mud and even try to figure out who is lying. And they both could not be telling the truth because they have opposite stories. I am just saying David, he did not get stuck on all that. He said, “Let us move on. We will divide the property and move on.”
Friend, if we are not careful—I have said this often—Satan is always trying to pin the badge on us and make us think we are the police of Christianity. “Did you hear what church so-and-so is doing?” No, we have enough to worry about right here. “Did you hear what so-and-so said?” No, I worry about what I say half the time. I am just saying, now there is time, and we want to bring justice, but if you are trying to bring justice to every situation, you are going to be a nervous wreck. You cannot be like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. You cannot always bring justice to everything. Friend, can I say it this way here? Let God be the judge.
Such a good verse. It comes to my mind. Look over in Deuteronomy 32:4. If you have a hard time sometimes just letting God deal with things, it is such a good verse. I would encourage you to memorize this verse along that line. Deuteronomy 32, verse 4. When you find that, would you say amen? Amen. Deuteronomy 32. Look at verse 4 right there: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” And He sees it all.
Somewhere along the line, you are going to have to just stop and say, “I cannot bring justice to every situation. I want to do it right before God, and where I am to oversee it, I am supposed to take care of business. I will do the best I can to take care of business, but I cannot make every wrong right in this universe. But God can. God will.” In the meantime, I want to live by faith, and I want to have the joy of the Lord. And I want to have a smile on my face. I want to go home with my family and laugh and enjoy and smile.
Do you realize David, after this civil war, there is no recording of David saying, “Oh, we need to track down everybody that went against me in the battle, and let us kill those that did not get it.” It does not say anything about David. “Oh, let us find out who went, who turned against me during the battle.” David did not do that. You do not find David doing that. If I am not careful, I will just get stuck. Everybody has to be just right. I want to be just right, but friend, you live in a sin-cursed world. Everything is not just right. And I am going to have to learn to trust my Heavenly Father. He is the judge. He is just right, and see, He will bring justice to this world in His time. Usually His timing is much slower than mine, but it is a whole lot surer than mine.
Our government—oh my goodness—this past election, wow, what a flop. I do not mind saying, I do not believe it is fair at all. A pack of lies. Well, they come out whether or not, I think it has already come out. I am satisfied and believing that. But for me, if I let that turn my world upside down, I am not going to be good for anybody.
Now, what a great verse that is: Ecclesiastes 5:8. If you can find it in 30 seconds, we will get up real quick. Well, just a great verse. If you cannot, just let us read it for you. It is a great verse if you just have a problem with our government, all that is going on. It is a great verse for you. Ecclesiastes 5:8: “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province…” That is exactly what is going on right now. Violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province. He says three things. Number one, marvel not at the matter. Do not get shook up. “Why can’t I eat?” Well, I sure cannot. Hey, man, I can eat too much. I drink some Dr. Pepper; that is really my problem here lately. He said, “Marvel not at the matter.” I love this: “For he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be a higher than they.” Oh, praise the Lord, there is a higher than they. Amen. Well, Big Brother watches everything we do. Well, God watches everything they do. Friend, you are not going to bring justice to everybody, everything. There is a matter of trust that the just shall live by faith. “Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” That Bible used the word happy. Happy is he.
No, David did not take it out on Shimei. He said, hey, he knew what was going on with Shimei. Later on, he tells Solomon about it, but he forgives. Oh, it is such a better way of living. He is just getting a habit. Man, that guy cut you off. You can hold a grudge for the next week, just mad at everybody. He is just getting the habit of forgiving. Make it a way of life.
“Well, they said such and such.” I understand it was not right. I understand. Nothing wrong with you; you are just in the knowledge of the truth. But forgive. Just make it a way of life. You are going to reap what you sow. You are not going to bring justice to everything in this world. You are not. God will in His time. David did not. He does not sort out the problems of Mephibosheth and Ziba, but he just says, “Hey, we are going to split the land; let us move on.” Make forgiveness a way of life. You will be so much happier. So much your own.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight? Our heads and eyes are closed.
Maybe you are there and you just say, “I want to grow in making forgiveness a way of life. I just want to make it a way of life. It is just my pattern.” That will help you when you face the big ones. And preacher, God spoke about it. I want to make it a way of life—forgiveness. And God spoke to my heart about that. That is your night. Slip your head in, preacher. I want to make it a way of life. Oh, it is so vital. I want to grow on that too, need to. Thank you for letting the Lord touch your heart. What a good thing. What a good thing.
Maybe you are here tonight and you say, “Help me to realize I am not going to bring justice to everything. Help me not to be a tally keeper.” If we are not careful, we will be Barney Fife, just keeping track of everybody. So I do not want to be like that. I want to trust God to bring justice. I want to realize I cannot bring justice to everything. God spoke to my heart about that right there. If that is you, slip your head in, preacher. That is me. God spoke to my heart about it. It is so good. Such a better way of living. One of a wonderful way to live.
Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We will have a word of prayer. And you can come now. You can come as soon as we are done praying. Would you come? Our instruments will play when we say amen.
Father, thank You. You have forgiven me of so much. Shame on me, Lord, when I hold grudges. Help me not to be a tally keeper. Thank You, Lord. Do You keep tallies and help us to trust Your tally? Bless our people tonight, Father, please. In Jesus, let me pray. Amen.
As our instruments play, would you come? Would you come? Do not wait for anybody else. Just come spend some time with the Lord.
Maybe you have got a major wound. Maybe someone has hurt someone you love. Can I encourage you tonight to take that? Just take that and bring it to the Lord. Lay it down at His feet. Now the devil will pick it up, bring it back to you. Just keep laying it down at His feet. Sometimes it is a moment by moment. Keep laying it at His feet. “But rather give place to wrath.” Feet of Jesus. Hold up, just keep giving it to Him. It is the right thing to do. Be glad you did.
Original File: Make Forgiveness A Way of Life - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Wednesday 72121