2 Samuel 19:8b-40
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will grab a Bible and go to 2 Samuel chapter 19. We're working our way through the book of 2 Samuel. We have made a shift recently.
We would always have the passages that we were on on the screen and we have stopped doing that. Our hope is that as people of the Bible, as people of a book, we would grow in our ability to hold and read a book in a culture that has increasingly lost the ability to hold and read a book. And so we want to be people who we practice that together on Sunday mornings. And our hope is that it'll be helpful. We think it may be a kind of an annoying shift, but we hope that it'll bear fruit and we'll see. So we're not promising we'll never go back to putting it on the screen.
We are promising we won't quickly. We're going to try to see if we can learn how to hold and read a book. Bring your Bibles with you. If you don't have a Bible, grab one of the black ones that should be in the seat row and one of those little cages in front of you. If you can't reach one easily, smack someone and do like this till they hand you a Bible. We're going to be on page 309.
One of the joys of pastoring is getting to perform weddings. You get to celebrate with people. It's a lot of fun to perform a wedding, to get to be there with people during that time. It can be anxiety ridden because people do remember the things you say at their weddings. And if you mess it up, they're upset by that. But it is fun.
And one of the blessings that we have as a church is that we have five pastors. So different ones of our pastors get to participate in performing weddings. There was a time there where I went a long time without getting to perform a wedding. Matt Freeman performed some weddings. Raz Bradley performed some weddings. Isaac Hill performed some weddings.
Spencer Cary performed some weddings and I didn't perform any weddings. And that's fine. But my wife and I were discussing this at one point. And she said, yeah, I don't know why people don't ask you to perform their weddings. And I was like, yeah, I don't know either. And then we sat there quietly for a little while.
And then she said, I do think people want their pictures to look nice. So I said, hold on a second. So it turns out my beloved wife of many years doesn't think that I always have the most pleasant look on my face. That could tip the balance away from me. But one of the things that's happened is I've sat in other weddings performed by our other pastors.
I've heard Spencer say several times in weddings as he goes to have the couple give their vows, declare their vows to one another. He'll say, if you are a married person in the room, I would encourage you at this time to consider your vows. As they take their vows for the first times, I would encourage you to consider your vows that you have made and the promises that you have made and what that looks like in your life right now and have the opportunity to reinvest in your vows. And the reason I bring that up is because that's in some ways how we're going to approach this passage this morning.
We are in the middle of David who has had to flee from his son who has rebelled against him. And then they had a battle and Absalom died and everyone ran away and it kind of broke up. And now we're going to see today as David returns back from across the Jordan, back over to Jerusalem. And as we read these individual interactions, we're going to see three individual interactions between David and individuals as he comes back and they have to reckon with the return of their king. We're going to take a moment to consider as a gathered people of God, as Christians who've gathered this morning, that we are in a rebellious kingdom waiting for a returning king.
We're in a similar situation. Now, this situation plays out differently than ours is going to play out because David is imperfect and this kingdom that he's coming back to is imperfect, as we'll see in the coming weeks. But we're going to just pause. We're going to read one of these stories, try to understand it, and then we're going to pause and consider for a moment our situation with our better king. And then we're going to kind of work our way through in that manner. So that's what we're going to do today.
I'm going to pray for us and then we'll hop in to the story. Lord, we ask that you would help us to consider well the position that we're in, to consider well our hearts, to see our lives well in light of your imminent return. That as people who await the return of a good king to set up a righteous kingdom, that we would wait properly and be ready for that day. Help us to study your word well. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, we're going to pick up in 2 Samuel chapter 19 verse 8b.
And the reason b just means the back half of verse 8b. The verses were added later, so sometimes you end up needing to pick up in a different place. So it's just, it says, now Israel had fled every man to his own home. So that's after Absalom's rebellion. Absalom dies. Everybody who was helping him flees.
And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel saying, the king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines. And now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. But Absalom, who we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now, therefore, why do you say nothing about bringing the king back? So Israel begins to argue amongst themselves as they've traveled back home as, hey, we, King David was pretty good.
He saved us from the Philistines. We held a very unsuccessful rebellion. Why don't we bring the king back? Why aren't we trying to fix this? That's what they start to say. And apparently this word of this makes it to David.
David is in Mahanaim. He fled from Jerusalem. So he's crossed over. That's why they're talking about bringing him back because he left. Once he crossed over the Jordan, he's kind of away from the people, even though there are some tribes that would be up here by the Sea of Galilee. And there are some tribes that are over here at Mahanaim.
He's kind of out of the main part of the people, the main part of the promised land. They actually had a whole big discussion of whether or not they could settle tribes on that side of the Jordan because the promised land was on the other side of the Jordan. They decided they could, but then they had all this, you know, relational drama over time to try to settle that they're allowed to be over there, but they are still part of Israel. But the main bulk of the land that belongs to them is on the other side of the Jordan. And David is not there. And they're saying, let's bring him back.
And most of what we're going to see today is going to happen at the Jordan River. It's going to happen while David is coming back and people are coming up from Jerusalem in that area to meet him at the Jordan. So that's what they're talking about. It says, and King David, this is verse 11. And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests who were their pro David. They were willing to come with him.
He says, say to the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house when the word of all Israel has come to the king? So the tribe of Judah is around Jerusalem and that's the tribe that David is from, but they're not murmuring about bringing them back. Everybody else is. And so he sends message to him and says, Hey, say, what are y'all doing? What's the holdup? Why are you taking forever?
Verse 12? You are my brothers. We're the same tribe. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be last to bring back the king and say to Amasa? Okay.
Amasa is David's nephew and Amasa joined Absalom and was Absalom's general in the battle they just had. Joab is David's nephew who's over his army. Amasa was the over Absalom's army. He says, say to Amasa, are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab. So I think David's doing two things there.
One, Joab just killed Absalom after David specifically asked him not to. So there seems to be some frustration potentially between David and Joab because Joab is dangerous and willing to not do what David asked. And so there's some hurt there, even though the most recent thing we read was David following Joab's call on how he ought to treat his troops. Amasa would have been in David's army for a long time and only once tried to kill him in a rebellion. But Amasa is probably the strongest figure left in and around Judah.
He is over the army. If power is going to shift after Absalom dies, it would most likely shift to Amasa. And so he's saying, hey, you come here, you'll replace Joab, you'll be over my army, and we'll go from there. And so he's in some ways removing Joab, but also removing Amasa as a threat and bringing him back over to his side. That's the game plan here. That's why he says that.
Verse 14, and he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man. So they sent word to the king, return both you and all your servants. So the king came back to the Jordan and Judah and came to Gilgal and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan. And Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David. For the record, when you're reading the Bible, a lot of times people come down from Jerusalem because it is uphill. So they can come down and head north, just so you know, because they are heading down a hill.
Down does not mean all south when you're reading your scriptures. So he comes down to meet David, but he's heading northeast. And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin and Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul with his 15 sons and his 20 servants rushed down to the Jordan before the king. And they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure. Which got introduced to two people, Shimei and Ziba. Ziba we'll deal with in a second when we talk about Mephibosheth, but he's the one who's related to the situation with Mephibosheth.
But let's talk about Shimei for a second. Do y'all remember Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim? If you don't remember Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, when David was fleeing in chapter 16, Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, came out while David was in Bahurim and cursed David. So he's a Benjaminite, meaning he was from the people of Saul. He's not of the tribe of Judah. So when David's fleeing Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim comes out and basically says, Oh, in your face, David, you deserve this.
Oh, God got you. Now all the things that you've done, you man of blood, you wicked, worthless, sorry son. He says all kinds of things to him and throws rocks at him and says everything that you did to the house of Saul is coming back on you, which is really unfair because David didn't do much of anything to the house of Saul. He actually went out of his way to find people in the house of Saul to be nice to. He just was anointed King. And then he ran from Saul for a really long time.
But this guy who had more position and more power of being a Benjaminite in the house of Saul comes out and curses him. And while he's doing this, one of David's soldiers basically says, can we kill him? And David says, no, because maybe God told him to curse me. And then we don't want to oppose God. Or maybe God didn't. And God will hear him cursing me.
And God will feel sorry for me and be nice to me because this guy's being mean to me. Either way, don't kill him. Let's go. Well, Shimei hears that David is coming back and seems to think something along the lines of, uh-oh. And he heads to go meet him. It says, this is the back half of verse 18.
And Shimei, the son of Gerah, fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan and said to the king, let not my Lord hold me guilty. Or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my Lord, the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart for your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my Lord, the king. Abishai, the son of Zeruiah answered. This is Joab's brother, one of David's military leaders.
Shall not Shimei be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord's anointed? Which cursing the king isn't something to to take lightly. Cursing the Lord's anointed is not something to take lightly. Open rebellion against the king that God placed in the position that he's in is not something to take lightly. And Abishai says, shouldn't he be put to death? But David said, what do I have to do with you?
You sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me. Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel? And the king said to Shimei, you shall not die. And the king gave him his oath. So Shimei comes and lays down before him and says, don't take it to heart.
Don't remember it. Please forgive me. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have said the things I said. I shouldn't have done what I should have done. And Abishai standing there with the king says, let's put him to death.
And David says, what do I have to do with you? Why are you an adversary to me? This is a day of rejoicing. This is a day of joy. I'm king in Israel. Nobody's being put to death today.
And so he spares him. And there's part of me that goes, yeah, but he just said he was sorry because it didn't work out. Get him. There's part of me that doesn't want this to play out the way it does. But when we consider the position that we're in as we await the return of our king, that it plays out like this is wonderful news.
And that we have the same hope is wonderful news. Because we're supposed to approach our king in repentance as well. And we also have an adversary that stands there and accuses us before him. And we are also thankful that God in his grace sent someone to pay for our sin, that Jesus Christ died for our sin, that we might have forgiveness, that we might be able to repent. That's the way we're supposed to approach the return of Jesus. And so I think when we read this story about Shimei, we should ask the question, do you see your sin?
Do you know that you need forgiveness? Can you see that you're wrong? I don't think Shimei saw it until he reckoned with the return of David. And I think some of you need to reckon with the return of Jesus that one day he will set up his kingdom. I had a guy who used to work for me when I ran a firework store. He was a young guy and we were talking about he had grown up in the church.
We were talking about Jesus and he was in college and he just said, yeah, I like I know the stuff I'm doing is wrong. And I'll need to like repent and, you know, ask Jesus to forgive me. He said, I just, I just don't want to. And I've got plenty of time. I'm young. I've got plenty of time.
Now, he doesn't know that we don't know that we don't know that he has plenty of time. Personally, we don't know if we have plenty of time before the Lord returns. He says he's going to return at any time when he wants to. And so the idea that we don't consider the return of the Lord and we continue in our sin, I think it's helpful for us to see, you know, we actually are supposed to approach the Lord in repentance. That's what Jesus says. That's his first message.
When he comes to earth, he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the proclamation. The kingdom calls us to repentance or an Acts five. When they're preaching the gospel, they say God exalted him. That's Jesus at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That's our hope is that there's repentance and forgiveness.
Second Peter three, when he's talking about the return of the Lord, he says, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise. That's the promise of him coming back as some count slowness, but it's patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Do you see your sin? We have care nights and community groups. Do you take the time to consider your sin? Do you take the time to understand your need for forgiveness?
You show up and go, I'm doing good about the same. I'm fine. One of the signs of faithfully following Jesus is there should be times when you or someone in your group says, Hey, actually I need to talk to you. I need to come. I know it's not a care night, but I don't sin on a schedule. And so I need to repent now.
I don't just wait for like the week leading up to care night to get all my sins out so that I can talk about them on that, you know, that nice scheduled Tuesday. We do that on purpose to build the rhythm of repentance, but it's something that we should do something that we should see our need for a savior and the hope that we have that there is forgiveness because we don't save ourselves, but we do get to have repentance and forgiveness. That's our hope. So I think that's what we should consider as we consider, as we see Shimei on his face before the King, we should consider, do we see our sin?
Do we know what happens when he returns? The second interaction and Mephibosheth, the son of Saul came down to meet the King. Now he's in the line of Saul. That's what that means. He's Saul's grandson. Mephibosheth, if you remember, is Jonathan's son.
He is crippled in his feet is the way the text describes him. And he is the one who David went and searched out and brought specifically to his table. And David found Ziba and said, is there anybody left that we can be, that I can be nice to in the house of Saul? And Ziba said, yes, there's Mephibosheth. He goes and gets Mephibosheth. And then he places Mephibosheth with Ziba under him as Ziba is his servant.
When David flees, Ziba shows up with no Mephibosheth. And David says, where's Mephibosheth? And Ziba says, oh, he was so excited that you're fleeing. He actually said, this is great because today I'll become King. So I just left because I'm on your team.
And David says, okay, well, everything that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours. And that's how they leave. When David's returning, Mephibosheth shows up. Verse 24, he had neither taken care of his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety. Mephibosheth looks rough. David's been gone for a while.
He's been gone long enough to make it all the way to Mahanaim, to set up himself there, to fight a battle, to have everyone flee back to their homes, to then have arguments, to hear the whispers, to then send a message to Judah, to then have Judah talk it out, send back and him to make it here. It's been a while. Mephibosheth hasn't taken care of his feet, hadn't shaved his beard, hadn't washed his clothes. I don't know if you've ever bumped into someone at CVS who looks like they died that morning, microwaved themselves and then headed into CVS. And you're just like, oh, hey, and you take a step back because you don't want what they have.
That's what Mephibosheth looks like. He's not looking good right now, obviously in a state of distress. It says, So Mephibosheth says, yeah, he tricked me. He saddled up and left. But I'm at your mercy.
He slandered me to you, but I'm at your mercy. I was a part of a rebellious enemy house of yours until you brought me in and cared for me. I don't have anything else, any other claims to make. I don't have anything. Just you decide. That's Mephibosheth's approach.
And the king said to him, why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided you and Ziba shall divide the land. And Mephibosheth said to the king, oh, let him take it all since my Lord, the king has come home safely. And that's most likely just a nice way of saying thank you. He's going to take half of it. He'll accept the gift.
The king wants the king says that, but he just says, that's not what I'm most worried about. I'm thankful you're back. Now, I don't know if David's right in his ruling here. I think David was quick in his original ruling with Ziba. I think he's quick in his ruling here. I don't think that Ziba and Mephibosheth could go back to the same situation they were in.
That makes some sense. And Ziba did help David as he fled. So I think he just kind of honors Mephibosheth, honors Ziba, cuts it in half and just moves on. But as we consider our position awaiting our king, and I consider Mephibosheth who went into mourning because of the situation that he was in, who had great upheaval in his life. I just started considering how comfortable are we with the situation that we're in? Do we see the need we have for a good king who brings justice?
Do we see the need we have for a king to set things right? Do we see that we're not at home here? Because I think it's so easy if we're well fed, if we're well provided for, if we're prosperous enough, if we're comfortable enough to not really long for the king to return. I think there's a lot of things we might be looking more forward to. We're not in a state of mourning and waiting for him to come and set things right. Sometimes we are.
Sometimes there's seasons of life where you feel that acutely. But I think it's very easy for us to be comforted to the ability to be dull. Entertained to where our senses are no longer aware of injustice and need and brokenness and the hope of a returning king who sets things right. So I think we need to ask, do I see my need? Do I long for the return of the king? Do I want Jesus to come fix what's broken here?
Or am I just fine? And the things I'm most concerned about are simpler and shorter and closer. Because Mephibosheth needed David to come back to fix things for him. Verse 31, the third interaction. Now Barzillai, the Gileadite, had come down from Rogelim and he went on with the king to the Jordan to escort him over the Jordan.
So he actually lived on the other side and met David when he fled and helped feed him and helped care for him. And he's coming towards the Jordan with him, not meeting him. He's not coming to the Jordan. He's coming with David and he's kind of at the Jordan. He's basically escorting him on his way out. That's the way he's coming.
Verse 32, Barzillai was a very aged man, 80 years old. I don't know how that hits some of y'all, but I'm just reading what it said. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. And the king said to Barzillai, come over with me and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem. But Barzillai said to the king, how many years have I still to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
I am this day 80 years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my Lord, the king? Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king.
Why should the king repay me with such a reward? Please let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But here's your servant, Chimham. Let him go over with my Lord, the king, and you do whatever seems good to you. So David says, you care for us, come with me back to Jerusalem and I'll care for you.
You get to eat at the king's table. You get the best of everything. And Barzillai says, no thank you. Mostly what I want is to live where I live, to die among my people, to be buried with my household, and everything good you have to offer is kind of wasted on me. He said, I don't really taste the food I eat anymore. So it doesn't matter who the chef is.
I can't hear people sing and dance and enjoy that sort of thing anymore. So it just kind of gets on my nerves. He didn't say that. That's me reading into it. That's the way my grandparents were on some things where they like movies were annoying because of the, you know, you go in and it's like high quality sound and they're like, I can't hear anything. This is obnoxious.
I don't want to be there. It'd be like if you were like, hey, we're going to a rave. You want to come? No, I don't. I do not want to participate in anything that is loud and populated. So he says, come to Jerusalem.
And he says, no, thank you. But Chimham would probably love that sort of thing. Take him. Chimham. You can taste food. Yeah, cool.
You're going to love Jerusalem. That's what he does. And he sends Chimham. Verse 38. Verse 38. And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me and I will do for him whatever seems good to you.
And all that you desire for me, I will do for you. Also, I know our church family usually has quite a few pregnant ladies in it. Chimham, baby name. Boy or girl. Kim or Ham for short. There you go.
All right. That's not helpful. Verse 39. Then all the people went over the Jordan and the king went over and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him. And he returned to his own home. The king went on to Gilgal and Chimham went on with him.
And all the people of Judah and also the half the people of Israel brought the king on his way. That's where we're going to stop in our text this morning. And I think in considering Barzillai and his relationship to David, I think one of the things that we need to realize is that when a king comes into his kingdom, he blesses and grants rewards. It's a thing that a king does. And we're told that Jesus does the same thing. Now, it's interesting here because Chimham receives the blessing that he didn't earn.
And there's a part of that that's us. That we get the blessing of Christ. We get the righteousness of Christ. We get what Christ has accomplished for us. That that is what actually saves us is the work of Jesus. But also that a king would see those who had served him and bless them and reward them is a thing that the Bible also tells us happens.
Jesus tells a parable, the same kind of parable framework over and over where he says there's a master who leaves. And he places people in charge. And when he returns and then he always has this master returning. And sometimes when he returns, they're doing what they're supposed to. And he says, it's great. The master says, well done, good and faithful servant.
He says, it's good that the master finds them awake when he returns. No matter when he returns, that they're ready. Sometimes the master returns and they're not ready. They haven't been doing what they're supposed to be doing. And it goes very poorly for them. They're cast out.
They're destroyed. Some stories they're torn to pieces. And there's this promise of reward. There's a promise of a returning king who we're supposed to be faithful and at work when he comes back. And it's interesting. If you consider what Barzillai did.
Barzillai was wealthy. And he provided for David in the wilderness. He provided for David while he was at Mahanaim. He provided for him while he was in the wilderness. And if you consider your life as a Christian. We've been given gifts.
And we're in the wilderness. We're surrounded by people who are in need. Some of that's monetary. Some of that's physical. That we're supposed to be people who care for other people. That all the things that you have aren't meant to terminate on you.
But you're supposed to give of your wealth. Of your resources to care and provide for other people. But some of it is like spiritual gifts. Joy. Do you know that you have a wealth of joy that's accessible by you? Because of Christ.
That you should share with other people. In a culture where people go yeah they're too hard to deal with. Being around them makes me sad. Well we have a hope that's in Christ. That's not circumstantial. Christians should go into those situations.
You should go share some of your joy with somebody. Because you can have yours replenished by Christ. You should go share some of your love with somebody. There are lonely people around you. My family was recently on vacation. And there's other people that came with their child.
And were like hey we're going to hang out with y'all. And I had to pray. Because I don't want to hang out with them. I did not come to the beach to make friends with new people and their children. And I had to be like Lord help me. Because maybe I came to the beach to make new friends with people and their children.
I need to care for people. And I don't know if I navigated that well. I did have to ask for help. I had to tell my sons hey I know that this isn't what. My son stared at him like. What on earth is happening?
I had to be like say hello. That's a human. But they got it from me. Because they just aren't good at acting. I was like hey. And I wanted to just be doing the same thing.
Like you've misread the situation. You picked the wrong people. We are not friendly. But I had to ask for help. Because the reality is we can welcome and care and love and give. We should.
And we have Barzillai who's faithful. And the king sees it and says I want to reward that. And we have a king who's going to return. And we should be at work when he does. We should be loving and caring and praying and laboring when he does. We should be putting effort towards things that matter when he does.
So I think. As we consider. Different individuals who knew that David was coming. And responded in different ways. I think we should ask. Do I see my sin?
Do I know I need forgiveness? I think we should ask. Do I see brokenness in the world? Do I know that I'm not at home here? Do I feel too comfortable here? Or do I know I'm a citizen of a future kingdom?
And I think we should ask. Am I faithful? Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? I want to finish by considering. Second Peter chapter three. It'll be on the screen.
We read a bit of this earlier. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise. As some count slowness. That's his promise to return. But it's patient toward you.
Not wishing that any should perish. But that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Meaning we won't be ready for it. Jesus says. If the master of the house had known.
When the thief was coming. He'd have been ready. But you don't know when the thief is coming. Then he says. So be ready.
Be awake. Be alert. Meaning he could come at any point. He told them that in the first century. He's going to return. At a time they don't expect.
And I know. If you get on the internet. There's a whole lot of people telling you. The signs have gotten more signy lately. Okay. But he can come whenever he wants to.
And if they're telling you. It's more likely now. It is. Because he didn't come yesterday. So it's more likely today.
Every day we move forward. It's more likely. He can return whenever he wants. And we're not waiting for some specific thing. That's got to happen. We're waiting for him.
And he returns when he wants. But he's going to come like a thief. It says there'll be people still being. There's still going to be things on the calendar. There's still going to be good plans. That people have to do good things.
People are going to be engaged. And waiting to get married. That's going to happen. And he's going to return. There's also going to be evil people. Plotting evil things.
And they're not going to get to fulfill it. Because he's going to return. There's going to be all these plans at work. All these negotiations. All these things that are happening. These businesses that are going to merge.
And these people who are going to do this. And a trip you're going to take. And then he's going to return. Like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar. And the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved.
And the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Everything will be laid bare. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved. What sort of people ought you to be. In lives of holiness and godliness. He says none of this other stuff is going to make it.
But we are. And faithfulness is. Holiness is. Godliness is. What sort of people should we be? Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.
God. When was the last time you sat and thought, I hope he hurries? When was the last time you sat and waited for it. Longed for it. Hastened it.
Prayed, Lord, come on. When was the last time you said. Lord be patient. I want to see them. Repent.
Oh Lord. If you could wait a little while. I'm trying. I'm praying. Lord. Can you save them?
Can you rescue them? Are we living our life. Knowing that the master can return whenever he wants. But according to his promise. We are waiting for new heavens. And a new earth.
In which righteousness dwells. Our good things are not here. But they are to come. If you belong to Jesus. And if you don't belong to Jesus. The offer of repentance.
Is for you. That you might come to know him. But may God grant us to be people. Who wait for. And hasten the day of his return. And are ready.
When he gets here. Let's pray. Lord we're thankful. That we have a better king. Than David. Who's going to return.
And set everything right. We're thankful. We're thankful. That we have a better judge. We're thankful. That we have a hope.
In you. And may we look forward. To our reward. May we see. What is to come. And to treasure it.
And to value it. Above what we have. In front of us. Lord may your spirit. Help us. And may we daily.
Wait. For you.
In Jesus name. Amen.