Kingdom Distinctives

Order of Service

• Announcements
• Hymn — All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
• Call to Worship — Philippians 2:6-11
• Hymn — All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (continued)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Apostles' Creed
• Scripture Reading — John 6:52-59
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — The Solid Rock
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper
  • Words of Institution — Matthew 26:26-29
  • Hymn — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (vv. 1–2)
  • Bread
  • Cup
  • Prayer of Thanksgiving
  • Hymn — When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (vv. 3–4)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Kingdom Distinctives

Scripture: 2 Samuel 10

I. The Kingdom of God Extends a Distinctive Kindness

A. David seeks to honor the covenant loyalty (hesed) his family received from Nahash, king of the Ammonites, by sending servants to console Nahash's son Hanun (2 Samuel 10:1-2)

B. Hanun's princes advise him to distrust David, and Hanun shames David's servants by shaving their beards and cutting their garments — an act tantamount to a declaration of war (2 Samuel 10:3-5)

1. Shaving half the beard was a public emasculation and humiliation in the ancient Near East
2. Cutting the robes to expose the men was a symbolic act of castration and contempt

C. A parallel exists with Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12: listening to foolish counsel rather than following David's example of covenant kindness leads to destruction

1. Rehoboam's heavy burdens on Israel split the United Monarchy
2. Hanun's cruel counsel begins the Ammonites' own destruction

D. The Hebrew word hesed (covenant loyalty/kindness) appears twice in verse 2, linking this passage to David's kindness toward Mephibosheth in the previous chapter

1. Chapters 7–10 show a "trickle-down" effect of covenant faithfulness: God's covenant with David (2 Samuel 7) → David's victories (2 Samuel 8) → kindness to Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9) → kindness extended even beyond Israel to Nahash's house (2 Samuel 10)
2. Horizontal kindness toward neighbors flows from being overwhelmed by the vertical kindness of God
3. As we feed on the gospel and are filled with God's love, that love cascades outward to the world

II. The Kingdom of God Holds a Distinctive Faith

A. Hanun, knowing he has committed an act of war, musters a massive coalition force — Ammonites joined by the Syrians of Beth-rehob, Zobah, Maacah, and Tob — against Israel (2 Samuel 10:6-8)

B. Joab finds himself boxed in front and rear and divides forces with his brother Abishai (2 Samuel 10:9-10)

C. Joab's words of faith are the heart of this section: "Be of good courage…and may the Lord do what seems good to him" (2 Samuel 10:12)

1. Joab's faith is not in a guaranteed outcome but in the goodness of God himself
2. He does not say "The Lord will certainly give us victory" — his trust is in God's attribute of goodness, not in a specific deliverance
3. God often speaks through unlikely people; Joab is a flawed, even tragic figure, yet God uses him here to model genuine faith

D. Contrast with a deficient faith that is actually faith in self or in favorable circumstances

1. The skeptic's demand: "If God did this, then I would believe" — placing God on the dock (C. S. Lewis)
2. The believer's temptation: defining God's goodness by personal outcomes, leading to paralysis and fear
3. Fear of embarrassment, fear of illness, fear for children, fear of death — all flow from a faith bounded by circumstances rather than grounded in who God is

E. Illustration: The Moon Is Always Round by Jonathan Gibson — behind the dark clouds of circumstance, God remains always good

1. The application: live by faith in the God who is good, whether at Golgotha or in glory
2. Fight for the city of God with courage rooted in God's eternal goodness, not perceived outcomes

III. The Kingdom of God Needs a Distinctive King

A. The Syrians are routed by David; their commander Shobach is killed; the servants of Hadadezer make peace with Israel and become subject to David (2 Samuel 10:15-19)

B. The question is raised: why does the author focus on the Ammonites in chapter 10 when chapter 8 already summarizes David's broader conquests?

1. Chapter 11 reveals the answer: it is while Israel is at war with the Ammonites that David stays home and commits adultery with Bathsheba and arranges the murder of Uriah
2. The word hesed that opens chapter 10 points back to David's faithfulness; the Ammonite setting at the close points forward to his catastrophic failure

C. Chapters 6–10 of 2 Samuel present David at his greatest — but chapter 11 exposes that even the most righteous earthly king remains a sinner

1. The same pattern appears in Solomon: 1 Kings 7-10 (the temple, wisdom, the Queen of Sheba) followed by 1 Kings 11 (apostasy through his wives)
2. Both David and Solomon, for all their glory, are ultimately not distinct enough from the kings of the nations

D. The kingdom of God therefore needs a king who is distinctly sinless

1. A Roman centurion standing beneath the cross declared: "Surely this is the Son of God" — this is it
2. Christ is the king David and Solomon could only foreshadow — he has won the final victory over sin and death
3. The Lord's Table this morning is the table of that sinless King, who invites his people to come, taste, and be fed