Godliness Restored in the Wilderness

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 100
• Hymn — All People That on Earth Do Dwell
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Psalm 130:3-4
• Scripture Reading — Acts 21:1-14
• Hymn — Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — How Firm a Foundation
• Sermon
• Hymn — What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Godliness Restored in the Wilderness

Scripture: 2 Samuel 15:13-37

I. The Wilderness Brings True Support

A. David, since his sin with Bathsheba, has been a "98.6" Christian — reactive rather than proactive, lacking genuine godly support

1. He has been manipulated by Jonadab, Joab, and deceived by Absalom
2. Here in chapter 15, true support emerges: the king's servants (2 Samuel 15:15), the priests Zadok and Abiathar with the ark, and Hushai the Archite, described as "David's friend" (2 Samuel 15:37)

B. The central figure of true support is Ittai the Gittite, a Gentile from Gath

1. David urges Ittai to return to Jerusalem and serve the new king, perhaps testing his loyalty
2. Ittai's response mirrors Ruth's words to Naomi: "Wherever my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, there also will your servant be" (2 Samuel 15:21)

C. The parallel to Ruth is deliberate and significant

1. Ruth was a Gentile who stubbornly clung to Naomi in the wilderness of bitterness (Mara), just as Ittai clings to David
2. Ruth was David's great-grandmother; without her faithfulness, David would not exist — David is receiving back the spirit of his own origin story
3. True, Spirit-wrought friendship and fidelity are found in the wilderness, in the midst of bitterness and tears

II. The Wilderness Brings Trusting Submission

A. Zadok and Abiathar bring the Ark of the Covenant into the wilderness with David, but David commands them to carry it back to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15:25-26)

1. This response must be understood against the background of 1 Samuel 4, where Israel treated the ark as a magical guarantee of victory and was utterly defeated and the ark captured
2. David refuses to adopt a "have ark, have God" mentality; he will not repeat the Fiasco of 1 Samuel 4

B. Dale Ralph Davis: "David's restoration does not depend on whether he has Yahweh's furniture, but Yahweh's favor. All rests on grace. He submits to Yahweh's sovereign sway."

1. There is great relief in submitting to God's sovereignty rather than trying to manipulate God or circumstances
2. Living without God's sovereignty is exhausting — like Bernie Madoff trying to keep up with all his lies

C. Psalm 63, written by David during this very flight from Absalom, expresses both wilderness thirst for God and confidence in God's promises

1. "My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1)
2. The apparent tension between David's uncertainty in 2 Samuel 15 and his confidence at the end of Psalm 63 is resolved by understanding submission to God's sovereign covenant promises
3. Like Moses, who proclaimed God's covenant blessings for the Promised Land while knowing he himself would not enter, David rests in promises that may be fulfilled beyond his own timeline — 2 Samuel 7 guarantees the Davidic kingdom will endure

D. To submit to God's sovereignty is to be wrapped up in his story rather than wrapping God up in ours

1. The wilderness may be your blessing; you may even die in the wilderness
2. But God's promises are sure, and we will one day taste their fruition

III. The Wilderness Brings Tearful Supplication

A. David ascends the Mount of Olives, barefoot, head covered, weeping, along with all the people (2 Samuel 15:30)

1. The Mount of Olives lay between Jerusalem and the Judean wilderness; the people weep as they look back at the city of David

B. David receives the crushing news that Ahithophel — his chief counselor, whose advice was regarded as the word of God (2 Samuel 16:23) — has joined Absalom's conspiracy

1. This was potentially a kingdom-ending blow, like losing the most essential player on a team
2. David's response is immediate, desperate prayer: "O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness" (2 Samuel 15:31)

C. God answers in the very next verse, sending Hushai the Archite — dirty, coat torn — as a providential answer to that prayer

1. In chapters 16–17, Hushai will successfully counter Ahithophel's counsel, sparing David's life and kingdom
2. Contrast with David's tears in 2 Samuel 13 over Amnon: there were tears but no supplication; here the wilderness produces both

D. True prayer is wilderness-disposition prayer

1. Romans 8:15 — "You have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" — the word for "cry" conveys a violent, desperate cry
2. Paul's offer of the spirit of adoption is not a mountaintop experience; it is for sojourners in a fallen world who cry out in desperation to their Father
3. We are guaranteed the Father's ear because the Son cried out at the Mount of Olives — "Let this cup pass from me" — and the Father turned a deaf ear to him, so that his ear is always bent toward his children
4. Pray always, cry out always, pray without ceasing