{"id":33857,"date":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/kingdom-that-never-happened\/"},"modified":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","slug":"kingdom-that-never-happened","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/kingdom-that-never-happened\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kingdom That Never Happened"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2005\/08\/19035.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n<p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Introduction:\nThe kingdom never happened for Absalom because of his mistakes.<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nstory of Absalom builds from the beginning with high promise. The very meaning\nof his name heralded a prophecy of possibility. <em>Abi Shalom<\/em> is the way you say it in Hebrew. All of us recognize <em>Shalom<\/em>. It means, &#8220;The Son of My Peace.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Absalom\nwas third in ascending order to the throne. By the time we come to this\noccasion of his rebellion, it appears that Kiliab, the second son, had somehow\nor another disqualified himself, or perhaps was simply not gifted with\nabilities. Amnon, the firstborn of David, had been killed.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>But the kingdom never happened for Absalom because he\nviolated timeless, eternal principles. And their applicability to us is crucial\nbecause there is a kingdom that God wants to happen in your life and mine. Not\njust a kingdom someday in heaven; we&#8217;re talking about the glory of his kingdom\nrule happening where you are now.<\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nthis whole series, &#8220;How Not to Live Like a King,&#8221; we&#8217;ve been looking at those\nthings that cause people to lose the potential of God&#8217;s intended sovereign\npurpose in their lives. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">There\nis one truth in the Bible that is difficult for many people to embrace because\nof a character deficiency that&#8217;s in every one of us. We want God to <em>overrule <\/em>everything in us that would\nsomehow cause ruin, but we want him to <em>allow<\/em>\neverything that we want to do on our own.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>The alternative to that concept is to say, &#8220;There&#8217;s no God\nat all.&#8221; This has to be the most ludicrous proposition when you come to an\nhonest analysis of the realities of the universe, not to mention what&#8217;s written\nin the human heart.<\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nthe living God offers to you and me incredible kingdom options, exactly the\nsame as to Absalom. You are a child in God&#8217;s purposes destined for his peace.\nThat&#8217;s the wholeness of his purpose.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">God\nlends his peace toward us, and it comes through Jesus Christ; inherent in that\nare his plans and his power. It was designed for Absalom&#8217;s life. One\ninterpreter says Absalom&#8217;s name might have been, in Hebrew, the &#8220;Son of the\nFather&#8217;s Calculations.&#8221; In other words, he was a planned child.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">There&#8217;s\nalso the power of grace that goes along with the plans, the power to fulfill\nthe plans. It was there for Absalom. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\ndon&#8217;t know what may have become of his life. We know what he designed and what\nhe pursued with the passion of conspiracy, the passion of the usurping heart.\nHis was a  pursuit of &#8220;what I want, when I want it, on my terms.&#8221; He\nmight have had it all, except he went after it his own way.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Absalom&#8217;s\nstory includes three main events in a  period.<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">There\nare three basic events that occur in Absalom&#8217;s story that cover a \nperiod. We&#8217;re introduced to Absalom in the story that has to do with his older\nbrother Amnon, and Tamar, who was Absalom&#8217;s sister. David had a number of\nwives, as was the characteristic trait of kings of that time. And there were a\nnumber of half brothers and sisters within the household of the king. Tamar,\nAbsalom&#8217;s sister, was so admired by Amnon, her , that he longed to\nhave her for himself.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nthe beginning it appears that he really wanted to win her affection, her trust,\nher love. But he also had a vicious lust for her physically. He feigned\nsickness and asked that perhaps Tamar might care for him. When she came he made\nan advance on her. She resisted and said in a beautiful way, &#8220;If you would just\nask the king, he would give you my hand. And I would be glad to marry you and\nto be your wife.&#8221; Her open responsiveness to him is clear; but in his passion\nand his anger at her rejection, he raped her.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Then\nhe turned and drove her from the room where she went out weeping, lamenting\nboth the rejection of the proposition without genuine affection and the\nexploitation. Absalom discovered what had taken place. He felt that he must\ndefend his family&#8217;s honor, but he didn&#8217;t do anything for two years.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Harbored\nin the heart of Absalom for those two years is a bitterness, a resentment that\nis seething deep down, watching for a moment. He lays careful plans and works\ntoward a  goal, entirely of his construction and to be fulfilled by\nhis power, as opposed to what would be constructed of the Father&#8217;s plans and\nfulfilled by his power. Absalom\narranges for the murder of Amnon. He doesn&#8217;t do it with his own hands. He\nescapes indictment, but he directed a group of thugs to murder Amnon.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">After\narranging the murder of Amnon, Absalom knew he wouldn&#8217;t be welcome in the\nKing&#8217;s court, and he fled for three years to his mother&#8217;s home city.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">As\nhe went to Geshur, the place where his mother was born and raised, you get a\nfeeling that he&#8217;s going to Grandma and Grandpa&#8217;s, who will no doubt accept any\nstory he tells them. &#8220;Yeah, I arranged for Amnon&#8217;s death, but he had it coming.\nYou know what he did to Tamar?&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">&#8220;Well,\nwe understand, Absalom. It&#8217;s okay. David&#8217;s not understanding. He&#8217;s not patient.\nYour dad would be hard on you now. You stay here.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">He\nwent to a place where his rebellious heart wouldn&#8217;t be confronted, where he\ncould express his will and be secure in the presence of those who said, &#8220;It&#8217;s\nokay here.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">He\nwas in Syria. David couldn&#8217;t touch him. There was no extradition law that could\nyank him out of there. When a person retreated from the kingdom and hid in a\nplace of  for , there was no rebellion in that\nenvironment. It&#8217;s just our own level of righteousness, our own feelings. Deep\ndown, sometimes as low as your toenails, there&#8217;s something that cries out and\nsays, &#8220;You&#8217;re not right;&#8221; but we suppress it.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">You\ndon&#8217;t have to go to Geshur geographically. It can happen in your own heart and\nmind, but it&#8217;s real. There will always be people like his mother&#8217;s mother and\nfather, who will say, &#8220;It&#8217;s okay, Son. Grandma and Grandpa will let it go by.&#8221;\nFor three years Absalom was there.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Toward\nthe end of the three years, he didn&#8217;t write, &#8220;My father, I have violated family\nfidelity. I&#8217;ve run in my fear. Dear Dad, please take me back. Can I come back\nto Jerusalem?&#8221; Rather he made contact with Joab, who was the head of David&#8217;s\ntroops. Why did he go that route instead of directly to David? By no means\nbecause he thought David would reject him. Rather, if Absalom went directly to\nDad, he&#8217;d have to say &#8220;I was wrong.&#8221; But if Joab could plead his case, David\nwould say, &#8220;Well, let&#8217;s let it go, and I won&#8217;t have to confront my own wrong. I\ncan still retain my dignity and pride.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Absalom\ncame back to Jerusalem, and upon his arrival he set forth a plan. Two things\nare true for the two years Absalom was back in Jerusalem. One, he never saw the\nface of his father. Though David allowed him to return without penalty, David\nwas king enough, and godly man enough to say, &#8220;I&#8217;m only going to deal with this\nyoung man if he comes to me personally and says, &#8216;Dad.&#8217; &#8220;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Two,\nlegal cases that weren&#8217;t settled in the local tribes because of their\ncomplexity, were referred to the court of the king. As people would come to the\nking&#8217;s court, Absalom, recognized as the one of the potential heirs to the\nthrone, would meet them and say, &#8220;There&#8217;s not a deputy available right now. Let\nme take care of things.&#8221; He was pleasant and warm. &#8220;Oh, how nice to see you. So\npleased to have somebody that&#8217;s here from Ephraim.&#8221; He was stealing the hearts\nof the people. And within himself Absalom sang, &#8220;Oh, that I could be king.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nday came when he made the arrangements to go to Hebron. He&#8217;d seen the face of\nDavid now and asked his permission. No sooner had he seen his father&#8217;s face\nthan there came the final seal.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">He\nnot only conspired to the throne and arranged for the trumpeting of his kingly\ncoronation in Hebron, but he came back toward the city. David, recognizing that\nthe hearts of people had been confounded, recognized that if he remained, he&#8217;d\nbe dead. He walked away from the city in tears, not for the loss of his throne,\nbut the violation of one who he may have appointed king if Absalom had waited\nfor his time.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Absalom\nhad three key failures: unforgiveness, unsubmittedness, unrepentance.<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Soon\nit was recognized that Absalom wasn&#8217;t the man who can handle the kingdom. I\nwant to draw three points and conclude as we see the summary of Absalom&#8217;s\nfailures.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">As\nAbsalom finally came to the confrontation in battle, he was fleeing. A handsome\nman with a magnificent head of hair, as he was going through a thick part of\nthe forest, fleeing his pursuers during the battle, his hair caught on a\nbranch, his horse continued running ahead, and he was left hanging helpless.\nThere was no way in his flailing that he could get himself free. As he hung\nthere, one came and threw darts into his heart, and he died. David returned to\nthe city and the rule.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nkingdom that never happened. The kingdom never happened for three reasons:\nunforgiveness, unsubmittedness, and unrepentance. Unforgiveness can kill more\nthings than you imagine.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Unsubmittedness\nremoves you from the divine order that assures the purposes of God&#8217;s peace\nbeing realized. You may be unsubmitted to God&#8217;s throne, or unsubmitted to your\nown responsibilities, or unsubmitted to the still small voice of the Holy\nSpirit correcting you. Just as unforgiveness killed Amnon physically, it can\nkill relationships right and left. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">There&#8217;s\na marriage today that is on route to death because of a commitment to think the\nworst of what the other person has done or does, rather than to let grace and\ntenderness and understanding reign.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">There&#8217;s\nno question Absalom had more than family honor ruined. The raping of his sister\ntouched the cords of his heart because he loved his sister. He had a case, but\nthe case wasn&#8217;t resolved in unforgiveness.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>We&#8217;re not talking about whitewashing things. We&#8217;re talking\nabout the power of the blood coming in to deal with things that have been\nbroken. Human ways whitewash, but the blood of Jesus works to , and\nit dissolves bonds and brings them under the covenant of the cross.\nUnsubmittedness and unrepentance is broken by saying, &#8220;Lord, I&#8217;ve sinned.&#8221;<\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Look\nat these summary statements. They are the reasons this kingdom never happens.\nThese are the ways for a king&#8217;s child to deal with self and sin.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Refuse any place for\nunforgiveness<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">.\nIt will kill something or someone. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Recognize your flight to\nfamiliar places where your  is .<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Face up to sin. <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Repent.<\/span><\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> Don&#8217;t just regret. Don&#8217;t\njust return. Renounce your sin. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Two\nstories in the New Testament deal with repentance, not just regret.<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>There are two stories in the New Testament that deal with\nthis last point of repenting, not just regretting.<\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nCorinth, there had been the most severe violation of godly good sense. After\nthey dealt with the matter, Paul wrote them in 2 Corinthians 7: &#8220;I&#8217;m so glad\nthat you listened, that you repented with a godly sorrow.&#8221; He said, &#8220;The sorrow\nof the world brings death.&#8221; (That&#8217;s just feeling badly. &#8220;Oh, I wish that hadn&#8217;t\nhappened.&#8221;) &#8220;The sorrow of the world brings death, but a godly sorrow brings\ntransformation.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nsecond story is far more dramatic. It&#8217;s the story of man called Simon Magus.\nWe&#8217;d say Simon the Magician or Simon the Sorcerer. Acts 8 tells us much of his\nstory but there is, in fact, in the records of ancient Roman times what Paul\nHarvey calls &#8220;the rest of the story.&#8221; The portion that&#8217;s in the Bible has to do\nwith the episode in which Peter and John went to Samaria where Phillip had been\nevangelizing. There was a tremendous harvest of souls. Among them was the\nleading sorcerer in town. This was the guy who was the Satanist. He&#8217;d turned to\nGod, he&#8217;d recognized the power of Jesus Christ, and he&#8217;d come to the waters of\nbaptism. Simon was a .<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">This\nhad no particular impression upon Peter and John, for they were not in the\ncelebrity business. They were in the ministry business, and they had come to\nlead people into the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Simon watched as John and\nPeter laid hands upon people, and prayed for them. He saw something miraculous\nenough to capture his fancy and to taunt some of the memories of his past\npower. Now he was surrendered to God, he thought. What he probably saw were\npeople speaking with tongues and prophesying and the overflow of the power of\nGod that was coming so supernaturally as they were being prayed for to receive\nthe Holy Spirit.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nSimon, seeing this, went to Peter and John. He didn&#8217;t ask, &#8220;Lay your hands on\nme.&#8221; He said, &#8220;How much would it cost for me to get the same kind of power you\nhave so I could do that?&#8221; Peter turned to him. Not unwilling to dispense divine\npower and minister to other people, but recognizing something else, he said,\n&#8220;You are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of inequity. Pray to God that\nhe&#8217;ll forgive that.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">When\nhe talked about repentance, the fear of judgment and consequence came on Simon.\nNote he didn&#8217;t say, &#8220;I repent of my sin.&#8221; He said, &#8220;Oh, pray for me that none\nof those things come upon me.&#8221; Not, &#8220;Pray for me that my heart will be cleansed\nand I will be delivered from the residue of my past.&#8221; Rather, &#8220;Pray for me that\nnone of the consequences of what I want would come on me.&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>That&#8217;s where we end the story in the Bible with Simon\nMagus, but the annals of Roman history record that he made it to Rome as a\nhighly recognized sorcerer, a counselor of the times, a guy that drew from\ndemonic powers. As years went by, Simon Magus became so  by the\ndemons he had surrendered to, that one day he announced throughout Rome that on\na given hour of the day, he would appear at one of the high towers in that\nancient city. The people would see him fly from the high tower. He attempted\nit, and fell to his death.<\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nkingdom that never happened. You can soar on the wings of divine grace through\nforgiveness, and walk in repentance of those things the Lord shows you that\nneed to be reshaped.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Or\nyou can scramble for your own way, manipulate situations where &#8220;I&#8217;m right,\nthey&#8217;re wrong,&#8221; and &#8220;I&#8217;m going to get my pound of flesh. I&#8217;ll do what I want if\nI have to flee to Geshur. There&#8217;s a bridge to the past. My own flesh life, my\nown way. And there&#8217;s always somebody there to confirm and console.&#8221; Grandma and\nGrandpa are always there, so to speak.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">And\nto the likes of Simon Magus say, &#8220;I want to avoid the consequence of not\nconfronting repentance.&#8221; And I say today, dear one, don&#8217;t walk in any way that\npreempts God&#8217;s kingdom grace from happening with you.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">&#8220;Would\nto God I had died for you.&#8221; Dear ones, Jesus has died for us so that all the\nFather&#8217;s grace can happen to bring us to what he wants us to be. Say yes to his\nkingdom, will you?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Jack Hayford is founding\npastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California. He is author of several\nbooks including <\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Built by the Spirit, <em>and <\/em>Pursuing\nthe Will of God. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">(c) Jack Hayford<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Preaching Today Tape #174<\/h2>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.preachingtodaysermons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/a>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A resource of Christianity Today International<\/span>\n    <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[306],"tax_ctp_authors":[1777],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[412],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[],"tax_ctp_tags":[3802,4010,4100,4552,4805],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-33857","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-jack-hayford","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-disobedience","tax_ctp_tags-forgiveness","tax_ctp_tags-greed","tax_ctp_tags-obedience","tax_ctp_tags-repentance"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Kingdom That Never Happened - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/kingdom-that-never-happened\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Kingdom That Never Happened - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Introduction: The kingdom never happened for Absalom because of his mistakes. The story of Absalom builds from the beginning with high promise. The very meaning of his name heralded a prophecy of possibility. Abi Shalom is the way you say it in Hebrew. All of us recognize Shalom. 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