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. It means, "The Son of My Peace."

Absalom was third in ascending order to the throne. By the time we come to this occasion of his rebellion, it appears that Kiliab, the second son, had somehow or another disqualified himself, or perhaps was simply not gifted with abilities. Amnon, the firstborn of David, had been killed.

But the kingdom never happened for Absalom because he violated timeless, eternal principles. And their applicability to us is crucial because there is a kingdom that God wants to happen in your life and mine. Not just a kingdom someday in heaven; we're talking about the glory of his kingdom rule happening where you are now.

In this whole series, "How Not to Live Like a King," we've been looking at those things that cause people to lose the potential of God's intended sovereign purpose in their lives.

There is one truth in the Bible that is difficult for many people to embrace because of a character deficiency that's in every one of us. We want God to overrule everything in us that would somehow cause ruin, but we want him to allow everything that we want to do on our own.

The alternative to that concept is to say, "There's no God at all." This has to be the most ludicrous proposition when you come to an honest analysis of the realities of the universe, not to mention what's written in the human heart.

But the living God offers to you and me incredible kingdom options, exactly the same as to Absalom. You are a child in God's purposes destined for his peace. That's the wholeness of his purpose.

God lends his peace toward us, and it comes through Jesus Christ; inherent in that are his plans and his power. It was designed for Absalom's life. One interpreter says Absalom's name might have been, in Hebrew, the "Son of the Father's Calculations." In other words, he was a planned child.

There's also the power of grace that goes along with the plans, the power to fulfill the plans. It was there for Absalom.

We don't know what may have become of his life. We know what he designed and what he pursued with the passion of conspiracy, the passion of the usurping heart. His was a pursuit of "what I want, when I want it, on my terms." He might have had it all, except he went after it his own way.

Absalom's story includes three main events in a period.

There are three basic events that occur in Absalom's story that cover a period. We're introduced to Absalom in the story that has to do with his older brother Amnon, and Tamar, who was Absalom's sister. David had a number of wives, as was the characteristic trait of kings of that time. And there were a number of half brothers and sisters within the household of the king. Tamar, Absalom's sister, was so admired by Amnon, her , that he longed to have her for himself.

In the beginning it appears that he really wanted to win her affection, her trust, her love. But he also had a vicious lust for her physically. He feigned sickness and asked that perhaps Tamar might care for him. When she came he made an advance on her. She resisted and said in a beautiful way, "If you would just ask the king, he would give you my hand. And I would be glad to marry you and to be your wife." Her open responsiveness to him is clear; but in his passion and his anger at her rejection, he raped her.

Then he turned and drove her from the room where she went out weeping, lamenting both the rejection of the proposition without genuine affection and the exploitation. Absalom discovered what had taken place. He felt that he must defend his family's honor, but he didn't do anything for two years.

Harbored in the heart of Absalom for those two years is a bitterness, a resentment that is seething deep down, watching for a moment. He lays careful plans and works toward a goal, entirely of his construction and to be fulfilled by his power, as opposed to what would be constructed of the Father's plans and fulfilled by his power. Absalom arranges for the murder of Amnon. He doesn't do it with his own hands. He escapes indictment, but he directed a group of thugs to murder Amnon.

After arranging the murder of Amnon, Absalom knew he wouldn't be welcome in the King's court, and he fled for three years to his mother's home city.

As he went to Geshur, the place where his mother was born and raised, you get a feeling that he's going to Grandma and Grandpa's, who will no doubt accept any story he tells them. "Yeah, I arranged for Amnon's death, but he had it coming. You know what he did to Tamar?"

"Well, we understand, Absalom. It's okay. David's not understanding. He's not patient. Your dad would be hard on you now. You stay here."

He went to a place where his rebellious heart wouldn't be confronted, where he could express his will and be secure in the presence of those who said, "It's okay here."

He was in Syria. David couldn't touch him. There was no extradition law that could yank him out of there. When a person retreated from the kingdom and hid in a place of for , there was no rebellion in that environment. It's just our own level of righteousness, our own feelings. Deep down, sometimes as low as your toenails, there's something that cries out and says, "You're not right;" but we suppress it.

You don't have to go to Geshur geographically. It can happen in your own heart and mind, but it's real. There will always be people like his mother's mother and father, who will say, "It's okay, Son. Grandma and Grandpa will let it go by." For three years Absalom was there.

Toward the end of the three years, he didn't write, "My father, I have violated family fidelity. I've run in my fear. Dear Dad, please take me back. Can I come back to Jerusalem?" Rather he made contact with Joab, who was the head of David's troops. Why did he go that route instead of directly to David? By no means because he thought David would reject him. Rather, if Absalom went directly to Dad, he'd have to say "I was wrong." But if Joab could plead his case, David would say, "Well, let's let it go, and I won't have to confront my own wrong. I can still retain my dignity and pride."

Absalom came back to Jerusalem, and upon his arrival he set forth a plan. Two things are true for the two years Absalom was back in Jerusalem. One, he never saw the face of his father. Though David allowed him to return without penalty, David was king enough, and godly man enough to say, "I'm only going to deal with this young man if he comes to me personally and says, 'Dad.' "

Two, legal cases that weren't settled in the local tribes because of their complexity, were referred to the court of the king. As people would come to the king's court, Absalom, recognized as the one of the potential heirs to the throne, would meet them and say, "There's not a deputy available right now. Let me take care of things." He was pleasant and warm. "Oh, how nice to see you. So pleased to have somebody that's here from Ephraim." He was stealing the hearts of the people. And within himself Absalom sang, "Oh, that I could be king."

The day came when he made the arrangements to go to Hebron. He'd seen the face of David now and asked his permission. No sooner had he seen his father's face than there came the final seal.

He not only conspired to the throne and arranged for the trumpeting of his kingly coronation in Hebron, but he came back toward the city. David, recognizing that the hearts of people had been confounded, recognized that if he remained, he'd be dead. He walked away from the city in tears, not for the loss of his throne, but the violation of one who he may have appointed king if Absalom had waited for his time.

Absalom had three key failures: unforgiveness, unsubmittedness, unrepentance.

Soon it was recognized that Absalom wasn't the man who can handle the kingdom. I want to draw three points and conclude as we see the summary of Absalom's failures.

As Absalom finally came to the confrontation in battle, he was fleeing. A handsome man with a magnificent head of hair, as he was going through a thick part of the forest, fleeing his pursuers during the battle, his hair caught on a branch, his horse continued running ahead, and he was left hanging helpless. There was no way in his flailing that he could get himself free. As he hung there, one came and threw darts into his heart, and he died. David returned to the city and the rule.

The kingdom that never happened. The kingdom never happened for three reasons: unforgiveness, unsubmittedness, and unrepentance. Unforgiveness can kill more things than you imagine.

Unsubmittedness removes you from the divine order that assures the purposes of God's peace being realized. You may be unsubmitted to God's throne, or unsubmitted to your own responsibilities, or unsubmitted to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit correcting you. Just as unforgiveness killed Amnon physically, it can kill relationships right and left.

There's a marriage today that is on route to death because of a commitment to think the worst of what the other person has done or does, rather than to let grace and tenderness and understanding reign.

There's no question Absalom had more than family honor ruined. The raping of his sister touched the cords of his heart because he loved his sister. He had a case, but the case wasn't resolved in unforgiveness.

We're not talking about whitewashing things. We're talking about the power of the blood coming in to deal with things that have been broken. Human ways whitewash, but the blood of Jesus works to , and it dissolves bonds and brings them under the covenant of the cross. Unsubmittedness and unrepentance is broken by saying, "Lord, I've sinned."

Look at these summary statements. They are the reasons this kingdom never happens. These are the ways for a king's child to deal with self and sin.

Refuse any place for unforgiveness . It will kill something or someone.

Recognize your flight to familiar places where your is .

Face up to sin. Repent. Don't just regret. Don't just return. Renounce your sin.

Two stories in the New Testament deal with repentance, not just regret.

There are two stories in the New Testament that deal with this last point of repenting, not just regretting.

In Corinth, there had been the most severe violation of godly good sense. After they dealt with the matter, Paul wrote them in 2 Corinthians 7: "I'm so glad that you listened, that you repented with a godly sorrow." He said, "The sorrow of the world brings death." (That's just feeling badly. "Oh, I wish that hadn't happened.") "The sorrow of the world brings death, but a godly sorrow brings transformation."

The second story is far more dramatic. It's the story of man called Simon Magus. We'd say Simon the Magician or Simon the Sorcerer. Acts 8 tells us much of his story but there is, in fact, in the records of ancient Roman times what Paul Harvey calls "the rest of the story." The portion that's in the Bible has to do with the episode in which Peter and John went to Samaria where Phillip had been evangelizing. There was a tremendous harvest of souls. Among them was the leading sorcerer in town. This was the guy who was the Satanist. He'd turned to God, he'd recognized the power of Jesus Christ, and he'd come to the waters of baptism. Simon was a .

This had no particular impression upon Peter and John, for they were not in the celebrity business. They were in the ministry business, and they had come to lead people into the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Simon watched as John and Peter laid hands upon people, and prayed for them. He saw something miraculous enough to capture his fancy and to taunt some of the memories of his past power. Now he was surrendered to God, he thought. What he probably saw were people speaking with tongues and prophesying and the overflow of the power of God that was coming so supernaturally as they were being prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit.

But Simon, seeing this, went to Peter and John. He didn't ask, "Lay your hands on me." He said, "How much would it cost for me to get the same kind of power you have so I could do that?" Peter turned to him. Not unwilling to dispense divine power and minister to other people, but recognizing something else, he said, "You are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of inequity. Pray to God that he'll forgive that."

When he talked about repentance, the fear of judgment and consequence came on Simon. Note he didn't say, "I repent of my sin." He said, "Oh, pray for me that none of those things come upon me." Not, "Pray for me that my heart will be cleansed and I will be delivered from the residue of my past." Rather, "Pray for me that none of the consequences of what I want would come on me."

That's where we end the story in the Bible with Simon Magus, but the annals of Roman history record that he made it to Rome as a highly recognized sorcerer, a counselor of the times, a guy that drew from demonic powers. As years went by, Simon Magus became so by the demons he had surrendered to, that one day he announced throughout Rome that on a given hour of the day, he would appear at one of the high towers in that ancient city. The people would see him fly from the high tower. He attempted it, and fell to his death.

The kingdom that never happened. You can soar on the wings of divine grace through forgiveness, and walk in repentance of those things the Lord shows you that need to be reshaped.

Or you can scramble for your own way, manipulate situations where "I'm right, they're wrong," and "I'm going to get my pound of flesh. I'll do what I want if I have to flee to Geshur. There's a bridge to the past. My own flesh life, my own way. And there's always somebody there to confirm and console." Grandma and Grandpa are always there, so to speak.

And to the likes of Simon Magus say, "I want to avoid the consequence of not confronting repentance." And I say today, dear one, don't walk in any way that preempts God's kingdom grace from happening with you.

"Would to God I had died for you." Dear ones, Jesus has died for us so that all the Father's grace can happen to bring us to what he wants us to be. Say yes to his kingdom, will you?

Jack Hayford is founding pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California. He is author of several books including Built by the Spirit, and Pursuing the Will of God.

(c) Jack Hayford

Preaching Today Tape #174

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Jack Hayford is chancellor of The King's College and Seminary, Van Nuys, California, founding pastor of The Church on the Way, and former president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. He is author of Rebuilding the Real You (Charisma House).