2 Sam 14:14, For we shall surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one may not be cast out from him. 
In our reading this morning, we have the situation where David had banished his son from Israel. Absalom had killed his own brother and was thus in fear of the retribution that vile action would bring. David was longing to see his son, but was also mourning the loss of his son Amnon. 
There was a great tension in the midst of those who thought Absalom was justified in his actions, and those who wanted Absalom to pay with his life for the dastardly deed he had committed. David was bereft of one son and longing for the company of his other son, yet having to deal with the manner of justice within his family structure. 
This morning’s passage was uttered by the woman of Tekoa, whom Joab had recruited for the manner of soothing the heart and mind of David toward Absalom. Joab was attuned to the fact that King David was in great travail over how to deal with this situation and still bring Absalom back into the household. Therefore, Joab contrived this whole situation so that David would be faced with making a decision for the woman, which would then apply to the king, himself.
Accordingly, this woman of Tekoa made known the fact that Jehovah desires to restore those who have been cast out of the family structure for some reason. There is the reality that God does not desire the death of anyone, but rather that there would be a provision of restoration into His presence in fellowship with Our Creator. Therefore God works mightily to bring this restoration into place.
As we are told in Job 34:10-15, the heart of God, in all His justice and righteousness and authority is to do good to humanity. The simple truth is that if God did not make the way of salvation and restoration, none of humanity would have any chance of an eternal future of hope and joy. All would become but dust on this earth and the eternal ages would be nothing but rightful punishment and just tribulation.
Job 34:10-15, "Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, And from the Almighty to do wrong. "For He pays a man according to his work, And makes him find it according to his way. "Surely, God will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice. "Who gave Him authority over the earth? And who has laid on Him the whole world? "If He should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust. 
	The Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, Yahweh, is the only source of redemption and restoration and salvation! His great love manifested, through the giving of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, made that way of perfect salvation and redemption!  He is the only One Who could do such an awesome and eternal work, paying the debt that every man, woman, and child who has, is, and ever will walk on this earth, by His death on the cross at Calvary. This perfect sacrifice to bring restoration of relationship with God is the only way in which any person can be saved! 
Christ Jesus, through the power of His death and His resurrection, brought into being the means by which those, who would but believe upon Him and call on His name can enter into this living relationship with Our Creator. It is in Christ Alone, the Messiah and the Savior, that any person is able to rejoice in the future hope of eternity in the glorious presence of Our Most Holy and Awesome God. It is all His work to bring this salvation into place and then to call all those who will respond to receive this free gift of eternal life in Jesus.
	Even before this wondrous provision of Jehovah was brought forth at Calvary, the Psalmist declared the truth of the working power of God in action. Through the means of the redeemed people of God from the slavery of Egypt, and working through the revealed Word of God from Sinai forward, Jehovah had that place of relationship with His people. It was in type, to be fully established in the gift and work of the Only Begotten of the Father! But it was the manifold miracle of God working in the sustaining power of His so great love. 
	Consider what we read in Ps 90:1-6. Herein, the Psalmist makes known what the purpose of life in the presence of God entails. Presented is the reality that man is on this earth for merely a moment in the vision of the eternal ages of God’s creation. Our time comes and goes much as the grass grows and then withers away. But God, in the reality of His manifest Splendor and Omnipotence is ever working to restore the relationship that He will have with those who will but seek to know Him and honor Him and rejoice in His presence.
Ps 90:1-6, Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Thou dost turn man back into dust, And dost say, "Return, O children of men." For a thousand years in Thy sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. Thou hast swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes, and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades, and withers away. 
Then in verse 10, the Psalmist details the fact of the fragile and limited lifespan of humanity. To think that God would have created us for such a short time on this earth and then, for those who turn to Him and seek Him and find salvation in Him, provide an eternity in His presence as His own beloved children. It makes little sense to such as we are. But to God, the plan of the eternal ages is set within the scope and sequence of the life that is lived before Him on this earth.
Ps 90 verse 10, As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. 
	In Psalms 144, verses 1-4, we have the reality set before us in the solid truth that God has chosen to work His salvation, the only way of redemption and restoration into His family, for such as we are. What is man that God would pay such an inestimable price to bring forth our restoration into His household, for all of the eternal ages by His so great love in Jesus Christ?
Ps 144:1-4, Blessed be the Lord, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle; My lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer; My shield and He in whom I take refuge; Who subdues my people under me. O Lord, what is man, that Thou dost take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that Thou dost think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow. 
The next set of passages of our consideration of the magnitude of God’s so great work of salvation and restoration set upon the heads of such as we are, are found in Ecclesiastes. We will begin with Chapter 3, verses 18-21 as the reality that we are but a breath on the face of this earth, and yet so precious to God for reasons that only He knows.
Eccl 3:18-21, I said to myself concerning the sons of men, "God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts." For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? 
	The Preacher highlights the fact that all mankind are but dust in the terms of our human lifespan and the physical elements from which we are formed by the Hand of God. However, in the differentiation from the beasts of the earth, man has been blessed with the opportunity to know God in a manner which can transform our walk in terms of our relationship with Jehovah. It is not that we can do any of this ourselves, since we are incapable of anything that is able to reestablish that which was lost in the Garden. 
	Rather, it is the truth that The Lord so created us, in differentiation to the beasts of this realm, with a spirit that can be made alive through Jesus Christ. That life in Christ is only, as we have declared over and over again, because of the great and awesome work of God, Himself, to draw those whom He has known would respond and receive such a great and freely given gift of life. 
	He did all the work! He paid the price! He set the opportunity before everyone to choose life in Jesus! For that, all we can say is Thank You Lord God Almighty for the tremendous differentiation from the beasts of this age to choose to abide in a living relationship with You in all Your glory!
	The Preacher, in Eccl 8:6-14, then goes on to describe the delineation between mankind in terms of those who seek after the Lord for salvation and those who choose to be as the beasts of the earth, whose breath will go down into the depths of Sheol. All mankind has the opportunity to know The Creator and to live in relationship with Him in the restoration of that which was lost in sin. There is the working power of God manifested to the people whom God created and into whom He breathed the breath of life. 
However, those who then choose to walk in unrighteousness and sin, will know the full measure of that beastly decision in the reality of the eternal choice that is made on this earth. Will we choose to honor God and find restoration in Him? Or will we seek foolishly after our own means, turning our backs on God and striving after that which is only wind and the fleeting dust of everlasting destruction?  
Eccl 8:6-14, For there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, when a man's trouble is heavy upon him. If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and evil will not deliver those who practice it. All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt. So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God. There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.
	Again the Preacher, in Eccl 9:1-6, highlights this distinction in the walk of the redeemed and the unredeemed in the course of life in this realm. There is a hope that is found only in Jehovah as He desires that none would perish and suffer the eternal damnation of the choices that are made in this earthly time of our physical lives. 
	Where we choose to seek for our source of guidance and salvation will determine the measure of our eternal restoration or damnation. The choice between life and death is set in the heart of humanity in the manner of the source from which we choose to live before God and man. That decision determines the course of our spiritual eternity.
Eccl 9:1-6, For I have taken all this to my heart and explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him. It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean, and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who is afraid to swear. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead. For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. Indeed their love, their hate, and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun. 
The Prophet Ezekiel emphasizes, in Ezek 33:11 that God does not want anyone to die. He takes umbrage at the lie of this age which maliciously declares that God damns people to hell because He loves to punish wickedness. This world depicts God as delighting in casting those lightning bolts of destruction upon the heads of those whom He catches in sin and trespass. No, that is the deceitful propaganda of this age in painting a false picture of God as a Judge Who takes glee in the eternal damnation of people. That is not Our Lord!
Ezek 33:11, "Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord God, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?' 
God has ever been working to save people, to restore humanity to the relationship that has eternally been His heart in the creation of mankind. He has always desired a walk with His beloved people which would span the everlasting ages upon ages, relishing the enjoyment together in the splendor and the majestic awesomeness of God, hand in hand, as a child walks and delights in the attention of the father.
This morning comes to a close with the encouragement of the Writer to the Hebrews. In Heb 9:27+28, we are presented with the reality of what lies before us after our walk on this earth comes to an end. The fact is that almost every human will face the physical decline and death of our bodies. However, for those who are the recipients of the great work of God, by which He has made a way of eternal restoration into His family, through Jesus Christ, there is a hope that transcends this earthly demise.
Heb 9:27+28, And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
We do eagerly await the return of Our Savior and Our Lord. We do not fear death on this earth, as do those who have no eternal hope. They are caught up in all the lies and deceits of this age which are imagined in order to bring some type of order to the chaotic manner of their aimless wandering in this realm. They conjure up all sorts of manipulative lies to vainly sooth the fears and dread of what their future holds.
Those, however, who have received the freedom from sin and death, through belief upon Jesus Christ, as the only source of salvation, are freed from all the worry and the strife and the fear. We know that God makes the way by which we can be restored into His family forever and forever. So be it!
For we shall surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one may not be cast out from him. Amen. 

		
This morning’s benediction is Matt 5:16. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Amen.