1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,040 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,880 Second Samuel chapter #10 In the Word of God this evening we'll 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:27,960 just start right from the beginning. 9 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:29,520 How about that? Because I don't know where that 10 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:34,280 came from. Ecclesiastes chapter #3 says 11 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:38,600 this to everything. There is a season and a time to 12 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:43,360 every purpose under heaven, and actually says in verse #8 a time 13 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:47,840 to love and a time to hate, A time of war and a time of peace. 14 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,880 And the Bible makes clear that there is a time for warfare, but 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:54,840 yet there's also a time for peace as well. 16 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,120 I am afraid though. However, this evening I am 17 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,440 concerned that there are some Christians especially, who live 18 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,560 in a constant state of warfare. Now listen, I understand. 19 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,040 Is there spiritual warfare raging all around us at any 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,240 given time? The answer is absolutely. 21 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,600 And if you don't believe that's the case, then you've been 22 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,960 lulled the street, friend. Because the fact of the matter 23 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:20,080 is, is that there is spiritual wickedness in high places. 24 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,720 Satan certainly is conspiring against believers and he can't 25 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,560 take your soul. Praise God, because we are safe 26 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,640 within the Father's hand. We have security of our 27 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,960 salvation in Jesus Christ, the hand of Christ, which is in the 28 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:34,880 hand of the Father. That's what we find in the 29 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,600 Gospels. However, Satan can't take that, 30 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,640 but he'll try to take everything else from you as possible. 31 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,080 He'll try to take your joy. He'll try to take your 32 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:43,360 effectiveness. He'll try to take your 33 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:45,280 testimony. He'll try to take your good 34 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,120 name. He'll try to take your ability 35 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,960 to witness to others, and on and on and on and on. 36 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,040 Listen, he wants you to be like Job, who's just sitting on a 37 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,480 pile of ashes, scratching himself with a piece of pottery 38 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:58,840 and just saying I got nothing left. 39 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,800 That's what Satan wants for you. And so I'm not discounting the 40 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,080 fact tonight that spiritual warfare is a very real thing, 41 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,039 because spiritual warfare is a real thing. 42 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:11,720 We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against 43 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,280 principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this 44 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,200 world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 45 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,960 Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12. But what I'm talking about this 46 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,400 evening is not necessarily the recognition of spiritual 47 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,880 warfare, but I'm talking about the Christian has a hair trigger 48 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:30,960 and is ready to fight someone at the drop of a hat. 49 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,080 Now, I'm not talking about necessarily a fist fight because 50 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,120 I think most Christians would have the understanding that, you 51 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,120 know, it's probably not best for us to have fist fights after 52 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,440 church. You know, probably not. 53 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:42,800 You know, could you imagine just like a ring of people out after 54 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,560 church, fight, fight, fight, fight, you know, two people in 55 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,680 the middle just kind of duking it out and they'd say, what's 56 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:48,560 going on over this? Oh, it's all right. 57 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:51,200 It's church service. You know, it's that crazy in the 58 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:53,000 bed of Baptist Church. They're just having a fight out 59 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:54,560 there. No, no, I'm not talking about 60 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:56,200 that. We would understand that's not 61 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,160 the case. However, I would say that while 62 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:04,360 physically that might not take place, that spirit very well 63 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,320 could invade the soul. The spirit of a believer, yes, 64 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,480 even a believer. The idea of fighting these 65 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,880 needless wars. These people aren't happy 66 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,800 warriors that are simply looking to do the will of God from the 67 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:19,640 heart. No, no, these are the people who 68 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:24,120 wrap a thin layer of God, godliness over a heaping helping 69 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,080 of pride and arrogance and haughtiness. 70 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:31,560 Now let's be honest, it's easy to do in our flesh if we're not 71 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,560 careful. Well, tonight in the Word of 72 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,960 God, we had the example of a man, an Ammonite, Certainly not 73 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,920 a believer in the sense that we would look at ourselves this 74 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:42,680 evening. But I believe if we're not 75 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,080 careful, the spirit of the Ammonite can be found in us as 76 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,640 believers if we're not careful, picking fights where we ought 77 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:53,600 not to be, picking fights and having wars when it's not time 78 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:55,640 for war. So why don't you stand, if you 79 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:56,800 could, please, for the reading God's Word? 80 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,840 We're in second Samuel chapter #10 and we'll read the first 5 81 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:06,200 verses to begin. The Bible says this. 82 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,680 And it came to pass after this that the king of the children of 83 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,400 Ammon died, and Hannon his son reigned in his stead. 84 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,800 Then said David, I will show kindness unto Hannah the son of 85 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,279 Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me. 86 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,440 David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his 87 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,000 father. And David's servants came into 88 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,280 the land of the children of Ammon. 89 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:26,960 Isn't that nice of David to be able to do that? 90 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,600 That's certainly the case. But you ever heard the saying, 91 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:35,080 No good deed goes all right? And the Princess of the children 92 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,520 of Ammon said unto hand, And their Lord, Think us thou that 93 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:43,480 David doth honor thy father, that he has sent comforters unto 94 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:45,960 thee. Hasn't David rather sent his 95 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:50,960 servants unto thee to search the city, and to spy it out and 96 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,320 overthrow it? Wherefore Hannon took David's 97 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:59,000 servants, and shaved off the 1/2 of their beards, and cut off 98 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,040 their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent 99 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,280 them away. When they told it to David, he 100 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:09,080 sent to meet them, because they were greatly ashamed. 101 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,080 And the king said, Terry at Jericho, until your beards be 102 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,280 grown and then return. Now, if you've never read this 103 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:19,120 passage before, when we got to the end of verse number two, you 104 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:23,480 probably weren't guessing the next step, that these servants 105 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,840 that were just trying to show kindness come back with half 106 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:31,040 their beard shaved and their garments cut down to their rear 107 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,760 ends. But that's exactly what we see 108 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,280 here. A man who really was just being 109 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:40,520 shown kindness by the king decided to pick a fight where he 110 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,680 ought not to pick a fight. And I'll tell you, there were 111 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:44,440 some devastating consequences from it. 112 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,040 And that's what we're going to look at tonight. 113 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:47,600 So why don't you be seated as we pray together? 114 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,400 Heavenly Father, do you pray to be with me this evening as I 115 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,440 present your word? And certainly the spirit of the 116 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,120 Ammonite could be within us to be able to find fights where 117 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,760 there should not be fights, to find warfare where there ought 118 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,760 not to be warfare, to be able to fight at a drop of a hat. 119 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,600 I pray that You help us as believers to have the right 120 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,720 spirit, the right countenance, to know when we need to stand, 121 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,320 to know where we need to be seated, to know we need to speak 122 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,240 out, to know when we need to keep our hands over our mouth. 123 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,480 Lord help us to be able to have the Holy Spirit discernment to 124 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:20,680 know these issues and to have the discernment for them. 125 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,600 And we ask it in Jesus name, Amen. 126 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:30,360 At first glance, Rolf Klassen, a Gray haired Swede who hobbles 127 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,240 around on his Walker, looked like an easy target. 128 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,120 At least that's what 2 would be, robbers thought as they accosted 129 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,120 him at an ATM in Iceland back in 2011. 130 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,800 One of the thugs waved a knife while the other thug told 131 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,800 Classen to turn over his wallet. What they didn't know was that 132 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,480 their victim was also the former European light middle weight 133 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,880 boxing champion. Classen warned them. 134 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,440 This isn't going to go well. When the men scoffed his 135 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:00,040 warning, he knocked one of them out to the floor with a sharp 136 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,840 right hook for laying the other out with a left jab. 137 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:12,440 Yes, thank you, Ralph. So where those Amens are coming 138 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,000 from? By the way, I looked this up 139 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:18,760 this week because that's one of those sermon illustrations. 140 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,520 Like, that's a great story, but it can't be true. 141 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,760 It absolutely was true. This took place in Iceland 2011. 142 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:29,080 But what caps it off is the police officer who at the end of 143 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,440 the story says this. At the end, they came after the 144 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,400 wrong guy. They thought they had an easy 145 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:38,000 mark and they didn't. They came after the wrong guy. 146 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:44,240 Clearly in Second Samuel Chapter 10, Hannon came after the wrong 147 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,120 guy. David, in the integrity of his 148 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:51,120 heart, says, you know what? Hannon's father was a blessing 149 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,400 to me. Hanning's father, Hannon's 150 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,640 father was a man who had been some level of encouragement to 151 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:59,680 me in my life. And so he decides very early on 152 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,280 in the text that he has Hannon is grieving his father's death. 153 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,520 He says, you know what, I want to send some men that are going 154 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,720 to come and bring comfort to him as I have received comfort from 155 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,040 his father in the past. And again, we we saw just a few 156 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:15,920 chapters ago that what is David doing? 157 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,360 He he wants to, he's looking out, if you could put it this 158 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:21,400 way, he's looking out for the interests of the Lord. 159 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,640 He says, why am I dwelling in a House of Cedars? 160 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,520 And the Lord dwells in a House of curtains. 161 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,000 And so he was looking out for the needs of the Lord. 162 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,559 Of course we know the Lord has no needs, but in David's heart I 163 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:36,159 want to do something for God. And so his heart was, I want to 164 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:39,400 do something for God. In the last chapter we saw that 165 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,080 he want to do something for Mephibosheth, which technically 166 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,720 could have been one of his enemies because he was from the 167 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,480 household of soul. And so David says I want to do 168 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,400 something that's good for Mephibosheth and he did. 169 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,240 And so here we see him tonight once again, what is he doing? 170 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,760 His kindness continues. Once again he is showing his 171 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,200 graciousness and his love to this man named Hannon because of 172 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,040 the kindness it says in verse #2 that his father had shown unto 173 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:05,840 him. And so he sends some of his 174 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,920 servants, He sends some of his counselors to the land of the 175 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,560 Ammonites. Now the Ammonites were close to 176 00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:13,920 the people of Israel. If you go to the South and 177 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,800 Israel, if you were looking at a map and you see where Jerusalem 178 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,760 and you see where the tribe of Judah is, if you go directly to 179 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:22,000 the South, you think of where Beersheba is. 180 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,560 And sometimes in the Word of God, you see from Dan, even 181 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:27,640 under Beersheba, you see that phrase really means from the 182 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,560 north to the South of the place of Israel, the nation of Israel. 183 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:34,240 If you were to go South of Beersheba, you would find the 184 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,720 land of the Ammonites. So they were very close to one 185 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,520 another in proximity. And So what does David do? 186 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,680 He sends these counselors and he sends them over and says, 187 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:47,000 listen, you go show the kindness that I was shown by Hannon's 188 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,960 father. But Hannon receives these men, 189 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:52,360 but he also receives his own counselors as well. 190 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:54,880 And so he asked his counselors, what do you think's the deal 191 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,720 with these guys? Why do you think they're here? 192 00:09:57,720 --> 00:09:59,800 Why do you think David sent them over here? 193 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,360 And instead of just coming to the conclusion that maybe, well, 194 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:06,800 David was a godly man, instead of coming to the conclusion 195 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,400 that, well, you know, David just is trying to be a nice guy. 196 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,360 No, no, what happens? Well, it says in verse #3 it 197 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,720 says, think of thou that David doth honor thy father, that he 198 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,520 has sent comforters unto thee. Has not David rather sent his 199 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:24,200 servants unto thee to search the city and to spy it out and to 200 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,960 overthrow it? He says, you really think, are 201 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,960 you so naive, Hannon, that these men are here just to be able to 202 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:32,880 say, wow, we're really sorry for you? 203 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,000 David could have sent you a greeting card if that's what he 204 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,040 wanted to do. No, what he did was he said 205 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:38,880 there are no greeting cards back then, just to be sure you're 206 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:39,680 paying attention. All right? 207 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,000 But he says, no, no, they sent these men because they're spies. 208 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:45,360 And what they're doing is they're trying to find our 209 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:47,680 weaknesses. They're trying to see where we 210 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:49,320 are LAX. And he's going to go back and 211 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:51,640 report to David. And before you know it, we're 212 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:53,720 going to be no war. David's a warrior. 213 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,200 You're a fool to accept these men. 214 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,600 You're a fool to allow them into your presence. 215 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,560 You need to send them away. You know, no, you don't need to 216 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:04,160 just send them away. You need to absolutely humiliate 217 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:06,080 them. You need to send a message not 218 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,920 just to these men. You send a message to David that 219 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,080 we, the people of Ammon, are not to be trifled with. 220 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,840 So instead of just saying, you know, thanks for coming by, but 221 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,600 the king is really busy. He's got a lot of people to see. 222 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:22,640 And so maybe you could come back another day. 223 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:25,400 They said, hey, hey, come here. We want to talk to you for a 224 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,960 second. And they get close and they 225 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,880 arrest them. They, they, they, I don't know 226 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:35,000 how necessarily you would find it, but somehow they have 227 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:40,200 captured them to the point of taking their beards and shaving 228 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:41,800 them. They're not shaving their 229 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,640 beards, just shaving half of their beard, say pastor. 230 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,720 What's the big deal about that? Well, one commentator said of 231 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,920 the shaving of the beard. Except for the performance of 232 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:56,960 certain religious rituals or to express profound emotional 233 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:00,160 distress, Israelite men always wore beards. 234 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:04,520 To remove an Israelite male's beard forcibly was to show 235 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,360 contempt for him personally. The idea was this. 236 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,840 We're going to shave your beard to show you how much contempt we 237 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:13,400 find you. And we're not even going to 238 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,400 shave your beard. We're going to shave half of it 239 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,920 because we want you to be absolutely humiliated. 240 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,000 If that humiliation wasn't enough, what do they do? 241 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,640 They took their outer garments and they split the garments, and 242 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,120 the Bible says yes. It says all the way down to 243 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:30,960 their buttocks. Meaning what? 244 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,400 They wanted to expose them and to make them look like fools. 245 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,120 Now, if you and I have an issue where our clothing may RIP or 246 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:41,720 has some sort of problem, what do we do? 247 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,360 Well, we go to the store and we buy a new piece of clothes, 248 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:45,600 right? Well, if you're in the land of 249 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,760 Ammon and you got to go home, do you think there's a Kmart on the 250 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,000 way? No, you're walking all the way 251 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,120 home with your beard cut in half. 252 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:58,280 You're walking all the way home with your clothes rent and your 253 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,840 body exposed in a way that is humiliating. 254 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,680 And again, the issue wasn't even necessarily what was physically 255 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:08,600 done to them with the beard and what was done to them with the 256 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:09,880 clothes. The clothing. 257 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:13,240 The issue was really this. They were shown complete and 258 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:18,960 utter contempt by a man that was supposed to have been helped, 259 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:22,520 but instead he takes it completely wrong. 260 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,560 And what happens? Well, he insults these men and 261 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:29,600 sends them right back to David. Now David again is a man of 262 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,080 kindness. He hears of this and he says in 263 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,400 verse #5 when they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, 264 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:37,160 because the men were greatly ashamed. 265 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,480 And the king said, tarry unto Jericho until your beards be 266 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,760 grown and then return. He says, listen, don't even 267 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:46,240 return to society, don't even return to your family, don't 268 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:49,000 return to your friends until your beards can be grown back 269 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,880 again. David cares for them as men. 270 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,880 David cares for their souls. You, you can just feel David's 271 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,640 care for them here. But I'll tell you this, if we've 272 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,680 learned anything thus far from David's life, David's thought a 273 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:04,800 man to be trifled with. David tried to be nice. 274 00:14:05,560 --> 00:14:08,640 David tried to play it nicely. But what happens? 275 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,720 He realizes that, well, there's probably going to have to be 276 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,560 some consequences. But before any consequences, 277 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:15,920 come look at what it says in verse 6. 278 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:19,320 And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before 279 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:21,040 David. Yeah, I'd say that's probably a 280 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,320 problem, isn't it? The children of Ammon sent and 281 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,640 hired the Syrians of Beth. Rob Beth, a hub and the Syrians 282 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,320 of Zoba, 20,000 footmen, and then of the king Mecca 1000 men, 283 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,840 and of Ishtab 12,000 men. And if you were to go to First 284 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,600 Chronicles 1917, you'll have to turn there right now, but you'll 285 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,120 find a parallel passage text in First Chronicles 19. 286 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,320 You'll find there were also 32,000 Chariots that were in the 287 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,440 mix as well. So the Ammonites realized, 288 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,640 whoops, maybe we should have done this. 289 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:56,760 Wow, it sounds like David's mad about this. 290 00:14:57,280 --> 00:14:59,760 But what do we do? Well, instead of trying to make 291 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,320 it right, what they immediately do is say, you know what we need 292 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:03,840 to do? We just need to wipe David off 293 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,360 the face of the earth. We just need to take over 294 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:07,880 Israel. We need to go to battle against 295 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:09,360 him. And it says that they hire the 296 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,840 Syrians. Now, this is interesting because 297 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:13,920 if, again, if you were to look to a map, the Ammonites are 298 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,080 going to be to the South, but if you were looked at the Syrians, 299 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,280 the Syrians would be almost directly to the north. 300 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:25,560 Meaning this that basically by hiring other groups of soldiers 301 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,160 to be able to come in confederacy with them, which was 302 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,920 not unusual during that time, you had a lot of smaller nations 303 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,880 that would try to ban their resources together to come in 304 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,040 power against a larger nation. But basically what happens is 305 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,760 you have a nation to the South and their army and a nation to 306 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,880 the north and their army, and they've got Israel in a vice. 307 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:51,080 What's Israel going to do? Well, if you go down to verse 308 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,120 #7, it says. And when David heard of it, he 309 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,280 sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men. 310 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,920 By the way, this is the first mention of David's mighty men. 311 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:00,600 We're get to know a lot about them as we continue to look 312 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:01,640 through. But this is the very first 313 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:03,840 mention where they are called mighty men. 314 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,360 And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in a ray 315 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,280 at the entering end of the gate of the Syrians of Zoba and of 316 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:14,000 Rahab, and of Ishtab and of Mecca, when were by themselves 317 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,160 and were by themselves in the field, when Joab saw that the 318 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,160 front of the battle was against him before and behind. 319 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:22,320 So what is it saying again? He's in that vice. 320 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:24,120 He's got men to the north, men to the South. 321 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:25,880 What are we going to do? How are we going to fight our 322 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:27,640 way out of this? It says this. 323 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,880 He chose of all the choice men of Israel and put them in a ray 324 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,040 against the Syrians and the rest of the people. 325 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,760 He delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he 326 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:37,840 might put them in a ray against the children of Israel. 327 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,520 And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, and thou 328 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,040 shalt help me, but the children of AM and be too strong for 329 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,360 thee, then I will come and help thee. 330 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,960 Be of good courage. Let us play the men for our 331 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:51,640 people and for the cities of our God, and the Lord do that which 332 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:57,240 seemeth good before Him. So what is the end result of 333 00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,320 what takes place? Well, I think you could imagine 334 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,040 what the end result is. Even though Israel's backs are 335 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,839 against the wall, God once again provides. 336 00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:09,119 Israel wins, they don't just win against the Ammonites, they also 337 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:12,240 win against the Syrians and also some others who try to get 338 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,160 involved in this battle as well. And every single one who gets 339 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,520 involved, listen, is totally at a loss against David as men. 340 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,599 And I love the end verse #19 it says that when all the kings 341 00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:25,640 that were servants that had a riser who also became part of 342 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:29,240 the battle, we met him last in chapter #8 saw that the people 343 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,680 were smitten before Israel. They made peace with Israel and 344 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:33,560 serve them. Listen. 345 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:36,240 So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon no more 346 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:38,280 anymore. They realize, you know what, 347 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,000 Hey, we probably shouldn't have got involved with this. 348 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:43,720 I don't care how much money they gave us to try to help protect 349 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:45,320 him. But maybe we shouldn't have 350 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:47,360 gotten involved in this whole thing in the 1st place. 351 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:51,920 Because what David had just started as as a very kind 352 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,680 hearted, what David had just started something that was very 353 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,640 tender hearted on his part. I just want to be a blessing to 354 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,000 this man. Turned out to be an absolute 355 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,800 disaster, not because of anything David did, but because 356 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:05,880 he was dealing with a man who was ready to fight. 357 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,960 He was dealing with a man the spirit of the Ammonite was, 358 00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:12,680 listen, I don't know what your intentions are here, but I'm 359 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:14,160 going to automatically think the worst. 360 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,760 And hey, why don't we escalate this from a scale from a one to 361 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:19,680 10? How about we escalate this to an 362 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,160 11? And before you know it, the 363 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,600 Ammonites and the Syrians and a bunch of other city states are 364 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,960 involved in a war with David that never should have happened 365 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,280 in the 1st place because the guy just wanted to fight. 366 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,520 The bottom line here is this. What we just saw was a needless 367 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,440 war and one that didn't need to be fought. 368 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,720 There was nothing righteous about what we see here. 369 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,480 Hannon was a fool at a very base level. 370 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,280 A fool to take a man who was trying to help him and not just 371 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:56,520 push him away, but to embarrass him, to mock him to, to do what 372 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:58,760 he did to his counselors, to his men. 373 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:02,440 And he ended up paying the price, not just with his own 374 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:06,160 condition being put at the worst in battle, but also ending up 375 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,160 having a very bad reputation with the other nations to the 376 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,400 point the Syrian say, hey, Amon, if the phone rings from you 377 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,160 guys, we're not answering. We don't want to get involved 378 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:16,960 with you people anyway. Look what you've done to us. 379 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:22,680 A needless war. The problem with what we're 380 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:27,440 looking at here tonight is that you and I, if we're not careful, 381 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,200 we can also get ourselves involved in some needless wars 382 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:36,040 as well. It can be as small as escalating 383 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,280 an issue on the road. Any of you here driven in 384 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:40,960 Massachusetts before anybody? OK. 385 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:48,920 I think it's some people's purpose in life to antagonize me 386 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,640 while they're driving. I feel like they're looking out 387 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:53,480 for me. It's like there's a bulletin 388 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:54,840 that goes out, hey, when you see. 389 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:57,000 And what really hurts is when they do it to me and I'm in the 390 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,720 church van and I get really upset, but I'm in the church van 391 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:01,080 that says Liberty Baptist Church. 392 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:06,400 And I don't want to be bad testimony, but it's easy to 393 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:10,600 escalate when someone gets on your nerves when you're driving. 394 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,160 It could be as innocent as someone who said something that 395 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,320 maybe just kind of rubbed you the wrong way. 396 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:21,120 It could be as foolish as turning a slide at work into a 397 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:25,000 grudge. It could be a senseless arguing 398 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,600 with someone online because of a post that they made that didn't 399 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:33,080 hit you the right way. It could be resentment over an 400 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:35,520 invite that should have been made or that you thought should 401 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,520 have been made but that ended up getting lost in the mail. 402 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,840 It could be bickering with family over holiday plans. 403 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,960 It could be letting a rude comment ruin a friendship. 404 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,320 It could be people in a church that just end up rubbing each 405 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,800 other the wrong way. It can always start with 406 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,640 something so small, something that you could never have 407 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,040 imagined. It could have turned into 408 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:59,560 something big, But it turns into something big. 409 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,760 Why? Because someone has decided it's 410 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,600 time to go to war when it wasn't time to go to war, and we as 411 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,360 Christians are held to a higher standard. 412 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:13,800 I'm going to say that again, we as Christians are held to a 413 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:15,560 higher standard. You say, well, the world always 414 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:17,120 wants to fight. That's because they're in the 415 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:19,360 world. That's because they don't have 416 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:22,160 the peace of Jesus Christ inside of you say, well, pastor, are 417 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:23,520 you saying there's not a time to fight? 418 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,080 There is a time, Ecclesiastes chapter 3, we're to earnestly 419 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:30,240 contend for the faith. Absolutely we are. 420 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,280 But a lot of times our righteous anger quote, UN quote is really 421 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,960 just unrighteous anger that's just wrapped up with gift 422 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,320 wrapping that looks righteous. But again, it's nothing more 423 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:45,120 than pride and arrogance and really just getting our feelings 424 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:48,760 hurt. So what can we learn from this 425 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,880 text that can help us to not fight these needless wars in our 426 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:54,800 life? I think there's three principles 427 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:56,920 that we find here quickly this evening. 428 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,520 And the first is this. Be careful of assigning motive 429 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,000 when it comes to issues with other people. 430 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,440 Be very careful when you assign motive. 431 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,200 Look, there was no good reason for the Ammonites to act the way 432 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,000 they acted. There was none. 433 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:18,160 What was the evidence that David was doing what they accused him 434 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,040 of doing? Well, the evidence was none. 435 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:27,280 In fact, David had shown kindness to the father and vice 436 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,680 versa. There had been no war between 437 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:35,120 the Israelites and the Ammonites for probably over 40 years. 438 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:37,800 You find the last time there was even a skirmish between the 439 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,560 Ammonites and the Israelites was very early in Saul's reign. 440 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,720 There was no evidence that the men were even doing the things 441 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,160 of which they were accused of doing. 442 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,800 And why was there no evidence? Because it was obvious they 443 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,880 weren't doing it. But what did they do? 444 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,040 They assigned motive to these men. 445 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:59,360 Well, if they're here, it must be because XYZ. 446 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:03,040 And that immediately got them down the road to the place of 447 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,800 saying, well, if they are here and this is their motive, than 448 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,200 they are doing wrong. And they got it all worked up in 449 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,120 their mind. But everything they got worked 450 00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:15,520 up on their mind was absolutely wrong. 451 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:18,760 You know what I've seen happen before at church? 452 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,200 I'm sure you've never seen anything like this before, but 453 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:26,280 I've seen it here and there. People get upset at 1, you know, 454 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:27,960 people get upset at church once in a while. 455 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,120 You ever did, you know that? OK, Only my wife laughed at 456 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:32,640 that, OK. Everyone else is uncomfortable. 457 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,040 All right? People can get upset at church 458 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,960 once in a while. Well, that person didn't talk to 459 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:41,800 me. Or I said something to them and 460 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,880 they didn't answer. And I've heard even people say 461 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:46,320 something like this. I know they don't like me. 462 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:47,840 Why? Because I said something to them 463 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,280 and they didn't answer me. What is that? 464 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,600 Well, that's immediately assigning intent. 465 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,680 Do you know that for sure? Oh, you could just tell How? 466 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,120 No, I mean, just listen. If I got to explain it to you, 467 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:03,080 pastor, then you don't know. What? 468 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:10,480 What could it be? That possibly, you know, they 469 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,520 didn't see you. Oh, no, they saw me, Pastor. 470 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:13,840 They looked. They looked right at me. 471 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:16,600 Well, I mean, haven't you ever looked at someone before? 472 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:18,640 And maybe you didn't even realize they were there. 473 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:20,080 You were kind of looking at them, but you were really 474 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,160 looking right through them. Well, I mean, yeah, sure, I've 475 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:23,760 done that before, Pastor. But that's not exact. 476 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:25,680 That's not what happened. They had to have heard me. 477 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:27,440 They had to have seen me. You don't know. 478 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,680 Well, maybe it could be. Well, you could have been maybe 479 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:32,960 distracted. Well, I mean, I called him by 480 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:34,040 name. Of course, they had to have 481 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,440 known that I was there. What could it have been that 482 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,600 perhaps maybe they had a lot on their mind. 483 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:40,760 They mean they just maybe barely made it into church. 484 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:42,400 They were just glad to be able to make it to church. 485 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:44,120 Could it have been they had a bad day? 486 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:46,280 Could it have been that they're hard of hearing? 487 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,360 Could it have been that all of these other things that it could 488 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:52,560 have been? But oftentimes, what's the first 489 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,400 thing that we do when we feel disrespected, when we feel 490 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,120 slighted, What's the first thing we do? 491 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:01,400 We immediately in our flesh assigned the very worst to the 492 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,720 person. And you don't know what they're 493 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,280 thinking. Don't tell me that you do 494 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:12,240 because you don't know for sure. Now, can there be a body of work 495 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,840 overtime? OK, you said their name once and 496 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,080 they didn't respond. OK, you said their name. 3 497 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,560 church services in a row and they walked past you. 498 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,960 OK, we're getting somewhere. So what do we do? 499 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,640 Oh, pastor, this is the this is the part I'm looking for. 500 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:36,720 It's time for war. What be time for Matthew 18? 501 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:39,880 Say, what's that? Is that war, pastor? 502 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,560 That's the war passage, right? No. 503 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:43,840 Why are you? Why are you so worried about 504 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,240 war? Hey, Hannah, calm down, all 505 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,400 right? You know what the Matthew 18 506 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,400 part is? You go to a brother and say, 507 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:55,680 hey, is there a problem? Have I done something to offend 508 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:57,360 you? Have I hurt you? 509 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,480 Have I done something? No, not accusing them, but even 510 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,840 looking within yourself, have I done something that you can tell 511 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,960 me about? And you say, well, what happens 512 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,760 if they don't listen? Well, Jesus already thought of 513 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,800 that because he said the next step was to bring a witness to 514 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,840 bring a brother with you or or a sister laid bring someone else 515 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,120 and you say, Hey, we want to get this right with you. 516 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:19,600 We want to talk to you about this. 517 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,600 It seems like this could be the case, but I don't want to assign 518 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,600 the motive. The Bible talks about casting 519 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:26,680 down imagination. So I just want to make sure if 520 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,920 I've built something up in my mind that's not true, I want to 521 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,360 let's knock it down right now because I don't want to think 522 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:34,600 badly of your brother. I don't want to think badly of 523 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,520 your sister. And so let's get this take, man. 524 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:37,600 I don't want to be at war with you. 525 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:39,760 We're brothers in Christ. What does it say we be, 526 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,560 brethren, the Bible, Bible says, no, I want to get this right 527 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:43,960 with you. No, I don't want to go to war 528 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,160 with you. I want to make peace. 529 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,880 Say, well, that's weak and soft. Well, if you call being a 530 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:52,600 Christian weak and soft and go for it. 531 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,240 But to me that sounds like conflict resolution of the 532 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,160 biblical sense. No, not sticking our head in the 533 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,520 sand, not pretending that the issue isn't there, but first of 534 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,520 all, not assigning intent. The very first time or two 535 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,760 something happens. But then just to say after that, 536 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,960 well, maybe there is something here, but I don't know for sure. 537 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,920 So I'm going to go to him. I'm going to talk to him like a 538 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,320 brother and sister in Christ. The world doesn't get this. 539 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:20,480 The world solves things like this. 540 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:23,360 The world solves things like this. 541 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,640 And sure, a church may not have a circle of people like a high 542 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,880 school out in the parking lot and two guys duking it out. 543 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,560 I hope a church never has that. But I'll tell you this, there 544 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,640 are churches that have done everything but that, and they 545 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,080 get to the place where they might as well do it because 546 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:45,840 that's the way they're acting, like juveniles and like the 547 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,040 ungodly. Listen, they assigned intent, 548 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,800 and the intent that they assigned was absolutely and 549 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,120 factually incorrect. But what does the Bible say? 550 00:27:56,120 --> 00:28:00,920 First Corinthians 13, four and five, Charity suffereth long, 551 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,960 and it's kind. Charity envieth not charity, 552 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,120 vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave 553 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:12,000 itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, 554 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:16,280 thinketh no evil. What do we do? 555 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,360 We treat one another like brothers and sisters in Christ. 556 00:28:19,360 --> 00:28:21,360 And if there's something wrong, listen. 557 00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:24,160 And you are the offender and someone comes to you, don't 558 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,840 blast them out of the water for coming to you. 559 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,080 Listen in humility. And if both people are humble 560 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,080 and both people want to honor the Lord, why can't something be 561 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:37,240 worked out? No, we don't need endless wars. 562 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,480 True Christian charity thinks the best of others until 563 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,640 compelled by the truth to recognize an undeniable reality. 564 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,160 I'm going to say that again. True Christian charity thinks 565 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:52,000 the best of others until compelled by the truth to 566 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,000 recognize an undeniable reality. I'm going to think the best of 567 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,840 you until we get to the place where there is no question that 568 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,320 what the bad thing is, is actually what it is. 569 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:06,720 But even then we get there. You know what I want to do? 570 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:08,400 I want to see if we can make it right. 571 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,920 You know, we don't need to be doing cutting guys beards off. 572 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,840 You know we ought not to be doing cutting people's clothes, 573 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,440 humiliating people, acting the fool. 574 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,480 No, be careful in assigning motive #2 I see this from our 575 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,760 Texas W. Well, be careful who you listen 576 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,440 to. You know what Hannon's greatest 577 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,280 mistake was here. He had some counselors of his 578 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,640 own who said you don't want to do this, you don't want to do 579 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,200 this. He said, you know what, you're 580 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,000 right. You want to make sure that you 581 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,160 are not fighting needless wars in your own life. 582 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:43,680 You be careful who you listen to. 583 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:46,560 Some of the saddest situations in the Bible came from people 584 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,600 who listen to counselors they ought not have ever listened to. 585 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,200 I said this a few weeks ago. One of the saddest verses in the 586 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:57,320 Bible is this. And Amnon had a friend because 587 00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:01,440 that friend named Jonah Dab encouraged him to force himself 588 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,560 upon his half sister. And it started with this. 589 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:06,720 And Amnon had a friend that was no friend. 590 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:09,160 Amnon shouldn't have listened to Jonadab. 591 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,320 We're going to see in a little while, David will have a son 592 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,440 named Solomon. Solomon will have a son named 593 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,280 Rhea Boem. And Rhea Boem is going to have 594 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,440 some trouble early in his reign to try to figure out how should 595 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:22,200 I, how should I handle these people? 596 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,120 They want me to lower their taxes. 597 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:26,440 And the older counselor said this. 598 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,400 You know what? You want to, you want to really 599 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,120 get their heart lower their taxes. 600 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,120 By the way, hello, That still works today. 601 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,720 Amen. All right, lower some taxes. 602 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:36,680 You know what I'm saying? You got our hearts all right. 603 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,200 But his younger brethren, his younger friends, rather as 604 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,560 counselors said this. Listen, you tell those 605 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:47,040 ungrateful people that if they thought Solomon's taxes were 606 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:54,080 hard, yours will be even harder. And his foolish friends and Raya 607 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:58,440 Boehm listening to his foolish friends ended up tearing the 608 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:03,920 Kingdom apart. Saul just a few chapters ago, he 609 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,080 needed direction in a very difficult time of his life. 610 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:08,960 And he says, I can't hear from the Lord. 611 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,240 And he had servants who said, you know what, you want to go 612 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,840 see a witch. He had the wrong counselors. 613 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,880 Maybe he should have said, hey, get right with God and all of a 614 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,240 sudden things would have changed. 615 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:26,360 So what, It's all due. OK, I guess I'll go see the 616 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,920 witch. The next day he's dead. 617 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:36,880 And his sons. David in our next chapter is 618 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:38,960 going to have some bad counselors. 619 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:46,280 He's out on the portico at night and he looks over the city and 620 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:50,960 he sees a woman. And he says, who is that? 621 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:56,480 And his servants knew exactly who she was and knew exactly how 622 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:58,120 to get her into the King's palace. 623 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:02,120 And not a one of them, said David, you ought not to do that. 624 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,640 God wouldn't be happy with this. That woman is the wife of Uriah, 625 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:11,440 one of your mighty men. And even if she wasn't, it's not 626 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:13,520 pleasing to God. And you know it, David. 627 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,280 But what happened? Nobody said a word. 628 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:21,200 Listen, be careful who you listen to. 629 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,560 Be careful who you make your closest counselors. 630 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,840 They could end up telling you to go right off a Cliff and they'll 631 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:30,880 be cheering you on while you go off the Cliff. 632 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:36,680 Psalm or Proverbs 27 six says this faithful are the wounds of 633 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,600 a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. 634 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,240 Do you know what a real friend will tell you? 635 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:42,440 They'll tell you when you're wrong. 636 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:46,240 A real friend will tell you when you're not right with the Lord. 637 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,520 You know, as a pastor, oftentimes when I sit down with 638 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:51,120 people and counsel with them, you know what I want to do? 639 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:53,000 I just want to make them feel happy. 640 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:54,520 Hey. Oh, I know. 641 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:55,880 I agree with you. I agree with you. 642 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:57,400 Yeah, I know. Isn't that crazy, right? 643 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:58,600 I want to. I agree with you. 644 00:32:58,600 --> 00:32:59,440 I want to agree with you know why? 645 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:00,960 Because I want them to leave happy. 646 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,960 But if I want to be the biblical type of pastor I'm called to be, 647 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:06,920 there are times I have to wound them. 648 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:09,480 No, no. Out of that. 649 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,000 A vengeance or spite. Not to be able to yell at them 650 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,120 or to be able to say what's the matter with you or you, are you 651 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:15,800 crazy? But to be able to love, to say, 652 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:17,600 brother, I love you and This is why I'm telling you this. 653 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:22,040 But you're going the wrong way. Listen with God's help, and 654 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:24,040 he'll get you through it. And if I can help you, I will. 655 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,000 But I want you to know you're making some bad decisions. 656 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:29,720 See, those are the kind of friends you need to have. 657 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:32,000 Those are kind of counselors you need to have. 658 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:33,640 Not this one. I can tell you what you want to 659 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,160 hear, but it's going to tell you what's biblical. 660 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,040 By the way, to have those kind of counselors, you have to have 661 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,360 men and women in your life that know what the Bible says in the 662 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,640 1st place. You know, just follow your 663 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,640 heart. Well, how else do you want my 664 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:50,800 life to explode? Your heart's evil and 665 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:52,320 desperately wicked. Who can know it? 666 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:57,200 Do you follow your heart? What kind of advice is that? 667 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,400 Come on, Hannon. You know what'd be funny? 668 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,120 Hey, cut off their. No, no, no. 669 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:05,640 Cut off half their beards. No, no, no, that's not it. 670 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:07,520 Don't just do that. Get the clothes. 671 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:08,360 Yeah. You don't want you to do the 672 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:08,960 clothes. Hey, cut it. 673 00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:10,760 Cut it halfway down into the buttocks. 674 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:12,840 Man, that would that be fun. They're going to be walking all 675 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:14,520 the way back to Jericho. They're going to look like 676 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:15,880 fools. But we're going to show. 677 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:17,400 We're going to show them right in hand. 678 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:18,520 And all of a sudden, Yeah. You know what? 679 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:20,480 That is pretty funny. That's a pretty good idea. 680 00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:26,600 Until his Kingdom is in ruins because he listened to the wrong 681 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,960 people say pastor, well, you think you're talking to 682 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:33,679 teenagers. We're older people here. 683 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:37,480 And certainly I'm looking at at folks who are are of all 684 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,880 different ages. And I will say that dealing with 685 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,040 having the right crowd in your life is something you struggle 686 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,159 with more when you're younger than when you're older. 687 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:48,840 But I will say this, oftentimes we're careful who we allow into 688 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:53,800 our friend and peer group when we're older, but we're not often 689 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,560 as discerning about who we allow to speak in our ear when we're 690 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,240 older. Meaning this, be careful what 691 00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:04,760 podcasts you listen to. Be careful whose sermons you 692 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,200 listen to. You say, well, pastor, this is a 693 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,000 Christian pastor. So I just saw it's a Christian 694 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:12,160 on it. So I went ahead and listened to 695 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:13,760 it. That doesn't mean it's something 696 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:18,120 that will help you be discerning who you listen to. 697 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,600 Be discerning about the media. You know, listen, the media's 698 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,360 job is to have people to fight all the time so they can get 699 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,120 ratings. And I'm not saying there's not 700 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,560 good media out there, but what I'm telling you is this, that 701 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:35,760 the media is not the gospel, only the gospel is the gospel. 702 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,920 Be careful what you take in. Be careful that you put 703 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,080 everything you hear through the filter of God's Word, your 704 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,400 entertainment, your music, the books you read, the websites you 705 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,480 frequent. Listen, is it giving me good 706 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:53,080 biblical counsel? And I know not everything is 707 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,200 biblical in the sense that everything has to do with the 708 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,280 Bible. But even then, when you read 709 00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,040 these things, when you take these things in, are they 710 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,080 helping you draw closer to God or farther from God? 711 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,600 Are they making you want to fight more or they're making you 712 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,400 want to be biblical and how you handle things? 713 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:09,120 And these are things you have to discern for yourself. 714 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:11,240 Well, pastor, just give me a list and I'll follow that list. 715 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:15,200 You know, the Holy Spirit will tell you, if you listen as you 716 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:17,960 pray on it, that He will make known the things that you need 717 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,640 to internalize and the things that you probably should not 718 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,840 have as part of your life. Be careful who you listen to. 719 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:29,000 And I'll say this number 3, not just #1 be careful assigning 720 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,800 motive #2 be careful who you listen to, but #3 be careful 721 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:33,320 with actions you can't take back. 722 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,040 You know, once you shave 1/2 a beard, there's no going back. 723 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:44,280 Once you cut someone's garment down to the buttocks, there 724 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:48,480 ain't any going back. What Hannan did, there was no 725 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:55,080 going back. As Christians, there are times, 726 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,040 and I want to be, boy, I want to be careful how I say this. 727 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,000 As Christians, there are times that we feel like the most 728 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:08,520 reasonable thing for us to do is to cut certain people out of our 729 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:13,040 lives. And I want to say this, be very, 730 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:17,160 very careful with who you cut out of your life. 731 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,760 Be carry very careful with the bridges that you burn. 732 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,560 Now, are there times that trust has been violated and that 733 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,240 boundaries must be had? There are. 734 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:33,960 There absolutely is. But be very careful in saying in 735 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:39,080 a trigger happy, I don't want to be around this person anymore. 736 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:42,400 Listen, you start doing that with people in your church and 737 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:43,880 what happens? They're not going to be many 738 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,400 people you're able to talk to in church. 739 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,520 If you start doing that with people that you meet with, 740 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:51,520 you're going to start to feel very alone. 741 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,400 Boundaries are good. They can be necessary, but be 742 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:58,080 careful. The phrase don't burn bridges 743 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,280 may not be in the Bible, but I think there's some biblical 744 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,480 foundation to it. Ecclesiastes 10, verse 12 says 745 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,800 the words of a wise man. The words of a wise man's mouth 746 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:12,280 are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. 747 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,760 You know, I one of the saddest things that I have found has 748 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,440 been there are people been people who have left our church 749 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,960 over the years. And some of them have even said 750 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,160 to me in such a phrase or the way they put it to me, 751 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:31,440 basically, that they felt they left in such a way that Pastor, 752 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,560 I can never come back. And I'll say something like this 753 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,960 to them. Well, you may feel that way, but 754 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:45,400 I don't feel that way because if repentance is real, then someone 755 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,720 should be able to come back into the fellowship of the church, 756 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:50,600 even if they've left under poor circumstances. 757 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:53,160 Well, pastor, do you really mean that? 758 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:55,320 There's a reason we call this the comeback Church. 759 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,600 There's a reason why I can start pointing out people over and 760 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,760 over and over again who have left and then sometimes years 761 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:04,320 later have returned. Why? 762 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:08,520 Well, because we don't want to have a fighting spirit, you 763 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:10,160 know, other times that restoration needs to be made. 764 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:13,760 Forgiveness has to be offered. Absolutely, there is time for 765 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:15,120 that. But if that's the case, then why 766 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:17,640 can't, under normal circumstances, there be a 767 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:22,040 restoration of fellowship again? And we want that to be the case 768 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:25,120 again. And sometimes you might be 769 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:27,920 thinking of some of the very most extreme cases, and we're 770 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,120 not talking about those. I want to talk about really 771 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:34,480 where 99% of all of these things live, the things that we deal 772 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:37,440 with every day. You know, I seem to think that 773 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:40,120 Jesus said somewhere along the lines in Matthew chapter 5, 774 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,640 blessed are the warmongers. No, you guys are new. 775 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:49,240 You didn't get that right. OK, blessed are the peacemakers, 776 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,200 isn't that right? But see The thing is, we all 777 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,720 know that. And again, there is time for us 778 00:39:56,720 --> 00:39:59,920 to say thus saith the Lord. There is time when things have 779 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:01,480 to get tough. But even then, what do we do? 780 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:07,200 We speak the truth in love. Jesus never diminished the truth 781 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:13,880 just so he could be lovey dovey. He was loving and truthful and 782 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:17,480 never did his love diminish and never did his truth diminish. 783 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:19,440 And the same should be said of us. 784 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,360 I think maybe the best way for us to look at that at at this 785 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:27,920 text tonight is is found in Romans 12/18. 786 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:29,320 I'll, I'll just I'll quote it for you. 787 00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:34,640 It says if it be possible, as much as lieth in you live 788 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:38,600 peaceably with all men because there is sometimes that is much 789 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,000 lieth in you. You still can't find peace with 790 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,440 somebody because they just want to fight no matter what. 791 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:51,000 But listen, let that not be said of us as believers, for us, as 792 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:56,320 much as we can within us live peaceably of all men. 793 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:00,400 Perhaps the worst part of all of this is this. 794 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,240 And if you took one thing from the message tonight, perhaps it 795 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:06,360 would be this. Foolish fighters bear the scars 796 00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:09,440 of battles they were never supposed to have fought. 797 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:15,400 Foolish fighters bear the scars of fights they never should have 798 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:18,320 fought. You ever see guys compare scars 799 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:19,880 with each other? It's a guy thing, isn't it? 800 00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,960 To compare scars? I don't. 801 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:25,480 Yeah, I type a lot. I don't have a lot of scars. 802 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:28,400 You know, I might have carpal tunnel syndrome here in the next 803 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,400 few years from all the typing. I don't really have a lot of 804 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,640 scars, but I do have a scar on my elbow from when I was playing 805 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,480 basketball when I was about 12 years old, when the guy fouled 806 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:40,640 me on a cement asphalt court. And he pushed me on a fast 807 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:42,080 break. And I kind of did one of those 808 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:44,320 Superman kind of things. And the next thing I knew, I 809 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,840 slid across the asphalt and my skin slid across the asphalt. 810 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:50,680 Literally, my skin was sliding across the asphalt and it wasn't 811 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:52,600 on my body. I still have a little bit of a 812 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:53,840 scar right there. It's actually really, really 813 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:55,040 small. It's almost microscopic. 814 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,480 But I like to think it makes me feel really tough that it's 815 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:01,600 still there, you know? And listen, you get scars. 816 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,680 You remember, Hey, I was riding a bike and I broke my leg when I 817 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:04,680 was a kid. I got. 818 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:07,680 Hey, listen, I got a scar across my neck from that knife fight I 819 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,480 was in years ago. Actually, No, I I had surgery is 820 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,000 what it was. But do you know, you know, 821 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:14,720 really it's not. Yeah. 822 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:17,640 Joanne said no. Yeah. 823 00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:20,840 No, my scars aren't interesting, Joanne. 824 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:26,320 All right, basketball when I was 13 and a non cancerous tumor in 825 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:27,760 my jaw, right? That's what I got. 826 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,480 Don't mock me, all right? This is what I got is what I'm 827 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,120 working with. But you know, there's one thing 828 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:34,480 to say. Hey, I've lived a life. 829 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:36,640 I've lived a full life. And here's some of the scars 830 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,680 from living life. There's another thing to bear 831 00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:43,440 the scars of your foolishness and of battles you never should 832 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:45,600 have fought. And sometimes you might look at 833 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:48,520 those scars in your body and think this, I shouldn't have 834 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,480 been doing that. I shouldn't have been doing 835 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,320 that. I shouldn't have been doing 836 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,680 that. Foolish fighters bear the scars 837 00:42:57,680 --> 00:42:59,040 of battles. They never should have been 838 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:03,680 involved. The Ammonites, the Syrians, all 839 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:07,720 of them ended up being put to the worst because of one man who 840 00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:11,960 wanted to fight. Not only was it sad, it was 841 00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:15,320 unnecessary, was the Proverbs say. 842 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:18,920 It says in Proverbs 1722. A merry heart doeth good like a 843 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:22,800 medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones. 844 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,720 And the worst part about all this was who paid the price? 845 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:29,920 Who paid the price? Was it Hannon? 846 00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:32,840 It seems like he was pretty insulated from the whole event, 847 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:35,920 wasn't he? Everybody else was the ones who 848 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:39,080 paid for it. I can think of several occasions 849 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,920 here at Liberty Baptist Church where there was a situation that 850 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,600 went wrong. And I want to be careful in how 851 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:49,880 I say this, but often times, usually there's one spouse that 852 00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:54,480 gets upset and what happens, the other doesn't want to leave. 853 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:58,160 Fact. The other regrets leaving, but 854 00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:02,080 one has made the decision we're not going back. 855 00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:04,840 And I'll tell you, as a pastor, it's one of the things that 856 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:06,320 breaks my heart more than anything. 857 00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:11,160 I've sat in a conference room in our glass room before with a man 858 00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,720 who was defending a situation that his wife had made that was 859 00:44:15,720 --> 00:44:17,560 not defensible. And he knew it wasn't 860 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,760 defensible, but he was trying to defend it because he felt like 861 00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:22,200 he had to, because it was his wife. 862 00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:27,320 And it was sad. It was awful. 863 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:30,560 I pleaded with him to let's get this right, let's figure this 864 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:31,720 out. Let's sit at this table and 865 00:44:31,720 --> 00:44:34,040 let's not get up until until we get this right. 866 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:39,480 And there's always someone else that shouldn't get hurt that 867 00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:41,680 gets hurt. And we're the ones that fight 868 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:43,160 wars. We off not to fight. 869 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:48,160 You say are are you saying we're not supposed to be tough? 870 00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:52,520 I think the Bible talks a lot about us being spiritually 871 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,160 tough, if you will. In fact, it said here in our 872 00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:59,920 text that Joab says, listen, we need to to quit ourselves like 873 00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:03,560 men and be strong here today. And the Bible tells us to do 874 00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:05,720 that. What I'm saying is there is a 875 00:45:05,720 --> 00:45:10,880 difference between biblical spiritual toughness and being 876 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:12,680 someone that always wants to get in a fight. 877 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:16,080 And God has very little that he can do. 878 00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:18,960 When we're in the situation where we're always offended, 879 00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:22,680 where we're always wounded, where we're always hurt, where 880 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:27,160 we're always looking for a fight, God has no use for that 881 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:30,720 person functionally until they can get that taken care of. 882 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:37,120 Stan Makita, an eventual Hockey Hall of Famer, He was generally 883 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:40,640 regarded as the best center of the 1960s, used to get into a 884 00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,680 lot of fights during games. He stopped. 885 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:46,680 He stopped though, when his 8 year old daughter asked him a 886 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:51,080 very grown up question. Daddy, how can you score goals 887 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:52,760 when you're always in the penalty box? 888 00:45:56,400 --> 00:46:00,240 There's a lot of Christians that can't score the goals that God 889 00:46:00,240 --> 00:46:03,200 wants them to score because they're sitting too often in 890 00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:05,200 God's penalty box. Why? 891 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:08,320 Because they can't play nice with others. 892 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:10,280 Well, you don't know what they did. 893 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:16,560 I may not know, but we handle our issues like believers, not 894 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:21,120 with the spirit of an Ammonite. Thank you for listening to the 895 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:23,760 sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church. 896 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,400 If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we 897 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,520 can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at 898 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:35,400 info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday 899 00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:39,320 at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA. 900 00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:42,360 May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.