Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: Coming up today on Sound Doctrine. We are not to seek for ourselves. Remember what Jesus taught us? If you seek to save your life, you're going to lose your life. If you seek for yourself and your self-centered and selfish, you're going to lose everything.

If you lose your life in me, you're going to gain everything. That's what Jesus said. So we need to seek to understand and not to be understood. Seek to serve, not to be served, and you won't have any problems. Seek to give and not receive, and you won't have any problems.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson from Calvary Chapel Downey. Jeff is currently taking us verse by verse through the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel. There is one central figure in this book and that, of course, is David, but there are a whole bunch of other people as well, some good and some bad.

Last time in 2 Samuel 20, a man named Joab, one of David's main guys, got some help from a wise woman, and it all results in a head being thrown over a wall. Goodness. Here's Pastor Jeff with the details in 2 Samuel, chapter 20.

Jeff Johnson: Notice verse 15. And they came and besieged him. They knew that Sheba was in Abel, and they cast up bank against the city, and it stood in the trench, and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. It's interesting how different groups of people besieged cities.

The Romans would besiege a city by taking the city, first surrounding it, then cutting it off from all of its food supply, finding its water supply if they could, because they would always bury it, but they would find it and cut it off, and then just sit back. They were saying, "Hey, look, we're besieging a city." That's how they did it. That's how the Romans worked.

In Masada, that's exactly what happened. They surrounded Masada, built their fortresses, built a wall. You can look down there even today. As you look down off of Masada, you can see all of the Roman fortresses and the wall went all the way around. And they just sat back for three years and waited.

Now, the Israelites, though, they didn't do that. When they hit a city and they besiege the city, they besieged it now. Joab got his guys, got the planks up on the wall, and started hitting on the door. You can imagine how the people were freaking out.

They were going, "What's this for? Why are they coming up against us? What is happening? All these people that are our people are surrounding us, and they're wanting to kill us. What's wrong?" And I'm sure there was great terror in all of their minds.

Verse 16. Notice this. Then cried a wise woman out of the city, "Hear, hear. Say I pray you unto Joab, 'Come near hither that I may speak with you.'" And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, "Art thou Joab?" And he answered, "I am he."

Then she said unto him, "Hear the words of thine handmaid." And he answered, "Okay, I'm hearing." And she spoke, saying, "They were wont to speak in old time, saying, 'They shall surely ask counsel at Abel,' and so they ended the matter.

"I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel. Thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel? You're seeking to wipe me out? I'm a Jewish mother. Don't you ever touch a Jewish mother, man. You kid, man."

"To destroy a city and a mother in Israel, why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?" And so we see this wise woman. Now, where's the man? Apparently, there was no wise guys there, but this wise woman was raised up.

You see, men might be the head of the home, but the wife is the brains. Is that alright to say? I mean, when you look at it, am I in trouble? Let me put it to you this way. Positionally, man is the head. Practically, the wife keeps it going and keeps me out of trouble.

I thank God for my wife. She gives me wisdom. She gets me out of trouble. You wouldn't believe it. I do thank God for her because she does give great wisdom. So this woman comes out, this wise woman, and this section here, I think, really reveals the causes and remedies of religious strife.

When there's brother against brother, sister against sister, church against church, or whatever, here are the causes and the remedies. First of all, the enemy always will seek to break up the fellowship of the saints. I want you to know that.

He will always seek to break up your fellowship with your wife, husbands, and vice versa with your kids. He'll always seek to get you to not have fellowship, to worship, to pray. He will seek to stop it in anything he can. He will cause division, schism, anything he can do.

These were both brothers. Joab and his army and those in the city were Jews. Everybody's Jews. And doesn't it say in Psalms 133, "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity"? What in the world is going on here? And I'm sure those inside the city were saying, "I don't know, but we don't like it."

As Christians, we know that we're not to cause anyone to stumble at our conduct or whatever we're doing. We're not to cause anybody to blaspheme our God, and we're to be careful not to cause anybody to do that. Beware. Division is evil. Rebellion is as witchcraft, the Bible says.

And so this tension is now between those who rejected David's reign and those who had followed David. Joab was full of pride at this situation. He was full of just wanting to get Sheba, no matter what. And Sheba went into that city, so that whole city is hostage. "I'm going to snuff the city because Sheba's in the city." And that's all he thought about. Just get them.

One cause for schism and division is anger. I know that for a fact. Bitterness in one's heart. You can be angry at somebody and bitter at them, and so it cuts off all fellowship. You don't want to talk with them. You don't want to even look at them.

These feelings of bitterness and anger have ruined Christian hearts. It'll ruin your own heart. It'll destroy you as a person. It has ruined Christian marriages, caused husband and wife to go at each other's throats.

Selfish desire, going for whatever they can get, caused divorce, separation. Unbelievable what it is when it's self. And it has caused divisions in churches, caused whole churches to split. Bitterness and anger.

Motherly love is out the window. Righteousness, joy, and peace is out the window, and the inheritance of the Lord is laid waste. What for? Because of anger and bitterness? You've wiped out the inheritance of the Lord?

Do you know that the Bible talks of us as being the inheritance of the Lord? Ephesians 1:18, 1 Peter 2:9, it talks that we're His peculiar treasure. We're His inheritance. And so the enemy's going to try to cause us to be divided against one another.

One of the other causes of division is assumption. You know what assumption is? "Well, I assumed." And Joab's just saying, "Well, I assumed that when Sheba went into your city, that everybody in that city is behind Sheba and you're against us."

Well, that's a great assumption, isn't it? "Well, I just assumed it." Well, what are you doing assuming it? "I don't know. I just assumed it." It's the worst thing we can ever do with anything. And Joab did it. He just assumed it.

Again, notice what one bad man can do. He runs into the city and goes, "Alright, I'm protected." He got everybody else in trouble. These type of people always get everybody else in trouble. Beware of these type of people. They turn you against others that you love, that you're to be one with.

This city had to take defense because of what was going on. That's the normal thing. I mean, if you threaten somebody because you assume something, they're going to take defense immediately just to protect themselves. That's normal. That's reaction. And so this city takes defense.

Now, one remedy of division is communication, isn't it? And it wasn't even considered. If it was, there wouldn't be any strife. Everybody would be at peace right now in this city. But nobody communicated. Nobody said anything.

Strife is continued continually through mutual misunderstanding. And there was a mutual misunderstanding, a lack of communication, if you will, between Joab and this city, and it was messing everything up. That's another cause of division: mutual misunderstandings.

They're ugly. They're lies. And they just sit there. And they sit there in people's minds, and you sit there, and they sit there. And you both have mutual misunderstandings, and they're wrong. They're both wrong, and yet you're at war with each other. What a waste of energy.

But listen, folks, if we go His way, we got it made, don't we? That's why we're here this morning. "What, Lord, is Your way? I want to go Your way so I don't get caught up in man's way, so I don't get caught up in the world's way and get all messed up and mess up my own energy and spin my wheels for nothing."

Let me read you a few scriptures. Mark them down. Matthew 5, verse 44. Let me read it to you. "But I say unto you, 'Love your enemies.'" Boy, that takes care of a load, doesn't it? Thank You, Lord. That's easy.

"Bless them that curse you." Oh, that takes care of a whole another group. "Do good to them that hate you." Oh, that's great. That takes care of that group. "And pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." Wow, that covers everything. Thank You, Lord. Just love them. Pray for them.

It's positive direction. It's what is right that makes the difference. God's way is right. Your way is not. Matthew's Gospel 18, verse 15. Jesus talking. "Moreover, if your brother shall trespass against you and hurt your feelings or whatever, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone."

Just go and tell him. Communicate it to him that he hurt you. He doesn't even know he hurt you. "Oh, I think he does." Are you sure about that? "I assume he does." Oh-oh, we're in trouble. You better make sure he does.

Go tell him, because you're going to find out there was a mutual misunderstanding here. And then you're going to be like, "Whoa." If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear you, then you take another person over to talk to that brother, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

Get it worked out. Communicate about it. Talk about it. Deal with it. Now, it takes some people who are willing to persevere and to do it. It takes some mature people to do something like this. Kids don't do this. They just walk away and say, "I want my ball and going home, never coming back." That's kids.

Adults, they persevere and they get down and they communicate. And they work it out and get all the mutual misunderstandings away so Satan can't use them to cause division. It's beautiful. This is strife's remedy.

I love what Paul says in Galatians. As Paul says in Galatians, chapter 6, verse 1, he says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual," the mature brother or sister, "restore such a man. Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness."

Be very careful. Be very humble. "Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." You go and communicate with them. "Hey, you're blowing it, and let me show you how you're blowing it and I want to help you. I love you, man, and let's get back into fellowship."

So again, you're just helping one another. Our duty is to seek peace and pursue it, the Bible says. Seek peace and pursue it. Don't let things slide. So one bad man can really make a mess of things, but I'll tell you something, one good woman is all that's needed to make it right.

I love this wise woman as she comes in as a peacemaker, as a fire quencher. She comes in to devour everything that's going on. She comes in at the right moment, at the right time, because sometimes you can wait too long, can't you? And it gets really bad.

There's a moment where you need to come in, and you need to pray about that. "Lord, when do You want me to confront this individual? When do You want me to deal with this and communicate it to them?" And He'll give you the timing. Timing is crucial. You can do it too early and blow it. You can do it too late and blow it. It's got to be God's timing.

So she came in and she did it right at the right time. Women make really great counselors. I don't know if you knew this or not, but our men here, our pastors here, do not counsel women alone. And you girls, I'm sorry. It's nothing against you.

It's just that we've learned that to have another woman talk to another woman and look eye to eye to one another, especially a woman that's been around the block a few times, that can't be snowed. And you sit in front of that woman that knows the Word of God and you begin to share your thing.

You can sit there in front of a pastor and go, "Oh, Pastor, Pastor, my husband." And some pastors will get snowed. But you sit there in front of a wise woman, you're busted. And so we've found it's worked pretty good and it's been a blessing.

And so the women see our women counselors and they're anointed of God. They're wise women, and I thank God for them. And the pastors are wise guys. They're wise men. And they counsel women and they counsel married couples. I'm not saying that we don't talk to women at all, but just not alone. We've learned.

So she sought to communicate. She was a master of the art of persuasion and of communication. She sought to communicate with Joab, and she just figured, "Hey, what could we lose?" So she gets up on the embankment of the wall and said, "Hey, Joab!"

Apparently she probably was a leader in the city somewhat to be able to make it up to the forefront of the battle and to get up on the wall and say, "Where's Joab? I want to speak to Joab." And she yells out. Joab says, "I'm right here."

"I want to talk to you for a minute. Will you come here?" See, misunderstandings can be totally cleared up, healing can enter in and take place. But we've got to do it right at that moment. And she knew that right as the battle was getting right there, they were ready to cross the walls and there was going to be lives lost, she intervened and she came through.

Sheba was the problem, wasn't he? "And let's just figure it out. Let's get together. Joab, are you going to destroy this city and a Jewish mother?" She just got right down to the brass tacks of, "Are you going to wipe us out?"

Now, notice verse 20. Here's Joab's reaction. Joab said, he answered and said, "Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy." I mean, there's definitely misunderstanding here, isn't there? Joab's not wanting to wipe everybody out.

He wants to get Sheba, but he was going to wipe everybody out to get to Sheba. It's not that he wanted to wipe everybody out. So there's a misunderstanding here. "Oh, you mean you don't want to wipe everybody out?" "No, I just want one guy." "Oh, okay."

Notice that he was looked at as a destroyer because he was coming up against the city, but really he was trying to reform things. He was trying to get things back on line again with David and everything. He was trying his best.

Usually reformers are called destroyers. They're misunderstood many times. Here they are trying to reform, and everybody says, "You're trying to shake up and mess up our whole thing. We've had this thing traditionally through all these years, and you're trying to come in here and disrupt it," when they're really reformers and they're just trying to do a good thing.

He said, "Listen, look at verse 21. The matter is not so, but a man from Mount Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king. I want this traitor, this criminal, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city." And the woman said to Joab, "Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall."

That's the problem. No problem. And she really understood what he said. Verse 22. And then the woman went back into the people in her wisdom and cut off the head of Sheba, the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab.

He blew the trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent, and Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. Now, the communication gap, of course, is removed when we communicate. There is no gap. The problem is solved. She understood the problem, she then dealt with it, and it was over, the whole thing.

The lesson here is that, first of all, this is how you get ahead in Israel. No, that's not the lesson. Sheba, wanting to get ahead because he wanted to be the leader of the north and he was leading everybody away from David, wanting to get ahead lost his own head.

Now, this happens all the time. We are not to seek for ourselves. Remember what Jesus taught us? If you seek to save your life, you're going to lose your life. If you seek for yourself and your self-centered and selfish, you're going to lose everything.

If you lose your life in me, you're going to gain everything. That's what Jesus said. So we need to seek to understand and not to be understood. You see that? Seek to understand, not to be understood. Seek to serve, not to be served, and you won't have any problems. Seek to give and not receive, and you won't have any problems.

But see, Sheba was seeking to get. He was in there for himself and he lost his head. It's a real lesson for us. Joab blew the trumpet of victory. Remember Sheba at the first blew the trumpet of rebellion and revolt?

But now Joab gets to blow the trumpet of victory over error, over distrust, over wrath, over injustice, over rebellion, over strife. It is won. It's over. Why? Because they just simply communicated and got it squared away.

Finally, verse 23. And now we get all of David's administrators and his heads of state, his chief officers. Joab was over all the host of Israel because he would be the undisputed general from here on out. No one would really question him anymore until Solomon.

And then we have Benaiah. He was the second in command, and he was over all the other troops. He was actually the one that would become Solomon's general who would eventually wipe out Joab and be assigned to kill Joab. We'll see that later.

And then there was Adoram. He was the treasurer. Jehoshaphat, he was the record keeper. And Sheva was the Secretary of State. And then we have Zadok and Abiathar, who were the priests. And also Ira, who was the chief ruler about David. He was his personal advisor. Now, listen, and I'll want to end with this.

The spirit of discord and rebellion is removed when we humble ourselves before the Lord. When we say, "Lord, I don't care whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong. I just want to do it Your way. I want to go Your way." And you will become a peacemaker.

And that's so important that all of us leave here this morning as peacemakers for the Lord. The greatest peacemaker, of course, is Jesus Christ, who will give a man or woman who receive Him peace with God. There is nothing greater than you can ever experience in your life but to have peace with God.

All those things that you've ever done before God or against God have been forgiven, washed out. You've got a new lease on life. Peace with God. Awesome. Not only will you get peace with God through Christ, He'll give you the peace of God, which passes human understanding.

And you'll be living in this chaotic, frustrated place with a peace that passes human understanding. Awesome. It's nothing like it to have God's peace ruling in your hearts and through your minds through Christ Jesus. The greatest peacemaker ever, Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Think about what Pastor Jeff Johnson is saying for just a moment. With everything that's going on in our world right now, having the peace of God is the greatest way to cope with all of it. Wouldn't you agree?

Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a moment with more on Sound Doctrine. Pastor Jeff's messages are archived for you at sounddoctrineradio.org. That includes all of 2 Samuel. Our programs are also accessible at oneplace.com and on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

If you enjoy the teaching you receive through Sound Doctrine, you can show your support through a financial gift, and thank you for whatever the Lord lays on your heart. There's a place to give at sounddoctrineradio.org. Lasting peace is something we should all desire, but can we obtain it? Here's Pastor Jeff once again.

Jeff Johnson: And then as we as Christians continue to partake of His Spirit, unholy strife is removed and devoured. We become promoters of peace on earth, goodwill towards men, to those who receive Him. Because you see, there is no peace on earth, is there?

There's just peace with those who have received Christ as their Savior. Once you receive Him, the battle with God's over. You have no more turmoil. You're at rest with yourself. And not only with yourself, check this out. When you get this going, which is the vertical with God, you can take care of the horizontal, which is your fellow man.

You'll have better communication skills. We need it all the time. We need to be working in that area of communicating, being honest, humble before God, learning how to love one another. God help us.

Guest (Male): Next time on Sound Doctrine, we take you to 2 Samuel, chapter 21, where there was a national calamity taking place. King David did what we should do. He turned to God in prayer. Hear all about it as you join us next time for Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff, a presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey.