Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Life is filled with trials, and they can come at us at a pretty fast rate. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: You got one skirmish and you're doing alright and you're watching the Lord and you're trusting the Lord and all of a sudden he gives you the victory. You go, alright! You turn around, and there's another one. Oh no, man! I thought I was over. I just got a victory and but wait a minute, that's just one victory. The war goes on.

Remember those precious promises in the word? In the world, you shall have tribulation. Isn't that great? Warfare! But be of good cheer because I've overcome the world. So we can have courage, we can be of good cheer in the midst of warfare and we can win and have victories and triumphs. And that's what it's all about.

Guest (Male): Calvary Chapel Downey welcomes you to Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. Today we bring you the second half of a message from Pastor Jeff that he began last time, based in 2 Samuel chapter 10. King David is experiencing the good things about being a leader. His army has defeated the Ammonites and the Syrians, and David is riding high. This, of course, comes just before perhaps the lowest point in his life, his sin with Bathsheba. It just goes to show you that when we put our faith in neutral, Satan will pounce, and bad things can happen.

Jeff Johnson: He is my defense, He will protect me, He'll go before me, He'll deal with the enemy. I don't have to get involved. I don't have to try to fight this fight. Stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord. Who are we to think that we can fight in this thing? He's always telling us just to let me have it. Remember, our God hasn't given us a spirit of fear but of love and of power and of a sound mind.

The weapons of our warfare are mighty. In fact, I found a scripture in Isaiah 54 verse 17: "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. Every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment shall be condemned. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord. So where do we stand? In the righteousness of the Lord. We know he loves us, we know he's for us. They might not be but our God is.

So my God's for me, who can be against me? Okay, they can be against me, they can try to get to me, but I'm in his hands. He's our hiding place. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. It is not by my power, not by my might, but by the Spirit of the Lord, thus saith God, right? So we're not to get involved.

So David sends out his mighty men. Notice verse eight: "And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah and Rehob and of Ishtob and Maacah were by themselves in the field. And Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind. He chose of all the choice men of Israel and put them in array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people he delivered unto the hand of Abishai, his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon."

And he said, if the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me. But if the children of Ammon be too strong for you, then you will come and I will come and help you. So there was a camaraderie there. And yet, as I read this, I thought, look at this battle strategy. To keep their forces divided, he split his forces. He didn't want them to gather together because for them to gather together would become more strong. So he split his forces to keep them divided. Joab took and he came against the Syrians, and to his brother, he gave the Ammonites.

And so he said, if you get weak I'll help you, if I get weak you help me. Now both these guys had total different temperaments, they're total different guys as night and day. They're just two different guys leading two different groups. And what I thought was interesting here is that the Lord says, behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. These guys were in unity, yet they were both fighting at different fronts.

They needed each other, just as we need each other. The body of Christ is one body, isn't it? We need each other. We got different temperaments, we got different ways of looking at things, but oh how glorious it is when we come together, pray together, and have a common direction towards a common enemy. And we're going to see it more and more as we enter into the summer months, as we've joined together with hundreds of churches all over the area, and as we see them coming into the stadium as we hear the song, let the walls fall down.

We're going to see walls, as we've seen over and over here in our fellowship, walls falling down. People coming alive in the Lord, people coming to the Lord. And the enemy is being put down why? Because everybody's praying, working together. Common enemy.

I'm sure you've heard the story of the optimist. Did you know that the optimist is the one that designed and engineered the airplane? And the pessimist is the one that engineered and designed the parachute. We need them both, don't we? But they both work together. And that's what these two brothers did, working together.

So the enemy tries to trap them and overwhelm them with their masses and really I think what the enemy's always trying to do and he's hoping is that we don't have a plan or strategy. In other words, we're just taking our walk with the Lord lightly, that we're just cruising. That this whole thing is not as serious as we sometimes like on Sunday morning we might get into the worship a little bit and we might get into the message a little bit, but then when we go out and we leave this place it's a whole different game.

No, some of you, it's more than just going to church on Sunday or Wednesday. It's a lifestyle, it's a whole way of living and there's warfare and you're taking it seriously and you've got a strategy, you see. To the others you're in danger. The enemy's hoping you don't have a strategy, that you don't have a plan, that you don't know what you're doing with this whole Christianity thing. That you just stay nominal and just right on the outside looking in going, well, they look like they're real busy in there and doing some good stuff and then but I got my thing and all of a sudden you find yourself by yourself.

Remember the Bible says he's as a lion seeking whom he may devour. Who is he looking for but those that are weak, those that are astray from the group, those who are sick? He'll pull you down if you're in that place. If you don't have a strategy and if you're not taking this whole thing seriously, then you're going to be one of his defeats. He's going to defeat you. He's going to pull you down.

We've got to seek to build ourselves up in our most holy faith and get rooted and grounded as never before, especially in these days, or we are going to get ripped off. Remember the parable of the sower. The seed went on all kinds of ground, didn't it? But that seed which went on the good ground, that fertile ground, that ground that took the seed in, took it and then brought forth fruit to the glory of the Lord. But the other three pieces of land wiped out, didn't make it.

God let our hearts be fertile and open to your word that we might build ourselves up. How? Faith comes by hearing and that of the word of God. That we would have our faith built up. There is a faith chapter in the Bible it's called Hebrews, and in Hebrews chapter 11, let me read it to you. In verse 32: "And what shall I say more?" he says, "For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David also and Samuel and of the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in the fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens."

Through faith, how we need to build up our faith. How we need to be Acts 2:42 Christians. They steadfastly, consistently stayed in the word, stayed in fellowship and communion and in prayers together. Basic things that we need to do. Our strategy needs to be that we gather together not as some that have forsaken the fellowship of our gathering. Some people aren't here this morning. Why? Because they don't think it's important to be here. They don't think this is part of the strategy to be strong in the Lord, to grow together.

I always like to give that illustration. We're getting ready to barbecue now, right? Summer's coming, some of you guys really into it. You get the briquettes going and it takes a while to get them going. You finally get them going and when they're in a pile, man, they really go for it, don't they? They can go for hours. But you take one of those briquettes and set them off to the side, boom, it'll just cool and it's good for nothing.

And I always like to use that as an illustration. We need to gather together, especially when we see the day approaching. We need to come together because we burn together. We grow strong together. We listen to the word of God together. We've got a strategy and we need to steady on with it. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18, if we're going to come up against this enemy and have a victory.

Look at verse 12 now. I love this. He says, this is his encouragement: "Be of good courage. Let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God, and the Lord do that which seemeth him good." And so he gave an awesome encouragement to his men. Let's be strong for our God and he will work through us to do that which is good.

Verse 13: "And Joab drew near," notice, "and the people that were with him into the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, then they fled also before Abishai and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon and came to Jerusalem."

It looks like the enemy's all bark and no bite, right? Because they gather with the thousands and all of a sudden God's children have a plan and a strategy and they see them doing their plan and they go, oh my gosh, these guys are serious. Man, they're really getting down, they're coming after us, and they just, let's get out of here! And they just fled. They couldn't handle it.

You see, that's what happens when we start to pray together. The enemy's walls fall. The weapons of our warfare, folks, is mighty when we come together and we believe it. And so the enemy scattered. What is the secret of our victory? I love this because it says here that Joab drew near and the people that were with him and then they fled before him.

I read in James chapter four something that I think that we all need to hear again. In verse seven he says: "You need to submit yourself to God. Then resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners, purify your hearts you double-minded. Be afflicted, mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to heaviness. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up."

There's the key to victory. Draw near to the Lord, man. Submit yourself to God and then you'll be able to do what? Resist the devil. Because he's going to come at you and he's not going to quit because he wants you. He wants to sift you as wheat. He wants to play games with your mind, play games with your Christianity, play games with everything. But if you will draw near to the Lord, submit to him, God says you will be able to resist the devil and guess what? He's out of here. He'll be fleeing, man.

And victory is so sweet. If there wasn't a battle, we would never know the glories of winning. But because there's so many battles going on, we know the blessings of victory and it's sweet when we're doing it his way and letting him fight the battles for us. We are more than conquerors. As we humble, resist, he'll flee.

I want you to notice this that Joab just put the enemy in their place and they went running off to their little city. And then Joab came back to Jerusalem. He didn't even try to take them over and wipe them out. He just let them go. Look at verse 15: "When the Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel, they gathered themselves together. And Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river, and they came to Helam, and Shobach, the captain of the host of Hadadezer went before them. And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David and fought with him."

So after regrouping the Syrians, now do you see what's happening? They're rising up again to fight. They just regrouped and now they're coming back again. Doesn't it seem that when you've just overcome one area and had a victory in one area of your life, another one pops up where there's another skirmish over here now? You find that you go through and you got one skirmish and you're doing alright and you're watching the Lord and you're trusting the Lord and all of a sudden he gives you the victory. You go, alright! You turn around, and there's another one. Oh no, man! I thought I was over. I just got a victory and but wait a minute, that's just one victory. The war goes on.

Remember those precious promises in the word? In the world, you shall have tribulation. Isn't that great? Warfare! But be of good cheer because I've overcome the world. So we can have courage, we can be of good cheer in the midst of warfare and we can win and have victories and triumphs. And that's what it's all about.

It seems that David to me is angry with Joab. and I think what he's angry at Joab at is not finishing them off. And what is interesting to me is you see if you don't allow God to deliver you and to really give you victory in that area that you're dealing with, guess what? You're going to be faced with it again. Remember the children of Israel? After 40 years they came back around and God says, okay now what are you going to do? And they're going, oh no, we've been here before, déjà vu. Didn't we go through this before? Yeah, but God's saying now what are you going to do now? I'm still waiting for you, you gotta get through this. After 40 man that's enough.

But don't you see that God wants to give us total victory? So we can go on to the next warfare, the next fight. But not that we should try to skirt the issue, try to hide it, oh maybe it'll just go away if I don't pay attention to it. I'll just think about something else, I'll get myself busy with this and that'll go away, go away, go away. And then all of a sudden you're being drawn back to it and you turn around, right in your face. Oh man do I gotta face this thing again? Yes. The Lord wants to give you a victory.

Submit yourself to God. Humble yourself before the Lord and you'll be able to resist the devil and he'll flee from you and you'll have victory in that situation. So David takes personal charge now of the army. Notice, not Joab, David takes personal charge. He was a brilliant general, he was great in warfare. Remember Ephesians chapter six talks about that warfare that we're in. He says in verse 10: "Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord in the power of his might." David was that. And then it goes on to say, "put ye on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

And then he says in verse 13 of Ephesians 6: "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in that evil day, having done all to stand." We should take on the whole armor. Why? So we can defend ourselves, not only defend ourselves so we can defeat the enemy. Because our weapons are not only defensive, they are also offensive.

The prayers, the word of God, we got strategy, guys. God's given us the whole thing, how to come against the enemy. We just need to do it. What is that whole armor? Well, learn about your armor. Learn about the helmet of salvation, knowing that you're saved. The breastplate of righteousness that Christ is in you. Learn about the preparation of your feet to share the gospel with those who you're around out there in the world. Learn about the sword of the spirit. Know your weapon so you can do battle with the enemy with the power of the Lord in his might. Power of prayer, it just goes on.

And then finally verse 18: "And the Syrians fled before Israel and David slew the men 700 chariots of the Syrians, 40,000 horsemen, smote Shobach the captain of the host who died there. And when all the kings that were servants to Hadadezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon anymore." Boy they learned a lesson. You just don't go up against David and his mighty men.

So David takes the enemy and gets total victory as they become now David's servants. And I thought wow that's the same way with us. As we bring our bodies under subjection to the Lord we can then serve God. And that's so important. Would you turn with me and we'll end with this scripture in Romans chapter six.

Romans chapter six. We're going to start with verse six. Listen to these last scriptures. We're talking about total victory here over your enemy so you can serve the Lord, so you can body soul and spirit serve God. Romans 6:6: "Know this that our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin."

Verse 11: "Likewise put to the account that you also, you yourselves are dead indeed to sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin," and that's our choice, right? "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, that your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace."

So that you can serve God with your body. You used to serve the enemy Satan with your body. He had you at one time, everything that you were doing with your body was for his benefit. But now you've been bought with a price, you're God's. Now you can yield your whole hands, feet, ears, mouth, everything to the glory of the Lord.

And notice verse 16: "Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness."

And now your body serves God. And now you serve God whereas before you were just being wiped out and everything you were doing was emptiness, vanity, vexation of spirit. It was for nothing. But now God's put you on another track and it's awesome.

So as we give our bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord God will give us great triumphs and victories won't he? But beware of this, now listen to me, beware of this: that your enemy will also try to use your victories against you. You say, wait a minute, what are you saying Jeff? He's going to try to use my victories against me? Yeah. For the scripture says this: for when you think you stand take heed lest you fall.

And I'll tell you something things never have been so good for David right here. We are seeing David at the highest point, pinnacle of his life. He has conquered the land, everyone serving him. He is now king of the land. He is right at the top of all that anybody could ever wish for. And with all that victory and all that triumph next chapter we will see how David and many have brought themselves down by not taking heed to themselves and to what's going on. David's in for a big fall here and Satan's going to use his victory or his strength against him.

Guest (Male): We can set ourselves up for defeat when we take credit away from God in the triumphs we experience in life. Disaster is right around the corner. Pastor Jeff will be back in a moment to reiterate that important truth. We house all of our 2 Samuel studies at sounddoctrineradio.org. This comes in handy should you miss a study or two on the radio, or just want to hear something again, or even share it with someone you know. This study and more are available now at sounddoctrineradio.org under messages. You can also listen at oneplace.com and through the Sound Doctrine Radio podcast app. And of course, speaking of podcasts, Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, and that includes Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This program is made possible through the support of our listeners. To make a contribution to the ministry, just visit sounddoctrineradio.org and click on giving. Be sure to join us next time when Pastor Jeff will return to 2 Samuel here on Sound Doctrine, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Downey. Now to wrap up the day here's Pastor Jeff once again.

Jeff Johnson: You see we don't stumble in our weak suit. We always stumble in our strong suit. Jeff what are you talking about? Let me give you a good example. Peter was a very courageous guy and one of his strengths was what? That he had courage. I mean anything, he'd jump right in there. I mean when guys were coming to take the Lord he took this sword out and started swinging. I mean this guy, wow you got a lot of guts. That takes a lot of courage, he just started going for it. And yet that was his strength but what did the enemy do with that courage? Used it against him didn't he?

For how was the area, what did he fall in? He denied the Lord how many times? Why? Because he was afraid. What happened to the courage Peter? It was used against him. The enemy will try to use your victory, your strong point against you. Beware of that. And we're going to see that really blossom next time we get together.

There is trouble in the land. It's all around us and we live in one of our enemies. But victory for Peter and victory for us is to receive his love and to receive his power because we are more than conquerors as we do that. And that's the important thing. The end result is that we would come to the Lord and let him do all of the fighting and all of the battles for us. We got a place of rest.

Guest (Male): Come back after the weekend when our study in 2 Samuel resumes here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. A daily presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey.