2 Samuel 8 Bible Study (David's Victories / David's Officials) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Amen. God is good. You sang beautifully tonight. I was edified, and I am excited to be edified in the word with you. But before we begin, let's see who remembered from last Friday.

I issued an assignment in relation to the promises of God in the word of God that you and I would familiarize ourselves much more with the goodness of God pertaining to his particular assurances to us. And so your assignment was to to look for something that genuinely touched your heart and that you can hold onto in stormy seasons, in times of temptation, and not just to console yourself, but to even bless somebody else, that the word would be on the tip of your tongue. And so I'm not gonna call anybody out. That's that's not a way to teach. I'm just gonna invite those who took that to heart and said, you know, I'm gonna do this by next Friday.

I'm I'm gonna give a verse, and, not just to show that I memorized something, but to show that, I really wanna know God's word for myself. Anybody have a verse that they wanna share, Whether it was memorized or something that you've have have in your bible that you're trying to really embed in your heart? Sure. Beautiful. Philippians one six.

Christ's assurance to us that he will work on us and keep us till the end. What a beautiful promise. Anything else? Psalm 91? Yes.

Beautiful. Psalm 91. Powerful, powerful scripture. Yes. Thank you, brother.

Any other scripture? Yes. Yes. Amen. That repeated phrase, yes.

His mercy does endure forever. Yeah. Beautiful. Romans six, powerful chapter. Yes.

Any other scriptures? Yes. Beautiful. Psalm Psalm 30, you said? Yeah.

Look at the reference. Try to find the reference. It's important to know the references too, so that, if we don't have a bible in hand that we can help others find it. That is a beautiful promise. Anything else?

Yes. Yes. Amen. Amen. Maybe a couple more.

Sure. Amen. Well, we can tell that it really touches your heart, sister. Any other scripture? Amen.

Beautiful. Yes, Gorgis, and then Phoebe, and then we'll continue our study. Yes. Amen. Wonderful, wonderful assurance.

One more. Yes. Phoebe, and then you can end. Okay? Yes.

Go ahead, Phoebe. Amen. Yes. Yes. One of my favorite verses on repentance.

Acts three nineteen. Repent that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Wonderful. May I challenge you further? I know that we live busy lives.

Take those verses and etch them on your soul so that you can say it from memory. That will come in handy when you don't have a bible in hand or when your battery runs out on your iPhone. That you would have it ready, you can wield that sword, and you can engage in warfare, with preparedness. So those are wonderful promises. I hope that you will grow in your hunger to know the promises of God.

We come to second Samuel now chapter eight. Turn your bibles there with me. We have an interesting passage before us tonight. It may not be as gripping as what we studied in the previous chapter, but it is an intriguing passage nonetheless. And the reason why I think it is intriguing is because the content will demand meditation.

It's not something that you can just easily read and and and pick up certain truths from a from a just a a face value kind of thing, but it's gonna demand it's gonna demand you to actually think with every verse. What is it that the Lord is trying to say in in this text? What what is the spiritual insight? What is the nourishment that I can acquire from this, portion of scripture? And I'm gonna read these verses, but as I read them, again, pay attention.

You can easily, lose focus because there's a lot of details here, and and it seems like there's nothing much, that this text has to offer, but that is not true because I hope you and I have studied the Old Testament long enough to know that there's not one piece of the Bible that has, nothing to say to us. There is something here for us. So it's gonna be it's gonna be quite a few verses. I'm not gonna read the whole chapter, but perhaps the first 14 verses so we can have just a framework of what we're gonna uncover tonight. So keep keep with me here.

If you're watching this at a later time on the recording or if you're with us even now online, also follow along with us, and then I'm gonna ask what stood out to you, and we'll see what we can do from there. Second Samuel eight one. After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Methegamma out of the hand of the Philistines. And he defeated Moab, and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground.

Two lines he measured to be put to death and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites became servants of David and brought tribute. David also defeated Hadadezer, the son of Rehobo, king of Zobah. And he went to restore his power at the River Euphrates. And David took from him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers.

And David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a 100 chariots. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

And from Bethah and from Barothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took very much bronze. When Tuai king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, Tuai sent his son Joram to King David to ask about his health and to bless him because he fought against Hadadezer and defeated him. For Hadadezer had often been at war with Thoi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze. These also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued, from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley Of Salt. Some translations would say Syrians. There's a reason for that. Then he put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom, he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David's servants, and the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.

Did you stick through? I hope so. Now, with that overview, is there anything that you feel like is important? If there's if there's details there that you notice, make make mention of it. Yes.

Yes. So God is continually assisting David as David's heart is continually set on glorifying him. So from what I'm understanding, what you're saying is that the Lord is the one who's helping David do what he's doing here. Correct? Yes.

And we've told that a couple of times in this chapter. Yes. The Moabites were spared in their certain date. Okay.

Because in his ancestral

Oh, interesting. The Moabites, remember who they were? Remember how they're related to David? We're gonna discover that in a moment. Some of them were spared.

Is there a reason for that? Well, don't don't fall asleep during the bible study to find out. Anything else? Okay. Yeah.

So he's dealing with them in a specific way. It may seem cruel to us. Yeah. So is there a prophetic fulfillment here that Esau would serve Jacob? I think there is a a a partial fulfillment there.

Absolutely. Yes. So we see some prophetic, accomplishments here, so to speak. Any other observations? It's a challenging text, isn't it?

But it's important to meditate on.

The conclusion of the previous chapter, it's amazing how quickly, you know, he says, now let it, you know, bless the house forever and go a house forever. He immediately I mean, we initially didn't have this chapter in first division, so it might not for his office. Yeah. I have I have I have this chapter in first division, so it might not for his office. Yeah.

I have this

Yes. So our brother here made a good observation connecting chapter seven with what's happening in chapter eight. Now here's an important lesson for you when you look at the bible and you read the bible. Some of the bible is written chronologically. Right?

So there's a sequence of things happening in a linear timeline. But the authors of the scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit were not limited to a chronological writing style. Most of them, many of them, depending on the context, wrote thematically. Thematically. So all the events in chapter eight, it's it's throughout the span of David's reign.

Right? And it's placed here right after chapter seven for that very purpose that we just heard, that God is fulfilling his promise that he gave to David about blessing his household and keeping him and preserving him and and prospering him. So it's important to see chapter eight as a partial fulfillment of the promises that we studied in chapter seven. Very good. Any other observations?

Yes. Oh, Lord, you're helping me. Here's all of this for you. All the bronze, all the gold, all the silver. What did he end up doing with all of that, by the way?

He's gonna he's gonna use those resources to build the temple. Yes. Good. Yes. Somebody else?

Somebody else had their hand up? I saw somebody else with their hand up. Okay. Good. Anything else?

The overview of chapter eight, if if we want just a summary of what's happening here. This is really a catalog of the major conquest that David accomplished during his reign. And it's really to showcase the faithfulness of God and one of the promises among the grand promise of chapter seven, specifically verse nine of chapter seven. Look at it very quickly. God promised David to make a great name for him, And that's happening.

As David is expanding his military presence and power, a great name is being made for him. He's becoming a renowned king, an esteemed ruler and leader, a respected man. Not just a man, but man of God. And so that's really the overview of all of this. And when you look at it, you can almost say this could have been summarized in one verse or two, maybe.

We could have just looked at the different enemies that he defeated by name, and then we could have just moved on, perhaps with a footnote that says, yes. God is fulfilling his promise. But instead, the Holy Spirit wants to expand on David's campaigns in dealing with these different enemies and give us some measure of detail in a neatly listed way for a reason. To pull us in, to have a closer look, and to kinda kinda look for, what this might mean for us in our new covenant context. This chapter, when I read it, it reminded me of our study in the book of Joshua.

For those who were there, you know that the book of Joshua is heavily emphasizing of Israel's ancient warfare with, God's enemies. And there's a lot of this happening, just like a highlight reel of how Joshua and the Israelites took over this region and took over this enemy. And we come here again, and we might be tempted to deal with this chapter the way many fall into temptation when it comes to handling the book of Joshua, just kinda skimming over it to hopefully found something on the surface that could apply to us in a relevant way. But again, you and I have studied the Old Testament long enough to know there's much more in here. There are rubies of revelation if we just but excavate, take our time, and meditate to see what it is that the spirit of God is saying.

And I think the best way to approach this chapter is to establish from a framework point of view that David here arguably has conquered a total of seven nations. Right? And we read some of them, and and we're familiar with some of them, whether with the Philistines, the Moabites, we have Syria, we have Amalek, Edom. Geographically, where do you think these enemies were placed? On all sides.

West, east, north, south, they are surrounding David. And yet David is able by the enabling grace of God to overcome all of them. And we sang it, right, in one song, that this is a prophetic picture of the son of David who will come and rule and conquer every corner of the earth. And he will inherit the nations, and he will subdue all of his enemies in a total way, not in a partial way like David, but in a complete way. And so we're almost getting just a taste of what's to come, what we are anticipating for, the physical rule and reign of Jesus Christ, who will actually bring kings and countries and nations to their knees.

And they will adore him whether they want to or not. But is there more than that? Do we move on just with that? No. I don't think we move on.

I think what we do is we look at how David deals with these different enemies, and we apply the same way we do with the book of Joshua. God has made Israel a promise concerning their land that it would require faith to know what God purchased for them in a physical sense. Jesus purchased a promise, many promises for us. And it requires war to be able to know and experience and abide where he wants us to be. And so with new covenant lenses, we come to this text, and we look at from one point to the next, the different nations and see how this will enrich our understanding of how we do warfare in the spirit.

So we look at verse one. After David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, David took Metheg Amah out of the hand of the Philistines. Philistines, ancient ancient enemy to Israel. Are they not? They were persistent aggressors against the people of God ever since the day of judges.

And now when we come to this point, we realize that David is completing what God raised up Samson to do. God raised up Samson to begin to bring deliverance from the Philistines. And it was Saul's job to finish it, and he didn't so David would do it to some degree. And so he does so interestingly. He goes to Methegamma, and he takes it out of the hand of the Philistines.

This is where you have to do a little extra effort to say, okay. What is is there anything in that name that might help me understand what's going on here? And thankfully, there is something in this name that could help us understand David's strategy here. Methagamah simply means mother city or bridle of the mother city. This is a key region for the Philistines.

This is an important location. Clearly, it had some kind of, support system. It supplied, it energized, it, it it equipped the rest of the Philistines, and so they really depended upon, that city to either survive or thrive. David knew that. He didn't waste his time going to other towns before he got there because he realized, if I don't if I don't go for the jugular, then then everything around that is just gonna continue to be strengthened by methegamma.

So let's just go right for the heart. Let's go for the mother city, and then we'll be able to overcome her children, so to speak. And so David really is coming here with a strategy. He's not coming recklessly. He's not just coming with wishful thinking.

And here's what I present to you based on that revelation, that you and I are called to do the same with our war against sin. We are called to be tactical. We are called to be mindful. We are called to be careful. We're not called to just have this desire to overcome sin.

It's gonna require more than that. There needs to be a sense in which we understand why certain things are happening, where temptation is coming from, how to limit ourselves from influences that will encourage the impulses of the flesh, and then to deal with it. Right? Unfortunately, many people don't think this way because they don't consider that there is a war going on every single day with their flesh. And because of that, they are not wise nor are they forceful enough to deal with the things of the flesh.

And And if David's attitude is teaching us anything, it's that wishing to be holy is not enough to be holy. Right? Wishful thinking is not gonna do it. Your desire to be a godly man or a godly woman is not gonna bring you to that place. It's gonna require calculated effort while we partner with the spirit of God to get there.

Didn't Jesus give us so many hints into that kind of mindset? What did he say in Matthew five twenty nine and thirty? You don't have to turn there. You know it very well. If your right hand caused you to sin, what do you do?

Tear it out. Tear it out. For it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand caused you to sin, do the same thing. Cut it off.

Tear it off. Throw it away. Because it's better to have one less member of your body than to have all of it and to be thrown into hell. Is Jesus encouraging literal mutilation of the flesh for holiness? As a means of holiness.

No. Some people over history did think so. This is a figurative way of trying to illustrate a powerful point in terms of practical holiness. K. Anybody here wanna, sell one of your eyes for a billion dollars?

No. You cherish your vision, don't you? You wouldn't even give up one of your eyes. You wouldn't even give up half of your one eye. You cherish your eyes.

You cherish your ability to see. You cherish your mobility, your agility. The the the the design that God has given you to be able to know maximum movement and strength. You wouldn't give up your right hand for anything. And yet Jesus here is using the things that we prize and cherish on a day to day basis to say even the most valuable things that you hold to in life are worthy to be given up for the sake of preserving your righteousness and evading sin.

It's worth extreme measures to cut off things in life with dramatic desire and force in order for you to be liberated from anything that would try to drag you into a place that can do damage to your soul. So so even that, Jesus is trying to say, when you see the very thing that's moving you in a direction that you don't wanna go, deal with it. Notice it. Study it. Realize it.

Understand who you are. Right? Look at yourself. Look at your patterns. Look at your habits.

Is there anything that is inspiring you to be less in love with the Lord? Well, kill it. Go for that. And I think because of this, this this lack of, of desire and seriousness is causing people to have just prolonged unnecessary battles for years. Right?

Because they're dealing with the fruit. They're not getting to the root. They're they're just, again, just wishful thinking, and they're waiting for the next convicting sermon to make them cry, to inspire them long enough to last for tomorrow by lunchtime. It ain't gonna work. There there's gotta there's just gotta come a time where you sit down, look at your life, examine your life, seeing where is where are things going wrong here?

Am I lazy? Am I just careless of what I put before my eyes? What's going on for me not gaining strength spiritually? And then Jesus, once you identify it, take it out. And I'm sure David here is inspiring us in that sense.

Calls for a mindfulness of the elements that would encourage us. It it calls for us to look at the the lifelines of things that are keeping us away from fullness in in Christ, and then going for it, dealing with it. By the way, this is just gonna be surface level things as we touch on each of these different nations. So now we come to the Moabites in verse two. And he defeated Moab, and he measured them with a lion, making them lie down on the ground.

Two lions he measured to be put to death and one full lion to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute. Unlike the Philistines, the nation of Moab was not always an enemy to David. How do we know that? What what's one instance that we know that David's relationship with Moab is a little bit more complicated?

It's not clearly defined like the Philistines. Ruth. K. Ruth. Yeah.

But, more than that. Something happened during David's life. Exactly. When David was initially in exile and fleeing from Saul's murderous plot, he entrusted his parents into the hands of the king of Moab. Remember that?

And he asked to please take care of mom and dad. And and the reasoning for that is, as we heard, David had some Moabite blood in him. And I'm sure the Moabites knew that about David as well, for them to be willing to open their doors for David to have his parents come and stay with them. But what David experienced with Moab and and David's history with Moab is not the same as Israel's history with Moab. Because Moab, as long as Israel was a nation, harassed the people of God in severe ways.

What are the the two most prominent ways, notorious ways that Moab proved to be an enemy to the nation of Israel? What's that? Yeah. They worship false gods, but directly with the nation of Israel, what did they do? They didn't refuse to give water to Israelites.

Okay. So there is that where they try to pass through Moab, which is just before the border going into the nation of Israel. But even before that, what did what did the Moabites do? Okay. Think think wilderness journey.

Okay. That's one, but there's something even before that. We'll get to that one in a moment. Numbers. Numbers.

Numbers. Numbers. Numbers. Who cursed or tried to curse? The Israelites.

Yeah. Balaam. The king of Moab hired Balaam. Curse this nation. They're gonna devour us.

They're gonna take over us. And so the king of Moab attempted to actually curse the people of God. It didn't work. So then what did they do? Numbers 25.

The Moabites took their beautiful woman and had them strut through the camp of Israel and tempted the men, and the men were seduced. And they begin to, not just physically, but spiritually be seduced to worship false gods. And it caused havoc. And that's when Phineas got up, and he dealt with the compromise. Remember that.

That's the history between Moab and Israel. And David here, though he has a different kind of relationship, chooses to attack Moab even though they were gracious to him on a personal level. Why? Why is that happening? Something must have happened between David being shown favor from the Moabites to take care of his parents and David becoming king.

Here's the thing, we have no idea. We have no idea what happened. And so there's speculation. Right? And and ancient, commentators to this, more Jewish commentators, Jewish commentators, a lot of times, they love bringing commentaries based on speculation.

Here's what some would say. Well, the Moabites eventually killed David's parents. And so David wanted to take revenge upon the Moabites. We but that's not told anywhere in the scripture. So I I don't wanna complicate it, and I don't wanna rely on just guessing what happened.

But I think what we can say here is that Moab clearly committed to their hatred for the nation of Israel, whether or not David was king. They didn't care if David was king, if he was the assistant to the king. Even after David became king, they showed themselves to be enemies of Israel still. And because David was king, he had a duty. He had a duty to protect the people of God and to fulfill his role as a king.

You're gonna touch the apple of God's eye. I'm gonna have to deal with you. So he attacks the Moabites, and he goes to war against them. He had a choice to make. Listen.

It's a choice that every single one of us has to make in this life. And you know what it is? It's simple. If our duty and our allegiance to God will take precedence over our preferences and our priorities in this life. Every single one of us has to make that choice.

David had to make the difficult choice. I have Moabite blood in me, but because the Moabites hate my God, they hate his word, hate his people, hate his promises trying to thwart the promises. I have to stand against the Moabites. None of us in here are even worthy to be a disciple if you don't hate your mother and your father, your brother, your sister, your wife. Yes.

Even your own children. Yes. Even your own life. Hate actual hate? Remember, we were at a conference and a friend shared that, and the pastor's son lifted up his hand and says, am I supposed to hate my dad?

We're gonna get in trouble now. It's pastor's son asking this question. Not literal hate, but your love for God should so outshine every single love that you have in this life. It should make it look like hate. That's what that's what Jesus is trying to imply in terms of preference of allegiance.

And you have to make that choice. We have to all make that choice. And if we can't determine in our hearts, lord, I will go where you want me to go. Even if my wife doesn't go, even if my cousins, even if my children don't wanna go. I will obey.

I will be faithful by your grace. You're not even worthy to be a disciple. That is how beautiful and worthy and infinitely glorious he is, that the closest relationships to you are nothing in light of your love for him. Now once we walk with him, do we do fulfill a responsibility to those who are in our lives, whether they are saved or unsaved. But when it comes to making a choice of obeying God or pleasing your family or holding on to traditional cultures that have been passed down for centuries or relationships that have provided so much for your life, but at the same time, hate the cross and hate the grace of God.

You have to make a choice, and I have to make a choice. David made difficult choice, but it didn't seem that he showed much hesitation. Let's go to verse three. David also defeated. Now we come to the third nation.

Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah. We don't know much about Zobah. But all we know up to this point is that David has dealt with his enemies from the West, the Philistines. He's dealt with his enemies from the East, the Moabites. Now he's going north.

Now he's gonna fight against the Syrians. And Zoba are Syrians. They're part of a confederacy of other Syrians. There's many kings in Syria. Zoba is one region.

Hadidazir is the king of Zoba. And David is choosing to go to war with them. And verse three really piqued my interest when I looked at it. As he went to restore his power at the River Euphrates. If you if you wanna take the time to look at where the River Euphrates is in northbound, it's like deep it's like in Syria.

It's far up there. And so when I read this, at first, I I thought to myself, is David stepping out of bounds of the promised land to try to occupy that which the Lord did not grant him? That was my question when I read that verse. Does anybody know the answer to that question? Is David going out of bounds?

He's not? Why isn't he? Very good. Do you remember the reference? No.

Not before before Deuteronomy, before before Joshua, Genesis. Do you wanna know how David is actually in obedience? Go to Genesis fifteen eighteen. Look what the Lord said to Abraham. In Genesis fifteen eighteen, this was the initial covenant that God made with Abraham concerning the land.

And the land is much larger than what your imagination conjures up when you think of the promised land. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, before Abram even became Abraham, saying to your offspring, I give this land from the River Of Egypt, that's pretty south, to the great river, the River Euphrates. Interesting. According to promise God's promise to Abraham, you know what David is doing? He's believing the Lord about what was given to Israel to begin with.

And David, as long as he had the authority and the power, wanted to know the full measure of God's will. He wanted to know the the greatest extent of what God had assured the nation of Israel. And when I looked at this, I thought the reach of of David's military campaign is an inspiration to the believer in their eagerness to know all, to to stretch your soul, to know all, not some, but all that the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased in terms of your inheritance spiritually. I wanna know everything that Jesus has for me in this life. And it's so strange because you have so many believers who are content with drawing their little boundaries and to live in just a corner of the will of God.

And not say, I wanna expand to to to everything that the Lord purchased with his blood and deposited in my heart by the spirit. And I don't know why that is, but it is. God has so much more territory for you and I to occupy. But the very same thing that it required Joshua to know and what required David to know is the same thing that you and I need to tap into to even know the beginnings of these things, faith. Faith.

You need to believe the Lord. You need to believe the Lord. And that's why partly why I encourage you, look at the promises of God and and ask yourself, is this something that I can hold on to? Is this something I really believe in my life? And because you know what?

You have Christians, you ask them, well, what are the promises that Jesus purchased? Will he forgive me of my sins for all for all of you? That's wonderful. That's great. You have eternal life.

That's the foundation, and yet they're limited in that understanding. They don't know what else What else the Lord in his will, he signed off on and gave and put into your hands that you can take to the bank and say, this is mine, and I wanna know it. Can I give you an example? First Thessalonians five sixteen to 18. You don't have to turn there.

If you want to, you can. This is what I'm trying to talk about. Rejoice always. Pay attention. Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Now we took that and we put it on t shirts. We took that and we put it on a nice writing font, and we put it on a wall somewhere. I wanna know it in my life.

You know what I take from that verse? Those two verses? Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. Because of the will of Jesus Christ, I can know perpetual uninterrupted joy, communion with God, and gratitude in all things. Now either we're satisfied to put it on a t shirt and wear it at a conference or drink it out of our coffee or coffee cup, whatever, or we can say, lord, if this is what you purchased, if this is your will, I want to know it.

Take me there. Empower me to know continual joy, continual communion with you, unending gratitude unto you. Do you see what I'm trying to say? I hope this is coming off clear here. That is experiential theology.

That's something that you and I can actually tap into, but it's gonna require faith. The same way that it required faith for Joshua to get in and David to go beyond all the way to the border and to live and abide where God had brought him for. You and I are not gonna grow much in in the Lord. You and I are not gonna grow much in the Lord. You know, it's amazing when you look at this is all over the scripture.

And this is a verse that many mostly prosperity preachers have taken out of context. But I want to read it to you. In three John, third John, third epistle John, verse two, it's a greeting that he gives to Gaius. And John says, beloved, I pray that it all may go well with you, and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul. Other translations, actually most word for word translations, don't say may go well with you.

What would it say? Scott?

Live and wish above all things

that you may prosper. That you may prosper.

Yeah. Mhmm.

That's when the prosperity preacher see. God wants you to prosper in all things and in your health. And the the focus is on the wrong thing. What John is saying to Gaius is, I want everything in your life to be as prosperous as your soul is. Ask yourself this question.

If my physical health if there was a reversal to take place that my spiritual health was to replace my physical health, how healthy would I actually be? That's a good question, isn't it? Would my physical world be prosperous if the prosperity of my soul were to translate into that? Isn't that a wonderful question? There are a lot of people who might be prospering physically, prospering in this, prospering even in health, but their soul is all shriveled up, and they're spiritual skeletons.

But what that also shows me is that God longs for our souls to prosper, That our walk with him and all those spiritual blessings would overflow. Would just overflow. That's what he desires for us. But yet, many believers, John wouldn't be able to say that to them. And that's a sad place to be.

And part of the reason why is because like Zobah, there are obstacles in our way. There's an enemy who doesn't want us to prosper in such a in such a way. And we have to be willing to say, whatever the flesh tries to do, all the fears and seductions, I'm willing to go against it just like David did with this foe so that I can be where God wants me to be. And so let me give you an example how that looks. I look at rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, and I pray it.

I pray those verses. I say, lord, either you're exaggerating here or my faith is not great. E either either this is not true. It's it's it's just poetic license, or I'm satisfied in something less than what you are bringing here before me in this text. I want to be one who can always rejoice.

I want to be able to walk day by day with all that I have to do and still have my heart connected with you. I wanna be able to genuinely give thanks in all circumstances. Even if my health is not prospering, even if things are falling apart, I want my soul to prosper. Brothers and sisters, be inspired to to to walk in that. Don't settle for anything less.

The Lord made a great purchase for it. Now notice what else David did in verse four of second Samuel eight. And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, 20,000 foot soldiers, and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a 100 chariots. Why is that an important detail? So in other words, he took all the chariots of Zobah, and he slit the back of their legs, the horses, so they would be unable to to even move.

Insignificant detail? No. Do you know why the Bible is telling us that David did this? Because the Holy Spirit wants to show us that David meticulously obeyed the law of God as a king. Ring a bell?

Ring a bell. No? K. Where was, probably the most explicit set of commands that God had given for the nation of Israel concerning their kings? Deuteronomy chapter 17.

Remember that? You're not supposed to have many wives. You're not supposed to acquire much gold or silver. And there was another one. You remember now.

Right? Deuteronomy seventeen sixteen. This was a law for kings. And And in Deuteronomy seventeen sixteen, only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again. David is obeying that law.

When he comes to Zobah and he kills these horses, he is trying to obey, which is encouraging and disappointing at the same time. Because when it came to the not acquiring many wives, he seemed to just ignore that verse. I don't know why, but he did. And it really speaks about our willingness to pick and choose things that we like and that we favor. David is obeying God.

In this way in this aspect, he is. Why did God give this command to the kings? Exactly. Psalm 20 verse seven. You don't have to turn there, but it's just a reference.

David said, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord. David understood the principle of this restrictive command. Don't acquire many horses because I don't want you to become overly dependent upon your military strength, namely this advanced technology of the day, these chariots. I don't want you to rely on that. I want you at all times to rely on me.

So so reserve the temptation by removing yourself from acquiring these things and remain in a place of dependency on me. Now that's specific, two kings, but the principle is the same for all of us today, especially in a day where things are very unstable. Right? And and and the temptation, part of spiritual warfare, is for the enemy to try to lure you to place your trust in something other than God. It could be a person.

It can be a set of possessions. It can be politics. That's part of spiritual warfare because the moment we place our faith in something else, to provide, to empower, we dishonor God and we cut off this the blessings that come through the channel of faith. So it's a it's a wonderful strategy on his part. And so be careful, believer.

Where where does your rest come from in your mind? Where's your emphasis in this time of history? Is it money? Is it weapons? Is it possessions?

What is it? Now it would be unwise to say that we we're so heavenly minded, we're floating through this world, and we don't touch anything on earth. He didn't say don't acquire horses completely, not many horses. Important. In other words, don't let the weight of your trust fall into these things.

But in all things, keep your eyes on me and realize that I'm the very thing that can take care of the very limited things that you have and move you where exactly you need to be. That's the attitude of the believer. And so you and I have to to understand that though this is for kings, as sons and daughters of the king, it's it's still true for us as well. And David understood that. He obeyed, and he moved forward.

Now let's come to verse five. Verse five. He deals with the Syrians. Right? And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Adah Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck 22,000 of them.

The the connection between David's warfare with the Syrians has to do with the Syrians. In alliance with Zobah, try to help them, and David's like, bad move, and he kills them. Now I'm not gonna elaborate on that because it's gonna complement the next the next nation that he deals with. So let's just move to verse nine. Out of all the list of enemies, this one stands out the most.

Thoi, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer. And what does he do? He sent his son Joram, the king of to to king David to ask about his health and to bless him because he fought against Hadadezer and had defeated him. The reason why this king is unique why? Because there's no warfare here.

There's no battle. There's no retaliation. Tawhid realizes who David is, what he's capable of doing, and he pledges his allegiance to him by expressing gratitude and a desire for peace by supplying these resources. Wise man. Very wise man.

And he possesses a wisdom that many, unfortunately, today lack to their own detriment. And the wisdom that he had was the ability to recognize that no one can resist God's program. That's what he realized. No one can resist God's purposes on the earth, so I will surrender now. I'm not gonna be as silly as the Syrians who thought that they can actually put up a fight against the anointed one.

The foolishness of the Syrians, as we just read, was that after seeing Hadadezer fall apart and seeing that their confederacy was weak, instead of falling on their face, he puts up a fight, and he still has willingness to to to actually resist something that is incomparable. That is a picture of the stubbornness of sinners today. Right? They they see how the world does in fact fail them, how their their plans, their ideas leave them dry and always lie to them. And yet still, they're willing to fight against the truth, and they're willing to put their hand up against the Lord and say, I want nothing to do with you.

You are my enemy. And what they will realize is they should have done what this king did. You know, Tuwai didn't necessarily give himself over to David out of fear. The motivating factor was that he saw what David was able to do against his enemy. Hadadezer was Thoi's enemy.

And he saw what he was able to do, and he goes, this is incredible. You are the true king. Like, no one can actually come close to what you're capable of doing. You were able to solve what I had a lifetime to deal with. Take it all.

That's what he's doing here. How much more. Right? Look at verse nine. When he heard that David had defeated the whole army.

When he heard that news, his heart was stirred to joyfully surrender to king David. K. That is a gospel truth tucked into a war archive in the Old Testament. That when the world hears that the son of David in the person of Jesus Christ has defeated the enemy of all of humanity, namely the king of terror's death, the appropriate response is this. There is no one like you.

You have the power to overcome sin and the grave. You have my allegiance. Take all that I have. It belongs to you. I want to be at peace with the prince of peace.

And so he does surrender out of a joy and an understanding and a revelation that he is good, and he is powerful, and he is able to subdue that which seems impossible to us. That is the drawing power of the gospel. That is. It's not just you you you you wanna go to hell? Get out of hell.

Here. Part of it. Part of it. Some do need to escape with fear from the flames. That's what Jude tells us.

But, generally, it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It's when we realize that we are sick and broken and defeated, and here is the great physician who comes to put his foot on the neck that seems to have their hand on our neck. And people say, I want to worship this king. I want to give tribute to this king. And it says he blessed David.

And we should bless the Lord all the days of our life. Look at verse eleven and twelve quickly. We're almost there. These also King David dedicated to the Lord. And then verse 12, we read from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek.

And from the spoil of Hadadah the son of Rehobo, king of Zobah. We know enough about Amalek to comprehend how significant this is. Right? Another ancient enemy to the people of Israel. But more importantly, David's predecessor failed to do what David did here, and that was to subdue Amalek and to have dominion over this enemy.

And when you look at Amalek listed here, you have to understand that there is something to say in light of believers comparably. What do I mean by that? You have two kings, David and Saul, who served the same God and who went up against the same enemy with two totally different outcomes in life. Right? Two kings, same God, same enemy, two different outcomes.

In fact, do you wanna know how close Saul had it to David's life? Quickly, stop there, but go to first Samuel 14. I want you to see something that's quite amazing. First Samuel 14, and look at verse 47. This is this is Saul's catalog of the enemies that he went up against.

You're gonna notice something. In first Samuel fourteen forty seven, When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, every side. Right? Against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zoba, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he routed them.

Are those the same or are they not the same? They're the same. So let's not get into this. David had it easier. David had was more of a warrior than same enemies.

Same god, same promises, same assignment, different outcomes. You can have two believers professing Christians, born again at the same time. They have the same Bible. They come to the same church. They hear the same teaching.

They have the same devil to fight against. They're living in the same corrupt world and journeying through it. They have the same Holy Spirit, and yet, two different outcomes throughout the years. Isn't that true? It is true.

Right? It is true. What's the difference? Was Amalek stronger with Saul, weaker with no. David had a hunger, a faith, a drive, a humility that opened his life up to less tragedy and more treasure in God.

Saul clogged, Self absorbed. So busy fighting with his own brethren, he had little to no strength and mindfulness to fight against his real enemy. And the trajectory of his life was a disaster. He exited this world in a humiliating way. And it's nobody's fault except Saul's.

And I think when I look at this, as I I read it even during the break, you can have the same congregation. They hear the same sermons. They have access to the elders in the same way. They have the same loving family. And yet, over the years, two different directions.

Guess whose fault? I say this in love. Not your leaders, though they have responsibility. Not God, not because you have a different bible. It's yours.

You can have as much of God as you want. You can actually grow from glory to glory, but you have to make that choice. And that's what I take from this. David was able to overcome Amalek when Saul couldn't. And it's not because David had something special.

The only thing he had was a heart that was split open in brokenness before the Lord day by day. That's it. That's it. Now we come to the final enemy. Verse thirteen and fourteen.

David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley Of Salt. Then he put garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom, he put garrisons. And all the Edomites became David's servants, and the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. Who's Edom?

Yeah. He's Esau. Who's Esau? Jacob's brother. Twin brothers.

And Esau, unfortunately, though he was a brother to Jacob, throughout the generations only grew in bitterness instead of brotherhood. Esau Edom was known for his pride. The prophets revealed that, and that was really his downfall, his arrogance. And Edom was a little cruel, not little, but actually cruel, to Jacob because he was one of those areas when the the ones that came out of exile wanted to pass through, Edom said no way. Brothers said no way.

When we come here at this point, it seems as though Edom, the reason why David goes to war with Edom, you get a hint of why when you go to Psalm 16. You don't have to turn there. You can read that on your own. You get the impression that the Edomites had the boldness to actually occupy what was promised to the sons of Jacob, at least in part. And so now they are they are trying to take up the the regions that, really, Esau gave up to Jacob.

Remember? He sold it all for a bowl of soup. He despised his birthright. Jacob later deceived him in terms of the father's blessing, and Jacob is enjoying what God gave to him. Esau, perhaps, because of that history, is is looking at what Jacob is enjoying and is now crossing his own lines.

And David has a duty to protect what God had promised, so he goes to war with Edom. But what stands out from verse 14 is the garrisons. He sets up garrisons in Edom, but not just in Edom, throughout all Edom. So he plants these posts throughout where Edom was. For what purpose?

What do garrisons do? Any idea? What's the purpose of them? Garrisons are really posts with soldiers in it. That's all they are.

And for David to do this is for his men to monitor, supervise, and ensure that there's no revolt, that there's no revival among the Edomites to try to overthrow David again, and it keeps them in check. When it came to the Edomites, David felt, because he was a master military genius, he knew that there was something about the attitude and there was a feistiness with the Edomites that I have to plant my men in this region to keep watch on them, lest they turn around in a moment's time and we have a big issue on our hands. The principle here in light of our spiritual warfare is the call to watchfulness. It's the call to be aware and alert, not just when you are are dealing with temptation. You should be awake long before that, but even in times where you feel like you're on cloud nine spiritually.

And to understand that even though you might be enjoying what seems to be rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, nothing can touch me, nothing can bring me down, even in those moments, spiritually speaking, am I on guard? Because you have to be at all times. Again, you have many Christians who with the Philistines, they they look at their sin, they're defeated, and they come to church, and they come to to talk to their brothers and says, you know, I just it's another day. I'm just struggling. Pray for you don't really wanna be set free.

It's clear. It's obvious. Right? But then you also have another danger where where somebody might be walking in in in growth and hunger of the things of God, but they they are not also in the place of strategy and alertness and surveillance. And that's a dangerous place to be as well.

And let me show you a verse, and I think it's a wonderful place to end. It's not in third John. It's in second John. And it's in one verse, and I think this is this is a verse that I cherish in the category of my mind of warnings of the Bible. Warnings are good.

Right? Love warns. Some people say love wins. Have you heard of it? No?

Okay. Good. Love wins. There's no hell. Love wins.

Yeah. Love wins. Love warns. Love warns. And in two John eight, pastor John has a warning for his readers.

I like the way the ESV puts it. What are the first two words? Watch yourselves. Watch who? Satan?

Watch what? Your algorithm on TikTok? Watch yourselves. Watch yourselves. Why?

So that you may not lose what we have worked for. You know why David set up Garrison? He didn't wanna lose what he worked for, But may win a full reward. You have some believers that want to just like sneak into the gates. And you have other believers, and I believe God wants every believer to come in expecting a full reward.

I don't want to go in with smoke on my white garments, because everything I did for the Lord came to ash when it was tested through fire. I want to have something to bring to His feet. At the end of it all. You know what it's going to require? Watch yourself.

Watch yourself. Watch yourself. Timothy, keep a close watch on your life and your doctrine. Your life first and your doctrine. Hey.

If you're in this place and you feel called to the ministry, do you know what ministry really is? Do you wanna know what full time ministry is? I'll give you a hint. It's a very if there's, like, a summary statement, it's this. Ministry is the extension of your personal life.

If I'm not real in real life, then what am I doing here? This is a waste of time. Right? Ministry is just the extension of your life being put on display as example to others. Watch yourself.

What does that mean? Let's end by conversation. How do you watch yourself?

Meditate day and night.

Meditate day and night helps. And the word. Be rooted in the word. Sure. How do I watch myself?

Pride? Sure. If pride's there. But practically speaking, what do I do to ensure that I am continually on watch? Beautiful.

Measure your life in light of scripture. Don't compare it to the other guy that's struggling all the time. You're not gonna get very far. Who am I surrounded with? Who am I surrounded with?

Watch yourself. You know another way I watch myself? I always watch my affections. I always check. Daniel, where your where are your affections for the things of God?

I always check myself. Am I am I starting to get more excited, more passionate, more consumed with trivial things? Or am I growing and am I becoming warmer and warmer to the things of the Spirit? I always that's how I always watch myself. Watch myself.

You know another way? This is just hopefully this helps. I watch how I spend my time. I watch how I spend my time. I look at my day to day schedule, and from time to time, I do some inventory.

And I think to myself, how much time was I on this? And how much time did I give to this? The whole week, and I I actually, I watch myself. You're saying, brother, is that a way to live? It's a beautiful way to live.

It's a beautiful way to live. If you're walking down, I don't know why you would be there, but on the South Side Of Chicago, are you gonna watch yourself? Are you gonna watch your environment? Are you just gonna stick around on your phone and look around? No.

You're gonna watch. You're gonna be on alert. And this world is a terrible place. It's filled with evil and temptation and deception. Watch yourself.

Watch yourself. Here's your assignment. It's a very short one. Say, when did we do assignments? From time to time, they're spontaneous.

In your little fellowship, ask yourself and ask others, how do you watch yourself? And if you don't do it tonight, maybe a part of your fellowship from time to time. I think one way we watch ourselves, as our brother said, is we have others watch over us. Brother, keep a watch on me and hold me accountable. I said I would end there, but let me end it.

Let me end here actually. There are two verses, and our sister brought it up earlier. Verse six and verse 14, and and they both say the same thing. And whenever we see repetition, it's because the Holy Spirit really wants to make a point clear. And here it is at the end of verse six.

And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. Verse 14. The same thing at the end. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. What's he trying to say?

Don't be too impressed with David. This is God. This is God. All that David was able to do was because of God and all the things that you just heard, watching yourself, garrisons, all these things that you all these things that seem overwhelming. Know this, God will help you.

God will help me. God is with us. And David was so aware of the the supplying mercies of the Lord that he could not help but return with praise in terms of saying, Lord, every spoil has your name on it. Has your name on it. We can know such a grace from God in our victories that it would be a means by which we worship him.

And I hope you believe that. I hope you believe that. We're in a war. I'm happy that, I'm in the trenches with you, and I hope we can do that for life. Let's pray.

Lord, we are overwhelmed by the gems that have been uncovered today. We are moved by how your work can speak with surgical precision. And, Lord, tonight, our flesh may be weak, but we long to still give you praise with whatever is left. And we ask, oh, Lord, that you would help us know all that you have for us. All the great heights and the depths and the breadths that have been made possible because of the cross of Jesus Christ.

And Lord, when we see those commands that seem to be too good to be true, like rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. May it not meet skepticism, but faith. Faith in our hearts to say, oh, Lord. I want that. I want to know what it means to pray for my enemies.

I want to know what it means to love those who curse me. Lord, help us know these great areas that seem foreign to us but are possible to explore. We worship you tonight as a church in love with your word, in love with the word, the person of Jesus. Amen. Let's stand together and worship the Lord.