2 Samuel 3:1; Matthew 10:34-38

2 Samuel 3:1 1 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. Matthew 10:34-38 34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn " 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — 36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' 37 "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Many of us think that the old testament and the new testament are different. The OT is thought of as the time before Christ and therefore has no bearing in our lives. The NT is thought of as the time of grace, apart from the law. Many people think that the OT binds us to the law and unnecessary because now we live in the new time of grace. Many people think that the ways of the OT are more difficult and that the NT is easier. We are heading down the wrong path. Though we sin we think that we are easily forgiven. We think we can do what we want and that God will forgive us freely. Many people have this personal easy? belief. What I want to ask you is, today, if you call yourself a Christian or if others call you a Christian, if you confess that you believe in Jesus, and are living your life before God, what kind of life is it that you live? What is your life like as a Christian? Is it blessed? Is it peaceful? Is it a life where you are achieving your goals? Is it filled with conflict? Let us reflect on this. Ask yourself this question and answer it for yourselves. As you sit here before God today, is my life blessed? Is it blessed? Is my life well and headed in the direction I want it to be going? Jesus came to give us peace, is there peace in our family? Are you able to answer these questions positively. Answer these questions for yourself and now I will speak on it. In today's OT passage, 2 Samuel 3:1 we see that there was a war between David's house and Saul's house. David was getting strong while Saul was was getting weaker. The house of David and the house of Saul was at war. This is a record after the death of Saul. Saul was anointed by God and was the first king of Israel. David also was a king of Israel anointed by God. Why was one king, who was anointed by God, getting weaker and going down a path of ruin, and another king getting stronger and taking a path that was blessed? Even though I don't explain it, you have all read the bible and everyone knows the reason. In Matthew 10:34-38 Jesus says: 34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. We think that because of Jesus we should have peace but Jesus tells us he came to bring a sword. 35 For I have come to turn " 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law — 36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' He further says: 37 "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. So I ask you again, do you acknowledge yourself that you are a Christian? If truly so, then is your life comparable to that of a beautiful spring day where you can take the family out to play? Because of Jesus, because as a Christian and you believe in Him, is your family life like a beautiful spring day, does you family enjoy each other? Or, is your family a war zone, where you don't have a moments rest being constantly bombarded by artillery. Is your family like a beautiful spring day or a war zone that is shelled by artillery. Having been saved by Jesus and being a child of God, and now having my Lord who handles all my problems, do you say that I am at peace. I will enjoy life. I have been forgiven my sins. I have been guaranteed heaven, and everything is going to be great, so what is there to worry about I just have to live in peace. I will live the way I want and then call upon Him and then He will forgive me. If I say that I believe in Him, come to him like a child then he will take care of everything. What do you think? Do you have financial problems? They say all you have to do is pray to God. Are you sick? Then ask Him and He will heal you. If your children have problems, all you need to do is ask Him to let your children be well and He will take care of everything. We are told that God will take care of all our problems, so why should I worry? If I think a certain way and call upon Him, I was told that I would receive all the blessings because of Jesus, so why should I worry? I should just enjoy life. Look at how blessed I am. Of course, there are others who have more money than me, and may be healthier than me, and have nicer things but to put it simply, I have been given the freedom am able to forget about all my problems do nothing about them. Is there anyone who has a greater blessing because of believing in Jesus? Is this the life that you are living? Do you compare yourself to someone else and think that you have more faith than that person, that you pray more than that person, that you have spent more time at the church, that you have a high position in church, that you have important responsibilities, that you volunteer, and go on missions. You do everything that you can. So what is left that you should worry and live life in difficulty? Or when you pray and your prayers are answered, you are shown things, and you hear things. Because of being able to see and hear do you think that your faith is good enough? Do you comfort yourself by telling yourself that you have attained enough? Is this how you are living your spiritual life? I want to ask you where did this foundation of comfort and self-satisfaction come from? You say that whenever you pray, your prayers are answered, and you are shown things, even if you do not want to be shown, you are shown things in the word and you are given visions, even when you do not want to be shown, you hear things and you have met Him, is it not enough? How did you decide that it is enough? What is the measuring rod you used to make that decision? Who told you that that was enough and made that decision for you? Who did this? Who told you that because you have met him in prayer, and that your prayers are being answered, and because you have visions that you have passed the test of faith in Jesus? Who? Because you believed in Jesus for 10 years which is more than someone who has believed him for 9 years, because you have had more faith, and better faith, and because you have made sacrifices, who has given you recognition? Who told you that you would be recognized because you have gone to church your entire life? Who? Where does it say that you are recognized for such things that you would put pride in such things and live your spiritual life believing this? Who fed you this and where does it say so in the bible that you are living your life of faith in this manner? Did Jesus teach us that because we have been going to church our entire lives, since we were in our mother's belly, that he will be pleased and that we will be guaranteed heaven? Did Jesus teach this way? Or, did he teach that because for Him, you competed in growing a big church, or gave much in offerings, or did many works at church, and even went on missions, and because of such sacrifices, did Jesus teach us that He would take you to heaven? Is this in the bible? Did His disciples teach this way? Neither Jesus nor His disciples taught this way, but we, in order to bring people to God, have taught that believe in Jesus and be blessed, believe Jesus and be prosperous. We teach people to "believe in Jesus"...and then... we attach the things of this world to tempt them so that we can tell God that we have brought many people to Him. Did you teach the word correctly or did you change it? You have changed it. Of all the countless teachings of Jesus, you change a word here and there to bring many souls to God and having done so, you ask God because He teaches us to seek, knock and ask and everything will be given to us. So you tell him, Lord, I have prayed, I have knocked, and I have sought so now you have to bless me, give me health, open up the path before me, you must do everything for me. Did Jesus tell us to pray so that we may receive the blessings of this world? Did Jesus teach us to knock so that we may be healed from our sicknesses? If we miss the point of Jesus' teaching and change the meaning of his words then is what is being said right or wrong? No one argue against you if you interpret it your way. You can be right in your own interpretation, but unless you compare right and wrong with what Jesus teaches. Though you may think you are right, and if you compare it with what Jesus teaches and you are wrong, then at the final judgment, no matter how much you will argue that you are right, you will be found wrong. Is this not the foundation of our belief? Today the media outlet has advanced greatly. Where before a competition was seen from one angle, now we can see many angles. Where from one view things seem right, from another view we can see the error in the play or call of the referee. Do they change the call because of what we see? They do not. There are some sports that use the instant replay like american football, but until recently, the call was never changed because in the game the final call depended on the call of the referee. Who had the greatest power? The referee did. If all 7 billion people on earth, or all the people from the start of Adam, or all the people that will be from the beginning until the second coming, if all thee people say 'no' but Jesus says 'yes' then it is yes. If everyone says 'yes' and Jesus says 'no' then we did to acknowledge that what Jesus says is correct and follow Him. But rather we say, I have done enough. In your own pride you think that you have taken one step closer to our Lord than another person, and you think that you have prayed one minute longer than that other person. You have read one more chapter in the bible, and you have served in the church longer than that other person and in your self-satisfaction, if you do not live the life that of obedience to our Lord, then the referee of our lives will say 'no' to you. If I say to you that I was raised and served in the church my entire life, and I stand before you today. Am I able to tell you that I follow Jesus better than you? Can I say that? No one can tell me otherwise. But who must be the one who acknowledges me? God must be the one who calls me a good servant a faithful servant. If He does not acknowledge me then I have failed. But we, when we compare ourselves with others, you may say that you are better than that pastor, better than the elder, better than a deacon, and you keep comparing yourself with your neighbor and is this not the reason that there are problems? In our prayer for worship, the representative prayed that the fields in our hearts be completely turned over. I speak frequently about the garden. Many times I have turned over the dirt, over again and again, there are those who have learned much and those who have learned little. If I turn over the dirt, but if I do not remove all the roots of the weeds, what will happen? What will happen? It will have been no use. In the dirt that you have turned over, the roots will grow back the deeper you dig, now the roots that were once shallow will be turned over into deeper ground. Soon the weeds that grow will be more harmful than before. They will be more difficult to remove than before. If I stand before God led by the spirit and experience a revival and I cry, have a runny nose and have a physical experience and with my mouth I confess everything but unless I live my life and decisively remove the root of sin, then all those sins which I have confessed under grace will only grow itself again but deeper in me. So when you come before God, and you pray, and when you have received grace, you seem diligent, and you seem to have changed but there is no change rather, the roots of sin are causing you more problems in your life but you don't understand that. Why is there no change? You turned over the dirt, but you fail to see that you are actually putting the sin deeper with yourself. If you turned over the dirt, then all the roots, even the very small ones, that come out of me from all that I see, hear and think must all individually be taken out and thrown away, but you do not take them out and you do not throw them away. You have not made the decision. This is the life that you live where there is no clear spiritual victory. That is why even though Saul was an anointed servant, and although he was humble and acknowledged by God and raised as king, but after he was made king he was unable to remove the roots his sin and therefore everything was given to David. What about David? He came from place that was lesser than Saul. He was a shepherd, that was called from the fields. His brothers were dressed in nice clothes, but David was called while he was working. Even Samuel when he saw the brothers thought to himself that there would be someone worthy of anointing, but God said no. Rather they called the shepherd boy who was out tending the sheep and anointed him. From that day forth, when faced with difficulties David lived a life where he drew closer to God whereas Saul, whenever he faced trials lived to protect himself and did what was easy and chose the path of sin. Both David and Saul received the same anointing but as time progressed whenever there was war, the house of Saul who left God could only get weaker, but the house of David only became stronger as they went color to God. Today as we come before God, He tells us that he came not to bring peace but a sword and to make enemies within the household, who is the reason that this should happen? This is for those who choose to draw closer to God and must decide that no one will get in their way of doing so. So if anyone will stand in the way of this you must decide that they are a stumbling block and decide to fight anyone who will stop you. Rather than trying to stand up and lead the way for your family in this spiritual war, you try and pull back your spouse or child who is going ahead of you, or your parents who are doing well. Telling them to satisfy your need before they go after God. Is this not how we are? Even though it may be difficult for you, you do not try to support your spouse in achieving closeness to God. You don't try to encourage your spouse to pray a bit more even though you may be having a difficult time praying. Rather you prefer that your spouse lay in bed in your arms and sleep than pray. You desire comfort. You prefer that your spouse would could you something you want to eat rather than spend time in prayer. Rather than spending time in the word you desire that you and your spouse go spend time shopping. You desire that you a satisfied first, according to your needs and ask that your spouse meet your demands. By doing this you are making yourself a spiritual enemy, but you don't think of yourself as an enemy. Rather you think you are comfortably headed toward God and have let go of the things that you should be concerned about. Let us take a look at ourselves and if this is so, if I am the one who is hindering my wife or husband from getting closer to God, if I am the stumbling block, then I will be the one who will be judged accordingly. You may say as an excuse that you were trying to go as one, that you are one in body, one as a family, but in light of God's word it will show that you have changed the meaning of the word to believe what you want. In a spiritual war, as in any war, we all dislike it. Many people die because of it. In all history many people have died because of wars, but as today or in the past, there are wars that seem to be lost but have won, and there have been wars that have seemed to be won but have lost. How can this be? There is always a representative in war. One hundred thousand in war against one hundred thousand. One side has ninety thousand dead but lives their king, the other side has none of their soldiers lost but the king is dead, then who has won the war? We see it as the country with the king who is alive is the victor. This is an example. If the representative of the country, the king lives then the war is won. For a war there are many necessary things, including information, weapons, supplies and organization. But most important is the survival of the representative, the king, to live and succeed for there to be victory. What we mean by spiritual war is the fight between Jesus who is in me and Satan who tries to make me fall. If I live, and the king of my life, Jesus is no longer in me, if he is dead, then can I win the spiritual war? I have already lost the spiritual war. But in my body, if I have been persecuted, cursed upon, slandered, called evil things, been mocked, ignored, treated inhumanely, and have been called unbelievable things, but if I decide inside that I will live a life that follows Jesus, and Satan has been killed within me, physically I may feel as though I am dead, but spiritually I have become the victor. This fight is the spiritual battle that must go on inside me. But rather, we fight where we decide how I will live. Because you live, you think Jesus also lives together in you. If the battle you fight is decided upon you then you will lose. Jesus says he did not come to bring peace but to bring a sword, means that to follow Jesus there will be a time where you will have to forget about your wife, forget about your children, forget about your husband and your parents. It says that there will be such a time, but within us there is not such a time. You think about your wife first, yourself first, your children and whenever your family is first in your life, then you have been defeated spiritually. Do you think this way? Nobody thinks this way. Rather you think that you are blessed because of Jesus, because He answers your prayers, because you heard his voice with your ears you think that you have victory in God. You are mistaken. Why? You don't realize that you have fallen into a trap and made to think that you have had your prayers answered. You did not listen to the words that require obedience but instead you listened to what you wanted to hear, because you are your own king, and Jesus who should be king does not reign in you. Whose flag is flying in your heart? Whose voice are you listening to and following? If you are trying to win a war that has already been lost, maybe you should rethink the situation. In a spiritual war, as we use the example of kings, and we talk about Saul and David, what I am telling you today is that the New Testament time after the Old Testament, the spiritual life is more difficult because you yourself, individually are a nation that represents a king. Your individual battle is comparable to a nation going to war. When I fail once, when I say something that I should not, and hinder God's glory and crucify Christ, like Judas if I betray Jesus through my actions or speech, then I have killed the king of the nation, Jesus and losing the war. If I lose the war then the rest of my life I am already defeated. That is why the New Testament life is more difficult. In the Old Testament, when the king represents the country and one hundred thousand go to war and half of them die, if the king still lives then they all are victorious. It does not matter that there is only half, if the king succeeds then they all succeed. This is how it is when you go to war representing someone. When the victory depends on the life of the king, my is insignificant for victory. But in the New Testament, I am the representative, when I die then it is all over. The decision to live or die is based on what I choose to see, hear, speak, and act. That which I decide today will either take me to the left or the right. The seeds I sow will be that I which I reap. If I make a mistake, it can affect those around me. But they too must decide for themselves the choices they will make. It does not matter what I do, if the person next to me looks and says that I am wrong and they choose not to do what I do, then the matter is irrelevant. We have a video on our website that is a documentary about people's behaviors. It is called the double face of humanity. They approached people on the street and asked them directions but as soon as they asked, the person that did the asking was changed with a different person while creating a little distraction. So the person who asked the question was switched after asking the question. The person who was asked the question had no idea that someone else was standing in front of them. So if I asked a question and suddenly if Charles came and stood in front of them they would continue on with giving the directions not realizing that the person who asked we no longer there. So they did this a few times and then made more drastic changes. Where they had originally changed people of a similar age, late they had changed people from someone in their twenties to someone in their fifties or sixties, still people did not realize that someone else was standing in front of them. Even more surprising when a man had asked and switched for a woman, the people did a double take but continued with giving the directions. No one stopped and commented that there was someone different standing in front of them that was not the person who they had first encountered. They concluded that people will see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. When someone asks us a question, our focus becomes the task to answer the question but we don't realize that there is someone else in front of us. Even when a man is replaced by a woman people just carry on. So they took that test to the next level and took it to a hospital and had three doctors with two of them hiding under the desk. So three doctors would examine a patient. While they were interviewing the patient they would pretend to drop a pen and go down and then a different doctor would come up, then after a couple of questions drop something and then the third doctor would come up. So as the doctors kept changing the patient would pause for a second but then continue with answering the questions and say what they needed to say. No one ever questioned why there was a different doctor. The patient was only concerned with what they wanted to say and answering the question. What do we learn from this? 80 percent of the people have no concern about what is in front of them and 20 percent of the people may sense that something has changed, but people will speak what is on their mind without regard for the circumstance. You say you live a life of faith, but it doesn't matter what the pastor says to you, you only hear what you want to hear and do not listen to the things that you choose not to hear. No matter how much time you spend reading the bible, you only read the things that you want and the things that you do not want to read you ignore. You are shaping your life this way. This is the double face of humanity. You think that by thinking positively everything will be positive and therefore you only look for scripture that has positive words. You don't think about changing your life and living according to the scripture. Is this not the reason why you have problems in your spiritual life? You cannot have victory in your spiritual life, if you do not consider yourself a nation representing Jesus as your king, but rather you keep trying to force your will in your own life. Also in the documentary, they asked the viewers how many thoughts can one have in one second? Is it two, three? How many? I am only repeating their study and the science that they used. In one second a person has 11 million thoughts. Of those 11 million the person is aware of about 40 and acts on those thoughts. The brain is capable of processing 11 million thoughts in one second. Who made it so? Of all the millions of thoughts that occur in a 24 hour period, I am the one who listens sees, remembers, decides and chooses and the result of that will decide my life. Who decides? Who chooses? You are told that by what you decide, choose and judge the result of that will effect the outcome of my life but you don't really think about it. You live life thinking that you can do whatever you want. By making the right choices I can live a life that glorifies God. But when I am only focused on myself and my desires, then eventually I will end up in ruin. The reason is because I fail to realize who I am. I think that I am the master of my life so I do what I want and it is this stubborn attitude that leads me to ruin. I am going down the path that Saul went down. Because Jesus has saved me and God is answering my prayers, I determine that I am doing the will of God even though I am my own master walking down the same path of destruction that Saul has gone. I was sinner called by God to be saved from my sin, to be anointed, to be a king, to be a priest, like David, to live a life that glorifies God by following Him in obedience, then I would be able to receive the blessings as of a king. But it is because I refuse to decide to turn from sin, but rather I choose to follow Saul and live for myself. It is a useless battle that will end in defeat. Another way to look at the double face of humanity is people do not know what the other person is thinking, they are only concerned with what they want to say. When you are trying to explain something and the other person is unable to understand, you get angry. You don't realize that you are the one speaking incorrectly. When pray to God you don't pray the way God desires, you pray for your own satisfaction. Then when you are done praying you tell Him to bless you because you have done what was required. Will your prayer be answered? Will your life be right with God? You may think your life is right, but those around you will see that you have yet to be right before God. You cannot change if you do not see the standard to which God is setting. You may think that your child is the best, but it is the people around you who must acknowledge that for it to be truth. It does not matter what the parents think, you need to listen to what other people see and think. If I think that I am good looking, humorous, make plenty of money and have many great qualities and consider myself a 90 out of 100, but other people look at me and think of me as only 60 then that is the reality of my life. I refuse to accept the truth. As I must change my life do that others may know that I have changed, I must live my life not by my standards but by God's standards. But it is because I do not change that my spiritual life has never progressed and it is stagnant. That is why people look at me and ridicule Christianity and I have nothing to say in response because I have been living for my own satisfaction and have not changed. I must live the life that God acknowledges. It is a life that others look at and do not praise me, but it is a life that they realize is difficult to live and praise God 42:35 Unless you are alert at every moment in this spiritual war, you will be like Saul who fell into the trap and could not let go of the sin in his life, even though he knew of it. All the outcomes of wars are in the hands of God. Since this is so, all the wars have already been won. David, Hezekiah, and Jehoshaphat all went to war believing this. When David went to war he fought according to God's method. Hezekiah used God's method and killed 185,000. Jehoshaphat went to war singing praises to God and God gave him victory. When Elijah was on Mt. Carmel it was the same. The battles fought by the disciples were not ones that had them singing but where they were beat, imprisoned,suffered hunger, and much persecution, but they lived the life that gave their king victory. Though my body be beaten, tortured, and hungry, though I experience incredible pain, I gain victory by living the life that gives victory to my king and that is done following in obedience to God. Today we have been called by God and are in a spiritual war. Your homes are not places of peace, but a place where an incredible amount of artillery in being dropped, by the actions of your spouse, by what they watch, by the things they speak, your children's actions. Things are constantly attacking you trying bring you down, and if you are not alert, of you are not awake in this spiritual war, you cannot win. Though all the attacks ravage my body I cannot win this war unless I am determined to stand firm in God's word and bring victory to Jesus my king. I must decide that no matter what happens to me that I will bring glory to Jesus. This is the decision that will allow me to blow the horn of spiritual victory. If I decide that I will live for myself, my desires, then Jesus will not reign in me but Satan will reign. I may live but I will be spiritually defeated. Know that you stand in the battlefield of a spiritual war. Think about what kind of life you must live. What it means to be anointed by God. Think about what you must do and how you will lead your country, your family. Are you going down the path that Saul did, or are you following the path that David has gone. In this spiritual war, is following Jesus more important than your parents and your children? You must decide for yourself. In living your life victoriously, may God receive the glory. May you all be victorious and he acknowledge you and give you entrance into His kingdom. Sermon by Pastor Howard K.J. Park translation by Miguel Park