2 SAMUEL 8 PURSUE GODS HEART INTO BATTLE2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 8 Pursue Gods Heart Into Battle

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. As we look at 2 Samuel chapter 8 this evening, really all of chapter 8 is a little bit of an overview of David's entire reign and the battles that he fought. And so I've titled this evening's message, Pursue God's Heart into Battle.

And as we talk about this, as we consider this, we understand that David was a man of war. I mean, he accomplished some really great victories for God. And we would begin looking at that with David versus Goliath, right? In 1 Samuel chapter 17 and that victory. And ever since then, the song was there. David has, or Saul has slain his thousands, but David has tens of thousands. And he was involved in the army and he was a,

a man of battle from there on out. And that continued into his reign that he was a warrior and he fought many battles and accomplished great things.

victories. You can kind of see this demonstrated a little bit in the boundaries of the nation of Israel from Saul's reign to David's reign. So there on the left you have the boundaries. They're rough boundaries. They're not necessarily meant to be totally exact, but it's from what we gather kind of what was existing as Israel's boundaries at the end of Saul's reign.

Now it's, you know, less than what God had given to them. It's less than what they had in the reign and the times of Joshua. And it was probably actually less than what's pictured on here because we know after the Philistines defeated Saul, they took many of those cities and David had to take them back. And so, you know,

But you see the point there. Saul had a very limited nation. But then on the right-hand side, you see David's boundaries, right?

And they even extended beyond up to the north, all the way up to the Euphrates River. That's where David had control. That's where he reigned over that territory and really was able to accomplish much more in grabbing the territory that God had given to the people of Israel. When he stepped into the throne, though, the Philistines had taken much and were taking territory from God's people.

people, but now David is leading the people back to victory, back to the territory that belonged to them. And he did this. This was part of his pursuit of God's heart. Again, it started with Joshua. God led the people of Israel into the promised land and told them to conquer the land, to, you know, subdue the people that were there, to drive out the inhabitants. And

And they never fully did that. They had some pockets of victory. They kind of settled and just became, you know, neighbors with the people of the land. But through the leadership of David, he really, you know, took it a lot further and accomplished what Joshua set forth to do and accomplished the purposes of God in that. And so the furthest, you know, as far as Israel's claimant

claiming the territory that God had given to them, the furthest that ever happened was under the reign of David. He also passed on to Solomon. Now, as we look at this and consider the battles of David and how he expanded the territory, you know, I was looking at this passage in this chapter for this evening and wondering, what does the Lord want to say to us tonight? And I just have to kind of admit and confess to you a little bit.

I kind of have a strange message for you this evening. It's, I don't know, it feels a little bit strange as I was preparing it. Maybe it seems normal for you. But this evening, I want to just ask you to consider, does God want you to go to battle? And are there some territories that you need to take in your life? Now, when we think about battle, there's a lot of ways that we can talk about fighting and battle and the battles of David and those kinds of things. And I hope that you understand that

actual battle, war, is sometimes exactly what God wants. Fighting is exactly what God might call us to do. But then also we recognize that fighting is not always what God calls us to do. That there are times where a fight is appropriate, that there is the use of force, and even lethal force is appropriate, but we also understand that it's not always right. But then also on the other side, avoiding a fight is not always right.

Now, sometimes Christians, you know, or those who are believers in God will kind of take principled stands and kind of behave as if it's always one way or always the other way, you know? And what we need to remember and keep in perspective as we look at this is that it comes back to pursuing God's heart. And that is fighting when he wants you to and not fighting when he doesn't. And that can be very difficult, right?

That can be extremely difficult for us to fight when he wants us to fight and to not fight when he doesn't want us to fight because, well, some of us like to fight. I don't say some of us to purposely include myself, but, you know, when we were young, we used to love wrestling around and having, you know, a good time like that. But, you know, a real fight, you know, if I'm walking down the road and there's

guy, and it's kind of dark, and I go the other way. I hide in the shadow until the guy's gone, and then I keep going. I'm not looking for a fight, right? I don't run to that. But what if God wanted to call me to that? And then I would need to pursue God's heart, and I would need to go into that. But then also, if God wants me to not fight, then, well, I shouldn't fight. And so it comes back to pursuing God's heart. David was fighting these battles in the pursuit of God's heart. Now,

Please rest assured, I'm not going to talk all evening about, you know, getting in a fist fight with someone in an alley. But I would ask you to consider this. Do you think that God ever wants a married couple to fight? Some of you guys are married. Richard, Harvey, Amy, Ronnie, Matthew. Do you think it's ever something God would say, you need to fight about this right now? This is something to fight over. Do you think God wants...

a husband and wife to fight. Now, I'm not talking physically, okay? Please, that's no. That's always no. There's no question about that. But does God ever want a husband and wife to fight? Are there ever times where God would say, this is something, this is a time, this is an occasion where you need to go to battle? And this evening, I want to challenge you to consider that sometimes he does. He does want you to fight. And that may mean argue, right?

That may mean disagree. That may mean divide. That may mean insist on your way. When I talk about fighting this evening, I'm going to be kind of in my mind, and so maybe join with me, in thinking about how Jesus fought with the Pharisees.

I mean, argue, that's an easy way to describe what Jesus did with the Pharisees. I mean, they butted heads. They disagreed. They divided. And even some of their words were fierce towards one another, right? Jesus fought with the Pharisees and

There may be occasions in your life where he calls you to fight, and in pursuit of God's heart, the right thing for you to do is to fight, to argue, to disagree, to divide, to stand your ground and insist on your way. Does God ever want employees to fight with their employers?

Now, we talk through the scriptures about submitting to authority, right? That's something I tend to refer to a lot back in Romans chapter 13 and other places, you know, the importance of authorities in our lives, and we need to submit to our authorities, and submitting to those authorities is submitting to God until those authorities want us to do something that God wants us or doesn't want us to do, or those employers want us to keep from doing something that God wants us to do,

And there are occasions where God in those instances wants us to fight. Now again, not physically, not with a bat, but maybe with an argument, maybe with some severe conversation, some ferocity, some division, some insisting on our way. Does God ever want friends to fight? There are times when

where we need to fight in our lives, where there's going to be some battles that take place. But as we talk about this subject of fighting, I think it's really important for us to remember who our enemies are. You could think about things like sin. God wants you to fight against sin in your life. And there are going to be some severe and fierce battles that will need to take place for you to have victory and to claim the territory that God has given to you.

There are some battles over false doctrine that need to be fought. There are some battles over practices and aspects of faith, disciplines of life, behavior that we engage in, but the enemy is never the people around us. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. What we need to remember, although we fight, and many times that is with

people in our lives. We argue, we disagree, we divide, we insist on our way, but we always need to keep in perspective that it's not out of enmity against a person or that person, because they're not the enemy, but there is a spiritual battle going on, and that is what we are warring against. And we have to be ferocious, but not at the people. Jesus was fierce with the Pharisees,

but not out of spite to the person, but against the doctrine that they taught and against the positions that they held and the things that were brought upon the people through the Pharisees. And in a similar way, we are called to fight. And there are many occasions for us to stand up and fight for what is right as we face various situations in our lives. Another way to think about this is what Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 10.

He's writing to the Corinthians. He's saying, look, I'm going to have to come and I'm going to have to bring some order because you guys are out of order. You've thrown off authority. And he's calling them to repentance before he comes. But as he does, he says in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not of our flesh, but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.

casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Now that passage right there really pictures very well for us this idea of pursuing God's heart and into battle. Because Paul talks about the weapons of our warfare. There are weapons and we are in war with

And there are weapons that God has given to us and they are mighty in God and they are effective at pulling down strongholds. And so we have mighty weapons from God that are to be used for destroying strongholds of our enemy, which is not the person, but the spiritual forces of wickedness. But the way Paul talks about this, he talks about the arguments in verse 5.

Everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity. Now, as Christians, it's kind of a Christian thing to quote this verse and to talk about every thought into captivity being, you know, like picturing our mind and every thought that runs through it. And then we grab that thought and we make it subject to Christ. And there is elements of truth to that concept, but that's not exactly what Paul is talking about.

Paul is talking about any concept in life, any concept in the church, any concept in your family that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and against what God wants in opposition to God. He says, what God has given us, the weapons of our warfare are mighty for handling those things.

and for going to battle against those practices and those ideas and those false doctrines and those concepts and to make them subject to Christ and say, no, we are not going to go down that road. We are going to pursue God's heart. Some things are worth fighting for. And I want to ask you to consider this evening as we look at these battles of David and

What is the territory that God has given to you and called you to take, to defend, to keep, and to fight for in your life? And you can think about territory in a variety of ways. I'm going to give you a few. You can think about, as I use the word territory throughout the passage this evening, you could think about your personal life, your devotional life. That's territory. And listen, you are going to have to fight territory.

to get a devotional life. If you don't have a time with the Lord, a regular time, there is going to be a battle that will need to take place in order for you to have a regular and consistent time with God. And once you get that territory, listen, you're going to have to fight to maintain it. You're going to have to fight and defend that and maintain and keep because there is going to be forces in opposition to you spending time alone with God. In your personal life, you're going to have struggles with sin.

And you're going to have to fight the flesh. You're going to have to fight and battle those things. You can look at every aspect of your life. You can look at your finances. Listen, God has given you the territory of your finances. And that might be a small territory or it might be a big territory. You know, I don't know where you're at, but that's what God has given to you.

And he's given that to you, not just to be, you know, used however you see fit, but to be used for his purposes. And if you're going to pursue God's heart, you're going to have to fight. It's going to be challenging. There's going to be opposition and difficulty for you to put those finances to work the way that God wants you to. You can think about your family life, as I use the word territory. In your family, there are priorities, right?

And who gets to say what those priorities are? Who gets to say, who gets to choose what we do as a family, when we do it as a family, how we do it as a family? Listen, there's going to be some differing opinions between husband and wife. There's going to be different opinions between parents and children. There's going to be different opinions about the priorities of a family. And you are going to have to fight to maintain and to keep and to have the priorities that God wants for you and for your family.

There's going to be some conversations about activities of an individual family member or the family as a whole, and whether or not that is appropriate and that is what God wants. And there is opportunity, there is need for us on many occasions to fight and to go to battle and say, no, we're not doing that. And it's very easy for us sometimes to fight over things that don't matter.

And then at the same time, it's very easy for us many times to not fight when it really counts. And that's why we need to come back to this idea of pursuing God's heart into battle. Listen, there's some things in your family life God wants you to fight for. And you need to fight to the death for those things. That you need to fiercely go to battle about the decisions and priorities and practices of your family. So as I use the word territory, you could think about your personal life. You could think about your family life. You could think about the workplace. Right?

and there are some things in the workplace, well, you're going to have to fight in order to pursue God's heart. There's some territory that God wants you to take about the practices that are going on that you are called to do, about the boundaries that your work life will have, and about the balance that you will have in your life in relation to how much you work, and what you do, and how you do it, and the way that you do it. And there's going to be some things to fight for,

We could also consider the idea of territory in a little bit broader and in the social issues that are happening around us. You know, there are things happening in society and there are causes that are worth fighting for. And God may call you to fight. God may call you to stand up. God may call you to get involved. And that's not necessarily something that God calls everybody to do. But as you pursue God's heart, God may call you to engage and to be part of that battle.

There's political things along with the social things, right? And sometimes, you know, some people would prefer that I be more political and others appreciate that I'm not that political and I just try to be who I am. But I'm just not called to political battles. God doesn't call me to fight those battles, at least not to this point. At some point, he might. And then as I pursue God's heart, I'm going to have to stand up and fight.

And if God is doing something and calling you in that direction, then, well, you need to stand up and fight. And there is room for battle to take place. And that's a long introduction to talk about this idea, but I think it's important as we enter into chapter 8 because we need to understand that God may call us to battle.

And that there is room in the plan of God and in the work of God and the call of God and the pursuing of God's heart for there to be real battle going on, for there to be fierce division, for there to be strong lines, for there to be, you know, things that cause us to stand up against great opposition and great pressure and

to say no or to say yes, to further the plan of God and purposes of God as we pursue God's heart. And so we want to walk through these battles of David and just consider some of these different territories and ideas that God may want to speak to our hearts this evening. The first one we're going to find is in verses one and two. Here the point is, take the territory God wants to give you. I want to encourage you to take the territory that God wants to give you.

Again, as we look at the children of Israel, as they went into the promised land, God said, go possess the land. There's enemies there. You're going to have to go fight. Go fight. And there were most of the tribes that just...

ended up coexisting. They became neighbors. They didn't take the territory that God wanted to give them. Here we see David taking ground. In verse 1 it says, Here it tells us of this battle of David against the Philistines. Now we've seen David fight the Philistines before.

The previous times, however, have been more in reaction to the Philistines. They've invaded. They've marched in. Here we see David attacks. He goes on the offense. He says, you know what? God wants us to take that city. We're going to go take that city.

And he mounts up his troops. He attacks the Philistines. He subdues them. There is a real battle that takes place. And he takes the city of, it's Methic Amma here in verse 1. It's also known as the city of Gath.

He takes that city from them. Now, the Philistines were perpetual enemies of Israel, and they wanted to defeat God's purposes and God's plans in the life of Israel. They defied the God of Israel. Remember Goliath? He defied the Lord and the armies of the Lord. Here we see David. In pursuit of God's heart says, no, you're not going to continue to live there. God wants that territory to be ours.

And he mounts up an offense and he says, this belongs to us. We often look at the history of the nation of Israel as a really vivid illustration for us as Christians in the life that God has called us to live. You look at Israel in bondage in Egypt and it pictures for us that life that

before Christ, that life before salvation, and the way that God delivers us through faith in Jesus Christ, and pictured by baptism as Israel crossed the Red Sea, and we're baptized into Moses in that way, in the same way we are baptized into Christ Jesus, and brought out of our bondage to sin and death, and led forth from that. But then we look at the time of Israel in the wilderness.

And we recognize that time that happens in many believers' lives where we are wandering around in circles in the strength of our own flesh, not living lives of faith because they wouldn't enter into the promised land because of unbelief. And so they didn't really believe God to be able to go forward into the things that God had for them. And so they just ended up going in circles. And sometimes we can do that as believers because we don't really believe God at his word.

And we don't really obey him when he tells us things from his word that we just kind of wander around in circles and we don't really progress. We don't really grow. We don't go anywhere because we don't really believe and we're not willing to be obedient.

But then we see the picture of Israel entering into the promised land. And it's often referred to or described as victorious Christian living for us. It pictures for us that those times of victory where Israel went in and they conquered and they fought and they battled and they drove out inhabitants. And it wasn't a full and complete, but Joshua led them to that initial victory. And they, as a whole, conquered the land. And then each individual tribe was to take the territory that was given to them completely.

But it pictures that victorious Christian life. Often this is referred to and described in connection to Romans chapter 8, which pictures the life of the Spirit and how we can have a victorious Christian life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, as we look at David here in 2 Samuel chapter 8, David takes this idea of victorious Christian living and taking the promised land further than anyone before him. And he accomplishes victory victorious.

In part, sometimes by going on the offensive. And this evening, I want to encourage you to consider that. God wants to give you a victorious life. He wants to give you victory over sin. He wants to give you victory from chains and deliverance from things that have bound you for perhaps for many years. God wants to deliver you. God wants to give you victory. But I would also go along with that to say,

don't think that that means that you won't have to fight for it. God wants to give you victory, but that doesn't mean that you just sit at home and God goes to the battle lines. God wants to give you victory by calling you to battle. We don't fight with our own strength. As Paul said, the weapons of our warfare, they're not carnal. We don't fight with our weapons, but we do have to fight.

We do have to stand up. We do have to take a stand and put ourselves in that position of opposition, of offensive, and to go forward and take what it is that God has given to us. It is the working of the Holy Spirit, and it's the power of the Holy Spirit at work, but that doesn't mean that we are not involved. That is the power of the Holy Spirit at work as we mount up to fight for the things that God has called us to fight for.

Now, God hasn't called us to fight for everything and not every fight is right. But when we're pursuing God's heart and God says, you need to fight for this. This is something that I want for you. We need to be willing to really go to battle.

and for there to be fierce opposition and strong divisions and even wide divisions and large impact in the decisions that we're making. But we need to be willing to take those risks, to count those costs because God has called us to battle. Paul says it this way in Romans 8, verse 13, if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

And so as we talk about taking territory, as we're thinking about our own personal life, our spiritual walk, our walk with God, if we just kind of give in to the flesh and just live according to what my flesh wanted, that's what I was craving, that's what I was desiring, and we let that dictate and rule, he says, if you do that, you're going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death, now notice,

It's not by our own strength. We don't try to put to death the flesh by our efforts. It's by the Spirit. But there is the putting to death. There is the battle. There is the fight. There is the war that has to go on for you to be able to have victory in your life. You have to fight in the power of the Holy Spirit, relying upon, calling upon the Lord and His strength. But you have to be willing to fight. And that means there's going to be

There's going to be risk. There's going to be pressure and opposition and things that seek to defeat you in the battle. And there is going to be these tactics involved by the enemy to keep you from experiencing the victory that God wants you to have. David mounted up and went against. He attacked the Philistines. And you know what? There's some areas in your life perhaps that God says, you need to attack that.

You need to really come up with a strategic battle plan by the leading of the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but you need to go forward and make some decisions and maybe there's gonna be some casualties and maybe it's gonna be difficult and maybe you're gonna face opposition, but you need to go take that ground.

And change that behavior and deliver, you know, be delivered from that thing or progress in that way. And again, you can think about your personal life. You can think about your family life. You can think about your work life. You can think about socially, politically. There's a lot of avenues and you have to pursue God's heart for you and know this is what God wants me to fight for. But listen, you gotta be willing to go to battle and to put to death the deeds of the body and fight and stand and stand with God.

Even knowing that there may be great difficulty and consequences that come from the decisions you make. And sometimes the fear of the consequences, the fear of those decisions that we're making, the fear of what may come and how people may respond, it keeps us in that position of living according to the flesh. And we're not willing to mount up and attack and take the territory that God has for us. Well, it continues on in verse two. David, it says, "'Then he defeated Moab, forcing them down to the ground.'"

He became an MMA fighter, right, Richard? He measured them off with a line. With two lines, he measured off those to be put to death. And with one full line, those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's servants and brought tribute. Here, David now deals with Moab. Moab was also an enemy of Israel in many ways. And Moab,

We saw David interact with Moab earlier because he had delivered his parents over to the people of Moab and said, hey, can you keep watch on them while Saul's trying to get me? I don't know what's going to happen to me, so can you protect them? And we don't have this recorded in the scripture, but Jewish tradition says that Moab actually killed David's parents while he was away.

And so here you see David kind of expressing, you know, how he feels about that, how they treated his parents while he was away in his defeat of Moab. But it's interesting to look at the way it describes it. He forced them down to the ground. And it pictures that up close, that personal battle that David fought with the people of Moab. And it pictures for us

The kind of battle that God may be calling you to when God wants you to take territory that he has given to you. I think we make a mistake many times as believers where we think that, well, if God wants it, it's just going to happen. And sometimes that's true. And sometimes God works that way. And we rejoice and praise him for that. But there are many times in our lives where God says, I want to give that to you.

But just like the children of Israel with the promised land, it wasn't just given to them. They didn't just walk in and it was like, hey, all these houses are built. Nobody's living in them. We just get out, just walk in and just have life. No, they walked into the territory and there were enemies and they had to fight to take hold of what it is that God had given to them. And God says, when you fight, I'll fight with you. I'll fight for you. But you have to engage in the battle. You have to take a stand. You have to stand up and involve yourself.

What kind of territory does God want to give you? And are you willing to fight for it? You know, there's great promises we have in the scriptures. The promises of God, but many of them are not just sit there and do nothing and God will do everything, but many of them are when you involve yourself, trusting in God and calling upon God, God will be there with you to give you victory in that thing.

Take the territory that God wants to give you. Listen, sometimes God wants you to fight. And again, bringing it back to kind of as I was sharing in the beginning, sometimes that means husband and wife, you're gonna need to argue. Now, ideally, everybody's pursuing God's heart and everybody's right in line and walking in the spirit. That's ideal. That's not realistic. And there are times where, husband, you know what God has said. You know what God has called you to. You know the territory that God wants to give you.

But are you willing to fight to take that territory when there's opposition in the family around you? And vice versa. Wife, sometimes it's you. You're pursuing God's heart. You know what it is that God wants. And there's opposition. Are you willing to fight?

Now again, not talking physically here, no physical fighting is appropriate. It is appropriate in battle, in war, like we're talking about in David's life, but we're using that as an illustration to say, listen, we're going to have to disagree, and there's room for us to stand and insist on our way in pursuit of God's heart. Not in my way because this is what I think, this is what I want, but this is what God wants in

And if you don't like it, well, we're going to have to fight over this. We're going to have to disagree. We're going to have to argue. We're going to have to stand and deal with the casualties of war that come from battle. And many times in that kind of close personal context, we're not willing to deal with the casualties. And so we just surrender the battle. Choose your battles, right? That's sometimes advice we give one another. And that's good advice. You need to choose your battles. But don't choose your battles on whether or not you think you could win.

Don't choose your battles based on how well you think it's going to go or how long you're going to have to sleep on the couch afterwards. Don't choose your battles based on your feelings or your thoughts, but choose your battles on what does God want? What is God's heart for you and for your family? Are you willing to fight? Take the territory that God has given to you, but understand you're going to have to fight for it. In your personal life, are you struggling with sin? Are

Are you struggling in different areas, trying to be set free from things that have held you? God wants to do that. But are you willing to fight? God wants to give you a devotional life. He wants to give you some amazing and incredible times with him where you spend time with him in prayer and in the word. He wants to give that to you. Are you willing to fight for it?

And there's going to be opposition and other things are going to attack your schedule and other things are going to attack your mind and other things are going to try to take that territory and say, no, you can't have time for that. No, you can't do that. You can't spend time with the Lord that way. No, you can't. But are you willing to fight and to really take a stand and say, this is what God wants and to pursue God's heart in that way? Think about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9. He talked about that illustration of running the race and how he disciplines his body and

He's talking about that fight. He's talking about that battle. These things don't come easy. To experience what God wants for you, you're going to have to fight. You're going to have to be disciplined. You're going to have to work hard.

in the power of God, enabled by the Holy Spirit. I'm not trying to say we do this in our own efforts, but also God wants you to know this evening and be reminded that it doesn't just happen while you just kind of lay there like a slug and you don't do anything and don't exert any energy and don't make any difficult decisions and never fight. Listen, you're going to have to make some decisions.

You're going to have to stand up and you're going to have to move forward in the things that God wants for you personally, for your family, for you in the workplace, for you in society. You're going to have to stand up and take the ground that God has given to you. I would ask you to consider again the map of Saul and David. Which territory best illustrates your spiritual life or the life that God wants for your family? The depleted and just, you know, shriveled

Life of Saul or the abounding and full life of David? Have you taken the ground that God wants to give you? Do you have the spiritual life, the family life? Do you have the life that God wants for you? We often quote John chapter 10, verse 10, where Jesus said, I came that you may have life and life more abundantly. And that is absolutely true and a great promise of the Lord.

But you don't get that abundant life by just laying around doing nothing. You get that abundant life by pursuing God's heart with all of your might and being willing to fight and take the ground and the territory that God wants to give you. And there's going to be some fierce battles ahead for you to experience the abundant life that God wants you to have.

Well, moving on to verses three through eight, we get point number two this evening, and that is defend the territory that God wants you to keep. Sometimes we're on the offense. We're going and taking territory that God wants us to take. But sometimes we need to mount up our defense and we need to protect and hold the lines from where God has already brought us. Verse three, it says, David also defeated Hadadezer, the son of Rahab, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his territory at the river Euphrates.

David took from him 1,000 chariots, 700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. Also David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for 100 chariots. When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of the Syrians. Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus, and the Syrians became David's servants and brought tribute. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went."

Sometimes you fight to take territory. You fight, you work hard in the power of the Holy Spirit, at the leading of God, to establish spiritual disciplines, to set boundaries, to establish practices for your family, to make those decisions, and you gain that territory. Well done, good job. Now remember, there will be threats to that territory, to those boundaries, to those things that you have accomplished. There's gonna be some challenges. There's gonna be some opposition sometimes.

And sometimes God's going to call you to mount up and defend. You know, sometimes maybe you've had this, you know, practice in your family for a long time and it's well established. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it's under attack. And this evening, the Lord would remind you, hey, don't just surrender that territory. Don't just give up on that thing. Don't just give up on that concept.

Hey, we used to always do this. We used to always, and then all of a sudden now, like, why is it so hard to do that? And why are there these challenges in those areas? And we wonder why. Well, because we're in the midst of a battle and in the pursuit of God's heart. Sometimes he wants us to let things go. Sometimes he wants us to stand and fight and say, no, it's going to cost us. And maybe we don't get to participate in that sporting activity, but we're going to hold this line.

Because that's important. This is what God has called us to. Maybe we don't get to have that career, but I'm going to hold this line. I'm going to live this life that God has given to me and hold this line. Maybe I don't get that, this or that. You know, you can understand that there are sometimes things that are established in our lives that suddenly get challenged. And that's what we see here. Hadadezer says, you know, my family used to own that territory over there across Euphrates. I'm going to go take it back.

And he mounts up his soldiers and he says, I'm going to go get that territory and I'm going to recover it, it says in verse 3. He went to recover his territory at the river Euphrates. And David takes a stand. He says, no, you're not going to do that. You used to have that territory. I know you want that territory back, but no, you're not going to do that. And so he made the decision to fight, to battle in pursuit of God's heart. This was territory that God wanted Israel to have.

This is land that God wanted David to fight for. And so he's willing to say, okay, I'm going to put my neck on the line. I'm going to go fight against Hadadezer and his soldiers and

And even others came up to help Hadadezer. In verse 5, when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, king of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of the Syrians. You understand from the numbers there, there's some serious battle going on. There's some serious warfare. And David is standing his ground and saying, there's immense pressure to just give in on this line. Hey, this is like far north in Israel. Like, why don't we just let them have it? There's immense pressure.

Fierce warriors, large battles that are taking place and loud chants that are being chanted and all of this pressure, perhaps from his side internally, the nation or from the enemy on the outside, there's pressure. Hey, do we need to hold this line? Do we need to stand this ground? And David says, this is what the Lord wants. We need to stand this ground.

And so David went to battle. He fought. He stood the ground. In verse 6, it tells us at the end of verse 6, so the Lord preserved David wherever he went. There's these huge battles and tens of thousands of people are dying in these battles. I mean, there's serious battle going on. But God protected David because David was pursuing God's heart. And sometimes when we're facing serious battles, very difficult things, we're

We back down because of the big army that stands in front of us. But if you're pursuing God's heart, you need to trust God to preserve you wherever you go. As you walk in obedience to what God says and what you know God has set before you, you hold that line and fight that battle that God has called you to fight. I don't know if you need to picture it, but there's that old, old movie, The Twelve Angry Men, right? The jury room scene, right? Where

Everybody's all convinced about the case except for one guy. And he stands his ground and won't be convinced otherwise as he talks each one through. And boy, people are being convinced and they're understanding. They're seeing it from a different perspective and they're discussing it. But others are getting so angry and there's so much pressure. Just get with the program. Just change your mind already. Just get with us and make your decision the same as our decision. And listen, we're going to have all kinds of pressure coming.

to compromise our decisions, to compromise our positions in a similar way. And we need to be willing to fight when God calls us to fight. Now, God doesn't always call us to fight. And that's important to remember. It comes back to pursuing God's heart. And there are some things that, yeah, we established that boundary. We had that practice. We, you know, kept that thing for a long time. And maybe sometimes God wants to let that go. Like, yeah, just let that territory go. That's not for you to fight over right now.

It happened later, actually, in Israel's history. After David and his son Solomon reigned, then after Solomon, his son Rehoboam reigned, and Israel split in two. Now there was two kingdoms. And right after the split, Solomon's son Rehoboam mounted up for war. But in 1 Kings 12, the Lord sends a prophet to him and says, don't go fight. I haven't called you to fight this battle. Don't try to hold that territory. Don't try to hold that boundary. Nope, that's not what I want you to do.

That's not what I've called you to. Go ahead and let them go. And there are times, and that can be just as difficult. Again, sometimes going to battle is the hardest thing we've ever done. Sometimes not going to battle is the hardest thing we've ever done. But either way, it's in pursuit of God's heart. Is there territory that God wants you to defend? Areas of your life that are under attack? Aspects of your own personal walk with God? Maybe...

Parts of your family life and your priorities as a family, your practices as a family, maybe they're under attack. Maybe in the workplace there's some boundaries that are being challenged and some attack that is taking place. And God may be calling you to defend that territory, to stand up and to be willing to fight some serious battles in the pursuit of God's heart. Sometimes God wants you to fight. And that includes argument, argument.

Again, picture Jesus with the Pharisees. Fierce division, strong discussion, strong words, you know, separation, dividing, insisting on this way because it's what God has said. Now, it's not just insisting on a way because that's what I want or what I think, and that's easy for us to do, but being persistent to pursue God's heart even when it means there's a battle to fight just because God wants it for you.

Just because God gave that territory to you and he wants you to have that territory doesn't mean you're not gonna have to fight to defend it. And peace at all costs is not what God wants. You know, sometimes talking about in the home, it's just kind of easier just to have like, just better not rock the boat, right? It's just, I know, I know, it'd be better if we did that, but to deal with the aftermath. Oh, I don't wanna have to deal with the aftermath. There's gonna be some casualties if I go to battle on that. And it's appropriate to count the costs in battle. That's appropriate, right?

But understand that peace at all costs is not necessarily what God wants. God wants peace. The ideal is peace. But there are times that we need to fight. There are times where there needs to be a battle and you need to be willing to go to war, to please God, to honor God, to establish what it is that God wants. Think about what Jesus said in Luke 12, verse 51. He says, do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? He says, I tell you, not at all.

but rather division. He goes on to describe some family situations. He says, from now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two and two against three. And it's very easy for us to picture that. Well, okay, yeah, so here's a household of unbelievers and a couple get saved and now there's this division. And that happens. We know that happens. We've seen that happen. Maybe that's happened in your own life.

But that continues to happen throughout our life as we experience various degrees of pursuing God's heart individually as a family. And sometimes there needs to be division. And I'm not talking about, again, you know, physical battle. I'm not talking about divorce and that. But the willingness to make decisions, to insist on priorities, to disagree, to argue, to fight, right?

to hold the ground that God has given to you. He hasn't called you to peace at all cost. And even if it costs you greatly, you need to pursue God's heart. You fought to take that ground. You fought to take that territory. Don't just surrender it when it's under attack. In your personal life, God has delivered you. And isn't it interesting how many times those things that we were delivered from long ago, maybe you thought, I'll never struggle with that again. Praise Jesus.

And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, here comes this battle. And you're going to have to fight and defend. And maybe you forgot how to fight those battles. You need to remember. You need to go back. You need to seek the Lord and say, Lord, how do you want me to fight this? How do you want me to handle this? Maybe you need some financial decisions. And you held those decisions. And they were good. They were easy for a long time. But now, all of a sudden, those same decisions are really difficult.

Does God want you to fight that battle and pay that price and hold that line and continue in that route and continue in that practice? Think about Paul fighting the Judaizers in Acts chapter 15. They come back from the missionary journey and here are these people from Jerusalem who are saying, hey, in order for you to be saved, you have to follow the law of Moses and become circumcised. Otherwise you can't be saved.

And it tells us in Acts chapter 15, verse two, Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them. There was a big fight, a big argument, huge disagreement, lots of pressure, upset people, loud voices. There was a fight because it was worth fighting for. It was territory that God said, don't surrender that. No, don't give into that. That is not what I have for you.

And when it comes to sin, when it comes to false doctrine, when it comes to unholy behavior, when it comes to whatever it is that God is calling you to do and calling you to hold and maintain, we need to be willing to fight. And again, I would ask you to consider the boundaries. Does your life look more like Saul's boundaries or David's boundaries? And maybe at one time it was David's boundaries and you experienced that abundant life, but you failed to defend those lines and that territory that God had given to you.

And in your failed defenses, boy, you've experienced that destruction that comes as the enemy takes territory, takes territory, takes ground, takes ground, and you've lost your ability to fight. You need to pursue God's heart. Take back what it is that God has given to you and called you to. Continuing on in verses 9 through 13, we get point number three, and that is your battles can bless others and the Lord. Again, we're talking about pursuing God's heart. And

There's great reason for it. And it's not just for your own personal benefit. Verse nine, when Toy, king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, then Toy sent Joram, his son, to King David to greet him and bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him for Hadadezer had been at war with Toy. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, articles of gold, and articles of bronze. Pastor David Guzik points out that

Not all of the nations around Israel were enemies of Israel. And so we can't just, you know, fight every battle. It's not, that's not what God is calling us to do, but sometimes there's allies around us and we need to be wise. And that's why it comes back to pursuing God's heart. Here you have this other king who was in the same battle. He had conflict with the same guy. And when David defeats him, he says, oh man, I'm so blessed. I want to bless you, David, because you really helped me because that guy sure was giving me a hard time.

Listen, when you're willing to stand and fight, many times, it's not just a victory for you, but God is gonna use that victory to spill over and to affect the people around you. You're fighting not just for yourself, but for your family and for your community, for your workplace, for your friends. Those battles that you fight are crucial. They're so important, not just for you, but also for those around you.

Verse 11, King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued, from Syria, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer, the son of Rahab, king of Zobah. And David made himself a name when he returned from killing 18,000 Syrians in the Valley of Salt. Here it describes the spoils of war, the rewards, and how David dedicated

dedicated all of these things to the Lord. The Lord is blessed. David is using these victories to honor the Lord. He's using these battles because they are the Lord's battles because he's pursuing God's heart, but he's using the rewards from them to pursue God's heart. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. God gave David victory because

Oh no, this is Warren Wiersbe. God gave David victory and David used each victory to serve the Lord. David knew that he would not build the temple, but he risked his life to gather the wealth that Solomon would need to do the job. David here is amassing and we're gonna see the temple, you know, as we head into 1 Kings and the just amazing amounts of wealth that went into the resources of the temple, the building of the temple.

that David had worked really hard to gather in fighting those battles, to bless the Lord and bless others as a result throughout it as well. Your battles can bless others as well as the Lord. Moving on to verse 14, we get point number four, and that is be present in the territory that God has given you. Verse 14 says, and he put garrisons in Edom, throughout all Edom, he put garrisons and all the Edomites became David's servants and the Lord preserved David wherever he went.

Here it talks about Edom. Now it doesn't specifically mention any battles, though there were battles that David fought in Edom, but like he did in other places, it specifically points out David put garrisons in Edom. This is in the southern part, down actually below the nation of Israel itself in the area of Edom. And he put a garrison. Now a garrison was this military post and he would have soldiers assigned to this post and it was a permanent reminder to the people that,

You're subject to David. You pay tribute to David. Your servants of David were in charge. It was a permanent reminder. And in light of the things that the Lord has been ministering to our hearts this evening, I would word it that way, that we need to be present in the territory that God has given to us. Sometimes God wants you to take territory. Sometimes you need to defend territory. And many times you need to establish yourself as a presence and say,

We're staying here. We're not moving. We're maybe not under attack right now, but just as a reminder to everybody, hey, family, think about what Joshua said. In Joshua chapter 24, verse 15, very familiar passage, right? He addresses the people of Israel because they're kind of like wavering, like whether or not they're gonna serve the Lord or not. He says, look, if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, well, you choose for yourselves.

Whether you're going to serve the Lord or the gods that your father served that were on the other side of the river, the God of the Amorites, whatever gods you want to choose, you need to choose. But he says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I would picture that as a garrison. Joshua, he's addressing the people. He turns around, looks at his kids and says, as for me and my house, kids, we're going to serve the Lord. And sometimes we need to make ourselves present to

We need to set up garrisons, set up strongholds, and set up reminders to help us. Because here's what would happen. David conquered Edom. If he didn't set up a garrison there, it wouldn't be long before the people of Edom would be like, do we really need to send this money to David? Do we have to really pay tribute? Do we really need to pay taxes? I mean, eh, David's David, you know. We don't need him. It's not really that bad, you know. He's not really in charge of us. And then they would have to come back and be this battle. And David would come back and remind them, nope.

You do need to be subject to me, and there would have to be another battle. But instead, he put this reminder, this stronghold, and this could take a lot of different shapes in your life, and so you need to be seeking the Lord as far as how he wants you to do that. But in your personal life, maybe there's some strongholds that you need to establish, some reminders that you need to set up to keep yourself in that position of remembering, to keep everybody around you of knowing that

As for me and my house, we are going to serve the Lord. We're going to pursue God's heart. And sometimes we're not present. And so there's a forgetfulness that happens. We're not mindful. And so there's a forgetfulness that happens. We don't just need to hold that territory when it's under attack. But we need to hold that territory that God wants us to have, that God wants to give to us, in the meantime as well.

And to have those boundaries established and those reminders established and those strongholds set that we would be present. Sometimes parents are not present. They established boundaries. They fought battles early. And then later on in the child's life, they're just not present. They're not the stronghold. They're not the Joshua saying, as for me and my house, they're not holding the ground. And there's a forgetfulness there.

And we used to be all about the things of the Lord and be walking with the Lord. And there's just kind of been this wandering and maybe it's not under this direct attack, but there's this gradual slip away. There's this gradual sliding away because there's not the garrison there. There's not the fortified place to hold the ground. Have you lost some territory just from forgetfulness? Just from that subtle drift away? You need to establish that.

some strongholds. Be present in the territory that God has given to you. Maintain that. It requires some discipline. You know, maybe you worked really hard to establish for yourself a devotional time with God. Maybe there's not some huge threat on your schedule that prevents you from having that time, but maybe you've just kind of like grown lax in that time. You've just kind of drifted away from, you still have the time, but it's not a stronghold anymore. You

I mean, the time is still there. It's still available to you, but it's just not that important. You need to be present. Establish those things that God has called you to. Set up reminders. Set up garrisons. Help keep you, keep your family, keep your workplace, keep society, whatever it is that God is calling you to and has set before you. You need to work hard. There was some cost involved in that, right?

Some people from Israel had to live in Edom. They'd rather be back with their families. And there was probably a rotation, I would imagine. And so everybody, you know, had to shift. And there was, I don't know how they did that. But you understand, right? There's a cost. There was some deliberate decisions that had to be made. There was some things that had to be done in order for that to be maintained. And in a similar way, we have to maintain those things that God has set before us.

that we continue to hold that ground that he's given to us. Well, finally, finishing it up in verses 15 through 18, here I would encourage you to steward the territory that God has given you. In verse 15, it says, so David reigned over all Israel and David administered judgment and justice to all his people.

Here in these final verses, it describes the order, the administration of David's kingdom.

Again, this is an overview. This isn't, you know, one snapshot in time, but this is looking at David's reign as a whole, the battles that he fought, and the way that he organized the authority and the structure in his kingdom, showing that he was a steward of the nation of Israel. He

He used some wisdom. He took some steps to establish some structure, to establish some authority so that he could administer judgment and justice to all of his people. David himself personally couldn't administer judgment and justice to all his people. So he had delegated these different aspects of authority in the kingdom throughout the kingdom so that there would be a, well, an administration of judgment and justice to the people.

He took steps to steward what it was that God had given to him. It reminds me of what the Lord talked about in Luke chapter 12, verse 42 and 43. We did that series a few years back, the faithful and wise steward comes from this passage. "'Who then is that faithful and wise steward "'whom his master will make ruler over his household "'to give them their portion of food in due season? "'Blessed is that servant "'whom his master will find so doing when he comes.'"

There's that issue of stewardship. Stewardship is taking care of something that has been delivered to you. Your life, your soul, your time, your finances, it's all part of your stewardship. It's what God has given to you. Are you pursuing God's heart? Being a good steward of those things that God has entrusted to you. Looking again at your family life, you're a steward. God has entrusted your family to you. How are you doing?

Taking care of those things, giving the food that's appropriate in its due season, managing and delivering justice and helping people to learn, to grow and to walk with God. How are you doing as a steward in the midst of your family? In the workplace and in society, we've been given some callings by God, some opportunities by God, some giftings by God. There's a lot of different aspects that we could consider, but it comes back to

Are you pursuing God's heart? You're gonna be blessed. Listen, if you pursue God's heart, there's gonna be some battles. There's gonna be some fights. There's gonna be some fierce discussions and arguments and decisions and difficulties and casualties and consequences. But blessed are you if you are faithful to steward the things that God has given to you. This evening, I wanna remind you, sometimes God wants you to fight. He doesn't always want us to fight everything and every occasion. We need to pursue God's heart.

And we need to make those decisions. Is it pleasing to God to fight this fight right now? But don't shrink away when God calls you to fight. Just because God wants to give it to you doesn't mean you're not going to have to fight for it. There's going to be some battles. There's going to be some arguments. There's going to be some strong disagreements and some division and some standing and insisting, no, this is the way. And there's going to be some fallouts and some casualties.

Some fights, God wants you to start. He wants you to go on the offense and say, we need to go this way. We need to do this. This is what God has called me to do. That there is some offensive measures that have to be taken and go take the territory that he's given to you. Some fights are more defensive. Hey, this is under attack. I need to stand the ground and hold that line that what God has given to me. God does not want peace at all cost. He wants peace and peace is good when it's in agreement.

with what God desires and not in a compromise with what God desires. Finishing school of ministry, it's going to be a battle. Leading worship, it's going to be a battle. Serving the Lord in any capacity, it's going to be a battle. Leading your family, loving your family, spending time in prayer, walking with God, it's going to be a battle. You need to understand there are times that God wants you to fight. David was a man who pursued God's heart and God called him to battle.

I don't know what kind of battles God is calling you to, but I know he's calling you to some. I don't know if you're fighting the wrong battles, but God is calling you to fight some battles. We need to come back to the pursuit of God's heart. What does God want? And then make the decision, I'm willing, whatever it takes, even if the stakes are high, even if the pressure is great against what it is that God wants, I'm willing to fight for what will honor God and please God in my life. Let's pray. What I pray for each one of us is,

And Lord, you have great victories in store for us. And Lord, we look to eternity and rejoice over that final victory that you've promised to us. And yet between here and there, God, there are some battles that you want us to face. And some of those battles, what we would rush into in our own strength, some of those battles we would shrink from for fear, Lord, of the battle itself or the consequences and the aftermath of it. But Lord, I pray that you would help us to love you

with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. Lord, that we would desire to please you first and foremost above everyone else. Lord, that you truly would be the priority and passion of our heart. And Lord, when that's the case, that is going to come in opposition to situations, to ideas, to concepts, to practices, to habits, to schedules, to personalities, to things around us that are not in agreement with

with your will, with your plans, and what's pleasing to you. God, I pray that you would help each of us to be able to realistically evaluate and consider what you want, to make that choice, to make that decision, Lord, that we would choose to honor you. Lord, that we would choose your path and your ways, that we would choose what you desire of us, whether it be an explicit command found in your word or whether it be something that you've spoken to our hearts. Help us,

to fight when you call us to fight, to take ground when you call us to take ground, to hold the lines when you call us to defend what it is that you've already established, that you would help us to establish those strongholds that we would not grow weary in well-doing, Lord, that we wouldn't fade away in those areas of victory, but Lord, that we would hold fast to pleasing you as we seek to pursue your heart. So God, give us strength, give us boldness,

Give us courage to fight in the power of your Holy Spirit in the way that you've called us to fight. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.