“More-than-Conquerers”
“Less-than-Conquerers”
HE>i With Jesus, we are MORE-than-CONQUERERS Last week we talked about looking BACK and the importance of PROPERLY REMEMBERING the PAST in order to have the confidence that God wants us to have. What I encouraged you to do last week about the PAST, I encourage you to do this week about the FUTURE, namely: “To tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God”. It does no good for us to look at certain things the wrong way. Look forward to God and not any other source. Look forward to God’s Provisions [a better situation] as He works things out, ultimately for the better. Romans 8:28 “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose… If God is forus, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all [Total forgiveness and heaven by his grace] —how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 WHO shall separate us from the love of Christ? [or WHAT can separate us] Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakednessor danger or sword? … 37 No, in all these things [No matter what happens to us] we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor ANYTHING ELSE in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” SEVERAL PROOFS OF THIS VERSE Tough situation Example #1 - King Saul He lost his kingdom because of disobedience. He turned from God and sought medium and the world of the occult for direction in leading God’s people. (It WAS his own fault.) 1 Samuel 28:1-25 Saul and the Medium at Endor 3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land. 4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams, or Urim, or prophets. [Urim was one of two stones the priests used sometimes to determine God’s will. We don’t know much about them and do not know how they were used. Thank god today that we do not have to count on God speaking to use through Prophets, Priests, Kings, or things like Urim, Casting lots or flipping a coin.] “In the past [Old Testament] God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” -Hebrews 1:1 7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor,” they said. 8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” 9 But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10 Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.” 11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said. 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” 13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth.” 14 “What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.” 16 Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. 19 The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. [Dead] The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.” 20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night. 21 When the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly shaken, she said, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do. 22 Now please listen to your servant and let me give you some foodso you may eat and have the strength to go on your way.” 23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his men joined the woman in urging him, and he listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the couch. 24 The woman had a fattened calf at the house, which she butchered at once. She took some flour, kneaded it and baked bread without yeast. 25 Then she set it before Saul and his men, and they ate. That same night they got up and left.” The sad thing for Saul is that he wanted to be HIS-OWN-CONQUERER, Rather than a MORE-THAN-CONQUERER And it was his own fault. Tough situation Example #2 – David (It was NOT his fault) God anointed him to take King Saul’s place. HE WAS “MORE-THAN-CONQUERER” Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.” -1 Samuel 15:28 Saul was extremely jealous of David. Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” -1 Samuel 18:8 Saul put a contract out on David’s life. “Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David.” -1 Samuel 19:1 Though David was not perfect, he was a man after God’s own heart. Even after his past sin with Bathsheba & her husband Uriah, Dave repented, confessed and was completely forgiven. “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’” -Acts 13:22 This is the key to being a MORE-THAN-CONQUERER Tough situation Example #3 – Jonathan (King Saul’s son) Friends with his dad’s enemy doesn’t make dad very happy. (It was NOT his own fault.) Jonathan helps David escape Saul’s murder attempt and escapes his own as well 1 Samuel 20:1-42 “Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?” 2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!” 3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, [David and Jonathan are great friends] and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” [David KNOWS Saul will try to kill him] 4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” 5 So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. DAVID TESTS SAUL 6 If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, [Because he was planning on killing David at the meal] you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8 As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?” 9 “Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?” 10 David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” 11 “Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together. 12 Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13 But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14 But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15 and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.” 16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” 17 And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself. THEY SET THE TEST OF ARROWS 18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22 But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23 And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.” 24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. 25 He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,[a] and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” 27 But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” 28 Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.” 30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own SHAME and to the SHAME of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!” 32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David. JONATHAN ALMOST GETS KILLED FOR DEFENDING DAVID 34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David. 35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36 and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38 Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39 (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.” 41 After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David weptthe most. [Maybe mainly for the “no-win” situation that his best-friend Jonathan was in.] 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.” Tough situation Example #4 – Mephibosheth (King Saul’s Grandson) (Jonathan’s son) (One of the “Descendants” that David and Jonathan were talking about when they departed in the verse above) Here is his story in short: His troubles started when he was a boy at age 5. His troubles were not his fault. He grew up without a father. Word came that King Saul and Jonathan were killed in the war and in a hurry to leave the palace Saul’s Mephiboshesh got injured. 2 Samuel 4:4 “Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.” Since Mephibosheth was King Saul’s grandson, Who just died and no longer King, His nurse thought that the new king would kill the relatives of the previous king as was the custom of the other nations. When Mephibosheth was perhaps 20 years old or so, David brought him to live with David like one of his own sons. Ziba was his servant of Saul. 2 Samuel 9 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. 3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” 4 “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” 5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, [No place] from the house of Makir son of Ammiel. 6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. 7 “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” 8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a DEAD DOG like me?” 9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson [Mephibosheth] everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land FOR HIM and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.) 11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. 12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.” BUT IT WAS NOT AS EASY AS THAT Absalom, David’s son, planned a long-term conspiracy against his father to take his kingdom. 2 Samuel 15 tells about the conspiracy. When David found out about it, he and his family had to leave the palace or be killed by his own son in the mutiny. When they all left, Ziba left Mephibosheth behind and tried to make it look like Mephibosheth was siding with Absalom waiting at the palace for when Absalom became the new King. 2 Samuel 16 says that Ziba tried to throw Mephibosheth under the bus when David’s son (Absalom) tried to lead a rebellion against David so that he could become king. David asked Ziba where Mephibosheth was and Ziba lied by saying, “He is staying in Jerusalem, because he thinks, ‘Today the Israelites will restore to me my grandfather’s kingdom.’” 4 Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” “I humbly bow,” Ziba said. [That’s a lie. He “Selfishly” bows] “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king.” Mephibosheth HAD it all Mephibosheth LOSES it all Now he gets HALF of it back 2 Samuel 18 Absalom is killed and David returns to the palace. 24 Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also went down to meet the king. [Scared op death that David would kill him because he stayed back and it looked like he was siding with Absalom and counting on him to kill his dad, King David and become the new king] He had not taken care of his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned safely. 25 When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?” 26 He said, “My lord the king, since I your servant am lame, I said, ‘I will have my donkey saddled and will ride on it, so I can go with the king.’ But Ziba my servant BETRAYED me. 27 And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like an angel of God; so do whatever you wish. 28 All my grandfather’s descendants deserved nothing but death from my lord the king, but you gave your servant a place among those who eat at your table. So what right do I have to make any more appeals to the king?” 29 The king said to him, “Why say more? I order you and Ziba to DIVIDE the land.” 30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take everything, now that my lord the king has returned home safely.” Mephibosheth was thankful, faithful, humble and loyal. Thankful Mephibosheth could have been angry at the nurse who dropped him or he could have been thankful to her for saving his life. We all have choices as to how we will react to tough situations. What has left you crippled? What has left you scarred? What has left you hurting? Romans 8:28+ “WHO shall separate us from the love of Christ? [or WHAT can separate us] Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakednessor danger or sword? … 37 No, in all these things [No matter what happens to us] we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. HE>i 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor ANYTHING ELSE in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Pastor Dave Word of Life Church 17525 W. Bell Rd. Surprise, AZ 85374