Look to God, Jesus did.
God wants YOU to be a
PICTURE of Jesus,
a “MORE-than-CONQUEROR”
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…
37 in all these things
[No matter what happens to us]
we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us….”
Last week we looked at the fact that King Saul was a “Less-than-Conqueror” because he did NOT
look to God.
He wanted to do things his own way.
Rather than be a “More-than-Conqueror”,
he tried to conquer things and lead his own way.
David on the other hand, was a
“More-than-Conqueror”
because he DID “Look to God”
The Bible says that David was;
“A Man after God’s own heart”
-Acts 13:22
King Saul’s son, Jonathan is another example of one who was a “More-than-Conqueror” because he looked to God, like Jesus did.
He was Faithful to the Lord and helped David.
Jonathan would not be faithful to a sinful demand.
Even when,
“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
Jonathan would not be faithful to a sinful demand.
• He risked his own life protecting David.
• He paid a price.
• His mom paid a price as well.
• Here is what happened when Saul’s plan to murder David was interrupted…
Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?... 30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan [b/c Saul’s plans for murder were ruined] and he said to him, “You son of a [Curse/Vulgar]
perverse and rebellious woman!” Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own SHAME and to the SHAMEof the mother who bore you?”
-1 Samuel 20
Note: Saul tried to put Shame on his own wife and son.
When King Saul used the words,
“You son of a perverse and rebellious woman!”
It got me thinking about similar language that people often use when they are furious with someone.
I looked at a little bit of history and found something interesting in William Shakespeare’s King Lear (1605) in Act 2: Scene 2 where a character named Kent says to Oswald;
“You’re a lowlife, a rascal who eats leftover scraps. You’re an ignoble, arrogant, shallow, vulgar, pretentious, conceited, filthy third-rate servant who thinks he’s something special. You’re a… scoundrel… a bag lady… nothing but a lowlife, a beggar, a coward… the son and heir of a mutt ‘Female dog’.”
My guess is that Shakespeare borrowed the
“Son of a” phraseology from King Saul in 1 Samuel 20 in the Bible.
Fifty years later in England (in the 1650s), the phrase 'son of a bachelor' was used as an alternative, but didn’t remain popular for very long.
In the United States, we are familiar with the phrase, which is not always used in a negative sense, “Son of a gun”. It has been around for years.
Never-the-less, King Saul was extraordinarily rude, demeaning, and disrespectful to have insulted his son by saying that he was a byproduct of an even worse immoral mother (Saul’s own wife).
Then Saul tried to entice, threaten, and scare Jonathan into taking his side in opposition to David.
He is basically saying that, as long as David is alive, Jonathan would never become King.
But Jonathan dis not take the bait.
31 “As long as the son of Jesse [David] lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
This reminds me of the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding episode in Detroit, MI during the January 1994 Olympic Trials.
In this case, Tonya Harding’s boyfriend thought that as long as Nancy Kerrigan was in the trials,
his girlfriend cold not win.
He paid a guy to take a police-style baton and hit Nancy below the knee in the attempt to take her out of the running.
The strategy is as old as war.
Do whatever you have to do to diminish or totally “take out” the competition.
In Saul’s case, he wanted to totally take out the competition by murdering David.
But Jonathan would have no part of it.
Saul tries to kills Jonathan for sticking up for David.
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 now knows that his Dad will stop at nothing to kill David, so he warns him and they depart in tears.
David & Jonathan, “Kissed each other and wept together – But David wept the most.”
-1 Samuel 20:41
Perhaps “David wept the most” because even though Jonathan was in a
“No-win” situation, he was faithful to God and to David.
There is great sadness when someone is a true victim of something and DOES NOT have control over a situation.
There is also great sadness when someone DOES have control over something, yet is faithful to the wrong thing or person like in the case of the people on Palm Sunday.
Jesus cries on Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-5
As they approached Jerusalem… Jesus sent two disciples… “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.
[God always does what he says]
“This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
[That is called Prophecy, and God always does what he says]
“This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
[That is called GRACE]
RELIGION says that you come to God
(by living right)
JESUS says, I come TO YOU.
‘See, your king COMES TO YOU, gentle and riding on a donkey…”
Jesus is a “More-than-Conqueror”
because he always “Looked to God”, his Father.
God is the God of the…
“Right TIME”
“Right PLACE”
“Right WAY”
"RIGHT TIME”
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
-Ecclesiastes 3:11
Examples:
In the fulness of time JC was born.
Palm Sunday was on 10th of Nisan
“Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household
-Exodus 12:3
[The select their lamb on the 10th.]
[This was a Sunday on the original, what we now call, Palm Sunday]
Exodus 12:3 says they are to take care of the Lamb until the 14th
“The Lord’s Passover begins at the twilight of the fourteenth day of the first month.”
-Leviticus 23:5
“RIGHT PLACE”
“In Jerusalem = “City of Peace”
“HE himself is OUR peace… HE was pierced for OUR transgressions HE was crushed for OUR iniquities; the punishment that brought USpeace was upon HIM, and by HIS wounds WE are healed.”
-Ephesians 2:14; Isaiah 53:5
“RIGHT WAY”
“Serving us”
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to SERVE, and toGIVE his life as a ransom for many."
- Mark 10:45
“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he WEPT over it and said,
‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—
but now it is hidden from your eyes.’”
- Luke 19:41,42
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have
longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and
you were not willing.”
-Luke 13:34
“God shows us that he has purpose”
Look for God to things in your life at the;
“Right TIME”
“Right PLACE”
“Right WAY”
This week in the life of Jesus…
He will be Betrayed, Mocked, Beaten, Denied, and Crucified.
BUT
Death will be Defeated, Sin will be forgiven,
and Victory will be Delivered, all because; “For God so loved the world…” –John 3:16
God “so” loves YOU.
He really does.
So, live a “Heads Up” life
-Look to God, like Jesus did.
You ARE a
More-than-Conqueror
because of Jesus.
Prayer:
Lord, help me to live,
looking to you in every area of my life.
I want to life as a “More-than-Conqueror”
to your glory.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen!
Comments