David the Victor, Part 2

Pray together. Father, we thank you for tonight. Once again, we had the opportunity to be refueled throughout the middle of the week to study your word, to understand the implications of your word for our lives on this day. And we pray, Father, that the things that we learn tonight will enable us to live a victorious Christian life by the power of your spirit. I pray for those, Lord, who seem to be tangled up in all kinds of sin and hardship. I pray that tonight's lesson would enable them to see how it is they can be victorious and follow you and serve you.

Thank you for David's life, and we thank you for his testimony, how you chose him from the backside of Bethlehem to be the king of Israel and to be the individual to whom the Messiah would come. Tonight, Lord, teach us through your word and through the power of your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. We are in 2 Samuel chapter 8, looking at David, who is the victorious warrior. David went to battle in chapter 8, and David fought the kings of the north, the south, the east, and the west. And he expanded the borders of Israel as God had designed them earlier when God told Abraham what the borders would be from the great river Euphrates to the great river of Egypt.

And so David would begin to move out. But to do that, he had to defeat Methagama, the chief city, the bridle of the mother cities, the biggest of all the cities, the dominant city. Once he was able to defeat the dominant cities, he was then able to progress both east, west, north, and south and defeat all the surrounding enemies. And David would be used in a powerful and a mighty way by God to demonstrate to us what it will be like when the ultimate king comes and has rule over the entire universe, not just that little piece of real estate in the Middle East.

And so we praise God for the testimony of David and how he became the victor. And we want to draw some conclusions for your life and for mine. We're not going to go through chapter 8 this evening, but to get some references from there because we went through it last week. But to help you understand how we can become victorious warriors in our own spiritual lives. Because David sets for us an example as a victorious warrior on how we then can apply principles that will allow us to be victorious. We must learn to defeat the dominant sins.

Once we defeat the dominant sin, whatever it may be, the book of Hebrews says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us. And that sin in Hebrews 12 is the sin of unbelief because in all reality, sin centers around unbelief. The reason we sin is because we don't believe that God is going to do what he says he's going to do. And that our way is better than God's way. We believe in our way over God's way. And that sin that so easily besets us becomes that dominant sin in our lives.

We can't run the race with endurance unless we're able to defeat that dominant sin. As David defeated the dominant cities around him, which led him to defeat the other cities. So too, we must learn to defeat those dominant sins in our lives. I don't know what it is for you or for your neighbor, but we know that the principles of scripture apply across the board for all of us. So let's look at some principles together.

I'm going to give you seven of them and seven principles that will help you be a victorious warrior. We need to be victorious. The Bible says in Romans 8, 37, we are overwhelming conquerors.

We're just not conquerors. We are mega conquerors through him who loves us. Jesus said in the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world now because Christ has overcome the world and we are partakers of the divine nature. Then we by nature are overcomers. So the question comes, why is it I can't overcome my sin? Why is it I can't overcome my self? Why is it I can't overcome Satan? Why can't I overcome society's pull? Why can't I do that? If I'm an overcomer and I'm a partaker of the divine nature and Jesus is the ultimate overcomer, what's my problem?

That's a good question. So we need to look at the biblical principles to help us understand how that happens.

Turn in your Bible to 1 John chapter 5. We'll begin there. 1 John chapter 5, verse number 1, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And whoever loves the father loves the child born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

And who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God. John talks to us in a biblical term called overcomers because that's what we are. That's why in the book of Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 the seven letters written to seven different churches all conclude with a promise to the overcomer because the overcomer is the victorious one. That's who we are. Overcomers are the ones who believe in who Jesus Christ is. He is the son of God. They have faith in God.

They have love for God and they keep the commandments of God. Those are ones who overcome. And so a lot of times there are people in the pew who think that they have trouble with sin, can't overcome it, but it all begins with being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to believe that Jesus is the son of God. You've got to love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength. That's where it all begins. Unless you're a partaker of the divine nature of the one who is the ultimate overcomer then you can't then be an overcomer.

You will always succumb to sin. You will always fall prey to traps. You will never see the victory. So it all begins with being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not principle number one.

I'm just telling you that up front. That's the way it goes. We need to be committed to Christ. I have counseled people over the years many times and they just can't get victory over sin until we finally come to realize, you know what, they never ever gave their life to Jesus Christ.

They never were born again. So to be an overcomer was so foreign to them, was so beyond their reach they couldn't even begin to imagine it. They would succumb to every kind of temptation, every kind of difficulty. Oh they were in the church and they were they were serving the Lord in the church but they just could not overcome sin in their lives, especially dominant ones. So we talked to them about belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and what it means to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what it means to love God and to serve God that they might understand what it means to be a partaker of the divine nature of God.

Well our Lord is the ultimate warrior. In fact He's called the Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabaoth, the one who is the victorious warrior. And so He wants to lead us into victory. He wants to lead you and I into battle that we might overcome our enemies both from within and those from without. So where does it all begin? Number one, a victorious life is always reproduced by obedience.

Sounds kind of simple doesn't it? Some of you say well we know that. Well let's see if you know that or not. The victorious life is always reproduced by obedience. You can't expect to live victoriously and live in disobedience to what God says in His Word.

Can't do that. In fact John tells us that the commands of God are not burdensome. They don't weigh us down. A true believer realizes that God's commands don't weigh him down, they lift him up. He's not carrying a burden because God has given us His law. He's given us His truth. It truly opens the door for us to understand what it means to live a life of freedom because of what Christ has done for us. But a victorious life is always reproduced by obedience. Turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 2.

This is David's charge to his son Solomon before he dies. He says it's David's time to die drew near. He charged Solomon his son saying, I'm going the way of all the earth. Be strong therefore and show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies according to what is written in the law of Moses that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn. David says, listen son, if you want to be successful, if you want to be victorious, then you have to walk according to the commands of God.

You have to obey the ordinances, the testimonies, the statutes, the commands, everything that God says you need to obey and you will find success.

God said the same thing to Joshua in Joshua chapter 1. If you strive to do all that is written in the law, I will make your way successful and I will make your way prosperous. If you keep my word, if you are fixed on doing what I say without compromise, you will see prosperity. You will see success unparalleled. That's a promise that God has never rescinded. He expects his children to live in obedience to his word, to follow through on what he says. David at the end of his life, as he charges Solomon, had gone through all kinds of situations.

There were times he was successful because he was obedient to God's law, but whenever he would turn aside from the law of God, then we saw where David experienced defeat, hardship, difficulty. And as he was charging his son at the end of his life, he begs his son, this is what you got to do in order to be successful. Just stay true to the word of God. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse number 22. Peter says this, since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love for the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.

In other words, he says, because you were obedient to the word of God, your souls were purified. You see, a victorious life is reproduced by obedience. Psalm 119, verse number 60, says these words. It says, I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments. That should be our prayer. I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments. So when we study God's word, when we read God's word, when we hear God's word preached, we know what it says. Now, do we hasten to keep those commandments or do we ponder them, think about them and decide whether or not we're going to obey them or not?

A victorious life is reproduced by obedience. Go back with me, if you would, to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2, verse number 12. John says, I am writing to you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. In other words, he's writing to Christians. He calls them little children. Your sins have been forgiven. And then he says, I am writing to you fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I have written to you children, because you know the father. I have written to you fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. You see, to go from a child to a young man to a father requires that we'll be obedient to what God's word says, so that God's word abides in us, that we might get to know him. You see, the little child knows the father, okay, as children know their fathers.

The young man is strong because God's word abides in him. But the father, the one mature in the faith, knows God intimately, because the word of God is deep within him. And therefore, he is able to understand the heart of God, the mind of God, the ways of God, and the will of God. And we need to understand that victorious Christian living is reproduced only through obedience to Jesus Christ. If we decide we're going to live disobediently to God, then we will always face difficulty. Turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians chapter 6 speaks about the armor of God. It says, Finally, be strong in the Lord in the strength of his might.

Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to stand firm, stand firm therefore.

In other words, to be victorious, we must be obedient to what God says about the armor of God. In taking up the armor of God, in order for us to be able to fight against Satan in all of his schemes, it requires that we stand firm. It requires that we stand strong. It requires that we be strong. The very first thing he says is this, having girded your loins with truth.

In other words, there's a belt of truth that ties all the pieces of armor together. The truth is that which keeps all the armor from clanging around. You tie everything together with the belt of truth because the truth brings it all together. And then he says, having your loins girded with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, why? Because the heart and the inner part of man must be protected from Satan because Satan plays on our emotions. And if the breastplate of righteousness is not attached to our lives, then our hearts, emotions are easily turned away from the truth of God and the service for God.

He says, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In other words, he says, in order for you to stand firm, you stand firm because everything's based on the fact that you are now at peace with God. Before you became saved, you were an enemy of God. Now your feet are prepared, are put together. You're able to stand strong because you're on God's side and the peace of God rules in your heart. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of spirit, which is the word of God with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit.

And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. In other words, there was one piece of offensive armor, and that is a sword. And that sword is the spirit or the truth of God's holy word, the sword of the spirit. And it's that, it's that, that word of God that allows you to defeat the enemy. Listen, if we're going to be victorious, we must be obedient to what God's word says. So number one, the victorious life is reproduced by obedience.

Number two, the victorious life realizes the importance of spiritual discipline. It realizes the importance of spiritual discipline. Folks, this is crucial because discipline is a, is a smelly word. It's a hard word. Discipline is something that for the most part we are really bad at. We're not really good at disciplining our lives. And yet the Bible requires spiritual discipline. And therefore, we must understand the spiritual disciplines that we must engage in if we're going to be victorious people.

David was obedient to the word of God. In 2 Samuel chapter eight, verse number one, chapter seven, verse number one, when God gave him rest from all his enemies, and in chapter eight, it says, now after this, after what?

After the rest with his enemies, after he communed with God, after he had spoken with God, after he had prayed to God, he was ready to go because everything was in line with being obedient to the word of God. He wanted to build a temple for God because the book of Deuteronomy talks about that. He had written about it earlier in the Psalms, in Psalm 136, about his aspirations to build the temple for the presence of God. He wanted to do what God said, so much so that when God said no to his desire, he wasn't upset because he saw the plan of God at work.

There was something bigger at stake than just his little desire to build the temple. There was going to be an eternal temple with an eternal God who ruled in there. And it made all the difference in the world to this man, David, because he understood the truth. And this man, when he lived a life of spiritual discipline, when he lived a life of prayer and Bible study and silence and solitude, things changed for David. When he didn't do that, he had a hard time. That's why Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 9, I beat my body into subjection, lest I be disqualified from the ministry.

See, discipline is hard. That's why 1 Timothy 4, 7 and 8 says, train yourself unto godliness, okay? Because bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness has profit for all things. Bodily exercise does profit. It does profit. Those of you who exercise understand the profit of bodily exercise, but it only profits a little compared to godliness because godliness lasts forever into eternity, where bodily exercise only lasts for a short while. Once you stop exercising, guess what? You put the pounds back on again and they just keep growing bigger and bigger and bigger.

So you realize it only lasts for a short time, but godliness lasts forever. And Paul understood the spiritual discipline of discipline in his body, that he might live for the Lord God. Let me help you understand that.

First of all, spiritual discipline begins with silence. Silence. Silence before God, learning to be quiet. And why is this so hard? Because we love to talk. We just can't be quiet. We interrupt people in the conversations. We think we're the center of attention. We go into a conversation, into a fellowship where everybody else is, and we want to talk and put our two cents in, and we love to talk. And you know what? We love to talk to God. We just don't like to listen to God. Everyone knows that? We love to talk.

We want to pour out our heart to God. We want to talk to Him about all these things we got going on, and He wants to hear us. But the problem is, we are so unwilling to listen to Him. Listen to the prophet Zephaniah. The prophet Zephaniah, chapter 1, verse number 7. Be silent before the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near. For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated His guests. Before that, Habakkuk 2, verse number 20 says, But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent.

In other words, God is in His holy temple. God is on His throne. God has never left His throne. In other words, God has always been in charge. He will continue to be in charge, right? So because God, now you've got to remember this on election day, God is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent. Wouldn't it be good if you turned on TV after the election and no one said anything? Because God had spoken. But see, no one wants to listen to God. We want to rationalize this and rationalize that, and we want to say why this candidate won and this candidate lost, and it's all about the sovereignty of God.

It's like they were talking today. My wife and I were at the doctor, and I was watching the news that was going on, and they were trying to figure out how this storm happened in the East Coast, this Frankenstorm, this Hurricane Sandy, okay? And they're debating how it all... They all talk about this global warming thing and how scientists have proven that global warming is going to cause more and more storms. And I laugh at that, because they have no idea that God is the author of calamity. And if you say that to them, they go bonkers, because that's not the God they know.

But Isaiah 45, 7 makes that very clear. So we know that God is the author of calamity. God is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent. When God works and God's sovereignty is shown, what are you going to say? You're going to debate God about it? You're going to argue with God about it? No, it's done, because God Himself has spoken. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 46, 10, be still and know that I am God.

How are you going to know that God rules supreme unless you're quiet enough and still enough to listen to the voice of God? See, the reason you are silent, the reason there is a Sabbath or rest of your lips, is so that you may learn to listen and to look to God. If you don't have a rest for your lips, you won't listen, because you're too busy talking. But you need that Sabbath rest for your lips, that you might listen in order that you may look to God. That's why it says in Isaiah chapter 30, verse number 15, in repentance and rest you shall be saved.

In quietness and trust is your strength, but you were not willing. In other words, when you are silent and you're quiet, there you will find trust. You'll learn to trust. You'll find strength. But unless you're quiet, listening, then you'll miss it. And to be a victorious warrior, it begins with silence when it comes to spiritual disciplines, because you must listen and look to God. From silence, the second discipline is the number one discipline that Jesus practiced in his humanity while on earth.

And that's a discipline of solitude. Solitude. If silence is a rest for your lips, then solitude is a rest for your life. And if in silence we learn to listen and to look, then when there is a Sabbath for our life, we can learn from God and we can love God. But it begins with that alone time, that period of solitude where I'm all alone with God. Have you ever noticed that the great men of God in the Bible experienced great periods of solitude, isolation? Whether it was Moses on the backside of the desert for 40 years, whether it was Paul in the Arabian desert for three and a half years, or whether it was John on the island of Patmos at the end of his life in ministry where he received the vision of the book of Revelation.

You will notice that the great men of God found themselves in periods of isolation, aloneness, solitude.

Let me show it to you with Jesus. Go with me, if you would, to the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 4, verse number 42. Luke 4, verse number 42, it says, And when day came, he departed and went to a lonely place. Jesus did that. He departed and went to a lonely place. Now, it was hard for Jesus because people were always wanting to be around Him. Somebody always wanted a healing. Somebody always wanted to observe a miracle. So if you think it's hard for you to get alone, just think about how hard it was for Jesus to get alone.

So in order for Him to do that, He had to rise up early and depart. And then it says over in chapter 5, verse number 16, verse 15, But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and great multitudes were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. Often He would slip away because He needed to get alone with His Father. He needed to be away from everybody else. You see, if you have to be around other people, you have a serious problem.

If you always have to be around people, being in the middle of conversation and hearing conversation and having noise all the time, I pity your soul because you need time alone. You need time of isolation. You need time away from all the distractions. Jesus modeled that in His humanity. Luke is the gospel that speaks to us about the humanity of deity, Christ becoming man. And Luke, unlike Mark or Matthew or John, emphasizes the humanity of Christ. That's why there's so much emphasis on the Spirit of God in the gospel of Luke as compared to the other three gospels, because He lived in His humanity totally dependent upon the Spirit of God that moved Him, that drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days.

But He lived His life dependent upon the Spirit of God because He models to us how we are to live our lives. And so when it talks about Him departing and going away to a lonely place, He does that because not only did He need to do that in His humanity, He models to us the importance of solitude. And then it says in chapter 6, verse number 12, and it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray and spent the whole night in prayer to God. And then it says in chapter 9, verse number 10, these words, And when the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done.

And taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called Bethsaida. While they came back and they were so excited about the ministry that God had given to them, He didn't want them to forget that amidst all the hubbub of their excitement, they needed to depart and move away and be alone. Because it's that time you learn to refuel, to refocus, to redirect your footsteps, to be re-energized so you know exactly what God has for you. If you did nothing but spend time each day in silence and in solitude, listening and looking, learning and loving, your whole way of living would change drastically, drastically.

See, we're so busy doing things that don't matter, and yet we think we're working for God. We think we're serving God. When in all reality, there are times, even modeled by our Lord who did, who had the consummate ministry, had to get up and get away and spend time alone with His Father. So it all begins with silence, it moves to solitude, and the third discipline is Scripture.

Because in those times of solitude, you listen to God through His Word. This is important. Because how many of you, and I know this is every one of you at times, will read a passage, or read a psalm, or read through the Bible, or whatever it is you're reading, and come away from there saying, you know what? I don't get any of this. This is way beyond me. What was God saying to me? And yet, without the Scripture, God won't speak to you. He speaks to you through His Word. For God in these last days, Hebrews 1, has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

And He speaks to us through the living and abiding Word of truth. So the book you hold in your hand, we call the Bible, the Word of God, the inspired Word of God, actually are the very words of God, the God-breathed words where He speaks to us if we are willing to be silent enough to listen and get alone to learn. That's what God has for us. And so, it's a discipline. It's not easy. Don't think that you can get back and go home tonight and get up tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. and spend time with the Lord.

It doesn't work that way. You've got to work your way up to 4 a.m. or to 5 a.m. You just don't just all of a sudden change. You work your way back. So if you get up at 6 a.m. every day, you get up at 5.45 a.m. for three days. Then you get up at 5.30 a.m. for three days. Then you get up at 5.15 a.m. for three days. Then you get up at 5 o'clock for three days. You work your way back that direction. And as you work your way back that direction, it gets easier and easier and easier. But it's a discipline.

Why? Because you've got to get up, turn your alarm off. If you have your alarm next to your bed and you could reach over and do this and just turn it off and then pull the sheets back over, you're going back to sleep again. So you put the alarm on the other side of the room. So you've got to get up and turn it off or put it in the shower. So when you go into the shower, you hit the button and the water comes on. Now you're good to go. Now you're up and you're going to stay up. See, that's just the way it works.

But you see, it all requires discipline. It requires me saying, I need to do this or that and I need to make sure that I am going to live a disciplined life for the glory of God. Because within that time of silence, in that time of solitude is the scripture that God has for me that I am to read. And as I read it, as I study it, you read, you read for breadth, you study for depth, right? You read for breadth, you study for depth. And the difference between reading and studying is a piece of paper and a pencil.

Writing down phrases and words that you don't understand that you can look up later on. Looking to cross-reference scripture that you begin to understand what God is saying to you. And we've got a whole tape series on how to listen to what God says.

We've got a whole tape series on how to study the Bible so you know how to get something out of it when you read it and when you study it. Because we want you to know those things. But without scripture, you can't listen to the words of God. You can't listen to God speak. And in that time of scripture comes supplication. That time of prayer where I, when you supplicate, you bring your petition before a sovereign and that's supplication. And when you go to prayer, you go to prayer based on what you read.

You go to prayer based on what God has already said. And you go to him and say, Lord, I want this to be real in my life today. I want you not only to speak to me through your word, but I want those, these principles to be real in my life today. And you go to the Lord in prayer. But your prayer is based on what God has already said. Because you are willing to get alone and to listen to what he said. Because then your prayer life will be meaningful instead of, as Matthew says, vain repetitions. You ever had vain repetition in your prayer life?

You say the same thing every day? Got the same list you go through every day? It's almost like a rote thing you do day after day after day. If your prayer life is based off what you read, your prayer life becomes energized. Your prayer life becomes creative, not because you created it, but because God's word is governing how you pray. That's important. And so we do with our kids in the morning, we help them understand that. We go through our devotions with the children in the morning, we pray about those specific areas we've talked about.

So they understand that my prayer life is centered around what God has already said to me. That's why supplication is so important when it comes to the spiritual disciplines of life. Listen, prayer is a privilege, is it not? We have a great privilege to go boldly before the throne of grace. That's a privilege God's given to us. And that privilege comes with a purpose. And you need to understand this purpose, because if you miss this, your prayer life is going to be hindered. Jesus said these words, whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

What's the purpose of prayer? For you to get an answer? Oh no, that's irrelevant. The purpose of prayer is that the Father is glorified in the Son. So if you're going to prayer and you're asking God for something and it's not going to bring the greatest glory to God, guess what the answer is going to be? It's going to be no. It's always going to be no. That's why you read the Word of God so you understand what God's Word says, so that when you pray, you pray in line with what God's will is, so that you can pray to Him knowing that He hears as 1 John 5 says, and that He will answer.

That's so important. But we've forgotten that in this modern day evangelical message that we preach, that somehow God is going to do for us because we ask Him. We pray because we want the Father to be glorified in the Son. We want the glory of God. That's why when Christ prayed, nevertheless not my will, but your will be done. Lord, I want what you want. I don't want what I want. I want what you want. That is so important. So it begins with the fact that a victorious life is reproduced by obedience to whatever God says, and a victorious life realizes the importance of spiritual discipline, the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude, of Scripture, supplication, of self-scrutiny or self-examination.

That's a spiritual discipline. That's why in 2 Corinthians 13 and 5, Paul says, test yourself, prove yourself to see whether or not Jesus is in you. That's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11, before you partake at the Lord's table, what?

Examine yourself. Test yourself. Put your life under the microscope of the Scriptures, not with your neighbor, not with your son, your daughter, your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, but under the microscope of Scripture that you might see where you might fall short. That's why Paul said there are so many of you who eat and drink of the Lord's table in an unworthy manner that some of you have become sick, some of you have even died. So therefore examine yourself. And I firmly believe that people who eat and drink in an unworthy manner get sick and die, even today.

And we can attribute their death to natural causes, we can attribute their death to some kind of sickness they had, but could it be the fact that there are people who eat and drink in an unworthy manner and they find themselves sick, even some dying because they will not turn from their sin? I don't think it just applied to the Corinthian church. That's why Paul says examine yourself before you partake at the Lord's table. Look where you stand with me. Look where you stand with your neighbor. Look where you stand with your friends.

Do you stand with a pure, clean conscience before me that you have confessed your sin? Examine yourself. The psalmist said in Psalm 17, these words, Psalm 17, Hear a just cause, O Lord, give heed to my cry, give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips. Let my judgment come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes look with equity. Thou hast tried my heart. Thou hast visited me by night. Thou hast tested me and thus find nothing. I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. The psalmist wanted to be vindicated by the Lord.

He wanted God to examine him and to test him. That's why over in Psalm 26, it says these words, Psalm 26, verse number one, Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

Examine me, O Lord, and try me. Test my mind and my heart. He cried for God to test him. He cried for God to examine him. So in that time of silence, in that time of solitude, when I'm all alone, there's no one else around, just me and my Lord, and I have his word, and I'm able to understand the scriptures and study them, and then to go before him and pray to him, I am saying, God, examine me. Where do I stand with you? Where do I stand with my wife and my kids? Where do I stand in the marketplace?

Where do I stand in school? Am I the kind of person that glorifies your name? Am I the kind of person that brings honor to your name? Are you pleased, Lord, with my behavior? Is there something I need to change about my life? See, examine me, Lord. That's what the psalmist said in Psalm 139. Search me, O Lord. Try me. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the paths of righteousness. Is that your prayer? It's the discipline of self-scrutiny, the discipline of supplication, the discipline of scripture, the discipline of solitude, the discipline of silence.

But there's more. There is the discipline of service, the discipline of service, because now I get up off my knees and I begin to serve my God. I begin to put into motion those things that God has taught me. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 100, verse number two, serve the Lord with gladness.

Galatians 5, 13, serve one another in love. You see, when you get saved, 1 Thessalonians 1, 9, you turn to God from idols that you may serve the living God. And so our whole purpose is to serve God. Well, it all stems from that time alone of silence in the scriptures on my knees, asking God to examine me, that I might get up off my knees and do what God has said. And that's all about discipline. That is not easy because Satan doesn't want you on your knees. Satan doesn't want you in the Word of God.

Satan doesn't want you listening to what God's Word says. He doesn't want you serving God nor serving your fellow man. He doesn't want those things. He wants you to maintain status quo. He wants you to be satisfied with where you're at. Listen, you should never be satisfied with where you're at. Never. You should never wake up and say, boy, I'm glad I'm where I'm at today. This is good. I'm glad I finally made it because you've never made it.

To make it means you're glorified. And that comes with a perfect body. That comes after death. So all during this life, never live a life of status quo. Never say, I've arrived, I'm there, because there's more to learn. There's more to grow. There's more to understand. There's a deeper intimacy to obtain with your Lord. And you just keep growing in intimacy with Him on a daily basis. So listen, a victorious Christian life is reproduced by obedience. It realizes the importance of spiritual discipline.

Okay, this is number three. This is so good. I've been waiting all night to get this point. The victorious Christian life refuses to stay in love with me. This is so good. It refuses to stay in love with me. Listen, if you're in love with you, you're not going to win anything. You just won't. Now listen to this verse. This is so powerful. I love it. Book of Revelation, chapter 12, verse number 11. And they overcame Him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.

For this reason, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Do you know that heaven rejoices over those who don't love their lives? Because these people in the book of Revelation are martyred saints. They die because the Antichrist, the beast, kills them. And the reason they die is because they really overcome Satan. They're overcomers. Satan thinks he wins by killing them, but they overcome him because Christ already won the victory over sin, death, and Satan. So they go to heaven, but they overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

That is, they will not deny the Christ. They will not deny Him. They will stand strong on the Christ no matter what, even if it costs them their lives. And that's why you had that little caveat there, because they did not love their life even unto death. You see, if you're going to be an overcomer, you must refuse to stay in love with yourself, because you do love yourself. Ephesians 5, no man ever hated his flesh. No man ever did. There's never been a man alive who hated himself. They might say, oh, I just hate myself.

I loathe myself. No, you don't. You love yourself, because the Bible says you love yourself. I'm not going to believe what you say. I'm going to believe what the Bible says.

No man ever hated his own flesh. 2 Timothy 3, verse number 2, in the end times, in the end, perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of themselves. And so we find ourselves following society's standards and learning to be more and more in love with me. And yet to be an overcomer, to be a victorious warrior, I must refuse to stay in love with me, because I want to love my God. I want to serve my God. That is so, so important. And so if you've got your Bible, turn to the book of Philippians real quick.

And we're not going to finish this tonight, so I'll have to finish it next week. Sorry. Philippians chapter 2, verse number 19, but I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interest, not those of Christ Jesus. He says, look, I'm going to send you Timothy, because I have no one like Timothy. Everybody else looks out for their own welfare, but not Timothy, because his service is to the Christ.

His service is for God. He's not consumed with him. He's consumed with your welfare. See, the reason we don't look to somebody else's welfare is because we're consumed with our welfare. Timothy wasn't that kind of person. His life really didn't mean that much. And then it says, for they all seek their own interest, but not those of Christ. But you know of his proven worth that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel, like a child serving his father. Therefore, I hope to send him immediately as soon as I see how things go with me.

And I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall be coming shortly. But I thought it necessary to send to you Paphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need, because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him. And not only on him only, but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I have sent him all the more eagerly in order that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you.

Therefore, receive him in the Lord with all joy and hold men like him in high regard, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me. And Paphroditus was upset, not because he almost died, but because the people in the church heard that he almost died. Now, I don't know anybody like that, do you? We get sick, we want everybody to know. We want everybody to know so everybody can pray for me. But if Paphroditus says, you know what, I don't want anybody to know I'm sick, but he found out.

And he was distressed because everybody knew that he was sick even to the point of death. He almost lost his life. But you know what? He didn't care about his life. He cared about that which was lacking in the church at Philippi. And how he can be used to fill up that which was lacking. And when they found out he was sick, he was distressed because he didn't want them to have pity on him. He was going to have pity on them. He was going to minister to them. He was going to serve them from his sickness.

You see, there's a man right there who didn't love his own life. Timothy was a man who didn't love his own life. And that's why God holds him. He says, hold this guy, Paphroditus, in high regard. Why? Because there's nobody else like him. Nobody else like him. I mean, he is so unique. He is so separate. He is so, he's super servant because he doesn't want people to know he's sick. He just wants to serve. He just wants to be used by God. Wouldn't it be great if we had a church filled with people like that?

People who said, you know what? I'm going to the hospital. I don't want nobody to know. I don't want anybody to pray for me. I don't want anybody to come visit me. Because they do. I'm going to be upset if they do. I'm going to be upset if the pastor comes to visit me in the hospital. I'm going to be upset if somebody starts praying for me. Put you on a prayer request. I want to minister to the people. If all they can do is think about my sickness, then they're going to be distracted. That doesn't mean that people shouldn't pray for you.

They should. It doesn't mean that people shouldn't visit you. They should. But you see, if every one of us had that attitude, everybody would be visited and everybody would be prayed for. Right? Everybody would. Because we're so concerned about somebody else, so consumed about their spiritual condition, that we'll do whatever we have to do to meet their needs. That's what Epaphroditus did. And Paul says, hold this guy in high regard because he refuses to love himself. How about you? Where do you stand tonight?

Is your life centered around you and people loving you and you loving you? Or is your life centered around the fact that, you know what? I'm going to give my life away. I'm going to serve my God. No matter how I feel, no matter what my condition is, I am committed to serving God. I will risk my life. Like those overcomers in Revelation 12, verse number 11, they overcame the evil one simply by the blood of the Lamb and the word of God. They overcame the evil one simply by the blood of the Lamb and the word of God.

Wow, what a testimony. And that's where the victorious life begins. It's reproduced by obedience. It realizes the importance of spiritual discipline and it refuses, refuses to spend time loving oneself, but loving others. Most importantly, loving God. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank You, Lord, for all that You do. So many things that we read in Scripture go so contrary to our normal thinking patterns. They're just so foreign to us, yet they are so powerful. I read these things and I think, boy, that's the way I want to be. I want to be able to not love my life even to the point of death. I want to be like those overcomers in the book of Revelation. I want to be the kind of person You want me to be, Lord. And I know that those who are here tonight, they have that same desire.

And I pray, Father, that every one of us would understand that victorious Christian living doesn't come because we automatically are partakers of the divine nature, the ultimate overcomer. We have to obey what Your Word says. We have to follow You, serve You. We would have to be on our knees in Your Word asking You to scrutinize our lives. And we have to be so in love with You that our life just doesn't matter. Help us to get there, Lord. We've got the rest of our lives until You come again to focus in on that.

Help us, Lord, to do it with high energy that we might serve You to the fullest, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.