# David conquers jerusalem

Key Passage: 2 Samuel 5
Date: August 15, 2023

Tonight’s missionary letter is from Darrell and Buffy Radcliffe. They are missionaries to Mexico. This is the September newsletter.

Dear praying friends, thank you so much for all your prayers, especially during this difficult time. God is so good. Praise the Lord for His grace and strength. We are so thankful that in spite of everything that has happened with the coronavirus, we have still been able to give out the gospel every day.

Of course, we have not been able to do the mass evangelism that we were doing before, but one very exciting thing is that every day we have given out around 50 to 100 gospel tracts and sometimes more. Praise the Lord for the many different ways He gives us to share the gospel. The Lord has also opened up more exciting opportunities to train others to share the gospel of Christ.

Many of you know that we developed the evangelism school that has 102 videos, as well as the evangelism manual to train God’s people to be more effective soul winners. Also, we have completed some preaching video series about salvation, leadership, encouragement, youth, the Holy Spirit, and soul winning to help God’s people in their service for Christ. Please pray that we will be able to put the finishing touches on this project so that we can get it out to God’s people for the furtherance of the gospel.

We would also ask that you pray fervently as we are hoping and praying to help not only people in Mexico, but also people in other Spanish-speaking countries. We are looking forward to possibly getting this out over the Internet and other means so we can have a greater impact for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for your love, prayers, and support that are helping us to make a difference for the Lord.

Please pray for God’s provision, protection, and power as we strive to do more for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for making the difference. Yours for souls, Darrell Radcliffe.

Do we have time for another one? All right, Psalms 89, verse number one. This one will repeat a lot, so you will get it, hopefully you will get it down. It will be great. I will try to sing it. If you know it, try to sing and help me out, okay? Psalms 89, verse number one.

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness, Thy faithfulness, with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing. I will sing. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. Amen. Thank you, Brother Anthony. That is a great way to memorize verses. If you learn one of those songs tonight, you learn the Bible verse. That is just great.

Turn your Bibles to 2nd Samuel, chapter number 5, if you would please. 2nd Samuel, chapter number five.

We are going to read five verses and pray, then we will get a background introduction, and then we will draw three conclusions out of it and go home. But I want you to pay attention really well at the beginning. As we read these verses, there might be parts of them that you will have a tough time understanding, but we will go back and try to explain them all. Some of you are Bible scholars out there, you will have it all down, Pat. I am talking about Kayla Carr. She has preached a couple messages on this passage here, so I am teasing, of course. But I want you to try to just get what I am talking about here, all right? I am going to go back and rehash it out a little bit. Y’all wait for me tonight? How many are tired out there? How many tired? Oh, this side is tired. This side is all right over here. Would you all right if you move over there? How about that?

But let us stand, if you would, please. Second Samuel, chapter number five. We are starting in verse number six right there, 2nd Samuel 5. It is bad when Tim and Mary are fighting over where we are at in the Bible. That is a bad sign. I will tell you what, now we are changing to marital. We are going to preach on marriage tonight. No, 2nd Samuel 5. Look in verse number 6.

“And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither,” thinking David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. David said on that day, “Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain.” By the way, Joab did that, and he stayed the general, if you will, because of that. Wherefore they said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” So David dwelt in the fort and called it the city of David, and David built roundabout from the Millo and inward. Many would think it has to do with kind of the chief corner tower, if you will, of the palace, the main point of it. And verse number 10, “And David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.”

Specifically, and just a little bit after we get the foundation, we are going to try to draw three conclusions. I would love it if it is not necessarily me trying to apply them to your life; it would be great if the Holy Spirit would do so, and He knows what needs to be applied. So would you pray and ask—let me get at those three conclusions—that the Holy Spirit would speak to you about how they should apply in your life? Would you do that? Let us pray. Lord, I come. Lord, I think—I have studied, I have prayed a lot about it, Lord—I think You want me to draw these three conclusions at the end. Lord, when we get there, would You take Your finger, not mine, Lord, and would You speak to every individual as they need? Lord, maybe I do need to say a little phrase, just a little something. Would You guide me in that? I sure want to say what You want. Say it, Lord. Give every person here what they need, please. I believe You will, Lord, because of Your Son, Jesus. So I thank You in advance for it. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen. Thank you so much. And you may be seated.

David is king. We talked about it last Wednesday. He is king, not just to the southern part, Judah, but he is king of Israel and Judah now. He has been king for maybe 20 years, 21 years. He has been dreaming of that. He is king now. We are coming to the first thing, the first official act that he did.

It is a bold move David made. He just became king. He is down in Hebron, and he takes his forces, his men, and he goes up to Jerusalem. Now, we think of Jerusalem as the city of David; that is where the capital of Israel is, but it was not until now. This was like a bold, almost impossible move.

I thought about it. Why was it that David did this? Maybe because Jerusalem was such a fortress. I am not sure. But David marches up to Jerusalem with his men and takes it. Now, here is the thing. Here is the thing. When Israel was coming into the promised land, remember that? They did not go through Moses, then Joshua. They crossed over the Jordan. They are taking the land. It was actually the tribe of Benjamin that was supposed to take Jerusalem, right? For whatever reason, Benjamin—they thought they were smarter than God—instead of driving out the Jebusites, they decided to dwell with them.

That has been over three centuries back, and slowly over time, by the way, this always happens when God’s people mingle with the world. Eventually, the Jebusites took control. And the Jebusites had a stronghold in Jerusalem. It was a fortress. You remember some of those last—I think it was verse number nine—talk about David. He lived in the fort. It was a fort, a fortress. It was such a place that David and his men marched up there, and they said, “David, you are crazy.”

Archaeologists in 2014 actually dug up what they believe—and what we think, by the way, I would encourage you to go online and YouTube some good videos about it—they actually dug up this fortress. The best they can tell, it is the city of David, Zion there. And it is massive. The wall is seven stories. Most of it is underground now. Imagine David bringing his forces up there, and he says, “We are going to conquer.” Nobody has conquered it in three centuries at this point. And the Jebusites were so bold and so confident in this thing.

Here is the thing; it is very interesting. Look back in verse number six, if you will. The Jebusites, or the Canaanites, if you will—which are Jebusites, more broadly termed the Canaanites—they taunt David. Verse number six: “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither,” thinking David cannot come in hither.

Here is the thing: this thing of the blind and the lame. Two schools of thought. I will tell you both. I will kind of give you my opinion. I would not argue over it. Some think that the fortress was so strong and so high and so impenetrable that the Jebusites said, “We can have the blind and the lame guard the city because you are not getting in there. Even the blind and the lame could keep you out of here, David. You just do not stand a chance.” Some say that is what they were kind of taunting David about—his forces. “Blind people can keep you out of this thing. We have got this massive fort.”

The city of David was on the steep part of Jerusalem; that is one school of thought, maybe so. Some think that the other school of thought was, “Well, we have our fortress built. You cannot get in here. Not only that, but we have our gods.” Often the Bible refers to their idols of stone or wood as blind; they really cannot see. They are lame; they really cannot walk. The Jebusites were saying, “Hey, man, we have our fortress and all of that. If you were to get up there, we have our gods, our idols. You call them the blind of the land. You are not going to get past our blind and our lame.” I tend to think that would be it. I do not know, but they are taunting David a little bit here.

But David is not going to be turned away. David says, “Hey, whoever gets up first up that wall, if you will, to the gutters”—now, I do not think they had leaf guards back in the day—“whoever gets up to the top, the quickest first, and once you get up there, if it is literally blind people and lame, you can take care of them then, or whether it be their gods or little idols over in the corner here and that, you get up there at the top, you can wipe them out.” Whoever gets up to the top, I will give you a reward. You will be the chief. You will be the top dog. By the way, I already mentioned it: Chronicles tells us that Joab did that. He was already their general; he stays the general now, not just to Judah, but of Israel also.

David is not going to be stopped, and, of course, they took the city. Notice this down in verse number eight. “And David said on that day, whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain.” Here is what I want you to get: “Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” They said it became a saying.

Two schools of thought kind of go with the other two. One, they are saying, “Look, Israel, we are going to learn a lesson. We are never going to get so proud that we think we have such a fortress we can put the blind and the lame to guard. We will never do that. That is not going to come into our house.” Or, “We will take the city, and we are going to wipe out those idols, and they are never going to come in. We are not going to have those false idols in our house.” That is what we are talking about.

Now you get the story here; does it make a little bit more sense? Let us do this: let us go back and read it again, and then we will draw three conclusions. All right, would you do that? Maybe there will be a little bit more understanding. We are back in verse number six. We will read six through ten, all right? Do not lose me tonight. Stick with me. We are trying to get a foundation in there. Verse number six—are you ready? Are you there? Amen? Oh, my goodness, you are already asleep on me. Are you there? Amen? Good, good, good, good.

Verse number six: “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither,” thinking David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. And David said on that day, “Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain.” Wherefore they said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” So David dwelt in the fort, called it the city of David, and David built roundabout from the Millo and inward, and David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.

All right, are you with me? You are on board. Let us try to draw three conclusions, all right? Just very quickly, we are going to go home. Number one. Number one, look, if you will, over in Judges chapter number one. We have already referred to this, but I want you to see it. Judges chapter number one. Joshua, they had victory after victory. They are kind of finalizing who has what land claimed and whatnot. Let us look at this over in Judges chapter number one.

Look in verse number 21, Judges 1:21. When you are there, would you say amen, please? Good deal. We got the late arrivers. We will take it. Amen, brother. Amen, glad you are on board. Judges 1:21. All right, here we go. “And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.”

Number one: Do not dwell. Do not let the Jebusites dwell with you. God had called the children of Israel to drive them out. I am not sure what it was. Maybe they said, “Well, that is just too mean for us to drive them all the way out.” Maybe they saw the Jebusites and they kind of liked something about them. Maybe they loved their lingo or their styles or their fads or their wealth. Maybe they liked their women. I do not know. But they did not drive them out. Maybe they thought, “Well, the Jebusites are too strong for us.”

But, friend, when you let the Jebusites dwell with you, it always ends up in defeat. It is in our nature just kind of to toy, to flirt with sin. Sin is just driving them out. And it always—look, look—Satan and his crowd, if they cannot defeat God’s people, their next step is, “Well, let us just live together in unity.” That is always Satan’s ploy. The Bible says, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” God said, do not even touch it. You can say amen right there.

Where did He say separate? I am not to let the Jebusites dwell with me. Remember the Moabites? Remember Balaam and his donkey? Remember the talking donkey in the Bible? That is not Walt Disney World; that is the Bible, you know. Remember that? What happened? He got them over there, and he said, “Hey, I want you to curse those people.” And Balaam looked out and said, “My goodness, that is the children of Israel. I cannot curse those people.” And he said, “Well, try it,” you know. And remember they offered the sacrifices and all that, and every time he would say something, God would turn the curse into a blessing. If God wants to bless you, the whole U.S. government cannot curse you for Him. Nobody on God’s green earth—if God wants to bless you, nobody can stop God from blessing you. The children of Israel had the hand of God on them. The king was trying to get them cursed, and every time they did it, it turned on them; they got blessed.

But you know what happened? Old Balaam spilled the beans a little bit. He said, “Hey, get your sinful people to mix with those children of Israel.” It always brings God’s people down. And they did it. They began to intermarry. And what happens? God Himself brought a plague on the children of Israel. Thousands of men died. That is always the case. You look at the churches in America by the scores, and Satan says, “Hey, I will tell you what, I will just mix in with that church, and we will bring it down that way.” It is happening all across our country, friends.

There is always this point. Can I just ask you, what does the Jebusites—what would that mean? Who are the Jebusites in your life that you are dwelling with? Maybe it is a certain fault that just brings you down, and you just will not say it is wrong, and then you get rid of it. You just kind of play with it. Dwelling, letting the Jebusites dwell with you, always leads to defeat.

I remember driving on a trip from Florida to Michigan to sing for my sister and brother-in-law before I went to Bible College, at the beginning of the year. I had some music. To many, they would not think it is sinful, but for me, I questioned it. I went back and forth, back and forth. It was a good day. I stopped. It was not 8-track; I am not that old, okay. It was not reel-to-reel. It was just cassette tapes, okay? It was not CDs. It was not Spotify, though, okay, so do not go there, all right? I took some of those—at least one, I cannot remember—and I said, “You know what, Lord, I am not sure if it is right or wrong, but I am just going to give it up for You.” And I put it in the trash can and drove off. No, I said, “Man, I cannot dwell. I do not want the Jebusite.” That was a Jebusite in my life at that time. I knew if I would dwell with the Jebusites, eventually they are going to win.

What is a Jebusite? What would that equal in your life? Maybe it is priorities. I know I need to make some of God’s things a priority. Maybe it is friends—their own kind of friends. You know God said, “Look, do not be mean and rude and crude and all that,” but you know God said, “Hey, either they are going to bring you down, or you have to leave because they are not changing.” There comes a point where you just have to say, “Hey, I love you, but I am going in a different direction than you. I will be here to help you anytime I can, but I will not serve God [with you].” You just have to—not being mean—but you dwell with the Jebusites; it always ends in defeat, always.

The Holy Spirit knows what the Jebusite is in your life. He knows. By the way, we will all have Jebusites. All of us do. I am not going to tell you mine. Amen. I have them. And they rob us of our joy. It is sad to have God’s people that have no joy and no peace. Dwelling with Jebusites always leads to that. Number one: Do not dwell with the Jebusites.

Number two: Are you ready? We have got one. We have got two more. Here is number two. Look back in verse number six over here. We are in Second Samuel 5. Look in verse number six. It is just kind of an obvious thing. Just look at it one more time. Let us just go down to the bottom of verse number six. The bottom of verse number six, he says, thinking—as if the Jebusites are thinking, “David cannot come in hither.”

Here is just conclusion number two: David conquered the impossible. They thought, “There is no way David and his men can get in there.” But David became king, and he said, “I am not sitting around; I am not playing around. I have an almighty Jehovah God as king of this nation. We are going to go take what everybody else says we cannot take.” It is a good day when God’s people say, “You know what? We are just going to seek to do the impossible for God.” That is what David did.

Let us just draw a conclusion a little bit on that thought right there. What seems impossible to you? You have an urge inside of you that God wants you to do it, but it just seems impossible. Maybe everyone says, “The Bible talks about winning souls,” and you think, “Man, I could not do that. Brother Frank, he has got the gift of gab, but he can do it. Let him do it, but I am just wired a different way.” That is Satan saying these things. “Well, that is the preacher’s honor. Brother Anthony ought to be doing that on the bus ride all the time. We ought to be all doing that everywhere we are at all the time, even.”

But these thoughts, friend, that might be the impossible thing that God wants you to take. What is the impossible that the Lord is leading you toward? Maybe it is simply tithing. You say, “Man, I know tithing is in the Bible. I know Malachi 3. I know Matthew 23:23. I know it is in the New Testament, too. I know tithing was way before the law ever came out. Abraham was tithing. I understand. I know tithing is right. That is just impossible for me.” Maybe that is the impossible thing God wants you to take.

What is the thing? Maybe it is for you just to enter into the promised land, the land of milk and honey, of joy and peace, and you say, “I will never get there.” As long as you have that attitude, you are right; you never will get there. But maybe God wants you to say that is the impossible fortress I want you to take, to enter into the land of milk and honey, of peace and joy. I want you to go take that thing. Maybe you have lost your faith. You tried to take it before and you fell, but maybe tonight you need to get back up. It is impossible, but by God’s grace, God is leading me. I am going to take it.

David—David said, “I will take it.” They said there is no way David can get in here; that is why they were making fun of him, saying, “Hey, the blind and the lame.” But David did it by the grace of God. By the way, David knew God did it. Look down, if you will, in verse number 12. Verse number 12, 2nd Samuel 5:12: “And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.” David knew it was God. David had faith. Can I say sometimes we think just because we have been saved a long time we have a lot of faith? Sometimes it works the opposite. Sometimes young Christians have a lot of faith, but over the years, if we are not careful, our faith gets kind of destroyed for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes us older Christians need to revive our faith and live by faith. If faith is the thing that pleases God, how pleased is God with you?

David said, “I am going to take it.” He just became king of all Israel. He said, “I am going to take it.” He is doing the impossible. It is not been me; it has been the Lord. The real estate agent, I believe he will be with us for the first service of the new property. He did not say it that day, but later on he said, “The first day I came to your office and we talked about that land, I left there thinking, ‘That is just a preacher dreaming.’” I did not say it at the time, and I thought, “That is all it was, the preacher dreaming.” It is impossible for a church our size. But God is a God of impossibles.

What is it in your life that is impossible? Maybe it is witnessing to Uncle Joe. You say, “He is mean as a rattlesnake. Me, witness to him?” Yeah, yeah, you witness to him. Maybe you would be a good testimony at school—the impossible. David, I wonder how many years David had dreamed. He said, “Well, you know, when I become king, maybe we will take Jerusalem.” I wonder how many years he had dreamed about that. “Well, one day, if God lets me become king, we are going to do it; we are going to take Jerusalem.” And he did it. Is there a dream God has given you?

I see Brother Richard; he does a great job on our bus ministry. What a testimony. I grew up riding the bus to church, and he was military after that and all these different things. And he is back years later running a bus route. What a blessing. Maybe the impossible, Brother Richard, is to have just a full bus. I will not put a number in there; I will let the Lord do that. But what is the impossible for you? David went after it.

It is impossible. Peter, you cannot walk on water. You are going to drown, boy! I mean, what in the road? You think you can get out of that boat and walk on water? You have rocks for brains, man! You cannot do that. But he did—the impossible. What is the thing for you that is equivalent to walking on water? Jesus told him, “Come.” What is Jesus telling you to come about? Maybe it is to have a good marriage, a sweet marriage. You say, “I gave up on that a long time ago.” Maybe it is time to get me. You say it is impossible. Yeah, maybe with you, but not with God.

David went after the impossible. George Müller dreamed for years. He was a pastor, and he said so many people were relying on things, and he said, “I would like to have a ministry”—it ended up being an orphanage—that never asked anybody for a thing. He just asked God, and God met the need. God fed thousands of orphans through George Müller, and he never asked one person for a thing besides God. People say, “That is impossible.” Yeah, it is, but not with God. With God, all things are possible.

Hey, would you just stop right there, and we will move on to point number three. We will go home after that. Would you just stop right now? Would you whisper a prayer? God, what is the impossible thing You are calling me to do? Maybe start a Bible study at school. I do not know what it is. Would you just ask the Lord that? What is the impossible thing You want me to do?

Number three, we are done. Look in verse number eight, 2nd Samuel chapter five. Are you still with me on the third one? Your mind is not—all right? It is here, right? I know you are here in body, but I have heard a couple people snoring over here, so I am worried it will be…

Look at verse number eight. Let us get that last one in there. Verse number eight: “And David said on that day, whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind.” Watch this: “that are hated of David’s soul.” Just stop it. Think for a second. That are hated.

Look over in Psalm 15, if you would. Psalm 15 is a wonderful chapter about people who—it tells us who is going to be close to God. Look over in Psalm 15, if you would, real quickly here. Psalm 15. How many out there say, “I like to be close to God”? How many say, “I like to enter in the presence of God”? Anybody out there? Anybody like to dwell close to God, in the shadow of the Almighty? You like to dwell there. You get close to God. Nothing else in the world is quite like that, friend. It is just amazing.

The Bible tells us who is going to do that. Psalm 15 gives us a description of the people that are going to. Here it is. Psalm 15, look at verse number one: “Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?” By the way, God said, “I want you to build the tabernacle,” why? Because I do dwell among you. So who is going to be close to God? He gives a lot of description; we will not have time to get them all. “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. Here is one of you. Look at verse number four. “In whose eyes a vile person is contemned.” Just a very sinful person.

Here is the thing, here is the thing—this third point. David—and I am not talking about one person in particular—but David hated the enemies of God. I think it is very important for Christianity in America, because here is where some are in America—Christians, I am talking about God’s people—we have a love affair with the world. And the world system is the one that crucified our Savior. And yet we want to dress like the world. We want the world’s music. We want the world’s fads. We want to identify with the world. We do not want to stick out from the world. We just really have a love affair with the world. And it is amazing; that is the enemies of God.

If I am going to be one of those that dwell with God, I am not talking about a particular person and getting bitter against them. I am not talking about that. But somewhere along the line, God’s people say, “Look, that is the world. I am coming out separate from them. In fact, I hate the things they do. It bothers me because they are always going after my Savior.” You ought to have something like that inside of you instead of the Christianity that just, “Oh, if I can just sound…” It is amazing how the world has its little twang on everything, and it is sad when Christians want that twang just the same way. I am not talking about just music; I am talking about across the board. We have Christians that want to just butter up and look and act and smell just like the world.

David—these, whatever the blind and the lame were, whether there were people that they would actually sit there and mock, or whether they had put them there and they were mocking at David, “Us blind people can keep you out of this fort”—whether it was that or their idols, I do not know. But David says, “My soul hates that”—not a particular person, but that crowd.

You know what is sad? We have Christians that will watch shows and read books and magazines, everything, to keep up with wicked, immoral Hollywood. They just have to know everything about them and their houses and their riches and their fads. Friend, for the most part—I am not saying we should hate individuals—but for the most part, Hollywood is the one that is pumping filth out to the world. Do we have a love affair with them sometimes? Friends, something is not right.

If I am going to abide in the Holy Hill and the tabernacle of God, part of that is I have a little contempt. I am just tired of the wantonness of the world. And I say, be careful. I am not about getting bitter against one person. I used to—I do not hate this man—but I used to be a little bit… One of my basketball heroes five years ago, I used him as an illustration, and I have seen… I have seen Caden come over in a Celtic jersey. It is an old one because I was thinking about mentioning this, but it is a modern-day one of these. I do not know who the guy is; I guess he is their center, he was telling me earlier. But how many know—you know back in the day, Larry Bird? How many know Larry Bird? Man, I used to—I used to, you know. He is the guy, old-school basketball, you know. I am old; I identify with that, you know. And I even used him as an illustration one time, and then someone in our church said, “Well, you know, Larry Bird said he can beat Jesus Christ in basketball.” I said, “Nah.” I did not tell him that, but I thought, “Well, I do not want you…” It is true. Larry Bird lost a whole lot. He just came down a whole lot of notches in my eyesight. Now, I am not bitter against Larry Bird. I do not hate him. I mean, I do not hate his guts. Maybe it is outside, but not his guts. I am teasing.

But, friend, look, when they are the out-and-out enemy of God—I do not understand Christians that politicians that are just for murdering little babies, how we can have a love affair. I do not understand that. I understand how politicians that are anti-church freedom and anti-Israel, and I understand it. Christian, somewhere along the line, man, they are the enemy of God. That is part of us growing. If you love something—I love my wife. And if somebody comes, I have to battle bitterness more when people do her wrong than pretty much anybody else bothers me. I have to battle bitterness because I love her. And if somebody does your Savior wrong, it ought to bother you. Principles and its guidelines ought to rub you the wrong way. And it is a sad thing when so many Christians have just a little bit of a love affair with the world. You know what the Bible says? “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” The Bible says that.

And David—these people that were just coming against God and God’s crowd—his soul hated them. That is what it says: “In whose eyes a vile person is contemned.” I am not talking about hating an individual. I am talking about you clearly identify with God and His crowd, and you say it bothers me when they are going against God and what is right bothers me. God says those people—they know—I know what is sad are on—they will be the ones to be close to me.

Would you bow your heads tonight? Would you bow your heads? Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. Just three conclusions. Maybe the Holy Spirit applied it totally different to you. Are the Jebusites dwelling with you? Is the Lord leading you to conquer something impossible? And is there something maybe you just say, “You know, I need to get a little contempt in my heart, my soul, against the enemies of the cross”?

Somewhere along the line, you said, “Preacher, God spoke to my heart.” Somewhere along the line, would you slip your hand up? “Preacher, God spoke to my heart.” Somewhere along the line. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Me too, me too, me too. God bless you. Would you please stand? If you would, please, we will not be long. But let us just come and draw nigh to Him tonight. He loves you. He wants you to be close to Him. He is just waiting. Will we come and just draw nigh to Him? Let us pray and you come. Thank You, Father, for this great hero, David. Lord, help us to learn and grow. Father, again, would You guide us specifically to each individual? Help us to get closer to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Would you come as our instruments play? Would you come away from anyone else? Would you come and just draw nigh to Him? Would you come and draw nigh to Him?

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar 91620