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Four Stages of Salvation

Satisfaction

2 Samuel 11:1” *And it came to pass, †after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed athe children of Ammon, and besieged bRabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.” [1]

 I.  Satisfaction

          A. Routine

          B. Rut

II. Surprise

          A. Ready

          B. Realization

III. Surrender

          A. Release

          B. Relief

IV. Serenity

          A. Righteousness

          B. Relationship

Introduction:  A person can be satisfied in many ways and through many occasions.  Dr. Kenneth Ridings once remarked that he could count certain times in his life when he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that he was in God’s will at that particular time.  He was one of the great mentors of my Christian life.

For Dr. Ridings satisfaction was equal to being in God’s will.  To others satisfaction may come when you are with your children.  Still for others it might be behind the wheel of an eighteen wheeler.  Still for other very strange people satisfaction might be found 10,000 feet up in the air alone in an airplane.  What satisfies you?

For David; he was pretty satisfied out there in the meadow alone with the flock of sheep.  He knew his sheep and his sheep knew him.  Nothing was going to hurt those sheep as long as David was with them.  He had what he needed from God to be a good shepherd of the flock.

That is not a bad example of satisfaction.  Are there times when a person has grown too comfortable, too satisfied with where they are?  I was speaking of this the other day talking to a mechanic.  He and his wife have one of those fancy cars that beep at you if you follow another vehicle too close.  He was test driving a car the other day and it didn’t have that “too close beeper.”  Before he knew it, he nearly hit a Land Rover in front of him because he was distracted.  He had gotten too comfortable with his car warning him and he nearly had an accident.  That’s an example of being too dependent on something other than your own reflexes.

A new CEO came many years ago about the time I moved from the plant to the Ivory Tower.  The guy’s philosophy pretty much mirrors what business leaders’ use as their models today.  That CEO figured if someone was in their present position for more than ten years and were not ready to take the next step that they were lazy and should be gotten rid of.  Experience didn’t matter to him because longevity of position might mean continuing to make the same mistakes over and over.  He wanted a complete turnover in the workforce every ten years.  Well he got me gone and he didn’t last there much longer than I did.

I must admit though that I do have a hard time understanding the idea of teacher tenure.  If a teacher is teaching my offspring that killing babies is OK I really don’t care how long he/she has been teaching.  For some one day is too long.

Today we are looking at another phase in David’s life.  He had gone through the satisfaction stage as a good shepherd.  He was surprised when Samuel anointed him as the one who would replace King Saul and was really surprised when Saul tried to kill him.  Later after running and hiding David finally surrendered to his dilemma and that’s when God intervened and rescued him.  He finally understood serenity as the king that Israel loved.  It could have lasted.  It should have lasted.  It didn’t last.  Serenity in God’s will turned into comfort for David and satisfaction in his right to be whatever he wanted to be no matter who it hurt and no matter if it was God’s will or not.

Scripture:  The scripture today is 2 Samuel 11:1.  Please stand if you can for the reading of God’s Word.

Prayer:  Please be seated.

Message:  David was comfortable; enough to stay back when his troops went out to battle.  We have been discussing comfort with memorizing a verse here and a verse there and taking scripture out of context.  What happened before this to make David too comfortable?

Back in chapter ten we find that the king of the children of Ammon died.  Their king had been a friend to David so David decided to offer a hand of condolence to the king’s son Hunan.  That was a miscalculation on David’s part.  Hunan abused the ones that David sent.  When David heard he sent Joab who was his top commander with a large crowd to take vengeance.  The Ammonites knew that they had messed up so they hired the Syrians to fight their battle for them and the Syrians were getting the upper hand.  Joab split the Israelites into two flanks and then the Syrians got spanked.  When the Ammonites saw what happened they ran.

Later on the Syrians tried David again.  Here is what happened, 2 Samuel 10:18 “And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew othe men of seven phundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand ||horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there. 19 And when all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they qmade peace with Israel, and rserved them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.” [2]

Do you think that David figured he was right with God?  Because of the strength God showed through David, now there was relative peace.  David had learned that he could trust Joab with the army and David was satisfied.  Too satisfied!

So now to the focal verse again.  After a year it was time to go back out with the troops.  The other kings were going forth to battle; why not David?  It was good to trust Joab but who did Samuel anoint king?  David had gotten to the place that winning battles was routine.

It’s a good thing to stick to a routine.  If you fly with me you will see me go through the GUMPS thing.   Gas Undercarriage Mixture Prop Seatbelts.  It sounds weird but it’s better than landing gear up or with no fuel.  If you get so comfortable in a routine that it becomes being stuck in a rut; that might even be a worse thing.  I have known pilots who always do the GUMPS thing and still overlooked the little green light indicating gear down and crashed.

When we are so satisfied where we are that we don’t see a missed opportunity, that is not serenity.  What would you call it?  My daddy would call it laziness.  I heard that a lot.  Sometimes it is apathy.  You see the thing happening but don’t feel it is important enough act.

Sometimes when people get so accustomed to a thing that they don’t see it as a bad thing coming, tragedy happens.  There is no need for me to make a list of times when this nation was on the brink of terror and we didn’t see it until we were in a terrible mess.  Anyone who knows history can look back at those times.

When a local church gets so accustomed where they are that they don’t realize they have lost their way that is awful.  When THE church gets so accustomed where we are that we don’t realize we have lost our way that is when God might allow something really bad to happen.  He loves us that much.  He loved David that much.  Though David did what he did and though it changed his family into a bunch of in-fighting bullies, God never changed His purpose for David’s offspring.  God brought His Only Begotten Son through David to be the Savior for us all.  Before we go much further with what happened to David because of his satisfaction we must remember that God’s purpose will not change.  He loves us that much.

So what happened to David’s army under the direction of Joab?  Were they successful without David?  “David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed athe children of Ammon, and besieged bRabbah.” [3]  But remember that three letter word. “But David tarried still at Jerusalem.” [4] What do you suppose this did for David’s state of satisfaction?  If anything it probably reinforced his idea that no matter whether David was with his people or not, David could do whatever he wanted to do and he would come out on top.  Too satisfied!

So what came next?  You already know what happened next. 2 Samuel 11:2 "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon cthe roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very dbeautiful to look upon.” [5]  When a person gets too comfortable about where they think they are their minds wander.  Why do people read the Bible everyday even though they lost track of how many times they have read it through!  That’s why!  Keep your mind on the prize!!!

We will not take time to talk about what happened next.  Surely we all have heard that story of adultery and deceit.  David loved his warriors and yet he caused the blatant murder of Uriah who was out protecting David’s life.  He laid with Bathsheba and lied about what he had done.  David acted innocent until Nathan finally confronted him with the truth of how far David had slipped from God’s will.  All because David was too confident, too satisfied, too stupid.

Solomon did inherit the kingdom when David passed but it was after the first son of Bathsheba and David died when he was only a few days old.  Later David would have to run away from another son, Absalom, because David didn’t take action against the sin of his own offspring.  How could he. They followed in their father’s footsteps.

David seemed to mistake satisfaction with self as being equal to serenity with God.  It is easy to do.  All a person needs to do is refuse to experience God for Whom He truly is.

Prayer:  Let us pray.

Invitation:  The invitation today is for us all to keep our guard up.  The devil is wreaking havoc with the Church today.  Yet many are blinded by fear and apprehension away from doing what they know the scriptures tell them.  They are standing by and missing the opportunity that God has presented us with.  Yes it is a scary time.  Unsaved people warn you about everything. 

We are to live in peace with others as much as practical while living in God’s will.  But we better not let apathy rule the Church.  We must remain confident in one thing; Jesus loves you.  He died for His bride and one day He is coming back to take His bride to Himself.

If you have allowed your attention to be moved from that and have replaced serenity with God for satisfaction with the world, it is time to come home.  We will not be His church as long as we serve our own satisfaction.  As we sing our song of invitation today please examine where you are in your salvation experience.  Be careful that you don’t allow yourself to be satisfied leaving God’s purpose behind.  He will have His way.  For that let us pray…


* About B. C. 1035.
† Heb. at the return of the year. 1 Kin. 20:22, 26. 2 Chr. 36:10.
a Comp. 1 Chr. 20:1.
b See Deut. 3:11.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Sa 11:1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
o So ch. 8:4.
p Comp. 1 Chr. 19:18.
|| [1 Chr. 19:18, footmen].
q Josh. 10:1, 4.
r So ch. 8:6.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Sa 10:18–19). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
a Comp. 1 Chr. 20:1.
b See Deut. 3:11.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Sa 11:1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Sa 11:1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
c Deut. 22:8. 1 Sam. 9:25, 26 (Heb.). ch. 16:22 (Heb.). 2 Kin. 23:12 (Heb.). Jer. 19:13. & 32:29. Zep. 1:5 (Heb.). Matt. 24:17. Acts 10:9.
d Ge. 26:7 (Heb.).
[5] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Sa 11:2). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.