Sermons

This passage tells how King David, stirred up by Satan, committed the proud sin of counting the people, and how God's wrath and judgment came as a result. Joab points out David's wrong judgment and gives him honest counsel, but he shows a double standard, criticizing only David while failing to look at his own sin. God uses David's unbelief as an instrument to judge Israel, and at the same time gives David the chance to repent sincerely.

At the critical moment when he must choose one of three judgments, David earnestly asks God for forgiveness in order to stop the deaths of his people. He pays the price for the threshing floor of Araunah and offers sacrifices there, showing what true repentance looks like as he entrusts everything he has to God. Joab, by contrast, kept up only the outward show of pointing out David's sin and, failing to examine his own heart, in the end walked the road to ruin. This event shows God's wisdom in accomplishing many things through a single event, and it emphasizes that people of faith must look first at their own sin and humbly repent.

We must think carefully about which path we will choose: that of David, who sinned but was forgiven to the end, or that of Joab, who could not repent and was ruined. It is time to meditate deeply on what true repentance is: going beyond knowing God's word to living it out, and returning to God without being shaken by the world's temptations.

This passage deals with the praise and the last words David offered to God at the end of his life. David introduces himself as an instrument through which the Spirit of God speaks and as God's anointed, confessing that all his authority and achievements were the work of the Holy Spirit, not of human ability. At the close of his life he realizes how futile worldly glory and personal desire had been, and he sings a song of thanksgiving, acknowledging God alone as his rock.

Through the event in which David would not drink the well water that three mighty men had brought at the risk of their lives, but poured it out to God, the sermon points out how serious sin is and how important repentance is. David immediately realized that his careless words had become a sin that endangered his men's lives, and by repenting he showed how great a responsibility a leader's words and actions carry. It also emphasizes that the wicked, like thorns, cannot escape judgment, and that believers must hope for God's righteous rule and live honest and holy lives.

The sermon asks how believers will introduce themselves at their final moment, and whether their words and actions now are causing pain to the people around them. It poses the question of living, like David, as those who deeply repent of their sin and faithfully convey God's will.

This passage deals with the praise David offered to God in the midst of Saul's relentless persecution and the threat of death. David realizes that it was not his own will or effort, but God, with tender love, who protected him and rescued him from his enemies. He acknowledges that when Satan, the ruler of this world, attacks, believers cannot possibly overcome by their own strength, and he confesses that they can survive only by the grace of the Holy Spirit and within God's protecting fence.

The sermon sounds a warning through the case of King Saul, who lost God and was ruined because of pride. Drunk on the power and glory God had given him, Saul chose to set his own wisdom and judgment above God. David, on the other hand, admitted his shortcomings, obeyed, and relied on God. The sermon emphasizes that the motive for believers' devotion and worship must not be their own gain or reward, but love for God and the lifting up of his glory. God shows himself merciful to the merciful and perfect to the perfect, and he remembers a faith that lives the present truthfully.

Finally, the sermon asks how urgent it is to share the gospel and save souls while we are alive. Sacrifices for the dead are meaningless, and every relationship formed on this earth ends the moment life is cut off. Therefore we must devote the time we have left to God and hold fast to the hope of heaven. The sermon leads believers to look back on whether they are truly relying on God alone, rather than on what the world offers or on their own wisdom.

This passage deals with the three-year famine that struck Israel because King Saul had unjustly killed the Gibeonites. God points out that Saul's act was a grave sin that harmed his people and disregarded God's covenant, and he sent judgment as its penalty. When David set right the wrong done to the Gibeonites and judged Saul's descendants, rain fell and peace was restored. This shows that God hates sin and establishes justice through righteous judgment.

The sermon warns of the reality of a world that proudly pursues pleasure and ignores God's wrath. Many people set their hearts on worldly wealth rather than fearing the day of judgment, and even within the church they try to turn away from the message of sin and judgment. Through the example of Saul, who was humble at first but became God's enemy as he was absorbed into power and the world, it emphasizes that even believers cannot escape judgment if their faith becomes corrupted. It also urges us, when we are shaken by Satan's temptations, to imagine the final day of judgment and look at ourselves objectively.

We must remember that repenting while we are still alive and resting in God's embrace is our only refuge. If believers are absorbed into the sins of the world and do not keep themselves holy, they will in the end perish under God's wrath. Having heard this word today, we must reflect deeply on where our hearts are, and on what confession we will be able to make when we stand before God on the last day.

This passage deals with the selfishness and lack of spiritual discernment that came to light as David regained his throne. After Absalom's rebellion, the tribes of Israel and Judah, eager to welcome David back, quarreled over who would meet him first and be rewarded; in this the sermon points to the endless greed of people who gave no help in time of trouble but joined the scramble for power once things went well. It also warns, through the way Joab, the commander of the army, murdered a fellow commander for his own advancement and defied the king's orders, that those who cannot tell the spiritual from the fleshly will end up as chaff rather than grain.

The sermon sets side by side the wisdom with which David kept the wicked Joab in check and stabilized the kingdom, and the good sense of the wise woman of Abel, who handed over Sheba to save lives. It emphasizes that believers who hold offices in the church must not bring the world's methods and greed into the church, but must judge by the word of truth. It teaches that although God sets a time and judges, in the meantime believers must take care not to be used as tools for raising others up, and must have the patience and wisdom to accomplish good purposes.

The sermon asks what believers must hold on to so that their devotion will be recognized as grain, and how they can develop the spiritual discernment to drive out sin like Sheba quickly.

Today's passage sheds light on what true faith and character are, through the various people King David met on his journey back to Jerusalem after Absalom's rebellion had been put down. Joab uses the victory in battle for his own power and fails to understand David's heart, while Shimei tries to save his life with a false repentance that is really fear in disguise. Barzillai, by contrast, served David sincerely when he was at his lowest, and even when the king's power was restored he did not covet luxury or glory but kept to his own place and humbly declined.

Through these contrasts the sermon distinguishes the calculating logic of the world from the heart of God. Joab and Shimei knew grace and opportunity when they saw them but did not turn back, and in the end they were judged, while Barzillai, through a wise life with God at the center, was blessed even by David's descendants. It emphasizes that true faith is not shaken by outward circumstances or human righteousness, and comes from having a character that carries out one's given mission with gratitude.

Do we now judge good and evil by the world's standards, or do we choose a life of obedience to God's will? We are led to look back on how deeply a life of devotion and thankfulness like Barzillai's has taken root in us.

This passage deals with the tragic course by which David's son Absalom rebelled, attacked his father, and in the end lost his life. Absalom's name means peace, but he is portrayed as a man who, through anger and greed, broke his peace with God and with his father. Unable to control his emotions and ruled by an evil spirit, he gradually lost his judgment and finally crossed a river from which there was no return.

During the battle, Absalom's hair, which had been his pride, caught in a tree, and he was left hanging there defenseless. At that point, even though David had earnestly asked that his son's life be spared, Joab put his own interests and judgment first and killed Absalom. Joab's action was the result of confusing God's will with human greed; he cut himself off from the chance to make a good choice and committed a great sin.

Absalom set up a monument to leave his name behind, but in the end it became a disgrace that announced his failure and death. In the face of death all honor and wealth are meaningless, and every person will surely stand before God, the Lord of life. How should we come to realize how precious our present life is, and that wrong choices can lead to eternal loss?

This passage deals with how Absalom, who had betrayed David, and his counselor Ahithophel made a careful plan to kill David, but God protected David by putting misguided counsel into Absalom's ears through the mouth of Hushai. When his wisdom was ignored and David's victory became certain, Ahithophel despaired of the future and met a tragic end by taking his own life. David, on the other hand, having crossed the Jordan River and reached Mahanaim, received help from faithful people who aided him without conditions, and remained under God's protection.

The sermon sounds a warning through the failure of Ahithophel, who, though he had received wisdom and gifts, left God and went down an evil path, following his own righteousness and greed. It points out that when believers do not use the wisdom they have received to serve God with thankfulness but use it for their own glory, they can commit even greater sin and end in ruin. It also holds up Absalom, who was so intoxicated with victory that he lost sound judgment, as a picture of believers who have grown spiritually complacent and cannot see through Satan's attacks, and it emphasizes that we must believe God blocks even the plans of the wicked.

The sermon asks why believers must live with the assurance that God is with them, rather than relying only on their own wisdom or reading of the situation. It leads us to reflect on what decision we must make at the crossroads: whether to fear God and help him, or to take the path of rebellion for worldly gain.

This passage shows the people who, when David fled because of his son Absalom's rebellion, took his misfortune as an opportunity to use him or mock him. David meets Ziba, who outwardly came forward to help but was in fact trying to seize the property of Saul's house, and Shimei, a relative of Saul, who poured out curses and mockery as he watched David suffer. Absalom, having succeeded in his rebellion, commits the depraved act of sleeping with his father's concubines, and the traitor Ahithophel devises even more wicked schemes for revenge.

The sermon points out that what these people had in common was that they reduced another's misfortune to a means of personal gain or revenge. Ziba, Shimei, and Ahithophel all knew of God's judgment, yet chose evil acts to satisfy their own greed, and in the end the consequences came back on them. David, by contrast, bore Shimei's curses and showed a mature faith that left the matter to God, an attitude that is not shaken even by the world's mockery or curses. The sermon emphasizes that true wisdom for believers is not to follow the evil nature of the world, but to rely on God and endure.

The sermon warns believers not to use others' misfortune to seek their own gain or plot revenge, and asks them to live lives that trust God and humbly obey him even in hardship.

This passage deals with the extreme situation in which David is driven from his palace by the betrayal of his son Absalom. David lost worldly power and honour and became a fugitive, yet through that very suffering he found an opportunity to look back on his sin and return to God. Refusing to take the ark of the covenant with him, he chose to put restoring his relationship with God ahead of outward protection.

Absalom and his supporters, on the other hand, are gripped by revenge and greed and give themselves to lies and betrayal. Ahithophel in particular, driven by a grudge against David, commits an irreversible sin and loses his spiritual discernment. In contrast, Ittai followed David at the risk of his life to repay the kindness he had received, even though he knew of David's mistakes, and Hushai showed loyalty by helping David despite the threat to his own life.

At such crossroads of choice, we must discern the spirits and decide whom to follow. We need to consider how the outcomes differ: whether the one who looks back and repents in the moment of suffering receives blessing, or whether one is swept away by betrayal and greed and destroyed.

Through the account of King David suffering because he could not forgive his son, this passage deals with the catastrophe that spiritual numbness brings. Following a scheme devised by Joab, David calls back his son Absalom, who had committed murder, but tries to restore the relationship on family affection alone, without proper rebuke or a process of repentance. As a result Absalom was left without ever recognising his sin, and a vicious cycle began that led to greater rebellion and tragedy.

The sermon points out that when David lost his spiritual sensitivity and judged by human emotion and indecision, he was easily exposed to Satan's schemes. When he was full of the Holy Spirit he could discern the wiles of the evil one, but once his relationship with God grew distant, David ended up leaving sin unchecked rather than protecting his son. This warns that when the church simply covers over sin in the name of forgiveness and love and fails to exercise discipline, believers may fail to grow spiritually and be swept into the darkness of the world.

The sermon stresses that believers must stay spiritually sensitive and judge events with the same heart as God. It is important to discern whether the people around us are leading us in the way of truth or drawing us into the darkness of the world, and the sermon asks us to keep relationships that rebuke sin and lead to repentance.

This passage deals with King David's grave sins of coveting Bathsheba and killing Uriah, and the catastrophe that then befalls his family and his kingdom. Although David was a man full of faith, for a moment he looked with worldly eyes, gave in to desire and broke God's law, and this led to consequences that went beyond a personal mistake to destroy even the lives of his children. It stresses that God does not weigh the number or severity of sins, and that believers must fend off Satan's attacks through the faith they have now.

The sermon points out that when Satan attacks believers, he aims at the worldly fruit they cherish most or at their weak spots. The incident in which David's son Amnon falls for the cunning scheme of Jonadab, then rapes and casts off his half-sister Tamar, shows how a father's spiritual indifference and the influence of sin lead to cracks in the family. And David's loss of wisdom and judgment as Absalom kills Amnon in revenge teaches that sin gives birth to further sin and brings on greater catastrophe.

Believers must discern the isolation and temptation Satan brings and live rightly, and must remember that the faith of parents has an enormous influence on the destiny of their children. The sermon asks why believers must not grow spiritually dull but must always respond wisely and rely on God.