Introduction

Good morning, everyone! Let us examine the fourth chapter of 2 Samuel. What is this chapter about? The theme of this chapter is Eliminating Those Who Shed Blood from the Earth. If you observe carefully, you will discover something very real, which is the curse. Some people inexplicably live under a curse; others inexplicably live quite blessed lives. In our observations, we find that some people are very blessed, while others are very unlucky.

This phenomenon is easily explained in the Bible, because the Bible often describes how unlucky those are whom God does not favour. You will find that those whom God favours are blessed wherever they go. What is the problem? The problem is the shedding of blood on earth, not in the context of general national warfare, but in the context of murder and homicide. The descendants of murderers in this world carry a curse.

In the previous chapter, we discussed the curse upon the house of Joab, because he murdered Abner. His house would never be without someone who has a discharge or who has leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food. If you look closely, you will find that those who deceive, swindle, and engage in infighting in this world, even to the point of harming others for their own benefit, will have very tragic ends. This chapter of scripture, the entire story, describes David being inspired by God to be a man after God's own heart.

Inspired to Be a Man After God's Own Heart

The fourth chapter of 2 Samuel describes how Ish-bosheth was murdered by his two army commanders. These two commanders cut off his head, carrying the head of their former master, their king, and travelled all night to King David. This sounds quite horrific. What was David's reaction to this event?

David said to Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of all trouble, when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag—that was the reward I gave him for his news! How much more should I now demand your blood from your hand for killing an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed?” (2 Samuel 4:9-11)

Do these two men seem wronged? They rushed to David, only to be killed by him. Most people would not understand what David did. Ish-bosheth had been at war with David for many years. Only the tribe of Judah was under David's rule; the other tribes were under Ish-bosheth's rule. According to general logic, one might think, I killed him so there will be no more wars, so I should be given an official position.

But David did not think this way. David's logic system is to love what God loves and hate what God hates. David was inspired by God to be a man after God's own heart. We see throughout the book of 1 Samuel that God was looking for a king after His own heart, a priest after His own heart. David deeply understood what God hated, knowing that in the days of Noah, everyone was killed by God except for Noah's family of eight who came out of the ark.

What did God say? Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. Why did God say this after just killing so many people? Because in the days of Noah, people were very violent; shedding blood was commonplace. Perhaps in the days of Noah, firearms were not well-regulated. Someone would take a gun to a school and open fire, killing many children; then someone would take a gun to a restaurant and open fire, killing many people.

God saw that the world was full of violence and destroyed the people of that generation. After destroying them, He told Noah: Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; this was a serious matter. What about now? This generation is also full of violence. Instead of bringing a gun to the office, people engage in verbal warfare, which can be very fierce! Verbal warfare can also kill people. People engage in such warfare in the marketplace as well, sanctioning each other. This is how people in the world operate, adhering to a worldly value system.

David was very clear that no matter how corrupt the world was, he must be a man after God's own heart. The person who reported the death of King Saul seemed to have performed a meritorious deed, but he was killed by David. Now, two people cut off Ish-bosheth's head and brought it to David, and they were also killed. Will anyone help David with such tasks in the future? If a Philistine were to cut off the head of the Philistine king and bring it to David to claim credit, what would happen? Many people would not do such a thing.

A rumour would spread in the community: Don't do this anymore. If you kill your master, even if he is David's enemy, you will be killed if you bring his head to David. If you leave such a reputation, who will work for you? This would be troublesome! But David felt that even if it was troublesome, it did not matter. David chose to be a man after God's own heart. God does not like the shedding of blood, especially when a subordinate kills his superior. It is said that Zhang Fei and Xiang Yu had similar fates, betrayed by their subordinates, killed, and their heads cut off and taken to their enemy's country for rewards. From a tactical point of view, this is acceptable, but from God's point of view, it is problematic.

If you indulge this kind of sin, it will proliferate, because evil spirits are behind it. If people see David rewarding these two men, then someone will do it today and another tomorrow. Before long, David's subordinates would do the same. Subordinates would have enemies among themselves, and their subordinates would start killing their superiors, taking their heads to their superiors' enemies to claim rewards. The entire nation of Israel would be completely corrupted, with those below imitating those above.

But David was very clear about God's preferences. This is sin, and it is terrible when it proliferates. So David did not value his own interests, even though others would say, If you do this, no one will help you with your work in the future. David said, It does not matter, because I have God, and my God controls everything. David would not rely on such tactics: This person murders that person, and that person murders this person.

Everyone sees that the technology of killing is very advanced now. Drones can be used to kill people. These things are what God hates, but people in this generation do them anyway. Drones fly to people's doorsteps to kill them, using facial recognition, and it is all over very quickly. Even people driving on the road are targeted by drones. This is what God hates. From a human perspective, you have eliminated an enemy, but from God's perspective, you have become God's enemy.

We must learn to love what God loves and hate what God hates, and not follow human values. Human values are unreliable. In fact, after so many years of history, people have been killing each other all along. It is dazzling, but what has been gained in the end? It seems that nothing has been gained. When we read history carefully, it is simply dazzling, but if we simplify it and look at it with spiritual eyes, it becomes simple. Why? Because David had a concept, which is the second point we will discuss.

God is the Assurance of My Life

David said to Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of all trouble, when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag—that was the reward I gave him for his news! (2 Samuel 4:9-10)

Because God is my life, the assurance of my life. So David said, It is not you who help me, but God who helps me. I need God. How could I offend God? God is the assurance of my life! So I swear by the Lord who saves my life, who saves me from all my troubles. My God is not only the God of this life but also the God of eternal life. This is David's view. God is my life. It is best to keep God's word, act according to God's will, and not live according to natural logic.

Take the throne as an example. Ish-bosheth was about to have his head cut off. Fortunately, his head was cut off, and the territory immediately expanded. One tribe immediately became twelve tribes. From one tribe of Judah, it immediately became twelve tribes. How glorious that is! But David did not calculate it that way. David thought: God is my life, and being after God’s own heart is my life! So never put your throne above God's value system, but put God first in your life. But some people do not know that God is the assurance of our lives, so at critical moments, they think that business is more important than God, girlfriends are more important than God, family is more important than God, the throne is more important than God, and work is more important than God. The least important is God. Then think about it, will God be the assurance of your life?

Some people cry out when they encounter calamity: God, where are you? God says: I am on vacation. I flew to the Maldives for a vacation. You say: God, why do you have to vacation in the Maldives when I am in the most difficult time? God says: When I was in difficulty, you went on vacation to the Maldives. You say: God, where are you? God says: I am busy. You say: Busy with what? God says: I am doing business, I have no time to take care of you. You say: When is it not a good time for you to do business? Why do you have to do business at this time? God said: When I looked for you, you were also doing business!

Before, a nurse came to our church. The nurses here may be different from those in China. The patient said to the nurse when she was busy: I need to defecate. The nurse said: Why do you have to defecate when I am busy? Can that thing be controlled? It cannot be controlled! So the patient complained about her, after all, people have urgent needs. Will you tell God: God, you are my life! I can have nothing, but I cannot be without God! Sometimes what I do may not be appropriate, but I will immediately tell God that I did not do it right.

God is our life, because God saved us when we first experienced suffering. After God saves us from the first suffering, we must dedicate our lives to God and do whatever God tells us to do immediately. Someone says: According to what you said, can we still live our lives? I said: Isn't life going well? Our lives are given to us by God, and we owe God a life! Everything we have comes from God, and God is our life. If someone does something that God hates, can God accept it? Even for one’s own benefit, one must not incur God’s wrath!

If one spends their whole life not knowing that God is everything to us, that is a tragedy! So many people offend God for their own interests! Back then, Jesus entered the temple and drove out those who were doing business there. They were doing business in the temple, turning the house of prayer into a den of thieves. Aren't there many people doing pyramid schemes in churches nowadays? Yes! Why? Because they all think money is important! Is money really that important? I tell you, money is not important. Nothing is important, not status, not glory, not even feng shui. What is important is that we must never offend God! People are foolish in this regard, not even examining how they have walked through life.

People are silly to not know how important it is to be a person after God's own heart. How many things have you done that offend God? Everything you say is about trivial matters: Do you have to look at me like that? How come I didn't see how you looked at others? These are all words of old women! Nitpicking and finding fault. If God is our life, do you really know what God likes and dislikes? If you really know, have you done it? Don't even talk about doing it according to God's word, it's far from doing it according to what I say.

Some people say: Are you comparing yourself to God? No. Because my standards are low! I just wish that our brothers and sisters would not act like old women. The expressions and gestures when they speak are tiring to watch! With a heart as small as a peanut and a brain like a walnut, how can they live well? When a person's heart is as small as a peanut and their brain is like a walnut, their eyes are filled with trivial matters, and they are blocked by these small things, that is the key. How many of your words are truly God's words? Have you really done things according to God's will? We must start adjusting ourselves according to God's word and learn from David.

Why Did Rechab and Baanah Do Such Stupid Things?

Rechab and Baanah ran with a head in their hands, sweating profusely. Running all night also proves they were capable men. Running to Hebron which was around a hundred kilometers, equivalent to running two or three marathons! Their minds were filled with thoughts of promotion and fortune, feeling like they were carrying not a head, but a bucket of gold, so they ran with increasing vigor. These two brothers weren't willing to rest, running like madmen! But they were killed by David. Why did this happen? Didn't they know that David had killed the messenger who reported Saul's death? They knew. But they thought: He was an Amalekite, but we are from the tribe of Benjamin, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah. David won't kill us.

The human logic system is something remarkable, naturally assuming that everyone thinks like them. Some people say: Teacher, you would do the same if you were in my situation. I say: Don't even bring that up! Look at my face, I wouldn't be like you! How could I be like you? Look at how you live, how could I live like you? Some people ask: Teacher, how come you never encounter such problems? I say: How could I let myself encounter such problems? I have some brains in my head.

But some people have bugs in their brains, like bugs in software, saying as soon as they enter: Don't waste electricity, save some! How cold would it be in winter without heating? Is the person saying this the owner? No! As a result, they got frostbite. Would I end up like this? No! Because I know how to handle it. Let's be generous and say: I'll cover this month's electricity bill. Do you know the people from Guangdong? People from Guangdong wear flip-flops even in Northeast China, even when it's below freezing in winter. People need to learn to be wise, and the most crucial thing is to have the right logic inside, so the one thing I've been doing is dismantling the inherent logic system inside people.

Don't think that everyone thinks like you, saying: Anyone in this situation would be like me. If you have a bad relationship with your mother-in-law, you would say: Wouldn't anyone be like this if they had my mother-in-law? If brothers are arguing over property, they would say: Wouldn't all brothers be like this? There's one who is different, and that's me! Don't think from now on that everyone is like you. There are thousands and millions of ways to explain a problem, but none of them are useful. We must have a spiritual perspective and a concept of uncompromising sin. The things in the Ten Commandments of the Bible are all sins. Do not make idols for yourself, do not put anything above God, otherwise it is an idol, and you will be cursed in the end.

Honoring your parents is blessed, and dishonoring your parents is definitely cursed, without a doubt. People without spiritual vision, with only money, fame, and profit in their eyes, will desperately walk towards destruction. If people desperately walk towards destruction, you can't stop them even if you want to. In the past years, I saw some people desperately walking there. Later, they were finished, everything cooled down, they became well-behaved, and in the end, they still had to rely on my relief.

So don't think that everyone in this world thinks like you. There will definitely be one kind of people in this world, and that is us, determined to be a person after God's own heart, taking God as our life! No matter how beautiful the logic in our minds used to be, it must be dismantled, it is useless. Start building yourself according to God's logic, and you will have the fate of a king, becoming a faithful priest after God's own heart, a king after God's own heart. What will you lack? You will lack nothing! Our brains must be clear. Let the places that weren't done right in the past be, now that I have told you, if you continue to rush towards destruction, isn't that your own fault?

Ish-bosheth Was Harmed by the Throne

Ish-bosheth offended his commander Abner because of a woman who wasn't that important to him. Abner went to David, but David's commander Joab killed Abner. These are all chaotic things. As a result, when Abner died, Ish-bosheth's hands went soft when he was king. You say, at this time, what are you waiting for? No ability, no wisdom, no power, and still want to be king, that is courting death.

Everyone must have a clear judgment of themselves, to know if you can do this job? The throne is good, but if you don't have the fate to be a king, quickly pack your bags and report to David. Tell David: I can't do this kingly job. Liu Bei's son Liu Chan didn't think of Shu, A Dou was a smart person because he knew not to do a job he couldn't do, he had self-awareness. So let's not do the jobs we can't do, why do we have to be king? There is a church of ten thousand people, and the son takes over from his father as the senior pastor. Can he manage the people his father managed? He can't! Just because his father could manage it, doesn't mean he can. People listen to you on the surface, but in reality, they don't listen at all.

As a result, Ish-bosheth was harmed by the throne, otherwise, he wouldn't have died like that. He died miserably! I am very moved, if people value fame and profit, and are harmed by fame and profit, what is the point? If people want to live a little better, do one if you can; do two if you can, don't do it if you can't. My brain is clear, I don't want to stretch my hand so long, I can do one, I will do one; I can do two, I will do two, I am not in a hurry. I am not like some people, one prayer, one sermon, and five thousand people believe in the Lord. I don't even know what these five thousand people are here for, wouldn't that be ruined? I can't do this, I can't do it. If I want to do it, I will do it one by one, if I can do one, I will do one, if I can do two, I will do two, I don't covet false fame.

Ish-bosheth was harmed by the throne and died miserably! Being a king and still relying on Abner. Just because of a woman, talking about others, as a result, people were unhappy and went to David, and he became weak. Abner died in Hebron, and everything went haywire, no tricks. Like many young children who don't study well and just sleep with their heads covered. Ish-bosheth's head was buried in Abner's tomb in Hebron, harmed by the throne and fame and profit.

The things of this world harm people so badly! There are countless people following in their footsteps on this road. Today, I want to build a company, tomorrow, I want to go public, but I didn't go public, and I went down instead. Doing this all day long, not even knowing that the throne is controlled by God, how good it is to be after God's own heart! What a wonderful choice it is to be a priest after God's own heart, a king after God's own heart, and a people after God's own heart.

Summary

I want to make a summary, knowing God is clever! There are quite a few characters involved in this short section we talked about. There are only two kinds of people in this world, not men and women, but clever people and foolish people. If you want to be a clever person, knowing God is clever. In the past years, we have studied Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which are my favorites, because I think it is good to be a clever person. I just want to know how to make our brothers and sisters all clever people. The church is to mold everyone into a person who knows God, knowing God is clever, and fearing God is the beginning of wisdom.

If you don't fear God, how can you say that you know God? If you have nothing to do, you offend God, and every word you say is about if, for example: If I do this, I will serve God, if I do that, I will serve God. God says: If it is like this, I will treat you like that. You are always talking about if with God, and God will also give you an if, what will be the result? That is not a result, that is if. Some people say: If I have a hundred million, I will donate. I think forget it! You won't donate even if you have a hundred million.

We must begin to learn to know God. Learning mathematics is not as good as learning to know God. A good score on the college entrance examination does not necessarily determine that you have a good destiny. But those who know God lack nothing in their lives, and those who trust in Him will not be ashamed! I wish that our brothers and sisters would all be clever people, and I wish that our brothers and sisters would all learn to know God. This is also a result that I think about day and night and look forward to every day in my heart!

May God bless everyone!