(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, so we're in 2 Samuel chapter number five. So we're gonna be studying about the life of Joab this morning. And if you don't know who Joab is, he's David's nephew. We're gonna talk about him. But before we do, I'm just gonna tell you a quick story. So remember how on Wednesday I preached about bitterness? Oh well, the next day, you know, I talked about on Wednesday how my job sometimes is notorious to be bitter if I let it. Well, Wednesday I had this job and the job was to install a compressor on a refrigerator. It's a 20-year-old refrigerator. It's a very expensive job, you know, and the reward for that job is very high, you know. But there's some risk involved when you change a compressor because, you may not know this, but your refrigerator comes to you from the factory completely sealed, you know, with the gas and all that stuff. And anytime you break that open and you have to redo it, you don't have the same tools that the factory had. You don't have all that same stuff and so you're, you know, you're taking a big chance there that something could go wrong. Well, you know, I get to this house at like 10 o'clock on Thursday, 10 o'clock in the morning. I'm like, alright, well I'll start this, you know. It takes about two and a half to three hours to do one of these because I'm not the greatest at doing them. I've only done about 20 of them and half of those have been with help. So, you know, things are going okay. It's an older fridge. First time I've ever done one of those. I get the compressor in there, you know, I mean I've been sweating. I'm just slaving to get this thing done, you know, and I'm watching that clock. It's going up and it's going up and I'm trying to get faster at doing these but for some reason it's just not happening. So, I finally get to the point where it's, alright, it's all welded in there. It's all ready to go. I'm getting ready to put the gas in there. I turn the gas on. I plug the refrigerator in and it just goes eeee. It just starts humming. I'm like, oh man, what does that mean? You know, I mean this is a brand new compressor. I mean this guy's paying like 1,500 bucks to have this done, you know, and I'm like, that's not right. So, I start changing some different things out and trying to, you know, trying to fix this and I'm so like panicked at this point. I'm like, I don't even know what's going on. The office calls like, hey is everything going okay? I'm like, no it's not, you know, and so finally the boss calls. Hey man, he's like, it sounds like you might have a bad compressor. I'm like, this thing's brand new. What are you talking about? And he's like, I'll be right there. So, he comes and helps me out and he's like, man, I don't know what's going on with this thing. Turns out the compressor was bad. At this point, when he says that, I look at the clock, it's 2.45. I've got five jobs left, right? And keep in mind, I don't get paid until this job is done. So, I just spent, you know, 10 o'clock to 3 o'clock there and the job's not done and I'm just realized I'm not gonna get paid a dime for this. I'm like, man, talk about taking risks. You know what I mean? And so, this guy's, his refrigerator wasn't completely damaged. It's still holding temperatures, still freezes, but just not as well. It needs to be done. And so, he's got a full refrigerator of food and to make matters worse, this guy is in a wheelchair and has MS, right? And the guy's like, I'm like, I go outside, I grab the old compressor, I bring it back in and the manager's like, what are you doing? I'm like, we got to put this back in. You know, this guy's got to have a refrigerator, right? He's like, no, we're not gonna spend any more time here doing that. He's out. I'm like, what? I'm like, well, you call him and tell him that then. And he's like, he's like, no, you call him and tell him that. I'm like, we got to do something about this. You know, he's like, fine, just go ahead and put it back in. And he decides to help me real quick there. You know, and so, the reason why I'm telling the story is because what I'm preaching about this morning is risks versus rewards. See, every day you may not realize it, but you take a risk at something in your life, right? My entire job and the way that it's set up with the pay is a risk. It's a very high risk. I mean, think about that. I spent from 10 o'clock to 3 o'clock. By the time I was done, it was like almost four something. Still got five jobs left. Didn't get paid a dime. And I still have to go back. You know, but the reason why, like I said, I brought that story up is because it's just so prevalent to everyday life. You know, we're brought up in this culture to believe that we should just get rewards for even participating in stuff. You know, I mean, we should just always get a reward no matter what. You know, but I had to be man enough to just realize I accepted this job. I can't let this get better. You know, sometimes things happen. And like I said, at the end of that, like, you know, time frame, it's three o'clock. You know, I'm like, I'm only supposed to be here for three hours. Now all of a sudden I've got to take the old or the new one out and put the old one back in. I just spent all these hours welding and vacuuming and doing all this crazy stuff. And now I've got to go the extra mile to make sure that this guy's happy. So my reward turned from getting a decent paycheck to now just not upsetting a customer. You know what I mean? But that's the definition of a risk is you're taking, you know, you're taking a chance that you might get hurt or that you might lose something. Right? And you need to realize that all of us in here do that. And the thing is you need to realize when it's the right time to take a risk and for the right reward. Okay? So if you look down at 2nd Samuel chapter 5, look at verse number 8, it says 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 here you have David with a difficult task at hand. They need to take over Jebus or the Jebusites which is Jerusalem. So before Jerusalem it was Jerusalem, it was Jebus. It was inhabited by the Jebusites. Right? And so David's on the conquest. They're getting, you know, things ready. You know, they've basically just come out of like a mini fracture of a civil war. I don't have time to completely get into all that. But if you know the Bible you know that after Saul died his son took over part of the kingdom and David reigned in Hebron. David reigned over Judah and Benjamin. And so basically now David's come back. He's got the whole nation of Israel. All 12 tribes are on board. And so they're getting ready to basically take the City of David to make Jerusalem what it was during the times of the Old Testament. And he issues out this challenge and says whosoever getteth up to the gutter and smiteth the Jebusites is gonna get a reward. They're gonna get a promotion. But the problem is that's a very risky deal. And you say well what's a gutter? I've heard people preach well this gutter is like where all the sewage and stuff came down. It doesn't say that. You know a gutter is probably a channel of water. It's probably wet. Probably just not a good condition if you were to look at the gutter on your roof. I mean you know if you could imagine a large one it's probably not something you'd want to play in all day. And obviously you can tell it's not a very pleasant job because David gives out he issues a high reward. Right? And so you know I titled this sermon Sometimes You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do. And you say that's kind of silly but you know what when I was at that guy's house that compressor and I realized that the new one was broken straight out of the box after I'd already welded it in. You know what the right thing to do was? To put his old one back in. And I realized you know what even though my reward is gone sometimes you've got to do what you got to do. Even though it's hard. You know when it's three o'clock I'm like well now now I'm not gonna get to go soul winning. You know that's why I text you guys I'm not going to soul winning tonight. I could just tell you right now. But that's life. You know that's life. Does that mean we never take risks? Does that mean we never put our necks out there? No. The Christian life is a risk. I mean think about that. When you just tell somebody that you're a born-again, saved, Bible-believing Christian you're taking a risk. You're taking a risk at getting ridiculed by your family, by your friends, by the world, by your co-workers, by all sorts of people. Because this world hates God. And you can even see that back in the story here. And we're gonna talk about that. So I said the title of the sermon is Sometimes You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do To Get Those Rewards. Now keep your place there because we're gonna come back to this chapter and we're gonna talk about this. But go to 1 Chronicles chapter number 11. 1 Chronicles chapter number 11. And in 1 Chronicles chapter number 11 you're gonna see the same mention of this story. It's a parallel passage in the Bible. So 1 Chronicles chapter number 11. Look down at verse number 6. And it's basically the same verse as 2 Samuel chapter 5 verse 8. So 1 Chronicles 11 6 it says this, And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up and was chief. And so you don't read that right off the bat in 2nd Samuel. You have to go to here to get the scoop. But like I said at the beginning of the sermon, Joab was David's nephew. Zeruiah was David's sister. And we're gonna talk about Joab. So Joab decides, you know what? Challenge accepted. I'm going to go up the gutter. I'm gonna lead a group of men and we're gonna smite the Jebusites. We're gonna smite the lame and smite the blind. Now if going up a gutter and you know and put yourself back in these times right. You know you don't have the best shoes. You don't have long-range rifles. You don't have torpedoes and all this stuff. You've got your shield. You got your sword, spears, arrows. And you've got to deal with the elements. You know they don't have the same type of clothing and stuff that we have today to keep you warm and to keep you you know hydrated. We got backpacks today for for soldiers. You know hydration packs, camel backs they call them. You know you can have water right on the chest. You know they didn't have a lot of that stuff. So any kind of maneuver, any kind of battle back then was ten times worse than probably what you have today. Right? And so I mean if those conditions weren't bad enough, going up there and having to fight with the lame. And when the Bible says lame it's talking about people who have disabilities. People who are in wheelchairs that can't walk or different you know different different disabilities. Right? And the blind. You know what that's gonna do? That's gonna weed out all the bleeding hearts in the army. I mean think about that. That is I mean just if you were to tell people today hey we're gonna go to this country and we're gonna go kill all the lame and all the blind people. Most people be like well that's not very tolerant. Right? I'm gonna report you to somebody. You ever say the word retard or retarded? Right? What happens? A lot of times these liberal people they will flip out on you and just get angry and start you know sending you hate and oh you're making fun of people that are disabled. Well they're not retarded. Think about that. Liberals are retarded. Okay? You know people with disabilities they're lame. They can't go and they can't do the normal things that you and I can do. That doesn't mean that they're bad. That doesn't mean that we need to put them down low on you know in society or anything like that. Right? It just means they have disabilities. It is what it is. You know and we're gonna talk about that here in a minute. But look at the verse again. So it says so Joab went first up. He took the initiative. He decided you know what I'm gonna spring into action and I'm going to get that reward. Here's the bottom line. You know if you want rewards in life you need to be willing to take risks. If you want rewards life you need to be willing to take risks. You know if you say well I don't really agree with that you know because I got this bonus. I got this gift from somebody. Well that's great. That's a gift. That's a bonus. That's a blessing. That's not a reward. Guess what? You know eternal life. What is that? That's a free gift. That's a blessing. That's a bonus. Guess what? All the crowns and the rewards that you know you're gonna get at the judgment seat of Christ is. What's that the result of? That's the result of work. That's a result of taking a risk. That's a result of saying you know what I realize I'm gonna get hatred from the world. I realize I'm gonna have people turn their backs on me. I realize I'm gonna have to give up my wants and my desires that appeal to my flesh and then I'm gonna have to go out and do some things that are difficult. I'm gonna have to go up the gutters. I'm gonna have to take the hard road. You see a lot of things in life require hardness. You know you guys remember Joe Ritchie and his family. They came to visit us. I was talking with him about this a few months ago. You know he was like I just love hard preaching. You know as I like everything hard. I try to make stuff hard. Right and he's a pretty fit guy and he's a solid guy. I mean spiritually physically everything you know and it's like how you just listen to him talk and you can tell how he got that way. I mean he just started a business you know and it's doing very well. Very successful. What is it about those types of people? What is it that they have put together that other people don't? And it's because he's not afraid to take risks. He's not afraid to do things that are difficult, dangerous and hard. Right but see again we live in the society where they tell you that's wrong. You know oh stay indoors. Don't go out. Don't you know don't do all this stuff because you might catch a cold. You might get sick. Look and I'm not downplaying the coronavirus. That's nasty. I get that but it's not as nasty as a lot of other things that are in the world. Right. I mean more people have died of tuberculosis than they have of that virus. You know and nobody batted an eye about that. Nobody brought that up. Right. We have a society that just gets all of their information from the news media and that's how they think. That's how they act and they will do exactly what that programming programs them to do and it's gonna program them not to take risk especially God's people. Look if I was a devil I would try to put that teaching out there to get you to stay in your comfort zone to never take risk. I mean when you go out and you knock on someone's door you're taking a huge risk. Yesterday when we were in Ontario we didn't know what it was gonna be like. We had no idea but the reward was well worth it wasn't it? It was great. It was excellent. Probably one of the best places that we've been to since we formed this church. It was just an outstanding place. So again the bottom line is if you want rewards you need to be willing to take risk. We can't just sit back and just expect people to bless us and to give us that participation trophy right. You know if you get a blessing you get a gift amen praise God that's great but we shouldn't be a people that is just oh I just can't take risks. I just can't ever do anything outside of my comfort zone or that might be a little bit dangerous or that might be a little bit difficult. We need to look past that we need to be a people that is willing to go up the gutters and smite the lame and the blind. So go back to second Samuel chapter number five and we will move on. Point number one is this. We need to be in it to win it not in it to pin it. You say well would you get that from Kinley? Yes. I got that from Kinley and Kylan. You know these young kids love their social media. You say what are you talking about? Well Joab at this moment in his life he hears the challenge he hears the reward he decides you know what I'm gonna do this thing. I'm actually gonna be the guy that goes up there and accomplishes this and I'm gonna be your chief I'm gonna be your captain. I'm willing to take the risk I'm willing to do what's dangerous and I'm willing to do what is difficult. He decided at that moment in his life he's gonna be in this thing to win it. He has the mindset right now you know what I'm gonna play life to win instead of playing life not to lose and there's a huge difference in that philosophy in that mentality. Think about it if he was like you know what I just don't want to lose at anything I don't want to take the chance of getting up there and then getting humiliated. You see what I'm saying? What would happen? Well he wouldn't have been chief he wouldn't have been captain. You know who usually makes the highest ranks at any kind of a job or in any kind of situation are people that are willing to take risk. People that are willing to be in it to win it. You say what does it mean not to pin it? Well you know you got these people all over the place that they take you know whatever it is they do on a daily basis they just pin it to Pinterest or they just pin it to Facebook right? You know there are people that go to churches like ours we don't have anybody like this here but and thank God but you know I see people and I love them and they go to other churches like ours you know and they don't do anything. They show up once in a while and they don't go so and there was you nothing for church right but they'll be on social media hey my church is the best church in the world you know we do this we get people saved left right with baptized people doing all these works and it's like you you know it's like man you're really not in this to win anything you're in this to pin stuff on the internet and to make yourself seemingly look cool and that's not winning in life that is not going to reap you any kind of reward whatsoever. So point number one is we need to be in it to win it not in it to pin it we need to be in this thing for the right reasons think about this those of you that are familiar with the UFC the ultimate fighting championship or any kind of sports right what happens when Pete went when these champions start getting a few wins with their belts what do they start to do they start to play it safe right they start to play they start to fight not to lose right and they'll start to do things like staying away from people and and you're not taking any kind of risks anymore and just moving around running around and and doing just enough to win to solidify their their their belt their championship right that's what they do and what do the fans think they think it's boring they get upset what does the management do they get upset you know and they start doing things to try to out that champion right they start painting them in a bad light I'm not recommending you watch this I'm just saying it is what it is you know and sometimes you know but what's their legacy gonna be at the end of all this he was a boring fighter he didn't do enough he didn't entertain right people would rather watch somebody who's willing to take risks and actually go out there and try some new moves or you know just put his whole heart and soul into that battle you know and if he wins he wins if he loses people just look at that well hey he's got the heart of a line right people have more respect for that than the person that just dances around and plays it safe okay and so that's exactly what I'm talking about you need to be in whatever it is you're in you know you're in the Christian life you're here today you need to be here to win something you need to be here for the long haul not just to be associated not just to get that participation trophy in life right now you're gonna get your eternal life you're gonna get that reward amen praise God for that but what about all the other stuff that you could have what about that chief captain spa what about those rewards they're available to every single one of us in this room today and this is a church that makes it very easy for you have tons of soul wanting times we have Church three times a week I mean there's all kinds of work and availability and things that you can do to cement your legacy as a Bible believing Christian you know to get those rewards and the problem is though if you want those rewards you have to be willing to take risks turn to 1st Corinthians chapter number 9 1st Corinthians chapter number 9 1st Corinthians chapter number 9 look at verse number 25 1st Corinthians 925 it says this Paul talking to the Corinthians he says in every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible see Paul also used analogies and related them to sports he's saying hey people that strive to be the top dog to be the winner you know they are a temperate people what does that mean what does it mean to be temperate it means to have discipline to have self-restraint right so you're you're you're triathlete right you know your person that does all these triathlons you know they're running swimming and lifting weights or whatever it is that they do you know you know how the champions act when they're not racing they're disciplined you know when they look at those cookies in that cake you know what they do no I've got a race coming up I've got a competition coming up you know they're willing to restrain themselves right but again America 2020 the United States of America you know love freedom love this country I served it for the better part of my life but unfortunately the culture today is have it now right we live in a society that pushes and shoves covetousness down our throats every single day you can have whatever you want just get on that phone and start scrolling through Amazon just click click click boom you bought it you're done you know you can have whatever you want what information do you want you just push a button you've got it right at your fingertips right you know what we need to be able to be okay and manage that sort of thing and be glad that that's available to us but we need to learn to have some discipline we need to learn to have some temperance we need to learn to have some self-restraint and say you know what that thing that my neighbors trying to get me to look at or my co-workers trying to get me to look at you know what that's not good that's gonna slow my walk down that's gonna slow my Christianity down I'm gonna have be temperate because I'm striving for a reward I'm striving for a crown and so I am NOT going to allow you to stop me just to slow me down right we need to develop temperance look if you're gonna be in this thing to win it you need to settle it in your heart right now that you're gonna learn to have some self-restraint when somebody's like hey what are you doing today looks like you're going to church we're actually going to the lake we're gonna go swim why don't you just come with us come on you used to come with us back in the day there's a 52 weeks in a year you're not gonna miss you one service would guess what that one time you do that is gonna lead into two times and three times and then before you know it you're gone you're out of the will of God you're you haven't lost your salvation but you're definitely gonna lose some rewards you're just gonna have a big pile of wood hay and stubble and who wants that who wants to spend eternity you know just realizing that you just burned everything that you had you got your new body you got eternal life you're in heaven great but now you're gonna be looking around like man life was so short it really was that vapor that Jesus said it was it really was just a snap of the fingers it was just so fast and man I could have had so much more nobody wants to live in eternity with regret okay so what I'm trying to tell you here but he says hey and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things he's like hey they do it for a corruptible crown you know those UFC belts they're all gonna crop they're all gonna burn someday in fact a lot of those people probably most of them aren't even saved you know it don't take a rocket scientist to figure that out they aren't saved so a hundred years from now most people aren't gonna remember them if we even make it a hundred years you know I mean you know some kids gonna dig up a history book and be like oh there used to be this champion you know his name was John Jones and wow he used to train like this and he's gonna write an e-book right of his secret training methods and get rich off of them people gonna be like who's that oh yeah you know but it won't be something that's well known you know it'd be like today people dig up these old weightlifters from the 1800s they used to sniff coke and stuff I'm serious you know and they'll they'll take their training methods and the stuff that they ate and the stuff that they did you know they'll sell an e-book you know no they won't get rich but they'll they'll make they'll make a decent living for themselves you know they're taking a risk of getting a mild reward but those people themselves who were a big deal back in the day today they're nothing people are like oh wow you know no I'm glad you found out about that guy you know and they might try to do some of the stuff that they did but those people their legacy doesn't really carry on that far I mean most people can't even tell you every single president this country's ever had you know as time goes on people forget people forget about those things all right so go back to 2nd Samuel chapter 5 we'll move on here and one of the biggest problems with point number one is that there's always gonna be temptation to take the easy road for you anytime that you can visibly see a reward like Joab did right there's always gonna be that little voice hey you don't really need it that bad right you don't really need that that is so hard right sometimes when your alarm clock goes off in the morning and you all know what I'm talking about there's that little voice like hey you don't need to eat breakfast today right you don't need eat there's look you can eat all day long you can just eat a big lunch you'll be just fine before you know you're late for work or you're late to get up do whatever and you know you just you made a mistake and it's because we lost that temper it's is that that's the hardest thing is there's always an easy way out you know what but if we want to be great we need to look at sometimes taking the hard road taking that hard way you know the saying work or work smarter not harder you know I agree with that you know I'm not saying that we should be like oh well you know we should always just find the hard way there are the hard route rather you know what that saying it means work smarter not harder that's an efficiency statement work more efficiently and the more efficiently that you can do stuff guess what the harder you can work the more that you can get accomplished okay that's what that's really referring to so back to 2nd Samuel 5 look again one more time at verse number 8 so he says and David said on that day whosoever get it up to the gutter and smite at 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 now we're gonna back up to verse 6 and I'm gonna give you the story here because here's what people are gonna come to you and say they're gonna say oh you believe the Bible well did you know that David hated people with disabilities I've heard this who's heard this anybody heard this if you have it you will because there's websites out there you know 101 contradictions in the Bible all these problems with the Bible and this is one of them that you'll find on there Oh David hated people that he was like Hitler he was trying to make the perfect race it's the doctrine that the skinheads teach and the neo-nazis they teach stuff like this right but that's not it look if you know anything about David after Saul died did you know that he took care of his son named Mephibosheth Mephibosheth that's what I like to call him his name is Mephibosheth that's why I nicknamed people especially these guys in the Bible right because their names are difficult for me to say but anyways guess what he was laying on his feet he was you know he had an injury as a child and guess what David took care of him the rest of his life so to say that David hated people with disabilities is completely wrong and stupid and it's just the hallmark of a person who doesn't know the Bible they're just trying to pick at you but regardless we need to understand the backstory here because the next thing they're gonna say to you is oh you believe the Bible well David had hatred David hated people and he actually hated people with disabilities it's not just that he wanted the perfect race but he actually hated them and that's wrong well I believe the Bible this passage here was written by the narrator which means the Holy Ghost and it says that these people were hated of David's soul David hated them David issued an order and he issued a reward whoever goes and kills these people is gonna get a reward because I hate them we'll look at verse number six and you kind of see why 2nd Samuel 5 6 it says in the King so the beginning of the story we read it it's giving David's credentials and then it goes on to say this and the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites the inhabitants of the land which spake unto David sank so when they got there originally the Jebusites had a message for David except I'll take away the blind and the lame thou shalt not come in hither thinking David cannot come in hither so there's a lot going on here because there's passages in the Old Testament about people that do have disabilities that are lame or that are blind they can't go and do the offerings inside of the temple they can't be priests right that's that was just the way it is that's a whole another sermon that would take me like an hour to go through all of that and explain that to you so they had knowledge of that they'd probably heard that and so that's probably part of what they meant but what they're saying is you're so weak you can't even beat the blind and the lame right because look except thou take away the blind and lame that shall not come in hither thinking David can't come in hither so it's kind of like a taunt right and David's like ooh even they're blind and they're lame hate God you say well they've never heard of God oh yeah they have they've been hearing about God for years at this point now keep this in mind not all blind people and not all lame people are good people you know that a lot of them hate God let me say that again you know a lot of lame people hate God people in wheelchairs people with disabilities that are God haters and for those of you that didn't go to Ontario yesterday I'll tell the story right now because it just fits perfectly right we just went to these apartment complexes in Ontario the first door that Miss Patti knocks is this raging hate-filled God hating reprobate reject they just wanted nothing more than to have us leave town and think about it she's knocking the door on the bottom brother Jeff and I are up top you know first door of the morning and this young lady here with you knows young single mom wants to know how to be saved right and so I'm giving her the gospel and this guy is down there yelling and cussing and just flipping out because we're Baptists you bleep in Baptist get out of here right so we're just got him calm down he goes away and does his thing you know and right as I'm getting ready to pray with this young girl because she wants to accept Christ she wants to be saved she gets the gospel here comes out bozo right out the door starts screaming praise God you know we were able to get through the prayer you know she called upon the name of the Lord she got saved I was able to you know give her some information and all of that stuff and this guy has lost his mind I mean he's out there just freaking out you know just cussing us out left and right you see he's gonna roll up on us to do all this stupid stuff you know I mean it was terrible I mean the stuff that this guy was saying would make your skin crawl you know I mean look I would smile this was our church yesterday we met a literal Jebusite a lame blind Jebusite that hates God and you know what someday it's gonna be said of us hey our souls hated I'm just kidding we don't hate all of them but this guy was definitely got hater he told us that not in so kind words by the way but apparently he really hates Baptists and he really hates God he thinks he is God I mean and this this this guy he calls the cops on us can you believe that he calls the police on us and it had to be quick I mean because it didn't see more than 10 minutes before we were seeing the police drive up the street and praise God look Ontario is great because these police officers were on our side a hundred percent they were like you have every right to preach the gospel you just can't sell stuff like hey we don't sell stuff we don't sell stuff at church and we don't go to people's doors to sell stuff you know and he was like oh yeah you guys are doing great and then the police looked at me he's like you got cauliflower you and everybody got cauliflower was everybody wrestlers in this church he's like this because he'd already talked to David and Brian he's like what's everybody wrestling in this church it's kind of funny nothing to do with the sermon but back to the blind alliance so you can see that and I've met blind people at the door that are like I hate God because think about it people have to live with these disabilities and instead of just you know embracing it and trying to overcome that and realizing you know there's a lot of other blessings and things that you can be to people they develop this attitude to where they hate God and at this time in David's history these people hate God the Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart and it says that he hated these people so you know there has to be a good reason and I believe this time here this attitude sums the whole thing up that's why okay so here's point number two the higher the risk the higher reward I mean think about it these guys got to go up the gutter but also they've got a they've got a smite people that can't defend themselves and I'm not saying that every Jebusite was lame and blind but there was obviously some of those people there and part of their orders were to go in and kill those people so look you see why now you have to be in it to win it because when you're fighting the Christian life when you're fighting at work when you're just doing whatever it is that you're doing for a reward some people have to die some people have to go away some people have to be put under spiritually speaking I mean think about that you know people that are not all up on the Bible you know when you go to their house and you preach them the Bible they get saved they decide you know I'm gonna be a disciple I'm gonna go ahead and grow you know you've literally slain the lame and the blind in their house because those people will often come out and try to mess with you and try to say stuff to you to discourage you and to try to turn you away you know those people are lame they're blind they don't know what they're doing they don't know what they're talking about right but you have to be strong enough in your heart to be willing to say you know I got to tell you the truth even if it's gonna turn you against your very own family even though it's gonna turn you against your community even though it's gonna turn you against your job I have to tell you the truth you have to be willing like David was like Joab was in this moment to be able to slay the lame and the blind and just remember there's none good no not one the only good who's the only good one is Jesus Christ it's God right that we understand that and David obviously under stands this here so he's not just some Hitler type madman you know trying to make a master race for himself that's ridiculous you know and that's the problem with people that are blind that just go to the Bible and just try to extract one thing and try to trip you up on it right which again is why we read the whole chapter before each service so that you can get the context and see what's really going on here okay so point number two is the higher the root the risk the higher the reward but again you got to realize a risk is a risk there is potential for failure there's potential to be destroyed there's a potential to lose but if you're not willing to take that chance you know what you're probably not ever going to get the reward I mean think about it if nobody went up there if everybody in David's army was like you know what I'm not doing that no one would have got the reward because they would have said okay well now I have to do this I'm gonna go up the gutter and I'm gonna smite these guys and he would have had a weight on picking a chief and a commander for his army turn to 1st Corinthians chapter number three and while you're turning them reefy revelation 22 12 the words of Jesus Christ would say this and behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be so you guys turn to first Corinthians chapter number three so Jesus says in the last chapter of the Bible hey I'm gonna give you according to your works now salvation is free we're not talking about salvation this morning we're talking about rewards and here's the thing about the rewards we don't fully understand what they are we have just a tiny glimpse I mean if you read Daniel you know we we understand that it talks about you know that those of us that turn people into righteousness it talks about soul winners how that their bodies will shine as the brightness of the stars and the firmament you know and things like that but you really don't understand what it is right none of us really get that and so it makes it even more challenging to take those risks into want to do that work because you can't visually see the reward see Joab he was like okay I get it I'm gonna get this promotion I'm gonna get a little bit more prestige right I mean I'm gonna get this great benefits package I'm gonna get great medical you know I'm gonna get I'm gonna get all this money and all this stuff right so he could see that reward right we just see the word reward in the Bible but you know what we live by faith not by sight right that is the key that's the difference and again that's as hard this is hard a hard concept to get so you turn to 1st Corinthians 3 and read one more verse which is 1st Corinthians 9 24 says know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize so run that ye may obtain right you have to decide in your heart to run so that you can obtain meaning if you don't run if you don't risk if you don't work you don't get it's as simple as that you're there in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 look at verse number 8 talking about soul winners and silent partners it says this 1st Corinthians 3 8 says now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and you know as a silent partner that you're watering because you're there praying for your partner as he's given the gospel you know so he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor according to his own labor right meaning you take that risk you decide to do that work you will get the reward verse 9 for we are laborers together with God year God's husbandry year God's building and that should give you great comfort in realizing that when you give somebody the gospel when you're preaching gospel you're teaching doctrine that you have God on your side you have the sword you have the Word of God right it's not like you're out there all alone and God's just like you know completely aloof to the whole thing no he's there with you he was there with us yesterday in Ontario and it's so evident you know it's so evident you know we all prayed Lord lead us to the right place to go the right people help us to not miss an opportunity to preach the gospel we took the risk and he gave us a reward and it's so rewarding to see people get saved I think it's rewarding to have seven gospel presentations in just an ordinary time slot for Saturday soul winning I mean that's great when we go out most places here on Saturday mornings we don't give seven presentations I mean if we give like three we're like oh that was great verse 10 according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon so you already have this foundation you have salvation you can understand the Bible you have the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost dwelling inside of you now you need to take heed you need to be careful how you build upon your foundation because you can choose to build a little hut of wood hay and stubble but guess what that's not gonna withstand the fire that's not gonna withstand the storm but you have the opportunity to use gold and silver as well we're gonna keep reading verse 11 for other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest so everybody's work will be made known in eternities what this is saying for the day shall declare it what day the day of the judgment seat of Christ for the believer because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is so how you live your Christian life someday you will be judged and if you have mostly wood hay and stubble that's gonna be known not only to you but to everybody in eternity verse 14 if any man's work abide which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward think about that what happens when you put wood hay and stubble into a fire it burns up it's gone what happens if I take a gold bar and I chuck it in a fire nothing it gets refined it's it's good to go verse 15 if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved so as the fire so again you're always gonna be saved even if you don't work even if you decide I'm gonna take the easy road I'm gonna play it just not to lose just just to just safe yeah you're gonna make it to heaven because that was a free gift and I'm not talking about the free gift this morning I'm talking about rewards rewards that last for ever they never go away that everybody gets to see realize that realize it and understand that could you imagine what it's gonna be like when we have everybody in here every let's say when we get to 200 people we have a church of 200 people and we all have that vision in that understanding of what these rewards really are in eternity it's gonna change how you do everything in life every decision that you make it's gonna change everything because you're gonna see and you're gonna realize wait a minute this stuff I'm worried about here you know these compressors and you know all these all these little minor issues that come up in day to day life are nothing I need to be willing to put that stuff aside and keep marching on for Christ because I want my bonfire to be as small as possible okay that is my goal go go to first Kings chapter 1 1 Kings chapter 1 so to put all that plainly who wants to hear these words well done thou good and faithful servant all right that's what it all boils down to right first Corinthians 3 say what's that about it's about this well done now good and faithful servant well I look that would that would devastate me if I didn't hear those words spoken to me I mean that that's a fear that I have and I pray that it's a fear that every person in here develops you should be scared to death to not hear those words after you pass on and go up to heaven you should want to hear those words and don't let people tell you oh you know you're gonna hear that to get all these rewards no matter what because we all get the trophy in the end at the end of the day we all get the participation trophy no that's the United States of America that's called liberalism you know one-on-one and God's not a liberal in the sense that we use the word today so first Kings chapter 1 so again we're studying the life of Joab David's nephew he did a good thing here but you know unfortunately Joab did a lot of things that were bad in his life in fact in 2nd Samuel chapter 3 he murders a guy named Abner you think about that he murdered a guy named Abner we don't have time to give you the full backstory you have to read that on your own but first Kings chapter 1 verse 5 is going to give us some insight on something that happened to Joab that I think we all need to pay very very close attention to here because just because you're on fire today just because you're willing to take risks today just because you got a reward today you know what that doesn't mean 75 years from now or 20 years now whatever it is that you're gonna be the same you have to have maintenance you have to be willing to be in it to win it forever 100% of the time and you know what Joab made some mistakes he did some sins along the way and he let some things get to him for example David got into sin he said hey number the people of Israel Joab got upset about that because he knew that wasn't right and he never let go of that and there's other things that he did as well like for instance murdering Abner but at first Kings chapter 1 the story is David's on his deathbed he's about to pass on David's son Adonijah decides you know what my dad's done I'm just gonna make myself King I'm gonna ordain myself I'm going to convince convince other people to ordain me right who knows what I'm talking about here does this sound familiar to you okay I want you to know this is a problem and when you see people go after somebody like this those people are a problem first Kings chapter 1 look at verse 5 then Adonijah the son of Hagath remember David had many wives he had many concubines so and it says then Adonijah the son of Hagath exalted himself saying I will be king and he prepared him chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him right so he's got the pomp he's got the clock he's like look guys I'm gonna be king I'm ready to go now jump down to verse number seven it says and he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest and they following Adonijah helped him oh man that's that's really unnerving that's that's really sad to read because we read that he was the guy who said you know I'll get up that gutter I'll go smite the lame in the blind I'll be chief I will be captain and I'll do it the right way he saw that reward and was willing to take the risk but at the end of his life because of bitterness and because of envy and a lot of other things that happened to him he lost sight of the rewards now he's like oh I don't know who's gonna be king you know whether it's Solomon or whatever this you know Adonijah he's already promised me a good life he's promised he's promised me a position as an usher in his kingdom you know he's promised me to count the money he's promised me all of these things right and he's like that's the easy road that's good he's already promised me see he's probably thinking you know if Solomon takes over which he does I'm gonna have to prove myself to him I'm gonna have to remain at that high level performance that I was when I was younger right so you see how that temptation of taking the easy road wound up getting to him and his conscience you know and all the things he did that that little voice hey remember when David pissed you off remember when David did this remember when David did that remember when David had you kill Uriah the Hittite by putting him at the hottest part of the battle right he never learned to let go of those things so why we preach about that all the time you know we're gonna get each other offended we're gonna need each other upset from time to time you have to be willing to just water under the bridge let it go because think about it otherwise you're gonna be in this position right here someday someone's gonna come in hey I'm gonna be a pastor I'm gonna ordain myself I'm gonna start church down the road here and you can just follow me like yes I will do that are we so spiritual are we so great verse number eight but Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Reihim and the mighty man which belonged to David were not with Adonijah and that's kind of how this thing always goes when somebody wants to set themselves up as boss when somebody wants to set themselves up as king governor mayor pastor right the the real mighty people you know what they can recognize that and they can see that and say no I'm not gonna go along with that but Joab lost that and look Joab was a mighty man he was a warrior he'd killed lots of people but you know what he was not listed in 2nd Samuel chapter 23 as one of the mighty men and here's why look at verse 9 and Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoloth and or which is by Enrojel and called all his brethren the king's sons and all the men of Judah the king's servants verse 10 but Nathan the prophet and Benaiah the son all right I'm sorry and Benaiah and the mighty men and Solomon his brother he called not why didn't he call them because he knew they were not on board right go to 2nd Kings chapter 2 real quick we'll fast forward I'll show you what happens to Joab we're getting close to being done 1st Kings 2 look at verse 5 says moreover so David's talking to Solomon after all this has been squashed after day was like okay I can't let my son keep thinking he's gonna be king I gotta give it to Solomon verse 5 moreover he says thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel unto Abner the son of Ner and unto Amasa the son of Jethro whom he slew and shed the blood of war and peace and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins and in his shoes that were on his feet now I think if date or if Joab had maybe let go of bitterness maybe if he let go of all those other things and didn't side with Adonijah maybe David would have cut him some slack because he allowed him to become chief captain after he killed Abner that's his nephew he obviously loves him he's family's blood right but at the end of his life Joab was so bitter that David just realized he's a goner and he's giving his son Solomon instructions on how to deal with him so jump down to verse 28 look at first Kings chapter 2 verse 28 it says then tidings came to Joab for Joab had turned after Adonijah though he turned not after Absalom and Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord and caught hold the horns of the altar look at verse 29 and it was told King Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord and behold he is by the altar then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada saying go fall upon him so at the end of Joab's life he lost sight of the rewards he was no longer willing to take risks he was no longer willing to do the things that are hard he wanted the easy street he wanted to believe in his mind that Adonijah would take over and give him a high position in the kingdom instead of remaining faithful which is hard look it has got to be hard ask anybody of age in this room you know who's been going to church who's been doing these things for a long time and ask them if it's been easy they will tell you no it's not it is hard to remain faithful for the long haul and Joab fell he fell off and what happens at the end of his life he has to be put to sleep he has to be killed he has to be removed so point number three is the secret to playing to win for a lifetime is patience that's what it is it is patience it's developing patience you know how you develop patience by taking risks by exposing yourself to a little bit of you know what I might just lose and being okay with that and developing the mindset that says you know what I might lose today I might lose a thousand times I might fall seven times about I'm gonna get back up every single time and try again because it's persistence that's gonna develop that character and give you that patience and Joab lost sight of all of that so like I like the Bible says you know what he let him that standeth you know take heed unless he fall you think you're good to go today you think you're cool today you think you've got it all put together today that's great but you better take heed unless you fall because this type of stuff can just sneak up on you I mean think about this a mighty man God gave Joab physical gifts to be able to fight gave him intelligence to be able to lead armies into battle and wipe the floor with people and he threw it all away because of some bitterness because of some envy because he decided at one point in his life you know I'm gonna take the easy road he lost that attitude of sometimes you got to do what you got to do sometimes you got to do things that are difficult sometimes you got to do things that are dangerous he said I'm no longer willing to do any of that stuff turn to Matthew chapter 18 last verse I'll have you turn to Matthew chapter number 18 in this point and the story also asked the question you know are you willing to take risks when there's no visible reward are you willing to do the right thing because you know and you've been taught that it's the right thing to do like like my compressor story right I didn't get paid for that zero dollars now I'll get paid for it you know the next time that one comes it's not broken and I welded in there and three hours later it decides to work I'll get the money then but by then if you add up all the hours I might as well just go go to McDonald's and work but when I was faced with an with an out because my boss was like hey get the hell out of here we're not gonna spend three more hours putting another compressor in this guy's fridge he's out the food tell him he's out and then we'll come back that would have been the easy road if I would have said yeah let's just do that right I could just put the fridge back call and say hey sorry about your food homie hope you got a backup plan go get some dry ice and have a nice day that would have been the easy route that was my out right that was you know who hey just throw the food in the garbage just leave a lot of here you're good to go man you gotta go make your money right but I said no that isn't cool that's not okay and I decided you know I'm just gonna take a loss he's gonna take the risk that you know God's gonna look at that action and reward me in another way reward me some other opportunity anyways Matthew chapter 18 look at verse 7 won't to the world because of offenses for a must needs be that offenses come but won't to that man whom the offenses cometh so what Jesus is teaching us here is that hey you're gonna have offenses come your way you're going to have hindrances come to your life you set goals you set timelines you set deadlines for yourself guess what there will be things that hinder you there will be things that bother you they're gonna be things that attack your emotions that attack your plans and you have to know that you have to be willing to come to grasp to grasp with that and say you know what that's fine that's just life that's part of doing business that's part of taking risks but when you overcome those things guess what the reward is gonna be substantial the reward is going to be great you know what one one other thing that I forgot to mention about Joe Ab is that the reason why that he killed Abner is because Abner killed his brother the Bible says that his brother whose name was as a Hale was as light on his foot as a row very athletic guy very quick runner and he kept pursuing Abner right because you see in 2nd Samuel chapter 2 there's this story about Joe Ab he's got his men Abner's got his men remember there's kind of a civil war thing going on and they both say hey let's play the men against each other and see what happens let's scrap let's go right and they all kill each other meaning when God's people fight nobody wins right and so you know Abner having it in his heart you know we just need to go submit ourselves to David and get this thing rolling and quit fighting each other he decides to do the right thing and to go seek David and Joe Ab's mad because well I'm getting ahead of myself here so after that battle as a Hale decides to pursue Abner and he keeps following him he keeps taunting him Abner keeps looking behind him and says hey go away leave me alone I don't want to have to kill you as a Hale doesn't listen as Hale keeps pursuing guess what Abner reaches back and smites him under the fifth rib pokes him right through kills him now whose fault was that situation that was as a Hale's fault right so who should Joe Ab have been mad at Joe Ab should have been mad at as Hale should have been mad at Abner you see what happens when you get mad at the wrong people you see what happens when you look bitterness and envy and stuff these types of emotions just fester in your life it's gonna hinder you from getting your rewards it's gonna cause you to go blind every single time Joe Ab you know what he just said you know what I'm not gonna take responsibility that you killed my brother you messed up and so then he goes and murders Abner right and then that just led you know to the next thing and to the next thing and to the next thing and it's a dangerous thing you know he let bitterness become that hindrance that offense in his life and instead of doing what Jesus said you know just realizing hey offenses are gonna come that's a hard thing to lose a family member like that but it wasn't Abner's fault as a Hale and his young self his pride got to him you know but that thing became an offense into Joe Ab and later on in life I believe he probably looked at his uncle probably looked at Dave and said you're still bitter about that you're still holding that against me instead of taking responsibility for that that became a hindrance that became an offense and guess what he started to lose sight of those rewards he was no longer a good chief no longer a good captain and had to step down and had to get taken care of and you know what sometimes you got to do what you got to do you know Joe Ab should have said you know what the right thing to do the difficult thing to do in the situation is to blame my dead brother it's his fault it wasn't Abner's fault you know all of us get put in those situations from time to time and the people that can put the blame and deal with the hindrance put the blame in the right places are the ones that will go on to reap those rewards right we just got to keep that in mind sometimes you've got to do what you got to do you know and if you want these rewards that are out there that are available to you you've got to be willing to take risks you've got to be willing to risk that people are gonna ridicule you at work at home at you know in your community because you're a follower of Christ it's the way it is but look they're not gonna spend you know eternity where you are they're gonna spend eternity looking at you in your rewards they're gonna be the ones with the regret and so you have to you have to see that you have to be able to visualize that so let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer thank you so much Lord again for bringing us all here today just pray for a church Lord that you continue to feed us with zeal and give us knowledge and just to help us to continue to seek the rewards that you've mentioned in the Bible even though we don't fully understand what they are and I just pray that we would be able to remain zealous for you Lord for the long haul from this day and until you call us all home Lord in Jesus name I pray amen