If Only David Had Called for His Chariot — Carter Conlon

Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Good morning, Times Square Church. God bless you. And thank you. Appreciate that. I have a message that's burning so deep in me right now. It's a cry from God's heart for somebody.

Or maybe in measure, it's a cry for all of us here today. So I'm gonna pray that God give us an open heart to be able to hear this, especially now in this moment in which we find ourselves living in. It's from Revelation chapter two, please.

The Church at Ephesus and the Loss of First Love

Revelation chapter two. But the message title is, if only David had called for his chariot. If only David had called for his chariot. Father, I thank you, God, with all of my heart that you are still willing to speak to us as long as we're willing to listen.

I ask you, Lord, for an open heart, for open ears. God, that we would hear something deeper than my feeble attempt to unlock the truth of your scripture. You are well able to go beyond the frailty of this human vessel.

And you can speak a thousand ways to every heart, every hearer, everyone who's gathered. For God, you know what the struggles are. You know where the traps are. You know where the weaknesses are. Lord, you know everything that we don't know about ourselves.

You all understand all things. So we yield ourselves, Lord, to you today. And we take your word as an embrace of love. We ask you to guide us and guard us and keep us. Let our hearts always be alive for you and for your kingdom.

Keep us, Lord, from that which would weaken us. Father, I thank you for this. Oh, Holy Spirit, come upon me. Come upon this entire sanctuary, those that are listening in North Jersey and online in the Annex.

Lord, come upon us, Holy Spirit. Not just the preacher, but everyone listening. Touch us. Even now, let us know that this is a word that's come from your heart. Father, I thank you for it. In Jesus' name.

Revelation chapter two, if only David had called for his chariot. To the angel of the church of Ephesus, right, beginning of verse one, Revelation two. These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot hear, bear those who are evil. You have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake and have not become weary.

Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from whence you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Now, this church of Ephesus had a history of incredible victory, but it was on the border now of facing a moment that would determine its future. This was a serious moment. This was a good church. When you look at it, it had done good things.

It had a zeal for truth. It had a zeal to do works, even in the name of Jesus. But there was this dissipation happening in the heart of the people of this particular gathering that was going to cost them their testimony.

They had no idea because it doesn't come overnight. It comes gradually. Drifting from God doesn't start on Monday and culminate Wednesday. Can take a long time, can be over a season of months and even years, this gradual moving out of the place of loving Jesus with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and strength, and loving the work of God.

And it can happen to those who've walked the longest with God too, not just those who are short, those who have just been short into the kingdom, who've got a short amount of time, have a tendency to draw back into sinful practice.

But those who have walked with God for a long time can draw back into something else, much more insidious, much deeper, much darker in some cases. Now, in order for you and I to fully understand this moment that was happening in this church called Ephesus, let's go back and consider the testimony of one of Israel's greatest kings, obviously King David.

It's not even disputable that just as Ephesus did, the church of Ephesus, David loved God. He loved God with all his heart in those first years. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, and verses 34 and 35, scripture says, David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep.

And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it.

David had taken charge over and care over the little things that he was given to do. And he did it unto the Lord with all his heart, even pressed in beyond his own safety to keep what God had entrusted to him to keep it.

Do you remember those first days, those that have walked with the Lord for many years in this sanctuary? Do you remember those first days when you came to God and when you were given something little to do, whether it was a broom in your hand or juice to pour in communion cups, or I remember I was a door greeter.

It's one of the very, not the first thing, but one of the very first things that I did in the church, I was a door greeter, a little Baptist church way out in the middle of the wilderness. And for two years I was there and I did it with all my heart.

I would arrive early. I'd make sure the snow was shoveled off the steps and the walkway for those coming to church. I would be there in advance, make sure the fires are lit. And I would be there with a smile, greeting everybody at the door.

And I loved it because it was the house of God. You press beyond your own concerns. I remember driving through, I had to drive nine miles down a road with no houses on it in the middle of nowhere. And sometimes it would be snowing and be even debatable if you could make it through to the other side.

But I would still go because it was the house of God, was the calling of God. Do you remember those days? Maybe you're there now by God's grace. But those early days when you press beyond your own safety, that's what David did.

And he took care of those lambs. He could have said, well, it's only one, let the lion take it. But that's not what was in his heart. God had given him something to do. And instinctively he knew that.

And knowing that he was willing to die in a sense, died to himself that everything that God gave him would be fulfilled. He had a burning inward concern for the testimony and the honor of the name of God.

In 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 23, it says, then as he talked with them, there was a champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name coming out from the armies of the Philistines. And he spoke according to the same words.

And so David heard them. And all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. Verse 26 says, then David spoke to the men who stood by him saying, what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away this reproach from Israel?

For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And then verse 29, David said, what have I done now? Is there not a cause? In verse 36, he said to Saul, your servant has killed both the lion and the bearer and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them.

Seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. Moreover, David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bearer, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.

And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you. David had this burning inner desire that the name of God be honored in the earth. There was a passion in his heart that God be glorified. And he was willing to press through the unbelief all around him.

As he came into that camp, all he had for weaponry initially was a donkey, some cheese and some bread and some raisins and some greetings for his brothers. That's what God sent him into the battle with initially.

Later on, he would go down to a stream and he would find five smooth stones fashioned by the hand of God and win a marvelous victory for Israel that day. But he had been willing to press through the unbelief all around him.

And many here, you've been willing to press through the unbelief. Unbelief that you can do something that God called you to do. And the unbelief of others who thought it might happen, but it's never gonna happen through you.

But you press through. I remember coming home one day, we lived, Pastor Teresa and I lived in an area of 40 square miles with no Christian testimony. As far as we knew, there had been no real Bible testimony in the area for maybe as much as 100 years.

I met with a seasoned man of God who told me, nobody's ever been able to go into that area and establish to work for God. We call it, he told me, a pastoral burnout area. And he said, you feel free to start what you want because I told him what was in my heart to do.

He said, it won't prosper. It won't grow, he said, but you will grow. Isn't that, how do you like that for words of encouragement? So I remember coming home and on the way home, I was thinking, I don't believe that man.

I don't believe him. I don't care how long he's been in ministry. To believe him is to believe there's something in the earth that God can't do. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. And so in our simplicity, a Christian cop, a bus driver and a housewife got together.

It's all God needed to break through a hundred years of darkness. And we began to pray Tuesday night, starting at seven until who knows when. There was no real termination time. It's when we were done praying, we were done praying.

We began to pray and we began, we had no resources. We had no training. We had no money. We had nothing, but we had faith in God. And we had a desire to see the name of Christ honored. And I was incensed that somebody would say that there's something that God can't do.

There's some area God can't reach. There's some people God can't touch. And we began to pray. Long story short, most of you know this, within seven to 10 years, when I left for New York city, we left behind two churches, a food bank feeding the Eastern division of the city of Ottawa food bank, feeding 237 families, a Christian school.

Everything paid for, no debt whatsoever. The glory of God coming down into our midst so powerfully that we had to sit people eventually outside to hear the word of God. Everything growing, miracles beginning to abound.

We even put the gospel of Mark into the Russian school system grade six and seven when the iron curtain came down. A little wheat church in the middle of nowhere. Don't tell me, don't even try to tell me there's something God can't do.

I don't believe it. I will never believe it. Then later on, David had to learn another lesson of leadership. He had to learn to press through the envy of others and to accept the cup that came with leadership.

In first Samuel chapter 18, verses seven to nine, it says, so the women sang as they danced. Saul has slain his thousands and David is 10 ,000s. And Saul was very angry and the saying displeased him. And he said, they've ascribed to David 10 ,000s and they've ascribed to me only thousands.

Now what more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul eyed David from that day forward. Verse 13, it says, therefore Saul removed him from his presence and made him his captain over a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people and David behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him.

If you're gonna be used of God, you're gonna have to press through the envy, which is part of the cup of leadership. Evil speech, you're not going to go into leadership without escaping this hazing. May I call it that?

It's the cup of leadership. You wanna lead in the body of Christ, you get prepared for the lies, the rumors, the innuendos, the envies that will all come your way. And it will challenge the very core of who you are as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Because ultimately we're called to represent the one who went to a cross and gave himself for all mankind and said, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they do. You will never be a genuine leader in the body of Christ or in the kingdom of God without suffering some of these things.

In Revelation chapter two, again, verses two and three, it says, I know your works, I know your patience. You cannot bear those who are evil. You've tested those who say they're apostles and are not and have found them liars and you've persevered and have had patience.

David’s Success, Temptation, and the Enemy Within

You've labored for my namesake and have not become weary. But nevertheless, I have this against you that you've left your first love. You see, it's at this point that David would face the greatest enemy he would ever have to fight.

It's a total defeat and this place has the power to destroy even your own future. And what is this enemy that David had to fight? It's himself. It's his own fallen nature inside of himself. You and I all have this nature.

We have something inside of us. In spite of what the Lord tells us we're to do, there's something inside of us that's able to craft another way and we take something that's deficient. It might not be evil in its inception, but it is grossly deficient and we have the tendency to call this thing good and we head in a direction that's going to take away this passion out of your heart.

It's gonna take away this ability to believe God and press through unbelief. It's gonna take away the desire to persevere in the kingdom of God in spite of the personal cost that has to be paid. In 1 Samuel, in 2 Samuel, rather, chapter 11, the scripture tells us these ominous words.

It said, it happened in the spring of the year at the time when kings go out to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him in all Israel and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David remained at Jerusalem.

Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful to behold. Remember that Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 25, whosoever will seek to save his life will lose it.

Remember these words. David tarried, it says in the King James. It was a time for battle. I don't know, maybe he got tired. Historians tell us that David was somewhere between 53 and 59 years of age at this time, somewhere in between those two points.

Maybe he was bored with victory. Maybe he was just too tired to lift up his sword anymore. I don't know what it was, but for whatever reason, maybe success had been too much a part of his life. It's a dangerous place to be successful, my friend.

It's very, very dangerous because it's in this place of success that you can fall asleep. You can fall asleep as a church. You can fall asleep as an individual. You can be still testing and proving apostles and prophets and finding them liars, still going out and doing works, but you are gradually drifting, drifting, drifting, drifting away from God to a place where the very testimony that God had determined to be enacted through your life is going to be taken away.

Remember he said to Ephesus, if you don't get this right, I'm gonna take away your candlestick. That means your testimony, your light, Christ in you, the hope of glory, it'd be lost. You'd become like Samson did when his separation from God for the purposes of God was taken away, he became weak and he became just like every other man around him.

And that's tragically what happened to David. In 2 Samuel, in chapter seven, listen to the promise in verse 16 that was given to David. God spoke this to this man. Your house, your kingdom shall be established forever before you.

Your throne will be established forever. According to these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. Now listen to what he did. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far?

And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God. You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? David said, who am I that you brought me this far in your kingdom?

But not only have you brought me this far, but you have spoken about my house for many, many days to come. In verse 26 of the same chapter and 25, he says, now Lord God, the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house establish it forever and do as you have said.

Remember God said there will not fail to be somebody from your house sitting on the throne of Israel. In other words, David, walk with me. David, walk with me, walk with me, walk with me. And I'm gonna bless you and I'm gonna bless your house.

I'm gonna bless your heritage. I'm gonna bless your future. David, walk with me. He said, so let your name be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel and let the house of your servant David be established before you.

Now this is the promise was given to David and this was the passion of his heart. Oh God, you are true to do what you promised. So let that promise that you promised for my house, for the testimony of my life, the candlestick, may I call it that, that's been with me.

Let it go from me now to my sons and my daughters and their children, my grandchildren. God, and those that will come after, let that testimony, let that candlestick of your testimony never go out. Let it never go out, oh God.

But now there came a season in his life when the battle, he got tired maybe. He just got tired of praying, got tired of seeking God. Maybe he just got tired putting his life on the line. He got tired of the wagging of tongues.

I don't know the reason, but I know it didn't happen overnight. This tearing in Jerusalem went on for a period of time. He got spiritually lazy. Instead of fighting, he's laying down in the middle of the day, he gets up in the evening when he should be going to bed, he gets up, walks over to the edge of the rooftop of his palace, looks out over the city.

And he's in a visible place of success. He's hit the pinnacle. Up to this point, everything that God has promised is still his. The future God's promised is still his. The glory is his, the testimony is his.

Remember it says of David, when he conquered Jerusalem, the fear of him went to all, throughout all the nations in the earth. It wasn't a nation alive, recorded at that time, that didn't know about this man that God was with.

And they were afraid because they knew that somebody who's given to the work of God is unstoppable. Now on the rooftop, in this place of success, what is he looking at over the edge of his roof? Were there not yet lambs in the city waiting for deliverance?

What happened to him that he couldn't see anymore that God had put lambs under his care still? Surely there were some in that city that were crying out for a father, crying out for help. There had to be children who had no fathers, there had to be ones the devil was trying to devour and take into his mouth.

What happened to that man that he couldn't see this anymore? Were there not yet soldiers on the front lines that once again needed him to bring greetings and encouragement? What happened to that young man who walked in to the ranks of the armies of Israel, and even though they cowered on the mountainside, he saw something they didn't see, and he was jealous for the honor of God and for the army of God.

What happened to that man? Why were there soldiers out there fighting? And he was no part of it. Were there not yet battles to be fought for the honor of God? You see, David had come to a pivotal point.

He'd come to the time, you see, God, God promises to bless, but we make the choices. You make the choices, I make the choices. The blessing is not unconditional based on, we can't walk away from God and expect the same blessing that he's promised us when we were walking with him.

Choosing the Chariot Instead of Personal Indulgence

Oh God, it's almost as if this week the Lord helped me stand beside him. On that rooftop and look at him and gaze and wonder and ponder this man after God's heart. And in my heart, the thought came, if only he had said, instead of bring me that woman, if only he had said, bring me my chariot.

There's lions still devouring out there. There's soldiers that need encouragement. Maybe I'm too old to lift up a sword or maybe even better than that. Maybe he should have said, bring me the mule and put cakes and raisins on it and cheese.

I'm gonna go to see my brothers. I'm gonna go see Uriah. I'm gonna go see Joab. I'm gonna find out how they're doing in the battle and I'm just gonna encourage them. I can't fight anymore, they know that.

But I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna be there in the midst of them and I'm going to encourage them. Oh, if he had only said, bring me my chariot. Oh, the devil paints a picture for everyone. He paints a beautiful, idyllic picture.

Oh, if you can just get that villa in Nassau and spend your winters there. If you can, oh, he paints such a nice picture. Take you right out of where you are, take you right out of the battle and go there and you can see yourself under the palm trees, swinging in a hammock, listening to messages from Times Square Church, wherever you're able to get it online.

And I know the devil painted a picture for David. Oh, David, David, David, you've worked hard. David, you've fought a long battle. David, just enjoy yourself and satisfy yourself and how wonderful it will be just to spend an evening or two with this woman that you're looking at from across your balcony.

And that really represents the lust of the human heart. To just simply be engaged with what I want to do for a while instead of what God calls me to do. It's the human side taking over, it's the opposite side of that verse where Jesus said, if any man seeks to save his life, he will lose it.

It's looking for what will gratify me. It's taking something deficient and beginning to call it good. And you and I know at this moment, he made a wrong choice. He looked at the picture that was before him.

But you see, the devil never paints the whole picture, does he not? You know, the promise of God is that your house is gonna be blessed. You're gonna have sons on your throne. As far as you can see into the future, the nation is going to remain strong.

The testimony that I'm gonna plant through you is gonna go out through the nations. Oh, but the devil doesn't paint the four dead sons that are on the way because of the wrong decision he made with Bathsheba.

Listen to David when he cries, oh Absalom, oh Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, what God, what to God I had died in your place. David knew that Absalom's death in rebellion was the fulfillment of what he had done.

That moment when he made that wrong decision. Oh yes, there's consequences to what we do. It would change the future. His choice would change the future. Not totally, but in measure. The testimony of God through his life would be diminished.

Out of this relationship that never should have been would come a son called Solomon. Solomon would take his father's lust and multiply it by 10. Solomon would backslide. Solomon would build heathen temples.

See, the devil never paints that into the picture. Solomon would build heathen temples. That was not the promise of God for David or his family. Solomon, after building heathen temples, would die a disillusioned old man.

He would have a son called Rehoboam, a very, very weak man who would forgo the counsel of those who once knew the presence of God. And Rehoboam would be responsible for splitting the kingdom of Israel into two divisions and create a weakness that would ultimately pave the way for its captivity.

Oh no, the devil doesn't paint the whole picture. Beware, my friend, when you start to be led by the desires of your own heart and you're no longer led by the word of God and you're no longer led by the will of God.

The Nicolaitans and the False Promise of Blessing Without Holiness

God said this to the church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter two. He said, but this that you have, you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Now, the Nicolaitans were a people, some say the follower of a heretic called Nicholas who believed that you could live to satisfy your own lusts and still have the blessings of God.

In other words, they believed that you could live any way you want and the blessings of God will still be yours. The Nicolaitans are still alive today, folks. It's still among us, still very much here.

But in the church of Ephesus, that which could have saved them was the fact that they hated this theology. They knew the difference. And David had resident inside of himself a deeply held hatred for lies.

Even though he himself for a season had become a liar, he still inside had a hatred for that which was not true. And David hated the thought that one can live to indulge his own lusts and still experience the blessings of the kingdom of God.

Repentance, Restoration, and Returning to the First Works

David came back to his first love, thank God. His testimony was diminished. His family did suffer, but by God's grace, he came back to his first love. In chapter 51 of Psalms, verses 10 to 15, listen to his words.

Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with your generous spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, oh God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

Oh, Lord, open my lips and my mouth will show forth your praise. Thank God David came home, but his decision caused suffering. But I can't help but think, if only he had said, bring me my chariot, if only at that pivotal moment, and every one of us come to those moments, we're in a long journey with God and there are forks in the road at different intervals.

We're making the wrong choice, it affects our whole future. It affects our family. It's strange, the wrong choice always has sunshine on it. It paints a picture of wonderful meadows and tremendous ease and a time to stop and smell the roses and enjoy life, all the rest of that stuff.

The right road looks like the road has for the previous years, a place where faith will be needed, a place of difficulty, a place where God's power will be known. If only he had said, when his eyes fell on Bathsheba, if only he had said, bring me my chariot.

I want you to think about how different the future of his house and Israel would have been. Everything would have changed and it all hinged on that moment, that decision. If he couldn't fight, I think he should have taken a mule and gone back and just did what he used to do.

That which he knew brought him into the supernatural power of God, he should have gone back and done at least that. He did make a wrong choice, not ever believing he would become a murderer and a liar, but he did.

He would lead people into defeat and he did. But even then, he turned to God because he was a man ultimately after God's own heart. Revelation 2, the Lord said, remember from where you've fallen and turn or repent or turn and do the first works, the first works.

Or else I'll come to you quickly and remove your lampstand. I'll come to you and your testimony will be lost. Do the first works. Those things were the little things given to you were precious to you and you fulfilled them with all your heart.

The first works where you pressed through unbelief and you began to conquer and you learned that God was faithful and he takes the foolish to confound the wise. The weak to confound the strong, you learned it there.

The first works where you press through the scorn of others and you learn to be a leader in your home, your family. You became strong in the faith. And then he says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To him that overcomes, I'll give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. The tree of life for you and I in the New Testament is the cross of Jesus Christ. I'll give to you to partake of the full victory that was won there.

The strength, the vision, the power, the joy. That which the world doesn't have and can never offer. You won't find it in relationships. You won't find it in relocating yourself to some other place. You won't find it by some other relationship, some other marriage, some other ministry, some other city, some other town, some other way, some other church, some other thing.

You've got to learn to get the victory right where you are. That's where victory is. And that's what first love is all about. First love is that man, that woman that knows, God Almighty, I've been invited into something so much bigger than myself.

And I'm not going to, I'm leaving what I used to do and I'm gonna lay hold of this new kingdom you've invited me into. And by the grace of God, I'm going to become everything you've called me to be. And I'm gonna do what you've called me to do.

That's your first love. And I'm gonna go to prayer. And I'm gonna be there when the door opens. And I'm gonna, whatever comes into my hand, I'm gonna do it with all my heart. And I'm gonna believe, even though my family might tell me, nothing's ever gonna happen through your life.

I'm gonna press through that unbelief. And I'm gonna lay hold of God. And I'm gonna believe that things that are impossible to man are possible with God. I'm gonna believe that with all my heart. And when that time comes into my heart, where my own heart begins to tell me, son, take thine ease.

Daughter, take thine ease. You've worked long and hard enough. You've fought long enough. Oh, life is meant to be more than this, is it not? Does that sound familiar to you? Genesis three, you'll read it right there.

When the serpent came into the garden, that's exactly what he said. You're created for more than this. The narrowness of this experience of just meeting with God and doing what he tells you to do every day and fellowshipping with him.

Oh no, you're created for much more than that. Oh, and the devil will comes and paints his picture of how wonderful your life's gonna be if you'll just do it your way. But he leaves out the dead kids, doesn't he?

Leaves out the broken homes. He leaves out the divided kingdom. He leaves out the anguish, the sorrow, the heartache, everything that came into David's life. Even Joab, his most loyal friend, I think up to that point, when Joab was handed that letter by the hand of Uriah, where David told Joab, take this loyal man and put him into the heat of the battle and then draw back so he might be killed.

Joab, at that point, I can prove it to you, lost loyalty for David. He had served him with all his heart because he was a man of integrity. But when he chose to tarry and indulge his own lifestyle, everything began to fall apart.

But those who come back, Jesus said, I'll give you. You will eat of the victory of the cross. Strength and life will belong to you. And I wrote down as I was preparing the final part of this last night, oh God, help me.