Okay, turn with me to 1 Samuel
chapter 23, if you would, continuing our study in the Old Testament
book of 1 Samuel. I titled this message, Obedience
is Always Best. Now, it's important to understand
that obedience is not works that we do by which we are saved,
The definition of obedience means compliance with an order or request. It's submission to another's
authority. God is the ultimate authority.
Obedience to him is absolutely necessary because of who he is
and who and what our relation to him is. He's the sovereign
creator. We're his creation. We ought
to obey Him. He's the one who provides everything
that we need, everything. We ought to obey Him. True obedience is evidenced by
our love for Him, by our submission to Him, by our obedience to Him. He's deserving of our respect. He's deserving of our devotion. Because He supplies and He provides
everything for us, including our next breath and our next
heartbeat. All physical and spiritual blessings
are tied to our obedience to Him. And obedience is not optional. It's expected. God expects it. And it's the proof of our faith
and love To the one who loved us and was faithful to us. We
obey him out of love. And respect. And service. To him because of what he did
and what he does for us. We never want to disappoint him.
I know many of you love your parents. You never want to disappoint
him. We did quite often. But our heavenly father, we don't
want to disappoint. God help us not to disappoint
you. Obedience acknowledges God's rightful rule. God has the right
to expect whatever he expects from us. So tonight, 1 Samuel
chapter 23, I want to begin in verse one. I want to look at
the first five verses, and I think we'll see something about seeking
the Lord and bowing to His obedience and the outcome of that. It says
in verse one, Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines
fight against Keilah, And they robbed the threshing floors. Now, obedience to God is always
best, but it rarely comes without challenges. When God called Noah
to build the ark, he endured ridicule and isolation from an
unbelieving world while building that ark. They made fun of him.
Well, there wasn't water anywhere near. What are you building,
Noah? I'm building an ark. What's an ark? It's something
to float in water. Are you crazy? When God called
Abraham, He called him to leave where he was. He called him to
leave his business. He was an idol maker. And later,
He asked him to sacrifice his son. and he was obedient, but
it wasn't without challenges. Job was a righteous man, and
he lost everything he had, his children, his wealth, the respect
of his wife, but the Scripture says that he never charged God
foolishly. He obeyed God, and God restored
everything back to him a hundredfold. In the trials of Joseph, He remained
faithful to the Lord. He resisted temptation. He was
sold into slavery. He was thrown into prison. Before God ever exalted him to
the throne of Pharaoh, he was obedient. When God made Jeremiah
a prophet, at such a young age, he was beaten. He was in prison. He was rejected by his own people,
but he was obedient. When Daniel obeyed God in prayer,
it landed him in a lion's den. And when the three Hebrews refused
to bow to the king's idol of himself, they were thrown in
a fiery furnace. And John the Baptist, no greater
man among men than John the Baptist, he faithfully witnessed to the
coming of Christ, and he was beheaded for telling the truth. The Apostle Paul's life, as you
know, was filled with beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonments, constant
opposition. And the list just goes on and
on of all the saints that suffered for the cause of being obedient
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet each one of these men were
obedient. through the command of God in
their lives. And David is no exception. You and I are no exception. Even though here he's hunted
by Saul, even though he's been forced into exile, David shows
mercy and compassion to those in need out of obedience to God. The cry for help comes from the
people of Keilah and A town under Philistine attack and he does
what's right, even though it's going to put him in further danger.
And you and will you and I trust God enough in our lives to do
what's right, even when. It puts us in danger. Only if
God gives us grace. only if God enable us. Again,
verse one, then they told David saying, behold, the Philistines
fight against Kielah and they robbed the threshing floors.
Now here we find the enemies attacking where provision is
found. The Philistines target the threshing
floors. This was a place where the food
supply was processed. You take your enemy's food supply
away, you've won the victory. So this was a very hard trial. This threatened the livelihood
and survival of God's people. And what a picture we have here
of our enemy who often strikes at the source of our spiritual
sustenance. Isn't that what Satan does? He
attacks us. at our food source, that being
feeding upon Christ. I found it interesting that the
name Key Island means fortress. So that's a picture that typifies
the church. It's where God's people gather
in safety. We gather together with church,
those who are like-minded, those who trust our Lord. It's a fortress
for the poor and needy. We come here. to get away from
the world. We come here to find comfort,
as I said in the beginning. We come here to encourage one
another. That's why we don't forsake the
assembling of ourselves together. And I'm thankful for the crowd that we have here tonight.
You know, it's of the Lord. And it's because
the Lord's given you an interest and a need for Him. Satan desires to rob the church
of their food. He wants to keep them from feeding
on the Lord Jesus. He wants to rob us of our life-giving
bread, and he'll do whatever he can in order to do it. I'm
often amazed at the things that he does to keep us from eating
together. He attacks the threshing floor
of God's Word to rob us of our needful spiritual provision. We see the gospel in these first
five verses. The first, the helplessness of
the people and the compassion of God's anointed King. Keilah,
they had no power at all to save themselves from the Philistines.
They are undermanned and they're farmers. They're not warriors. And the Philistines who picture
sin are a reminder of us that we
cannot save ourselves from sin and Satan. But God's anointed
King, the Lord Jesus Christ came. And again, David pictures the
Lord Jesus. What about Saul? What about the
king? Well, he's distracted with jealousy. Last time we saw him, he was
sitting under a tree with a spear in his hand, worried about things
that didn't matter. But here, the enemy is plundering
God's people, and David, who's not yet king, but he's God's
anointed king, is moved with compassion. You see, he's an
obedient man. Look at verse two. Therefore
David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David,
go and smite the Philistines and save Kielah. And David's
men said unto him, behold, we be afraid here in Judah. How
much more then if we come to Kielah against the armies of
the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord
yet again. And the Lord answered him and
said, arise, go down to Kielah and I'll deliver the Philistines
unto thy name. Now, David here doesn't rush
into battle, even though the need was urgent and it was a
just cause. Instead, David sought the Lord's
will. There's a lesson here for us.
David asked and God responded. The Lord's not distant from His
people. God's always near us. He guides those who earnestly
seek Him. Our problem is we usually don't
seek Him. That's what James said, we have
not because we ask not, and then when we do ask, we ask amiss to consume it on our own
lust. We plunge forward according to
our own desires, never seeking the Lord. True prayer seeks the
will and purpose of God. We ought to do it on everything,
everything. Here we see David's men were
afraid, and what a picture of us they are. How many times in
the scripture does God tell his people to fear not? Over and
over and over, fear not. Be not dismayed, I'm with you.
But we fear, don't we? Even though God had promised
them victory, they look within themselves at their own weaknesses. Why do we do that? You're not
going to find any comfort there, looking within. They looked at the strength of
their enemy. Fear always magnifies unbelief, and unbelief always
magnifies fear, always. If you want to fear about something,
just don't believe God, and it'll be magnified more. And pretty
soon you're sitting in a corner shaking, going, what am I going
to do? What am I going to do? So the Lord, their faith's got
to be reaffirmed, and so does ours, over and over and over
again. How does faith come? You know,
by hearing. and hearing, and hearing the
Word of God. We've got to hear it over and
over again. And we come to hear the same message. We come to
hear how our Lord did for us what we couldn't do for ourselves,
and how He's gonna take care of everything for us, working
all things together for our good, even though we don't see it at
the moment or at the time. So here, David seeks the Lord
again in verse four. So the spiritual application
is, though we're often afraid, and we are, and it's a sign of
unbelief, our faith must be grounded in God's will. We read all through
this book that God is almighty. He can do anything, he can do
everything. Why do we doubt him? Why do we
fear? before making decisions, any
decisions, important, especially important ones, we should always
pause and seek God's guidance, His safety, His approval through
prayer and scripture. I don't mind telling you this,
when we went to see Daniel, Moose, Parks, and Sandy, before we left for service, ever
service, Moose would pray. We'd get in the car and Moose
would pray. Is that going too far? Well, you can't take it too far. Faithful action comes after God's
confirmation. Never before, sadly, we have
to learn that the hard way. Here we see the anointed King
cares. David seeks God and he goes down
to deliver these folks at Keala. And his men confess their fear
and unbelief, but David believes God and he obeys God and he goes
to the Lord again in prayer. Notice in verse two, the Lord
said, go and smite the Philistines, but David's men are afraid. Then in verse four, God says
something different. He says, I will deliver the Philistines
under thine aim. Oh, we read over so many blessings
in the scripture. The first time, he says, you
go and smite them. This time, he says, you don't
have to. You tell your men not to fear. I will deliver the Philistines
in your hands. This is my battle. God tells
David what he, the Lord, is going to do, not what they should do.
When I think about what I should do, I'm telling you, I have great
fear. Why? Because I can't do anything.
I don't find any confidence or assurance there. God has shown
me my inability to do anything in and of myself and to make
a difference in any way. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? God does. We don't make ourselves to differ.
But the gospel is God's good news in telling me what He's
done and what He's doing and what He's gonna do. What He's
finished for me, that's the assurance that I have. That's what gives
me rest and comfort. That is what the Lord says He's
gonna do. and what the Lord's finished
for me. You know, false religion's always talking about what man
does, because it's man-centered. That ought to be our first clue.
It's not God-centered. God says in verse four, I will
deliver. You believe God? Help thou my
unbelief. God says in John 10, 28, I will
give eternal life. God says in Psalm 103, 12, I
will remove your sins. God says in Ezekiel 36, 26, I'll
give you a new heart. God says in 1 Thessalonians 5,
23, I will make you holy. That's what God said. God says in Isaiah 41, 10, I'll
strengthen thee and help thee. God says in Psalm 32, 8, I'll
instruct you and teach you. God said in John 14, 27, peace,
I will give you. Why are we worried? Why are we
always fretting? Christ is our deliverer. He gives
life. He gives forgiveness. He gives
guidance. He gives strength, protection,
provision, It's finished. It's finished. I love to think
about this. You know, when Israel was trapped
between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea, Moses said, fear not
and stand still. Well, what are we going to do? That's easier said than done,
though, isn't it? Why is it so hard for us to stand still? You
ever think about it? First, we want to fix things
ourselves. It's just instilled in us, in our fallen nature,
to want to fix things ourselves. I can fix this. Okay? Secondly, fear drives movement. Standing still means do nothing. We want to do something. What
must I do to be saved? Well, it can't be that simple.
I got to do something. Faith demands surrender. Standing still is an act of faith.
Moses said, see the salvation of the Lord. It's the Lord's
salvation. But we can't see it. Moses said, He will show it to
you. Salvation comes by divine revelation. We can't see it. He's got to
show it to us. Moses said, you shall see your
enemies no more forever. Do we believe Him? How can that be? How can it be
that we'll never see our enemies ever again? Sin, death, the grave. The Lord shall fight for you.
That's what Moses said. The Lord's gonna fight for you.
That's what the Lord tells David here in our text. The Lord's
going to fight for you. I will deliver you. God took the responsibility away
from David and his men. Their role was just to trust
and obey. Listen. God's taken the responsibility
away from us. To do anything to try to save
ourselves. Our role is to trust and obey.
Be still, be still. That means to stop resisting,
stop panicking, stop trying to solve it all by yourself. God
gives encouragement in impossible situations. Why? Because nothing's
impossible with Him. With Him, all things are possible. David does an act here in presumption,
twice he inquires of the Lord. His mission is grounded on God's
Word, it's ours. Christ's mission was not the
purpose of man, it originated according to the purpose of God. When the Apostle Paul wrote,
when the fullness of time has come, what happens? Did man do
something in the fullness of time? No, God sent forth His
Son. To do what? To redeem them that
were under the law. Why? That they might receive
the adoption of Son. What did we have to do in any
of that? And this is how we speak comfortably to God's people. We tell them what Christ has
done and is doing for them. And He finished His work of redemption
for us. He fought for us. None can defeat
Him. He's a successful Savior. What
comforts me is what Christ has done for me. Look back at chapter 17 of 1
Samuel. We looked at this in detail,
I know, but I want us to see it again in light of this. 1
Samuel 17, look at verse 42. It says, And when the Philistine,
that being Goliath, looked about and saw David, he disdained him,
he despised him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair
countenance. And this was an insult to the
great Goliath. And the Philistines said unto
David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves, a staff? And the Philistines cursed David
by his gods. And the Philistines said to David,
Come to me, and I'll give your flesh, and to the fowls of the
air, and to the beasts of the field, Then it was David's turn
to talk. What did David say? David said
to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and with a spear
and with a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord
of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. And this day, now look at this,
the Lord shall deliver thee into my hand. Who's going to slay
Goliath? Well, the Lord is. He's going
to use David as a means. He's going to use a sling and
a stone. And then He's going to use Goliath's
own sword to finish him off. But it's the Lord that's doing
it. Why? Because it's the Lord that fights
for us. Is there any greater comfort
than that? He said, I'll smite thee and
take thine head from thee, and I'll give the carcasses of the
host of the Philistines this day, and to the fowls of the
air, and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth
may know what? That there's a God in Israel.
That's our God. Same God, same God. David didn't tell Goliath what
he was gonna do to him. He told him what the Lord was
gonna do to him. It's the Lord that fights for us. That word
deliver in verse 4 of our text is generally translated give. God tells David, I will give
them to thee. I'll deliver them to thee, I'll
give them to thee. Romans 8, 31, what shall we say
then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered, but gave him up for us all. How shall he not
with him also freely give, deliver us all things? What God delivers
is free to us. And what He freely gives us,
He delivers to us at no charge to us. But it costs the Lord
everything. But it was given to us freely. We hate Christ without a cause
freely. We hate Christ by nature freely. But He justified us freely without
a cause. Now the only sense in which our
will is free is that it's free to hate God. That's nothing to
brag about. Our will is in bondage to our
nature. It freely hates God. That phrase without a cause and
that word freely mean the same thing. Why does God do everything
for us freely without a cause? If it's without a cause in us,
the answer is obvious. It has to be for His own namesake,
for His own glory. God leads and guides His sheep
for His namesake. That's what David said in Psalm
23. David was a shepherd. He said, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He said, he restores my souls,
what David said. He leads me in the path of righteousness. Why does God do that, David?
For his namesake. God does everything for us, for
his namesake. Don't ever forget that. For his own namesake, God forgives
sin. David said, for your namesake,
O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Psalm 25, 11. For his own namesake, God saves
and redeems. Help us, O Lord, of our salvation
for the glory of thy name and deliver us and purge away our
sin for thy namesake. Psalm 79, 9. For his own sake,
namesake, God preserves his people. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great namesake. because it hath pleased the Lord
to make you His people." 1 Samuel 12, 22. For His own namesake,
He withholds judgment and will not cut us off. Isaiah 48, 9. For my namesake will I defer
mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain that I cut thee
not off. Isaiah 48, 11. For my own namesake,
God He will not give His glory to another. God's name is His
character and His glory. We've said that so much in our
study of Psalms. Everything that God does for
us, saving us, forgiving us, guiding us, preserving us, protecting
us, is to magnify who He is. It teaches us humility. It gives
us assurance. It gives us confidence. It causes
us to worship Him. God's glory is the anchor of
our salvation. His name cannot fail, so neither
can His promises to us. Fear not. Okay, back in 1 Samuel 23, look
at verse 5. So David and his men went to
Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle,
and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants
of Key Island." Who's that a picture of? when
we were yet without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Verse five tells us that David
saved the inhabitants of Keilah. What did they contribute? We're
not told they did anything. They contributed nothing. David
did it all, but we know from the previous verses that the
Lord did it all. And that's the gospel. Christ
saves his people entirely by his work, not by our efforts. Christ fights our battles. Christ
defeats our enemies. Christ wins the victory. Christ
gives us deliverance. Well, you've already said that.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing the word of God.
We got to hear it over and over and over again. We're a helpless
people. You've already said that. Why don't we believe it? Why
do we keep trying to help ourselves? Why do we keep trying to do something
to help ourselves? We're a helpless people. The
Lord describes us as poor and needy. Salvation is not what
we do for God. You've already said that. Salvation is what God's anointed
does for us, that being Christ. And victory's complete, it's
finished. Christ finished the work on the
cross. He accomplished full victory,
not partial. He didn't do everything up to
a point and then the rest is up to us. Who come up with that
nonsense? God helps those that helps themselves. God helps those that can't help
themselves. God helps those who know they can't help themselves.
And they cry out for help and mercy because we're poor and
needy. Has God shown you you're poor
and needy? He's able to save to the uttermost.
Does He save everyone to the uttermost? No. Then who does
He save to the uttermost? Those who come to God by Him.
Our redemption is accomplished through Christ's obedience to
the Father's law. And we're back on that word obedience.
In closing, I want to again remind you that obedience is better
than sacrifice. I won't turn you here, but I
will turn you one last passage. Back in Samuel chapter 15, Samuel,
God's prophet, confronted King Saul, you remember? who had disobeyed
God's direct command about not destroying the Malachites and
all that they possessed. He said, just kill them all,
everything. Don't spare a one, don't spare
any of their animals. And as you remember, Saul spared
the best of the livestock along with their king. He tried to
justify his disobedience by saying that he saved the animals to
sacrifice unto the Lord. And Samuel rebuked him. Samuel
said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as in obeying His Lord? Behold, to obey, obedience,
is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, listen to God, is
better than the fat of rams. Saul thought that ritual sacrifice
would outweigh direct disobedience. Listen, it won't. It never does. Any sacrifice offered from a
rebellious heart, meaningless to God. It's blasphemous to God.
When we choose our way instead of God's way, we've set ourselves
up against Him. All the sacrifices, I know you
know this, all the sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed
to Christ and His final sacrifice. They were pictures of Him. There's
one coming that is gonna put away your sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Sacrificing all these bulls and
goats and animals, that's what that picture is. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10, and I'll finish. Look at verse 5, Hebrews 10. Pay close attention to these
words. They were such a blessing to
me today as I read over them. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 5. It says, wherefore, when he,
speaking of Christ, cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice
and offering thou, God, wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. Christ came into the world, friends,
in the flesh, the body that God prepared for him to obey God's
will perfectly. He came to obey the will of God
in this body. Because in verse six, we're told
that in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, God had no pleasure. And in verse seven, then said
I, speaking of Christ, Christ said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written to me to do thy will, O God. to be obedient to God's will
and purpose. That's why Christ came. Verse
eight, and above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt
offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest not, neither hadst
pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, lo,
I come to do thy will, O God, to be obedient to God's will. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. Now the first, what's that talking
about? That's the old covenant system
of works, sacrifice. Bring an offering, had to bring
one every year, every year, every year. It was a reminder of sin. It was a reminder that you're
still a sinner. Those sacrifices didn't satisfy
God in the payment of sin. They never could put sin away. Then the second thing that he
mentions here, being God's will accomplished
through Christ's obedience in Christ's sacrifice. That's what
Christ finished and fulfilled on the cross. That's why he said
it's finished. No more sacrifice for sins. By
the shedding of His own blood, He made one sacrifice for sin
forever. No more shedding of blood, no
more shedding. Without the shedding of blood,
Christ's blood, there's no remission of sin. But when Christ shed
His blood, sin was put away forever. No more offering for sin. Verse 10, by the witch will we
are sanctified. Set apart, made holy. How? By killing more bulls and goats? No, through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all. God's will was for Christ to
offer Himself. And that one offering of Christ
is what sanctifies us makes us holy and sets us apart. Unlike
animal sacrifices, this was final and complete. Now look at verse
11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, Jesus Christ, the
God-man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God. Now Old Testament priests
never sat down because their work was never finished, but
Christ sat down. Why did He sit down? Because
His work finished. It's done, sufficient, accepted
by God. God accepted it. That's why He
cried, it's finished from the cross. Verse 13, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now,
any sacrifice that you and I make is unacceptable. God won't accept. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted. That's why he accepted Christ's sacrifice. He was perfect.
Christ came in the flesh to do God's will. He came to offer
Himself once for all. His obedient sacrifice perfected
believers forever. That's our hope. Why is our obedience
better than any sacrifice we make? All our sacrifices are
unacceptable, but our obedience is found. Now listen, this is
the key to it. Our obedience is found in trusting
and believing in Christ alone who did for us what we couldn't
do. It reflects the eternal will of God. Any sacrifice we make
without obedience is empty, it's worthless, it's meaningless,
it's full of hypocrisy. Our obedience to God and His
word is what God deserves as God. Obedience shows our love,
It shows our trust. It shows our submission to God. And that's why it's better. It's
better. And God gets all the glory. That's what He deserves. All
the glory. All of it. And that's what He
gets. And that's why every believer
desires to obey. We desire to obey. David said
it this way. There's a good way of saying
it. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. He repeats that twice.
That's how important it is. Not unto us. Not by us, through
us, in us. Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord,
but unto thy name. For thy name's sake. Give glory. Why? Because of thy mercy. and for thy truth's sake. Obedience is always better. God help us to obey your word.