In 1 Samuel chapter 24, we are
dealing with that period of time where David is a fugitive of
his own kingdom, and he's at war with his own king. And this series of historical
narratives before us will conclude in the latter part of Samuel,
1 Samuel chapter 28 or 29. And so we won't be covering all
those chapters. We'll only cover this one. two
more before we close out on this really difficult era in the life
of David. You can describe David's present
situation as his son Solomon described it in 2nd Kings chapter
2 verse 26. The afflictions of David. The
afflictions of David. That's how you can Describe the
present circumstance in this battle that he finds himself
waging with his own king and Earlier our elder had plainly
stated that God has revealed to the believer who knows his
Bible her Bible that we are constantly at war with three enemies the
world the devil and the flesh and you and I have assigned Saul
as a type of the flesh and because he is the nearest to you and
me in terms of relatives, in terms of association, and in
terms of power. It's not unusual that what David
is dealing with is the adversary who is also a king. That means
he is powerful. And that means he uses resources
that are designed to thwart your purposes if he could. So the battle that the believer
is waging in this spiritual dimension against the flesh is a very serious
battle. Now, what I wanna share with
you along these lines as we prepare to deal with our three, four
points today is David will teach you and me where the battle is
to be fought. We're gonna learn today that
the battle that believers fight must be in the place where God
calls them. The battle where believers fight
must be in the place where God calls them. We're gonna also
learn how the battle is to be fought. We don't fight the battle
as Paul said, as one beating at the air, not knowing what
we are striking at and not knowing how to strike. And yet so many
Christians because of a lack of understanding are inclined
to that kind of battle, beating at the air, missing the point,
unaware that God has strategically put us in a place and a position
so that we win, we advance, we move forward in the cause of
Christ. There is nothing more problematic
for the Christian than for him or her to discover that they
are fighting the wrong battle And there's nothing more damaging
to the kingdom of God than when the people of God are waging
war the wrong way. There are two things out of this
introduction then that I want you to grasp is that if you and
I are out of position when we fight, and if you and I are ignorant
of the purpose for which we fight, we will both fail in our own
personal life and we will do damage to the kingdom of God.
Some of you know that by experience, that when you and I are out of
our position and we are fighting, we are missing the point and
largely we are doing damage to the kingdom of God. This is the
context in which David has been now called by the prophet Gad. If you recall in chapter 22,
verse 3 and 4, God had told David to remove from a particular place
that David had found himself Inclined to we read over in chapter
22 verse 5 and the prophet Gad said unto David Do not abide
in the hold or in the place that you're in where you have set
up forth depart and get thee into the land of what? Then David
departed and came into the forest of her wrath, which is a territory
in Judah why the gap come to David and tell David to do that
and Because David, according to chapter 22, when all these
people who had come to him who were distressed and in debt and
discontented, he had this massive group of people who had issues,
but among them were a couple of very precious people to him.
That was whom? His mother and his father. And
do you recall what David did? To keep them out of harm's way,
out of Saul's way, he took his mother and father across the
Jordan into Moab and asked the king of Moab to protect mom and
dad. Do you guys remember that? Now,
why on earth would he do that? And why on earth would the Moabite
kings who were Gentiles actually accommodate David? It wasn't
because David was some great notable warrior who was actually
king on the throne of Israel. This was a contention that David
had to struggle with. He didn't plead with the Moabites. to take care of mom and daddy
because he was a great warrior king for God in Israel. He pleaded
with them because he himself was a Moabite. That's good because
this teaches us once again that a true Jew is not one who is
a blood descendant of Abraham merely. There is no pure bloodline
to Abraham. Abraham was a Gentile, David's
great-grandmama was a Gentile, and David is going to his own
family to ask for help. And guess what they're doing?
Helping! That's an interesting aside, but while he is there
in Gentile territory, he discovers that this is a very pleasant
situation to be in. All of his people, all of his
military men, right along with himself, is enjoying being across
the water from Saul, held up in a fort in the area of Moab,
where the Moabites are treating him well. Here's the problem
with when you and I experience the favor of the non-believer. When we experience the favor
of the non-believer, we will lose our position when it comes
to the battle that God has called us to. We can find ourselves
enjoying the blessings and favor and benefits and the overtures
of the Gentiles. And to a certain extent, it can
jade you over against the people of God. Have you ever found yourself
saying, the Gentiles, the unbeliever is better to me than the Christian.
Yes, you have. And have you found yourself wondering
at that time whether or not it was even worth it to be identified
with the people of God? And have you been tempted to
question the sovereignty of God, the providence of God, the word
of God, the gospel of God, the kingdom of God, the people of
God? the manifestation of the glory
of God in the kingdom of God. Have you ever been tempted to
say, hey, I'm done with those people. I'm going to just do
Jesus all by myself over here with the Gentile folks. Some
of you have, and you know what I'm talking about. This is very
tempting. And if it wasn't for God's intervention
to once again redirect David to his primary objective, David
would have stayed there. See, sometimes comfort is not
the will of God. Sometimes comfort is not the
will of God. The other reality that I want
to lay down as a foundation is this. That warfare and spiritual
battles to which we have been called are necessary for the
people of God. That you and I are going to always
fight a fight of faith until we breathe our last breath. Now
God in his goodness will give us, as we stated last week, periods
of reprieve, retreat, Times to go back and recuperate and recover
and reestablish ourselves reassess our values Just be refreshed
God gives us those seasons, but you're never out of the battle
You and I are always waging war with those three Nemesis foes
that are against us to flesh the world and the devil and so
he was told to go back to And he did go back. So warning, child of God, you
and I never want to be fighting a battle where the world appears
to view us as on its side and not God's side. Watch this now. That means your battle and my
battle is not for the Moabites. It's not for Washington, D.C.
It's not for Sacramento, nor is it for any earthly institution
whatsoever. You and I don't exhaust the resources
of the kingdom of God in our life with our gifting to advance
the cause of this world. We fight battles for the kingdom
of God, for the glory of God, for the gospel of God's glory.
And we fight battles for the souls of men. for the calling
of God's elect, for the restoration of fallen saints. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Our battle was spiritual. And
as Christ put it, I came to seek and save that which is lost.
The goal of the son of man was not to promote earthly kingdoms.
He said it in John 19, 18 rather. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. That's why my people don't fight
political wars. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Be very careful then that your energies are not poured into
the wrong kingdom, so that when people look at you, they can't
easily determine that you are on the Lord's side. All right
then, as we open up our text, here's the title of our message.
Do good to them that hate you. Lord, give me grace. Give me grace. That's what I
love about David. right now is at his supreme because
he's at the place where he's trusting God. He can see God. And because when you can see
God and you can trust God, you can do what's right. Listen to
me, child of God, you and I don't do what's right when we can't
see God and we're not trusting him. There's no strength to do
the right thing. All we're going to do is what
we have to do to get by, self-preservation. But David is going to be for
us in this chapter a marvelous example of how to keep our priorities
straight, even when our most serious foes are those of our
own household. Point number one, as I already
began to allude to, departing from the fort to fight the Lord's
battle Sub points A and B. The real battle is for the claimed
territory of the kingdom, is it not? Right, this is why David
had to go back to Judah. Judah is what the enemy wants
to take. Spiritually, the enemy is working
through the Philistines, the apostate church, now that Saul
runs to take all of Israel and make it a slave to Satan. David is fighting a spiritual
battle against the apostate church and the Philistines who are ever
moving towards Judah. God has raised up David and his
men as a type of the faithful gospel church to fight for God's
throne. Are you hearing me? And this
is the battle that's going on. Secondly then, as we had already
stated, we are not fighting for the advantage of political alliances.
When the church engages in politics, it has failed to understand its
calling. When the church then begins to,
as it were, cozy up to the powers of the secular system, it is
overtly expressing to the world that it does not believe that
the scepter of Christ's righteousness is capable of moving mountains. It is stating, when it starts
making alliances with political powers for its favor, that the
gospel is not able to do whatever God wants it to do to move the
people in the direction that God wants them to be. It is very
dangerous when you substitute the gospel for political power. Point number two, fighting the
Lord's battle with his counsel is the only way, child of God.
This is what I meant earlier when I said David is going to
teach us not only where we should fight in the kingdom, but how
we should fight with a knowledge of God's word. There is no way
you can win any battle when you are ignorant of what God's Word
says about any topic relative to God's Word. There's no way
that you can win any battle when you move out in battle in the
strength of your own flesh. Even if you have been winning
battles for years, never fight a battle that you have won 10
times before without God's counsel. I promise you that 11th battle
you will lose. Listen to how David addresses
this issue. Not only does Gad come back to
David and say, David, you're out of position, but David, you
have to understand how to fight these battles. Psalm 32 verse
8. will share with us the insight that David has around how to
fight the battles. Listen to what David says in
Psalm 32, verse eight. And here in Psalm 32, verse eight,
what he is doing is describing to us how God has intervened
to speak to David and give David his instructions. And in a moment,
we will see that specifically. Psalm 32, verse eight. You guys remember this Psalm.
This is the penitential Psalm on David's part. And David now
is triumphing over the fact that God deals with him. I'm going
to start at verse 7. David says, you are my what? We just sung
that psalm, right? The Lord our rock. You are my
hiding place. You shall preserve me from what?
You shall come past me about with songs of deliverance hallelujah
now david is describing as i told you a couple of weeks ago how
that in the midst of his battle he would find opportunities to
get away because the lord had given him a song in the midst
of the battles and he would write it down and he would worship
god over in the corner while god is giving him a little rest
before he goes back out to wage war and here's what he says in
verse eight here's what god says in response to david i will instruct
you and I will teach you in the way in which you shall go." God
says, I will guide you with my own what? Now, child of God,
don't you want God guiding you in your battles? Go with me to
Psalm 73 and notice how David puts it in verse 24, Psalm 73
verse 24 as well. When God says, I will instruct
you, I will guide you, and I will watch over you, you have a safe
captain over your soul. Because there are enemies you
cannot see. There are adversaries you have
in your life that you do not have the qualifications to perceive. There are adversaries and foes
that would hinder you and stop you from God's will in your life
if you didn't have a true armor-bearer in the person of the Lord Jesus
who know how to watch over you. We already learned that armor-bearers
don't mean a thing if they don't come from God, didn't we? The
Philistine didn't have a good armor-bearer. We're going to
find out that Saul's armor-bearer is not going to help him when
the Philistines come up on him. What good is an armor-bearer
if he can't see everything? The armor-bearer of God's elect
is Christ himself. He is our shield as well as our
reward. And listen to what Psalm 73 says
in verse 24. Are you there? This is David
again constantly rejoicing in God. Verse 23, Nevertheless,
I am continually with you. You have held me by my right
hand. You shall guide me with your
what? And afterwards receive me to
what? Is that boy rejoicing or what?
God's going to keep me and get me to glory because he's going
to hold my hand and talk me through this thing. This is the GPS system
of the believer. This is the GPS system of the
believer. You can close your eyes and walk by faith, hold
God's hand and let him navigate you through the maze of this
life. That's good, that's good. Going
back then to our second point, to reflect on a few more things
then, fighting the Lord's battle with his counsel is the only
way to achieve. Two sub points critical to what
we're dealing with in our text. When we fight the Lord's battle,
we are fighting with the power of the gospel, with the wisdom
and power of the gospel. In fact, that's the way Paul
puts the gospel for the believer. The gospel is both the wisdom
of God, that's our counsel, And the power of God, that's our
strength. The gospel is both the wisdom and power of God.
It then is the sword that we use not only to be preserved
in the battle, but to advance in the battle. Is that true?
Wisdom and power. Listen to our sub-point then.
Our sub-point says this. The power of the gospel is primarily
for us to wage war against the what? Right. Have you figured
that out yet? What new Christians do our uninformed
Christians do is they often come into the church, learn a little
Bible doctrine, and because we all have the natural bent to
fight, and we're gonna talk about this in our rules of engagement
three class in about May, we're gonna have three weeks, maybe,
or maybe two, because like I said in our prayer service to a few
folks who've been saying, Pastor, when are we gonna have another
class? When are we gonna have another class? I said, okay, what I'm gonna
do is I'm gonna tell us We're going to have a class, but that
class is simply going to be for you to go back to rules of engagement
one and rules of engagement two, and listen to the CDs 10 times,
because we already have enough to know how we ought to walk
with God. But there's some things that I want to talk to you and
me about, not only as couples and as family, this will apply
to us now as a church. And it certainly works as a believer.
And you're going to see this in our series here, because I
know this is part of the theme for this new year, really. Fighting
is essential, but there's a danger in always fighting. And this is the undetected conflict
that goes on in the lives of couples. We are always fighting. And when you are always fighting,
you are bound to fight with the wrong people. So one of the things
we're gonna learn is, is that we are in a sort of position
of being defensive all the time, even with people that care about
us. And because of that, we threaten and deteriorate our relationships.
Can I get a witness? You're gonna see a little bit
of that with David as he advances towards the kingdom. He's gonna
make some mistakes because he's always fighting. Child of God,
and when you are always in fight mode, you will miss your blessing. Somebody gonna come to you with
a blessing and you gonna knock it out of their head because
you're in fight mode That's free So the power of the gospel is
designed primarily against the flesh and here's what I mean
if you're gonna grow in Christ and really enjoy Christ and The
Father and the Spirit and the kingdom and its resources The
primary work is on yourself not others And this is a hard lesson
to learn because we will blame everyone else for the lack of
growth and maturity and development and usefulness in the kingdom
of God than our own selves. But I'm here to tell you that
the rule of the gospel is that you and I first, first must deal
with our own fallen nature. So the framework of what it means
to be a disciple is threefold. You guys have heard me talk about
this recently. You have to take up your cross. Then you have
to deny yourself, not gratify yourself. Deny yourself and then
follow Jesus. That's enough of a fight all
by itself, isn't it? I only need no other enemies.
Right there, I'm stuck all by myself. And that's the battle
we're talking about. And so there are three verses
I'll call your attention to as I recall them mentally. Galatians
5.17 says, the spirit lusts against the flesh. and the flesh against
the spirit so that you cannot freely do what you are supposed
to do. Doing the right thing is a struggle
because there's always this Saul-David tension going on. Are y'all following
me? The second truth that I want you to capture out of our text,
our outline subpoint, power of the gospel is that in Romans
chapter 6 11 I want to remind you again of the first imperative
given to us by God through Paul and that is to reckon you yourselves
to be indeed dead unto sin but alive unto God through Christ
a large part of our failure to win spiritual battles is because
of our lack of conscious commitment to dependence and union on Jesus
Christ that when we separate ourselves from Christ, that we
have no strength to fight the battle. And we actually threaten
our identity in Christ. Did you guys get that? See, because
if you're gonna win, you have to be one with Christ. Christ
is your victory. He is your triumph. And if you're
gonna overcome the impulses of the flesh, you have to reckon
yourselves to be dead to your fallen nature, but alive to God. through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And as such, your dependence for strength to overcome the
impulses of the flesh to rule your life will be available through
Jesus Christ. Your strength will come right
away when you know that without him, you can do what? When you
know without him, you can do nothing. And when you know with
him, you can do all things. You're going to have the grace
necessary to wage the war against your own soul and subdue him
so that he does not overtake you. And then finally, the Magna
Carta of the gospel is given to us by Paul in Galatians 2
20, where Paul explaining to his Jewish brethren that we're
not fighting a fleshly battle. Our Magna Carta is this. I have
been crucified with Christ. That's my stand. The reason why
I'm alive and walking by the grace of God and able to triumph
in Christ is because I'm dead in Christ. I have been crucified
with Christ. And just as an aside, since I've
got you here, for some of you who are building your theological
arsenal, you are not crucifying yourself daily. Change that language. So I hear some of my brothers
and sisters say, well, daily I'm crucifying myself. No, you're
not. First of all, no, you're not. Let me just get that straight. No, you're not. Even if you're
doing it philosophically, you're actually exercising an oxymoron,
a paradoxical inability. Like, no one crucifies themselves. Someone else has to crucify you. How you gonna get up on that
cross? Boom, boom, boom, boom. Flip the hammer way up and get
both feet, and now you go, I did it! Even Christ didn't do that. All right, so let me help you
here, just a little theological insight. First of all, God isn't
calling us to continually crucify ourself. We were crucified once
with Christ 2,000 years ago. Hallelujah, that's where the
victory is. That's why you reckon yourselves to be indeed dead
unto sin, but alive to God. But daily, you are to mortify
the members that are already crucified. And that process is
being able to recognize fleshly impulses and tendencies that
are hindering your call as a believer and affecting your home and your
life. Am I making some sense? And that's work that we have
to do. That is the largest portion of the work to which God has
called us for which the believer that is successful in bringing
into subjection his fallen nature will be a good testimony to people
in the workplace. You'll be a good testimony to
people at the gym. You'll be a good testimony to
people in the streets, to your family members. You're going
to be the one that the Lord can use to talk to others when people
can see that you have authority over your fallen nature. Nobody's
going to ask you to help them in anything where they see that
you don't have control over your mouth, where you don't have control
over your passions, where your priorities are not right, where
they watch you. They say, well, now I know he's here, a Christian,
but boy, when he get in a bind, he sure go off. I know she says
she's a Christian, but her attitude is as funky as anything. I think
I'll go to Reader's Digest or something. And the point is,
we are not actually fighting the real battle. God will use
you when you are able to demonstrate that your dependence upon Christ
will subdue your fallen nature, because your priority is to give
glory to God in your life. This is not about you, this is
about Him. Thus the text says, I have been crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness
of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Is that
true? That has to be the ethic of our life. Point number C,
our sub point C, under fighting the Lord's battles with this
council. So we've considered that the power of the, no, I'm
at my point B. We've considered that the power
of the gospel is primarily against the flesh. Secondly, I want you
to see this now. Ungrateful sinners will fail
to see the blessing when they don't understand, now watch this
now, when they don't understand that when you and I are in the
proper position, and we are fighting with the proper understanding.
We are operating according to God's counsel and we are in the
right place and we're waging the right battle. We are not
beating at the air. Ungrateful sinners will fail
to realize that every Christian that walks right with the Lord
is a blessing to every other Christian in the kingdom of God.
I'm gonna say this again so you can get this. ungrateful sinners
will turn against you, as we're going to see here in a moment,
when they do not understand that your obedience to Christ is for
their good too. Every believer that does the
will of God is a blessing to me. Every time you do what's
right, what you do what's right for is for the glory of God and
the good of the whole kingdom. Every time you do what's right,
you bless me whether I know it or not. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Hence, King David did what Gad
said. Gad had told David to go back
to Judah, to dwell in Judah, because that's where the battle
is. So what does David do? David goes to a little area called
Keilah, where the Keilaites were. This is 1 Samuel chapter 23,
verse 10 and 12. Mark what it says. It's actually
the opening verses. I want to get to 10 and 12 in
a moment moment verse 1 through 4 of chapter 23 Then they told
David saying behold the Philistines fight against Keilah and they
robbed the threshing floor therefore David inquired of the Lord saying
shall I go and smite these Philistines and The Lord said unto David
do what go and smite the Philistines and save Keilah See what happens
when you're in the right position how God will use you when you
abide in this council. Remember David was over in Moab?
While he was over in Moab, Keilah was being taken advantage of
by the Philistines. As soon as David gets back in
the right position, now God can use David as a mediator for his
brethren. Who is Keilah? They are Judahites.
But who are they? They are people without help
against the Philistines who are coming against him. What is God
gonna do? He's gonna save the Keilahites
through David. Why? Because David got back in
position. Because David got back in position. Now David can help
his brethren. When you and I are out of position,
we can't help anyone. Now he can help his brethren.
Listen to what it says in verse 3. Then David inquired of the
Lord yet again. You see the pattern? David didn't move without asking
God for help. I love this. David didn't move
without asking God for help. And he went twice. He went first
to hear from God should he fight. Then he heard that his brethren
were weak in faith. Now he's going back to God to
make sure he heard from God, because he's going to have to
fight with brethren who are weak in faith. Have you been there?
Watch this now. And David inquired, yet of the
Lord. And the Lord answered him and
said, arise, go to Kielah, for I will deliver the Philistines
into your hand. So David told his brethren, I'm
sure. And his men went to Kielah and
fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and
smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants
of Kielah. Hallelujah. They love David.
They praise God for David. They're thankful for David. They're
indebted to David. They see the glory of God on
David, the anointing on David. They see the power of the gospel
working through David and his men. They want to join David,
right? No! No. I want to show you something. Verse 7. And it was told Saul
that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered
him into my hand for he is shut in by entering into a town that
has gates and bars. Watch this child of God. God
told David to get back into position so that he could fight a battle
for other people, a battle of which it would put David and
his men in jeopardy. Watch this. God will put us in
battles. to help others by God's grace,
of which in the midst of those battles, God's got to help us
to get out. See, everybody's going to have
to depend upon the Lord. So David's men have to go into
a city to deliver them from the Philistines. But David still
has the fall of the flesh coming. Do you guys see the scenario?
Watch this. And you would think that these
ungrateful Christians, because Keilah This is Israel. This is Judah. You would think
that these ungrateful Christians would say to David, David, what
do you want us to do? We see Saul coming. How do you want
us to handle this? We know that the Lord is on your side. We
know that the Lord's anointing is with you. We've seen what
you did to the Philistines. We recognize what you have done
for us. What do you want us to do, David? We identify with you. David, we will fight the battle
with you. David, we will die with you. Shouldn't that have been their
words? Now watch what David does. I love me some David. David is
just like the Lord Jesus. You know what that is? He figured
out that he can't trust Christians. This is true. This is true. Now
he loves them, but he can't trust them. Let me go pray. This is what David said. Because
it says over in verse eight and Saul called all the people together
to war to go to Keilah to beseech David and his men. And David
knew that Saul secretly practiced mystification and said to Abiathar
the priest, bring hither the what? David is getting ready
to seriously talk to God, isn't he? Then said David, oh Lord
God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeketh
to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. And that
was right. You know what Saul was gonna
do? Kill his own brethren. to kill his own brethren. Is
he not inspired by Satan? Is this not an Antichrist spirit
working in a man who is a pseudo-religionist even at the echelon of power?
And he's driven by Satan to kill the people of God. This is what
happens when you're on the wrong side of the battle. And Saul
is on the wrong side of the battle, is he not? Notice what David
is told in verse 11. Will the men of Keilah deliver
me up into their hands. What's the answer, saints? Will
Saul come down, as your servant hath heard, O Lord God of Israel?
I beseech thee, tell your servant, and the Lord said, he's coming
down, he coming down. I like this, I love the drama
of it. Because all God said was, he coming down. If I was David,
I would have said, now Lord, I actually, actually three questions
in a row. Could you answer all three questions? But let's see,
God is inclined to a relationship with us. That's what I'm going
to get at back in the class. God's inclined to a relationship
with us. And he's going to answer every point of concern specifically. But he wants a dialogue. Don't
text God with five propositions and wait for him to give you
five propositions back. Communicate with your father.
Because this is how he deals with us. Now watch this now.
Watch this now. Here's what David is told. Then
said David, will the men of Goliath deliver me and my men into the
hand of Saul? Verse 12. And the Lord said,
they will deliver you up. Tragic. Is it tragic? And do you see echoes? Do you
see echoes? Do you see echoes of Christ being
given up to the rulers of the church, by the people, even by
those who are closest in his camp? Namely who? Judas Iscariot. Remember what Christ said? The
one who betrayed me is more guilty than you who will kill me because
he ate with me and he slept with me and he saw all that I did.
He was in my intimacies. But you see this is the whole
point about the spiritual battle. In the spiritual battle there
are folks and situations that are closer to you and me than
we are willing to admit. And where we are not fully depending
upon God We're going to be hurt by them. If you've been a child
of God long enough, you know that this is true. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? You know that you're going to
be hurt by people that you should be able to trust, who should
have recognized how good you have been to them. Do good to
them that hate thee. So David is not going to turn
around and kill the Keyilites. He's not going to do that because
they're family. He's not going to even kill Saul. Because fury
is not in David. Love for his brethren will merit
that what David will do is leave Keilah in order for Keilah to
live. But isn't this horrible when
you have a king who is willing to destroy you to kill somebody
that's been good to you? And this is a picture of Satan
as he works in our world. He comes to do nothing but what?
Steal, kill, and what? Right. So then our last sub point
under point number two is the enemies of the of David. What? Right. This is true because
he is going to give him up. But more than that, notice what
it says over in verse 19. Are you there? Then came up the
zip fights to Saul of Gibeah because David had departed from
Keilah. And it says then came up the
zip fights to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself
with us in the stronghold of the woods, in the hills of Hekilah,
which is on the south of Jeshimon? Ladies and gentlemen, you don't
have the historical background or the geographical sensitivities
to understand what's going on. When David left Keilah, the stronghold,
he went to a region strategically set over against Judah, but away
from Keilah. And it was a mountainous area
where the people there are called the Zephites. Now this mountainous
area that he's in has a lot of trees where he can hide. But
the Zephyrites are seated in a position where they can watch
David going and coming. So you know what they have? The
advantage of intelligence. They are watching David coming
and going, and they're thinking about, so now here comes Saul
after David. We see where David is. Should
we let David continue doing what he's doing? and not say a thing
to Saul? Because if you do that, you are
an accomplice to David. Right? And if Saul comes in like
he's already done with his crazy self and find out you knew something
about David and didn't tell it, now you got a fight on your hands.
You see how we get stuck in between these relationships sometimes?
Don't we get stuck? You know this dude and that dude.
You know this girl and that girl. You know stuff about him and
you know this other individual got an issue with him. And you
got to ask the question, am I going to be devoted to him or I'm going
to sell him out for him just to cover my tail? And listen
to me, child of God, you know this and this is the bitterness
of the heart. Without the grace of God, self-preservation will
lead you to selling out good people every time. Without the
grace of God, self-preservation will have you sell out good people
every time just to protect your own tail. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Why? Because, see, really you in this
fight too. You just haven't, you haven't really resolved that
you're going to fight too. See, now when you really are
aware that you're in the fight, then you choose sides. And then
you go to war because you're going to have to fight. You see,
there's no way for you to win by not choosing sides. The devil's
going to get you. Are you going to die with Christ
or triumph with Christ? Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Right. This is so very clear. And I
don't have time, but on a very practical level, a lot of what
I'm saying to you happens every day in our life. You get to see
the weakness of your own sinful flesh. When in just normal conversation
with people, you betray loved ones by saying things about them
that you shouldn't say. by not covering them, by not
protecting their character and interest. And you do that just
because you want friends with these people over here that's
liking on you. You'll sell your husband out, sell your wife out,
sell your kids out, sell your mom out, sell your uncle out.
Am I telling the truth? I am telling the truth. Because
in the weakness of your flesh, you want somebody to give you
some props. But see, when you are one with Jesus, when you
have your identity with Christ, you don't care whether or not
people like you or not. You ready for God to choose your enemies
and choose your friends. Hold on. Did y'all hear what
I just said? When you're on God's side, all you want is God to
give you your friends. Because I have discovered when
I pick my friends, I end up picking my enemies. I'm telling the truth. I'm telling
the truth. I'm telling the truth. I want God to pick my friends.
I want God to pick my friends. And even some of them gonna jack
me up. Because they know God can raise
me from the dead. And he does. They just trust
after they throw me over the bus that God raises a brother
up. Pastor will forgive me. Pastor will forgive me. I'm telling
you from experience, this is true. Alright, let me keep going. This is an amazing thing. In
the midst of this struggle that David is dealing with in terms
of the betrayal of people that he's been good to and the exposure
of the division between the just and the unjust, the elect and
non-elect in this realm of religion where the war is taking place
now, God does something for David that's remarkable. Do you know
what he does for David? He gives David a token for good. Point number three, the final
witness of Jonathan. chapter 3 verse 15 16 and 17
our verse 15 and 16 notice what it says and David saw that Saul
was come out to seek his life and David was in the wilderness
of Zipf in the wood and Jonathan Saul's Jonathan Saul's son arose
and went to David into the wood and strengthened his hand in
God is that good child of God think about that David is at
war with his own king. He's in the woods, a fugitive.
He's in a practical disadvantage. I know what's getting in David's
head. This is what I mean by war all the time. War all the
time will cause you to lose your sense of security. War all the
time will cause you to be suspicious beyond reason. War all the time
will cause you to mark out people and wonder about people things
that you really don't have any real basis to do, but you're
in war mode. You're in fight mode. And I know
what's in David's head. You do too, read the Psalms.
My enemies have accomplished me about. They are more than
can be numbered. My foes are daily fighting against
me. Even my familiar friends have
become my enemies. That's what's in David's head.
After all, he's only human. War does that to you. When you
start recognizing that you can't trust anybody but God, then you
start, you know, building a fort around yourself. You stop taking
the calls. You stop responding to the texts.
You wonder. And this is what's going on with
David. And the reason I know this is so is because David has
to have a token of good given to him again. God gives intelligence
in Saul's camp as to where David is, but that intelligence is
in order for Saul's son to get to David. You see how God does
a bunch of things at once? Okay, so God gives up where David
is to Saul, but that's in order for Saul's son, whom David and
Saul love each other, allows David to now find Saul. Jonathan
is out of the picture for the last three or four messages,
isn't he? Where's Jonathan at? He's on his daddy's side, watching
this crazy fool make crazy decisions and destroy the kingdom. He's
got everybody in the kingdom rattled. Jonathan doesn't know
what's going on in terms of God's providence for the kingdom, because
his daddy's a fool. An opportunity rises up. His
daddy swears to kill him. He's got all kind of people.
Saul has got all kind of people coming to him, wanting the bounty
for David's head. Jonathan sees that they are increasing
against him. Jonathan says, Lord, give me
one more opportunity to be a friend. Let me one more time mediate
on the behalf of my brother, because I know what he must be
feeling. Child of God, do you understand
what grace God has to give you to put your feet in another person's
shoes? Whom you don't really have to
do, but you're going to do it anyway, because you love them
enough to want to let them know exactly what you know that God
has said about them. This is great. This is great. Watch this. The text tells us
that Jonathan went to David in the wood with the express purpose
of strengthening his hand in God. We, by inference, know that
David's hand was weakened. Don't we? His hand was weakened.
Point number three. I think I only got two points
under here. God's covenant faithfulness to us is always met with a word
of what? Please hear that child of God.
Have you ever been in David's shoes? And you know that you
were weak in faith. You were struggling and God came
through. And all he did was give you a
word. And do you know when God gives
you a word, it will cut the lights on, put tonic in your system,
calls you to sing and praise God. You'll get up and eat now. You'll go head on now to the
interview. And all it was was God gave you a word. He simply
said, you are mine, and I am yours. I'm the God that can't
lie, change, or fail. I'm still with you. Don't you
remember the promises of God? They are all yes and amen in
Christ, and they are never revoked. When I said that I'm going to
do something for you, am I not going to do it? And so David
needed to hear these words. And what I am sharing with you
is this. Sometimes to be a friend means
you had to get out of your comfort zone. You can't just get up every
day and say, Lord, I'm happy with my lot. Well, that's not
why God gave you a happy lot. He gave you a happy lot so that
you can get out of your happy lot sometimes and help someone
else have a happy lot and then go back to your happy lot. get
out of your happy lot, go help someone else get into their happy
lot, and you stay in there and dance with them, and then get
out of their lot and go back to your lot and dance. So Proverbs
17, 17 plainly tells us, a friend loveth at what? Not sometimes,
all the time. And this is a lesson in relationships,
and you gotta get this. You gotta get this, child of
God. You and I are not passive Christians. Somebody needs us
to be Christ-like in their life. You're not passive. You're not
just passing through headed to glory. You are on assignment.
All you need to do is commune with God for a few minutes a
day and he will show you people that need you to talk to them.
Am I telling the truth? All you need to do is pray for
five minutes. You don't have to pray for 50. You don't, you
can't, you don't know how, but I mean for five minutes and God
will show you people He will lay on your heart people for
whom you should start praying. And if you got the number, just
call them and say, Lord, I don't even know what to talk about.
Open my mouth and put words in my mouth so that I can give to
them so that they can be encouraged in their situation. Help me be
a friend. And that's what Jonathan is,
glorious. And then our last verse underneath
that subject, which is important as well, is chapter Proverbs
chapter 25, 25. You know it. A cup of cold water
to a thirsty soul is equated with good news from a far country. Is Jonathan bringing good news
to David? Is he bringing it from a far
country? Did he hazard his life to bring that brother a cup of
cold water? That's what we do with the gospel
week in and week out when we point you to Christ and show
you his grace and tell you to drink of his grace and restore
your soul. Am I making some sense? Now,
coming from a far country means you're coming from heaven because
Jesus came from heaven with the gospel. And we're coming often
from far places when we help people in need. Is that true?
All right, I'm going to tie this point up and move forward. When
you and I have an assignment, child of God, to help somebody,
is always going to feel counterintuitive. Haven't I been telling us that
for years? In other words, when God gives you an assignment,
he gonna want you to get out of your comfort zone and go to
where they are in whatever manner you go and be ready to deal with
the vulnerabilities of your gesture to help. There's some vulnerability
there. There's some liability there,
isn't it? You know how people are. You go to help them. And
as I said, they'll slap it out of your hand. But you've got
to be willing to help because that testimony is going to be
God's in the day of visitation. See, we're learning grace works
in what? Rewards. Grace works in what? Grace works
in what? I don't even hear the house.
Grace works in what? Right. So you guys are blind to the
end game. You're blind to the end game.
So get the CD. We talked about the rewards doctrine
last Sunday in our evening class and listen to it. The reason
why our works are shabby is because we don't understand the end game.
Okay? Because most of our works really
are to terminate in our own self-interest. But when you do it for Christ
and you do it by Christ, he'll get the glory for it. And then
I don't have to worry about reciprocation on the part of the person I'm
loving. I'm just loving them because I need to love them.
And if they knock it out of my hand, I just know they're sicker
than I thought. Right? No, right. Am I telling the truth?
Woo, boy, you sicker than I thought. This kind comes not out, but
by prayer and fasting. I got it. I got it. I got it. I'm going back to pray now. Cause
you sicker than I thought. I still love you. And if I was
you, I'd pick that food up. It's the five second rule. I
picked up food at the five second rule and get to eat. You really
hungry. You don't like the fact that
God used me to love you. Because you know how crazy we
get. Even when we in the pit, we get crazy. We'll tell God
who we want to come to us. And God's going to always use
somebody you don't necessarily want because he's going to humble
you while he's humbling them so that he gets the glory. I
know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about.
I know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about.
See, Jonathan could lose his life for this. Jonathan knows,
somebody knows he's missing. Am I telling the truth? See,
but when you hazard your life for the cause of the gospel,
you will be rewarded. Second sub point, remember the
promises of God. Oh, I love these, I love these.
Philippians 1.6, he who has begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. You believe that? You don't act
like it. Psalm 119, verse 49 and 50. Pull it up. I quote this
all the time. Psalm 119, verse 49 and 50. I do it by memory
because it's important. This is what the psalmist said about
the promises of God. Listen to this. Remember the
Word until you're what? We were talking about this last
night in our men's meeting, that one of the strategies for the
Word of God making an impact in your life is meditation on
the Word. Learn how to meditate on just
the Word. A line, a verse. Let it go deep, deep, deep, deep,
deep. And let it metabolize, break
up, and impact the whole of your system. And then bring clarity
to your mind. Because every Bible verse you're
not going to understand fully intellectually, propositionally,
didactically at first. But it has the power to do something
for you if you believe it when you receive it and meditate on
it. Just meditate on its precepts. And it'll show up in time of
need. Remember the word unto your servant upon which you have
caused me to hope. This is my what? This is my comfort
in my what? Because your word hath what?
Given me life. That's David talking about how
God's Word has come through over and over and over and over and
over again to deliver him. It comes through by memorization.
It comes through by reading. It comes through by power and
providence. It comes through by worship. It comes through
by the brethren showing up and sharing the Word of God with
one another. Is that true? There are ways in which God brings
the Word of God to you in situations where you know that was the Lord. And so David was comforted. So
then let's move on now to our final point, if you will. Saul
sleeping on the job. I love this. Verse one through
four. And this is the nice version,
because your pastor has a tendency to drift into strange places. That's just my mind. in the original
language. And your Bible is rougher than
you really want to admit. For some of us who are really
soft Christians, we can't tolerate bad words. And we can't tolerate
rough speech. And we can't tolerate rude sort
of colloquialisms. They hurt. They hurt. Why'd you
have to say it like that, Pastor? Why'd you have to? Because the
Bible said it like that. Because the Bible deals with
real people. I understand cultural protocol and all that. I'm trying
to be nice here as I get ready to say what I'm about to say. But watch this, in wartime, your
speech has to be clear and candid and concise. Because if you don't
get clear, candid, and concise, you're going to get your head
cut off. clear, candid, and concise will deliver you. All right,
but we don't have to do that today because we're in a nice
plush church where our condition, we're not in the Middle East.
In the Middle East, I would have said something else as my fourth
point. So God kept me. You can praise him for that.
Saul sleeping on the job, verses 1 through 3 tell us these words
as we begin to close out our message today. And it came to
pass when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that
it was told him, saying, behold, David is in the wilderness of
Engadi. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of Israel and
went to see David and his men upon the rock of the wild goats."
Now, you know David is in some rough territory. When you hanging
out with the goats. And he came to the sheep coves,
by the way, where was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his
feet. Hebrew language. that's very
difficult to translate. It means one of two things. Nature called him. See how nice
I'm using the term? Or he was sleepy and he needed
to rest. So y'all got two interpretations
that the Hebrew scholars have laid out. So for the nice people,
he was sleeping. For some of us ruffians, nature
was calling. In any event, His human weakness
led to him being vulnerable for David being able to take him.
God was showing David once again, that King Saul is really no threat
to you. Watch the line. Verse four. I'm sorry, verse two. I'm at chapter 24, right? Chapter 24, verse two. Then Saul
took three thousand and we already came to verse four. And the men
of David said unto him, Behold, the day in which the Lord said
unto thee, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand. You
now may do to him as it seems good unto thee. Then David arose
and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privately. Do you see that? And it came to pass afterwards
that David's heart smoked him because he had cut off Saul's
skirt. And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should
do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch
forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's what? So David
stayed his servants with these words and suffered them not to
rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave
and went his way. You see the drama in the cave?
Saul is vulnerable. David is tempted. His men are
crazy. Now I'm going to leave that for
you to think through when we get down the line. But I'm going
to go back to a point of application before I close. Can I do that?
So, because I keep the big picture in view. If you get comfortable
fighting, you're going to choose people who will live with you
and dwell with you, who also are comfortable fighting. If
you are comfortable talking bad about people, Ridiculing people. Just being nasty about people.
Selfish. Self-centered. Just giving to
fight. Y'all know what I'm talking about?
Because that's the disposition of certain people. Every time
they see an individual, they want to undress them. Talk bad
about them. Don't have a natural disposition
for kindness and positiveness. They just want to strip him down.
We'll talk more about that in the marriage class. This is called
an individual who is overcome with a level of defensiveness
where they can never see good in a person first. They always
see evil in a person. And the only kind of people you
can have around you are people who are willing to do the same
dance you do. That's right, boy. That's right, girl. He's a dog.
Let's tear him down. Are you hearing me? Here's the
problem. When you begin to develop people like that around your
life, they ultimately are going to be worse than you. Because
if you're a child of God and you're behaving that way, you
are betraying your identity in Christ. Are you hearing me? Can
I keep talking? I'm almost done. When you fight
aimless battles, when you are out of position, when you are
not seeking God's counsel, when you are beating at the air, The
only kind of people you're going to have on your team are people
who beat at the air, who also don't seek God's counsel. Because
if they sought God's counsel and realize that you're fighting
because you are addicted to fighting, they're going to tell you, hey,
bro, you're addicted to fighting. And in order for you to affirm
that proposition, you're going to turn around and fight them
and lose them as friends. See, so kind begets what? That's
exactly right. David knows now that there are
a group of men that are with him that just want to kill somebody. And that's going to be a problem
down the line. But now God has given David grace to be a model
to them and him. And by the way, just in case
you are dividing between the good guys with David and the
bad guys with David, you the bad guys, you the bad guys, we
are all inclined to betray people and throw them under the bus
just in order to have favor with the king. Did you guys hear what
I just said? How do I know this? The disciples
were just that way. Were they not? They were ready
to throw people under the bus for Jesus. Jesus had to turn
around and say, dudes, you have no idea what spirit you are.
They were inclined to that battle too. This is where when the church
gets caught up in merely fighting and not worshiping and honoring
God, You're going to be useless in the cause of the gospel. Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? There is a place to fight. There
is a manner in which you fight. The council must be there. Otherwise,
your job is not to fight, but to pray and to preach and to
worship and to serve and to be somebody's friend. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? So David knows there's a problem
here, but he's able to stave them off. Let me get out of here.
Let me close this point out this way. Saul sleeping on the job,
sub point one, the uncovered feet of a fallen king. What do
we mean by that? There's no place for him to what?
He can't hide. This is what he's going to discover
in a moment. Point number B, the tender conscience of a wise
leader. Is that what we're seeing here?
Is David conscious smiting him for even just striking off the
skirt of his garment? His conscience smote him because
he understands the implication. To touch the skirt is to touch
the man's soul. Your garment represents yourself
either by Christ's righteousness or by your own righteousness.
To cut off the skirt then is to be one inclined to want to
kill someone. David knew this was wrong. He
also knew that what he had just done was to teach his men to
hate God's structure. and protocol and God's chain
of commands. If David says, kill him, down
the line, guess what they would do to David? See what I'm saying? This is what practice will do
when you don't practice according to biblical righteousness. So
the tender conscience of the wise leader is that he has to
be a model to the flock. Is this not the Lord Jesus? All
right, our last point. The plea of mercy to the reprobate. The plea of mercy to the reprobate. Will you look with me at verse
10? I'm going to start at verse 9.
And David said to Saul when he came out of the cave. No, I better
start at verse 8. David also arose afterwards and
went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, my lord,
the king. And when Saul looked behind him,
David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself.
Do you see it? Do you see what he did? He bowed
before the king. Did he? And this is a picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ who came from glory and assumed a
human nature and bows before his brethren in order to let
them know that this is the way to exaltation. He humbled himself
and became obedient even unto death, even the death of the
cross. Am I making some sense? And as he says, except you humble
yourself, you cannot be exalted. Was David demonstrating faith
when he stood before his enemy and bowed with his head down?
Was he showing that he trusted God? Was that an act of power
or weakness? Power. Power. Power. All right, let me get going.
He says in verse 9, And David said to Saul, Wherefore are you
hearing the words of men, saying, Behold, David seeks your herd?
Behold, this day Thine eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered
you into my hand in the cave and Some bade me kill you but
my eyes spared you and I said I will not put forth my hand
against the Lord For he is the Lord's anointed Moreover my father
you see how David is calling him father See yay. See the skirt of the robe in
my hand. I love it For in that I cut off
the skirt of your robe, and I did not kill you, know thou and see
that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and
I have not sinned against you, yet you hunt me, hunt my soul
to take it. Now watch the next few verses.
The Lord judged between me and thee, and the Lord avenged me
of you, but my hand shall not be upon you. I want you to mark
verse 12. You know what David just said? The Lord judged between
you and me. The Lord judged between you and
me. You know what David is saying? I'm not trusting you, dude. I'm
trusting God. As the proverb often says, wickedness
proceeds from the what? But my hand shall not be upon
you. After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom do
you pursue? A dead dog or a flea? You see how David viewed himself
in the presence of the king? He humbled himself. And the Lord
therefore judge between me and thee and see and plead my cause
and deliver me out of your hand. Now watch this, ladies and gentlemen.
And it came to pass when David had made an end of speaking these
words unto Saul that Saul said, is this the voice of my son,
David? And Saul lifted up his voice
and wept. He said to David, you are more
righteous than me. "'For you have rewarded me good,
"'whereas I have rewarded the evil. "'And you've shown me this
day "'how that you have dealt well with me, "'for as much as
when the Lord had delivered me "'into your hand, you did not
kill me. "'For if a man finds his enemy,
why will he let him away? "'Wherefore the Lord rewards
you good, "'for that you have done this unto me this day. "'And
now behold, I know well that you shall surely be king.'" and
that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord that you will not cut
off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name
out of my family's house. And David swear unto Saul, and
Saul went about, Saul went home, but David and his men got back
to the hole. Give Saul an Academy Award. Give him an Academy Award. I remember the first time I preached
this. I'm going to get out of here. This was 100 years ago. I was
a brand new preacher. And this was in the days of Jimmy
Swagger. Do you remember? On television. I've sinned. I've sinned. I've sinned. The tears, the big crocodile.
Remember that? Only to go out and do it again.
And do it again. And do it again. And what you
see in Saul are the words of a reprobate. There's nothing
sincere here at all. Saul is actually under unction
of the Holy Ghost to tell the truth, though his heart is not
in it. I want to show you a verse before
I close, because you need to get it. I don't want you to be
deceived by mere words. This is the hypocrisy of words.
David hears what he says, but he does not believe him. Proverbs
26, verse 24 through 26. I want you to pull it out. David
hears what Saul says, but does not believe him because David
knows that the Spirit of God has left Saul and an evil spirit
has taken hold of Saul. Are you hearing me? And the only
thing Saul wants to do is kill David. How do we know? When we get to chapter 26, Saul's
back at it again. And I'm going to show you one
verse before I close with these two to help you know how David
understands that your enemy can sound good when he's in a position
of weakness. But let him get his strength
back and watch his horns come out and his fangs come out at
you all over again. Listen to the Proverbs. Start
at verse 25. 2625 Well, I better start at 24 Because
I know the proverb I don't think you do and I just want you to
be The man that operates out of hatred the man or woman that
operates out of hatred Dissembles, you know what dissembles me tears
down separates Watch this with his lips and he lays up deceit
within him. I A heart filled with evil does
not know how to build up. It only knows how to tear down.
Next verse. Don't y'all know people like that? When he speaketh
fair, do not believe him. Is that good? When he speaketh
fair. Now this is interesting because
our Hebrew word here for fair is the word for grace and favor.
When he uses gospel language, When he talks mercy and grace
and kindness, but because his heart is filled with hatred,
don't believe his words. Don't believe his words. Watch
this. For there are seven abominations in his heart. That's a message
all by itself. Do you hear me? Seven abominations
in the heart. This describes the reprobate.
who does not fear nor love God, who does not have the principle
of the Spirit of God operating in their life. Remember, when
you and I are born again, the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Is that true? So that the natural
well of life that springs up in the life of the believer is
a well of love. And it shapes our words, and
it shapes our character, and it shapes our life. Where that
well is not there is nothing but the muck and mire and poison
of asps. and you can cover it over with
false religion. Some of the most nasty and hateful
and mean and cantankerous people are religious. And they can put
on a fair show after the flash. King Saul calls David, my son. He was just calling him son of
Jesse a minute ago, cussing him out, right? Now he's calling
him his son. Why? Because he's afraid of his
own life. he has just tap-danced his way
out of trouble. Give him an Academy Award. I'm gonna close with these words.
Let me see, there might be another verse. Let me see verse 26. Whose hatred is covered over
by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before what? Yes, it
will. You can get away with it for
a minute, but it's gonna come out. Right, whatever's done in
secret is going to come to the light. Is that true? All right,
so let me close with one more just one more thought with you.
Just listen to these words. Here's the lesson. Here's the
lesson as we as we see David as a great type of Christ functioning
in a mode of mercy continually even before his enemies. The
message that David gives to Saul is a message that I have no desire
to harm you. I have no desire to hurt you.
I would much rather that we would be brother and it's a soft answer. But it's not turning the king.
And the gospel is a soft answer to rebel sinners. The message
of the cross is a tender call to all rebels. That the power
of the sword is still in the hand of Christ to destroy all
rebels if we fail to see that grace is found in the heart of
God because of the sacrifice of Christ. where we fail to see
that grace is found in God's heart because of Christ. There
is nothing left but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation that will devour the adversaries. It's either
grace or wrath coming from the same man. Grace now, wrath later. Amen.