Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the portion we read, 1 Samuel
chapter 25, and reading for our text part of verse 29. Verse 29, the middle of this
verse. We read, but the soul of my Lord
shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God. These are the words that Abigail
spake to David. The man referred to in the beginning
of the verse is King Saul, who is pursuing after David to kill
him. The whole verse reads, Yet a
man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul. But the
soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the
Lord thy God, and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he
sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. The words that Abigail spoke
to David were very precious words. Words that, if applied to us,
will make us indeed very blessed. To be told that our soul, our
soul is bound up in a bundle of life with the Lord our God. To be told that the Lord is our
God and that we're bound up with Him, bound up with His people,
bound up with all of the blessings that belong to a child of God
and that belong with those that are with the Lord is a beautiful
picture an idea in this way. We are used to in our day, and
please forgive perhaps a very natural illustration, but we
are used to being offered bundles with communication with a company
that may offer several services as a bundle for one price, one
deal as it were. We're used to that with perhaps
you get the phone and we get the internet and other things,
a caller display and an answer phone and varying things with
one price. It's all bundled together, these
benefits, and some companies would even add electricity and
power with them as well. So with one thing, one bundle,
there's a lot of different things bound up with it. And the picture
does hold good here because with the Lord there is bundled up
his people and all of the blessings of salvation, not just heaven,
but many other benefits, many other favours as well, that are
all part and parcel of that same blessing of being in union with
the Lord Jesus Christ, with being part of that bundle of life. Well, before we look at the points
that arise specifically from the word of our text, I want
to just consider the characters of several of those that are
mentioned to us here. The people. Now whatever we have
in religion, the things of God, we must remember it deals with
people. There are many, many names in
the Word of God. Some of them are the Lord's people.
Some of them are not the Lord's people. And with those names,
some of them, we are given their characters, many we're not. We
can read less and less and we're told nothing about them. But
others we are. We should draw our attention
to what actually is being told about them and to those people. And so in this passage, There
is things that are told about several people. One is Nabal. Nabal, this rich man that has
many shepherds, who has at this time sheep shearers, it is a
time of plenty, it's a time of harvest for him. But what are
we told of him? We're told his very name means
fool. We are told that he was given
to wine, banqueting in his house, so given to wine that his wife
had to wait till the next day to be able to speak to him. We're told also, most solemnly,
that he was a man of Belial. Now it is Abigail, his own wife,
that is saying this, and one that would know him, really had
to put up with all his ungodly ways and the things that he did. A very selfish man, a man that
was just centred into what he was doing, not even aware that
his shepherds that were in danger normally upon the fields night
and day had actually been protected from harm by David's men and
a man that was not really interested in helping anyone else. He acts as if he doesn't know
David, and yet David was well known, very well known in Israel,
who had gone out before all the hosts of Israel, had slain Goliath
with his own sword, and the women had sung of David having slain
his ten thousands and saw his thousands. And yet here is Nabal
just not mindful at all of it, very selfish, irresponsible,
ungodly man. And yet we find a woman joined to him in marriage
of a very different character. But before we come to her, let
us think of David. David, not yet king, but anointed
to be king. And we find a real break with
David's character here. Abigail speaks in our text about
the man risen to pursue thee, Saul, King Saul. If ever there
was one that had done David a complete misservice, David had delivered
Saul, delivered Israel from the Philistines. David had only done
good to Saul, And yet Saul was seeking, not once but again and
again, to kill him, to destroy him. And David had had many opportunities. He had the opportunity in the
cave. He had the opportunity when Saul
was asleep and he went down and took the spear from his bolster. He had those opportunities to
slay him and he would not. Those that were with him that
said, Now the Lord has delivered thine enemy into thine hand,
and David would not put forth his hand to touch the Lord's
anointed. And yet here we have a man, now
given of course that Nabal, David does not view him as the Lord's
anointed, but he is one that has just refused him goods and
pictures, in a time of plenty, who has rewarded him evil for
good, who has not paid him what he felt he should have been given
as a reward for looking after his men. It appears at the beginning
he never required that from the shepherds at all. They didn't
say, well, look after you, but give us give us a sheep every
now and again, or give us some victuals. No, they had kept them,
they had not suffered any loss. And yet here, David is seeking
this reward, and when it's not given, we find such an anger,
such a rising up that seems so very inconsistent with the spirit
that he had regarding Saul, and though there is the difference
of the anointing, but we also have a man that God watches over
and kindly sent Abigail to stop him in his intention to shed
blood and to avenge himself, which was contrary to the word,
avenge not thyself. we see the Lord's mercy in restraining
David in that way. And we see David's spirit recognising
this and blessing Abigail and blessing the Lord that he'd kept
him back from shedding blood, from walking in a path that later
would have been such a grief and sorrow to him. And what a
lesson we have, we're told that David was a man after God's own
heart. And yet, even with him, he did
sin. He sinned in the matter of Bathsheba,
and in this matter as well. He needed keeping. It was a break
from what has been his character before. And we need to remember
the Lord's people are like this, given one situation, they may
deal very graciously and rightly. Given another situation, touched
in another way, and up rises their anger, their vengeance,
they're not going to wait for the Lord, they're going to take
matters in their own hand. How many of us, in reading such
an account like this, we can see ourselves here, we can see
ourselves rising up, we can see the same spirit, we can feel
it, we can think back to situations where things have been done and
even though we might not have done it actually in practice,
yet in our minds we may have done many things to other people,
many angry thoughts and plans and schemes and what we would
do upon them. And what a mercy that The Lord
in this case, he restrained David, and maybe we can look and see
how the Lord has also restrained us. The devil will say, well,
David, you had that thought as good as done. The devil will
say to us, you've transgressed already. You walk in this path
already. What a sinner you are. And yes, we are sinners. But
maybe look at how the Lord keeps us back and restrains us from
sin and does not deal with us as our sins have deserved. This is a example of the Lord
in action, as it were, keeping his people, watching over them,
delivering them from their own spirit and their own ways. So we have David. aspects of his character and
the Lord's keeping revealed to us here. Then we have the young man, not given a name, but in verse
14, but one of the young men told Abigail, what a lot hung
upon That young man, you know, if he hadn't have told Abigail,
David would have come and he would have been slain, Nabal
would have been slain, all his fellow shearers and shepherds
would have been slain. He hadn't got the power, he hadn't
got the ability to change anything, do anything himself, but he could
go and speak to Abigail. And one thing that he said, it
reveals something more solemnly about Nabal. And that he is such
a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him. Cannot speak to
him. Abigail they could. And so he
did. He went to speak to Abigail. Something, isn't it? We mentioned
of Abigail saying of her husband that he was a man of Belial.
That's in verse 25. But we have this shepherd saying
the same. all of those round about Him,
that worked for Him, that knew Him well, what would people say of us? What assessment would they say
of us? Would they say that we are God's
people, a godly person, a praying person, Or would they call us a man of
Belial, a son of Belial, of the devil, such an evil character, a lost soul, a wicked one? How would we be described by
those round about us? Not that we seek the praise or
assessment of men, But the Word of God here, the inspired Word
of God, is highlighting to us how one man is viewed. Especially if we are the Lord's
people, we should be very concerned that we do not leave a blot on
the name of the Lord. That all that we do should be
to the praise of God, that it should not bring a reproach upon
His name, or His cause. You should not have anyone point
to the Word of God and say, there, you say you have the Word of
God and obey it, but look at what you're doing. Look at your
life. Look at how you're acting. How
inconsistent you are. That should never be so with
us. May we be able to stand back or Look at the Word of God as
a mirror and see ourselves, examine ourselves. Paul says of the Corinthians
that many were sickly amongst them, that if they would judge
themselves then they would not be judged. May we help to judge
ourselves and see ourselves through the characters. Well we have
this young man then, And he goes to Abigail and he tells her,
and he verifies what David's messengers had said. They were good to them. They
hadn't hurt them. And in fact, he says more in
verse 16, they're a wall unto us, both by night and by day,
all the while We were with them keeping the sheep. And then he
tells her what he is sure would happen. And it was a true assessment
that evil was determined against our master and against all his
household. So a man without a name, and
yet in this way. Maybe sometimes we're prompted
to go and speak to someone, to avert some evil thing. We can
see danger, we can see warning, we can see a trap. We might say, oh, let someone
else deal with that. Let someone else manage that.
No. If we see it like this young
man and are in a position, that we can be one step to avert that,
then we should do so. Well, then we have Abigail. We are told of Abigail, what
she was right from the very beginning, and how his name was the name of his wife Abigail. She was a woman of good understanding
and of a beautiful countenance. But the man was churlish and
evil in his doings. And he was the house of Caleb.
The summary and a brief description of their characters right there
in verse three. But with Abigail we see Her character
coming out. You know, she immediately realized
that this was something that needed haste. Maybe with us. There's things we might feel
where they need attending to. But do we ever add the other
aspect to it? This matter requires haste. Whatever is a matter that required
haste is the matter of our souls. We can easily see here, if Abigail
had not made haste, they would have been killed literally. But
what about in seeking the Lord? What about our souls? We know
not what a day nor an hour may bring forth. We know not that
we shall have a day of grace longer. Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
the ungodly man his thoughts, the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord. Or in the words in Hebrews, while
it is to die, harden not your hearts. While it is to die. Well, Abigail, she realized that
there was something to be done but something to be done now. And so she made haste. She doesn't
just go to stop David, she brings the things that they'd asked. She provides the loaves, the
wine, the sheep. She provides this provision. And then she goes to meet David,
to turn him away. May we be like that, to learn
of her character, to be one that when we see the Lord's people
intent on vengeance, intent on a wrong path, that the Lord give
us grace in a humble, gracious way to turn that person away
from the course that they are walking in. Because if there
is grace in that person, they will do what David did. Take
the advice, humble before it, see the Lord's hand in it, see
the Lord's voice in it. We read there in verse three
that she was good of understanding. She understood the case immediately. She understood also when she
went back to Nabal that to speak to him while he was drunk was
useless. So she waited until the next
day. So, we have these different characters
that are in this account. May we examine ourselves, may
we learn, and may we profit from this. Well, I want to look now,
firstly, three points. Firstly, bound in with the Lord. Bound in with the Lord. Our text
says, but the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle
of life with the Lord thy God. And secondly, bound with God's
people that is not alone. And then thirdly, bound with
all that comes with eternal life. Those things bundled together. but firstly bound with the Lord. The word of the text says, but
the soul of my Lord, that is the very real person. Our souls are in a body, a tabernacle,
at death they shall be released, returned to God that gave it,
that is so what we're talking of here is the very person, that
soul that lives forever and ever. of my Lord, she refers to David
as her Lord. But shall we bound in the bundle
of life with the Lord that is Jehovah, Lord in full capitals,
thy God. And so we have this beautiful
truth, bound in the bundle of life with the Lord. Really this is a description,
not just of David, but with all the people of God. We are told
that we are chosen in Him from the foundation of the world. We are bound up with the Lord. Thine they were, thou gavest
them me. We are bound up in love. The
Lord hath loved his people with an everlasting love. The love
of the Father to the Son is a love that is also to all of his people. And there's a binding up with
the two of them together in redemption. The Lord Jesus was given the
name of Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And you cannot have a saviour
without a people to save. You cannot have a redeemed people
without the Redeemer. And so you have saviour and sinners
brought together. And how many times in Scripture
they are labelled, they are put together. In Jeremiah we have,
this is the name, wherewith he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. And then some chapters later,
this is the name, wherewith she, the church of God, shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. And they're surnamed together,
they are bound up together. We think of the beautiful book
of Song of Solomon, and we have through that book the utterances
of the Bridegroom and the Bride, Christ and His Church, a union,
a union beautifully spoken of in Ephesians chapter 5, a union
that has the type in marriage here below, a union where they're
bound together in the ties of love, in the marriage union,
in the contract, as it were, together, the agreement together,
both agreeing and making the vows to be together. And we have
Christ and his church pictured in that same way, bound up, together. We have the people of God bound
up as well in baptism, buried with him in baptism unto death,
risen again in newness of life. Our Lord's prayer in John 17,
Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me
where I am that they might behold my glory. That union, that joining
together, is a very sacred one. When Paul writes of the Romans,
the beautiful chapter eight, and it begins with, no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. They are bound up with him. have
the picture of Noah in the ark, the Lord shut him in, the ark,
a beautiful type of Christ, and that union, that joining, that
binding up with them. So at the end of Romans 8, we
have the apostle saying, who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? And then he enumerates all those
things, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,
peril, or sword. And he finishes with, is persuaded
all of these things, death, life, angels, whatever it is, height,
depth, or any other creature, none shall be able to separate
us from the love of God. which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. And so he's bound up with the
Lord. The Lord says of his people that,
because I live, ye shall live also. The bundling up together
with them, this people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth
my praise. Again, the two together. The
beautiful picture in John 15 of the vine, I am the vine, ye
are the branches. The branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, neither can ye, except ye abide in me. And it is all
the time together, brought together, brought nigh by the blood of
Christ, bound in that bundle of life with the Lord. The Lord is there, the union
is between the soul of the people of God and the Lord their God. Do we have that union with the
Lord? Do we have that vital binding
up with Him? The hymn writer says, I could
from all things parted be, but never, never, Lord, from Thee. So this is the first point. This
is what Abigail says of David, that his soul shall be bound
in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God. It's a beautiful
picture, a beautiful truth. And may it be true of us. But then secondly, bound with
God's people, They're not alone. If this applies to the Church
of God, the Church of God is made up of individuals. If this
is a picture of the temple or the Church of God as a building,
Christ the foundation and the headstone, and all of the stones
are bound together, cemented together as it were, or fitted
and slotted together to make one whole, What would it be if
there was a building and it wasn't bound together, it wasn't bundled
together? But we have in Hebrews 11 that
long cloud of witnesses spanning over all of those years of the
Old Testament. They all walked by faith, they
died in faith, they died in the Lord, they had that same hope. They were all God's people. We
have Ruth cleaving to Naomi, thy people shall be my people,
thy God my God. The disciples being let go, they
went unto their own company. Unto him shall a gathering of
the people be, not just one, But in heaven there shall be
that innumerable multitude which no man can number. And so when we have here in our
text, the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life
with the Lord thy God. We think of all the Lord's people
bound up with those everlasting ties of love and mercy. Bound up together, do we feel
a union to the people of God? Do we have that mark in the epistles
of John? We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. Do we seek them? Do we love them? Do we commune with them? They that fear the Lord spake
often one to another. Book of Remembrance was written
for those that thought upon his name, those that spake one to
another, those bound with God's people, not alone. And here below, how precious
that is. And when we do fear the union,
a knitting, and a binding together with the people of God, it's
obvious that Abigail felt it with David, and David with Abigail,
that later on that he took her to wife. That may we feel it
to the people of God too. The third point is this, bound
with all that comes with eternal life. We spoke with the illustration
of where there may be one thing, one purchase price, but many
things bound up within. And so those things that come
with eternal life, they are blessings that are purchased by the precious
blood of Christ. They're what He has bought for
His people. He's given them first life, first
reconciliation. The payment is paid. Their souls
are redeemed. God's wrath is appeased. Mercy
is able to be shown. And so bound up with the life
that God gives his people is his grace. My grace is sufficient
for thee. Saving grace, by grace you're
saved through faith. Faith is another thing bound
up together. That not of yourselves it is.
the gift of God. The teaching, all our children
shall be taught of the Lord, great shall be the peace of our
children. The keeping, the protection,
we have an instance of it here with David being kept from evil,
but also the protection, how David was kept from being destroyed
by King Saul. There's a provision in Christ
of food, spiritual food, the manna from heaven, except you
eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no
life in you. Those spiritual blessings, these
all are bound up with this same bundle. We read in Psalm 84,
he shall give grace and glory, no good thing shall he withhold
from them, that walk uprightly. Bound up in this bundle is not
only grace but glory itself, heaven itself, and every blessing. Every blessing comes to us through
Jesus' precious blood. study subject or one to really
keep in mind as we go through life, as we go through the Word
of God, how much is actually bound up with being a child of
God, with being bound up with the Lord in the bundle of life. How much is needed for that life
to be kept alive and to be sustained and to enjoy the privileges and
benefits and blessings of being adopted into the living family
of God and bound up with them. So this is our third point, those
things that are bound up and come with eternal life. It is not just heaven. It is
not just the forgiveness of sins. It is not just grace. It's many,
many things. All the fullness and riches in
Christ. Everything. Everything that he
has. Everything that he can give.
Everything that we need. All comes. through the Lord Jesus
Christ. So this is a beautiful word that
Abigail has to say to David. He comes with a but, and we might
have in our lives as well, that which pursues us, our sins, our
adversaries, our discouragements, many things that so cloud the
blessings that we really have. May this morning our text be
about to balance, to balance the discouragements, to balance
the heaviness of our souls. Are we bound in the bundle of
life with the Lord our God? Do we really realise what that
means? Does it balance? All of the discouragements
of no doubt with dear David here, it balanced the pursuing by Saul,
it balanced what Nabal had done to him. It was a precious word,
how much this word itself was used to soften David's spirit,
to humble him, to bring him to hear the words of Abigail and
to cease from the anger that was in his heart. To may the
Lord use the word to this gracious effect with us and it be a point
with us that we so desire and long and prize, if it be the
case already, that we be bound in the bundle of life with the
Lord our God. Amen.