So verse 19 1st Samuel 23 19 Then came up the Ziphites to
Saul to Gibeah saying Doth not David had himself with us in
strongholds in the wood in the hill of Hakeela Which is on the
south side of Jeshimon now therefore O King I Come down according
to all the desire of thy soul to come down. And our part shall
be to deliver him into the king's hand. Now David and his men had
just been betrayed by the people of Kelah, as we saw earlier in
this chapter, even after David and his men had saved them from
the Philistines. And no doubt that was that was
disappointing to say the least and now here they are being given
up by the Ziphites as well and you know this is a simple lesson
to that is that this world is a cold and heartless place it
just is it's merciless godless we have constant reminders of
that in the scripture and in our own experience and of course
the Ziphites and the Helots are doing this for selfish reasons.
They're picking a side. They feel like Saul has got the
power, he's got the army behind him. They're positioning themselves
favorable to their own interests, just like everybody in the world
does. In that time, Saul was the man. The favor of God didn't matter
to them. There was no consideration. I'm sure it was no secret at
this time that David had been anointed by God. Everybody in
Israel knew about it. Saul knew about it. Jonathan
knew about it. If there had been any honor whatsoever, of course,
in the people of Kelah, they would have stood with David and
his men after being saved by them, no matter what. No matter
what the odds are, no matter what the advantages, disadvantages,
you guys saved us. If it wasn't for you, we'd be
dead or worse. servants to the Philistines and
so we're with you. That's kind of just simple and
basic, isn't it? But no, there's not even basic
decency and honor in this world. There's a calculation made and
a side is chosen. Am I going to do what's right
and trust God? Or am I going to do what seems
to be in my best interest and lean to my own understanding?
This is the way it looks like it's going to work out best for
me, so that's what I'm going to do. Regardless of God's will
or anything honorable or decent. Everybody makes that calculation.
Everybody chooses themselves. Unless and until God gives them
faith. By faith Moses chose. We refer
to that in Hebrews 11 quite a bit because that's a very key passage
of scripture, that whole chapter. By faith Moses chose the reproach
of Christ over all the treasures of Egypt. That's what believers
do, by faith. Faith that God gives chooses
Christ. It has one object and that's
very important. Logic would have sided with Moses doing something
different in that case too. If he had thought about his advantages,
disadvantages, if he had thought about what just seemed expedient,
he would have grown up in Pharaoh's house and been a big shot and
had everything that heart could wish, the flesh could possibly
wish. Not cast in his lot with the
defeated, vanquished, beaten down people of Israel. Why would
he have anything to do with them? Look at them. I'm born in Pharaoh's
house if it had been a choice just
between people or or what's best for me but that would have been
one thing but let me read that verse to you in Hebrews 11 24
listen to it carefully by faith Moses when he was come to years
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter refused
to have Coveted position in the most
powerful and wealthy household in the land Choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God But there's a reason he didn't
just choose those people over these people he Choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. Why did he do that? They're just
nicer people or something. No, esteeming the reproach of
Christ. Faith has one object. Faith doesn't do things by the
reasoning of this world. Faith doesn't say, well Saul's
the big shot here, he's got the army, we're on his side. esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." It's how he felt about Christ.
That's what faith does. It causes you to set your affection
and all of your trust. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I... and nobody
else is. It don't matter how well positioned
they are. Christ is my all. And that's the basis upon which
I decide. That's the basis upon which I
choose by His grace. God-given faith has one object. It's Christ. When we choose,
there are many factors involved. Every time we choose something
now, every time we make a decision, there are a lot of different
factors, a lot of different players involved usually. There are consequences,
temporal consequences involved. But if we have that faith that
God gives, it's Christ that causes us to choose what we do or not. Not the circumstances, not the
different players, not the consequences that we either dread or anticipate,
Christ. It's who will you serve? Choose
you this day whom you shall serve. And as Elijah said it in 1 Kings
chapter 18, you remember what he said? He said, not only choose,
but get to choosing now. How long will you halt? 1 Kings
18, 21. Elijah came unto all the people
and said, how long? Halt you between two opinions.
How long are you going to flirt? You know, when it's expedient,
you know, to serve God, serve Him. And then when it's expedient
not to, How long are you going to do that? If the Lord be God,
follow Him. And keep on following Him. And
when things are good, follow Him. When things are not good,
follow Him. If Baal be God, then follow Him. And the people answered
Him not a word. The Ziphites chose sides, didn't
they? They chose sides. The Kelats chose sides. We choose
sides. There are sides. Joshua said
in 2415 of the book of Joshua, if it seem evil unto you to serve
the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. And you
notice he's not saying choose the Lord or them. That's not
a choice. Christ is not a choice. He's
not an option. He said, if you're not going
to serve him, then pick a god. That's what he said. Whether
the gods which your father served that were on the other side of
the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell,
but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. There wasn't
any choice to Joshua. You know why? Because God gave
him faith in Christ. He had faith. If you don't have
faith, then pick whatever god you prefer. But we're going to serve God.
Remember when Moses caught the people worshiping the golden
calf? Exodus 32, 26. Then Moses stood at the gate
of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's side? That's a
good question. You answer it every day you live. Let him come to me. And all the
sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. Now you can go to McDonald's
or Burger King without choosing a side. But you can't go to a place of
worship, any place of worship, without choosing a side. You may not be able to take a
job without choosing a side. You can't let your wife or your
husband or your boyfriend or your girlfriend or anybody else
keep you from worshiping God without choosing a side. You've
chosen a side is what you've done. You can't stand in the
company of evil men while they blaspheme God without choosing
a side. As long as they don't need to
do that, then they don't need to hear from me. But if they
feel the need, then so do I. How about you?
You've got to choose. And Saul said in verse 21 of
our text, blessed be ye of the Lord, for you have compassion
on me. Do you see anything wrong with
that? Now fancy this, here's a man who blatantly and unambiguously
rejected God time and time again when given the simple instruction
from God on what to do, he blatantly refused and rejected the counsel
of God because he hated God. And a man whom God himself rejected
and left to his own evil devices and failures and misery, here
he is pronouncing the Lord's blessing on people. Does that
ring a bell at all? Someone who hates the God of
the Bible and whom God has rejected and pronounced a curse upon and
yet they're pronouncing blessings on people. The godless anti-Christ
free will of man religion goes around saying, bless you, God
bless you. Just shut up. I don't want your
blessing. I don't want your wishes for
God to bless me. I don't want you praying for
me. Just go on and do the God-hating nonsense that you're used to
doing and shut up. I'm trying to be nice. It's not working, is it? Doesn't that just make you sick?
There are a lot of things that offend me. Not a lot of things
that offend me, but that's one of them. The world, you know,
they feign offense at every little thing. Oh, you said a bad word.
I'm offended. No, you're not. Shut up. You're self-righteous
is what you are. Somebody has a calendar with
somebody with a bikini. I'm offended. No, you're not.
Shut up. That's offensive and godless and anti-Christ. Bless you, my son, when God has
pronounced a curse upon you. You hate him and he hates you.
Shut up about God. Now here is something. We saw
how Saul had deluded himself in verse 7. You remember that?
He said, boy, God's delivered David into my hand now. No, he
hadn't. The scripture plainly says a
few verses later, God didn't deliver him into Saul's hand.
Saul has deluded himself. But it's another thing to delude
everybody else around you. That's what he's doing here.
Now he's deceiving others into believing that God was with him
when nothing could have been further from the truth. He's
saying, God bless you, you know. Just because Saul had the numbers,
you know, and the outward prosperity, it looked like God was blessing
him. No, he wasn't. And he can't pronounce a blessing
on anybody else. And it's the same with false
religion. Just because thousands of people follow him, that's
not the blessing of God. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God
himself, walked with and taught twelve men while the religious
world and all the thousands that followed him went about their
business around him. When they chose the twelfth apostle
after Judas killed himself, there was a hundred people there. A
pretty big event, a hundred people. Just because they're rich in
the things of this earth don't mean they're rich toward God
or that his blessing is upon them. Saul's words are cheap,
aren't they? Anybody can say God bless you or the Lord's blessed
you. The Lord's really blessed me. No, he hadn't. Not if you hate his son. He hadn't
blessed you yet. Now, maybe he is and you don't
know it yet, but you've got no right to say it. Anybody can say that. But the ones that the Lord truly
is blessing, indeed the ones for whom God Almighty works all
things for their good, are the ones that love God. The handful that shows up to
worship Him publicly when His gospel is preached. And as that
verse in Romans 8 clearly states, they do those things, they serve
God, they love God, they believe God. Why? Because God has called
them according to His purpose. That's why. We know that all
things work to good for them that love God, to them who are
the called, according to His purpose. And notice in our text why Saul
pronounces his false blessing on these people. It's not blessed
be ye of the Lord because you've done what's right. Even at great
cost to yourself, you did what's right. It's not blessed be ye
of the Lord because you've honored God in this. It's blessed be
ye of the Lord because you did something for me. That's false religion. As well,
all around us tonight, all around us. Send in your money. Oh God bless you Yeah God's gonna
bless you real good one of these days Verse 22 Go I pray you Prepare yet and
know and see his place where his haunt is and who hath seen
him there for it is told me that he dealeth very subtly See, therefore,
and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth
himself. And come ye again to me with
the certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall come to
pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout
all the thousands of Judah." Now think about this for a second. As Saul is being disgustingly
religious and invoking the blessing of God, though God's curse is
upon him, David, who saved Saul, Being made out to be the evil
one. Oh, he's subtle. You got to watch
out for David now. He's a lurking out there He's
so subtle, you know, he's so crafty David who saved Saul and everybody
in Israel David who served Saul faithfully Fought his battles
honored his throne rights and did everything that Saul told
him to do Not one thing did he do against Saul or say against
him? In public or in private, not one thing. Think again about
why Saul hated David so much. We just saw this recently in
another lesson in the New Testament. It's just clear in the scripture.
What was David's crime? You know what David's crime was?
He was successful. Everything he did, God blessed
it. When he went out to fight battles,
he killed. Saul has slain his thousands,
but David has slain his 10,000. That's what Saul hated about
him. He was successful. What do people hate about Christ?
He's successful. He did what he came to do. That's
what they hate about him now. You think about it. You boil
it down. Boil down the nonsense that they preach. About, oh,
it's up to you. No, it's not. He came and did
exactly what he came to do. He was successful. It was up
to him, not you. Oh, boy. You just stirred up
a hornet's nest. They want a savior now that wants
to. They want a savior who allows
them to remain on the throne. As long as David's not a threat
to my throne, Saul is fine with David. A successful David, though,
was a threat to Saul's throne, and he knew it. And the successful
Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, forces sinners to acknowledge
their own helplessness and inability to do anything about their sin. He takes you off the throne.
Like Job said, He's taken the crown off of my head and shut me up. So I'll say it
again as simply as I can. If Christ saved everyone that
he died to save, and he did, then that means salvation was
and is up to him, not you, not anybody else. It's up to him. And for that very reason, just
as it was with Saul against David, everything that man does in his
false religion is designed to destroy and eliminate the true
Christ of the Bible. Everything. You listen to what
they say. It's carefully designed to dethrone the Son of God and
exalt man. Now Saul in verse 23 there speaks
of seeking out the hiding places where David was hiding. But look where David is hiding.
David was hiding in a place where Saul could never touch him. And it's pictured for us in verse
24. Let's start reading in verse 24. And they arose and went to
Ziph before Saul, But David and his men were in the wilderness
of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. Saul also
and his men went to seek him, and they told David. But wherefore
he came down into a rock and abode in the wilderness of Maon.
And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness
of Maon. So where was David? It's all
talking about, oh he's, we got to find out where he's hiding.
Where is he hiding? He went down into a rock. But think about
now, you know where I'm going with this. But think about the
spiritual reality of it. Where was David really hiding?
He's in the love and grace and purpose and favor of God. Where's that? In the rock. That's really why Saul couldn't
catch David, because he's hiding in the rock. It really is. Now in the narrative of this
story, this was just a rock, but what a beautiful spiritual
picture this is. He's in the wilderness. We're
still in the wilderness, aren't we? And it's a wilderness. It's
a howling, blasted wilderness. Nobody cared. No, there's no
honor. He's been betrayed by two different peoples. This world doesn't care anything.
He's in the wilderness, but he went down into the rock. What
a beautiful spiritual narrative that the people of God see here
in this text and take comfort. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 22.
This is what David said about how he was able to succeed And be victorious over Saul.
This is David's own account of it now. Well, because I had a
good rock to hide in. Well, yeah, in a sense, that's
exactly right. You look at look at what he said
about it. Second Samuel 22. One through three. And David
spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day. Now
listen, when the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his
enemies and out of the hand of Saul. There's our text now. The Lord was delivering him.
The Lord delivered him not up into the hand of Saul. We saw
a couple of weeks ago. He's protecting him right now.
And in the narrative of our text. And here's the song that David
sings. And he said, the Lord is my rock. That's why. That's why I'm alive
today. How about you? That's why. and my fortress, and my deliverer,
the God of my rock." Now listen, he's not just a rock waiting
on me to do something, you know. He's not just my, he's my savior
too. He's the one that brought me into the rock. I went down
into the rock because he brought me. Saw that Sunday morning,
didn't we? And he said, the Lord, my rock,
my fortress, and my savior, the God of my rock, in him will I
trust. In Him will I trust. He's picking
a side there, isn't He? I'm going to trust Him. Numbers,
wealth, prosperity, favor, you know, the majority opinion, none
of that matters. In Him will I trust. He is my shield and the horn
of my salvation. My high tower. and my refuge
and my savior thou savest me from violence look down to verse
32 for who is God save the Lord
and who is a rock who is a rock save our God where are you going
to hide there ain't but one rock is there God is my strength and
power and he maketh my way perfect look at verse 47 the Lord liveth And blessed be my rock. And exalted
be the God of the rock of my salvation. David, now, he knew
something. He knew something by God's providence
and grace in arranging all of this bad time. He knew something
about hiding in rocks, didn't he? And he said, my real hiding
place is God, the rock of God. the Lord Jesus Christ and we
see in the text that it was true he was hiding in God look at
verse 26 and Saul went on this side of
the mountain and David and his men on that side of the mountain
and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul For Saul and
his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.
He's surrounded. Looks again like it's over. Saul
said, and Saul knew something about war, about the art of war,
didn't he? When he was in Kilad, David and
his men were there. He said, boy, God's giving them
to me now. It's over. No, it wasn't over.
And now here, looks bad for David, doesn't he? He's surrounded.
But there came a messenger, verse 27, unto Saul, saying, Haste
thee, and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land. Wherefore
Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines."
Let's stop right there for a minute. It looked for all the world like
Saul was finally going to win again. And we come to places
like that in our life, don't we? You ever come to the place where
you say, well, this is it. This doesn't look good, does
it? This don't look good. Our trust in God is not always
strong. But the God that we trust is
always trustworthy. He's our rock. He's a rock. Strong, immovable, never changing,
safe and secure hiding place. You ever just wish you had some
place to hide? That seems like my first reaction
when it's just too much. I just want to go hide somewhere.
If you're His, you've always got a place. You always do. We hide in Him
from all of our enemies. We hide in Him from the wrath
of God against our sin. Because our sin is ever before
us. I'm still hiding. I hide in Him for myself. They say you can't hide from
yourself. Yeah, you can. In Him you can. Yeah, I've done it. By His grace
I've done it. In those last few verses now,
David's afraid, just like we often are. He's not superhuman,
he's afraid. Believers aren't delivered from
all fear and unbelief and and disappointment and grief in this
life, we are delivered. It's because of our sin that
we don't experience it like we should. But he was afraid, and
we often are too. But look at it now, a mountain
stood between him and Saul. A mountain. And even though David
didn't know it, God had arranged matters Think of all that had
to happen. Think of all the history between
the Philistines and the Israelites and the planning of the Philistines
that we don't read anything about. It's not even in the text. Everything
that had to come together right at that moment when Saul had
David surrounded at this mountain. Everything that had to happen
in hundreds, thousands of men's hearts and minds and the circumstances,
the chronology of it, the timing of it. All of the detail of it
that had to come that God brought together to save his son, David. And that big word in verse 28,
let's look at it now. Let's see if I can pronounce
it. Selahamelikoth. It's Sela Hamalakoth. You got to look at the emphasis
there. Sela Hamalakoth. You know what that word means?
A rock or cliff of division or separation. God has put a difference. A separation between his people
and this wretched world. He said to the Israelites hundreds
of years before this, not a dog will move its tongue against
any of you, so that you'll know that God doth put a difference
between you and the Egyptians. And the difference, the thing
that separates between him who uses God's name in vain and claims
to be blessed of God but is rejected and abandoned by God. The thing that separates between
him and all that's with him and he who is truly blessed and protected
and saved and secure in God. The difference, the thing which
separates them is the rock. It's a rock of division. You
remember when the gospel was preached, I believe, I think
it's in the book of Acts, and it says there was a division
among the people because of him. Christ is a divider. He separates. He makes a difference. He is
the difference. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Or what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if
thou didst receive it, why, ye glory, as if ye had not received
it? Who maketh thee to differ? Not
what? Not your birth, not your place in the world, not your
peers, not your family. It's who maketh thee to differ? There's somebody that makes a
difference between everybody. Christ has many names in the
scripture. And here's another one now. If
you can pronounce it, you can call him by this name. Selah
Hamalkalof. The rock of separation. We do choose Christ. We do love
him. By God-given faith, We choose
Him, like Moses did, by that same faith. Same faith, saving
faith. But what separates us is not
our choice. We choose because we are separated
by God. And that which separates us is
Christ Himself. What a picture the cross is of
that, is it not? Two thieves, one on each side.
And in the middle, a difference. A difference. The difference. The difference. All the difference. You think about the difference.
One died cursing the Son of God and mocking and railing on Him. And one died a mercy beggar. A rock of separation. First Peter 2.4. Let's look at
this together in closing. First Peter 2.4. First Peter 2.4. To whom coming? Where are we going to hide? Tonight.
to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
disallowed of Saul, but chosen of God and precious, precious
to God, precious to his sheep. Ye also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Everything that
we do. Why does the scripture talk about
good works? Paul said there's nothing good in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. How are you going to do a good
work? Well, what you do is acceptable the same way you are. By Jesus
Christ. By Jesus Christ. Wherefore also, verse 6, it is
contained in the scripture, behold I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone. chosen, precious, and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded. Saul is confounded
at every turn, isn't he? Not David. Even when David doesn't even
know what's happening. He didn't even know what was going on until
later. Who knows how long? Saul's already gone. He's already
gone. He was gone before he got there.
God's not going to let him touch David. You know, people say, that word
is ashamed there in verse 6. People say that, you know, everybody's
going to be, I've heard this when I was in religion. Everybody's
going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, you know, and
we're all going to be ashamed, you know, of all of our sin.
But then the Lord, you know, is going to say, I just have to believe God on
that, don't you? Whosoever believeth on him, never
be ashamed. What sin? What sin? You gonna lay a charge against
me? It's my Savior that died. And to you, therefore, which believe,
therefore, Since before God Himself, I've got nothing to be ashamed
of. Does that make Him precious to you? Unto you therefore which
believe, He's precious. Yeah, He is. He is. That's why you talk about, you
trample under your feet His precious blood. You talk about Him dying
for everybody. You talk about Him dying for Judas just as much
as He did for Simon Peter. I've got a problem with that. Don't try to take that which
is most precious for me, my only hope, the Lord Jesus and his
successful effectual atonement for me. You can't take that away. But, verse 7, the middle of the
verse, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which
the builders disallowed, the same, is made the head of the
corner and a stone of stumbling. and a rock of offense, even to
them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. But, verse nine, look at it,
but, here's the difference, here's the separation, here's the division. Some make a choice. No, some
are chosen. You see that? Boy, that's the
gospel right there. That's the difference between
the gospel and every false gospel right there. The difference is
some choose Jesus. No, the difference is He chose
some. There's the difference. There's
the separation. There's the division. The rock.
The rock, not you. a chosen generation, chosen in
Christ, chosen in the rock, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a
peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amen
and amen. Let's pray together. Gracious Lord, thank you for
the rock for our Lord Jesus Christ who has put a difference between
us and what we were. A difference between us and this
world. A difference between us and the child of wrath that we were
by nature. Created us new in him. given us life and faith, a new heart, a new mind. May we indeed show forth his
praises, seeing that he called us out of darkness into your
marvelous light. God forbid that we should glory,
saving our Savior crucified. May we go from here praising
his name tonight and taking comfort in the rock of separation. In
his precious name we ask. Amen. Amen. Clara has had a birthday
and we get cake. So let's sing happy birthday
to her. Happy birthday, Clara. She had another birthday not
too long ago. And my pastor Big Jack gave me
a book one time. The best thing I've ever read, in something like this, he gave
me a Spurgeon book, I believe it was, and it said something
to the effect of, I can't remember the exact words, he said, I thank
the Lord for you, it was on my birthday, he said, I thank the
Lord for you and rejoice that you are twice born. You were
twice born. I love that. All right, let's
sing together. We'll have a piece of cake. You're
dismissed.