First Samuel chapter 21 Just really gonna look at three
verses as far as in the narrative of our Study tonight, but we're
gonna look at quite a bit of scripture tonight in connection
with this verse 7 of chapter 21 1st Samuel Now a certain man of the servants
of Saul was there that day. Now think about this. David and his men fleeing from
Saul, got hungry, ran out of food, didn't have any weapons
with them. Apparently they couldn't hunt
or anything. So they went to Nob where Himalek was as priest,
high priest at the time. Asked him if he had any bread
and He said I don't have any common bread, but I've got this
hallowed bread I've got the show bread that's that's for the tabernacle
for the worship of the Lord and David said give me five loaves
or however many you got And he did and then it's during that
That visit that meeting it says now a certain man of the servants
of Saul was there that day detained before the Lord And his name
was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged
to Saul. And David said unto Ahimelech,
And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? For I have
neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the
king's business required haste. And the priest said, The sword
of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of
Elah, Behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
If thou will take that, take it. For there is no other save
that here. And David said, there is none
like that. Give it me. Let's pray together. Gracious Father in God, thank
you for your precious holy word. May we treasure it. more than
anything else in this world, and delight in the, as we see
our Lord Jesus Christ revealed in the pages therein, as you
reveal your gospel to us, Lord, salvation by your grace through
your son's life and death, perfect, accomplished salvation for us.
May we Truly worship and delight in him and adore his name This
night in his precious name we pray and ask So verse 7 in the narrative of
this seems like a very inconspicuous and inconsequential Verse of
scripture there was somebody there when David and his men
Ate the showbread at the tabernacle there in Nob and His name was
Doeg. But we find out in the next chapter
that him being there was not inconsequential. Look at the
next chapter 22 and starting in verse 6. When Saul heard that
David was discovered and the men that were with him. Now Saul
abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah having his spear in
his hand and all his servants were standing about him. Then
Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Here now, you
Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields
and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains
of hundreds? That all of you have conspired
against me, and there is none that showeth me that my son hath
made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you
that is sorry for me, or showeth unto me that my son hath stirred
up my servant against me to lie in wait, as at this day. I got to say, what a whiner. He's sitting under a tree surrounded
by his servants saying, you know, y'all wouldn't even tell me,
you know, that David's conspiring. What an idiot Saul is, you know?
And all of his men knew it, but you see what he's doing, he's
bribing them. When you have to bribe people in order to serve
you, you're not a leader. And that's clear here concerning
Saul. Saul being the replacement for
God. God was their king. They said,
we want our own king of our choosing, of our approval. We want a king like everybody
else. And just like with Jonathan, he tempted Jonathan too. He said,
you know, you're not going to be king if David is. tempted
Jonathan with success and worldly treasure and fame. And Jonathan
didn't care about that. He loved David. These men, he's
doing the same thing. He's trying to, he's garnering
support with bribery, with impressing them with what they're going
to gain out of it. Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set
over the servants of Saul, verse 9 now, and said, I saw the son
of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub. And he inquired
of the Lord for him and gave him bituins and gave him the
sword of Goliath, the Philistine. Then the king sent to call Ahimelech
the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the
priests, that were in Nob, and they came all of them to the
king. And Saul said, Here now thou son of Ahitub. And he answered,
Here I am, my lord. And Saul said unto him, Why have
you conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that
thou hast given him bread and a sword, and hast inquired of
God for him, that he should rise against me to lie in wait, as
at this day? Then Ahimelech answered the king,
and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David?
Everybody, you remember Jonathan said the same thing, why would
you want to oppose David at all anyway? He's done nothing to
cause it. Which is the king's son-in-law,
he married your own daughter. You gave your daughter to him.
And goeth at thy bidding, and is honorable in thine house.
Did I then begin to inquire of God for him, be it far from me?
Let not the king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all
the house of my father. For thy servant knew nothing
of all this, less or more." And he's telling the truth, isn't
he? David, first of all, lied to him and said he was doing
Saul's bidding. But also, what he said is right.
Why would you have a problem with David? No reason for it
whatsoever. And then verse 16, the king said,
thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou and all thy father's house.
And the king said unto the footman that stood about him, turn and
slay the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with
David, and because they knew when he fled and did not show
it to me, but the servants of the king would not put forth
their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. They all knew that
Saul was about half crazy. And the king said to Doeg, Turn
thou, and fall upon the priest. And Doeg the Edomite turned,
and he fell upon the priest, and slew on that day fourscore
and five persons that did wear a linen ephod, eighty-five of
the Lord's servants, completely innocent of any crime. And Nob,
the city of the priest, smote he with the edge of the sword,
both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen and asses
and sheep with the edge of the sword. This reveals a lot about
who Saul is, who Doeg was. And we'll see some lessons here
in our text about this. And then Psalm 52. Turn to Psalm
52 with me. Remember what we read about Doeg
there. He was there. And it says that he was detained
before the Lord. And here in 1 Samuel 22, we see how everybody else saw
the injustice of what Saul was trying to do and refused to do
it. It doesn't say what consequences
they suffered for that, but Doeg was willing to do it. And look
at this. Look at the beginning of Psalm
52. Look at the prologue. If you can read it. In my Bible
it's about a two font. So I'll try to read it. I remember
it from my computer mostly. Psalm of David. When Doeg the
Edomite came and told Saul and said unto him David is come to
the house of Ahimelech. This is David singing a song
about this whole situation. Verse 7. It would be easy to
pass over, wouldn't it, except for all of this. Why boastest
thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endeareth
continually. Why would anybody rise up against
God? All he does is good. He hadn't blessed you enough,
is that what you're mad at him for? For which of these good
works do you stone me, our Lord saith? Why do you boast? Why do you boast thyself in mischief
against the perfect, holy, good, just, kind, gracious God of heaven? Why in the world would you do
that? You're going to go to hell forever for it. It's that horrible. If any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, he is so altogether lovely that you deserve to burn in hell
forever for not loving him with all your heart. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs
like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good,
and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. Thou lovest
all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy
thee forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land
of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall see
and fear, and shall laugh at him. This is the man that made
not God his strength. He made Saul his strength. He
said, Saul's going to give me all this stuff. He's going to
bless me. I'm going to get promoted. I'm going to get a raise. He put trust in the abundance of
his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I, this
is David said, I'm like a green olive tree in the house of God. Tree planted by God in his house
By the rivers of living water flourishing. I have everything
that I could possibly want or need Because God is my shepherd. I shall not want I Trust in the mercy of God Mercy
I'm just as evil as doe egg is I The difference is the mercy of
God. Forever and ever. I will praise thee forever, speaking
to God now in this last verse, because thou hast done it. And I will wait on thy name for
it is good before thy saints. I will praise the Lord forever
because thou hast done it. All of this evil that Doeg did,
David said, I'm going to praise the God that allowed it, that
caused it, that brought it to pass, that purposed it. Remember our text in verse 7,
in chapter 21 of 1 Samuel, it says that Doeg was detained before
the Lord. He was there that day at that
specific time by God's doing, by God's purpose, by God's design.
And David understood that. David could have looked back
on that and said, you know, what are the chances that one of my
enemies, I went to there to talk to the high priest and to just
get some bread and there's one of my, he could have complained
against God, couldn't he? What are the chances of that?
But he acknowledged that God arranged it. He arranged the
meeting. And all of the consequences of
that were in the purpose of God. Do I understand why God did all
that? No. I don't. But I know God did it. David knew God did it. Job knew
God did it. The Lord gave, the Lord took
away. But wait a minute, Job, Satan, no. God just used Satan. God gave me everything and he
took everything. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Detained before the Lord. There
are a lot of lessons in this. The Lord arranges and causes
everything. God is sovereign. The rolling
of dice, the king's heart. There's nothing that happens,
no contingencies, no coincidences, that God is not the author of.
Isaiah 45, 7, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace
and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. All these things. Secondly, it
doesn't excuse the sin of the people involved. Psalm 52 makes
that pretty clear. God did it, but Doeg did it too. He's guilty of it. And he's going
to pay forever. David said he's going to cut
you off forever. Verses 2 and 3 and well really
throughout that psalm he just Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs,
like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thy love is evil. It was evil. God shall likewise, verse 5,
destroy you forever. He shall take you away and pluck
you out of your dwelling place and root you out of the land
of the living. So God uses man's sin, but it's man's sin, not
God's. And every idle word as consequences. All Doeg did was speak. He just
told the truth, didn't he? He didn't misrepresent it. Why
is the Psalm 52 about him and not Saul? It doesn't say the
Psalm written when Saul killed all these people. Doeg names
him. Why? All he did was say something. He just told the truth about
what happened. Doeg chose a side. And so does
everyone, every day. He chose a side. He knew that
Saul was unjustified. The other servants of Saul said,
no way, count me out. And they're putting their own
life on the line to say that. Doeg was the wretch that was
willing to do this. He chose a side. He knew that
Saul was unjustified in hunting David. But what an example of what our Lord
said in Matthew 12, 36. He said, I say unto you, that
every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment. And by thy words shalt thou be
justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned. In just giving
a true account of what happened on a certain day where Doeg was
witnessed, he condemned himself forever. He chose a side and
he chose poorly. He sided against God and against
his servant. I'm thankful when you think about
every idle word we're going to give an account for. I'm thankful
that when I am brought into account, and I don't know what that looks
like. Some say that the sheep won't be at the judgment at all
because Christ has already taken their judgment. Some say that
we'll be there. All shall bow at the great white
throne the scripture talks about. Others say that we'll be there,
but the Lord will speak for us. Nobody knows what's going to
happen there. But in whatever sense I'm brought into account
before God, I'm thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ is my advocate,
my substitute, and my sin offer. Because I've spoken a lot of
idle words, if I had to give an account by myself before God,
I would be cut off forever from the land of the living. Well, we'll see a lot more about
Doeg as we look at chapter 22, but let's move on now in chapter
21, verse 8. And David said unto Ahimelech,
And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? For I have
neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the
king's business required haste. And the priest said, The sword
of Goliath, the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of
Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth, behind the ephod.
If thou wilt take that, take it. For there is no other save
that here. and David said there is none
like that give it me. Now there are a couple things
that get our attention here and tell us that this is not just a casual mentioning of David
just happening to come across this sword out of the blue and
it's just not worth looking at really. The language of Ahimelech
and David in this get our attention and remind us of some things.
We know now that David was not honest with Ahimelech here again. He's saying here that he was
on business for King Saul but there's more to this than that.
Clearly he's implying that he's there on Saul's orders and that's
not true and we have to acknowledge that. But there's more to this
than that. It doesn't make David any less
a liar. But there is a sense in which he was on the king's
business. In fact, there are two senses in which that's true.
First of all, David was king already by God's own anointing. And David's business is the king's
business. That's not what David meant.
And Himalaya knew that wasn't what he meant. And so David was
being dishonest. There's no question about that.
But the fact remains, David is God's anointed king. And he was
on the king's business in that sense. If God says you're a king,
you're a king. Scripture says he made us kings
and priests unto our God. If he says you're a king, you're
a king. And also, David is doing God's
business. God our Savior is the King of
Kings and God has taken David to the throne by a circuitous
route. No question about that. But he has taken David to the
throne. And all that business in between his anointing and
his ascending the throne is God's business. And notice what David
said about the King's business. Now these are spiritual things.
It was just a, it's just a story in one sense, but it's God's
word. And this is a spiritual book.
The scriptures are written for our learning. All the scriptures
are written for our learning. And though this was part of David's
lie, he said, he's trying to explain why they didn't have
swords. If the king sent you on business, well, you know,
he might think, well, why don't you have, why are you having
to ask me for a sword? And David said, well, the king's
business required haste. Two lessons here. God doesn't
waste any time. None. The king's business does
require haste. We might think it seems like
God has taken a long time to bring his purposes to pass and
wrapping this up, for example, and we want to see him come back
and take us home with him. And we think about all of the
decades and centuries that have gone by since he told his disciples,
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. We think,
boy, it seems like it's been a long time. Here's how he describes
it. He which testifies these things says, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. Not one unnecessary thing has
happened since that was written. No idle time. God is doing his
business quickly and effectively and with an economy of effort.
He doesn't waste time and he don't waste any effort either.
We have to bow. We must learn to bow to his timing
as well as his purpose. May he teach us that, because
we're not going to do it otherwise. If he don't give us grace, we're
not going to do it. And secondly, the king's business is what?
He sent us on some business, didn't he? He said, all authority
is given unto me in heaven and in earth. That makes him the
king. And what did the king say to us? Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. And that's urgent business.
The king's business requires haste, because it's life and
death. It's spiritual life. and spiritual death. When our
Lord is pictured in the story of the prodigal son as receiving
his lost son, one of his lost sheep into his favor and grace,
it says in Luke 15 20, and he arose and came to his father,
the prodigal, came to his senses, didn't he? Like the thief on
the cross, when the Lord reveals the truth to you, it just makes
sense, doesn't it? But when he was yet a great way
off his father saw him and had compassion and ran And ran and fell on his neck
and kissed him Listen to Acts 8 26 Let me let
me read this to you because we got a lot of scripture tonight
and but don't but please let's enter into it I know it's easier
when you turn there, but I don't think we've got time to turn
to all of these tonight. I Acts 8 26 the angel of the
Lord spake unto Philip saying, Arise and go toward the south
unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza which
is desert. And he arose and went. And behold
a man of Ethiopia and eunuch of great authority under Candace
queen of the Ethiopians who had the charge of all their treasure
and had come to Jerusalem for worship was returning and sitting
in his chariot read Isaiah the prophet Then the Spirit said
unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. And
Philip ran. I wish every time God told me something
to do, I'd run. Don't you? Run. And he heard him read the prophet
Isaiah and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And you
know the rest of the story. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God and Philip baptized him. That's the
king's business. And when God gives us, may the
Lord give us his clear direction in his business that he has sent
us on as he did to Philip. And may we run just as fast when
he does. Now when David asks about weapons,
Ahimelech tells David about the sword of Goliath. This is so
interesting. And when we remember what the
fight between David and Goliath represented, what it signified,
it's not hard to see what the sword signified. Ahimelech described
it as the sword that you killed Goliath with. When you killed
Goliath, this is that sword. And so it's easy when you think
about this fight between David and Goliath, it's the salvation
of God's people. It's the question settled of
who's going to serve who. Is God going to be served or
is this world going to be served? Mammon, the flesh. When God's word is compared to
a sword, more than once in the word of God now, The one that's
probably coming into your mind right now is Hebrews 4.12. The
Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. The Lord said they didn't have
any sin until the light came, and then there was no hiding
it. The Word of God The living word came and revealed the evil,
and the word of God, it pierces the heart. When the word was
preached to those in the book of Acts, and they said, it says
they were stabbed, they were pierced in their hearts. What? By that gospel that the disciples
were preaching. And they said, men and brethren,
what are we going to do? We've killed the Lord of glory. We've
killed the Prince of life. And John said when he saw the
Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 1.13 it says in the midst of
the seven candlesticks one likened to the Son of Man. He saw the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day and God revealed his Son to him on the Lord's Day at the
appointed time of worship. Though he was banished to the
Isle of Patmos he's out there worshiping the Lord by himself.
And when that happens, what else happens? The Lord will show you
His Son. That's what happens. You'll see Christ. You can't
worship God apart from Christ. Like the Son of Man, clothed
with a garment down to the foot, and girded about the past with
a golden girdle, and all this signifies things. But look at
this, listen to verse 14. His head and his hairs were white
like wool. He's the Ancient of Days, though
the dew of youth is on his brow. As white as snow, and his eyes
were as a flame of fire and his feet like undefined brass as
if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many
waters and he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his
mouth went a sharp two edged sword. It's no coincidence now
that that Paul said in Hebrews there is sharper than any two-edged
sword. And this is described here as
a two-edged sword. It went out of his mouth. That's
his powerful word that divides and pierces. And his countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength. So the sword that the Lord used
and is using and shall use to save his people as clearly pictured
by David slaying Goliath and saving his people. The sword
that God uses to do that is the word of God. It's quick and sharp
and powerful. It's the power of God. Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believes the gospel. The gospel Paul preached,
he said, I didn't preach to you with wisdom of man's word, but
in power. It's a powerful gospel. Notice
what Ahimelech said about it here back in our text. You'll
remember it when I say it. This is the sword now that God's
anointed king will use as he reigns over God's people. When
he saved God's people, he used that sword. He cut off the head
of Goliath with that sword. He cut off the head of the flesh,
of the world, of the one who defies the armies of the living
God, which is us. The old us. And this is the sword
that God's anointed King David will use as he reigns over God's
people. And Ahimelech said, there's no other here. It's the only
one. And we have no other either.
We don't have another sword. Don't need another one. The Word
of God is our only weapon to defeat the enemy of God. Our
enemy. The Word of God is our only sword
to pierce the heart of sinners in saving grace and saving power. It's the only one. The only one
here. People always ask, you know,
I've heard other preachers say this too, so I know it's not
just you know, around here or where I was in Texas. People,
it's just, and you see, you hear of it and hear it yourself. People
say, well, what about your church? You know, when they ask about
your church, one of the first things you know is how many do
you have? And then they start asking, well, what do you have
for the young people? What do you have, you know, for divorced
people? What do you have for married
couples? What do you have for single parents?
We just have one thing for everybody. There's no other here. It doesn't matter who you are
or what you are. We have the Word of God for you. Remember what Moses said to his
father-in-law in Numbers 10, 29. Moses said unto Hobab the son
of Regel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, We are journeying
unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. We're
going to the promise, that we're going to the place where God
told us to go. And he said to him, come with
us, come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Why? Just because you're good folks?
No, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. will do you good now. Why? Because
of God's word. Because of what God has said.
Because of what God said it would be good for everyone that we
invite, for everybody around here. It would be good for our
loved ones. It would be good for our neighbors.
It would be good if everybody that didn't have a closer place
to worship God would come here. Why? Because of what God said.
It would be good for you to go with us, to join us, to number
yourself with us, with the people of God here. It'd be good. Because
of what God said. You're not gonna hear what God
said unless you go somewhere where he speaks, where his gospel
is preached. And look what David said about
this sword. There is none like it. There's nothing like the Word
of God. And this is something we don't
often think about now. We all have a Bible, probably.
And I would venture to guess that just about everybody here has
one. And your children, you've gotten them a Bible of hope.
And everybody takes it for granted, don't we? We just think, well,
it's, you know, It's good to have a Bible. We don't have to
understand or have really any idea what we have. We have a
perfect, there's one perfect thing in this world. One. One perfect thing. You say, well, Chris, we're perfect
in Christ. That's true, but I can't look
at you and see perfection. I can look at this and see perfection.
I can't see it perfectly. But I can see perfection. And
there ain't no place else I can look in this world and see that. Even the beautiful creation of
God is marked by our sin. The perfect, eternal, God has
exalted his word above all of his name. I don't even know what
that means, but I tell you, what we can understand about that
is this, God's word is high and holy and precious. He's exalted
it above all His name. That's pretty high. That's pretty
high. Oh, and there's nothing like
it. We don't half realize what we
have. There's nothing like the Word
of God because there is no one like the one who this book is
about. There's nothing like this Word
because there's no one like the one who wrote it. It's a revelation of Him who
is perfect. It's unique. There's just one
like it. There is nothing else like it.
Because Him whom this book concerns is the very Son of God and how
sinners are saved by Him. And you're not going to see that
anywhere else. Those who preach their opinions,
those who preach their denominational creeds, You're not going to find
out what God said from them. You're going to find out what
God said from this book right here. And only somebody that
preaches this book that tells the truth from the
word of God concerning his son. That's the only place you're
going to hear from God. It's not God's love letter to
mankind. It is God's sword by which God
conquers the hearts of his people and defeats all of their enemies.
You see the difference? It's not just a love letter to
mankind. It's not even written to mankind.
It's written to the sheep. Every epistle says to the sheep,
to the elect, to the church. It is the sword, let me say it
again, by which God conquers the hearts of his people. He
pierces their hearts and divides them asunder and brings them
to the place where they despair of self and say, what are we
going to do? And then it reveals to us what
we're going to do. And that what we do has nothing
to do with it. What we're going to do is bow
to the one Concerning whom everything has
to do And he conquers all of our enemy
John 20 30 These are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ the Son of God and That believing you might
have life through his name John 20 31 That's what this book is. It
is God's sword for accomplishing that purpose, for winning this
battle. And there's nothing like this
book in the way that God uses it. When our Lord told the parable
of the sower, listen to what happened. I probably should have
you turn to some of these, but there's just so much scripture
connected to this. I think we better read them.
And you just listen carefully. And he said, unto you it is given. He told the parable of the sower.
You remember that some fell by the wayside and some fell on
stony ground and some fell on good ground. And our Lord, as
he told that parable, the disciples are listening to that. And he
said to them, what is this? They said to him, what do you
mean by this parable? And he said in verse 10 of Luke eight,
unto you it is given. They said, why are you speaking
in parables anyway? unto you it is given to know
the mysteries of the kingdom of God but to others in parables
that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand
and then he said this now the parable is this the seed is the
word of God think about that parable if there's no seed not
much is going to happen is it the seed is life There's no life,
there's no fruit, there's no salvation without the word of
God, the seed. We sow the seed. The seed falls
on good ground. God sends those who sow it and
he prepares the ground and it's his word that gives life and
root and that bears fruit. Listen to Romans 10, 13. You're
familiar with this passage of scripture, but let's read a little
further than maybe we normally would. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they
call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? This is salvation. Who's going
to be saved? Those that call on his name.
Well, who's going to call on his name? Those that hear. Who's
going to hear? Those that the gospel is preached
to. How's the gospel gonna be preached
to them? God's gonna send somebody. As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed, I report,
listen, then he sums all of this up by saying this, so then faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It all starts
If you back up, you start at the end. Salvation, glorification,
being like Christ, being predestined, being in His presence, saved. And you back up to all of the
causes, all of the means that God uses. Where does it start?
The Word of God. You can't call on him without
faith. And faith not going to come unless you hear. And you're
not going to hear without a preacher. And nobody's going to preach
this gospel unless God sends them. There's a whole bunch of
people preaching a bunch of other stuff. But God has sent a few. Aren't you thankful for that? I'm so thankful to have somebody
to preach to me the gospel. And faith comes by hearing that
gospel and hearing the word of God. There's just one seed, there's
none else like it. There's nothing like the word
of God to comfort the sheep of God. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13, but
I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep. That you sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope. Listen to this now. He's gonna
say at the end of this text, comfort you one another with
these words. This is our comfort. This is the word of God to us.
Verse 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him. For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Those ones that we loved and
we lost in this life, it still grieves my heart. Doesn't it you? But it also still delights my
heart. In the case of my daddy, I know, I'm pretty sure now,
he's with the Lord. I'm pretty sure. And you know, there are times
I wish I had him here. But how could I wish that on
him? How in the world could I wish that on him? Paul's saying, don't feel sorry
for them. They're going to rise first. They're going to rise
first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words. Romans 15, for whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning that we, through
patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. There's nothing
else that's going to give it to you, sir. There's none like
it. There's nothing like the scriptures
to make a sinner wise. You want to be smart, you want
to know, I hurt, the older I get, the more
I hurt. And I've spoken to some of you
that feel the same way. You hurt for young people If there's something we could
do to wake people up. But you know what we do? We pray.
That's what we do. Because you can't wake them up.
We ask God to wake them up. And you know how he's gonna do
that? I don't know whether he'll save them or not, but I know
how he'll do it. If he's going to. And I see young people doing
the stupidest things. And even those that you love
and are closest to, it's hard to tell them. It's hard to get
through, isn't it? It's impossible, really. You've
got to try. But what's going to make them
not so stupid? This book. It's able to make
you wise. It's able to make you wise all
the way up to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and to salvation.
And nothing else is. Nothing else will do it. Not
my persuasion, not all of the love in my heart is not gonna
do it. There's nothing like this to make a sinner wise. Paul said to Timothy, from a
child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. And there's nothing like the word of God. Listen to this scripture 1st
Peter 2 wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as new-born babes desire the
sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. There's
nothing else like the Word of God to cause us to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. As believers, we
still don't know anything yet as we ought to know, do we? It's
not just young people that are dumb, it's us that are dumb.
It's all of us that are dumb. Listen, if so be you've tasted
that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming? as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture.
Behold, I lay in sign a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. I always think of Solomon and
how he pleaded, my son, take heed unto wisdom. With all of
your getting, lay hold of the wisdom of God in Christ. Lay
everything else aside if you have to. Everything. With all
of your getting, get some of this. Get understanding from God. Seek
it. Seek his face. Don't let him
go until he blesses you with it. An understanding of the gospel
of his dear son. An understanding of how he can
be a just and holy God and have mercy on a wretch like you. An
understanding of what a wretch you are. And what a savior Christ is. The last thing David said in
our text, he said, give it to me. There's none like that. Give
it me. Is that our attitude toward the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? Job said, neither have I gone
back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Give it me. Like little hungry birds, we
open our mouths as wide as we can open them. and wait for the
Lord to drop in a word. Lord, continue to give us your
word. This is my prayer for us, for me, for you. Continue to
bless us with your word. There is none like it. Give it
to us. To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. Let's pray together.