Turn with me if you would now
to 1 Samuel chapter 25. 1 Samuel 25. I'd like to tell you a story,
and then after that I'd like to show you a picture. We'll start into the story just
a little way, and then we'll catch the picture up and finish
the story and picture together. That's what we did last Wednesday
night, and that's what we'll do tonight. As you know, David
was anointed king by the prophet Samuel. He defeated Goliath. He was welcomed into Saul's house. He was loved by Jonathan and
then he was hated by Saul and he was pursued by Saul. Saul became David's enemy. He continually tried to kill
him, but Saul was stopped in chapter
24 when David spared his life. That's what we looked at last
Wednesday night. For a moment, just for a moment, it broke Saul. And I say just for a moment,
but David made a covenant with Saul and for a moment, Saul went
home. That's how chapter 24 ended. Now chapter 25, verse one says. And Samuel died, the prophet
that Israel rejected, wanting a King to reign over them instead.
God appointed Samuel, the prophet to rule over them. And they said,
we don't want a prophet. We want a King. Verse one says,
and Samuel died and all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented
him and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose and
went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in
May on whose possessions were in Carmel. He had his possessions
there. That word means his business
was there. There was a man in May on whose
possessions were in Carmel and the man was very great and he
had 3000 sheep. And a thousand goats and he was
shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now, the name of the man was
Nabal in the name of his wife, Abigail. And she was a woman
of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance, but
the man was churlish. And that means he was hard and
cruel and stubborn and difficult. He was a difficult man. He was
churlish and evil in his doings. And he was of the house of Caleb.
And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. This man had 3000 sheep and he
was there shearing his sheep. And we're about to read in just
a minute that the shepherds of those sheep That belonged to
Nabal. There was a period of time when
Nabal's shepherds and Nabal's sheep were with David and his
men out in the wilderness. And David and his men watched
over those shepherds and watched over the sheep and they protected
them. They did that for Nabal. Not specifically, they were doing
it for the shepherds and the sheep. They all belonged to Nabal.
David and his men now are hungry. All right, so verse four, David
heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. And David sent out 10 young men. And David said unto the young
men, get you up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in
my name. And thus shall you say to him
that liveth in prosperity. Peace be both to thee and peace
be to thine house. And peace be unto all that thou
hast. And now I have heard that thou
hast shearers. Now thy shepherds which were
with us, we hurt them not. Neither was there aught missing
unto them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young
men and they will show thee. Wherefore, let the young men
find favor in thine eyes. He's saying the young men who
I've sent to you with this message, let the young men find favor
in thine eyes for we come in a good day. And that means we
come in kindness. We come in peace. Give, I pray
thee whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants and to
thy son, David. He's approaching Nabal very kindly,
very humbly, very respectfully. He's asking of all of your substance,
could you spare anything for us? We were with your men and
we, we didn't touch anything that belonged to yours and we're
asking nicely. Verse nine. And when David's
young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those
words in the name of David and ceased. They told what they were
told to tell, and then they stopped. And Nabal answered David's servants
and said, who is David? And who is the son of Jesse?
There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from
his master. Shall I then take my bread and
my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers and give
it unto men whom I know not whence they be? So David's young men
turned their way and went again and came and told him all those
sayings. And David said unto his men,
gird on every man his sword. And they girded on every man
his sword. And David also girded on his
sword. And there went up after David
about 400 men, and 200 abode by the stuff. But one of the
young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent
messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he
railed on them. But the men were very good unto
us, and we were not hurt. Neither missed we anything as
long as we were conversant with them when we were in the fields. They were a wall unto us both
by night and day. All the while we were with them,
keeping the sheep, they, they protected us. Now, therefore,
no, and consider what thou wilt do. For evil is determined against
our master and against all his household. For he is such a son
of Belial that a man cannot speak to him. Now, do we understand
what's going on in the story so far? So following all that. All right. Let me give a little
bit of the picture. This man, Nabal. His name means the fool. Clearly he is. That's what his
name means, the fool. He represents me and you. He represents us by nature. David,
there are times when David represents God's people. There are times,
many times, quite often, when David represents Christ. In this
moment, he represents God the father who was nothing but good
to man, nothing but good. Nabal's shepherds, these men
that were with David out there and David didn't do them any
harm and he protected them. He was a wall under them. David's
shepherds, they represent the law. We're going to see that
very, very clearly. The law who God upheld and protected
and nourished God's holy law. Look at verse five again. It
says, and David sent out 10 young men. David sent out messengers
to the fool. And the end of verse five, he
said, greet him in my name. And that's how God sends preachers
to men and women. They come in his name, on his
errand, doing his business. That's all that a preacher is.
If you want to get right to the heart of what a true preacher
is, he's a puppet. He's God's puppet doing whatever
God tells that man to do. And that is preach my word. He
said, you bring this word to them and you come to them in
my name. And David told those messengers,
this is the message I'm sending you with. I want you to tell
him how good I was to him and to all of his possessions. Look
at the end of verse seven, while they were in Carmel, you tell
them how good I was to him and all his possessions while they
were in Carmel. You know what the name Carmel
means? It means the garden land. He said, this is the message.
You tell him how good I was to him in the garden. So good. And that's what the messengers
did. They went and told Nabal. What
was the fool's response? Rebellion. That's been man's
response to God. Nabal said, who is David? Man says, who is God? Just like
Nabal, man will find out. Man's gonna find out. So David,
representing God the Father, he said, in judgment to this,
he said, grab your sword. In response to this rebellion,
judgment is coming. He said, he and all of his house
is gonna suffer my wrath. Him and all of his house. Come
morning, there's not gonna be a man standing in his house.
Now in our picture here, we have the father. David represents
God the father. We have the fool. We have the
law. But where's the lamb? Who represents
the lamb? Where's Christ in all this? Let
me tell you what this beautiful woman whose name is Abigail,
let me tell you what her name means. It means beloved of the
father. It means the Father's joy. It means the Father is my joy.
In this picture, Abigail represents the Lord Jesus Christ. After
David declared judgment on the fool, look with me at verse 14,
chapter 25, verse 14. It says, but one of the young
men, one of the shepherds who were with David, who represents
the law, One of the young men told Abigail Nabal's wife saying,
behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute
our master. And he railed on them. It is
God's holy law that exposes our sin. God's holy law is the one
that exposes our sin for what it is. That's why the law was
given. It was given that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
Verse 17, the law said, the law is still speaking. Now therefore
know and consider what thou wilt do for evil is determined against
our master and against all his household for he is such a son
of Belial that a man cannot speak to him. The law said because
of what he did, evil is coming to him and to his house. By one
man, Sin entered the world and death by sin. And so death passed
upon all men for that all have sin. In this picture right here,
the law looked at Christ and said, what are you going to do?
The law came to Christ and said, what are you going to do? He
has been perfect, not sinned in any way against me. And what are you going to do
for this fool who has rebelled against this good and high King? He said, we can't speak to him
because of his wickedness. We can't speak to him. He was
saying, I can't do anything for him. What the law could not do
and that it was weak through the flesh. God sent his son to
do. The law said, it's all up to you. So verse 18, now this
is where we truly see Christ. Ask the Lord to help you see
this because this is just precious. All right. So the law came to
Christ. This young man came to Abigail
and said, what are you going to do? Verse 18. Then Abigail
made haste and took two hundred loaves and two bottles of wine,
and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched
corn, and in hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes
of figs, and laid them on Asses. And she said unto her servants,
Go on before me, behold, I come after you. But she told not her
husband Nabal all through the old Testament types and pictures
were sent saying, he's coming. He's coming. Prepare ye the way
of the Lord. And he will bring an offering
to the father that will appease him. That's what he's coming
to do. He's coming and he's going to bring an appeasement. Verse
20 and it was so as she rode on the ass that she came down
by the covert of the hill and behold, David and his men came
down against her and she met them. They came down against
her and she met him. The judgment was coming for the
fool in his house, but she said her face like a Flint. She went
out alone. And she came to the judgment.
The judgment was coming for the fool. She came to the judgment. It says David came down against
her and she met them alone. And the fool had no idea that
she was doing it for him. She didn't tell him. Verse 21.
Now David had said, surely in vain have I kept all that this
fellow hath in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of
all that pertaineth unto him. And he hath requited me evil
for good. The books were open. The sin
was exposed. He said, I did nothing but good
to him. And he's done evil in return. Verse 22. So and more
also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that
pertaineth to him by the morning light, any that pisseth against
the wall, the sentence was given, every man has to die. Every man
has to die for this. Now watch verse 23. And when
Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the ass, and
fell down before David on her face and bowed herself to the
ground. She humbled herself before this
judge. She came to him, met him, and
humbled herself before him. How foolish and how arrogant
we've been before the judge of the earth. How foolish man is.
You think about poor man and his false religion. He's just
so arrogantly ready to run out there. He's just so proudly ready
to puff his chest up, you know, coming worthily in his mind. Christ went to him for us in
the way we should have gone to him. He went lowly and he went
humbly. He did that for us. Verse 23,
when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the ass and fell
before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground.
Now watch this. And fell at his feet and said,
upon me, my Lord, upon me, let this iniquity be. And let thine
handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience and hear the
words of thine handmaid, would you please hear my intercession
on his behalf? Upon me, let this iniquity be."
Verse 25, she said, let not my Lord, I pray thee, regard this
man. Don't regard him, don't even
regard him. This man of Belial, even Nabal,
for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is
with him. But I, thine handmaid, saw not
the young men of my Lord whom thou did sin. She said, I had
no part in the sin of this matter. Verse 26. Now, therefore, my
Lord, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, Seeing the
Lord hath withholding thee from coming to shed blood and from
avenging thine thyself with thine own hand. Now, let thine enemies
and they that seek evil to my Lord be his neighbor. Every enemy
of yours is a fool. And I'm here on behalf of a fool,
but would you please not regard the fool regarding me? I love what Paul told Philemon.
He said, if he owes you ought, put that on my account. Let it
be on me. Verse 27. And now this blessing,
which thine handmaid hath brought unto my Lord, let it even be
given unto the young men that follow my Lord. She said, I bring
this offering of appeasement. And that's what Christ brought
when he brought his own blood. Verse 28, I pray thee forgive
the trespass of thine handmaid. Forgive the trespass of thine
handmaid. I thought she had no part in
the sin of the matter. She didn't. She didn't. Just like Christ took no part
in the sin of our matter. But even though he didn't take
part in the sin, he took the sin. He took the sin. He took the sin. If we ever have
a moment where, when we have a moment, if we belong to Him,
we will have those moments when our sin overtakes us. And something
that happened a couple of decades ago rears back up and it just
crushes you. Just remember this, He took the
sin. He didn't take part in the sin,
but He took the sin. In verse 28, she said, I pray
thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid for the Lord will
certainly make my Lord a sure house because my Lord fighteth
the battles of the Lord and evil hath not been found in thee all
thy days. Yet a man is risen to pursue
the speaking of Saul 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 that enemies. Them shall he sling out as out
of the middle of a sling. That's how Goliath died. The
victory over sin was the victory over everything. She said, in
all things, you're going to be crowned the victorious Lord of
all in everything. Verse 30. And it shall come to
pass when the Lord shall have done to my Lord, according to
all the good that he had spoken concerning thee. and shall have
appointed thee ruler over Israel, that this shall be no grief unto
thee, nor offense of heart unto my Lord, either that thou has
shed blood causeless, or that my Lord hath avenged himself.
But when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord, then
remember thine handmaid." This is substitution. This is Christ
speaking on behalf of his people saying, remember me, remember
me. Because you're the judge and
because you're the righteous judge. Remember the offering
of appeasement that was made on my behalf. For Christ's sake,
remember me. That was her intercession to
him. All right, this is David's reply, verse 32. And David said
to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee
this day to meet me. He said, blessed be the Lord
because he sent you to meet me. The Lord is so good and so kind
and so merciful and so forgiving because he sent you to meet me. That's the reason why. The queen
of Sheba said to Solomon, she said, because the Lord loved
Israel forever, he made you king. And because the Lord is good
and because he's forgiving and merciful, he sent Christ to the
judge on our behalf. The Lord sent you to me. Verse
33, and blessed be thy advice. Blessed be your wisdom. Blessed
be your intercession. And blessed be thou. which hath
kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging
myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord
God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee,
except thou hast hasted and come to meet me, surely there had
not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth
against the wall. So David received of her hand
that which she had brought unto him." David received of her hand
that which she had brought unto him. The picture here could read,
so God the Father received of Christ's hand what Christ had
brought unto him. Verse 35 goes on to say, and
he said unto her, go in peace to thine house. See, I have hearkened
to thy voice and have accepted thy person. I have accepted your
person. That's what he said. I've accepted
you. I've accepted your person. Go in peace. Christ is our peace. We have peace with God through
him. We are accepted in his person. We're accepted in his person.
That's one of the, that's one of the most glorious things that
we could ever get a hold of. We are accepted in his person.
And every time we get down thinking, I'm just, I'm not good enough.
Here's the, here's the response. I know I'm not accepted in me. I'm accepted in him. I'm accepted
in his person. Accepted in the beloved. Verse
36. And Abigail came to Nabal, and
behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within
him, for he was very drunken. Wherefore she told him nothing
less or more until the morning light. If that's not a picture
of the fact that Christ accomplished this for us alone, He did this
for us alone, not only were we of no help to Him, we've been
nothing but a hindrance our entire life. I am a hindrance to Christ
saving me. Everything about my flesh is
so rebellious and it's so stubborn. I'm a fool. I'm churlish. I'm hard. I'm everything about
me. We've been nothing but a hindrance
with no knowledge of what Christ single-handedly did for us. But
this is what happens to all of God's people. He tells them. In his good time, he tells every
single one of them, this is who you are. This is what you've
done. This is what was going to happen
to you. This is what I did in your stead. This is now the result. Every single one, he reveals
it. And when he does this right here
is what happens. Look at verse 37. But it came
to pass in the morning when the wine was gone out of Nabal and
his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him
and he became as a stone." As soon as she told him all of these
things, his heart died within him and he became as a stone. And it came to pass about 10
days after that the Lord smote Nabal that he died. Here's what
happened. That old man died. When that revelation came, the
old man died. The Apostle Paul said, when sin
revived, when my sin was made known to me, the flesh of this
old man died. It died. And the Apostle Paul
was the one who said, thank God I was crucified with Christ.
Don't you want to die with Him, in Him? Paul said, I was crucified with
Christ. Thank God. He slayed me in him. Now for the next few verses,
the end of the story, David is going to take on the role of
Christ. Abigail is going to take on the role of us. All right,
this is the end verse 39. And when David heard that Nabal
was dead, he said, blessed be the Lord that hath pleaded the
cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and hath kept his
servant from evil. For the Lord hath returned the
wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and
communed with Abigail to take her to him to wife. He said, I want her to be my
wife. I love her. That's the result verse 40. And
when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they
spake unto her saying, David sent us unto thee to take thee
to him, to wife. They said, David sent us to take
you to him. This union is not an invitation. It's an announcement. It's a
declaration. The messengers came and they
said, Abigail, honey, we have wonderful news for you. You are
the wife of the king. You are the wife of the king.
You know, the free will world says, well, I don't like that.
I want to have my choice. You're not going to tell me what
to do. I'll make my own decisions. And that's what the free will
world says. The bride says. That's the greatest
news I've ever heard in my life. That is that you mean I am his
wife. You are his wife. Sweetest words
I know, fills my heart with longing, keeps me singing as I go. Verse
41, and she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth and
said, behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet
of the servants of my Lord. She said, how beautiful are the
feet of the messengers that bring that kind of news. That's glad tidings of great
joy. That's always the willing, loving
response of the bride to this, this grace, this sovereign grace
of her glorious husband. Verse 42 says, and Abigail hasted
and arose and wrote upon an ass with five damsels of hers that
went after her. And she went after the messengers
of David and became his wife. And that's our end. That's our
end. That's the end of this picture. If you want to, on your own,
you can read the last two verses. But our picture tonight stops
right there. The story continues, but our
picture stops right there. That's the end for God's people.
For all of them, it's gonna be said, and she became his wife. That'll be the announcement in
glory. And she became his wife. That's a beautiful end. All right,
let's all stand together.