Where could we plead for aid
when tempted, desolate, dismayed? For how the host of hell defeated
had suffering saints no mercy seen? Of their omni-eagle wings we
soar, And sin and bliss will last no more. And there comes down our souls
to grieve, While glory crowns the mercy slain. I hope you have been looking
forward to this, I hope that you did read it and enjoy it
and it whetted your appetite for it. The hungry will be filled. This is a five course meal, this
story, wonderful story, wonderful story of David King, we're going
to see David as he represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Nabal
is a fool who represents an unbeliever. And Abigail, his wife, represents
the believer. We've looked at this a couple
of different ways in the time past. The last time we looked
at Abigail as a type of Christ, which she is, but today we'll
look at it a little differently. Still Christ-centered. Now, David,
verse 1 in our text, mentions David. It says, David arose and
went down to the wilderness of Paran. David is God's king. He is God Almighty's chosen,
God's elect king. You remember the story. I love
that story. of how that God told Samuel to
go down and anoint his king. He said, don't look on the outward
countenance. God had provided him a king after his own heart.
Don't look on his outward countenance. And then when David came in,
though he looked ordinary, God told Samuel, arise. You're in the presence of the
king. Anoint him. This is he. That's another story.
But David is God's elect. That's what I'm trying to show
you. He's God's chosen, God's king. He's a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who came in humble beginnings, a man, but we're
not to look on the outward countenance. God was manifest in the flesh,
and it says in Psalm 2, God says, I have set my king on my holy
hill of Zion. That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's elect, God's chosen, God's king, always has been, always
will be, reigning and ruling. David was God's king. Now, a wise man or a wise woman
or young person will fear the king, will believe the king. will bow to the king, will call
upon the king because he has their life in his hand. This
is such a lost understanding today. Very few
people have any concept of king or sovereign today. It's a lost
concept that of an absolute sovereign by absolute I mean a king who
sets all the laws. Who does what he will because
he will. We don't have any understanding
of someone like there's been a long time the closest we've
seen to something like that in our day was Saddam Hussein. It
could just randomly kill. Take anything you want. He was
an absolute monarch. That's what David wanted. That's who God is. That's who God is. God says,
I reign. God says in his word, I do all
things after the counsel of my will, and none can stay my hand
or say unto me. What do is that that's the God
about that's Christ that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He does as
he will with whom he will because he will. That's that's the sovereign. All right. Well, this was David
only a fool only a fool would. Not recognize the sovereign.
A fool who doesn't understand. who the king is. That doesn't
bow to him. That rejects him. He's going
to die. He's going to die. That's a fact.
All right. Here's this fool, Nabal's his
name. It says in verse 2, there was a man in Man whose possessions
were in Carmel. He had business in another town. The man was very great. He had
three thousand sheep, a thousand And he was sharing his sheep
in Carmel. This was a man's greatness, so to speak, was known by his
possessions back then. A man was great, considered great
by men, if he had great possessions. That's why it says he was a great
man. And not to God he wasn't. But to men. Men thought he was
a great man because he had a lot of stuff. Great possessions don't make
someone great. The Son of God did not have one
earthly possession. Scripture says, Better is little
with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. This man's name was Nabal. Look
down at verse twenty-five. His wife said, His name is Nabal. See verse twenty-five? Don't
regard this man of Belial as son of the devil. His name is
Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal, his name, folly. The name Nabal means fool. That's what he was named. He
was rightly named, his wife said. He's a fool. He's a fool. Why is he a fool? Why is this
man a fool? Because all his possessions were material. All of his possessions, all that
he owned, all that he took pride in and had his happiness in and
pursued, and all that he did was around these possessions. Now, that man's a fool. Why? Because I'll tell you how foolish
that is. A moth can eat a thousand-dollar
Italian soup. a moth when you can't stop them. I'll tell you how ridiculous,
how foolish it would be for a man to take such stock in things. Moisture. Get up under the fender
of that Ferrari Testarossa and rust it to the ground. Or a thief break through and
steal that diamond that was your greatest treasure. That's foolish
to try to find all your happiness and devote all your time and
energy and effort for things that moths can destroy and rust
will diminish you. Foolish, isn't it? No less than
a child playing with a soap bubble. It's going to soon burst. A man's
a fool because he didn't fear the king. This is the number
one reason he's a fool. He didn't fear the king. He didn't
fear the king, as we will see. David was his king. Listen to
me now. David was this man's king, but he didn't recognize
him, did he? Does that mean David's not his
king? Does that mean because he doesn't
believe he's his king that he's not his king? That he's not his
king until he makes him his king? We'll see about that. We'll see
about that real soon. You're not my king because I
haven't decided to let you be my king. We're going to see about
that. What a fool to think the absolute
sovereign is not so because he doesn't believe it. Well, the scripture says that.
Psalm 14, 1 says, The fool hath said, No, God, I don't believe
God is. What a fool. In him we live and
move and have our being. And God became a man. Well, I
don't believe he's God, because I think he's just a man. You're
a fool. We see Jesus made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, but ah, the apostles
said, We saw him much higher than that. We saw him transfigure. Come on, stay with me, folks.
I said I wasn't going to do that. This is too good to miss. I know
you've heard it before. I have, too, more than you. I got a thrill out of this. Stay
with me. I've got to build the story.
I've got to build the story. I've got to show how foolish
men are. I hope God will show you and
me how foolish we are and have been and will be and are. A fool's
God is his belly. That's what Paul said. He said,
I say it with weeping. Their God is their belly. They
serve their God, their belly. Not God who gives them all things.
If somebody doesn't fear God, be it a young person or whoever,
does not Thank God and worship the God who sustains them, the
God who keeps them, the God who protects them, the God who continually
has mercy on them every waking moment of their life and even
while they sleep. That's the story here of Nabal.
God protected everything he had. There was a wall around him. And if somebody, why go to church? Why worship God? It's our reasonable service.
We come here to thank God for giving us, giving us everything
we have, we've received. A person's a fool not to thank
God. Why come here? It's to call on
to God for mercy because we've been a fool. It's to ask God to spare us because
we've been a fool. And we still act foolish, all
of us, believers and unbelievers. So we come to ask God for mercy
in Christ, the mediator, the substitute, bring in this offering,
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Man's a fool not to do that,
but God's going to kill a fool in the end. That's why we come here. Young
people, that's why we come here. We come here to thank God because
we're breathing His air. We come here to ask God for mercy
because we act like He doesn't exist. We just live our lives like we
got all it like this fool, like he did it all himself, when all
the while it was his king watching over him. That's why we come
here, and anybody's a fool who doesn't worship God. Well, let's
look at the fool's wife. Her name's Abigail. It says in
verse 3, she was a woman of good understanding, a beautiful countenance. Now, she wasn't always of good
understanding. How do I know? She married a
fool. What's that make her. Eve. Scripture says Eve was deceived
in the transgression. Yeah she was but yet she was
a rebel herself. What Satan said to her appealed
to her. And she wanted her free will
and. She won yeah she's a rebel herself so she rebelled against
God but God held Adam accountable. And I don't feel sorry for women
per se that married bad men they got what they wanted. That's just the fact. The fool for being so naive to
that son of the law right. That's just the fact. Most of
them are so foolish to marry another one. Why? Because they
are themselves fools. She wasn't always a woman of
good understanding. She was a fool. But now she has
good understanding. Why? Why does anybody have good understanding?
What is good understanding? What is it to have good understanding? What is a good understanding?
Listen to this. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
A good understanding have all they. But have this. Psalm 111, 10. We don't have a lick of sense
until God shows us who he is. Until the fear of the Lord is
created in us. We don't have a lick of sense
until God begins to teach us his word. We don't have a lick
of sense until we know God's son. And this woman now has good
understanding. Why? We're going to say, she
knows who David is. And she knows what that man is.
And she knows what she was and is. She's got good understanding. Says she was a beautiful woman.
Good countenance. I like this. Of good countenance. You look, I look at people all
the time, I observe people all the time, and I look at, most
people have a countenance of sin all over their face. The
world, I don't know how to put it unless you understand it yourself,
but this world has a stupefying effect
on people. Ignorance. you know is written
on people's faces. But you look into the face of
somebody that's beheld Christ's glory. Look into the faces of
countenances of God's people. I do all the time. I see enlightened
people. It's like, well, I don't have
much time, but it's like a believer going out and beholding the things.
They look at everything as God created it. with understanding
light like Moses Moses who came down from the mountain beholding
Christ's glory says his face count. All of God's people have
the beauty of holiness. Look like Christ. They may not
be the prettiest human to look at. Our Lord was. Scripture says
of him, there's no beauty that we should desire, no comeless
about him. But was he beautiful? The fairest of ten thousand.
Altogether lovely. His countenance. His countenance. And on the other hand, these
haughty looks that these pretty women all over the world, these
painted ladies, the haughty looks of pride and vanity and arrogance
that they have, God Almighty detests that. There's nothing
God hates worse than the haughty looks of these beautiful people.
You know that? And I do, too. I hate it. But
I think God's people, no matter how they may appear on the outside,
I think they're beautiful. Every one of them. Beautiful
countenance. They have good understanding.
Look at the king's word to this fool. Verses four and five, it
says David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did share his sheep.
He sent out ten of his young men. David said to the young
men, you go up to Carmel and you tell Nabal, you greet him
in my name and you say peace to him that liveth in prosperity.
Peace to you, your house, peace be unto all that you have. In
other words, everything David's not saying here that I send my
peace to you. He's not saying that at all.
He says everything you live in peace. He said you live in peace and
everything you have is protected and you live in prosperity and
there's peace in your house and it's peace to your people and
you're not under this. You don't seem to be under threat
at this time, but you're you're living in peace, aren't you?
Why? Well we saw how that David was
a wall under now remember a absolute monarch an absolute king can
confiscate anything he pleases. He can take it away. David needed food for his men. David could have. Could have. gone down and taken everything
that belonged to me. Just take it without a word.
Couldn't it? Oh yeah, that's a monarch for
you. An absolute monarch. He could have. But he didn't. And this man freely
had all of this, and David, and there were lots of marauders
out there, and apparently David's men were protection for this
man. And David knew what he was going
to do. God did. That's why this was written.
But anyway. The king could have taken everything,
it was his right. But he says to the man, he says,
you give, verse eight, you give whatever comes to your hand.
You give in return for this favor that I've shown you. I've protected,
I could have taken everything, but I didn't. I gave. I could have taken away. And I'm protecting all you have.
The young men saw this, didn't they? The young men knew this,
and Abel didn't. He was a fool. And the young
men told him this, told Abigail. So David says, you just give.
It's your reasonable service to give back a little bit to
me. It's your reasonable service.
And the scripture says about all men, it says this about all
men, God's tender mercies are over all his work. If anybody is protected from
evil, who protects them? God does. If anybody has anything,
owns anything, where'd they get it? God gave it to them. Man
can receive nothing except it be given from above. And God's
law just says now, You live in prosperity. Why? Because I've seen to it. You
have things because I gave them to you. Now give them back a
little bit. Serve me. Serve me and my people. Serve me. It's reasonable, isn't
it? It's reasonable. God, what do
we have? We have not received. It's of
the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. So give unto the
Lord. What do we give? Scripture says,
the glory do his name. That's what we were saying. It's
just reasonable for men to come to worship God for all he's done.
It's just reasonable that a fool, only a fool, would not do that. So, verse 9, it says, In the
name of David, they ceased. They quit. They told the man
this, and that was it. They didn't say the name of Now,
if you will give to David, David will give to you a little spot
in his kingdom. Or David will increase your gift. If you'll give your money, and
you'll give, David will really reward you enough. They just say, give back what's
rightfully his. That's it. That was it. Now, as I said, because Nabal
doesn't believe David, does that mean he's not Nabal's king? Because he thinks David can't
have anything unless I give it to him. Is that right? I love the story
of David. One time he was about to go and
take a city. I forget the name of the city.
David was about to go in and take the city. And the people
of the city, foolish as they were, they put
their little idols all over the wall of the city. What was the
name of that city? It wasn't Jericho. No, I forget. They put
their little idols all over the top of their walls, kind of like
you see all over Notre Dame Cathedral and all over these other places,
these little gargoyles, you know, their idols. To protect them,
the ward off evil spirits. That's what these people did.
They put these little idols all over the wall and they went back
in and they said. And this is why David wrote Psalm
115, I believe their gods are just they're just like their
gods, no hands and But they went back in the town and said, David
can't come in here. That's what they said, David
can't come in here. Got a little God's protect. The
next line says David took it. He, Jesus can't do anything unless
I let him. We'll see about that. Oh, he's not my Lord, I've got
to say he is. Yeah, you will. You will, every
knee will bow. It'll be too late then. Nabel
found out. Well, here's this fool's reply.
In verse 10, I've got to hurry. Nabel answered David's servant
and said, Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Now,
there's a lot of fellows out there that claim to be. somebody. Not a man out there he just another
man. Who is it I don't able doesn't believe that. He believes he's
just a man. We'll say verse eleven he said
well I'll take my breath and my water and my flesh that I
have killed I've raised all this I've done all of this by my effort
By my free will. You see I have a free will and
I haven't decided this is my. Shall I give mine. To him oh
is it your. And I say as I said David's men
didn't argue with him and not argue with a fool. So the proverb
says answer not a fool according to his father. They didn't argue
with him. You fool, don't you see? Don't
you see the guy? They already told him. They already
warned him. And they went back to David,
and they told David, here's the king's command concerning fools. Here's what the king says about
fools. Look at it, verse 13. It says, David said unto his
men, gird on your sword every man. And they girded on every
man his sword. Look down at verse 21 and 22. And don't be silly about this.
This is God's Word. Verse 21, 22, David said, Surely
in vain I've kept all this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that
nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him. He hath requited
me evil for good. So and more also do God unto
the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertained to him
by the morning light, any that pisseth against the wall. I'm
going to kill every male in that place. I'm going to kill them.
David said, get your swords on, boy. We're going to kill them
all. That fool and all his house. This is God's King. This is a
man after God's own heart. This is the sweet psalmist of
Israel. Kind, tender, merciful, most
loving, gracious man on earth at this time. Forgiving. Full of mercy. You just have
to ask Him. He said, I'm going to kill them
all. That's Christ. That's Jesus. Some call Him gentle Jesus, meek
and mild. That's what they still call Him. No, He's not. No, He's
not. It's the Lord on the throne. Scripture talks about, he's coming
the next time, his garment's going to be dyed red with blood.
Whose blood? Not his own. What scripture says that? Of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Dirt on your sword. I'm going
to kill that fool and everybody else that believes like him.
Everybody in that house that rejects me. I'm going to kill
them all. Well, the fool's wife, Abigail,
she comes to the king. Look at verse 14. One of the
young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, behold, David sent messengers
to salute our master and he railed on them. But they were so good
to us. And what are you going to do?
See, Abigail, she heard of David's mercy. to her household. This is her house. These are
her family, too. She's a wife of a fool. She's
lived with this fool, so she's part and parcel to everything
he does, right? And she heard of David's mercy
to them. It gave her a good understanding. Oh, my, my, how merciful David's
been to her. And then she heard David's coming
again. He's coming. The slaughter of. What she did. Was she going to do? She's going to come and ask for
mercy. She's going to come to David. She came to David. Now, she doesn't know if David
is going to receive her. David doesn't know her. God does. But David, she doesn't
know if David is going to spare her or not, right? She had to
come now. She doesn't know if David's going
to even listen to her. Every one of us what the law
sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped. Young and old alike are all guilty.
before God. God doesn't have to spare us.
God doesn't have to spare us because our daddy is a believer,
our mother's a believer, our husband, our wife. We've all
sinned and come short of the glory of God. The law's against
us. Justice of God's against us.
The soul that sins must surely die. We don't deserve to live.
That's what we were looking at in the law. God's just, holy. The commandment's good, it's
fair, it's right. David came down against her.
Now, if David is against her, Nothing and nobody can do anything
about it, right? If David is against Abigail,
if he won't receive her, there's no hope for her. But on the other hand, if David
is for her, if David receives her, if David spares her, then
from that day forward, who can be against her? Oh, her hope
lies in David, his word, the word of a king. She has to come
to him. I love that story, Brother Ed
Berry and I were talking about that story of these pagan kings
that knew that their country was going to be destroyed and
they were enemies of the king of Israel and they knew that
they deserved to be hanged. And it says they came to the
king of Israel with ropes around their necks. They did, they all
put ropes around their necks saying, this is what I deserve.
And it says they came because they heard that the kings of
Israel were merciful. And they came with these ropes
around their neck and said, would you spare us? How much more? The King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. You just come to Him. Just come
to Him. Oh, you can come boldly, too.
Not arrogantly, not flippantly, but freely. To the throne of
what? Grace. Why? That you might find
help. Oh, mercy. There is mercy. Well, what did she bring? How
did she come? She didn't come empty handed.
What did she bring when she came? She said bread and wine. Of all
things. She heard David likes bread more
and cheap. Kill the lamb. Sacrifice. And the fruit. David likes fruit. I'll bring him fruit. Whatever
my Lord requires is what I want to bring. Oh, my. And you see
how this is such a picture of Christ, too. But you can't, my
pastor says, you can't make it walk on four legs. This represents Christ as our
intercessor, our mediator, who interceded for his young man,
not Nabal. Not all of them. She's not interceding
for Nabal, but her young man. Particular redemption. At any
rate, she brings to David what he will accept. We come to God. We come to Christ by faith in
Christ. We come to him not without blood.
But pleading the blood of the lamb always. Always for mercy. Oh my listen listen to her plea
I hope you read this I hope you read this in your free time I'm
running out of it. It says verse. Twenty three when Abigail saw
David she hasted all he that believeth will make haste that
means This was urgent. If you ever see Christ really
as your only hope and it's your you're a goner without his mercy,
you won't wait. All the more convenient today
will be the day of salvation. I got to get to him. She hasted
and lighted off the ass that is came down off her high horse
and fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground. See, this
is salvation. To bow the knee now, to confess
with the tongue now that Christ is Lord. Not everybody's going
to do it eventually. For some, it's too late. And
salvation is to do it now. She bowed down, she said, and
she fell on her face and fell at his feet. Let's go on down. It says in verse 28, I pray thee, forgive the trespass
of thine handmaid. You see, she owns her own sinfulness.
She just doesn't say, well, my husband's a fool and I was, you
know, I don't hold me responsible for it. No, no, forgive me. Forgive me. David said, against
thee and thee only have I sinned. I sinned. Every person in here,
young and old alike, got to confess your sin to God. Nobody can do
it for you, and no man can stand between you and God except Christ.
Now, therefore, it says, forgive me, the Lord will surely, here's
her confession, 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 that thy days. Are you understanding how this
speaks of Christ? This is our profession. It says in verse
twenty nine, Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy
soul, but the soul of my Lord. My king shall be bound in the
bundle of life with the Lord thy God. What she's saying is
your life is found in you. Life from God. You're God's king,
you're my king, so you're God to me. Ah, but he's just... This is God's man. This is Christ. Speaking of Christ.
Evil. It says, and he'll sling out
his enemies in the middle of the sling. She heard the stories
of David and Goliath and David killing the bear and the lion,
didn't she? She heard what David did to his
enemy. She heard that. And she believed. God gave her
a good understanding of who David was. You see that? She knows
who David is. She fears the king. That's why
she has good understanding. And she comes to the king. He
that feareth will come to him and ask for mercy. Well, look
at this. This is wonderful. Verse 32,
David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
which sent thee to meet me. You know why you're here, Abigail?
You know why you know who I am? You know why you're appealing
for mercy for me? God sent you. You wouldn't be
here. You'd be just like that fool
of a husband of yours or you wouldn't be here if God had not
first loved you and chose you and called you by His grace and
sent you to beg for mercy from me. God has blessed you, Abigail. God has surely blessed you greatly. Sent you to me. Well, look at this. Verse 35,
So David received of her hand what she brought. And David said
unto her, Go up in peace. And David said, I have hearkened
to your voice. And I have accepted your person. I'm sound like Donnie Arnold. David received what she brought,
what? Sovereign. Whoever comes to God
by Christ, God will receive that faith. You see, we have little faith,
big faith. If it's faith in Christ, God will accept it. God will
hear the voice of all who plead for mercy through Christ. He'll
hear the voice. He hears the prayer of every
sinner who comes to him by Christ. Not Mary, not Saint Christopher,
not any other saint, but Jesus Christ. God will hear every single
sinner. And it gets better. And God will
grant peace. that no man will be able to take
away. To every center that comes to God by Christ. And God will
accept your person. You'll be accepted. How? In the
beloved. In the beloved. That's how. What's
the end of this fool? Verse 36 and 7 says, Abigail
came to Nabal I tell you how much of a fool he was. His soul
was in, his life was in danger and he's getting drunk. He's
having a big party. See, several hours at least,
a day or two went by, days maybe went by and nothing happened.
Said he held a feast in his house and Abel was merry. He was happy.
He was drunk. And she didn't tell him anymore. What's the sense of it already
been warned by David himself? By David's young men. I tried
to show you how God speaks through men. Christ said, they hear you,
they'll hear me. If they don't, they won't hear
from me. Well, Nabal was a fool. And he's
having a big old time. And it says in verse 30, Seven
came to pass in the morning when he woke up, and wine was gone
out of him. His wife told him again these
things, and his heart died within him. He became as a stone. What a picture this is of whom
the Lord hardeneth. Whom he will, he hardeneth. Whom
he shows mercy, whom he hath mercy on, he'll have mercy. But
whom he will, he hardeneth. And he died first thirty eight
ten days later. That the Lord who killed him.
Lord. We've got. Well what about Abigail. Well
that's the fool's in every fool. Who rejects the king is going
to die. What about. Why. What about a fool's wife who
pleads for mercy? Look at it. It says in verse
39, When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be
the Lord, that it plead the cause of my reproach from the hand
of Nabal, and it kept his servant from evil. For the Lord hath
returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David
sent and spoke, or communicated, with Abigail to take her to be
his wife. And the young man told her this,
too. She probably heard this and the
rumor of it and thought it was too good to be true. But verse
40, the young man came and spake unto her and said, Yes, David
sent her to fetch you. David's going to take you. He doesn't ask her, does he?
He's not asking her. Boy, she'd be a fool not to marry
him, wouldn't she? She'd still be a fool. What do you reckon
she thought? No, not really, surely not. Not
me, not David, not a fool's wife. He can have any woman he wants
to. No, it's you, Abigail, he said for you. You sure about
that? Oh yeah, he told you. Yes, yes,
yes, yes, yes. I will, I will, I will, I will. And she did. She married him.
And she went and became his wife, verse 42. She became his wife. What about David? What happened
to David? Go over to 2 Samuel in closing. Look at this. 2 Samuel
chapter 2. What about David? We've seen
the fool's end, Abigail's end, and really, it's just the beginning
for her. What about David's end? 2 Samuel 2, verse 1, it says,
It came to pass after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying,
Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah. And the Lord
said unto him, Go up. Go on. Ascend. That is, to the
throne of Judah. Ascend up. Go up. Verse 4, And
the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over
the house of Judah. In other words, David was anointed
king, ascended to the throne of Israel, and sat down reigning
ruling over all Israel. He's anointed king just like
God said he would be. He is now seated. And look at verse 2. It said his
men, and David went up thither and his two wives with him, and
he had a hand that is just your light, and Abigail seated with
him. You see, wherever David goes,
she goes too. She's his wife. He's seated and
enthroned, and look right beside him. There's Abigail. And it ended happily ever after. There is no end to the throne
of the son of David, you see. Of his government, there shall
be no end. And peace, no end. And all his people. If you could
look into heaven right now, you'd see his bride sitting beside
him. Some of them we know, some of them we don't. All of them
we will. And if you have come to this king for this mercy,
like Abigail, he'll receive you and you're seated with him, too.
OK, let's sing it, folks.