The Intercessor

Q: What does the Bible say about intercession?

The Bible illustrates intercession through stories like Abigail's plea for Nabal, reflecting Christ's role as our mediator. Intercession is a significant theme in Scripture, most clearly exemplified by the story of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25. Abigail acts as an intercessor to prevent the wrath of King David from falling upon her foolish husband, Nabal. This act foreshadows the ultimate intercession of Jesus Christ, who mediates on behalf of His people before God. Hebrews 7:25 states that Christ 'is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.' Thus, intercession is crucial in demonstrating the mercy of God towards foolish sinners who, like Nabal, deserve judgment but can find grace through Christ’s advocacy.

Q: How do we know that Christ is our mediator?

Christ is our mediator as He intercedes for us before God, exemplified by His sacrificial love and understanding of our struggles. The role of Christ as our mediator is demonstrated through both His life and His sacrificial death. In Hebrews 9:15, it is noted that Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, ensuring that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. He fulfills this role by taking on humanity and experiencing our struggles, as depicted in Matthew 26:39 when He prays to the Father, 'Not as I will, but as you will.' His perfect obedience and sacrifice satisfy God's justice, allowing Him to intercede effectively for sinners. Thus, our assurance of God’s mercy and grace hinges upon the mediatorial work of Christ.

Q: Why is the concept of a king important for Christians?

The concept of God as King emphasizes His sovereign rule and ultimately reveals our need for Christ, the true King. Understanding God as King is foundational in Reformed theology and influences our view of sovereignty and authority. As seen through the life of David, appointed by God, His reign signifies that God is in control of all creation. Romans 14:11 reinforces this truth, affirming that 'every knee shall bow’ and every tongue confess His Lordship. This acknowledgment of God's sovereignty leads believers to submit to His authority willingly. Moreover, the expectation of Christ's return as King inspires hope and assurance for believers, knowing that every earthly king is subject to His ultimate power. Therefore, recognizing God as King shapes our worship, commitment, and understanding of His grace and justice.

Q: How does the story of Nabal illustrate human folly?

Nabal's rejection of God's appointed king demonstrates the foolishness of relying solely on earthly riches and rejecting divine authority. Nabal’s refusal to acknowledge David as king signals profound spiritual folly, reflecting a pervasive human tendency to rely on material possessions rather than divine truth. His name means 'fool’, encapsulating the warning found in Psalm 14:1, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' By dismissing David, Nabal epitomizes those who, blinded by pride and wealth, ignore God’s authority and the imminent judgment that awaits the unrepentant. The narrative serves not only as a historical account but as a reminder of the spiritual state of mankind apart from God's grace. Ultimately, it illustrates the mercy of God in sending intercessors like Christ, who seeks to save us from our folly.

And then the last verse. Okay, go back to 1 Samuel 25. 1 Samuel 25. I saw some great anticipation
in the eyes of some of you as we were reading this. There's a story within this story. The reason this story happened,
the reason this event took place is the story, the true story. That's why this whole book was
written, that's why everything that happened is the story within
the story, the spiritual story. It's the story of our God and
King. It's the story of the foolishness
of man. It's the story of one intercessor,
the one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ the
intercessor. Abigail's intercession is the
story of Christ the intercessor. May the Lord give you ears to
hear this, and heart to rejoice in it. Let's look at the King. David is the King. David is the
King, though some don't know it and some don't acknowledge
it, such as Nabal, Saul, others. David is the King. It had been declared by God through
the prophets that David was the king. God had told everyone that
through the prophets. It is only a matter of time until
everyone would submit to David as king. Only a matter of time
until every knee would bow, even all the fools. and every
tongue confess that David is God's King. And so it is with
our King, with God, who reigns, though the whole world says he
does not, though men deny it, though men don't know it, though
men don't believe it, God reigns. He's King, that's what it means
to be King. You reign and rule, have your
will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth,
and though men don't know it or acknowledge Though men are
fooled, yet it only remains. And in a matter of time, every
knee will bow, and every tongue can tell. Chapter 1 of Romans, just quickly
turn over there with me. You need to see this. Compare spiritual things with
spiritual. Chapter 1 of Romans. says these
very things, and I advise everyone to start in the Book of Romans
and begin to read and ask the Lord to show you the truth of
who God is, what man is, and who Christ is. It's all here
in the Book of Romans. Chapter 1, verse 18, says, The
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which may be known, how do they hold the truth in
unrighteousness? That which may be known of God is manifest in
them, or to them, God hath showed it unto them. The invisible thing,
that is, the creation, from the creation of the world, are clearly
seen being understood by the things that are made. Things
that are made. This world clearly reveals his
eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.
Men and women are without excuse. This world is too marvelous,
too complex, too glorious. And it reveals clearly that there
is an all-wise, all-powerful Creator. Only an absolute fool
would say that these things just came out of a soup. In verse 21, when they knew God,
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. I go back to our text. So our
God is king. David was king then, but this
fellow Nabal didn't acknowledge him, did he? That's because he's a fool. That's
what the name Nabal means, fool. as his name is, so is he. He's
a fool, nabob. Let's look at this old fool. This is a man who doesn't believe
the king. This is a man who rejects him,
though it's plainly told by many. But this is a great man. Verse
2 and 3 said there was a man and man whose possessions were
incarnate. In other words, he had so much
At so many possessions, he had to keep them in other places.
The man was very great, very prosperous. Had three thousand
sheep, a thousand goats, didn't have enough land where he lived,
so he rented out pasture all over the place. Prosperous man,
great man. Great possessions, but he's a
fool. We're going to see. What are
those possessions? Are those the blessings of God
on him? No. Great blessings, material blessings,
aren't necessarily the blessings of God. And it was a curse for this fellow.
He was rich and increased with goods. He didn't need a king. Now, why is he a fool? Number
one, because he's rich only in things. A man who all he has is possessions
in this world is a fool. All his eggs are in one basket,
so to speak. He's a fool. I remember the story
of a king who had a court gesture. court gesture, they used to call
them court fools. Remember? They used to call them
fools. Now we call them comedians and
pay them great sums of money and hang on their every word
and listen to them all the time. Comedians, they used to be called
fools because they acted so foolishly. This king had a court fool, a
court gesture. And the king was dying, the king
was on his deathbed, and the court fool. The gesture came
to him, to visit him, and said, Oh, my king, where art thou going? And the
fellow said, I don't know. The king said, I don't know. He said, How long will you be
gone? And the king said, Forever. And the court gesture, the court
fool said, Well, hast thou made any preparations for this journey? The king said, No. And the court jester took his
fool's cap off and said, Who is really the fool? Are you going
to a place from which you will never return and have made no
preparations to go there, and have lived all your life in pleasure?
Who is the fool? Who is the fool? A man is born
a woman in a few days, and that full of trouble. The man goes
to his long home, from which he will not return, ready in
preparation. All your eggs in one basket.
If Christ is your all, then there is life. The man is
a fool who is rich only in material things and poor toward God. This man was a fool because he
didn't give God the glory for his riches. We're going to see
that. He didn't give God the glory. He took credit for it.
He thought he did it all. He thought he got it all. He
thought by his industry and by his hard work and by his intelligence
that he did it all. What a fool. What a fool. And he doesn't acknowledge the
king. This is his greatest foolish act. This is what makes him the
biggest fool of all. He doesn't acknowledge the king. And he's going to die because
of it. That's what's going to kill him. The king himself is
going to kill him. All right? That's a fool. And
that's man. If you see the story within the
story, that's man. Man's a fool. He doesn't acknowledge
God. He thinks that all he has and
does is by his own might and power and industry and his intelligence,
and doesn't acknowledge God. Neither is thankful. doesn't
give God the glory for these things, and he doesn't acknowledge
God's King, who is Jesus Christ the Lord, unto whom every knee
will bow, either now or later. But they will. That makes a man
a fool. A man who has no interest in
he around whom the universe revolves is a fool. The King sends word to the fool.
The King's word to the fool. Look at verses 4 through 9. David
heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear sheep. David
sent out ten young men. David did not himself speak to
this fellow. Kings don't go running asking
things of people. You know what? Oh, no. Kings
don't beg people to do anything. Kings don't need people to do
anything for them. Kings give orders to their servants,
and their servants go out and do things. David sent out ten young men,
and David said unto the young men, Get ye up to Carmel, go
to Nabal, and greet him in my name, and say thus and thus,
and tell him, We have been watching over you." Now, I'm going to
paraphrase what David said. Tell him that we're men of war. I'm the king, and these are my
men of war. These aren't beggars. These aren't
money hounds. These aren't thieves and robbers
like so many of these others are. These are honorable men
whom I've sent to you, and we've watched over your shepherds.
We haven't taken anything, and we've hedged you about. Now you
go tell him to give us something. Give us something. We're worthy.
And a lot of marauders out there, a lot of thieves out there who
would have brought great harm to you, and we've watched over
you, and you give what's rightfully ours. Now, do you see that? Do you
see what the Scriptures say of the Lord? Now, God Almighty speaks
to this world through prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors. These ten men represent, how
shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? How shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? There are a lot of them out there
who weren't sent. But God has not left himself
without a witness, Scripture says. He has his men, always
has sent them, men, and he sends them. And God speaks to the sons
of man through his word, but no scripture has any private
interpretation. See, God Almighty does not personally speak to
human beings. No, no. But he speaks through
his messengers, okay, through his word. And he sent word. He sends his word, I am God. Beside me, there's none else.
I girded you. This is what he said in Isaiah
45. I girded you. I clothed you, though you don't
know me. I've given you. Isaiah 1, he
says, I fed and watered and clothed a people, though you don't know
me. Though you don't acknowledge
me. I've watched over you. I've hedged you about. And I
have men. who have come with the good news,
men who are good men, honest men, men whom you need to hear
from, men whom without you would be in trouble, because there
are lots of thieves and robbers out there, false men. I've sent my men. I've got the
good word from the King for you. What do you do to them? I see
it's U.C. Fifth. They deserve it. I've
watched over you. I've taken care of you. So it
is that God Almighty has done to all mankind. Oh, yeah. All
mankind. And the Scripture says that God
looked down from heaven upon the children of men. Old David
saw, it says, he saw these shepherds and all that down there. The
Scripture says, God's eyes behold, his eyelids try the sons of men.
And the Scripture says, God looked down from heaven upon the children
of men to see if there were any that
did understand. Understand what? That in Him
we live and move and have our being. That God reigns. That we are under His divine
control and sovereign rule. See if there were any that did
understand. and any that did seek God. You'd think if a man
knew that there's a king sitting on a hill and his soldiers surrounding
you, that he'd fear the king, wouldn't he? And he'd send out petitions to
see what it was the king wanted. Huh? You see what I'm saying?
If a man's down here with all his possessions and all that,
and he understands his king's watching him, and all his soldiers
surrounding that he'd send out, O King, what
is it? What need is there? What do you
have to say to me? Are you going to kill me? Are
you going to let me live? What is it? What's your will?
What's your purpose? The scripture says, And none
that did understand, none that seeketh after God. None that
seeketh after God. None. All man by nature, all
mankind by nature are fools. You know, we're all fools by
nature. We're born fools. The scripture
says, a fool born every day. That's right, every one of us.
Born that way. Born fools. And grow up as fools because
we don't acknowledge God. We don't see Christ as God's
King. We foolishly think that all of
this is ours for the taking. That's what we read in Romans
1. And God Almighty reveals all this through his word. God Almighty
sends word through his preacher that he reigns, and he rules,
and he has a king. Well, listen to the fool's response
to the king. Here's the fool's response to
the king's word. Like I said, the king didn't
speak to him himself. Are you listening? That's why
this story is all about. That's what this story is all
about. The king didn't speak to him. He spoke through a man. Could have been a little old
ball head fella. It was God speaking. And the
old fool said, who are you? Who do you think you are? Where
did you come from? David spoke. He said, you go
down and you tell that old fool all I've done for him. You know,
you've given me what's mine to do. And the fool said, verse
10, Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who
is the son of Jesse? Now, there's all kinds of servants,
he said. There are many servants that
break away from their master. to call themselves messiahs.
There are many this and that and the other. Who is David? I want you to turn
with me. Well, let's keep reading. The fool Nabal said in verse
11, Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that
I have killed from my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know
not which they be? Mine? Shall I take mine give
it to somebody, I don't know. Oh, no, I've worked too hard
for all this. I accumulated all this. Bear
with me now to Daniel, chapter 5. Book of Daniel, chapter 5.
There's another fellow named Nebuchadnezzar that thought he
was something. He was a fool, too. Nebuchadnezzar
and his son. His son. Same what? He was a
fool. And his son was a fool. Daniel
chapter 5, as I said, man is such a fool, he thinks that all
things are obtained by him. He thinks he has a right to all
things. Man is so foolish as to think
he has a free will and free reign and free power. But the scripture
says in Daniel 5, look at it, verse 19. Now, for the majesty
that he gave him, the king, he's talking about the king, God Almighty
gave him majesty. All people and nations and languages
trembled and feared before him, whom he would slew, whom he would,
he kept alive. This is talking about God, the
king. Whom he would, he slew. Whom he would, he kept alive.
Whom he would, he set up. Whom he would, he put down. That's
the God of the Bible. That's our God who does all things
according to his will. But old Nebuchadnezzar, when
his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was disposed from his kingly
throne and took his glory from him, until down at verse 21,
the last line says, till he knew that the Most High God ruled
in the kingdom of men, and that he appointed over it whomsoever
he will. Man doesn't do anything according
to his own will. It's not of him that willeth, of him that runneth. It's of
God to show mercy. It's all of God. And down in
verse 23, he said, The God in whose hand, the last line of
verse 23, The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are
all thy way, hast thou not glorified? And neither did Nabal. Go back to the text now. So that's
a fool, isn't it? An absolute fool. The word of
the King comes to a fool, and he rejects it outright. He rejects
it. Now, he's a fool. Now what's
going to happen to a fool who rejects the word of the King?
The wrath of the King is coming down on his head. Not the love
of the King. Oh, David, well, his servants
went to Nabal and said, Oh, don't worry, David loves you and has
a wonderful plan for your life. And he's just hoping someday,
someday he'll give your heart to David. David said, look at 1 Samuel
25. David said in verse 13, gird
on your sword. Every man. You tell my servants,
get the sword on. We're not going to love these
people into the kingdom. Get the sword off. Get your sword in your hand. My men aren't wimpy beggars,
begging people to accept God. Get your sword in your hand. No country was ever conquered
by love. The kingdom of heaven, the scripture
says, suffereth violence. Our Lord said, in a violence,
take it by force. Man's a fool. As Abigail said
about Nabal, he won't hear you. He won't hear anybody that speaks
to him. Man's a fool. David said, get
on your sword. And there were a bunch of them,
four hundred men, coming. The wrath of the king coming
down on this fool. Are you with me? The wrath of the king coming
down on this old fool. And he's so foolish, he doesn't
even know it. What's he doing? Must be laying
in his house, watching Oprah. Something. He's a fool. The wrath of the king abides
on him. And the Scripture says the wrath
of God abides on those that believe not. Not the love of God. Wait
a minute, get that stuff. He that believeth not is condemned
already, John 3, 18. That's two verses after verse
16. Not the love of God. God, the
Scripture says, Psalm 5, 5 is angry with the wicked every day. This is what's wrong with this
generation. No fear of God. Why? God loves everybody. No! Psalm 117, God hateth all workers
of iniquity, the Scripture says. The wrath of God abides upon
the ungodly, the Scripture says. The wrath of God's coming down
on this world. God's going to burn this planet
up, and it's not His love that's going to do it. Who's He going
to burn up? The rapists and murderers and
robbers. No. Unbelievers, those that reject
this king, fools who think all their lives they've gotten what
they've got by their own doing. Fools who say Jesus Christ is
just another Messiah, like Mohammed or like Confucius or like Buddha. He's just another man who accepts
or rejects Jesus. Fools! God says, That's the God of this book,
whom men don't know. Do you know him, Abigail? Oh,
if you're an Abigail who knows she's a friend of God, you know
the king coming, falls on her face before the king, and takes her part with the fool.
She takes her part with the fool. You're blessed. This king will
marry you. Now, I'm getting way ahead of
myself. I couldn't wait to get to that. Who is David? Carry it on your
sword. There's not going to be one that
pisses against the wall. God's word is so plain, not mealy-mouthed. He doesn't mince words. He tells
it like it is. And so do his preachers. Get on your sword. The wrath of the king. They're
all going to die. He's going to kill them all. He's going to kill them all.
Oh, that's what he said, isn't it? Surely there's some innocent
people down there. I'll kill them all. They all deserve to
die. If they're part of that fool,
they've been living with that fool, then they're fools. If
she's married, if Abigail was married to a fool, that makes
her a fool. Doesn't it? If she stayed with that old fool,
that makes her a fool. And all we, like sheep, have
gone astray, Scripture says. God looked down to see if there
were any that didn't understand. I'm a fool. I've been a fool.
I've played the fool for many years. Have you not? Everyone
in here. All have sinned to come short
of the glory of God. The God in whose hands your breath
is and all your ways, you have not glorified. That's all of
us. All, in Adam, all died. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? In Adam, all have sinned. God is angry with all. There's
only one way that anybody is going to be spared. There's only one
way that anybody in this house at Nabal is going to be saved.
Only one way. An intercessor. a mediator, somebody is going
to have to go plead with the king. If you're still with me, if there's
one or two of you, we're going to be saved by the
mercy of God, God sparing us what we deserve, God sparing
us. That salvation is by mercy. That means not getting what we
deserve. We don't deserve love. We don't deserve grace. We don't
deserve to be saved. No, no, no, no, no. Salvation
is by the mercy of God, sparing fools. We're going to be saved
by the mercy of God through an intercessor. All right, let's look at the
mediator, the intercessor. This took too long to get to
it. Chapter 25, verse 3, describes Nabal said he's a churlish man
and evil, but Abigail, says, Abigail was a woman of good understanding
and of a beautiful countenance. In other words, she was wise
and she was lovely. And she's going to make intercession,
mediate, on behalf of some. Not all, but some. Who is this
Nabal? Who does Abigail represent? Abigail
represents the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he himself is not
a fool, oh no, no, but he was bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. We have not a high priest who cannot be touched
with the feeling of our firmness, but at all points was tempted
like as we are, yet without sin, who was made flesh and dwelt
among us. who was married to, who left
the father to cleave unto his bride, his people. They're all fools, but like Abigail,
he doesn't intercede for all of them, but some of them. Nabal doesn't deserve intercession,
does he? He doesn't deserve it. Well,
we have a mediator. Verse 14, one of the young men, one of Nabal's fellows, told
Abigail. He went running to Abigail when
he saw what Nabal did, when he saw who it was that Nabal did
this to, when he saw the wrath of the king was coming. One of
these fellows came to his senses. One of these fellows went running
to Abigail and said, verse 14, David sent messengers out of
the wilderness to salute our Master. David sent messengers,
and he railed on them. Our Master railed on them. David sent messengers, the word
from the King, and our Master railed on them. He hated it.
Verse 15, and the men were so good to us. It was good. They
were good. They didn't hurt us in anything.
Everything they said was good, as long as we were conversant
with them. They were a royal one to us. They protected us
day and night while we were with them, keeping the sheep. What's it say? It's sung by the
grace of God, sung by the mercy and grace of God. God Almighty
reveals to them who the King is. that God Almighty reveals
to them they're under the wrath of God, that God Almighty reveals
to them the goodness of God, the protection of God, the provisions
of God, all their lives. And they go running to the intercessor. They go running to their mediator
and say, look at verse 17, what will you do? Now, therefore, you know this,
look, what do you call it, you've got to do something That's what he said. You've got
to do something for us. You're the only one that can. The king's
coming, and we're dead men. We've been fools just like our
master. He went running to Abigail, the wife of the king, and said,
I mean, the wife of, well, she's going to be the wife of the king,
and said, you've got to do something. We're dead men if you don't do
something. Will you go do something for us? Who does that represent? Huh?
Who does that advocate represent? As I said, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ, whom God wanted me to get here. Paul said to Timothy,
between God and men, not man, not all mankind, no, no, no,
no, no, no. He said, I pray not for the world. John 17, he said,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me. She didn't tell this to Nabal, but she told her young man, her
servant. She didn't tell Nabal, but she
told her young servant. But she's going. I'm going. Look
at this. Now look at this. Are you with
me? If somebody's with me, you're going to get a blessing. Abigail
made haste, verse 18. She made haste, and she took
two hundred loaves. Two bottles of wine, five sheep
ready to drink. Bread, wine, and a killed lamb. I know what the king likes. I
know what the king requires. Jesus Christ came by one offering. He perfected forever. Not the
blood of bulls and goats, that's impossible, but by his own precious
blood. Bread and wine. Christ the Lamb
slain, read on, five measures of parched corn, a hundred clusters
of raisins, two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on acid,
and fruits, a great deal of fruit, unto the King. Christ lived his
fruitful life. None did, none have, but Christ
did. He bore fruits. Herein is the
Father glorified, our Lord said, that ye bear much fruit. Well,
he did. Christ glorified the Father with
a fruitful life, brought it unto the King. Look at my fruits.
A good tree brings forth good fruit. And she said unto her
servant, verse 19, You go on before me, I come after you. You see what that Savior is saying?
Our Lord, who dwelt with the Father from the beginning, sent
his servants prophets before him with all these same things. The shadows, the types of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to come himself
till later, but he's going to come. And he sent all these things
before him as types, as pictures of him who was to come. He served. He said, you go on before me,
I'm going to come. I will come after you. And they
did. And verse 20, and it was so.
Oh, I love this. I love this. Verse 20. As she rode on the ass, here
comes the mediator, here comes the intercessor. Has she come
in the time? Riding on an ass. That's Zechariah's prophecy of
the Lord himself who came into Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh,
riding on an ass, Zechariah said, meek and lowly, riding on an
ass. And what does he have? Salvation. He's the only one
that can do us any good. Behold, he cometh. And it says,
she rode on, and she came down. She had to come down. Our Lord came down from heaven
by the cover of the hill, and behold, David and his men came
down against her. Everybody was against her. She met them. And our Lord, our mediator, our
intercessor, our captain, he came. He came down to meet everything
that's against us. The handwriting of ordinances
that are against us, the law of God that we broke that's against
us, the justice of God that demands our death and our punishment. devils that are against us, God. And he met them at Calvary's
tree. He met them, took off his shoes. That's another story. He met
them, face to face. And, oh my, where are we? So when Abigail, verse 23, when
Abigail saw David, she hastened. Christ, for the love of the Father,
the glory of the Father, made haste and came to this planet. And she fell down before David
on her face and bowed herself to the ground and fell at his
feet, and she prayed this intercessory prayer. For those of you who are conversant
with God's It's what it says right before John 17, when our
Lord was to go to that cross and face the wrath of God for
his people. It says he fell on his face and
said, My Father. Verse 24, fell at his feet and
said, Under me, my Lord, upon me let this iniquity be. God hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Let me, let this lip that do
be on me, let thine handmaid, I pray, speak, and thine on me.
Hear the words. Father, hear me, our Lord said.
I know you hear me. I know you do. Let not my Lord,
I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for as
his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and Philae
is with him. He's a fool. He's a fool. And Abigail went on. I'm not
going to read all of this for the sake of time. But she went on to extol and
honor and glorify and sing the praises of King David and said,
You're king. And in you is wrapped up, is
bound up life. The bundle of life is in you.
In you we live and move and have our being. And they played the
fool. And we all deserve to die. that
I'm here mediating, interceding on behalf of my people, that
you'd spare them. Would you spare them for your
mercy's sake? She went on down in verse 31 to say that no grief
be unto thee, nor offense of heart be unto my Lord, nor shed
blood causeless. Upon me let their iniquity be,
Christ said. Upon me let their sin be. Punish
me in their stead if you seek punishment. Take me, let them
go. What's, what's the, those ten,
what's those young men, what's the hope of any of these House
of Mabon? Huh? Baby's going to kill them
all. One word. Just give me one word that's
the hope of anybody. Young, old, rich, poor, black,
white, male, female. Anybody that's in the House of
Mabon, give me one word that's their hope. One word why they
shouldn't die. One word. and God's, and all the sons of
Adam, who are fools. There's one hope, there's but
one hope. In Adam, all die, but, one word, in Christ. All made
alive, all in Christ, all interceded for by Christ, all mediated by
Christ, will be made alive. One hope. One hope, God is going
to hear Christ. He won't hear a fool, but he
will hear a fool through Christ. Abigail's intercession, she came
riding that ass, she came down, she made intercession for those
fools. She met all that was against
her. She said, upon me let this iniquity
be. Bless the young man. Look down
at verse 20. Verse 27, let this blessing which
thine handmaid hath brought unto my Lord, let it be given to the
young men. Bless the young men for my sake,
because of what all I have brought to you. You see that, John David? I've brought all this to you.
I've done all this for you. Charge it to their account. And that's exactly what Christ
did. God doesn't accept us for what we bring. Oh, no, but for
what Christ brought. Well, what's the king's answer?
He's sovereign. Fools deserve to die. What's
the king's answer? Is he a merciful king? He's a
good king. It's David. David said to Abigail, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me." Oh, God is blessed to send you
to intercede for his people. For my glory, David said, this
is going to be under my glory, and it's going to be for the
salvation of your people. Blessed be the Lord, and blessed
be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which thou hast kept me
from this day, shedding blood and avenging myself with mine
own hand." Verse 34, he says, "...and verily, as the Lord God
of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee,
except thou hast hastened and come to meet me, surely there
had not been one of Nabal's house." Surely there had not been left
unto Nabal by the morning light any. that hisseth against the
wall." Surely if he hadn't come to me, not one of them would
have lived. I'd have killed them all. And so, verse 35, David received
of her hand that which she had brought, and said unto her, You
go up. You came down, now go up. In
peace to thine house. I have hearkened to thy voice,
and have accepted thy person." Read it again. Maybe I ought
to read that again, and then respond. Go up to your house. I've received from you everything. I've heard your voice, and I
accept your person on behalf of them. There was one of these young
men, maybe back there listening to all this, whoop, whoop, whoop,
received. Yeah, one of them back in the
background. He, and he went and told the others, we're okay.
We're going to be safe. He's not going to kill us. Well,
well, well, Abigail. Abigail spoke to him for us. Abigail. You know what, I believe the
King loves Abigail. Well, I sure do. Saw it in his
face, saw it in his eye. He did. That's not the end of
the story. Nabal died. He died. He was drunk in his tent. Verse
37, wine was gone out of him, and his wife finally told him.
This is such a picture of a man that comes to his deathbed. This
old fool comes to his deathbed, and his wife told him the king sent word to kill us
all. And here this fellow woke out
of his drunken stupor, and it says his heart died within him. It scared him to death, and he
died. Too late, isn't it? Too late. He already rejected. King sent word through his servants,
and you rejected him. It's too late now. Abigail, it says in verse 39,
that David heard Nabal was dead, and said, Blessed be the Lord,
who hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of
Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil. For the Lord had returned
the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. communion with
Abigail, set her to wife. You come up and you just be my
bride from here on out. Leave the house of fools, come
up to the King's house, where we'll dwell forevermore. And all your servants can come,
too. They can all come be with us. That's Abigail's intercession,
but more importantly, and the reason the story happened, was
to tell us of the Lord Jesus Christ, the intercessor of fools. All right, let's sing in closing
number 42, hymn number 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name, the power that angels prostrate for. Let's stand as we sing,
number 42. Stand with me. All hail the power of Jesus'
name, where angels thus proclaim. Bring forth the royal diadem,
and with gold adorn. Bring forth the royal diadem, Sing the third verse. Let every
kindred, every tribe, all meet to rescue Paul. To him, all majesty, a triumphant crown
him, Lord of all. To him, all majesty, a triumphant crown him, Notice verse four, O that with
yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall. Let's sing that. Thank you.

The Intercessor

What does the Bible say about intercession?

How do we know that Christ is our mediator?

Why is the concept of a king important for Christians?

How does the story of Nabal illustrate human folly?

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The Intercessor

What does the Bible say about intercession?

How do we know that Christ is our mediator?

Why is the concept of a king important for Christians?

How does the story of Nabal illustrate human folly?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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