1 Samuel chapter, well we'll start,
we'll browse through chapters 18 and so on and then we'll get
to chapter 21 and stay there. 1 Samuel, as I said last Wednesday night, I am so thankful that God recorded the failures and the
falls of some of his people in his word. They suffered greatly because
of them, but I have been greatly blessed. I'm glad God recorded
the failures of his people in the word of God. You know, we
read biographies of men and we think, we come away reading them,
except maybe Warburton's There's very few, but that's one. That
man dealt honestly, didn't he? But we read the biographies of
men, and we come away thinking, these people never had a problem.
They're so spiritual. You know, they're so high and
lofty. I'll never attain to that. They spent 24 hours in prayer,
you know, and so forth. And I'm not belittling that at
all. We should pray, be in a spirit of prayer, an attitude of prayer.
Pray without ceasing. You know what I'm saying. God
does not, God's biographies of men are not that way. He reveals them to be what they
are, men and women, just flesh. The first man, Adam, God recorded
his fall. He fell miserably, didn't he?
And that man, there will never be a greater, a wiser, a more
knowledgeable, there'll never be a greater man to walk the
planet than Adam. Right? He was perfect. He fell. God recorded that. God got great
glory out of that fall, too. Noah, you remember the story
of Noah? Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And Noah, God said he'd seen
righteous. But yet, right after that miraculous
deliverance, Noah was one of eight people on the whole planet
that was saved. in the flood, from the flood.
And not long after that, miraculous deliverance. There was no doubt
in Noah's mind who had saved him. I'm sure Henry for days,
for months, for years, he was just awestruck at God's mercy
and grace to him. Yet he fell miserably, didn't
he? He got off the boat, he planted a vineyard, and he was thirsty.
He longed for the wine. It had all been destroyed. He
planted him a vineyard and waited for it to grow. He plotted this
thing for a long time. Maybe his tolerance was down.
We'll give him that benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, he got
drunk. I'm not excusing drunkenness
at all. The Lord says it's a sin. But the Lord recorded that, didn't
he? Abraham, father of the faithful,
the Lord uses him as an example to believers everywhere. How
that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
And he's called the father of the faithful, friend of God.
Yet, twice, he was a pitiful coward. He had a pretty wife. And he went down, he was down
somewhere in Egypt. He was afraid that they would
kill him to get his wife, because she was so pretty, Sarah, so
fair. So he said, Sarah, honey, pretend
you're my sister, would you? And Nancy, let them have her.
Let these wicked fellas have her. Have her, you know, save
your skin. What a pitiful, miserable, you know, I even think I wouldn't
do that. But Abraham, he did it twice. You know, do you know that Isaac
did the same thing? That'll show you that our children
learned, most of the time they learn our bad traits. Isaac did
the same thing, the same thing. He turned out the same way. Jacob,
what about the story of Jacob? We could go on a long time about
Jacob, couldn't we? My, my. He is, what a foolish
man he was, that he was God's chosen. Moses, Moses is not too
much recorded about Moses' failures in the Scriptures yet. His greatest
failure ended his ministry. He got mad. He acted like he
was somebody and did something, like he was the one that brought
the children of Israel out of Egypt, like he was the one. And
he got mad at the people as if they were You know, solely his
charge, and he said, must I spit you water out of the rock again?
As if he had given them that water. Stole God's glory. And smoked the rock, and God
didn't humiliate Moses in front of the people, because he was
his servant, but he sure did deal with him, didn't he? And
he ended his ministry right there. He said, Moses, you're through.
you're through. And the list goes on. Elijah.
Oh, the conquest of Elijah. He stood up against eight hundred
and fifty prophets. Four hundred and fifty prophets
of Baal. Four hundred prophets of the Grove. Eight hundred and
fifty men. He stood alone. He said he wouldn't
back down from any of them. And one little woman, one little Jezebel, told him,
I'll get you. And he went running like a scared
rabbit. Didn't he? Isn't that pitiful?
Afraid of a woman. Solomon. What a man. Solomon. Never a wiser man lived,
but never a more foolish man was. Never a man played the part
of a fool like Solomon did. Never a man. In the New Testament,
the Lord records story after story of the apostles, their
failure. The Lord, He reveals everything. I'm sure later on
the Apostles thought, what? The Lord exposed us, didn't he? He led them to record it down,
didn't he? They wrote it, and the Lord said,
write it all. Peter might have thought, Lord,
do I have to put this down? Yes, Peter, somebody's going
to be encouraged by this. Put it down, what you did. So
he did, and all the way through the Scriptures. I'm so glad. Aren't you, Peter Ross? Huh? Aren't you, Elijah Davis? Huh? Aren't you, Moses Sword? Huh? I'm so glad. And then there's David. Of all the people in the Scriptures, David is the one who's the most
like Christ. God named his son after him. He said, what about Joseph? What
about Daniel? I know that. But God said, called
his son, the son of David. The covenant was through the
line of David. David is the clearest picture
of Christ. He is, in all the Scriptures,
he is the man who is the most like Christ. Yet, there were
times when he was the man who was the most unlike Christ. Thank God for the life of David.
If you want a blessing, if you're looking for a good place to read
in the Scriptures, I recently started in 1 Samuel. Start in
1 Samuel and start reading. You'll get a blessing. Look for
Christ in it now. Like one fellow said, if you
want the scriptures to open up to you, you've got to go over
next to the window, to the light. And Christ is the light that
will open up the scriptures to you. Thank God for the life of
David. The scriptures record David's
highs and David's lows. And nearly every child of God
can identify with both of them. On a mountain, next minute, not
just in the valley, he's in the gutter in the valley. down and
dirty. I read things like this. I read
passages of Scripture like this. And you don't have to turn. I'm
going to read you several. David wrote things like this. In Psalm 27, he wrote this right
here. There's times when I can say
with David, when my father and my mother forsake me, then the
Lord will take me up. Just a confident When my father
and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. And then
there are times when I say with David, too, How long will you
forget me, Lord? Forever. There are times when I can say
with David, like he said in Psalm 37, verse 25, I can say this,
I've been young, and I now am old. Psalm 37, verse 25. And I have never seen the righteous
forsaken or his seed begging bread. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken. I've never. And then in the very
next chapter, David says this. He said, forsake me not, O Lord. O God, hurry, be not far from
me. Are your mercies clean gone?
There are times when I can say with David, like he said in Psalm
26, He said, Psalm 26, verse 1, Lord, I trusted in thee, I
shall not slide. I shall not slide, he said. He said in verse 12, he said,
my foot stands in an even place in the congregation till I bless
the Lord. And then over in Psalm 38, I can say this with David
later on. He said this, Lord, my foot's
slipping. I'm ready to halt. He said, look
at this, Lord, forsake thee not, O God, be not far from me, make
haste to help me. I'm well nigh slipping, my feet
were almost gone, my steps were well nigh slipping, I'm going
down. I mean, one minute he said, I've standed on the rock, Christ,
I'll never fall. Next minute he said, I'm ready
to slide. I'm going down for the count. Can you unify with
David in that way? David was God's man. David was
God's man. Why? Why was he God's man? Because
God said so. That's why. Primarily because
God made him so. That's why. We read, that's what
our brother read in the study a while ago, in 1 Samuel 7. He
told the story about the Lord taking David from the sheep coat,
sheep coat. following after the sheep, a
nothing, a nobody, and made him somebody. That's why David was
God's man. God made him so. And why David
was always God's man, because God said he would be. Not due
to any integrity or virtue or faithfulness on David's part,
but due to his faithful Lord. And God chose him, God called
him, God made a covenant with him concerning him, God raised
him up, God delivered him. And many times As a young person,
David was delivered from, you remember the story, Kevin? When David was delivered from
a bear and a lion, a young man, the Lord delivered him, gave
him great faith and strength, and David wrote many psalms.
Many psalms. The believers, some of the believers'
favorite portions of scripture are the psalms. Maybe the favorite.
We always resort to the psalms, don't we? for help. And David
wrote many songs of praise, of victory, of thanksgiving, of
boasting in the Lord. He said things like this about
the Lord. He said, God's my strength. He
said, God is my rock. He said, He's my fortress. He's
my high tower in whom I have trusted. He's the one that strengtheneth
me. He's the one that's taught my
hands to war. He's my deliverer. And on and
on, David wrote. At times when David thought on
God, as being his God, and thought on God, remembering his covenants. David remembered God's covenant
to him, his mercy, his love, his grace, his providence. David thought about God's providence
all his life, his provisions, his promises to him, and how
God kept these promises. And when David thought on the
Lord, when David thought on the Lord, when his mind was on his
Master, He was in perfect peace, and
he was kept by that power, by that same gospel that you'll
be kept by. Same gospel. Without a worry, without a fear,
with great strength, great courage, able to stand in the face of
his foes, without a trouble. But as soon as he got his eyes
off of the Lord, he fell. And sometimes he took a terrible
fault in it. And I read over in 1 Thessalonians
that he says this. Paul says this, Brethren, knowing
brethren, beloved of the Lord, your election of God. I know
that some of you are chosen, are God's chosen, no less than
David, the king. I know that. How do I know that?
Paul went on to say, Our gospel came unto you. The gospel. There's only one, and it's not
everywhere to be had. And it's come here, though. It's
come here. This little flock has the gospel. And I know it's so of some of
you that you're God's chosen. The gospel came to you, not in
word only, but in power. Truly in life-changing, soul-saving
power. Power. Converting power in a
Holy Ghost. came and convinced you of the
gospel and in much assurance, much assurance, and it's all
based on the covenant mercies in Christ, all those assurances,
and you believe. Paul said, he went on to say,
I know your election because you believe. You became followers
of us and so forth, knowing whom you have believed. And at times
when you can say that I know whom I have believed, I'm persuaded. At times when you come away from
hearing the gospel and you say, now I believe that and I trust
Christ and there's just not a doubt in my mind that I'm one of his. I'm his and he is mine. Praise
the Lord. If he comes now, I'm going to
be with him. At times you're so confident
in Christ. I told you that I have full assurance part of the time. There are times And most of the
time they're when I hear the gospel. I hear the gospel. I have full assurance. Full assurance. Part of the time. And you do,
too. Confident in Christ, and you
experience, no less than David, miraculous deliverances, have
you? Haven't you experienced miraculous deliverances in your
lifetime? Providence, how the Lord has provided for you? Can't
you recall the Lord's miraculous providence in your life? Huh?
Many times. His provisions, His promises.
Can't you recall how many times He's honored His promises to
you? Huh? He's proved Himself to you. How
I've proved Him over and over, the song says. And there are times when you
can say, Christ is my hope, my trust, my righteousness, my blood
sacrifice. Who shall lay anything to my
charge? God's justified me. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
has died. Yea, not only that, he's risen
again. And not only that, he's at the
right hand of God, and he ever lives to make intercession for
me. I am a child of God. Aren't there times when you feel
that way? So I have peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm stayed upon Jehovah. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus Christ
died and he died for me. Next day, next day or Monday morning, you're
a sniveling little coward before mere men. You're foaming at the
mouth at your husband or at your wife, like a madman. You in no way resemble a believer
than an unbeliever, right? Such was David. Take comfort. Such was David. Let's look at
this episode in David's life. Briefly look at it. It's forgettable.
It's forgettable. But it's profitable at times
in our lives that we'd like to forget, but they're profitable. David was chosen. Like I said,
David was chosen by God, led by God. And up to this point,
he sought the Lord. Now look over chapter 18 up to
this point. Now, here he comes and he's he's
a young man. He I don't know how old he is.
I think he's in his early or at least late 20s here. I don't
think, well, I know David did not begin reign until he was
thirty years old, right? Right. This was, this is the
way God did things then. Thirty years old was a man. He
was a young man. David was a man, but not by law.
But he was in his twenties here and he came to marry an age.
And that's a tough time. That's a tough time. Mary and
a chapter eighteen look down at verse fourteen and David it
says behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was
with him. I'd love for it to be said that
about our young man. Behaved himself wisely and the
Lord was with him. Verse seventeen and Saul said
to David behold my elder daughter Mirab. And she must have been
a one to behold, a sight to behold, because David looked at her and
Saul said, Her I'll give to thee, just be valiant and fight the
Lord's battles and so forth and on. Now, David did not seek the
Lord's will in this marriage. Barbara, he did not sit down.
There's no recorded thing. David sat down and said, Lord,
is this your will for me to marry this woman? Is this your, is
this one of your, your elect women? Am I supposed to marry
this woman? He took a good look at her. She was pretty. She was
the king's daughter. Do you don't reckon surely that
any money or anything played a part in David's decision, do
you? Huh? Huh? No. Yeah. David didn't even think about
it. Now I know his his attitude was was admirable here when he
said in verse eighteen of who am I and what is my life my father's
family that should be son-in-law to the king and so forth. If
he'd have thought about it he'd have known that Saul wasn't God's
king anyway Saul was a wicked man. If he'd have remembered what
Samuel had been saying all along. Well, David didn't seek the Lord's
will in his lifelong mate. He jumped at the chance to marry
money, or marry this woman. Look down at verse 19. It came
to pass when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David,
she was given unto another fellow. Did that deter him? Did that
tell him anything? No, he didn't learn anything
from that. Should have, shouldn't. Well, Saul said, I've got another
daughter here. Look at verse 21. Saul commanded
his servants, say, yeah, verse 21. Saul said, I'll give, verse
20. Michael, Saul's daughter, loved
David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. Why did
it please him? Saul said, I'll give him to her. She's going
to be a snare to him. I know her. She's a rascal. She's
a problem. She's a troublemaker. I'll give
her to the old David, and I'll put an end to him. That's what
Saul said. He knew his daughter. She was
a scheming, conniving, no good, rebellious daughter. And he gave,
he said, David, how about Michael? Michael. Michael, yeah. And David
says, sure. Take what I can get. That's foolish, wasn't it? He
didn't seek the Lord's will. I'm talking about a lifelong
mate. One who has as much, more influence over you than anybody
save the Lord himself. Right? Verse twenty-seven. So David arose and went and did
what he had to do to get the daughter and Saul gave him Michael
his daughter to wife. So he married. He ended up marrying
Michael and boy he suffered for it. He suffered for it. She was a thorn in his side.
Remember Michael was the one that That you remember when David
was dancing before the ark. She's the one that didn't. Didn't
the king try to show himself before the maidens today. She
made fun of him and his religion. And David said, I'll be more
vile than this. She was a snare to him. Maybe
that's the reason he got married again. Maybe that's the reason
he got him some other wife. And I'm not excusing that. David
suffered for that, too. God never God never condoned
that he never sanctioned. The league never never. Adam had one. And David suffered for that too
and there's nothing more try and I'm saying this and if you're
married to you if you got a troublesome marriage there's nothing more
trying nothing more troublesome nothing more difficult than American
marriage to an unbeliever for a. a believer and so I'm saying
this and you're in it and the Lord says don't try to get out
of it. Don't put them away from it.
They're pleased to dwell where you dwell with them in peace.
It may be that your conversation the Lord will use that. Peter
said this you can read it in first Peter that maybe the Lord
will use your life and conversation your witness to deal with them
your unsaved mate. But I'm saying this for the sake
of our unmarried young people. Don't you dare even think about
marrying an unbeliever, or you're going to have trouble. You're
going to have trouble. Now, I don't even know if you're
a believer, these young people, but I'm telling you, if you don't
at least endeavor to seek the Lord's will in your marriage,
you've got problems. You're going to have problems
such as you've never had before. There's no more troubles to be
had than in a bad marriage. Some of you. can attest to that. There have been several in here
who have been divorced and can attest to the fact that a marriage
gone sour is a horrible trial to young people. All right, let's
go on. David didn't, and there's number
one, he's the start of it all. Do you see that? Do you see that
clearly? If you don't, take note of it. David didn't consult the
Lord in marrying this woman. He got married to her anyway.
All right, David left off. He began, and I have to think
it's her influence, that he left off speaking to the Lord and
seeking the Lord's will in other things, and he began to lean
on the arm of the flesh, his own arm, and the arm of other
people. Look at chapter 19, verse 18. So David, it says, David
fled. and escaped and came to Samuel.
Remember Saul got mad at David one day and threw a spear, a
javelin at him, and David ran. And David, it says, came to Samuel.
Well, that's good. I'm glad he did that. He went
to the right place. Now, he at least had a little
bit of sin. And he came to Samuel. Samuel was the Lord's servant.
Samuel was the Lord's priest. Samuel was a wise and a godly
man. David was in a good place. He
sat at the feet of Samuel. He was a young man. He needed
this older man's wisdom and this godly man's instruction from
the Word. That's exactly where David needed to be. Commune with
one of God's people now. He was under the tutelage and
the fellowship and instruction of a godly man. That's where
he should have been. And he went there, and he heard the word
of God from him. And you know, in chapter, on
through chapter 19, it talks about several of them came down
to get him. Several of his enemies came down
to get David. Remember that? Saul's enemies?
He sent them down there, and they ended up prophesying. They
sent some more, Saul sent some more, and they ended up prophesying.
And Saul himself came down to get David, after him. And he
ended up prophesying. The Lord delivered David three
times. while he was with Samuel. Miraculous
deliverance. Turned his enemies 180 degrees
while he was with them. Samuel was at peace, or David
was at peace and rest, learning, growing, strengthened in courage
with Samuel. That's where he should have been.
Why did he leave? Well, somebody tell me why David
left Samuel. Beats me. Look down at verse
20. Samuel was in Naoth. Chapter 20. I'm sorry. Chapter
20. Remember Ramah? That's where
Samuel was born. That was Samuel's hometown. That's
where Samuel was and that's where David went. Chapter 20, verse
1. David fled from Naoth and Ramah. Why did he do that? David, why
did you leave? Why did you leave the gospel?
Can't this be said of David? David, you've left the gospel.
You've left God's anointed man. You've left off... Do you see
that? He left, and he went to Jonathan. He came to a friend, a close
friend, came and said before Jonathan. He came to Jonathan,
began to plead with Jonathan, a close friend. He sought out
his companion, and he began to pour out his murmuring complaint
before Jonathan. He really didn't have a problem,
not with Samuel, but he went to Jonathan anyway. I guess he
just felt like complaining, so he went to find somebody to listen
to him. Maybe Samuel wouldn't listen to him. Maybe he said
to Samuel, it solves it. Samuel would say, shut up, boy,
you've got everything to be thankful for. You're going to be king,
I told you, didn't I? Samuel kept saying, you're going
to be king. You've got nothing to worry about. Which is never. Got here. Shut up. David could act like a baby and
David thought I'd say he won't listen to me he's a hard man
so he went to find him somebody would and he went to Jonathan
and he was. What about. Anything. I'm telling you like it is now.
Don't you despise what I'm saying. This is what happened to David.
And you're going to see in a minute that David got in a bad shape because
of this state he'd gotten into. This is all leading up to one
of the most unthinkable times in this man's life. David went
to Jonathan and he said, What have I done? What is mine? And
it was my sin before my father. He seeketh thy father. He seeketh
my life. Now, I'm glad this happened,
though. David should not have left Samuel.
He should not have gone to Jonathan. He should have stayed right there
with Samuel. But I'm glad he left. The Lord overruled even
in this. He went to Jonathan, and you
know what happened between him and Jonathan. You know about
that covenant between him and Johnson. You know about the story
between him and Johnson. Johnson said, the Lord's going
to anoint you king, and I don't want you to leave off your kindness,
not to my house, even after I'm dead. I want you to show mercy.
And we have the story of Mephibosheth. And we have story after story.
Through David's error, God's glory was shown as never before. David made a mistake. David should
have lived, but he did, and I'm glad God allowed it to happen
for our sake. Aren't you? But the fact is,
David forgot the Lord, his strength, and leaned upon the arm of the
flesh. This is what he was doing. He was leaning on the arm of
a friend. His friend couldn't do anything
for him. Do you hear of David calling
on the Lord here anywhere? Huh? You're not going to read
it. You go back and read. You'll
not hear David calling on the Lord. Now over to chapter 21, now David
gets to lying. David becomes a liar, a low-down
deceitful fellow in the God's house. Now over to chapter 21,
now David becomes a deceitful and dishonest man to save his
skin. And he wrote a song about Rick, I believe that song he
wrote, I didn't write that down, but he said, you remember when
he said, deliver me from lying lips. You remember that? I think
he wrote that, being convicted of what he did right here. He
went to the priest. Let's read it. Psalm, or I'm
sorry, chapter, 1 Samuel 20, 21. First Samuel twenty-one verse
one, David came to Nob to Himalek the priest and Himalek was afraid
at the meeting of David. In other words he didn't know
why David was there and he said unto him, why are you alone and
no man with thee? And David said of the electric
the priest the king commanded me a business and has said unto
me let no man know anything of the business whereabouts in the
and what I've commanded the and I've appointed my servants and
there's I have some friend of my servants out here to such
and such a place there out here in the field in their tents and
the king sent me down here and he sent me to get some food and
this is when he said give me some of this food that you have
here some of this hallowed bread. The priest said, we don't have
any common food here, just hallowed bread. And David said, well,
give it to me anyway. And the king sent me. And my
servants are out here. Have they been kept from women?
Are they sanctified? Oh, yeah. Everything's fine. We're good, holy men, and we
just need something to eat. Lied to the priest. Now, was
that justifiable? No. You know, I really believe
if David had said, God has made with me a covenant,
the prophet Samuel, whom he respects, him elect. You know Samuel, don't
you? Oh yeah, he's my God's man. Well,
Samuel said, I'm to be king. I'm to be king. And the king,
Saul, is against me. He's fighting against me. And
I'm running from him. And I'm hungry, and I need something
to eat, and I'm all alone. Will you help me?" And I just
believe Himilek would have said, yeah. Do you? If he was God's
priest, if he knew anything about God, God's Word, God's promises,
he would have recognized God's King, and he would have helped
her. See, this wasn't justified. And look at this, go on. And
David was there, verse 8, David said unto Himilek, he said, now
I'm going to need something to fight with. He said, is there a spear or
a sword around here? I don't have a sword. I had to
hurry. I was in a hurry. And the priest said, well, the
sword of Goliath is here, the Philistine, whom you slew with
a sling. He might have gone, with a sling? What do you need that for? But
it's here if you need it. And David said, that's a good
one. Yeah, give me that. I need that. And David said, so now
I'm going to get me some carnal weapons. I'm going to lean on
armor to flesh. I'm going to lie. I'm going to
trust in carnal weapons now. David never needed a weapon before. He was leaning on the arm of
God. What about when he faced Goliath? He defeated the bare
man and had the sword in his hand. What's making him think
now that that sword was going to do him any good? You see what
a state he'd gotten into now? He'd completely forgotten about
the Lord by this time. He was in a bad state. That's us, all of these things. When we begin to forget God,
which is quite often, when we run before the Lord without seeking
his will, without seeking his leadership, whether it be marriage
or whether it be a job, whether it be major decisions, whether
it be this or that and the other, and begin to think like a man.
Carnal reasoning. We don't wait on the Lord. Scripture
says we're to walk by faith, not by sight, not by reasoning. And as I said, you know, David's
wife must surely have influenced him severely or badly, several
times. is what must influence him evil
communication will corrupt good manners. I don't think she influenced
him so much and out and out lies and heresy but I think she made
little subtle suggestions and set a bad example to him and
she was having fellowship with darkness. She was allied to bail. He was like I said he was well
off with Samuel he left Samuel Samuel was a wise man of God
he left Samuel in favor of a friend And I said this before, I said
it this morning, quite often God's people are more willing
to listen to the world or listen to a friend than a man sent by
God to express purpose of guiding them, helping them from God's
Word. And then we often resort to carnal
reasoning, just like David, to justify what we've done. We resort
to carnal reasoning. We say, well, the Lord uses means,
you know, so I'm going to use means. I'm going to seek carnal
means. Right? And we lean on the arm of the
flesh, we completely forget about Christ, and we get in a bad way. We become fearful, failing, and
sometimes we take a terrible fall, and it takes a long time
for us to get up again. Now look at chapter twenty-one.
Look at verse ten through twelve. and fled that day for fear. There
was a time when David wasn't afraid of anybody. You know that? John, as a young man, he wasn't
afraid of anybody. You remember when he came down
to the camp of his brethren, when Goliath was out there defying
the armies of Israel as a young man? He came down and said, Who
is this uncircumcised Philistine that defies the armies of the
living God? Have it wronged you all. What
are you afraid of?" They said, David, look at him. He said,
well, I'll cut his head off. They said, you're bragging. He
said, no, my God's with me. I'll go after him. Well, let
me give you some armor and all that. He put some on. I don't
need this. God's with me. And he took out out there, and
you know the story. He wasn't afraid of anybody, as long as
he was looking to God for his strength. Now he's afraid of
everybody and everything. He's running.
He's afraid of his own shadow. Look at that. It says in verse
10, David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul. And he
went to Achish, the king of Gath. Rikwanda Wor was in the hill
of Gath. That's where Goliath was from.
That was the camp of the fleet. What's he doing in Gath? Huh? Why don't you go back to Samuel? David, don't go down
there. The gap of all the places. That's
the last place he should have been. Like Abraham went back
to Egypt. Abraham, what are you doing down
there? That's where Abraham denied Sarah. And look down at verse eleven
it says the servants of Achish said unto him is this not the
king of the land David the king of the land and we saw him we
heard about this man they said Saul slain his thousand David
his ten thousand and David heard that they heard and David laid
it up in his heart and David was afraid of Achish He's afraid
of Saul and ran from Saul and he ran to Achish. Why, I don't
know. And he got down there and heard that Achish had heard the
story and he got afraid of Achish. He's afraid of everybody now.
And he ran from Achish. In a minute. Now, like I said, he shouldn't
have been there to begin with. Sometimes, you know, when things aren't
going our way. Listen, let's see if this isn't
so. Sometimes when things are not going our way, we think God
has left off being gracious to us. And then we take refuge in
the world, and maybe even with worldlings, we try to find refuge
wherever we can. This is what David did. He thought,
God's left me. No, David, God didn't leave you. You left God. Right? God hasn't forgot about you.
You forgot about God. God hadn't got his eyes off of
you. We'll see that in a minute. David, you took your eyes off
of him. God didn't take his Holy Spirit
from you. You grieved him. Right? God didn't leave all pouring
out of his Spirit upon you. You quenched it. Right? Huh? This is us. Sometimes when
things aren't going our way, we think God has left off being
gracious to us. We take refuge in something,
somebody, somewhere, world and worldly. Look at David's compromise
here. David's compromise. David had
to have compromised his faith in God to be there with Philistine
in the first place. Didn't he, Rick? Could he have
dwelt with these people if he'd have been acting like a son of
God? The Philistines, these were the most idolatrous, pagan, filthy,
wretched. It'd be like It'd be like you
and I taking comfort and refuge in a bunch of old construction
workers, or joining the Navy, you know, to get away from our
problems. Take refuge and comfort, you
know, getting in amongst them. Peter did, didn't Peter? Warmed
himself by the fire with all the other people, and finally
the same thing happened to Peter. Peter left the Lord and warmed
himself with all those other pagans, and finally said, Well,
you're one of his too, aren't you? And he started cussing.
I'll prove it. I'm not one of them. I don't
even know that man. Son of a... I'm one of you. David had to have compromised
his faith in God just to be around these Philistines. David joined
himself to them. But God. But God. You see why salvation is in two
words? But God. Huh? Look at John. Yeah, but God. Isn't that salvation? Isn't it? Peter, Peter's the
one that said, y'all listen, the long suffering of God is
salvation. It's all your salvation. All
your life. The fact that but God. Look at
you! But God! God's long-suffering and merciful
to his wayward, sinful, rebellious children. We see this all the
way through David's life. God leaves David to himself at
times, but bless God, God never forsook David. Did he? He left him to himself, at times,
for purposes, for God's purposes. But bless God, God never left
him completely. And he didn't do it because there's
anything in David. He didn't see anything special
in David. David, you know, God said, I sought me a man after
my own heart. Why did David have a heart, God's heart? Huh? God gave it to him. That's why it wasn't anything
in David of it because God is faithful. Because God will always
remember his covenant. And and people were accepted. And you know, we want you wonder
why I love the word covenant so much. It's all my hope. in all my salvation, that God
has made with Christ an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure, that he will in no wise cast out them that come
to God by him. In no wise. But Lord, look at
him. In no wise. He said, I'll never
leave you, nor forsake you. You trust Christ, you come to
Christ, I'll never leave you. Somebody shouts. God's true to His promises. He'll
remember His covenant. He remembers His Son. For Jonathan's
sake, for Christ's sake, He'll never leave us, nor forsake.
That soul, I love that song, that soul that on Christ hath
leaned for repose, I'll never. No, never. No, never. desert to its foes. And God lets us play the prodigal
at times, doesn't He? That always the loving Father
that He is receives them back home with open arms. You do it
for your own children, won't you? Hmm? How much more? Shall the Heavenly Father, who
loves His children infinitely and kills the fatted calf. I
love that part of that prodigal son story, don't you? You know
the fatted calf? Boy, there's a sermon. The fatted
calf? You know what that means? That
calf was prepared. It was already ready. Now, how
did the father know that the son was coming back? How did
he have a calf already ready? I mean, it was already ready
just as soon as the son came back. He said, kill that calf
I've had waiting. such as the wisdom and knowledge
and love of the Father. The love of God brought him back,
the Son back. Christ is that fatted calf, isn't
he? He is that eternal sacrifice, always ready for every prodigal
son, always pleading his blood, the blood always. John said,
if any man sin, we have an answer. He said, Brethren, if you say
you have no sin, you're a liar, and you make God a liar. But
if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to cleanse
us, forgive us from our sin, cleanse us from our sin, and
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all iniquity. He's the Lamb slain. All right, let me hurry on now.
But David was baptized. Look at verse 13 and 14. What a sight. It says David changed
his behavior before Himalek. Now Himalek heard and the men
heard that this was God's man and that he wasn't one of them
after all, although he looked like it a little bit at times
there. And David got scared and to save his skin, it says he
changed his behavior before them and feigned himself mad or crazy. in their hands and scrabble start
scratching on the door. Of the gate. This is horrible and it is terrible
and a little running down his face his beard from. God's. God's king. And I just said. Akish came in,
you know, to see about David. He came in and he said, where
is this David? They said he's in there, in that room. And Akish
came in and went, oh. He said, this man's mad. Wherefore then have you brought
him to me? I don't need of a mad man. You brought this fellow
to play the madman in my presence, so this fellow come and get him
out of here." I don't suppose any of you have
changed your behavior before in the world, have you? Huh? Played the madman? As I said before, you know. You
let somebody pull out in front of us in a car. I've seen young blonde haired
girls foam at the mouth at me. I'd see them in my rear view
mirror when I forget to put my turn signal on. Foaming at the
mouth. I've witnessed God's people do
that too. I was with a preacher brother
and he was driving in the car. He and his wife spoke and somebody
did, some old couple you know was in front of them. act driving
just fast enough to suit them or they hadn't done this and
that and he and he and he got wild that preacher did. He said,
what's wrong with her? And his wife did the same thing.
Get her out of here. And I went, what? These people
are mad at me. You know, it's easy to be real
sanctimonious and see other people, you know, but I don't I did. I thought, what am I doing
in this car with these people? I don't suppose any of you have
done that, have you? Changed your likeness before
the world. It's not funny, really. You know what I thought about,
though, in there? I thought, I sure hope there's nobody in
here who is changing your behavior in front of us. Now that's hypocrisy. It's one
thing to become, you know, like the world and repent of it and
come back and, Lord, help me. So it's another thing to come
in among God's people and try to act like one of them, but
you're not. What a sorry sight David was,
and I'll hurry, I'll quit. If you'd have looked at him right
now, what if you'd come down and somebody, here's a innocent
bystander and you come by and say, let's have a look at God's
man, God's king. Let's look at him. Here he is. You'd have thought this is the
last person on earth that's a son of God, wouldn't you? No way,
no way that this man is God's son, son of God. Child of God. Christian. There's no way this
man can be a Christian. Look at him. No way. Huh? But God, God permitted all this,
didn't he? Hmm? Why? Why did God allow this
to happen? Well, I believe, number one,
for David's humility. I know David thought about this.
Well, David wrote, you know, he wrote two psalms about this
episode. He wrote two psalms. Psalm 34 and I think 56. He wrote
two songs. David's humility. Don't you know
he recalled this episode in his life? And just whenever he thought
about it, whenever he might have been puffed up, the Lord brought
this back to his mind. What a madman he had. And it
brought him down. He came out of his pride and
began to think about the Lord's mercy and grace to him. Huh?
Don't you know he did? You know he did. There have been
episodes, Henry, in your life that God recalls into your mind,
David's learning. David learned from this, and
whatsoever is written, written for our learning. Right? For our comfort. Now, does this
make you want to sin? Does this make you, does this
excuse your sin? Does this make you say, well,
since David did it, I can do it too, you know? Does it? Something's terribly wrong if
you do. Huh? I told you about that preacher
that left his wife and children. And somebody, another preacher,
came and told him to warn him, tell him, no, go back, don't
do this. And he said, well, just as matter-of-factly, just as
nonchalantly, he said, well, I'll just get in line with David. When Nathan came to David and
told him what he'd done, what did David do? But I'll just get
in line with Noah. Get it? But I'll just get in
line with Abraham. He wrote Psalm 51. Have mercy
on me. Turn me. Create in me a clean
heart. I've sinned against thee. It
doesn't make me want to sin. I'll tell you what it does make
me do. It makes me mighty thankful to God for His mercy and grace.
Doesn't it? Makes me mighty thankful for
sovereign grace. Makes me want to keep looking
to Christ, too, doesn't it? Make you want to keep looking
to Christ to keep from getting in a shape like this? It instructs
me. It chastens me. It corrects me. It rebukes me.
It exhorts me. It does all these things. And
you know, it's God's mercy. Verse 15 said that Achish and
his men said, We don't need this fellow. Get him out of here.
It's God's mercy to turn the world against you. You ever thought
about that? It's God's mercy to turn the
world against you, to make them hate you. It's God's mercy. It
hurts at times. You say, why don't they befriend
me, huh? You try your best to be friendly to somebody. Have
you ever? This has happened to me recently. Try your best to
be a friend, to not cause any problems to people out there,
you know. Be kind to them, courteous, friendly, meek and mild and so
forth to them and all that. And they end up hating you, saying
things behind your back. That's the mercy of God. Because
if they received you, you'd want to be one of them, wouldn't you?
You'd be just like them. You'd stay with them. But it's
God's mercy to finally make you realize, to make the world hate
you, and to finally make you realize you have no part but
come out from among them. We are of God in the whole world,
life and wickedness, John said. Be ye separate. Didn't God say
be ye separate? Come out from among you have no continuing
city here. These aren't your friends. The
world out there. You don't want to lie on it.
This is not what you're looking. It's not your people. David,
you don't belong there anymore. David, do you? Are you happy here? Is this what
you want, David? Oh, Lord, no. Come on out of
there. And David wrote Psalm 73 later,
whom have I in heaven but thee? And really he said, listen, I
love this verse, and really there's none on earth I desire beside
thee. And thy people, thy people. I quoted Psalm, one of the brothers,
Stan, I was talking to Stan, he said it's good to see John
Davis every now and then at work. They both worked down at M.W.,
not M&W, M.W. And they both worked down there,
and every now and then they'd see one another. And it's like an
oasis to them, like a breath of fresh air, you know, in the
midst of stale, hot, God-cursing air, filled with blasphemies. You know how it is. I remember.
I used to have a brother that worked with me on a railroad.
Like I told you, every time we see one another, I don't want
to be like in the movies, running in a field. And David said that in Psalm
119. He said, they that fear thee
will be glad when they see me, because I've hoped in thy word.
There's a kindred spirit. There's a brother. There's a
follower of Christ. There's somebody that's walking
the same road I'm walking. I want to be with him. And in closing David's sin and
David's failure brought him very low. Didn't it? It brought him
so. How low can you get? How low
down can you get? Sammy, you've never been this
bad. Never been worse. Let me put
it that way. Maybe been that bad. But you've never been any
worse than this. Scratching on the door and foaming
at the mouth. And it brought reproach on the
Lord. It did. The enemy, they knew that this
is God's King. This is a man of God. This is
the man that trusts in the God of Israel. This is the man. You believe you're God? That's nothing to your religion.
Look at it. And they laughed at his God and
his religion. That's what Nathan said to David,
didn't he? You've brought great reproach. on your God. That's the first thing it does
when we act like this, doesn't it? Brought reproach on himself
and his family too, David. And if he suffered for it, David's
sin with Bathsheba, his family suffered greatly, greatly, greatly,
his ministry. But David returned to the Lord,
and the Lord had mercy on him. Every time David returned, David
This wasn't people like I said he was a young man here. And
he lived to be seven they didn't seven. And he was fifty someone
that had more basheeman and other things happened that he went
to zig lag me when he went to zig lag when he was thirty some
years old. Zip you remember that story and
took four hundred men with him that was a pagan god all at the
fall after fall at the failure of the scene at the scene but
he kept Though a righteous man fall seven times, yet he'll arrive,
and the Lord won't forsake him. He kept returning to the Lord,
and the Lord had mercy on him. Why? I said it before, that covenant,
that covenant, God's truth is promised, and God will have mercy
on us. I tell you what, just get back
to Christ. I don't care how low down you've
gotten, just get back to Christ. Huh? Lay your hands on the altar. Grab hold of the horns of the
altar. Get down and the law is against you, threatening to cut
your head off. It ought to. Gently hold on to
the horns. And you know, we really don't
get away with anything. We don't get away with any of
that. I used to think that about my
parents. Got by with that. No. They know. Mothers and fathers
are amazingly, almost omniscient, you know, when it comes to children.
I thought I got by with so much, only to realize later on they
knew. They knew. I either thought, well, they're
dumb. Or they just didn't catch me. They're not dumb. And they
just, they just, they're waiting. You know, they know. God is just. God, His eyes see us. God is our faithful Father. And
like a faithful father, He deals with His children in every area. Every area. Won't He? Won't a
faithful parent deal with every error and area? Won't He? And He often allows us to be
brought very low. as we should be. And we bring
shame and reproach on him, the church, ourselves, our family,
and we suffer greatly. Yet the Lord is abundantly merciful,
but God. And he always receives us and
accepts us in Christ, just keeps on receiving us. And we get, oh, we get down.
And maybe you're there now. Maybe you have been there. Maybe
you have been there. And you know what you know. You can enter into that. I hope
you can. I can. And you think, oh, Lord, how
low can you get? Surely nobody is as low down
as I am. Nobody. Don't you know, John,
don't you know David said that? Surely there ain't nobody as
low down, as unworthy. And as unlike a child of God
as I am, ain't no way, he said, is God that he made? I don't
know when he wrote those other songs about, is his mercy clean
gone? That may have been the time.