Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel
chapter 16. 1 Samuel chapter 16. This is one of those Old Testament
types that I love so dearly. And it's necessary that you follow
along in your Bibles if you're able. It's necessary that you. So that you'll get the full meaning,
so you'll see for yourself this story. You may see something.
If the Lord blesses you like he does, Barbara Ross, you come
preach to me at the surface. Invariably, she'll come up and
show me something that I didn't see. And I appreciate it. I'm
glad. Now this is a perfect picture
of salvation in this story. It's not found here in chapter
16. It's found in chapter 25. It's the story of the king and
a fool and the fool's wife. The story of David and Nabal
and Abigail. You may know the story. But we
have to begin here in 1 Samuel 16. in verse 1. You see, the first character
in this story, that is David, 1 Samuel 16, verse 1, And the
Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn Asaul, seeing
that I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Now, God
had told Samuel that Asaul was not his king, that God had chosen
another king, a true king, God's chosen king. And Saul was the
choice of the people, wasn't he? And he was an evil and wicked
king that lorded himself over them. And the people got what
they were looking for, all right. But he wasn't God's king. But
God said to Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing
I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? He's not my king. Fill thine horn with oil, and
go. I will send thee to the house
of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. For I have provided me a king
from his son. So who is David? You know, this
is speaking of David here. And you remember the story how
Samuel went down to the house of Jesse to choose from among
his sons. And David, the youngest, was
God's choice. And who is David? Well, God said
here in verse one, he's my king. He's God's king. That's who David
is. God's king. Now, he didn't look
like a king. He was young, he was fair, he
was a shepherd boy. Samuel, the prophet, had looked
at the other boys, and surely they were tall, dark, and handsome,
you know, and looked the part that a king ought to look. But
David didn't. I'm sure when David walked in,
Samuel thought, this can't be him. He didn't look like a king.
But look at verse seven. The Lord said unto Samuel, Don't
look on his outward countenance. Look not on his countenance or
on the height of his stature, because I've refused him. He's
talking about a lie of the oldest son. I've refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looks on the outward
countenance, the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So, O David, if you'll look over
at 1 Samuel 13, to see what the Lord says about David. God doesn't
look on the appearance. He looks on the heart. And this
is what he said about David. He said in verse 14 here, Samuel's
talking to Saul here. But in verse 14, Samuel says
to Saul, Thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought
him a man after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him
to be a captain over his people. Who's he talking about? David.
And David, he didn't look like a king, but he had the heart
of a king on the inside. And this is a perfect picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, he's God's king. That's who Christ is. God has
made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord, that
is king, and Christ. Lord and Christ. He said in another
place, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. Just like
David was chosen from among those sons of Jesse, our Lord was chosen
from among the people, God's choice servant. And another scripture
says that the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess that he's King, that he's Lord. Things
in earth and things under the earth. And another place, it
says that unto us a child is born, a son is given, the government
shall be upon his self-shoulder." What's that? That's his monarchy. That's his reign. He's going
to be king. And his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government,
his reign, his rule, there shall be no end. So not only is he
God's king, but he's God's everlasting king. He's the last king. He's
the first and the last king. He always was a king. We had
to come down here and earn that title. And Christ, much like
David, he didn't look like a king, did he? I spoke about that plain
brown rapper one day. He was born in a stable. He was
a son of a carpenter. He became a carpenter himself.
Rick, that makes it an honorable profession that God himself came
down and became a carpenter. There's nothing wrong with that.
I'd just love to be a carpenter. He was poor. He was despised. He came from a despised hometown
called Nazareth. Didn't look like a king, but
he was God's king. He was God's king. Why? Because he had the heart of a
king. The heart of a king. What did
he say? What were his very words? Not
my will, but thy will be done. So, David is God's king. God chose him. God set him up
to reign and to rule. He's God's king, but he's not
only the king. David is not only the king, but
look at this over in 1 Samuel 17 and verse 4. David is not
only the king, but he's a savior, a savior. Look at this. You know the story how Goliath,
that big giant, came out to meet the armies of Israel. Verse four,
1 Samuel 17, verse four, there went out a champion out of the
camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height
was six cubits and a span. This guy was ten feet tall, ten
feet tall. And he wore a helmet of brass
upon his head and a coat of armor that weighed 156 pounds. And
he had brass on his legs and on his shoulders. And verse seven,
a staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And a spear's
head weighed 600 shekels of iron. This staff that he carried weighed
33 pounds and was 26 feet long. This big spear this guy had. Huge fella. And all in all, all
of his armor weighed 272 pounds of armor. That's how big this
guy was. A mighty foe. A mighty foe. And down here in verse 20, You
know how that David was sent by his father down to tend to
his brothers? And he came, and it says, verse
20, David rose up early in the morning. That's Christ. He was the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He was the Savior from the foundation
of the world. And he left the sheep with a
keeper. Always mindful of the sheep. Verse 29. So old David
came down here to the battle, and David saw what was going
on, how this Uncircumcised Philistine was challenging the armies of
God. Look at verse 26. David spoke
to the men that stood by him, saying, What's going to be done
to the man that kills this Philistine and takes away their approach
from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine he should defy the
armies of the living God? And down in verse 29, David said,
Isn't there a cause? Oh, my, I'm glad Christ took
upon himself the cause of all causes. Yes, there's a cause.
Look at verse 36. So David tells the story of how
he slew the lion and the bear. He said, Thy servant, talking
to Saul here, Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and
this uncircumcised Philistine shall be just like them. See,
and he defied the armies of the living God. You can't get away
with that. And David said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out
of the paw of the lion, out of the paw of the bear, he'll deliver
me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
and the Lord be with thee. And he surely was. In verse 47,
he went to meet that lion, or that giant, and here's what he
said to him. Verse 47, he said to old Goliath,
All this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with
sword and spear his kingdoms, not of this world. For the battle
is the Lord's, and he'll give you in our hands. And look at
verse 51. So David ran at this fellow and
threw a little stone at him, you know, and sunk it right between
his eyes and felled him. And David ran and stood upon
the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheath
thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when
the Philistine saw their champion was dead, they fled. Old David took the very instrument
that that giant was going to use to destroy God's people and
slew Him with it. And that's a picture of Christ
taking a man and slaying Satan with the very instrument that
He thought He was going to mess this whole thing up with. He
took a man. I'm sure that just enraged Satan. But here we have
a picture of David who is the Savior. Now look at chapter 18,
verse 7. Look at this. slaughter after David pretty
much single-handedly ran off all these armies of the Philistines,
because he slew their giant, he slew their leader. They came
back into town, you know, they were parading back into town
after this mighty slaughter. And verse 7, the women were dancing
and singing, and the women answered one another as they played and
said, Saul has slain his thousand, but David, oh David, they're
talking about David now, they're not talking about their old king.
their former king. They're talking about David.
David's slain is 10,000. And if an old sinner ever sees
Christ, he'll not be talking about that old flesh, that old
king, and about himself anymore, will he? He thought he reigned
himself. He ruled himself. But when he
sees Christ as his king and his Savior, he'll be talking about
Christ from there on out, about him. So Jesus Christ, he's the
king and he's the Savior. I'll tell you how he's the Savior.
He slew three giants, three mighty giants for us. The first one
was God's law. He made it head on, didn't he?
He made God's law head on. That law that was a mighty foe
to us that said, this do and live. And we couldn't stand up
to it. Couldn't meet it. Couldn't even
look it in the eye. Huge giant. But Christ made him
head on and fulfilled it. Kept it. magnified it and stood
above it, didn't he, with his foot on the neck of God's law.
And he slew that mighty giant called our sin, a mighty giant,
one that we couldn't deal with, that had us by the throat, going
down, a huge giant. And the Scripture says the wages
of sin is death. And God sent his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and by a sacrifice for sin, condemned
sin, cut it off, killed it, slew it, condemned sin in the flesh. God hath made Jesus Christ to
be sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. And the Lord hath laid upon him
the iniquity of us all. And he slew that mighty giant
called Satan, Lucifer. And perhaps this mighty giant,
to us anyway, was more powerful than any. More powerful than
any. But Christ cut his head off,
didn't he? That woman's seed bruised his
head. Cut it off. Cut it off and parades
it before all of God's creation. Now, so, not only is David God's
king and God's savior. You know, everybody should have
known David by now, shouldn't they? Yeah, they should have.
His fame went throughout all the land. Everybody should have
known him. Everybody should have known David
by now. He'd slain this mighty giant
and defeated all these foes. But there's one fellow that didn't
know him. One fellow didn't know it. We've got to know Jesus Christ,
who He is, that He's not only King and Savior, but something
else. Or else we're going to end up just like this fellow.
We're going to read about here in a minute. Look over at 1 Samuel
18. Look at verse 8 in this story. Old Saul, after David got all
the credit for all of this, Saul was very wroth, it says in verse
8. And the saying, what he heard these women praising David, and
the saying displeased him. And he said, they have ascribed
unto David ten thousands. To me, they have ascribed but
thousands. And what can he have more now
but the kingdom? And so Saul eyed David from that
day forward. Now, Saul loved old David when
he was just a sweet shepherd boy, didn't he? He loved him.
He loved him as just a sweet psalmist of Israel that sang
to him and so forth, just a little boy. He loved him. But he wasn't
about to have him as king, was he? That's a perfect picture
of people nowadays. The world hates Christ. They'll
take him in a manger. They'll take him as a sweet little
Jesus boy that they can do anything with. But they won't have him
as king to reign and rule over them. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. And the natural man doesn't want
Christ to be king. We want to rule ourselves. So
Saul pursued David from that day forward, much like this world
pursues after Christ now and like they pursued him then. Remember,
all the religious world, they pursued after him from day one.
They were after him. Look here at 1 Samuel chapter
22. Look at chapter 22. Old David, he escaped from the
hand of Saul, because it wasn't his time yet. It wasn't his time
yet. He escaped from Saul. And he
went down to this cave. Look at verse 1 of chapter 22.
David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam. And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And everyone that was in distress,
and everyone that was in debt, And everyone that was discontented
gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over
them." I love that passage there. Old David down in this cave and
his followers coming to him. And this is a perfect type of
Christ here also. The followers of Christ. The
king and his motley crew, my pastor once preached on. The
king and his motley crew. Those that were in distress.
things pressing in upon them, sin, the world, depression. Those that were in debt, those
that had a creditor that they couldn't meet his demands, couldn't
meet the payment that he demanded. And God demands of us perfect
payment against his broken law, doesn't he? We broke his law
on every point, and he demands that we owe him our very lives,
the death of our very soul. But Jesus paid it all, the psalm
says, all the debt Oh, when they came, these people came, these
followers of David, they came to where he was. It was an uncomfortable
place, this cave. Uncomfortable, but they were
free. They had all they needed in David,
didn't they? Being with their captain, they
had all they needed. And in this world, it will be uncomfortable,
Christ said. In this world, you shall have
much tribulation. But in Christ, we have all we need. He's all. And we're free in him. And they
were discontented also. Bitter of soul. They're unhappy
with their circumstances and so forth. And that's God's people. Discontented. Bitter of soul.
Unhappy with our sinful selves. Unhappy in this life. Bitter
of heart. About this old world that hates
God. And just like these people that went to David and he became
a captain over them, we have to come to Christ. And he'll
be our captain, our king, our savior. our refuge, our hiding
place. Well, let's get in the story
here and look at chapter 25 now. This is where we're going to
dwell the rest of the time. Chapter 25. Here's the second
person in this story. 1 Samuel 25, verse 1. And Samuel died, the prophet
Samuel, and all the Israelites were gathered together and they
lamented, mourned him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And
David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And
there was a man in Mahan whose possessions were in Carmel, his
business in Carmel. And the man was very great, that
is, in this world. He had three thousand sheep,
a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now, the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife
was Abigail. She was a woman of good understanding,
of a beautiful countenance, but the man was churlish, evil in
his doings. He was the house of Caleb, and
David heard in the wilderness at Nabal that this fellow, this
rich fellow, did shear his sheep. So David sent out ten young men,
and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and
go to Nabal. this rich fellow and greet him
in my name. This fellow Nabal, you know what
his name means? It means fool. It means stupid
fool. That's what it means. A wicked,
stupid fool. Nabal. That's his name. He was
a fool. Why? First of all, because he
was rich in this world only. He had all of his eggs in one
basket, so to speak. He was rich in this world only,
like those ants that made their refuge in that log that was going
to be for God's kindling, for my kindling. He made all his
refuge in this world, in this world only. Like the man who
said he was going to tear down his barns and build bigger ones.
He had all of his riches, all his store in this world only.
So that made him a fool. And a fool is a man that has
nothing but this world, who has not Christ. He was a fool, secondly,
because he didn't know David. Look at verse 5. Let's read here.
He didn't know who David was. David sent out ten young men
and said unto them, Get down to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet
him in my name. And thus shall you say to him
that liveth in prosperity, This rich fellow, this fellow been
blessed by God, say to him, Peace be both to thee, and peace be
to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. In a sense, he could say that
because the king's messenger will come unto him. The king's
messenger. And saying to him, I've heard
that thou hast shearers. Now thy shepherds which were
with us, they weren't hurt. We hurt them not. We are merciful
unto them. Neither was there aught missing
unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young
men, and they'll show you. If you just look around, you'll
see the mercies that are all around you. Wherefore, let the
young men find favour in thine eyes, for we come in a good day."
Today is the day. Today is the day. "...give, I
pray thee, whatever come to thine hand unto thy servants, and to
thy son David. And when David's young men came,
they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name
of David, and they ceased." They rested from speaking. And look
at Nabal's answer. Nabal answered this old fool.
He answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? That made him a fool. Why, everybody
knew who the king was. Everybody. Everybody but this
fellow. That made him a fool. He didn't
know the king. And the scripture says the fool
hath no delight in understanding, even though these people, these
men, these messengers of the king came down to him with a
message from the king himself. He didn't listen. The scripture
says a brutish man knows not, neither does a fool understand
this. Pharaoh said it, who is the Lord? Didn't he? Who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice? And old Nabal was a fool, not
only because he had all his His riches in this world only, but
he was a fool because he didn't know David, and he was a fool
also because he was a freewheeler. Look at verse 11. Listen to what
old Nabal says here. Shall I then take my bread, and
my water, and my flesh, that I have killed for my sharers,
and give it unto men whom I know not, which saith me? I'm not
going to take everything. I've earned and give it to somebody. You see, he was a self-willed,
selfish freewheeler. I've gotten all this myself,
he said. I did this. This was the sin
of Lucifer, wasn't it? And the sin of Adam himself.
I will. I will. Not God's will. I will. So he was a fool not
only because he was self-willed and didn't know
David and had all his eggs in one basket, but he rejected David. He heard the word. He heard the
word from the messenger. And the fool has said in his
heart, No God for me. No God for me. Look at verse
14. One of the young men came and
told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers
out of the wilderness to salute our master. And he railed on
them. He wouldn't listen. That made
him a fool, didn't it? That made him a fool. A fool
rejects Christ and His righteousness. That all our righteousnesses
are filthy rags, that none righteous, no, not one, but the fool, the
ignorant man is ignorant because he goes about establishing his
own righteousness and rejects, refuses the righteousness of
Christ. And that's a picture of old and old may balls, a picture
of that. And look at this old may ball
took comfort that nothing happened to him. He rejected these messengers
and nothing happened. Look at verse thirty six, Abigail,
Abigail came to day ball and behold. You remember how I don't
know if you've read the story, not but Abigail went and interceded
for her husband. pleaded with David not to kill
him. David said, look back at verse 13, David said, get your
swords on, boy, we're going to go down and cut this fellow's
head off. And the wrath of God abides upon
the ungodly, doesn't it, Terry? God is angry with the wicked
every day. He's ready to cut our heads off. But we got somebody
interceding for us. This is just like us. This is
where we were. No regard for the king. No thoughts of Christ
at all. But we had somebody interceding
for us. Abigail went back to David and pleaded with him for
her husband's sake. But their husband, because nothing
happened immediately when he rejected these messengers and
all, when he rejected David. Who is David? Nothing happened
to him, so he got some confidence in that. Look at verse 36. And
Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he held a feast in his house,
like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within
him. He was very drunken. Wherefore
she told him nothing, nothing more to say. The word wasn't
coming to him any more, no less or more, until the morning light. And didn't Christ say that? That
just as it was in the days of Noah, even so shall it be in
the coming of the Son of Man. Going to be eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, till the Son of Man come and
cut their heads off. And that's what happened to old
Nabal. Look at verse thirty-eight. It came to pass. Well, look at
verse thirty-seven. It came to pass in the morning
when the wine was gone out of him, out of Nabal, and his wife
had told him these things that his heart died within him. She
told him one more time, one more time, but his heart was hardened,
didn't it? Verse thirty-eight. And it came
to pass about ten days later, the Lord smoked Nabal and he
died. And there's a scripture over
in Ecclesiastes 8. Let me read this to you. You don't have to
turn. Ecclesiastes 8. It says, Because the Lord, because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, because
God doesn't cut a man or a woman off because of their iniquity
immediately. Therefore, the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. Where is the promise
of his coming? Peter says. that they say. Where
is the promise of His coming? Things continue like they always
have. Men shake their fist in the face
of God now, don't they? And God doesn't do anything.
But He will. He will. Well, there's a third
member in this story. Look back at chapter 25. I like
this. Look at verse 3. Old Nabal, this
fool, he had a wife. She was the wife of a fool. That
made her a fool, didn't it? That made her a fool for being
married to this old fool. She had to have been foolish
and stupid to be in his family, didn't she? She was a part of
him, abiding under his roof. Verse 3 of chapter 25, Now the
name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail.
And she was a woman of good understanding. What made her a good woman of
good understanding? Look at verse 23. When Abigail saw David, she
hurried, she hasted, got down off of her donkey and fell before
David on her face and bowed herself to the ground. What made her
a woman of good understanding? She knew David. And if you know
Christ, you know everything. You know the wisdom of God Himself.
You have good understanding if you know Christ. She knew who
David was. God had revealed this to her,
though. She was the wife of a fool. Here's election right here. Why
did God reveal who David was to her and not to her husband?
Even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. Discriminating
grace. God chose Abigail and not her
husband. Right there's election. She was
a fool. She was no better than her husband,
really, except by God's grace. She was a woman of good understanding. Because she knew who David was. Look at this. She knew this about
David. Look at verse 28. She said, I pray thee, forgive
the trespass of thine handmaid. For the Lord will certainly make
my Lord a sure house. That's the covenant. That's the
covenant God made. She knew something about the
covenant that God had made with David to make him a sure house. And look at this, verse 28. Because
my Lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been
found in thee all thy days." She knew David was innocent.
She knew his character. She knew something about his
person, didn't she? She knew something about this
covenant between David and God. She knew something about David's
character. And she knew he would reign forever, someday. And I bet you this, too. I bet
you remembered David's ability with the slang. I bet you. And I tell you what, this is
a picture of the old sinner. If we see our predicament, if
we see ourselves as fools before the king, we'll make haste. We'll
get down off our high horse of pride and run to the king and
fall on our faces and beg him for mercy. Why? Because we figured
it out? No, because of God's grace in
revealing who this King is. He revealed unto us Christ's
perfect, sinless character, this sinless one, this perfect one.
He revealed unto us God's covenant with Christ before the world
began, that God would make Him a people as the sands of the
seashore, and He would save everybody by this King, by Christ, and
that Christ would reign eternally, that God had made Christ King,
Lord and King. And as someday his enemies shall
be made his footstool. Look at verse 29. That's what
she said. Yeah, a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy
soul, but the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle
of life with the Lord thy God. You're one with God, she said.
You are God. That's what God's people say. And the souls of thine enemies
Them shall he sling out as out of the middle of a sling." Well,
she was a woman of good understanding because she knew who David was. She knew who he was. And she
was a woman of good understanding because she knew who she was.
Look at verse 24. She fell at his feet and said,
Upon me, my Lord, upon me let this iniquity be. She knew who
she was. She knew she was a sinner just
like her husband. She was his wife. And the child
of God has to come to that recognition that we're nothing but sons of
Adam. We're in his family. We've got it in our blood. We're
fools. Fools at best. In verse 28, she
not only knew that she was the wife of a fool, but she knew
she was a sinner herself. That's what she said there. I
pray thee, forgive my trespasses. My trespasses. So, old Abigail pleaded for mercy.
She pleaded for mercy. She pleaded like that Syro-Phoenician
woman. Lord, I'm unworthy. I'm a dead dog. That's all I
am. Like Mephibosheth. Who am I?
A dead dog. She pleaded like the thief on
the cross here in verse 31. Look at this. She said, that
this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my
Lord. Lord, don't let me impose upon you, either that thou shalt
shed blood causeless, or that my Lord hath avenged himself.
But Lord, when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord,
then remember thine handmaid when you come into your kingdom. Well, what David did, she fled
from, Abigail was pleading for mercy, begging him, Lord, I'm
a fool. I'm a wife of a fool, born a
fool, and I'm a fool. I deserve to be cut off like
this fool. But Lord, David, King, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. Would you remember me? What David
did. He took out his sword and cut
her head off. She deserved it, didn't she?
Look at verse 40. And the servants of David came
to Abigail. Somebody came to her with a message
from the king himself. And they spake unto her, saying,
David sent us unto thee to take thee to him for a wife. David came to get you. He's going
to marry you. She just wanted some crumbs.
She just wanted mercy. She just wanted to be kept from
being killed, like her foolish husband. But David made her his
wife. Abigail was no longer just the
fool's wife. She was now the king's wife,
the wife of the king. She was now heir to all the king
had. You'd think Nabal had something. What did David have when he got
into that palace? He had everything, all the riches
of Israel itself, the greatest kingdom of all. And she sat right
beside him on that throne, right beside him. She lived in the
palace. But she was still a servant, though, nonetheless. Look at
verse 41. She arose and bowed herself in
such gratitude. What did she say? Did she say,
Oh, now I can just go out and live like I want to? Now I'm
the king's wife, I can just... No, verse 41, she arose in such
gratitude and thanksgiving to this king for his mercy, she
bowed herself on her face to the earth and said, let me, let
your handmaid be a servant. I want to serve you now for what
you've done for me. Let me be a servant and I'll
just wash the feet of everybody. Does that sound familiar? She said, just let me wash the
feet of your servants, servants of my Lord. Ah boy, this is a
perfect picture of salvation in Christ, isn't it? Salvation
is Christ having mercy upon us, yes, but not only that, but being
gracious unto us and marrying us, us becoming one with the
Savior, one, abiding in Him, Henry, that you read, abiding
in Him. I in him and he in me. Salvation
is being joined to Christ. A member of his body with him
as our head. And when he marries us, we have
everything that he has. We have wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. We're complete in him. And we've
got to come to Christ like old Abigail did. We've got to come
to Christ realizing who he is. He's the king. Acknowledging
him. Praising him. Exalting him. as he is in his
sovereign kingship and realizing who we are, fools, unworthy of
the least of his favor, and pleading for mercy, just like Abigail. And if we come to Christ seeking
mercy and seeking forgiveness, seeking justification, seeking
his imputed righteousness, he'll save you and he'll marry you. He'll marry you. There's a lot more here. I've
seen men approach this from different angles. I've seen them take Abigail
and use her as a type of Christ. Look at this, wouldn't you? Look
back at 1 Samuel 25. It won't be much longer. Look
at this here. Abigail here is a perfect type
of Christ. Not a perfect one, but she's
a good type of Christ here. Look at chapter 25. Look at verse
13. David said unto his men, get
on your swords. We're going to go down and wipe
this bunch out. Every one of them. Kill them
all. They deserved it. Every one of them. And one of
the young men told Abigail, verse 14, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold,
David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our
Master. And he railed on them. And didn't God send the prophets
and the Word long before Christ came? Didn't He? Yeah. Uh, you
remember that rich man or, uh, yeah, the rich man in, in hell
told Abraham, uh, uh, send Lazarus, send Lazarus out there to speak
to my brother. And what Abraham said, they have
Moses and prophets. They, they ought to believe them.
Well, look at verse 15. The men were very good unto us.
We were not hurt. Neither missed we anything. And
God was good in sending his word. Long time ago, wasn't it? Sending
his prophets. As long as we were conversant
with them, as long as we listened to them, we were in good shape.
As long as we listened to God's messengers, when we were in the
field, when we were in this world, they were a wall unto us, a hedge
about us, both by night and day. All the while we were with them,
keeping the sheep. Look at verse 17. Now therefore,
know and consider what thou wilt do. And Christ had to count the
cost, didn't He, with the Father. He knew and considered just what
He had to do, didn't He? He knew it. For evil is determined
against our Master, and that's what this world is determined
against God, against all His household, for He is such a Son
of Belial that a man cannot speak to Him. Then Abigail here, a
picture of Christ, made haste, and Christ, from the beginning,
He was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Look
at this. Two hundred loaves, two bottles of wine, five sheep
ready dressed, five measures of parched corn, a hundred clusters
of raisins, two hundred cakes of figs, and led them off. What
can be said about all the types and pictures and stories pertaining
to the coming of our Lord? Beautiful, perfect pictures of
the coming of our Lord. Beautiful presence. to foretell
the coming of our Lord. Presence unto me in these pictures,
in these times. Verse 19, she said unto her servants,
you go on before me. See that? Go on before me. Make
the path straight. Make straight the pathway. Go
on before me, and I'm going to come after you. I'm right behind
you. That's Christ, isn't it? But she told not her husband
Nabal. And it was so, she wrote on that, she came down By the
covert of the hill, Christ came down, didn't He? Came down from
above. And behold, David and his men
came down against her, God's holy law, and she met them. See
that? Verse 20, she met them. God met
Christ on that cross, didn't He? Now, David had said, Surely
in vain I have kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness.
And surely God must have said that. He repented, God, that
He had made this thing. Surely in vain I kept this fellow.
Surely in vain that I did all this for him. And he had requited
me evil for good. Isn't that what we did to God? So verse 22, So and more also
do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave all that pertain to
him by the morning light, anything that pisses against the wall.
And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the ass,
and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the
ground." Christ came down, the incarnate Christ, into the dust
where we are. Bone of our bones, flesh of our
flesh, and fell at the feet of God and honored His law. And
she said, look at verse 24, this is Christ, she fell at His feet
and said, upon me, my Lord, upon me, let this iniquity be. And let thine handmaid, I pray,
speak in thine audience. Verse 25. Let not, my Lord, I
pray thee, regard this man. Don't look on him, look on me.
That's Christ, isn't it? In our stead. For as his name
is, so is it. Nabal is his name. And as our
name, so is it. Adam, just a man, just a piece
of dirt, red clay, dust, and ashes. As our name is, that's
how we are. Verse 26. Now therefore, my Lord,
This is Christ speaking again to the Father. As the Lord liveth,
and as my soul liveth, as thy soul liveth, see, and the Lord
hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, since you are
going to have mercy. Look at verse 27. Now this blessing
which thine hand madeth brought unto my Lord, what you do through
me, let it be given unto the young men that follow my Lord. Does that sound familiar? Christ's
high priestly prayer. In John 17, I will that they
be with me also. Everything that you've given
to me, I want them to have it too. And the Father was pleased. And look at verse 32. And David
said to Abigail, and this is what God says to Christ, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me. The ultimate blessing. is the
gift of God's Son. And blessed be thy advice, and
blessed be thou. Verse 34, the last part of verse
34, Except you had hasted and come to me, there wouldn't be
anything left of this old fool. So verse 35, So David received
of her hand that which he had brought him,
and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house. See, I've hearkened
to your voice and accepted your person." That's a perfect, beautiful
type of Christ, isn't it, Abigail? Well, let me close by reading
Psalm 92. In light of that story, read
Psalm 92 with me, and listen to this. Psalm 92, and we'll
close. Psalm 92. David's writing here, he says,
it's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. You know, Abigail
could easily be writing this. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the King and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to
show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning and thy faithfulness
every night upon an instrument of ten strings and upon an assaultery
upon the harp with a solemn For thou, Lord, hast made me glad
through what thou hast done for me, through thy work. I'll triumph
in the works of thy hands, O Lord, how great are thy works! And
thy thoughts are very deep." A brutish man, a foolish man
does not know. Neither does a fool understand
this.