David is in a mess. David is in a mess. He's went
down among the Philistines. Been down there for 16 months
almost. And here they are, they're getting
ready to go to war and David and his men are right in the
middle of it. to go fight Israel who he'll
be king over someday. So he got himself in this situation. But I want to read a verse of
scripture to you out of 1 Corinthians 10, 13. And I tell you what,
this message today did two things to me as I was preparing it. It made me fear God. Oh, the
fear of God come over me. And also, I was so faithful for
God's grace. Oh, it put the fear of God in
me. But here's what God said in 1 Corinthians 10, 13. There
hath no temptations taken you, but that is common to man. But
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that you are able. but will with the temptation
also may a way to escape that you may be able to bear." And
that's what God did for David. He made a way of escape. And
you know I read through here, and it says there in verse 2
that David and his men passed on the river with Achish. He's
in the army, he's marching with them. And if this is all the information
you had about David, what would you conclude? He's down there
among the Lord's enemies, among the Philistines, a bunch of heathen
idolaters. But this is the man after God's
own heart. This is God's anointed king.
This is David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. This is David who
defeated Goliath. God loved this man. But if all you see of him was
the 16 months that he lived down there with the Philistines where
they kissed the king of death, you would conclude that David
couldn't be a saved individual with all that he did. And there's
going to be a great military gathering, there's going to be
a great war. Back over here in chapter 28, verses 1 and 2. And it came to pass in those
days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare. They started war. And who are
they going to war with? Israel. And Achish said unto
David, know thou surely that thou shalt go out with me to
battle thou and thy men. They're going to war against
Israel. And they said, you and your men are going to go with
me. And David said to Achish, surely thou shalt know what thy
servant can do. And Achish said to David, therefore
will I make thee the keeper of mine own head forever. And so
war was getting ready to take place. And David and his men
are in the mix of it. Right in the mix of it. Would
you think that David would actually fight against Israel? You think
David would actually go and fight against Israel? It said there
that David marched in the rearward with Achish. I don't know if
he would have. But here are him and his men
marching off to war against Israel with the Philistines, with one
of the kings. And I'm going to say something
right here, and I don't believe there will be a contradiction
to it. There's no sin a believer could not commit except the sin
against the Holy Ghost. There's not a sin a believer
could not commit. There really ain't. And if you
don't know that about yourself, you know Hebrews 10.26 says this,
If we sin willfully, you reckon there's any other way to sin?
If we sin willfully, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, We know the truth and yet we
go on and sin willfully. And we walk away from Christ
or do some of these things like David did. And let me ask you,
what sin haven't we committed in our minds? What sin haven't
we committed in our minds? I'd be afraid to say. But if
you just look at the Ten Commandments about murder, how many times
have you murdered somebody in your mind? When the Bible says, Thou shalt
not covet, how much covetousness have we had go through our minds? How many have we coveted a good
word or a good report or some recognition? or a praise or somebody
saying something good about us. That's as covetous as anything.
And if you hear someone saying, believers don't do like that.
Don't do like David did. Go off and march against Israel.
If you hear somebody say, believers don't do that. Do like things
like that. Once you hear somebody say something
like that, you're hearing a very unwise person. blind to what
they really are and what they would not do if not restrained
by God himself wonder how much God has restrained
us when we weren't even conscious of it conscious of it and David
got in this position caught here in this Philistine army caught
in this awful position Being in this Philistine army to go
fight against Israel God himself in this position by unbelief
you remember a couple weeks ago. I preached on Look over in chapter
27 verse 1 unbelief in a believer look what it said here David
said in his heart in his heart I shall now perish one day by
the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me
than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines.
And Saul shall despair of me to seek me any more in any coast
of Israel. So I shall escape." And David
arose and went down with his 600 men down among the Philistines. You reckon David, look here in
verse 3, Look what it says. Then said the princes of the
Philistines. What do these Hebrews here? What are these Hebrews
doing here? What's David and his men doing
here? You reckon David thought, what
am I doing here? He reckoned, he thought, what
in the world am I doing here? How did I get myself into this
mess? How am I going to get out of
it? How am I going to keep from going fighting against Israel?
How am I going to get out of being in this army? Getting out
of this mess that I'm in? He got himself down there, mixed
up with these Philistines, the enemies of God, through his own
unbelief. He had been with them a year
and four months and knew this man. And he knew that Achish
and all the Philistines were idolaters. They had a god named
Dagon. You all remember about Dagon.
When the Ark of the Covenant was put in there, Dagon fell
flat on his face. Lost his hands, lost his feet,
lost everything. But David went down there, knowing
that here, O Israel, our God is one God. Our Lord is one Lord. Now he got down there and he
didn't say anything to them about their idolatry, about their false
god, about their false worship. So that right there automatically
put him in a compromised position. And David fell. And oh, oh how
he fell. And he fell badly, greatly, greatly. And then, you know, Akish said
to David, oh, is not this David the servant of king of Saul?
They knew him. They knew his reputation. And
here's the thing they said, he's the servant of Saul, the king
of Israel. And Akish said, I find no fault in him. He's not rebuked
me. He's been good to me. In a way,
that's good. In a way, that's good. But he
said, I found no fault in him. In another way, it's very, very
bad. Because here's a heathen king, a heathen king, a whirling,
an idolater, approving of you. Would you want some heathen to
approve of you? Would you want the Pope to approve
of you? Would you want some priest somewhere
to approve of you? and say, boy, because he did
not stand up the way he should have stood up as a king, anointed
king, as one who knew God. Oh my. And then look what they
said in verse five. You know, the princess of this,
Philistine said, oh my, said, you make this man go back where
he come from. He'll turn around and be an adversary
to us. He'll turn against us when we get out there in the
battle. He'll turn around and turn against us. And look what
they said about him. They said, you know, they said,
Achish, you stupid, why are these Hebrews here? Why are you allowing
them to be among us? And then these Philistines said
this, Is not this David, of whom they sang to one another in dances,
saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
Oh my, they knew his reputation. They were afraid of him. If he
decides to war against us, he come up behind us and we ain't
gonna stand a chance. That's what they were saying.
That's what they're saying. Don't you remember who he is?
Remember what a warrior he is? Don't you remember how wise he
was and how brave he was and how powerful he was? And then they said, make him
return. Make him return. Look what Achish
said here. Verse 7, 6 and 7. Then Achish called David, said
unto him, Surely as the Lord liveth, you've been upright.
You're going out and you're coming in with me as the host is good
in my sight. Good in my sight. He's good and
upright. That's a good thing. That's a
good thing to be good and upright. That's a good thing. But bad
in that he kept his mouth shut. Bad that he did not reprove him.
Bad that he did not stand up for the one true and living God. But now watch what he says now
in verse 7. Here's God made him a way of
escape right here. Here's where God made a way for
him to get out of there and get out of the situation he's in.
We don't have to go and get mixed up with these Philistines in
a war. Wherefore now return and go in
peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines,
or do evil in their eyes. And here's God's wonderful, wonderful
providence in preventing David from committing a sin, even against
Israel and especially against God. He said, return in peace. Let me show you something over
in Genesis 20. Keep this and look over in Genesis
20. God has always, always took care of His people. Always has. Even when they get themselves
in a mess through their unbelief, get themselves because of fear
of man or some temptation that's taken them, Y'all may remember
this right here. Genesis 20, 1-6 here. Abraham journeyed from Dents
toward the south country and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur
and soldiered in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his
wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent
and took Sarah. Oh my! took Sarah. I wonder why Abraham thought
then. That man took my wife. But listen to what happens. But
God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold,
thou art but a dead man. For the woman which thou hast
taken, she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near
her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, she is my
sister? And she, even she herself said,
he is my brother, in the integrity of my heart. And he answered
my hands, have I done this? And God said unto him a dream,
yea, I know that thou did this in the integrity of thy heart.
Now listen to this now, right here, I want you to listen. For
I also withheld thee from sinning against me, Therefore suffered
I not thee to touch her." God said, I kept you back from it.
It wasn't because He wasn't needing you to do it. I kept you back
from it. I kept you back from sinning against me. And that's
exactly what He's doing for David here. He's keeping you. He said,
David, now listen, you get out of this situation you're in.
I'm going to save you out of it. I'm going to make a way for
you to get out of it. And you return in peace. Now
we're aware of the fact that any sin we have not committed
is God preventing us in His blessed providence. But now listen, did
David, he said, look what he said to, in verse 8, he said
to Achish. But David said unto Achish, But
what have I done? What hast thou found in thy service
so long as I have been with thee unto this day? that I may not
go fight against the enemies of thy Lord. Did David really
feel this way that he wanted to go with Achish? Or was he
acting deceitfully? Was he acting deceitfully? Was
David lying to Achish? He had before. He had before. Couldn't he see that God in his
providence was getting him out of this mess, let him return? Did they let him return? Could
he not see that? Get him out of this mess that
he's in here? Down here with these Philistines? Now go back
in peace. The Philistines don't want you.
They don't want you fighting. Go home. Go home. God opened
the door wide for him to go. Did they have any intention of
going back to Israel? I don't think so. He got himself
into a horrible mess through unbelief. And it don't seem like
he wanted to get out. It's like Lot. You remember when
Lot was down in Sodom. God went down there and told
him to get out. Get out, get out, get out. And
Lot just waited and waited and waited and waited and waited
before he ever left. And when God went down there
and an angel got him by the hand. People hate to leave Sodom. They
hate to come out. And he got him by the hand. This
is where I was born. This is where I was raised. This
is where I raised my children. This is where my son-in-laws
and my daughters live. This has got the best malls down
here. We make more money here than any place. And God said,
I'm going to destroy it. And Lot just lingered and lingered
and lingered and lingered. And God told him, said, if you
look back, it's just like you never left. And he lingered and
lingered and finally an angel of the Lord went down there and
got him by the hand and he dragged him out of Sodom. He had to drag him out of Sodom. You know why I drug him out of
Sodom? Because he was one for whom Christ died. And that's the same thing he's
going to do with us when he destroys this world. Beloved, he's going
to take his elect out of here, and he's not going to send an
angel to do it. He's coming himself to do it.
Huh? But oh my! And look what happens
now. In verse 9, And David answered
and said to Achish, I know that thou art good in my sight. And
Achishanselor said to David, I know that thou art good in
my sight as an angel of God. Notwithstanding, here's God's
providence, notwithstanding the prince of the Philistines have
said he shall not go up with us to battle. God saved him from
going to war against his own people. God stopped that. Wherefore
now rise up early in the morning with your master servants that
are come with thee and as soon as you be up early in the morning
and have light you depart. So David and his men rose up
early to depart in the morning to return in the land of Philistines
while the Philistines went to Jezreel. Now let me ask you some
things. What do we learn from this dark,
dark time in David's life? It's a dark time, 16 months down
there. 16 months. And let me tell you
this, if you would have seen Lot, I mean if you would have
seen Noah, and I'm not, Ben Bruce talked about this yesterday,
these things, they put the fear of God in me. When Noah got off
that ark, planted him a vineyard, And the first time he first graped
she picked off of it he made him some wine and got drunk and
lay naked in his tent. Would you have said he was saved
then if you'd been there and seen him doing that? When you saw David go down and take Uriah's wife and got her pregnant and then tried to get Uriah to
come and sleep with her so he'd think it was his baby. And Uriah
wouldn't do it because he loved David so much and he wouldn't
go near his own wife. Well, how am I going to get out
of this mess? David said, I know what, I'll kill Uriah and I'll
take his wife. Would you have said David was
saved man? When Simon Peter denied the Lord
three times, and then you heard him started
weeping and cursing bitterly. That's what I said, weeping and
cursing bitterly. If you would have stood there
and watched him do that, you know what you would have said? There's
no way in the world. Impossible. Impossible. Impossible. And you could go
on and on and on. But what do we learn? And these
things are written, when I think of them, it scares me. It puts
a fear, it scares me. It scares me about myself. And I'm not scared for you, I'm
scared for me. But what do we learn from this
dark, dark time in David's life? First thing we learned that the
scriptures tell the real story. The scriptures tell the truth
on all of us. But it told the truth on David
right here. You know if a human biographer
had told the story of David, unless he just hated David and
wanted to destroy his life, he would have left this part out.
You know, you read a person's biography, and you think, you
read Spurge's biography, or George Whitfield's biography, or John
Lew's, read these men's biography, and you think these folks got
up in the morning, lived a holiest life all day, and went to pray
all day, and gave their whole life. I mean, they didn't do
nothing wrong. And you'd read those guys, and
every time I'd read them, I'd go away feeling, boy, I don't
know nothing about God. Boy, was they just so spiritual? I said, how could they be so
spiritual and me be so fractally? But the Scriptures tell the real
story on us. And you can have a chapter like
this in every believer's lives. Are there not periods in our
lives, if that was all people saw us do, that they say, well,
I don't believe they're saved? They say, these people are not
the disciples of Christ. The Scriptures tell the real
story. Second thing we learn from this, how weak, how weak,
how weak we are. Do you see yourself here? Or
do you see somebody else? Oh, I could see somebody else
doing that. I couldn't see me doing that. Oh, how weak we are. You know, God said He remembers
our frame, that we're but dust. Dust. You know what it takes
to deal with dust? A little wind can stir it up. The
third thing, the third thing that we learn from this is the
only way a man like David, in the situation he's in, could
be saved, be like the situation he's in, there's only one way
he could be saved. And it's what we call TULIP. It's what we call
TULIP. David, and we understand that
the only way anybody's going to be saved, we know that man's
totally, utterly depraved, totally unable to save himself. And that
God unconditionally, unconditionally elects a people. And then the
Lord Jesus Christ died. His atonement was limited to
the people to whom he was died for. And then there has to be
irresistible grace sent to those people because they don't have
the will or the power or inclination to come. An irresistible grace,
an irresistible force has to be put on them. And then when
that happens, then there's preservation. You know the reason God's people
persevere? It's because they're preserved.
They're preserved. And God, here's David, been down
there all these months, in this Philistine army, getting ready
to go to war, and God said, I'm going to stop him. I'm going
to stop him. I'm going to make them Philistines
to stop, and they're not going to let him go to war. And here's the fourth thing we
learned. Thank God for restraining grace. Thank God for restraining
grace that prevented David from this. He would have went on,
but grace would not let him. God said, you've went this far,
you ain't going no further, David. The flesh lusts against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh, and they're contrary one to the
other. And you cannot, you cannot do the things that you would.
You can't. You just can't. You can't be
as sinful as you would, and you can't be as spiritual as you
would. But I'll tell you one thing, we can be more sinful
than we can be spiritual. Because it's easier. It's easier
to give in to the flesh than it is to give in to the Spirit.
You know as well as I do. This flesh always goes the path
of least water. Water takes the path of least
resistance. And that's the way this flesh
does. It takes the path of least resistance. If we didn't have
restraint and grace that says you can go this far
but you can't go no further. And here's a fifth thing. Oh,
David, we learn from David in this dark, dark time. Thank God
for providential grace. And what do I mean by that? God
put this in the hearts of the Philistine kings to say, we do not want David
with us. We don't want him to go with
us. We're afraid of David. So in His providence, they wouldn't
let David go with them. God put it in their hearts. Put
it in their hearts. And oh may God put it in men's
hearts. And put it in men's hearts to
not let us go in the wrong direction. Somebody pointed out to us. And
then thank God for free grace. Look back up here in verse 8.
Thank God for free grace. David said unto Achish, But what
have I done? What hast thou found in your
servant, so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that
I may not go and fight against the enemies of thy Lord my King,
thy Lord, of my Lord the King? It seemed like David was kicking
against God's providence right here. Seemed like he had God open the
door for him and he didn't want to walk through it. But thank God for free grace.
God wouldn't let him kick against the pricks. God wouldn't let
him keep on the way he did. And here's the seventh thing. Thank God for eternal grace that
refused to let David fall away. He fell. He fell. The righteous fall seven times,
but the Lord holds him up. And just like the rivers of waters
in the hands of the Lord, so is the king's heart. He turned
these king's hearts to where they didn't want David with them.
But thank God for eternal grace that refused to let David fall
away. He would have. He would have. But you know what our Lord said? I give unto my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hands. Huh? Oh my. We believe in the same security,
you know what he said in 2nd Timothy 2 19 The foundation of
God standeth sure how do we know for the Lord knows them that
are his David was God's when he went
down the Philistines. He is God's wall is down there
and God let him go so far and said David you're bringing you
back and He's the same one that said,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Well, he didn't want
for God's protecting grace right here, did he? Oh, thank God for
eternal grace that just refused to let David fall away. God ain't
going to let his... We fall, oh my goodness, I tell
you. If you see, there's times if
you saw me that you'd say, there's no way in the world I'd ever
hear that preacher again. There's no way in the world.
Even without you wouldn't even let me in your house. The last words of C. David in
these dark, dark times. Oh my. Thank God for grace that brings
good out of evil. Oh, David done evil, but God brought good out of it. When
you get over here in chapter 30, you'll see how David preserved
him and what he saved him for and what David's going to do
next. And let me say this, and I've seen it, and I've done it. If you see a believer acting
like an unbeliever, Don't be too hard on them. We hear about
people married for a long time, they decide not to be married
anymore. Don't be too hard on them. We don't know what's going
on in their home. And if you see a brother overtaken
in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore such a one in meekness. Considering thyself also. Considering you. And if you're
a believer, and you get yourself in a mess, get yourself in a
mess, and you could even appear to be an unbeliever to others, I know this, the Lord can deliver
you out of it. Cry out, Lord, help me. Oh, God,
help me. God, have mercy on me. Learn to pay. When the 12th said,
Lord, teach us to pray, you know what he said? One of the things
he taught him to pray? Lord, lead us not into temptation. Lead us not into temptation. Oh, God. Don't let us go into
temptation. And Lord, please deliver us,
deliver us from evil. God opened a door of escape for
David and he left there. The king said, go in peace. Kept
him from going against Israel. And I tell you God, how many
times has he, when your temptation came, And the days got so dark
and dark day after day after day after day. And you thought, oh my Lord,
how could I have done this thing? How could I have said that thing?
How could I have treated this person that way? How could I have had that go
through my heart and mind? Always remember this, God will
let no more come upon you than that you're able to bear. And
when you're no longer able to bear it, you know what he'll
do? He'll open the door, go right through that door. I was talking
to Bruce, I believe it was yesterday, and I was asking him about a
particular man. This man and him and his wife
were having troubles and they had kids. And she didn't want
to live with him anymore. And he said, the Lord told me,
he said, let her go. You go your way, let her go hers.
But he said, I did not listen. And said that darkness come over
my mind. And you know what he did? He
walked up in the front yard. She come out in the front yard
and he shot her dead in the front yard. Went to prison. Been in prison
for years and years and years. Had let him out. Want to send
him to an easier place. You know what he says? He said,
I sinned so greatly. I done so wickedly. I sinned against my wife. I sinned
against my children. I sinned against her mother and
her daddy. My mother and my daddy. My brothers and my sisters. And
most of all, sin against God. And he won't even get out of
prison. Because he feels, I've got what's
coming to me. God said, made a way to escape
from him. He wouldn't take it. Sad, ain't it? Sad. God reach and get us. This is
the way I look at it. God, if you get a hold of me,
get a hold of me. And do not, please do not, never,
ever let me go. Don't let me go. Oh, don't let
me go. Our Father, in the precious name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're so thankful for your promises
that you'll never let your sheep perish and that if we fall, Lord,
you pick us up, you restore us, you restore our souls. And our Father, we thank you
that you promised us that No matter what temptation we're
in, when it gets so heavy, gets so unbearable, to where we can't
stand it, you'll always make a way of escape for us. Lord,
give us sense enough and eyes enough and faith enough to see
it. God bless these dear saints. Lord, help us to honor you. And
Lord Jesus, keep us. Oh, keep us, keep us, keep us.
Hedge our ways in. Hedge us in like you did Job.
Put a hedge around us. Put a hedge around us. We ask
these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.