Everything be alright. That's
the truth. I know that to be so. I know
it to be so. Now I'm going to talk tonight,
take a few minutes and deal with the subject. Unbelief in a believer. Unbelief in a believer. David
is a man after God's own heart. But here we find him overcome
with unbelief. God had promised him that he'd
be king. And Saul even knew this. Look
what he said in verse 25 of chapter 26. Then Saul said to David,
Blessed be thou my son David. Thou shalt do great things and
also shalt prevail. So David went his way and Saul
returned to his place. And here he enters into a very,
very dark time in his life. He spent 16 months down here
among the Philistines. Very, very dark period in his
life. But he is overcome with unbelief here. Look what he said
there in verse 1. And David said in his heart,
I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing
better for me than 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
out of his hand." Well, what is unbelief? What is unbelief? It's a failure to believe what
God has promised. It's a failure to believe what
God has promised. It's born of fear. It's born
more of fear than it is anything else. When Paul told the Hebrews,
when he wrote to Hebrews, he said, we got all these people
compassed about us, all these people of faith. They're all
looking at us. We see all these people of faith.
And he says, so let us lay aside every weight and the sin, he
didn't say a sin, the sin. The sin. looking unto Jesus,
the author and not finisher of our faith. So I thought of this
today, now whether it's so or not, I don't know. But where
he's talking about all these people who are great heroes of
the faith, and he comes down to say, you know, that lest I'd
ever wait, and the sin which doth easily beset us. Since he's
talking about these people of faith, what sin, what would be
the sin that would so easily beset us, if it wouldn't be unbelief? He's talking about faith and
then the sin that so easily besets us. And then he goes on to talk
about how that you know in patience, you know, you just wait in patience
because the Lord that will come, He won't tarry. He will come.
He will come. And so it's born of fearing.
And there's what David said. He said in his heart, that's
what he said, said in his heart, I shall perish at the hand of
Saul. Now listen, he had spared Saul
twice. He had done spared Saul's life
twice. He could have killed him twice.
And his men wanted to do it for him. And God had delivered him
time and time and time again. But he said in his heart, and
that's where he got in trouble. He looked in his own heart for
answers. He looked in his own heart as
to what to do. What he was doing is he was thinking.
Abraham went to Egypt and denied Sarah being his wife. Lot went
into Sodom. And when we start scheming some
way in the flesh, it'll always, always end up in trouble and
darkness and depression. It'll always do that. It'll always
do that. And he says this, he says here
in verse 1, Nothing better for me than escape into the land
of Philistine, so I shall escape out of his hand. And then he
said, Saul shall despair of me. He won't look for me anymore.
Now when he said I'm going to escape, what's he going to escape?
What is he looking to escape? If you and I was going to escape
something, what would we escape? People want to escape a marriage
sometimes. They want to escape a trouble. They want to escape
a trial. they want to escape something
that's going on in their life and so they start figuring out
a way to get out of it a way to get out of it but oh my God
help us never oh please Lord don't never let us try to escape
from your providence and your grace and your mercy and your
guidance in our life but that's what David did and God had anointed
him God had saved him and when we want to escape Escape the
situation we're in. Escape our troubles. A lot of
people use a lot of different things to escape with. They'll
use drugs. They'll use alcohol. They'll
use divorce. They'll use all kinds of things
to escape the situation that they're in. David said, I need
to go escape so Saul will despair of me. And what David thought
here in his heart was simply not true. God had anointed him. There was no evidence that he
was going to be better for him to go down into the Philistines
and go down there among the Lord's enemies. It was contrary to God's
providence, especially concerning the sure mercies of David. You
know, David, God gave him some sure mercies, made him promises,
anointed him when he was just a lad. went into his house, and
Samuel anointed him with oil in the presence of all his brothers
and his dad. And it was contrary to God's
providence. God had some sure mercies of
David, and I'm telling you what, beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ,
you know where the sure mercies of David's found? Found in David's
son. That's where the sure mercies,
not sure mercies of David himself, but the sure mercies in David's
blessed son. That's where the sure mercies
are at. And I tell you what, it was unbelief. When he says
this here, you know, nothing better for me to escape. It was
unbelief. What he was saying was, I cannot
trust the promises of God. I can't trust. I'm not going,
I cannot trust the promises of God. And that was contrary to
what he said before. Look what he says over here in
Psalm 27. Look what he says in Psalm 27
verse 1. David thought I need to escape,
go down to the land of the Philistines, so David would despair of me.
But what David thought was not true. going down to the Lord's enemies
going down to the Philistines no evidence that he was going
to be able to escape God's providence God's mercies but it was unbelief
look what he said here in verse 1 Psalm 27 the Lord is my light
and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my
life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Well, he was afraid of Saul.
He said, I shall perish one of these days by the hand of Saul. He hadn't perished by the hand
of Saul yet. And Saul had been hunting for
him for two or three years. Twice he threw javelins at him
and hunted him like a partridge on the mountainside, but never
did catch him. David caught Saul a couple of times. But Saul never
come close to getting David. So what he was thinking was not
true. It wasn't true. It's just unbelief. And it was contrary to the facts
that he was dealing with. What was going on in God's providence
to make David king? That's what was, it was contrary.
God was working out his providence to set David on the throne. And
down here, you know, we'll see in a minute where he went into
Zigglag. And Zigglag became a tribe of
Judah and David was of the tribe of Judah. And I'll tell you something
else. The death of Saul in God's providence
was already determined. David himself said that in the
last message I brought, where he was betrayed twice. And he
said, Saul, one of these days he'll die. God will either kill him or he'll
get killed in battle, but he's going to die. That's when he's
strong in faith. Now he's running. This unbelief
in this man, unbelief. In Saul we'll see him dying in
the 28th chapter here. So let me ask you a question.
How could David, how could David, a saved man, God's anointed man,
how could this man, Have this unbelief and do what he did.
Go down to the Philistines. How could he do it? Well, I think
I got an answer. I hope I do. He was a man like
you and me with two natures. Two natures. He had two natures. You know, Galatians 5.17, I've
quoted to you so many times. The flesh, this old nature, lust
wars against that new nature the flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit wars against the flesh and they are contrary one
to the other and they are butting heads all the time and Paul said
this he said with my mind I serve the law of God but with my flesh
I serve the law of sin He said, I see a war, I see a war in my
members. And then he cried out, oh, wretched
man that I am. Oh, wretched man that I am. Not
that I'm going to be, not that I was, not that I'm going to
overcome. Oh, wretched man that I am right
now. That's an apostle talking. He
had this war going on in his breast. Had this war going on
in his mind. Had this war going on in his
heart. Had this war going on in his
soul. And that's like the man, he said,
Lord, oh Lord, I believe. I do believe. But would you please,
please help my unbelief. And old Simon Peter, when he
was out there walking on the water, He is strong, felt good. Oh my! Nobody else had ever walked on
the water but the Lord Jesus Christ. And He come to them walking
on the water and He stepped down and started walking on the water.
And He was like David, this flesh got the upper hand in Him. And
He said, Lord, oh Lord, save me, save me, save me or I'll
perish. And how many times have we said
that in our lifetime? Lord, save me or I perish! You see, that new man believes.
He always believes. When you're sitting here tonight,
you believe. But that old man, that old nature
that we have, he never believes. He's fighting you tooth and nail
while you sit and listen to the gospel. Pick up a Bible, he'll
start fighting you. Try to watch a message on television
or something like that, he'll fight you. He don't want you to have a spiritual
thought if he can keep you from it. That new man, he believes
all how he believes. But that old man, he don't never
believe. And there are times it appears
like the old man has the upper hand in a man's life. You follow
me around and I tell you what, you see evidence of it. I'm telling you, and I hope you
understand what I'm saying, but even in my age, there's many,
many times, many times, That I wake up in the night and my
sins that I committed when I was a boy, when I was a teenager,
when I was a young man, and since I've been a preacher, that they're
climbing over one another to see which one's the worst. And
I lay there asking God to have mercy on me and forgive me. Which
I know He's already forgiven me, but it's so acute to my soul. I hope you understand what I'm
saying. And look over here in Exodus 20, I think it's 17. That old man sometimes seems
to have the upper hand. Look in Exodus 17. See what happens. See how these people over here
act. Look what it says in verse 1. And all the congregation, now
God doesn't give them manna from heaven. Doesn't give them food
from heaven. Doesn't do that for them. And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journey according to the commandment of the Lord and pitched
in rephidim and there was no water for the people to drink.
when they got there. Wherefore Moses, wherefore the
people did chide with Moses, angry with Moses, troubled Moses,
aggravated Moses, and said give us water that we may drink. Where
in the world is Moses going to get water? Where is Moses going to get water? People bring me my water set
up here. We can go to the faucet and get water. But they said,
Moses, give us some water. Moses didn't give them bread
from heaven. But they're aggravated at Moses. Give us some water,
Moses. And he said, why chide with me?
Wherefore tempt ye the Lord? And the people thirsted there
for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, where
is this that thou hast brought us up? Now listen to what they
said now. Brought us up out of Egypt to kill us, our children,
and our cattle with thirst. You just brought us up here to
kill us. You gonna kill us, you gonna kill our children, you
gonna kill our cattle, and you gonna kill everybody. God gave
men from heaven, didn't he? You think this flesh ain't rotten?
Oh, it's rotten. It is rotten. That'd be like
you all asking me to give you the water of Christ. That woman at the well said,
are you greater than our father Jacob, who dug this well? He
said, if you knew who it was that asked you, you would have
asked of him, and he'd give you a drink of living water. You'd
never thirst again, and it didn't come out of this well called
Jacob's either oh My and David is in a very very very dark period
I know Everybody is sometimes in their life Will go through
a dark period some scored to how long it lasts sometimes it
lasts a long time Sometimes it lasts a few days Sometimes it
lasts months I've had it last for months. I know a man right
now that there's darkness in his life and he just, but nobody
knows it. But people have these things.
But what this dark period in his life was, he had his information
from his own heart. That's a long place to look for
information. Look over here with me in Proverbs
28. Mark this in your Bible. And remember this verse of scripture.
I could quote it to you. I could quote it to you. A fool
trusting his own heart. But I want you to look at it.
I want you to mark it. I want you to remember it. Because
I remember it. And I'm telling you what. Proverbs
28, 26. David's in a very dark period. And his problem was that he said
in his heart. He said in his heart. Look what
he said in verse 26. He that trusteth in his own heart
is a fool. And that's what David did. Next
time you're trying to figure out what to do, don't do like
David. Don't look in your heart. You
know what? I believe it was Todd said this,
when you look in your heart, look in yourself and look for
evidences, you'll get down, you'll get discouraged and you'll get
depressed. But the minute you quit looking
there and look to Christ, that goes away just like that. Ain't
that right? So we're not to look to our thoughts.
Our thoughts. Oh my. Name and thought. Simon the Sorcerer thought. The Pharisees thought within
themselves. We're not to look to our thoughts.
We're especially not to look to our feelings. Oh, our feelings. Sometimes we feel just absolutely
wonderful and other times we don't feel so good. I sometimes
leave this pulpit so down that I can't hardly hold my head up.
Other times I leave here just bubbling over with joy. Does
that make my standing with God or make my situation with God
any different? No. Our feelings, feelings come
and go. But the Word of God, that abides
forever. And we should never, and God help us not to look to
our circumstances. Circumstances is, you're standing,
you have a stance somewhere and the things that's going on around
you, that's what circumstances are. What's going on around you?
And that's a stance you're in and everything that's around
you, it's a circle around you and your circumstances. And my
circumstances seem to be against me. Everything seems, that's
what Jacob said, he said, everything seems to be against me. Everybody
but God, he's the only one that said, God said, Jacob have a
love and Esau have a hatred. But I tell you what we are to
look to, the Word of God. Look to the Word of God. Look
what God says. Look what God says. That's where
my mind, and I know other people, that's where my mind goes whenever
I have something going on in my life or anybody else's life
that I'm talking to. My mind automatically goes to
the Scriptures. I just think that way. Todd thinks
that way, Bruce thinks that way, and some of you do that. Whenever
you're in some situation, your mind automatically goes to what
God said. To a verse of scripture. Because
you certainly don't want to be left to your own thoughts or
feelings or circumstances. What did God say? What did God
say? And I'll tell you one that blesses
my heart so much. He said, cast your cares upon
Him. Why? Because He, He, He cares
for you. Oh, bless His name. And I'll
tell you something, failure usually follows success. When you have
a real successful thing, it won't be long before failure sets in. And he behaved so nobly in this
chapter 26 when he went down in that camp and he took that
spear and that water and he stood up there and he said, look here,
look here. And he said, here, send somebody
over here and you can have your spear back. And when somebody does something
right like David did, and then he goes around and does what
he does and said I got to escape into the land of the philistines
so Saul will not look for me anymore he will despair of looking
for me and then he had this great success now I failed your fathers
and if he was able to do right and if you and I were able to
do a right thing you know what we would be so proud of it be
proud of it The pride cometh before destruction, the heart
is spirit before a fall. Let me give you a couple other
things about David before we look at some of these verses
together. He's also been exposed to a long, long, long trial of
Saul. Hunting him. After him. Hunting him. He called him like
hunting for a partridge. We know when you go hunting,
you take a gun with you and you try to kill whatever you're after.
Well, that's what David said, you're hunting me. I go over
here, you come over there. I go over here, you come over
there. Everywhere I go, you're after me, hunting me. And oh, he'd been exposed to
a very, very long trial of Saul hunting him to take his life.
And here's another thing we don't read about David in this particular
situation. We don't read of David praying.
We don't read of him seeking the Lord for this happens. And
you know David usually prayed. you know so many times before
he'd ever had to take anything he would ask to bring the ephod
here and he'd say Lord do you, if I go down here, you know you
want me to go here, you want me to go there, you know, and
he'd always pray. David said in one place I sought
you morning, noon, and night. But not this time. Not this time. But he didn't find him praying.
He simply said, he said in his heart, I shall now perish one
day by the hand of Saul. Nothing better for me than to
speedily escape into the land of the Philistines. Get down
there very quickly. So Saul shall despair of me and
not seek me anymore on the coast of Israel. So okay, let's look
at verse 2 and let me make just a few comments and say some things. Now this is the second time that
he's encountered Achish. He's the king of Gath. You know
who was from Gath? Goliath was from Gath. So David
had seen this king before. Remember when they had their
camps pitched to one another, that old big giant walked out there
every day and then David went down there with one stone and
slew the giant of death. So they knew who David was and
David knew who Achish was. And oh, he said, he goes there
and he comes into the presence of Achish and that's where Goliath
was from. And you know what Achish means?
It means just a man. Just a man. Here's David, the
man after God's own heart, a saved man. Going down here, seeking
safety from frail, frail flesh, just like himself. Huh? That was a very, very foolish
thing to do. Can a believer do that? David
did. David did. And I'll tell you something,
all God's got to do is just leave me and you alone. With us seeking the Lord, it's
awful the trouble we get into in us seeking the Lord. Isn't
that right? We get into some pretty bad trouble
in us trusting Him. But oh God, if He leaves us to
ourselves, ain't no telling where we'll go and what we'll do. Huh? And then look what happens here. And David dwelt with Achish at
Gath, he and his men, every man with his household. Every man
had their family with them. 600 men and they all had family,
children, households. David had two wives. And it was taught in verse four,
and it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath and he sought
him no more again for him. So David thought, I must have
done the right thing, it worked. Saul ain't after me anymore.
Saul's not coming. And you know whenever you do
something wrong and fleshly thinking you follow your flesh and follow
your own heart, that flesh always has a way of justifying itself. Always does. Justifying. The ends justify what I did to
get there. You ain't never done that. I
ain't either. You know better than that. You
know better than that. No, I tell you what, it's... You know, I'm going to say this
just as an aside. I'm going to quit preaching and
say something. You know, we like to measure
people in our bushel basket. Like to measure them in our basket. And then when they start measuring
us, we start getting aggravated. We start getting frustrated.
We start trying to justify ourselves. And we'll make our basket even
smaller than theirs. Oh, we're a mess, ain't we? Ain't
you thankful? Ain't you thankful for the grace
of God given us in Christ? I'm so grateful for it. Now look
how David addresses a heathen king now. Look how David addresses
a heathen king. Verse 5 and 6. David said unto
Achish, now listen to this, he's talking to a heathen king. If
I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place
in some town in the country that I may dwell there. Why would
he say such a thing before, if I found grace in your eyes? And why should I, now listen
to this, why should thy servant calls himself a servant to a
heathen king? Why should thy servant dwell in the royal city
with thee? Then Achash gave him Ziglag that day. And boy, there's
this real story behind this we'll deal with soon. Wherefore Ziglag
pertaineth unto the kings of Judah. Now I want you to look
what it says here now. In verse 7, In that time David
dwelt in the country of the Philistines a full year and four months. 16 months. He stayed down there. He stayed
down there among the Lord's enemies. And I want you to notice what
David does now. And David and his men went up
and invaded the Jesuits, the Gerasites, the Amalekites, those
nations that God told him to drive them all out of the land,
as thou goest to shore, even down to the land of Eden. He
went out and started invading those places that God told him
to drive them out. And David smoked the land, and
left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and
the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the parrots,
and returned, and came to Achish, and shared the spoil with him.
And Achish said, Whither have you made a road today? Now listen
to what David says now. And David said, Against the south
of Judah. He didn't go against the south
of Judah. No. And against the south of the
Jeremiahites. And against the south of the Canaanites. And
look what he says, why he says this. David, listen to what David
said. And David said that neither man
or woman alive to bring back tidings, to go tell them in Gath,
saying, lest they should tell on us, saying, so did David. And listen to this. And so will
his manner all the while he dwells in the country of the Philistines.
He was killing the Lord's enemies when he was dwelling in the land
of the Philistines. But he told the Philistines that
he was invading Israel. Now that's what happens when
unbelief gets a hold of you. It gets from bad to worse. And
then he says, and this will be his manner all the time he dwells
in the country of the Philistines. Now look what old Kish says.
And A. Kish believed everything David
said. He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. And he said, oh he's going to
be my servant forever. Oh no he ain't. No he ain't. No he ain't, and we'll see later.
But I tell you, unbelief, and the thing that happened, the
thing that sets this apart more than anything else about David.
And he said, and who read the 51st Psalm last week? Somebody
read the 51st Psalm. And David says, take not thy
Holy Spirit from me. Well that's what happened here.
And David When he said in his heart, I have to escape. He left off fearing men more
than he feared God. And unbelief prevailed in his
life for 16 long months. That just don't make sense. That's
what God says. That's what he said about it.
So the next time you get really, really doubt on somebody, really
get hard on them about something they're doing, some place they're
going, or something that they're saying, or some way that they
act, just remember this. Unbelief is a terrible thing,
and it'll lead you to do some terrible things. Our Father, oh, our Father, blessed,
blessed Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
thank you for meeting with us tonight. Thank you for your Word. God, bless it to our hearts,
bless it to our understanding, bless it to our faith. Oh, Lord,
please, please keep us, oh, keep us cleaving, keep us believing,
keep us trusting. Please leave us not to ourselves,
Please leave us not to the thoughts of our own heart and the devices
of our own heart. Leave us not to our flesh. Oh
God, please don't do that. Don't do that for Christ's sake.
Lord, you said that we're but dust, we're just flesh. And you
know our frames, that we're just dust. So Lord, we look to you
to preserve us, to keep us. And Lord, to never help us by
your grace to ever take our eyes off of you. Oh God grant it for
Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. 327. 327. In the hymn book. I
think we sang this to majestic sweetness. I think that's right. I think that's right. 327. Yes. Yeah. I like this song. Oh, for a faith that will not
shriek the breast by many a foe, that will not tremble Of any
earthly woe Of any earthly woe That will not murmur nor complain
Beneath the chastening rod And in the hour of grief or pain faith that shines more bright
and clear when the tempest rages without that wind in danger knows
no fear in darkness feels no doubt in darkness feels no doubt
Lord, give me such a faith as this, and in what error may come,
I'll taste it now, the hallowed bliss of an eternity.