Then they told David, saying,
Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah. and they robbed
the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired of the
Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And
the Lord said unto David, Go and smite the Philistines, and
save Keilah. And David's men said unto him,
Behold, we be afraid here in Judah, how much more then, if
we come to Keilah, and against the armies of the Philistines.
Then David inquired of the Lord yet again, and the Lord answered
him, said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the
Philistines into thine hand. So David and his men went to
Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle,
and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants
of Keilah. Our Father, oh Abba Father, Lord
we have so much to bless you for, so much to thank you for,
for a day, for a moment, for an hour, for our health, for
the blessed hope you've given us, for all of our homes, so
comfortable you've blessed us with, comfortable place to live,
nice comfortable beds to sleep in, wonderful chairs to sit down
in. And then on top of all the material
blessings you've given us, you've given us one another. You've
given us the love of the saints and the love for one another.
We thank you for the gospel, the gospel of the grace of God
that you brought to us through a man. And Lord, opened our hearts,
opened our understanding, brought us to faith, brought us to the
Lord Jesus Christ, And oh, bless the day, bless the day, oh Lord. You brought me to Christ and
all of us here, bless the day that you brought us to your blessed
son. And our father, we pray that
you'd meet with us here tonight in the preaching and the hearing.
And Lord, we do pray for the weak and the sick among us. We
continue to pray for Fran, that Lord, you continue to help her
to get stronger and stronger and stronger. that she can come
worship with us again. We pray for Joyce, Lord, who
is not feeling well, and pray for your blessings upon her.
Bill and Dorotha. God, Bill, oh God, give him strength
and give the doctors wisdom in dealing with him. And we pray
for Jo and Patsy. Lord, it hurts our hearts. It
saddens our hearts that someone is so sick someone so close. And oh Lord, we pray that You
would bless her, bless Joe, meet the needs of their hearts. We
know that Your grace is sufficient. We know that Your strength is
made perfect in weakness. So Lord, may it be made perfect
in their weakness as we bless and praise You. In Thy Lord Jesus'
name, Amen and Amen. Samuel 23 and you look down in the last
line of verse 5 and you see our subject. So David saved the inhabitants
of Keilah. And that's what I want to talk
about. David saving. David saving. David saving. The son of David,
the Lord Jesus Christ, does a lot more than saves a city and the
inhabitants of a city. He saved a multitude that no
man can number. He saves a multitude, and I'm
telling you, and these people had an enemy. And David had to
fight the enemy and save them from the enemy. who was robbing
them. And so David saves Kiala. In our last study, we saw that
God had provided David with a prophet, Gad. And he provided him with
a priest, Abiathar. And God told him through his
prophet to go back into Judah. Well, he did what God told him
to do. And now God's going to use David while he's in Judah,
to save a city in Judah, this Keolah. And there's some great
contrast here in chapter 23. Some are greatly blessed and
some are so sad. David here is seen at his best. I would say Saul at his worst.
But when he slew all the priests and all the inhabitants of that
nob and killed 85 priests and their sons, I don't think you
could be any worse. But he sure shows himself to
be a very, very wicked man. And David humbly waits on the
Lord. And Saul presumes to wickedly
believe God's providence is in his favor. And here's the thing
I want you to understand. Saul's the king of Israel. Now
they should have, he should have understood what was going on
up there in that city. Up there in that town. There's
a bunch of Philistines up there robbing them. Robbing them. He should have got his army together
and went up there and saved that city and destroyed those Philistines. But he had one thing on his mind.
One thing, just like the Pharisees had on their mind with our Lord
Jesus Christ. We got to kill him. That's all
Saul had on his mind to destroy David, to kill David. And that's
all the Pharisees had on their mind was how to entice and how
to trap and how to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ and find reasons
to destroy him. And they did in the end, but
it was God's business who did that. It was God who did that.
So David delivers them from their enemies. And so, and these people
are so ungrateful, you'll see, that they're going to take David
and deliver him up to Saul, even to his own worst enemy. But I
want you to notice the first thing that happens then, here
in verse 1. Then they told David, then they
told David, and how many times did they come and tell our Lord
Jesus Christ, Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines
fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing floors. Oh,
my. Well, David, the first thing
he does, the first thing he does, he inquires of the Lord. That's
the first thing he does, inquires of the Lord. Now, he's going
to go to war. He's going to go to battle. He's
out of the cave. He's out of Adam. He's back in
Judah. And you know the first thing
he did is inquire to the Lord. Now you're talking about a testimony
to us. A witness to us. And I'll deal
with that later. But look what it says there.
They told David. They didn't go to Saul. They
didn't go to Saul and his army. They told David. They came to
David. He was the one they could count
on. He was the one that loved them. He was the one that proved
that he was the great warrior. And look what it says here. They
told David. It said the Philistines, they
robbed the threshing floors. And when the threshing floors,
the threshing floors is where they have all their food. So
they're up there robbing the threshing floors, stealing their
food. Taking their food away from them. And this was a fortified
town that had walls and that around it. But again, I tell
you there in verse 2, David inquired of the Lord. David sought the
Lord. David had a great love for his
country. He had a great love for his people,
for those in Judah, for all of Israel. And he wanted this This
wonderful place he lived, this wonderful place that he loved,
this great country that he loved. He wanted to be free from its
enemies. He wanted to be free. Yet he
wouldn't even go and fight his enemies and confront his enemies
without first seeking God's will. Seeking God's will. He would
not go unless God gave him the will to go and the appointment
to go and the go ahead to go. He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't
do it. If God don't send me, I'm not
going. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Look over and keep this and look in Exodus 33. Exodus 33. I believe you all
know this. You know, God sent Moses. And all the folks gotta go. And
oh my. And here's what happens is now.
Look what Moses said here in verse 13.
Now therefore I pray thee, If I have found grace in thy sight,
show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I might find
grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Wherever God goes
with you, you're going to have rest. Now look what he said now.
This is what Moses said. He said, Unto him, if thy presence
go not with me, then don't carry us up there. Don't carry us up
there. No. Oh, don't carry us up there. For when shall it be known here
that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not
that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth? Moses said, I don't take me up if you don't go with me.
I don't want to go. I'm not going to go. If you don't
go with me and don't your presence don't go, I don't want to go.
And that's what Dave is saying, Lord, if you don't give me direction,
I'm not going, I don't know what to do. Well, how am I going to
find out what to do? He knows what to do when the
prophet said, go down to Judah. He knows what to do then because
God gave him his word. But now he says, oh Lord, what
shall I do? Shall I go down there and smite
those Philistines? Will you be with me? Will it
be right for me to do that? Now let me ask you a question,
and I ask myself this question. I wonder how many decisions we
make, how many places we go, and how many things we do and
don't stop and inquire of the Lord. I wonder how many times
we do that. We were getting ready to go on
vacation. We were getting ready to leave. And Shirley said, well,
are we going to pray before we go? And I said, oh, I'm so ashamed
that you had to remind me. She said, don't we need to pray
before we leave? I said, of course. And I felt guilty that she had
to remind me. I had to think about it. But
oh, my. How many decisions we make. Big decisions. You know, the
little decisions, it's the little foxes that spoils the vines.
And you get in the habit of going and just doing and doing and
doing and doing and doing and never ask the Lord. I mean, you
know, we ought to start our day out, Lord, this is your day.
Give it to us. It belongs to you. I belong to
you. My home belongs to you. My children
belong to you. The church belongs to you. The
saints belong to you. And that's what Moses said, Lord,
these are your people. These are your people. So you
go with me or else these people, so everybody will know that these
are your people. And that's what David is saying.
If the word makes it plain, we know what to do. But the Lord
said, look what he says there in the last part of verse 2.
Go ahead, go on down there and smite them Philistines. And save
that city, save that town, Kiya. Listen when he said go God spake
by his prophets and door Lord didn't leave him in ignorance
And I tell you what he will leave us in ignorance if we sincerely
seek his will Now I will show you something else you keep this
you keep this and look with me in Proverbs Proverbs Chapter
3, right before the book of Psalms, Proverbs chapter 3. Look what
I've used this, and we've seen this so many times over the years,
but it's appropriate right here. It's appropriate right here.
You know, Greg said Sunday morning, he said three ways Three things
we can do to know the Lord's will. He said, prayer, providence,
and peace. He said, you pray if something
comes up, and then if God in his providence directs you that
way, and then there's peace to show you that this is the right
way, and that this'll go, but if there's not no peace involved
in it, you know, prayer and providence, if there ain't no peace involved
in it, don't do it. But if the prayer and the providence,
God directs you and guides you, then in the verse, peace with
it, then when God opens the door, you'll know to walk through that
door. Which I thought that was very wise. I thought that was
very, very wise. But look what he said here in
Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5. And this is what David's doing.
He sought the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. all thy heart, and lean not unto
thine own understanding." David didn't lean. He said, Lord, I
know what to do. I know I'm a good warrior. I know I'm a great fighter.
I know I've slain tens of thousands. No, no, he said he didn't lean
to his own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him.
Lord I acknowledge that you're God. I acknowledge that you're
sovereign. I acknowledge that I'm yours.
I'm acknowledging that your will is paramount. I'm acknowledging
that your providence is what I'm trusting in and I'm trusting
you. I acknowledge you everywhere I go. And look what he said. And if you acknowledge him in
all things, and he'll direct your paths. He'll direct them. He'll direct them. But now look
back over here in our text again. Look what it says in verse three
now. So they came to David, not to Saul. David sought the Lord. Oh Lord, I don't want to go without
you. And then of course it says in verse three, and David's men
said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah. How much
more then if we come to Kielah against the armies of the Philistines?
His men's fear and unbelief hear David's being greatly, greatly,
greatly tested. What will he do if his men say,
I'm not going, David? You'll have to go up there by
yourself. We're not going with you. We're even afraid to be
in Judah. Much less go up there and get caught in that city.
And Saul come and marching up behind us and catch us in there.
And that would be awful. His men were afraid of being
caught. They were afraid of being in Judah. And that's what they
said, how much more then if we come to kill? It's kind of like
the disciples when they was in that storm. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
now we know that God don't get tired. We know that. God don't
sleep, neither slumber. But the Lord Jesus Christ, as
a man, laid down and went to sleep in that boat. And those fellas got out there
and they got in a storm. A big storm came up. And the
Lord Jesus slept on. We know God don't sleep. But
the Lord Jesus Christ is a man dead. But they come and this
is what they've done just like we do. They went and shook Him
and woke Him up. And the first words out of their
mouth was, Lord, carest thou not that we perish? We're going to die and you're
sleeping. Did they think for a minute?
Did they think with Christ being in the boat with them that they're
going to die? Now that's how much unbelief and how much fear
those men had. And they walked with Christ and
were with Christ. But now we know that God don't
sleep, but we also know that man can't calm a storm, and man
can't say to the wind and the sea, be still. But God can. And that's what he did. And then
he looked at him and said, oh, give little faith. Now whether
he went back to sleep or not, I don't know. But I do know this,
that's the way we are. Sometimes we get tested. God
tries us, and when He tries us, He'll let us do something we'll
be, left us standing by ourselves. He left David standing there
by himself. And all of these men said, we're
afraid. We're afraid. How much more if
we go up there and get caught by them Philistines? And Saul
catches us up there. Well, what in the world is David
going to do? It's like our master, what's he going to do? Is their
unbelief going to hinder God's Word? Is their unbelief going
to stop God from doing His will? Is their unbelief going to keep
God from destroying the enemies of Christ? No! That's what Paul
said to the Jews. He said, Will their unbelief
make the faith of God of none effect? You think because they
don't believe it's going to make the Word of God and the faith
of God of none effect? He said, yeah, let God be true
and every man a liar. And this is one thing that astounds
me. And it just men honestly think
that what they think has an effect on God's word and on what God
does. But they're going to find out
one of these days they're going to pop off one time too many.
And when they're going to pop off, and I read a verse in Ecclesiastes
8.11 says, Because the sons of men's heart is set on evil continually. because judgment is not executed
speedily. And this is what men will say.
Well, if God's really on his throne, he ought to stop me from
doing this. If God's really in control, he
ought to stop this. And if God's really in control,
he ought to stop that. So they say, well, God's not
in control because he ain't stopping this, that. And he ain't doing
this, and he ain't doing that. God ain't never done anything
because somebody said he ought to do it. No, God's never done anything
because somebody said he ought to do it. God has always done
his will in the armies of heaven and among men, heaven and so
the earth. And if he lets, if he wants to turn up, if he wants
to turn everybody in America loose at one time, you think
20 or 30 people getting killed is going to be something? Wait
till he turns this generation over and walks away with his
spirit. It'll be dangerous to get out
of your house. We're living in a world full
of devils if God takes His hand off of me. And people thinking, oh listen,
how often do people think, well because God does this and don't
do that. And I remember doing it myself.
And I'm so ashamed of the things that I thought and the things
that I said. But how often have we as God's people had unbelief? You ever had any unbelief? Huh? Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. And oh, how many times do we
have professed friends like David had here, and they said, oh,
listen, I'm not going to go. And how many people that we've
had that's been friends and good friends at times all of a sudden
become a hindrance to us or unbelief becomes a hindrance to us. And David, let me tell you something
about David. He regarded this as a test and
not an obstacle. It didn't paralyze him. It didn't
say, oh my, oh, oh, oh. Listen, he didn't go to shaking.
No, no. He regarded this as a test, not
an obstacle. It didn't paralyze him. You know
what it caused him to do? Look down at verse 4. Then David inquired of the Lord
yet again. He didn't let these unbelieving
men drive him to despair. No. No. You think about it. Our Lord Jesus Christ with all
His disciples. He told every one of them, you're
going to forsake me and flee. He told them, you're going to
deny me. But what did our Lord Jesus Christ do? When they came
out to get Him, He said, if you want me, you've got to let these
go. And that's why David's standing
here. He said, Lord, listen, these
men are afraid. He didn't let his unbelieving
men drive him to despair. And here's the thing, he couldn't
expect them to walk by his faith. I can't expect you to walk by
my faith. I can't walk by your faith. We all have to walk by
the faith God's given us. And we cannot judge a man's faith. And I'll tell you something else,
you cannot judge God's providence or promises by his providence
what's going on in your life. And I tell you, he couldn't expect
them to walk by his faith. And that's the thing we also
often, you know, and it's a self-righteousness when we think this, you know.
Well, if those folks was like me, they'd do this. If those
folks was like me, they'd do that. If the people's this way,
they would come here and they'd do this and they'd do that. But
listen, we can only walk by the faith God give us. I can't believe
for you, you can't believe for me. You can't discern God's will
for me and I can't discern God's will for you if I can't find
it in His Word. Is that not right? But he knew
that where God worked, where God was working, He'd work in
both places. He'd work over here and He'd
work over here at the same time. So when David inquired of the
Lord yet again, what he said is, he said, Lord, my men are
afraid. But you can take that fear away. You can make them willing. You
can make them willing. And all things are possible.
All things are possible with God. And yet, you know the scripture
says, yet I will be inquired of thee. God said, prove me. Prove me. Do you think I won't
stand by it? Prove me. And then it said, he inquired
of the Lord yet again. Let me tell you what he didn't
do when he inquired of the Lord. He didn't get up and said, you
bunch of cowards. You lowlifes. I can't believe
that you all think, I can't believe that you all are afraid. I can't
believe that you ain't ready and willing to go. He didn't
rail at his men. You know what he told Simon Peter
when you gonna deny me? He said, I prayed for you Simon.
I prayed for you. Oh, you're going to deny me.
Going to do it three times. But you know what I did? I prayed
for you. I prayed for you. And when our
Lord appeared to them, Linnaeus went out back fishing again.
He stood there and he had a fire. Where did that fire come from?
And he had fish on that fire. And he said, children, you caught
nothing. They caught nothing. He said,
well, children, I've got company. And John said, wow, that's the
Lord. Simon Peter, he didn't even wait
for them, he jumped off the boat. He knew the compassion and the
mercy of Christ, and the forgiving power of Christ, and the love
of Christ for him that Christ prayed for him, and he wanted
to get to Christ before anybody else did. And when we fell the
worst, that's where we go, just like a martin who scored, we
got to go to Christ. You say, oh I said something,
I've done something, but immediately we go to Christ and say, oh Lord. Oh my, He didn't call them cowards,
didn't rail on them, didn't argue with them, didn't even try to
reason with them. He didn't trust His own wisdom.
You know what He felt? his dependency upon the Lord
to do everything for him. And what an example as he is
and as our Master is and how honoring to God this was. And look what God said to him.
And the Lord answered him and said, Arise, go down to Kielah,
and I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. God answers
his prayer. I will, I will save them. And God honors them who honors
him. And God blessed David in his
obedience. Look what it says there in verse
5. God blessed David in his obedience. So David and his men went. What
happened that made them willing to go then? They lost all their
fear. David inquired of the Lord. You know what keeps you and I
safe? It's the blood of Christ, the
promise of Christ, the death of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ. But you know what keeps us day
in and day out? It's our Lord Jesus Christ. make
an intercession for us. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. And all my So God blessed David
in his obedience. They defeated the Philistines.
It says there in verse 5, So David's men went down there,
and they fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle.
And not only did they defeat them, but they took their spoils
from them, took all that they had, took their cattle away from
them, took everything, you know, and saved them, and then got
enough to feed themselves. And then look what it says here
in verse 6. And we'll get on down through
and say a few things about these verses. And it came to pass when
Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, that only priest that was saved,
who fled to David, fled to David to Keala, and he came down with
an ephod in his hand. Now you know what? The Lord blessed
David with this priest and the priest and that ephod makes him
know about his enemy's will. God used that. The priest had
an ephod and he had a urim and a thummim and they went before
and that would discern the will of God. Light and his ephod. And you read in Exodus 28 how
the priest would go before. So he said, oh, he came down
there and he had the ephod in his hand. That's what you inquire
the Lord with. Now watch what had happened here
in verse 7. And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah,
and Saul said, God hath delivered him into my hand. For he hath
shut him in by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
Now here's the thing that Saul should have done. He should have
been reconciled to David. David went up there and done
what Saul should have done. She went up there, Saul should
have been reconciled to David for saving this city, for saving
this town, for defeating these Philistines. For doing what he
himself should have done. And it's obvious that God is
with David. But when God forsakes a man,
left his own imagination, he cannot deserve anything spiritual. Instead of rewarding David for
his courage, he desired to hurt him, to hurt him. And that's
why Saul said, he has delivered him into mine hand. He has shut
him in. Now listen, here's an enemy,
a wicked, wicked man. And he uses God's providence.
He said, God's providence has provided me how to destroy David. He said, God's brought him here
just so I can kill him. Oh, how easy it is for a heart
that's so wrong, so wickedly to apply God's wisdom to the
self. He was sure God had delivered
David in his hands. And oh my, he believes God helping
him to further his wicked plan. Then he called, look what I said
in verse 8, and Saul called all the people together to war to
go down to Kielah to besiege David and his men. But now watch
what David knew. Verse 9, David knew our Lord
Jesus Christ knows all things, knows the secrets of men's hearts.
And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him.
And he said to Abiathar, the priest, bring hither the infant. David knew his real intention. And he was going to, the pretext,
go down there and fight the Philistines and hopefully catch David. David knew he secretly meant
to harm him. And Saul indeed was the father
of the devil. And then said, look what David,
when he got that ephod. David was not concerned for himself. Look what he says here now. David's
not a bit concerned for himself. Then said David, oh what an example,
what a blessing. He says, oh Lord God of Israel. Oh Lord God of Israel. Thy servant
hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah. Now
listen to this, to destroy the city for my sake. He doesn't
say Saul comes to slay me, but he seeks to destroy this city
because of me, for my sake. And he called him oh Lord God
of Israel, that's his covenant title. God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, God's a God of covenant. And David did not place any confidence
in the loyalty of the men of Keilah. And he said, David didn't
say he was going to come and get me. He wanted to destroy
this city. He destroyed those priests because just David went
down there. So he destroyed all the priests
because of David. And then look what David said,
he said, O God, will these men of Keilah deliver me up into
his hand? Will Saul come down as thy servant
hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beg you,
I beseech you, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, he's coming,
he's coming. Then said David, will the men
of this town, Keilah, deliver me and my men into the hand of
Saul? And the Lord said, they will deliver you up. You know
what this tells us? Have no confidence in the flesh. And I don't care, he just saved
this town. Will they deliver me up? Oh yes
they will. Yes they will. They knew what
he had done to the priest that said if Saul comes in here he'll
destroy this whole place. And oh no doubt this saddened
David's heart. But God always provides loyal,
faithful men and women. For every time somebody lets
you down, He'll give you two that won't let you down. And
God answered David according to the knowledge of the human
heart. He said, These men's hearts so wicked, and David and Saul's
is so wicked. And you know what David said
he'd rather do? He'd rather him and his men endure
hardship than to endanger this city and its people. And look
what it says, verse 13. Then David and his men, which
were about 600, arose and departed out of Kielah, and went whithersoever
they could. And it was told Saul that David
was escaped, and he forbade to go forth. He said he let that
city go. And look what it says, David said in verse four, and
David abode in the wilderness and strongholds and remained
in the mountain in the wilderness of sin. And listen to this, Saul
had one object and person, purpose in his whole life, just like
Satan and like the Pharisees after Christ. Saul sought him
every day, but listen to this, but God delivered him out of
his hand. God delivered us out of the hands
of sin, out of the hands of justice, out of the hands of every enemy
that was against us. God saved us. God saved us. Our Father,