Clay, thank you for that message.
Somebody came up to me and said, I'm glad I don't have to follow
that message. But if we all preach the gospel,
we hit the same note. I'm going to be looking, if you
want to go ahead and be turning to 1 Samuel chapter 30. But I
want to read a verse of scripture. I was just reading the other
day, and I ran across it, and it just blessed my heart, and
I thought about this meeting. In Mark chapter six, our Lord
had sent the disciples out two by two. He had sent them out
to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, and they had just come
back, and it tells that John the Baptist had just been beheaded.
And it says in verse six of Mark, I mean Mark six verse seven,
and he called unto him the twelve and began sending them forth
two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits and commanded
them that they should take nothing for their journey. And it was
a journey, save a staff, no script, no bread, no money in their purse,
but be shod with sandals and put on two coats and not put
on two coats. Here it is, verse 30, and the
apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus. Is that
not what we're doing this evening? and told him all things, both
what they had done and what they had taught. And here's what he
said. And he said unto them, come ye
yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. I pray that's what he lets us
do this weekend. He takes us apart with Him, and
we are able to rest. Oh, to rest. Now, 1 Samuel 30. First Samuel 30. Read verses one through six. It came to pass when David and
his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites
had invaded the south in Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned
it with fire. They had taken the women captive
that were therein. They slew not any, either great
or small, but carried them away and went on their way. And David
and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with
fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters were
all taken. And David and the people that
were with him lifted up their voices and wept, because they
had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken,
Ahinahim, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the
Carmelitess. And David was greatly distressed,
and you would have been too. For the people spake of stoning
him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every
man for his sons and for his daughters. David encouraged himself and
the Lord is God. What I want to do is go back
and bring us up to this to show you how did David wind up at
this place? Have you ever asked yourself
that question? How in the world did I wind up here? What all
happened to bring me to this place? We know that David was
chosen of God, he was a man after God's own heart, he was anointed
to be king. But there was a long time, there
was some things David had to go through before he ever sat
upon the throne. And what I see there, he pictures
in so many ways our Lord Jesus Christ, who's the high priest,
who's able to be felt with the feelings of our infirmities. He was chased, he was hated,
he was despised. So if you would turn back with
me, I'm gonna just show you some verses. Just bear with me as
I begin to go back. The more I kept going back, the
more I couldn't stop. But there in 1 Samuel 18 verse
12, Saul who hated David said he was afraid of David. And why
was Saul afraid of David? Because the Lord was with him.
And the Lord had departed from Saul. Then look in chapter 19 verse
1. Here's how much Saul hated David. And Saul spake to Jonathan his
son and to all his servants that they should kill David. Do you
not see here the animosity that the world has for our Lord? He
said, they've hated me and they'll hate you because I'm not of this
world. And you're not of this world. And they hated him and
they despised him. But through all that, God will
use these things to make his servant David. It's off to kill
him. A couple of times. saw through
a javelin at him. And as I thought about that years
ago, that most kings rule with scepters. And here's how the
religious, self-righteous religious world of our day, this is how
they rule, with a javelin. Throwing it at you. And David
had to run, and he left, and he left the court. And then I see, in my Bible it
has headings of all the people who helped David. Well, it said
protected him. Well, first of all, Jonathan
protected David. He loved him. Loved him as his
own soul, made a covenant with him. He knew David would one
day be king, and he said, when you're king, would you remember
this covenant that we made, and would you show mercy to my family?
And he did. So Jonathan protected him. Then
Michael, Saul's daughter, was given to David in marriage. And
when Saul tries to go to the house to kill him, she spares
him, she protects him. Notice all these things that
God uses to protect David. I can tell you this evening,
if you're God's, if he redeemed you and bought you, he will protect
you in every situation that you go through. Even use a wicked
king's daughter. And we find out later she wasn't
a believer, she didn't really love David. And Saul, he just
did that to try to get to David, because then, you know what he
did? He gave Michael to another man. But then another one, Samuel,
old Samuel, the prophet of God protected him, watched over him. David, when he ran from after,
when Michael helped him in 1 Samuel 19, verse 18, David fled, where
did he go? He went to the prophet. You know
what our Lord does, you know? Clay preached such a blessed
message on sanctification. This is it here. He drove him. Through these things that happened,
it drove David to God. It drove him to the prophet.
He needed direction. What am I, what, you imagine
what's going on in his mind. What am I going to do? I can't
go back to Saul anymore. And he goes to Samuel. and he
was protected by Samuel. And then he goes, in 1 Samuel
21, he goes to Ahimelech, the priest. And you remember, our
Lord made reference to this. He said, do you remember when
David went in to the temple and ate the showbread? That's this
account. He went to this priest and he
helped David. And he gave David Goliath's sword.
But you know what Saul did when Saul found out about it? There
was a man there named Doeg de Edomite, and he was one of Saul's
chief men. And he went back and he told
Saul, he said, that man helped David. You know what Saul did? He killed 85 priests. There was only one priest that
survived. And God used that priest to go
to David. And he protected him. But then
I wanna show you something else. Notice verse 10 of chapter 21.
Now we're going kindly leading up, all this is leading up, just
bear with me, bear with me. 1 Samuel 21 verse 10, and David
rose and fled that day for fear of Saul. For fear of Saul? for fear of Saul, he fled. And he went to Achish, the king
of Gath. Doesn't that seem odd? Goliath, where was he from? The
Philistine of Gath. David goes to Achish. And the
servants of Achish said unto them, now watch this, is not
this David the king of the land? Well, David's not king yet, but
they know he is. They didn't say Saul was king.
They said David's king. Isn't this amazing when even
the enemies of God acknowledge it? When Saul and all those should
have and they didn't, hated him. Did they not sing one to another
of hymn and dances saying Saul's laden is thousands and David
is 10,000? And David laid up these words in his heart and
was so afraid of Achish the king of Gath. He's afraid of everybody.
You ever just been terrified? Just terrified. And he changed
his behavior before them and feigned himself mad in their
hands and scrambled on the door of the gate. Let his spittle
run down upon his beard and then said Achish to his servant, slow,
you see this man's mad. Wherefore then if you brought
him unto me, have I need a madman? that you have brought this fellow
to play the madman in my presence, shall this fellow come into my
house? Then David, he flees and he has
to live in a place called the Cave of Dullam. And then in chapter
23, just bear with me, David goes to a place called Kiala.
And he inquires verse four of the Lord. And David inquired
of the Lord yet again, and the Lord answered him and said, arise,
go down to Kielah, for I will deliver the Philistines into
thy hands. And then David also asked, he said, will Saul come
down? He said, yeah. And he said, will
these people, these people that David showed mercy, these people
that David came, he said, will they deliver me into Saul's hands? He said, yes, they will. Everywhere he went, they hated
him. Everywhere. And then in chapter 24, David
could have destroyed King Saul. It says, God brought a deep sleep
on Saul and all of his army, and you know what David does?
He walks right with one of his servants, he walks right into
the midst of the camp, and he takes his spear from him, and
he takes his crews of water. He took his weapon of defense,
and he took his comfort from him. And he walks out, and they
never knew David was there. David gets up here on the bank,
and he starts calling to Saul, and he says, where'd this spear
come from? But I wanna show you what Saul said. Let me find it. In verse, let me find it. Chapter 25. I'm sorry, chapter 26, the last
verse. I'm sorry, just bear with me.
Saul said to David, blessed be thou my son David, thou shalt
both do great things, and also thou shalt still prevail. And
what I, I could be wrong, but I think this is the last time
they spoke to each other. So David went on his way. And
I want you to watch this. And Saul returned to his place. The last time they meet. And
then David. Where does he go now? He goes
back to Achish. He goes back to the Philistines. Now look in verse one of chapter
27. David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by
the hand of Saul. That ain't gonna happen. But
he thinks it is. He said, one day. Saul's gonna
destroy me. There is nothing better for me,
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 shall I escape
out of his hand. You know what David is looking
for? He's looking for a little rest. I want to get away from
King Saul just as far as I can go, because if I go to the Philistines,
he won't come after me. Read on. And David arose, and
he passed over with the 600 men that were with him unto Achish,
the son of Maccaw, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Achish at
Gath. He and his men, every man in
his household, They were David and his two wives, Ahinahim,
the Jezreelites, and Abigail, the Carmelites, David's wife. And it was told Saul that David
was fled to Gath, and he sought him no more. David said, that's
exactly what I wanted. He's left me alone. But he's in the Philistines. What I want you to see, do you
think God's gonna leave him there? And this is where he's at. And then in chapter 28, we see almost the whole chapter
records what happened to King Saul. We see David was in, how
long did he dwell there? The scripture said a year and
four months, 16 months. What did he do during that time?
We know very little, we just see glimpses. But then God records
a whole chapter about King Saul. You remember, he, you know what
is getting, so you'll see what's getting ready to happen. The
Philistines, now David lives in the Philistines, with the
Philistines. They're getting ready to go to battle against
King Saul. Well if they go to battle against
King Saul, well what about David? He's in a pickle. Isn't he? And King Saul, he's in a pickle. And he seeks the Lord. And it
said in verse six of chapter 28, and when Saul inquired of
the Lord, the Lord answered him not. Neither by dreams, now watch
this, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. because Samuel is dead. So this is what's playing out.
And now in verse 20, chapter 29, the Philistines gathered
to gather all their armies to Aphex in Israel, pitched by a
fountain which was in Jezreel. And the Lord of the Philistines
passed by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed
on in the rearward with Achish. Then said the princesses of the
Philistines, what do these Hebrews hear? And Achish said unto the
princesses of the Philistine, is not this David, the servant
of Saul, the king of Israel, which had been with me these
days for these years, and I found no fault in him since he fell
unto me unto this day? And the princesses of the Philistines
were wroth with him, and the princesses of the Philistines
said unto him, make this fellow, talking about David, return,
that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him.
What place had he appointed him? He gave him Ziklag. He said,
send him back to Ziklag. Which thou hast appointed him,
let him go down. Let him not go down with us into
the battle, lest a battle lest in the battle he be an adversary
to us, for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master,
should it not be with the heads of these men? He's saying we
don't trust him. But you see here in the providence
of God, that God's working it out so David don't have to go.
Can you imagine, I can imagine what's going on in David's mind.
I didn't plan on this. I was just looking for a place
to rest, and now it looks like I may have to go and fight against
the children of Israel? What am I to do? Where am I to
go? And can you imagine? Now he's
going back home to Ziklag, his place of rest. His whole family's
there, don't you know? I can see him. I can see him.
Well, I'm glad that's over. I can't wait to get to Ziklag,
and it's a three-day journey. I guarantee David and all of
his men, he's got 600 men, they're wore out, they're tired. You
can be spiritually exhausted, mentally. I can see David, he's
just wore out, but I can see about the time they get to Ziklag,
and one of his men says, what's that smoke about? That don't
look too good. And when they get there, the
whole city is burned up. When David stands and when we
stand in the midst of Ziklag, when God burns up our Ziklags, and he burned it up, and he's
standing there, you can imagine, in the ashes. But you know the
encouraging thing? It was what David didn't see.
His wives and his children and all the other wives and children
are not laying there dead. It's a miracle that these Amalekites
did not kill him. It's not because it wasn't in
their heart to kill him. As I thought about this and I
went back and looked, do you remember when God told Saul to
go down to this place and kill everybody? Everybody. And Saul, you know how he compromised,
he kept the sheep and he kept the king alive. Do you know what
people these were? The Amalekites. Isn't that kindly
strange? I think when the children of
Israel first came out of Egypt and they're wandering in the
wilderness, the Amalekites came against them. That can picture
so many things, but I think it pictures your flesh. Who do you
battle more than anything? Your flesh. Why didn't the Amalekites
come while David was there? I can see them hiding over in
the bushes, just waiting until David leaves. And then they come
while he's gone. And he comes back and finds the
city burned. David is in this mess because
of fear. You know, the scripture says
God's not given us, now listen to me, God has not given us the
spirit of fear. What do you have to be afraid
of? If you're a child of God, what
do you have to, nothing. Nothing. What we see here was David depending
upon the arm of the flesh. Have no confidence in the flesh. Confidence in the flesh shows
itself by fear. Fear. Why is it as a preacher
when we stand, why is it most of the time we should be afraid
because of the awesomeness of the task? But we're afraid of
making a mess in front of men. Just to be honest. That's it. Fear, that's what that cover,
that's flesh. What won't rest, your flesh does.
Let me tell you this, as long as we're on this earth, we're
not gonna have any furloughs. David, first time we see him,
he was the son of Jesse and he comes up and defeats the Goliath.
He's a man of war. He's not to be laying over in
Ziklag. And you know what God did? He burned it up. He burned it up. David was delivered from having
to fight with Israel. And he goes back to Ziklag and
the city's burned up. Ziklag, this was the place that
was given to David by King Achish, a place he could live away from
King Saul. David and his men and all their
family lived there. Don't you know he was happy?
And I can see him convince himself, says, well this must be the Lord's
will. Everything's going well. Reminds
me just like Jonah. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh
and Jonah goes down and he pulls out his wallet and buys him a
ticket and he gets on a boat and says, well that was easy.
Till God sent a storm. Till God sent a storm. And you
can imagine there. I know what went through David's
mind. Why'd this happen? Why'd this happen? God has a
reason. That's his child. And he will
not, he will not leave him alone. I'll never, no never, no never
forsake him. David was greatly distressed,
greatly distressed. But here we have, I think, a
turning point in David's life. David had been struggling for
a year and four months, and now he submits. God had arranged
all this to bring him to the end of his scheming. and planning,
and he's left with nothing. God is breaking David, stripping
him of every false hope. He's going to teach him to depend
upon him and him alone. He that thinks he stands, take
heed, lest you fall. Notice that little word, three
letter word, but. We were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy. But, now you think about all
these things that are going on in David's mind, but David encouraged
himself in the Lord his God. Someone said this little word
but, this little conjunction word, this means in spite of
all that he had done, all the lies that he had told, just like
out of the blue in spite of all that, he encouraged himself. And we know that's God working
in him, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. We would
have wanted to just crawl off in a hole somewhere, and he didn't. Why, he's thinking about his
God. That's what he's thinking about.
That's what encouraged him. Let me read you this, what Alexander
McLarion said about this. There was only one possession
in all the world except his body and the clothes that he stood
in that he could call his own at that moment. That's it. Everything
else is gone. Everything else is gone. His
property was carried off. His home was a smoldering embers,
but the Malachites had not stolen God from him. You may deal with this flesh,
but I can tell you this, greater is he that is in us than he that's
in the world. They cannot steal that from you.
They couldn't. It's a work in here, that's what
it is. It's a work in the heart. That's
what God's doing to David. Why do we enjoy reading the Psalms
so much because of this right here? This man knew what it was
like. He knew. Though he could no longer
say my house, my city, my possessions, he could say my God. Whatever
else we lose, as long as we have him, we are rich. And whatever
else we possess, We are poor as long as we don't have him.
God is enough. Whatever else may go, the Lord
his God was the sufficient portion for this man when he stood as
a homeless pauper. He's enough. To encourage this old cold, cold
heart. He had lost everything that his
heart clung to. His wife, his children, they
were captives in the arms of some Amalekite. His house was
left to him desolate. His heart was bleeding, but he
still had his God. David is reminded of who God
was. David had changed, and we change
every day. We're up one day and down the
next. But David is now looking to his covenant God, the unchanging
God. He's not looking to his bravery. He's not looking to his merits.
They're all burned up. There's nothing left. And God
must keep bringing you to that point. Even as believers, when
we sin, we think, well, we can do something to fix this. No,
you can't. That's what you was talking about. Everybody believes
progressive sanctification, where if you just pray enough and read,
oh, you can make yourself holy. Boy, that's a fairy tale, isn't
it? But I can tell you, this is how
God works in his people. He will not leave you alone.
He that begun a good work in you will perform it into the
day of Christ Jesus. God's gonna put this man on the
throne. And our Lord, he suffered. Why did he suffer? He's a merciful
and faithful high priest. David's relationship with God
had changed, but God's relationship with David never changed. We
grow cold and we say, where is he? He's never changed. How tedious
and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer has. Why are
my winters so long? The only reason David is still
alive is God never changes. This is what encouraged is hard. I pray God will take this and
encourage your heart. You get down because of sin and
flesh. You deal with it every day and
you get so discouraged. The word encouraged can be translated
strengthened. I thought about in 1 Samuel 23
when Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the wood
and strengthened his hand in God. Wait on the Lord and be
courage and he shall strengthen thine heart. They that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall man up with wings
of eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk
and not faint. God gave Paul a thorn in the
flesh, didn't he? I was preaching a message one
time, and as I thought about that, I thought, you know what
the thorn in the flesh is? It is the flesh. I mean, that's everybody's got
the thorn, and the thorn is the flesh. But he said, and he said,
God, take it away. And I wished, and every believer
here, If you could have what you would desire, you would wish
that God would take away your old flesh and you could serve
him and worship him and love him like you could. But he said,
you know what? I'm leaving it right there. My
grace is sufficient for thee. You know what he said? The old
man is going to serve the new man. And that's what we see. He does serve him. He does serve
him. David realized now why all this
had happened. He said, what time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee. When he was at his wit's end,
David found encouragement in his God. Listen, Isaiah 64, six. But we
are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is
ours filthy rags. We do all fate as a leaf, and
our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. There is
none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take
hold of thee. For thou hast hid thy face from
us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O
Lord, thou art our Father, and we art the clay, and thou art
the potter, and we are the works of thy hands. You know what he's
doing? He's molding you. And he's shaping
you. And whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate to be conformed to the very image of his darling
son. No matter what happened to David,
no matter what he went through, nothing could separate him from
the love of God. David knew he had brought all
this upon himself, and what is he to do? Sit around and feel
sorry for himself. Can I just be honest with you
this evening? I've been times I was just so low. and so depressed,
all I wanted to do was get in a corner somewhere and hide or
crawl up in a bed and pull the covers over your head and just
go to sleep and try to forget about it. We're just like Elijah. Jezebel says, I'm gonna kill
you, Elijah, tomorrow. This man just stood before all
these false prophets and the next day he's out there feeling
sorry for himself. Said, Lord, why don't you just take me on
home? And the Lord come to him and he said, And he touched him,
and he said, Elijah, rise and eat. And Elijah lays back down
and went to sleep. He needed a little rest. And
the Lord let him rest, and he touched him a little bit more.
And he said, rise and eat, and you're going to go in this meat
40 days journey. You know what he did? He was
strengthened. You know what David's getting ready to do? You can
imagine, what if he just sits down and just said, well, I'm
just tired of it. I'm just fed up with the whole
thing. What about his wife and his children? Like you said,
we're concerned for our families. The Malachites come and they
came and took them. What are we gonna do? Well, we're
gonna go get them. And David said, okay, men. And
he takes 600 men. And I love this story, you can
read the rest of the chapter when you get home. They come
to this creek and 200 of them men were so weak, so weary, they
couldn't go on. And David said, you know what
he said? Y'all stay here with the stuff. You know why they stayed there?
That's the king's stuff. You say, well, they just watching
stuff. Listen, it's his stuff. It's all his stuff. It's all
the Lord's. And now you think about this.
I just lost 200 men. And he takes 400, and David recovered You know what our Lord did? It
says that he was weary with his journey. I'm glad he finished the work.
I'm glad he didn't stop. He came and he suffered and he
rose from the grave and he recovered and brought back the sport. And
when they come back, you see them, I can see them, they got
all the wagons and they got all the families, everybody just
tickled to death. One minute they're just so discouraged,
now they're tickled to death. And they come back and you know
where them 200 men are at? Right there where he left them. And you know what, some of them
400 men said, well they didn't go to the battle with us. We
ain't sharing no sport. They've said, uh-uh, we're all
sharing a lot. You may think you can't do much,
But if you can just sit there and watch his stuff, they're
all rewarded the same. You say, well, I can't preach. I can't do much. Just watch this
stuff. And our David, our Lord, he will
recover all. And you know what? When he comes,
he's our exceeding great reward. And you know, he will keep teaching
you. that nothing in this world matters, nothing! It's just Him. Him. Don't you love anything? He said, if you love your father,
your mother, your children, anything, even your own life more than
me, you can't be my disciple. And He brings you to the place,
He'll humble you just like He did Peter. And you say, Peter,
do you love me? He didn't say, how much do you love me? He just
said, Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. I've stood in the ashes, and
you've encouraged this old heart. And go on and look to Him. Amen. What was it I said a few Sundays
ago? If that don't boil your water,
your pot's dry. That's good. All right. We are now going to
have some refreshments. Everybody that can, hang around
and fellowship a little. Rejoice if you have to leave.
Take something with you if you want. Before we do, Mason, would
you close us in prayer and thank God for the food, please? Holy
and righteous eternal God, Savior, Merciful, full of grace and truth,
we have experienced Heavenly Father, in the name of my Holy
Son, Christ Jesus, upheld. May it be thy pleasure, Heavenly
Father, that we might uphold the holy name forevermore. These things we ask in Jesus
name. Amen. Amen. All right, I guess the women,
is everything gonna do a little.