Good morning. Turn with me, if
you would, to First Samuel, First Samuel chapter 25. While you're
turning, our pastor and janitor in Arkansas, Lewisville, Arkansas,
for a conference this weekend, he sent me a text yesterday.
He said they're having good services, wonderful fellowship. And Elder
Eric Floyd, excuse me, is in Kingsport today. So we pray for
the messages there, as well as in Arkansas, that the Lord bless.
Frank Janet will be getting a little bit of R&R as he sets in the
bulletin. He'll be taking a couple of days
off through this week. Lord willing, returning to us
on Thursday. So Brother Eric Floyd will be bringing the message
on Wednesday. So keep him in prayer as he stays. First Samuel chapter 25. And Samuel died and all the Israelites
were gathered together and lamented him and buried him in his house
at Ramah. And David arose and went down
to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in May on
whose possessions were in Carmel. The man was very great. He had
3000 sheep and a thousand goats and he was sharing his sheep
in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal and the name of
his wife, Abigail. She was a woman of good understanding
and of a beautiful countenance. But the man was churlish, evil
in his doings. And he was at the house of Caleb.
And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
And David sent out 10 young men. And David said unto the young
men, get ye up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in
my name. And thus say ye to him that liveth
in prosperity, peace be both to thee, peace be to thine house,
and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that
thou hast shears. Now thy shepherds which were
with us, we heard them not. Neither was there aught missing
unto them all the while while they were in Carmel. Ask thy
young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore, let the young
men find favor in thine eyes. For we come in a good day. Give,
I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants,
and to thy son David. And when David's young men came,
they spake to Nabal according to those words in the name of
David, and ceased. And Nabal answered David's servants,
and said, Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There
be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his
master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh
that I have killed for my shears, and give it unto men whom I know
not whence they be." So David's young men turned their way and
went again and came and told him all those sayings. And David
said unto his men, gird ye on every man his sword. And they
girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his
sword. And there went up after David about 400 men and 200 abode
by the stuff. But one of the young men told
Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, behold, David sent messengers
out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed on
them. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt. Neither missed we anything as
long as we were conversant with them when we were in the fields. They were a wall unto us, both
by day and night, all the while we were with them, keeping the
sheep. Now, therefore, know and consider what thou wilt do. For
evil is determined against our master and against all the household.
For he is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak unto
him." We'll end our reading there and pick up in a minute. Let's
pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we pray
that you see fit to be with us in this morning service. Bless
our time together that we may truly worship, as we heard this
morning, that we may truly worship and worship you in spirit and
in truth. As true Israel, your chosen people,
chosen by your goodness and your grace and your sovereignty, we
thank you and we pray that you see fit to be with us and bless
this time. Send your spirit to bless this time, that it be a
fruitful time of worship and pleasing unto you and edifying
to your saints. Father, we pray for those who
are undergoing trial, that you be with them as only you can,
whether it's trial of the heart or the mind, sickness of the
body. Father, we're in the wilderness.
I pray that you give us eyes and a heart to remember that.
We're in the wilderness. This is not our home, but rather
keep our eyes focused, our heart focused on you. Remember that
we're dust. We're dust. We're foolish creatures,
but you've given us life. I pray that you see fit to comfort
us, to comfort us in Christ's name. I thank you for the forgiveness
of sin found only in Christ and for this place where we can meet
together as a family and worship you in his name. I pray that
you show us Christ during this time together. Show us one more
time. Give us eyes to see. Give us faith to believe. Father,
we do believe. By your grace, we do believe.
Help thou our unbelief. Repeat with us. We pray for our
pastor and for Eric as they travel, that you give them traveling
mercies and bring them home safely to us. Bless the word while they
preach. Wherever your word is being preached
this morning, that you be with those men declaring your word.
Bless them and bless the hearers. Find your sheep and bring them
home to repentance. Pray this thankfully in Christ's
name for his sake. stand together with me while
Mike sings the call to worship. My mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. the joy of my heart and the boast
of my tongue. Thy grace, all-sufficient from
first to the last, has won my affections and bound my heart
fast. Without thy sweet mercy I could
not live here, But through thy free goodness
my spirit revives, And He that first made me still keeps me
alive. Great Father of mercy, thy goodness
I own, and the covenant of love, thy crucified Son. All praise to the Savior whose
offerings divine. Make mercy and pardon and righteousness
mine. Thank you. You may be seated.
Let's turn in our red book. Page 471. Page 471. Wonderful love that rescued me,
sunk deep in sin. Guilty and vile as I could be,
no hope within. When every ray of light had fled,
O glorious day! Raising my soul from out the
dead, love found a way. Love found a way to redeem my
soul. Love found a way that could make
me whole. Oh, love sent my Lord to the
cross of shame. Love found a way, oh, praise
His holiness. Love brought my Savior here to
die on Calvary. For such a sinful wretch as I,
how can it be? Love bridged the gulf, twitched
me, and Heaven taught me to pray. I am redeemed, set free, forgiven. Love found a way. Love found a way to redeem my
soul. Love found a way that could make
me Love sent my Lord to the cross of shame, Love found a way, O
praise His holy name. Love opened wide the gates of
life to heaven's domain, Where in eternal power and might Jesus
shall reign. Love lifted me from depths of
woe endless day, there was no help in earth below. Love found a way, love found
a way to redeem my soul. Love found a way that could make
me Let's turn back now to 443, 443. And we'll sing the chorus after
the even verses, two, four, and six. There is no name so sweet on
earth, no name so sweet in heaven. The name before is what was birthed
to Christ the Savior given. T'was Gabriel first that did
proclaim to his most blessed mother that name which now and
evermore we praise above all others. King of Christ, our King, and
haily blessed Lord Jesus. For there's no word, dear, ever
heard so dear, so sweet as Lord Jesus. And when he hung upon the tree,
they wrote his name above him, that all might see the reason
we all forevermore must love him so now upon his father's
throne almighty to release us from sin and pain He ever reigns,
the Prince and Savior Jesus. We love to sing of Christ our
King, and hail Him, blessed Lord Jesus. For there's no word, dear, ever
heard So dear, so sweet as Lord Jesus. O Jesus, by that matchless name,
Thy grace shall fail us never. Today as yesterday, the same,
Thou art the same forever. To Jesus every knee shall bow,
And every tongue confess Him, And we unite with saints in light,
Our only Lord to bless Him. We love to sing of Christ our
King, And hail Him, blessed Lord Jesus, For there's no word here
ever heard So dear, so sweet, as Lord Jesus. Turn back with me, if you would,
to 1 Samuel chapter 25. We'll pick up where we left off
and our brother Aaron, I believe this is where the message is
from this morning. We'll pick up where we left off
and read through the 35th verse. First Samuel chapter 25, starting
in verse 18. Then Abigail made haste and took
200 loaves and two bottles of wine and five sheep ready dressed
and five measures of parched corn and a hundred clusters of
raisins and 200 cakes of figs, laid them on asses. And she said
unto her servants, go on before me, behold, I come after you.
But she told not her husband Nabal. And it was so, as she
rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill.
And behold, David and his men came down against her, and she
met them. Now David had said, surely in
vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness,
so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him.
And he hath required me, or requited me, evil for good. So and more
also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that
pertain to him by the morning light, any that pisseth against
the wall. And when Abigail saw David, she
hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her
face, and bowed herself to the ground, and fell at his feet,
and said, upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be. Let
thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and
hear the words of thy handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee,
regard this man of Belial, even Nabal. For as his name is, so
is he. Nabal is his name. Folly is with
him. But I, thine handmaid, saw not
the young men of my Lord whom thou didst send. Now therefore,
my Lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing
the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and
from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies,
and they that seek evil to my Lord, be as Nabal. And now this
blessing, which thine handmaid hath brought unto my Lord, let
it even be given unto the young men that follow my Lord. I pray
thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid. The Lord will
certainly make my Lord a sure house, because my Lord fighteth
the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee
all thy days. Yet a man is risen to pursue
thee and to seek thy soul. But the soul of my Lord shall
be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God. and the
souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of
the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when
the Lord shall have done to my Lord according to all the good
that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed
thee ruler over Israel, that this shall be no grief unto thee,
nor offense of heart unto my Lord, either thou hast shed blood
causeless, or that my Lord hath avenged himself. But when the
Lord shall have dealt well, with my Lord, then remember thine
handmaid. And David said unto Abigail,
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet
me. And blessed be thy advice, and
blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed
blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very
deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which has kept me back
from hurting thee, except thou hast hasted to come and meet
me, Surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning
light any that pisseth against the wall. So David received of
her hand that which she had brought him and said her, go up in peace
to thine house. See, I have hearkened to thy
voice and have accepted thy person. I'd like you all to help me on
the chorus of this song. When I was lost in sin and shame
How thou let me take the blame Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me. When I could look down deep within,
And see the sinfulness of sin, Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me. Sing it with me. how merciful blessed lord how
merciful thou art to me oh how merciful Thou merciful, blessed
Lord, Thou merciful, Thou art to me. A sinner lost and so hell-bent,
Yet Thou says, I must repent, Blessed Lord, How merciful thou
was to me! I wonder why should I rebel With
a soul deserving hell? Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
was to me! how merciful how merciful blessed
lord how merciful thou art to me oh how merciful I'm not ashamed of all thy grace
When thou came and took my place Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. And when this world ceases to
be, eternal blood to speak for me. Blessed Lord, how merciful
thou art to me. how merciful how merciful blessed
lord how merciful thou art to me oh how merciful Thank you. I'm pleased to introduce our
brother Aaron Greenleaf here with us today from Lexington.
Aaron, we're thrilled to have you. We thank you for making
the trip up. Glad you could bring your family this time. It's so
nice to get to fellowship and spend time with you all. What
we look forward to most is you bringing the message that the
Lord laid on your heart. So come preach to us. Going to turn back in your Bibles
to 1 Samuel chapter 25. Give you the back story on what's
going on here. So David is fleeing from Saul
in the wilderness with 600 of his faithful men. And so if you
recall up to this point, David had been anointed king over all
Israel by God through Samuel, but David hadn't taken the throne
yet. And so Samuel goes to Jesse. He says, bring all your boys.
They're going to come before me. God's going to pick a king.
And so Jesse gets everybody for David. They put them before Samuel.
They all go before Samuel. They get done. Samuel says, you
got another boy? Because he ain't one of them.
He ain't here. And Jesse says, yeah, I got one. He's telling
the sheep. Samuel says, well, go get him, like I told you to
the first time. We're not going to sit down until he gets here.
So David shows up, and Samuel says, God says that's the man.
He's the king. But he hasn't taken the throne
yet. Saul's still the king right now. And the song that's being
sang in Israel is, Saul's killed his thousands, but David his
10,000s. And so David has come to more fame and popularity than
Saul. If you imagine, if you're the sitting king, and one of
your subjects had become the more popular, He's probably pretty
jealous, right? So he's pursuing David in the
wilderness. David, his army, or I guess his
unit of men, they need provisions. And so they're going to go to
a man named Nabal, that David was kind to at one point, to
get those provisions. And much like this morning, we're
just going to walk through the story and try to pull out what gospel
truth we can from what's being said here. So pick up in verse
one. And Samuel died. And all the
Israelites were gathered together and lamented him, and buried
him in his house at Ramah. And David arose and went down
to the wilderness of Terom. And there was a man in Mahon
whose possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great."
Now, that does not mean he was a good man. That means he was
a wealthy man. And he had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he
was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now, the name of the man was
Nabal. Interesting tidbit here, that name means fool. Why his
mama named him that, I have absolutely no idea, but his name means fool.
That's what it means. And the name of his wife, Abigail, and
she was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance.
But the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was
of the house of Caleb. Now, when I first started reading
this, the first question that came to mind here was this, how
in the world did these two people end up together? You know, marriages
were arranged back then, things like that. But really, could
you have picked two people more opposite than Abigail and Nabal? Well, you could have. But that
exists for a reason. There's a type here that's being
realized. Two of them, actually. So the first one is this. These
two people represent the two natures that exist in every believer. You have Nabal, which is the
old man, and you have Abigail, the new man. So who is Nabal?
Number one, he's a fool. And that old man, that nature
that you and I are born in this world with, it's a foolish nature
for this reason, because it wars against its creator. The one
who is sovereign over him, the one who has the rule over him,
it wars against him. It's completely and utterly foolish
nature. Also says that he's a man of evil doings. It's an evil
nature. It can do no good. You think
of it this way, the heart, the fountain, the waters are no good. That means everything that comes
from the fountain is tainted. So the best thing you and I would
ever do, it's tainted with that old man, that sinful nature,
with Nathan. So everything that comes from us is evil. Also this,
it says that he's churlish. Now, I didn't know what that
word meant. That's an old-timey word, and I had to look it up. What
it means is obstinate or stiff-necked. Now, the natural man, this old
nature, it's a lame nature, right? It can't believe, it can't repent,
it can't love God. But you could almost pity a lame
man, right? You see a man in a wheelchair
who can't walk. You pity him. You're like, oh, well, OK. You
know, he can't walk. It's a shame. What if that man can't walk,
but he doesn't want to walk? In fact, he hates walking. Well,
that's that old man. It's not that just he can't believe,
and he can't repent, and he can't love God. He doesn't want to.
He digs in his heels and says, no, I want nothing to do with
this God. I want nothing to do with the
Savior. I want nothing to do with grace. He's absolutely no one
to be pitied. Then you have the new nature. The Lord saves a
man. He gives him this new nature, this Abigail. Says Abigail was
of good understanding. Well, what does the new nature
know? What does it understand? Chiefly this, that the Lord Jesus
Christ is everything in its salvation. Lock, stock, and barrel, the
wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, redemption, all of salvation
is found in Jesus Christ. That's what that new nature understands.
That's what it knows. And it's a beautiful nature.
It's of a beautiful countenance because it is the very nature
of God. It's a sinless nature. It's a
holy nature. When the Father looks at it, he says, that's
the nature of Jesus Christ right there in that man. So that's
the first type, is the two natures that exist. But here's the second
type. And really, this is what this
entire story about. These two people are in union. Nabal and
his wife, they share a union. And this typifies the union that
exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and his people. Chiefly
this, what each party brings to the table. So we are who? Nabal. And what do we bring to
the table? Evil, foolishness, and obstinance. And that's why it takes a sovereign
saver to save us. Because we are obstinate, we
will dig in our heels. That old nature has to be broken at the
legs and dragged into submission. What does he bring to the table?
The Lord Jesus Christ. He is Abigail. Well, it says
Abigail was of a good understanding. What is it that the Lord Jesus
Christ understands? What did he understand? He understands
and understood exactly what it took to satisfy his father. I
want to give you an illustration here. So if you were to eat a
meal with me, right? You might wonder, how much food
is going to take for me to be satisfied? I eat a lot, right?
Jamie and I have been together a long time. She can kind of
gauge it. She can say, OK, for lunch, she's going to eat about
this much to be satisfied. But she doesn't really know.
Maybe I'm a little hungrier that day. Maybe I'm not so hungry
that day. The only person at that table you could ask and
find out whether I'm satisfied or not is me. And this is why
the Lord Jesus Christ knew exactly how to satisfy his father, because
him and his father are one. when he was satisfying his father's
demands on that cross. He knew exactly what his father
demanded because him and his father were one. He was satisfying
his own demands, his own justice, when he hung on that cross. He
knew exactly what his father demands. He knew how to satisfy
him. And he's beautiful, this father. In every way, shape,
or form, he says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. Here ye him. So here we have
this union between Christ and his church, or neighbor, and
he's Abigail. four verses, verses four through
nine. We have a picture of gospel preaching. What David is going
to do, he's going to go to some of his servants, he's going to
say, I want you to give a message to Nabal. I'm going to give you
the message, and I want you to give it to Nabal. You're not
going to change anything. Just repeat the message as I give
it to you. That's preaching. The Lord gives a man a message.
You deliver the people. Now, pick up in verse four. And David heard in the wilderness
that Nabal did shear his sheep. And David said unto the young
men, get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal. This is the first
element of gospel preaching. And greet him in my name. And
thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity. This is
the second element. Peace be both to thee, and peace
be to thine house, and peace be unto all thou hast. And now
I have heard that thou hast shears. Now thy shepherds, which were
with us, we heard them not, neither was there aught missing unto
them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men,
and they will show thee. Wherefore, let thy young men,
this is the third element, find favor in thine eyes. For we come
in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatsoever
come into thine hand unto thy servants and to thy son David.
And here's the fourth element. And when David's young men came,
they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name
of David and ceased. So element one, David commands
in verse five, greet him in my name. The gospel is not a set
of doctrines. It is not rules of do's and don'ts. It is not a confession written
by a man. The gospel is a man. It is a name and a man behind
that name. And that name is Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. He is the gospel. I don't take that too far. Now,
what do I mean is, what do I mean by this? We preach His name. We preach Him. Turn over to Philippians
2, look at verse 5. We preach a name and the man
behind that name. Well, who is this man? Philippians
2, look at verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. Now, why did he not think
it was robbery to be equal with God? It is very simple. It's because he is God. And you
must begin here. Jesus Christ is God. Everything
his father is, that's exactly who he is. The sovereign one,
the holy one, the one with the perfect sense of justice, the
one who will not let sin go unpunished, the one who is merciful and gracious,
Everything that God is, Jesus Christ is. That's the first thing
that must be preached, that Jesus Christ is God. Now look at verse
seven. What'd he do? But made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men, and being found in the fashion
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. This man, Jesus Christ, who is
God, what did he do? He was born. He put himself in
the womb of a virgin. God actually was born. And he
dwelled there patiently for nine months until he was born. And
after that, he was a baby. And after that, he was an adolescent.
And after that, he was a teenager. All the while, he honored his
father in all things. And he kept God's holy law absolutely
perfectly. And he just patiently waited
through all this. The creator of everything stored
himself inside the body of a man. And then when his time came,
he died. He went to a cross, bearing the
sins of his elect people, And on that cross, suffering under
the wrath of God, he accomplished the salvation of all his chosen
people. That's exactly what this man
did. And he was risen again in three days for this reason, because
what he came to do, he actually accomplished. When he said it
is finished, it really was finished. There is nothing left for those
people to do. Now, look at verse 9. What's
going to happen? Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now what's going to happen? It's
very simple. Every knee is going to bow. Either
it's going to be bowed in this life or it's going to come to
you. He's going to cause you to bow the knee to beg for mercy
and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ or you will bow in the
afterlife when the Lord breaks the leg and brings you to your
knees. But every knee is going to bow in this life or the next. This is the name This is the
man we preach. He is the gospel. Now, the second
element David speaks of is verse six. He says, peace be unto you. We preach a man and his accomplishments. We preach the peace that he made
with his father on behalf of everyone he died for. Now, Isaiah
40 verse one says this. It says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished." You see, he
already fought the battle. He did battle with sin, he did
battle with death, he did battle with the devil, and he arose
victorious. He did something that no man has ever done. He
won through dying. Everyone else's death is a loss,
right? He dies, he loses. This man won through dying. When
he laid down his life, he actually won. And he did something that
no man has ever done. He actually finished dying. This
is an amazing thought because no man has ever done this before.
When a man dies, his death is eternal, right? He lives for
a while, he dies because of sin, and then his death just continues
on in hell because his death could never satisfy God. But
this man actually did something no one else has done before.
He finished dying. And when he was finished dying, because he
had satisfied his father, he raised himself from the dead.
And now there's peace. He says, comfort ye, comfort
ye, my people. There's peace. It's a message
of comfort. Well, who are these people? Very simple, folks. They're
sinners. They're people who don't have anything to bring to the
table. There's nothing about them they can bring to God and
say, you should show me mercy because I, nothing there. For
those people who have nothing to bring to the table and nothing
to offer, peace. Your warfare is accomplished. It's already done. Preach a man? Preach the peace he made with
his father. We also don't do this. We don't preach peace where
there is no peace. If there is anyone here right
now who has any hope of salvation based on something they have
done or intend to do, I tell you that there is no peace for
you. If you'll take on the law, even the smallest part of the
law, who are indebted to do the whole law, every job, every tittle,
every commandment, every time from the day you were born to
the day you die. Inwardly and outwardly. I tell you, if you
are dependent on yourself in any way, there is no peace. Preach a man, you preach the
peace he made with his father. Look down in verse eight. David
says, let the young men find favor in that eyes. That word
favor is the word grace. We preach a man, we preach his
peace, and we preach his grace. There's three things we need
to know about his grace. And number one, it is always
saving. It means if the Lord intends
to be gracious to a man, he loves a man and he's going to be gracious
to him, that means he saves that man. He does not make salvation
possible for that man. He does not give that man a shot
at salvation because he is gracious. No, if he is gracious, it is
always saving grace. That means he does the work and
he saves that man. Second thing you need to know
about it is this, that it's sovereign grace. It says, I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy, and to whom I will I'll harden. It's sovereign grace. He doesn't
owe it to anybody, and he will give it to whom he will. But
here's the beautiful part. It's free grace. If you need
it, if you must be saved by his grace alone, then it is for you. And it has always been for you.
and it was purposed for you before the foundation of the world.
It is not sitting on a table somewhere for you to, okay, I'll
either accept that or I'll reject it. Absolutely not. If you need
it, it is for you and you will take it because grace is irresistible
and invincible. We preach a man, he is the gospel.
We preach the peace he made with his father, we preach his grace.
Look at the last word in verse 9. What did these young men do
after they gave the message? They ceased. They didn't add
anything to David's message. They didn't take anything away
from David's message. They gave the pure, unadulterated, naked
message that David gave them, and they stopped, and they left
Nabal alone with it. And this is what to be preached, the pure,
unadulterated gospel of God's free grace, and you leave men
alone with it. You don't add anything to it,
and you don't take anything away from it. Now, pick up in verse 10. Let's
look at Nabal's response to David's message. And Nabal answered David's
servants and said, who is David? And who is the son of Jesse?
There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from
his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my
flesh, that I have killed for my shears, and give it unto men,
whom I know not whence they be? So he asked this question, right?
Who is David? Did Nabal not know who David
was? Everybody knew who David was. Everybody knew that David
had been anointed king over all Israel. running from Saul right
now. It wasn't that he didn't know
who David was. He's saying, who's David? He's not my king. I do
not recognize him as my king. I will not have this man to rule
over me. Who is David? Now, what is the single attribute
of God that makes men more angry than anything else? It's his
sovereignty. It is his kingly, his kingship. More than anything else, it is
the sovereignty of God that makes men mad because it believes they
robbed them of their own personal power. their right to choose.
Here's what I find so interesting about this, right? David is an
accomplished warrior, right? He's the man who killed Goliath.
He has 600 trained soldiers at his disposal, all with sharp
swords and weapons and things like that. And Nabal, as far
as I can tell, is a farmer who may have a handful of servants
and possibly some weapons lying around. My point is this, that
David can come and he can wipe out Nabal at any time he feels
like it. And Nabal feels so comfortable
railing against David. Absolutely so comfortable. He
has no problem railing against David's name, even though David
can wipe him out anytime he wants. And here's what I was thinking
of. The very light of creation alone tells us there is a God. When I look up at the sun, And
I think about what it takes to just keep that hanging up in
the sky, what it took to create that. I can't do that. So I know
that there is a God and I know he is more powerful than I am.
All men know that just by the light of creation. And yet, so
freely, we rail against him. This one who can come wipe us
out anytime he feels like it. Right? And if Nabal would have
just bowed the knee, right? David, you're the king, whatever
you say, right? David would have been merciful. David would have
been gracious to this man, right? And if the natural man in this
life would bow the knee to Christ and believe on him, the Lord
would be merciful. But here's the problem. We're
churlish. We dig in our heels. We say we will not have this
man rule over us. And once again, this is why it
takes a sovereign to save us. Because if salvation was left
up to us in any way, shape or form, including receiving the
Lord Jesus Christ, we would all be lost. Now look at David's response.
Verse 12, so David's young men turned their way and went again
and came and told him all those things. And David said unto his
men, gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every
man his sword, and David also girded on his sword. There went
up after David about 400 men and 200 abode by the stuff. Now, as a man, David is wrong
here, right? David's mad, he's vengeful, he's
like, I was good to Nabal. Right? I was good to him, and
now I just ask him for a few things, and he's not gonna help
me out. Right? He's mad. He's gonna get revenge. He's
wrong as a man. But as his type, he's absolutely right. He is
a type of God the Father. He is the offended king. Now
why is the God the Father so offended at the natural man,
at this generation? Well, somebody says sin. Right?
God hates sin. Wouldn't disagree with that. Absolutely. God hates
sin. In fact, We don't know anything
about sin until we understand that our sin is against God.
It's not just mischievous. It's not just the breaking of
the law. Our very breath is spitting in his face. So yes, sin. But there's a more detailed answer.
Turn over to Matthew 21. Pick up in verse 33, let's read
this parable. Matthew 21, verse 33. Here another
parable. There was a certain householder
which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and digged
a wine press in it and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen
and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit
drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might
receive the fruits of it. So this man builds this vineyard,
right? He leases it out to men, gives
them a job, right? And when it's time for the fruits
to come in, he says, well, give me what's mine. He's only asking for what's right,
right? Pick up in verse 35. And the husbandman took his servants,
and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. He is only
asking for what is right, and this is how these men respond.
They kill his servants. Now, if it's me, what am I going to
do? If it is within my power, I'm going to go wipe them out,
right? Look how long-suffering this king is. Go down to verse
36. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first. And they
did unto them likewise. OK. Listen, the time for mercy
is up, right? I mean, I was kind to begin with.
I sent some servants. They beat them. They killed them.
I sent more servants. Time's up being merciful, right?
Verse 37. The last of all, he sent unto
them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. But when the
husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is
the heir. Come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and
slew him. When the Lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what
will he do unto these husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably
destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto
other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their
due season. Now, why is the Father so angry
at this generation? Why is He so angry at men? It
is how we have treated His Son. Now, we need to understand something.
God the Father is not interested in anything that is not in His
Son. Right? He is interested in one
man, one entity, one person. He is interested in His Son.
All His love is found in His Son. All His favor is found in
His Son. And all He is concerned with
is the glory of his son and what he sent his son to this earth.
Here's what we did. We murdered him. I was thinking about this on the
way over there. Those people who actually put
the stakes through the Lord's hands and feet, once you shove
the spear in their side, they were just representatives of
us. We all have this same nature, this same navel that dwells within
us. They were just representatives. That was us doing that. If left
to ourselves, if we were there, we would have done the exact
same thing. The capacity is there in all of us. It's exactly what
we would have done. And this is why he's so angry at this generation,
because of how we have treated his son. That's what he's concerned
with. That's what he cares about. All
right. Go back to your text and look
at verse 14. Tell you where I'm going with
this. So one of Nabal's servants, who was there with David and
his men in the wilderness, he's going to give an eyewitness account
of what it was like to be with David, right? This whole thing
has to deal with union with Christ. We're going to talk about it
after we get up and look at verse 14. But one of the young men
told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers
out to the wilderness to salute our master. And he railed on
them. But the men were very good unto
us, and we were not hurt. Neither missed we anything, as
long as we were conversant with them when we were in the fields.
They were a wall unto us, both by night and day, all the while
we were with them, keeping the sheep. Now, therefore, no one
consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our
master and against all his household, for he is such a son of Belial
that a man cannot speak to him." Now, in verse 15, there is a
word there. It's called conversant. Did you all see that word? It's
an interesting word. Here's what it means. It means
to walk in step with someone else. It's not just walking with
someone. What it means is, if I'm walking on the right and
he's walking on the left, we are literally taking the exact
same steps. Every step he takes, I take. And folks, that is union
with Christ. Everywhere he's been, that's
where we've been. That means when he walked the
paths of righteousness in this earth, on this earth, we walked
them too. His righteousness really is ours
because we were born for him. walking those paths of righteousness.
When he went to the cross and he died, he was punished. That's
when we died. That's when we were punished
for our sins. In him, on that cross, where he is now, resurrected
at the right hand of his father, enjoying all the pleasures of
his father, and the praise of his father, and the love of his
father, that's where we are too. In him, right now. And that's
what's being talked about here. There are three things that this
man mentions, what it was like being with David and Matt. He
said, we were not hurt. As long as we were with David,
We were not hurt. I'll give you scripture here.
Romans 8, 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. In Christ, if you are in Christ,
there is no hurt. You will never be punished for
your transgressions and for your sins and your experience because
you've already been punished for them. You were punished in
the person of your Redeemer when He hung on a cross some 2,000
years ago. But in Him, there is no hurt. Second thing the
servant says is, we didn't miss anything. As long as we were
with David, we had everything we needed. Colossians 2.9. For
in Him, speaking of Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you are complete in Him. If you're in Christ,
You lack absolutely nothing. Right now, if you're in Christ,
you have a perfect standing before God's holy law, before God the
Father, and you lack absolutely nothing. There's nothing for
you to do. There's no works for you to perform. You just get
to sit down and rest and enjoy what has been provided for you.
The second, third thing he said is this. He said he was a wall
unto us. When we were with David and his
men, they were a wall unto us. Now, walls do two things. They
keep people in. And they keep people out. Now,
if you are in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have always been
there. You have been eternally united
to him. There's never been a time that you have been separated
from him. And you know what? You can't send your way out.
If you are in him, you will always be in him. That means you can't
mess this thing up. You will persevere all the way
to the end because you'll be kept all the way to the end. And there
was never a time that your soul hung in the balance. Will I be
saved? Will I not be saved? You're in
Christ. You've always been safe and secure
inside those walls. You can't mess it up. Also, this
keeps people out. There's absolutely nothing you
can do to put yourself inside Christ. You have to have always
been there. God the Father has to have put
you there, and that before the foundations of the world were
ever built. If I can tell you if you're there, I give you a
marker, whether you can tell if you're there or not. You believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the very evidence of
your union with Him. And if all your hope rests in
the Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to understand something.
You are inside that wall. And you have always been there.
And you always will be there. You can't mess it up. All right. We're going to read through verses
18 through 35. I know that Jonathan's already done it once, but I want
to read one more time. I'm going to make just two points after that. So
pick up in verse 18. What this is dealing with, Abigail
is going to make intercession for Nabal. Abigail is going to
go to David and make effective intercession. She's a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So read this. Verse 18, then
Abigail made haste. and took two hundred loaves,
and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and
five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins,
and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. And she
said unto her servants, Go on before me. Behold, I come after
you. And she told on her husband, Nabal. This was all going to
happen without Nabal knowing about it. And as it was so, as
she rode on the ass, as she came down by the covert of the hill,
and behold, David and his men came down against her, and she
met them. Now David had said, surely in vain have I kept all
this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of
all that pertained unto him. He hath required of me evil for
good. So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if
I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light, any
that pisseth against the wall. What he's saying is there, I'm
coming for every male. Everybody's going to die. I've been offended
by Nabal, and now it's time for everybody to die. Verse 23, when
Abigail saw David, she hasted lighted off the ass and fell
before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground and
fell at his feet and said, upon me, my Lord, upon me, let this
iniquity be. Let's stop there for a second. Who does she represent right
now? This is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he went to his father
in the covenant of grace, this is exactly what he said. He said, let this
iniquity be on me. What they've done, what they're
going to do, it's going to be on me. You're going to hold me
responsible for it. You're going to hold me accountable
for everything they've done. Let it be on me. Verse 25. Let not, my Lord, I pray thee,
regard this man of Belial, even Nabal. For as his name is, so
is he. Nabal is his name, and folly
is with him. But I, thine handmaid, saw not the young men of my Lord
from that descent. Now therefore, my Lord, as the
Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath
withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging
thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they
that seek evil to my Lord, be his neighbor. And now this blessing,
which thine handmaid hath brought unto my Lord, let it even be
given unto the young men that follow my Lord. I pray thee,
forgive the trespass of thine handmaid. For the Lord will certainly
make of my Lord a sure house, because my Lord fighteth the
battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all
these days. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy
soul. But the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle
of life with the Lord thy God, and the souls of thine enemies,
them shall he sling out. It is at the middle of the sling.
It shall come to pass when the Lord shall have done to my Lord
according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee,
and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel, that this
shall be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my
Lord, either thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my Lord hath
avenged himself. But when the Lord shall have
dwelt well with my Lord, then remember thine handmaid." David
said unto Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which
sent thee this to meet me, and blessed be thy advice, and blessed
be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood
and from avenging myself with my own hand. For in very deed,
as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from
hurting thee, except thou hast hasted and come to meet me, surely
there have not been left unenabled by the morning light any that
pisseth against the wall. So David received of her hand
that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace
to thine house. See, I have hearkened thy voice,
and have accepted thy person." Now as a side point here, aren't
you thankful for restraining grace? As a man, David is wrong, right?
He is coming to avenge himself. He's been wronged by Nabal. He's
mad, thinks he's been owed something here. And so he's going to come
wet his sword, right? He's going to kill everybody
because he's mad. He's wrong, right? Here's what I thought
about it. The Lord restrained David in
this one instance. Later on, he won't. There's going
to come a day when David's going to see a woman bathing on top
of a rooftop. He's going to think she's very pretty, and he's supposed
to be all fight and battle. And he's going to commit a great
adultery with that woman. And then he's going to cover his
tracks by having her husband murdered. All these things that
David wanted to do, the Lord's going to let him do it. And in
that, the sword never departs from David's house. So Nathan
tells David, he goes, Lord's forgiven you for this, but the
sword's never going to depart from your house. And it didn't.
David's life was a mess past that point. What great restraining
grace he is shown right now. And I was thinking about this.
If my brother falls into a fault, and I have not fallen in that
same fault outwardly, I should never mistake my restraining
grace for a personal righteousness outside the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the greater debtor to grace because
I was restrained from doing that same thing that my brother has
done. Thankful for restraining grace, but if you've been shown
it, you're the greater debtor to grace. But here's the greater
point. Abigail is the successful intercessor
here. She is the type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 24, she says, upon me,
my Lord, upon me, let this iniquity be. This is the covenant of grace. The Lord says, it's on me. Everything
they do, hold me responsible for it. But there's an issue.
Look at verse 25. The last sentence, but I, thine
handmaid, saw not the young men of my Lord, whom thou didst send.
There's a problem. See, Abigail didn't do anything
wrong. If the servants would have been sent to Abigail, and
they said, hey, we need these provisions, Abigail would have
said, yeah, King David, he can have anything he wants, right?
But the problem, Abigail didn't do anything wrong, neither did
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the spotless lamb. This
man never sinned, he never had a sinful thought, he never undertook
a sinful action, he was spotless and blameless his entire life. But, look down here at verse
28, and the type is actually realized. I pray thee, Forgive
the trespass of thine handmaid. She does not say, I pray thee,
forgive the trespass of my husband, which has been imputed to me,
which I'm going to own right now because I'm in an eternal
union with him. She says, I pray thee, forgive the trespass of
me. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
made the sins of his people, it was so real and so much that
he could say this. They're mine. They're mine. But when you look back at verse
35, the type breaks down and it flips. So David received from her hand
that which she had brought him and said unto her, go up in peace
to thine house. You see, David could be appeased
with some raisins, with some bread and some lambs and things
like that. God the Father could never be appeased with anything
but the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, because his perfect sense
of justice had to be honored. He had to kill him. This is where
the type changes, and Abigail becomes a type of every believer.
Go up in peace to thine house. I have hearkened thy voice and
have accepted thy person. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was made our sin, because he went to the cross, because he
died, and he satisfied his Father, this is what the Father says
to every member of the elect. Go in peace. Live your lives
in peace. Don't be afraid about what's
going to happen tomorrow. Don't be afraid that tomorrow the next
shoe is going to fall and I'm going to be angry and things like that.
Go in peace. I've accepted your person because
your person is found in the wall inside Christ. That took a long
time to get there. I apologize for that, but I hope
you all enjoyed that. Thank you, Aaron. That was a
prayers answered that the Lord is with us. And that was a blessing.
Thank you. Be sure to give our love to your
congregation and your pastor. Tell them all that we said hello
and that we love them. We think of them often and pray
for them. Before Mike comes in and closes the song, Brother
Wayne, would you come pray for us? Bow together in prayer, please.
Our holy God and heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning,
the few hours of worship we've had together here this morning,
showing us our sinfulness and where we are as men and children
and women. We thank you for showing us our
place, showing us the work that's been done by our Lord Jesus Christ. We be found in Him, worshiping
Him. Cause Him to be our only hope
as we leave this place this morning. Cause Him to be our only hope. Allow us to continue to worship
Him and do about our daily activity, knowing the salvation that He's
provided. Allow us to come back here week
by week to feed on the gospel that we've heard preached this
morning. I ask that you be with Aaron and his family as they
travel. Pray the same thing for our Pastor Frank and Eric and
his family. We pray for all your servants
that you've raised up to preach the gospel to us. Give them traveling
mercies and let them get home to their respective families
and their hometowns. Continue to let this be a lighthouse
in this neighborhood, Father, where we can come and hear our
gospel preached and worship in spirit and in truth. These things
we ask and pray in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand and sing 477, 477
in the red. Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He
died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free, Pardon there was multiplied to me, There my burden's off
and liberty's won. At Calvary. Last verse. All the love that
drew salvation's plan, All the grace that brought it down to
man, All the mighty gulf that God did span, At Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free Pardon there was multiplied to me There my burdened soul
found liberty At Calvary Thank you.