1 Samuel 23, verse 1, where our
lesson begins. Then they told David, saying,
Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob
the threshing floors. Now, Keilah is a city in Judah. This is a city in the area of
David's tribe that's under attack by the Philistines, and the object
of their attack is the threshing floors. What they're trying to
do is get that harvested grain that's already been harvested
and ready, you know, to store up for the winter. And that would
obviously be a disaster. If the Philistines were successful
in this, they'd take the grain, the people would starve. And
this word kialo means fortress. Fortress. And this city in this
verse is a picture of the church in Christ. We are a fortress. God has surrounded us from our
enemies on every side. David said, we have a strong
city, a fortress. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and boards around us as making us a fortress. We love
to sing that song, a mighty fortress is our God. And the church is
going to come under attack. And when Satan attacks, when
he attacks Christ, he attacks his church, he has the same agenda
as the Philistines. His agenda is to stop the harvest. stop people from coming to Christ,
to drive people away from Christ. That's his agenda. Our Lord,
as he taught his disciples, referred to the spiritual harvest as the
gathering in of his people. He told them, pray ye therefore,
the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers
into his harvest to preach to his people, gather his people
to Christ. And when Satan tempted Christ
there in the wilderness, His objective was to get Christ to
abandon his work, to abandon the kingdom so there wouldn't
be any harvest at all. Now, we're going to come under
attack. And when we do, what should we do? Well, David shows
us in verse 2, we should pray. 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. Now, David, we see this in the
study of his life. is a man of prayer. He frequently
is found praying to the Lord. And other men of scripture, Daniel,
Elijah, the Apostle Paul, all these men are known as men of
prayer. And they're following the example
of our Lord Jesus. He was a man of prayer, wasn't
he? But you know, prayer is not always asking for things. Now
here, you know, David is asking for direction as to what he should
do in this case. But prayer It's not just asking
for things, it's communion with our Father. You know, when Savannah
talks to me, she's not always asking for things, we're just
talking. That's what we do as a child
of God with our Father, it's communing with our Father. Now,
that includes making petitions and asking for the things that
we need, but it also includes offering thanks and praise to
our God. We read in Scripture, many of
the prayers of David, those great prayers of David, aren't asking
for anything, they're not making petitions. their prayers full
of thanksgiving and praise. And that's the way our prayer
ought to be. But in this case, David's seeking direction as
to what he should do. And it's interesting. Where's
King Saul in this situation? Isn't he the one that's supposed
to be defending Israel? That's his job, isn't it? Where
is he? He's nowhere to be found. And that makes David here a picture
of Christ. David is willing to go defend
this city, Keilah, when nobody else is willing to do it. And
that's a picture of Christ, who came to redeem His elect when
no one else was willing and no one else was able to do so. Christ
came to save His people. And David made this prayer to
the Lord, and he got an answer, an audible answer from the Lord. The Lord said, David, go smite
those Philistines and save Keilah. And I have to tell you, I was
reading this verse yesterday and thought, hmm, I'd love to
get an audible answer from the Lord when I pray, Lord, what
should I do? I'd love for him to say, Frank, do this. And I'd
say, OK, that's what I'll do. But then I read the next verse.
And you know what I think? I don't think it would matter
all that much. If the Lord gave us an audible
answer or he led us in the way that he leads us today by his
spirit, you know, this flesh has a way of getting in the way
and causing problems. And even though David had an
audible answer from the Lord and should have inspired so much
confidence in his army, you know, it didn't look at verse three.
And David's men said unto him, behold, we'd be afraid here in
Judah. How much more than if we come
to Kiala against the armies of the Philistines? David's army
is paralyzed with fear. The Lord just gave David an audible
answer. David, do this. And they're full
of fear and doubt. And I understand it doesn't take
much to fill this flesh with fear and doubt, does it? Well,
does David get discouraged? No. He's a man of prayer. He
went back to the Lord in prayer. And that's the way we ought to
be. Scripture tells us to be continuing instant in prayer.
to pray without ceasing. That's what David does in verse
four. Then 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 hand. Now, how many times
do we have to hear the same message repeated to us before we believe
it? Many, many. And that's why I'm
so thankful for this place. and the many times that the Lord
has made available to us to hear His Word preached. Many times
it's available to us. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And we have many opportunities
to hear again the glorious message of the Gospel. That despite our
wretched, sinful condition, the Lord Jesus Christ has delivered
His people from all of our enemies. He's washed His people from our
every sin in His blood. He's made us righteous and holy
in Him. He's given us eternal life. He's
given us His Spirit as a comforter to show us the things concerning
Christ our Savior. We have that message repeated
to us over and over and over again. And David went back to
the Lord in prayer and he received the same answer he received the
first time. But this time, the Lord added, something. He added
some clarification. He told David, you rise and go
down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
I will deliver them. I will win this victory for you.
Now that inspires confidence in a believing heart. Our confidence
is never found in what we do. Our confidence is in what the
Lord has already done, what he's already accomplished for his
people. And once a person really believes God, they will go forward
with complete and utter confidence in Him because I will deliver
the Philistines into thy hand. I will bless the work. I will
call my people out. You go preach. I'll call my people
out. Lord, lay something on your heart
to do, do it. Don't worry about it. The Lord
will bless it. He'll use that to accomplish his purpose. When
we believe God, we will go forward with full confidence in him.
And that's what David and his army does. 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. Now once again, over and over
and over again throughout David's life, we see him as a picture
of Christ, the mighty conqueror. David went down there and the
Lord did exactly what he promised he'd do. He delivered those Philistines
into David's hand. Even though David had a far inferior
army to them, the Lord delivered them into his hand. And that's
a picture of Christ our Savior. He by himself. He didn't take
an inferior army. He went by himself and purged
our sins. Smote every enemy with a great
slaughter. He's won the victory over sin,
death, and hell. But now Christ is so much better
than the picture. I love these Old Testament pictures
of Christ. I could just preach from every
Sunday. But Christ is better than the
picture. David went down to Keilah and he risked his life to save
that city. Christ came and laid down his
life to redeem his people. He's so much better than the
picture. Well, verse six. it came to pass when Abiathar,
the son of Himelech, fled to David to Keilah, that he came
down with an ephod in his hand. And it was told Saul that David
was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered
him into mine hand, for he shut in by entering into a town that
hath gates and bars. And Saul called all the people
together to war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his
men." Now I thought it was interesting Saul wasn't willing to take his
army to Keilah to save them when they were under attack from the
Philistines, was he? But he was mighty quick to go down there
when he thought David was trapped in that walled city. You notice
how quick he was willing to go down there? And he said, I'm
going to go down there. God has delivered him into my
hand. Now, you know, everybody, without
exception, thinks God is on their side. Don't think. Everybody
thinks that. Saul thought God was on his side. Even though
Saul had been rejected by God, he still thought God was on his
side. President Lincoln gave us something
wise here. He summed up what our attitude
ought to be in this matter. When someone asked him if God
was on his side in the Civil War, he said, Sir, my concern
is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is
to be on God's side. For God is always right. Now, what we need to do is not
worry about finding out whether or not God's on my side. We need
to find out from God's Word what God's side is and get on it.
Saul would have been wise to do that, but that's not what
he did. He'd have been a whole lot better off. So, verse 9, David
knew Saul, knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him.
And he said to a by-father priest, bring hither the ephod. And the
reason David said that, you remember, the breastplate was attached
to the ephod and inside that breastplate was the Urim and
the Thummim. And that's what the priest used
to inquire of the Lord. He asked the Lord, you know,
which direction should we go? What should we do? And he'd know
the answer by which one of those stones he drew out. So that's
why David told him to bring that so they could inquire of the
Lord. In verse 10, then said David, O Lord God of Israel,
thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to
Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah
deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as thy servant
hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech
thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come
down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and
my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will
deliver thee up. Now again, David's a man of prayer.
We keep seeing that over and over and over again. He's in
this situation and he seeks the Lord's will, what he should do.
And that's a good lesson for us. We ought not do anything
until we've spent plenty of time in prayer to find out what the
Lord's will is in this matter. And until he makes his will known,
we ought to just be still is what we ought to do. And here,
you know, David sought to Lord's will. He asked the Lord, will
Saul come down? Yeah, he's coming after you.
Well, will the people deliver me at his hand? Now, this is
the people David just got finished saving from the brutality of
the Philistines. He saved them from starvation.
But he had to ask the question, will they betray me to Saul?
And the Lord said they will. Now, if that doesn't give us
a clear indication of depraved human nature, I don't know what
does. But I'll tell you something more shocking than that. The
Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to redeem a people who
had already betrayed him. A people who had already rejected
him. David found out after the fact, after he risked his life,
he found out the people would betray him. Christ came to lay
down his life for a people who had already rejected him. Who
had already betrayed him. Now that's grace. That's the
kind of grace that sinful men and women need, because we don't
have any other hope, but that he would come to save a people
who had already rejected him, who had already sinned against
him. And it's really hard for me to imagine why this close
in time to the time that David delivered them, that the people
of Kielah would betray David. Why they would be so ungrateful.
You'd think it would have inspired some loyalty for a few minutes
anyway. I don't really understand that. But I do know why men would
betray Christ. Why men would crucify him after
his gracious earthly ministry. Look over John chapter 10. Now
the short answer to why men would do that is obviously it's total
depravity. That's why men would do that.
They would betray him and want to crucify him after a gracious
earthly ministry. He went around healing and doing
good. All these things he did were
good. When John 10, verse 30, our Lord tells them, I and my
Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. And Jesus answered them, many
good works have I showed you for my Father. For which of those
works do you stone me? And the Jews answered him, saying,
for good work we stone thee not. We have no problem with your
good works and your healing and all these things, but for blasphemy,
because that thou being a man, makest thyself God." The reason
that men hated the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the clearest evidences
of total human depravity, is the hatred of the deity of Christ. Hatred, because if he's God,
then that means he's sovereign, and men won't have They're not
going to have him be sovereign. They'll have him sovereign in
turning water into wine. They'll have him sovereign in
walking on the water. They'll have him sovereign on
calming the storms and the waves and feeding the hungry. They
won't have him sovereign in salvation. That is the flesh's hatred of
God. That's exactly what it is. And
that's exactly why they betrayed him and crucified him. Well,
verse 13, back in our text, 1 Samuel 23. Then David and his men, which
were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and
went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that
David had escaped from Keilah, and he forbade her to go forth.
And David abode in the wilderness and strongholds, and remained
in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him
every day, but God delivered him not into his hand." Now God
is in control. And that is a comfort to the
hearts of believers that God is in control. Nothing is going
to happen to us by accident. God's in control. If it happens
to us, you can rest assured that it is because of God's eternal
purpose and will. Nothing's going to happen contrary
to his purpose. And every believer is like David
is right here. He's on the run from Saul. He's
hiding in this mountain. But we are immortal. So God calls
us home. We're immortal. Saul could not
lay hold on David without the Lord's permission, any more than
Satan could touch Job without the Lord's permission. Anything
that happens is going to have to happen with his permission.
So David is a type, he's of the believer, but he's also a type
of Christ. No man could ever lay hands on our Lord till his
hour was come. They hated him. They were so
filled with wrath. They wanted to throw him off the cliff in
the city. They wanted to stone him. And
they never could lay hands on him before his hour came. As
mad as they got, he just walked right through the midst of them.
They'd get so angry. And then, where'd he go? They
couldn't see him anymore. Where'd he go? They couldn't
find him. Because his hour was not yet come. And when his hour
did come, they still couldn't take him. All he had to do was
say his name. He said, I am. They fell down on the ground.
They couldn't take him. until he gave himself into their
hands. He gave his life. They didn't
take his life. He gave his life a ransom for
many. Now in this situation, in the
picture, David has to live so that later on he can reign. Christ
must die in order to bring his people, his elect, into his kingdom
where he reigns over them. Now verse 15. And David saw that
Saul was come out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness
of Ziph in a wood. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose
and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in
God. And he said unto him, Fear not, for the hand of Saul my
father shall not find thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel,
and I shall be next unto thee, and that also Saul my father
knoweth. And they too made a covenant
before the Lord." And David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went
to his house." Now, David is hiding in the wilderness of Ziph,
in the mountains and in the wood there. And that word Ziph means
battlement. And that's what we are in, the
wilderness of battlement. And when we're in that wilderness
of battlement, what is it that we need? Well, we need the same
thing that David needed when he was in that wilderness. He
needed a brother to come out to him where he is and strengthen
his hand in the Lord. He needed to strengthen the hand
of David so that he would lean more upon the Lord. He needed
to strengthen the hand of David so he'd believe the Word of God.
He needed to strengthen the hand of David so that he'd believe
the promises of God and rest in him. Well, how did Jonathan
do that for David? He did it by rehearsing the covenant. That's how he did it. Rehearsing
the covenant of the Lord. They didn't make a new covenant
here. This is the same covenant that they made way back there
and they keep rehearsing it. They're not making new covenants.
They're rehearsing that old covenant that they made between them.
And David needed that. He needed to be reminded of that
covenant. Samuel, quite some time ago,
had told David, you're God's king. He even anointed him king. There he is, anointed king. And
Jonathan knew David was going to be king. Jonathan's next in
line to the throne, but he knew he's not going to be king. He
knew David's going to be king. And his plan, that's fine with
him. He'd be right beside David. That's
fine with him that David be king. Yet, David is hiding in forests
and caves. Saul's seeking to kill him every
day. Saul's not God's king, but there he is. He's got all the
power. David can't find any rest. The people who would betray him,
or the people that David delivered, you know, want to betray him?
It just seems like the thought had to cross David's mind. That
old man Samuel lost it. He's starting to slip. He lost
it. What in this world am I doing? Look at the situation. This can't
be God's will for me. Look at the conditions. I'm supposed
to be king. There's no throne. There's no
crown. There's no scepter. There's no love of the people.
I've got these 600 men who follow me, but, you know, they're full
of fear. Don't want to half the time. Yes. It's the Lord's will. Whatever
situation it is that we find ourselves in, it's the Lord's
will for me, just like it was the Lord's will for David. So
Jonathan comes and encourages David the same way we encourage
each other. by telling him again the details
of the covenant, by reminding him again of the promises of
God. We encourage one another by preaching
Christ, the mediator of a better covenant that's established on
better promises. We encourage one another by preaching
Christ. He's the one who sealed the covenant
with his blood. This thing is sure. It's ordered
in all things and sure. And it's interesting that this
is the last time Jonathan and David ever see each other on
this earth. It's never recorded they see
each other alive again. So the last message that Jonathan
preached to David was the covenant of the Lord. I was looking over
my notes this morning, and I thought, there's coming a day that I'm
going to lay down and die. And when that day comes, I'd
like it for someone to be able to say truthfully the last message
he ever preached was the covenant of grace. I'd like for that to
be true. It's true of Jonathan. The last message he ever preached
was of the covenant. Well, verse 19, Then came up
the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself
with us in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hekilah,
which is on the south of Jessamon? Now therefore, O king, come down,
according to all the desire of thy soul to come down, and our
part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand. And Saul
said, lest be ye of the Lord, for ye have had compassion on
me. Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and seek his place where
his haunt is, and who hath seen him there, for it is told me
that he deals very subtly. See therefore, and take knowledge
of all the lurking places where he hieth himself, and come ye
again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you. And it
shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search
him out throughout all the thousands of Judah." Now, the Ziphites,
they're of the tribe of Judah, the same tribe as David. And
they're wanting to go to Saul to betray David, exactly like
Judas, who betrayed our Lord. The Pharisees didn't go to Judas,
did they? He went to them. He went to them
and said, what will you give me if I deliver him into your
hand? He came into his own and his own received him not. But
you know, despite all this help, Saul never did find David. Isn't that interesting? He never
did find him. But you know what? David wasn't hard to find. He
wasn't hard to find if you were in distress or if you were in
debt or you were discontented. David wasn't hard to find. Christ
is not hard to find. Not if you're a sinner. If you're
a sinner seeking mercy, Christ is not hard to find. All you
need, if you're truly seeking Christ, God will send you a man
who will point you in the right direction. Saul never could get
a man pointing him in the right direction. If you're a sinner
seeking mercy, God will send you a man pointing you in the
right direction. He'll point you to the Word.
He'll point you to the Lord Jesus Christ. And God will give your
eyes to see him. And you say, that's so obvious. He is still
a sinner. But not to a man like Saul. Everyone
can't point you to Christ. Everyone standing up behind a
pulpit wearing a suit or a robe or whatever it is that they wear
can't point you to Christ. The Ziphites couldn't point Saul
to David, but God's man points you to Christ every time. And
remember this Ziph where David's hiding, that's the wilderness
of battle. And that's where Saul wants to
do battle with David. Saul's persecution of David is
a picture of the warfare between the flesh and the spirit. Look
over Galatians chapter 4. The warfare of the flesh and
the spirit. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that is born after the spirit,
even so it is now. The one who is born after the
flesh will always seek to persecute. those who were born after the
Spirit. Well, how are we going to be delivered? How are we going
to be delivered from that? Well, look at verse 24 in our
text. And they arose and went to Zip before Saul. But David
and his men were in the wilderness of Manon, in the plain on the
south of Jessamon. And Saul also and his men went
to seek him. And they told David. Wherefore, he came down into
a rock and abode in the wilderness of Manon. And Saul heard that,
and he pursued after David in the wilderness of Manon. And
Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men
on that side of the mountain. And David made haste to get away
for fear of Saul. And Saul and his men compassed
David, and his men round about to take them. Now, David, when
he came under attack, went and hid in the rock. And you know
the picture there of all believers hiding in the rock, Christ Jesus.
And David used this mountain as a shield. If you ever chase
a small child, and they get behind a table or something, and you
go this way, they go that way. Jan and I were dating, and we
have a niece. She was probably less than two, and she did something. She knew her aunt was mad at
her, and she went running out in the yard, and she got behind
the trampoline. Jan would go this way, and she'd
go this way. They just did this dance, and
I was laughing. I mean, it was so hilarious. Jan got laughing, and she couldn't
do anything about whatever it was, bad behavior, I don't know.
It was hilarious. Well, that's what David's doing
to Saul. Saul goes this way, David goes that way. He's just
doing this dance around this mountain, you know. This mountain
provided safety for David, and it confounded Saul. Isn't that
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ? Provides safety for his people,
but utterly confounds those who do not believe in him. That mountain
caused a division between Saul and David. Now, we don't seek
division with people. We ought not to seek division
with people, and we ought not want to be the cause of division.
You know what? Our goal ought to be is to seek
common ground so that we can preach Christ to these people.
You know what I mean, without compromising the gospel. But
now, division is not always a bad thing. This division between
Saul and David, let David live. And there's coming a day. The
division will not be a bad thing. The Lord's going to divide the
goats and the sheep. He's going to divide them. But
now listen, we'll let the Lord do the dividing, won't we? Just
let the Lord do the dividing because we'll do it wrong. Just
like that parable, the wheats and the tares. We don't know
which one's wheat and which one's tares. Let the Lord take care
of it. He'll take care of it just fine. And that's what he
did here. He caused this division to save
David's life. But now eventually Saul was able
to surround David. You know what? David still wasn't
in trouble, because God is in control. Look here at verse 27. After they were surrounded, there
came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Hasten ye and come, for the Philistines
have invaded the land. Wherefore, Saul returned from
pursuing after David, and went after the Philistines. Therefore,
they called that place Silaham Malakoth. Silaham Malakoth, that's
a mouthful. And what that means is the rock
of divisions. And David went up from Thames
and dwelt in strongholds in Engedi. David was surrounded, and the
Lord could have used any means to deliver David. He could have
had David's army defeat Saul and his army the same way did
the Philistines. But that's not what God did. He used the Philistines,
the enemies of Israel, the people who hated David as much as Saul
did, to deliver David from Saul. That's the way God does things.
He used those enemies to accomplish his purpose and to save David. And this goes back to what I
said a minute ago. The Lord knows how to divide. He's got the wisdom.
He's got the power. We'll leave those things to him.
And we'll see Christ in that mountain of division. The unbeliever,
it'll confound them. But by God's grace, we'll see
Christ in that rock, that rock of division. All right. Well,
I hope the Lord bless you.