So David fled. Remember, he was
at his house with Michael, and Saul sent the messengers to take
him, to kill him, and to watch over him, to watch, and in the
morning to kill him, and he was let down by a rope, and how God
used Michael to help him escape, and it said, So David fled and
escaped and came to Samuel, to Ramah, and he told him, told
Samuel that Saul had done to him, and he and Samuel went and
dwelt in Nahoth. And he told Saul the saying,
and it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Nahoth in
Ramoth. And Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they
saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing
as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers
of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when it was told Saul, he
sent other messengers. And they prophesied likewise.
And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied
also. Then went he, Saul, also to Ramoth,
and came to the great well that is in Shechem. And he asked and
said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be
at Nahoth and Ramoth. And he went thither to Nahoth
and Ramoth, and the Spirit of God was upon him also. And he
went on and prophesied until he came to Nahoth and Ramoth. And he stripped off his clothes
also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down
naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore, they say, is
Saul also among the prophets?" You remember back in the first
verse of this chapter how that Saul has become more open now.
I like to use the phrase, he's pulled his mask off, now he's
not trying to hide what he's doing, he tells Jonathan just
right up front, you're to kill David. You're to kill him. And how in the first part of
the chapter, God uses Jonathan, and David is able to escape that
time. Then he flees from there and
he goes home, and why he's at that home in his house, and you
would think he could get a little peace and rest in his own house,
Saul sends these messengers to the house to watch all night
long, and they're to kill him in the morning. And while under
darkness, God enables David to escape, and he delivers him once
again. And how that Michael, how that
she uses that idol covers it in bed, makes it look like it's
a body asleep, and she tells the messengers, well, David's
sick, and he can't get up. Well, they leave, and they go
back and tell Saul, and Saul says, well, if he's sick, you
just bring him into bed and everything. I don't care if he is sick. I'll
kill him right here. That's how much he hated him.
He hated him, despised him. So now, and you picture in your
mind what's going through David's mind. Why is all this happening? God has told him that he's going
to be king. God told him. He believes it. But outward circumstances don't
look like it. God never intended for David
to stay in the court. He never intended him to stay
there. So what does God do? It's like
God stirs up all this hatred against him to drive him away. And that's what he does. We can
learn from this. Everything that happens in our
life, it happens for a reason. And God may use just those things,
just a lot of different things, to stir up against you. to drive
you from those things. And you know what it does? It
drives you to himself. Where does he go? He runs to
Samuel, God's prophet, God's messenger. And he's also a picture
of us running to Christ and running to God in time of trouble. You
know where we run? We run to him. We run to him
for advice. We run to him for direction.
and for assurance and for comfort and strength. So that's where
David fled. He fled and escaped and came
to Samuel in Ramah. This is where Samuel lived in
Ramah. It says in 1 Samuel 7, verse
17, And he returned to Ramah, for there was his house, and
there he judged Israel. And there he built an altar unto
the Lord. David fled. He's fleeing like
a wild animal. like an animal that's being hunted.
And why did David run to Samuel? He needed a place of refuge.
He didn't run to Bethlehem. He didn't run to his father's
house. I believe David knew that wherever he went, Saul was going
to chase him. And we're going to find out in
a few chapters, if you've read ahead, Saul didn't care who it
was that helped him. David went to the temple you
remember he went and the the priest gave him the showbread
and When doe egg the Edomite was there in the temple he goes
back and tell Saul you know what Saul did Saul killed 45 priests
Killed him why because they helped David David knew this animosity
and there any there is an animosity between this world in between
our God and David is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
this world hates him because he's the anointed king, he's
the heir to the throne, and Saul's a picture of man's choice for
the king. That's who they chose, and that's
who they wanted to reign over them, and that's who reigns over
them. He's a manipulative king that is-he's out, and he will
destroy anybody or anything. that has anything to do with
David. Now, that's what's going on here.
It's not this that he just dislikes David. He hates David. He envies
David. And he'll do everything he can
to see that David never sits upon the throne. That's what's
going on here. That's why David flees to Samuel. He needed a place of refuge.
He ran to that old prophet of Samuel. In fleeing to Samuel,
he was fleeing to his God. How did God speak? As he always
speaks. He speaks through his prophets.
You notice, sir, I think it's in chapter 3, verse 1. You remember
when God began to call Samuel? And Samuel went to Eli, and Eli
said, well, he didn't know what was going on. He thought he was
maybe just dreaming things. And he said, you go lay back
down. And about the third time, he says, You need to go lay back
down. Maybe God's speaking to you. And it said, In those days
there was no open vision, and the word of God was precious
in those days. Why? There was no prophet. No
prophet. And God raised up Samuel. And
you know how God speaks? He still speaks through his prophet,
through his messenger. That's how he speaks. And if
David's to get any direction, how's he to find it out? He must
go to Samuel, and he knew it. And when you get direction, and
when you need direction, where do you run? You'll run to him,
who is our prophet, who is our priest, and who is our king.
He needed someone to talk to. Can you imagine what's going
on in his mind? Who am I to run to? I can't run
to Jonathan. He's in Saul's court. I can't
run to Michael. It's not even safe at home. And
he runs to Samuel. You know what God will do? God
will strip you of every false refuge and teach you to run to
him. He will. This is not just a picture
of David. I know he's a picture of Christ,
but it's a picture of the believer that is hunted, that is hounded,
and it never ceases. It never ceases. Never. Do you ever have a day of rest?
Do you ever have a day that you don't deal with your flesh? Do
you ever have a day that you don't deal with the devil and
everything in this world? Is there ever a day? Never are. Can you imagine what's going
on in his mind? Samuel was the one that came
to David, anointed him to be king, and told him he would be
king. And I can see David asking him,
Well, if I'm supposed to be king, why in the world is all this
happening? Can you explain this to me? Samuel knew about Saul. You remember
when God told Samuel to go and want David king? Remember what
Samuel said? If Saul finds out about it, he'll
kill me. If you go back and read, I think
it's in chapter 15 or 16, that was the last time Saul, I mean
Samuel, ever saw Saul to the day of his death. It's when he
departed from him. And God left Saul alone. But
now David comes to Samuel. Why did he come? He needed the
refuge. He needed a word from God. What am I to do? So he runs to the prophet of
God. God speaks through his word. He was in dire straits, and God
will use these things to teach us to run to him in time of need. Thirdly, you know what David
needed? He needed to be able to worship
with God and with God's people. You know what Nahoth is? Nahoth
is not a city. It's like a place. What I can
understand from Gil and everybody else I can reach, it was considered
a school for prophets. It was a dwelling place. It was
a place where they built these places where these prophets could
dwell. And I thought, well, why did they dwell here? It probably
wasn't safe for them to dwell anywhere else. Saul probably
would have killed them. Assembly, this is not the same
school as they were in the days of Elijah and Elisha. And Samuel,
God used Samuel to encourage what he's doing. He's teaching
these prophets. What is he teaching them? The things of God. You
remember Elias' two sons? Hoth and Niphinius? Remember,
they were wicked before God. Wicked men. And in the days of
the judges, everybody did that which was right in their own
eyes. And now what kind of king do they have? They sure can't
run to the king for direction. And this is the place that David
runs to, not only to Samuel. And it said that Samuel they
left. Verse 18, so David fled and escaped and came to Samuel
to Ramoth and told him all that Saul had done to him. He told
him everything. And he and Samuel went. and dwelt
in Naoth, where the school of the prophets was at. This is
where he's at. You'd say, what a safe place.
What a place of refuge. Don't you enjoy worshiping with
God's people? It's such a blessing. I tell
you, after about a week, we need each other. We need encouragement. This is what David needed. And
Samuel knew it. And that's where they went. And
I don't know how long that they'd stayed there. I don't know how
long that David was there with Samuel until Saul finds out about
it. I don't know. We can only speculate. But don't
you know he enjoyed while he was there? You know, I said there's
not many days that you don't face trouble and heartache and
depression and discouragement. But in those days, God does give
refreshment. Doesn't he? And you may read,
and it seems like this book is closed, and you don't get anything.
And you may pray, and it seems like the heaven are as brass.
And you have questions, and you go, why in the world is all this
happening? We find out in the next chapter,
David told Jonathan, he said, I'm only one step between me
and death. One step between me and death.
You know why most of the Psalms were written when David was going
through these times? You know, that's why the Psalms
mean so much to God's people, because it seems like that's
where we dwell. It seems like the heavens are as brass, and
it seems like you're surrounded by enemies on every hand. And
you go, how am I going to escape? God's in control. God delivered him from Jonathan's
hands. He delivered him from when he was in Michael and his
house. And we're going to see here, God's going to deliver
him again. Nahoth, the word actually speaks. It signifies pastors
and a pleasant place. What did David say? The Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leadeth
me beside the still waters. He restoreth, He revives, He
restores my soul. That's our God. So David's here. We'll look in
verse 19. And it was told Saul, saying,
Behold, David is at Nahoth and Ramah. Let me read you this from
Psalms, before I forget it. Psalms 27, verse 4 says, David
said, One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I
seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life, and behold the beauty of the Lord, and to
inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he
shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me. He shall set me upon a rock.
And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies, round
about me. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices
of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing
praises unto my God." So Saul finds out where he's at. And
you know what Saul did? He sent messengers. Those same
messengers. that came and circled Michael's
house. He sent these messengers. When
he finds out where David's at, you know what he says? You go
take him. That's what he said. Go take
David, verse 20. And Saul sent messengers to take
David. Take him. And that's what they
come for. And watch this. When they saw
the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as appointed
over them, The Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul,
and they also prophesied. And you said, what does that
mean? Well, I wish you would tell me. Because I can tell you, I read
from about everybody I could find and nobody else knew either.
So the best way to interpret Scripture is Scripture. Isn't
that correct? I know this, that when the Spirit
of God came upon them and they prophesied, That doesn't mean
that they were regenerated. We've done seen in 1 Samuel chapter
10 that Saul prophesied then, and they said, oh, is Saul one
of the prophets? Well, he's sure not a regenerated
man, or he wouldn't be trying to kill David, that's for sure.
That's exactly right. You know that you pass from death
unto life because you love the brethren. And any man that loved
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha, let
him be accursed when Christ comes. That's what it says. But we can
also see that a man can be lost and can be influenced by the
Spirit of God and not be regenerated by the Spirit of God. Now, that's
a sobering fact. But I want you to see this. They
come. Now, and most everybody says
this word, when they prophesied, it means that they begin to sing.
Now, I don't know if I agree totally with that or not. What I understand is when they
came, I can just see Here we've got Samuel standing over these
prophets, and David's here with them, and they're worshiping
God, and Saul's prophesying, and these men are prophesying.
These are prophets, and when they get close to them, what
happens to them? Instead of them coming to seize
David, God seizes them. Our God is in control. God is
going to use this to enable David to escape. Our God is sovereign. Our God is sovereign. Where the
Spirit of God is, there is liberty. There is freedom. They come not
to hear from God. They come not to worship God. They come to take David. And they are overcome. The heart of every man is in
God's hands. God turns it whichever way he
wants it to go, and he will use them any way that he sees fit. Doesn't it say in Matthew chapter
7, they said, we prophesied in your name, and our Lord never
denied it. They said, we cast out devils
in your name, and he never denied it. But he did say, depart from
me, I never knew you. You know what he's saying? So
a man can prophesy in God's name. He can cast out devils in God's
name and still not know God. Was Judas an apostle? Was Judas
a disciple? Did we ever read that he ever
gave any realization or that anybody ever suspected him? No.
When the others went preaching, did Judas preach? I think he
probably did. He probably did everything that
everybody else did. But he didn't know God. Does that not worry
you? Does that not scare you? Boy,
it makes me ask the question. Really? Can a man deceive others
and even deceive himself and be influenced by the Spirit of
God and not know God? That's sobering, isn't it? But that's what I see here. When
these messengers came to the congregation where David was
among the prophets, the Spirit of God came upon them and they
prophesied. That is, they joined with the
rest in the praising of God. Instead of seizing David, they
themselves were seized. God is magnified. He magnified
his power over the spirits of men. He that made the heart and
tongue can manage both to serve his own purpose. Balaam prophesied
the happiness of Israel when he wanted to curse them. And
God used him. But I want to show you something.
Turn with me to John chapter 7. I want to show you something.
This blessed my heart. John chapter 7. Let's begin reading
in verse 30. I think this right here will
just explain to us what's happening there in 1 Samuel. It said they
sought to take him. Isn't that what Saul said? He said, you go take David. And
they sought to take him. Who are they seeking to take?
They're seeking to take Christ. But no man laid hands on him,
because his hour was not yet come. And many other people believed
on him, and they said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles
than these which this man hath done? The Pharisees heard that
the people murmured such things concerning him, concerning Christ,
and the Pharisees, the chief priests, sent officers to take
him. We've heard what he's doing,
and we're going to stop what he's doing. And the way we're
going to stop it, we're going to send officers. And we're going
to take him. And we're going to bring him
back. And we ain't just going to take him. When we get him
back, we're going to kill him. Is that not what Saul was doing?
Isn't it the same thing? Then said Jesus unto them, Yet
a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent
me. You shall seek me, and shall not find me where I am, thither
you cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves,
Whither will he go that we shall not find him? Will he go unto
the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What
manner of saying is this that he said, You shall seek me, and
shall not find me, whither I am, thither you cannot come? In the
last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He
that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this fake he of the
Spirit which they that believe on him should receive, for the
Holy Ghost had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Many of the people, therefore,
when they heard these sayings, said of a truth, This is the
prophet. Others said, This is the Christ.
But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Have not the
scriptures saith that Jesus cometh at the seat of David out of the
town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was division among
the people because of him. And some of them would have taken
him, but no man laid hands on him. What's verse 45? Don't you see this? Then came
the officers. They'd went to take him. They'd
went to lay hands on him. But they didn't. Then came the
officers to the chief priest and Pharisees and they said unto
them, these Pharisees asked those officers, they said, where is
he at? We sent you to go get him. We sent you to take him. And you've come back and you
don't have him. I want to have an answer. Why
have you not brought?" And here's what the answer was. The officers
answered, no man ever spake like this man. They came to hear him. They came
to take him, and they heard him say, he that believeth on me,
as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living waters. No man ever spake like this man.
They could have been converted. They sure were afraid to lay
hands on him. But what I want you to see, they came, they were
sent, they were sent to take him. And instead of them taking
him, he took them. You know what? He took them by
surprise. Can you imagine what they thought?
What's this man going to be like that we're supposed to take that
there's such a uproar about? Why would these priests, high
priests and Pharisees, hate this man so much that they'd want
to take him? And they go to hear him and they go, oh my goodness,
no man ever spoke like this man. You know what's happened? They
are overcome. They are amazed. Now, I don't
know if they were regenerated or not, but they flat heard something.
And I don't know if those men back in 1 Samuel 19 were converted. But it says Saul sent one bunch.
They were overcome. And Saul hears about it. He sends
another bunch of messengers. And you know what? The same thing
happens to them. He sends the third bunch. And when they go,
the very same happens to every one of them. Overcome. They all begin to prophesy, whatever
that means. Something amazing is taking place,
that's all I know. They can't do what they want
to do. Why? Because God won't let them. The Spirit of God is real. The Spirit of God is God. How
does God speak to you? He speaks to you through His
Word, by His Spirit. How does God regenerate a sinner?
By His Spirit. He overcomes them. And we done saw where it talked
about the Spirit of God came upon Saul, then God would send
an evil spirit. And where David said he wouldn't
touch Saul because he was the anointed of God. Listen to me,
that man that sits in the White House, I don't care whether you
like him or not, he's still there because God put him there. That's
exactly right. The powers that be are ordained
of Almighty God. And Saul was king because God
allowed him to be king. God gave them people exactly
what they wanted, and God has given this country exactly what
they wanted. And God will use that man, and when he's done
with him, he'll be done with him. Isn't that right? You remember
Caiaphas? Another man God used. This man
was the high priest. I don't think he believed God.
And you know what he said? It is expedient that one die,
and not the old country, and that not the old nation should
die. And he was telling the truth. And he didn't know what he was
saying, but he spoke the truth. He said, explain that. I can't.
I wish you'd explain it to me. But I know this. God's preserving
David. And when those people come to
take our Lord, they could not lay hands on him. You remember
when they came in the garden? He said, Whom seek ye? And they
said, Jesus and Nathanson. I'm him. He just said, I am.
I am. And you know what happened? They
fell backwards. They fell down before his presence. But they got up and did the very
same thing. It still never changed them.
So what do we learn? A man can be influenced by the
Spirit of God and never be changed. So what happens after Saul sends
the three different messengers three different times, and I'd
like to know why he sent them three times. But you know then
what Saul does? Because I thought about this,
I can just see Saul saying, why would you send a boy to do a
man's job? So he says, I'll go myself. I'll go get him myself. So Saul comes to a well there
in Ramah, and he says, where's David and Samuel? And they said
he's in Nahoth. And it says, as soon as Saul
started, the other ones, when they came into, if you want to
say, when they began to hear the prophets, or they came into
the presence of the prophets, they prophesied. Somebody said,
they put it this way, before Saul ever smelled the smoke from
the town, he was overcome. And he prophesied. And he stripped
off his clothes, and he prophesied before Samuel, and lay in like
manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Now that word naked don't mean
that he stripped off all his clothes. You know what he did?
He stripped off his outer garments. He stripped off his kingly robe. You know what's happened to this
man? He's exposed. He's stripped. He lays bare before
God, and that's what the Spirit of God will do. God can do that
to a man and still leave him alone. Can He? Yes, He does. Yes, He does. In Matthew 7, I
think it's Matthew 7, let me get my verse. In John 11, it's
talking about Caliphs. In Mark chapter 4, where it talks
about the stony ground here. You know what? Our Lord told
the parable of the sower. He said there's the wayside,
there's the stony ground, there's the thorny ground, then there's
the good ground. And each one of them grounds
picture a man's heart. We know what the wayside is,
that's where everybody walks, and it's as hard as a rock. But
the thorny ground, or the stony ground, I'll get right in a minute,
the stony ground is a ground that has a piece of rock under
it. You can't see the rock. And over top of it is just a
little layer of dirt. But let the seed fall on that
ground. You know what happened? It said immediately it springs
up. Immediately it seems to take
forth life. But let the sun come up and it
says because of the word and because of the persecution from
the world it withers and it dies away. You know why it withered
away? It had no root. That's like people, oh, man,
I love that gospel. Man, I've never heard anything
like that before. No man ever spoke like this man
before. Now, doesn't that sound well?
Wait a while. Wait a while. It looks like there's
good ground there, but only underneath it there's a heart that's as
cold as stone. That's like Saul's heart. That's
right. And it withers and it dies. And after this experience right
here, you know what he's going to do? He's going to keep on
hunting him. And they said, is Saul one of
the prophets? No, he's not. Wait a while. Don't judge anything before the
time. And he's weak. Every preacher of the gospel
cast the seed We cast it. We just you've seen people cast
seed. You just cast it and just throw it Well, right. Here's one heart. That's good
ground. How did how'd that heart become
good? God made it good in there, right? The thorny ground it fell
among thorns and it says the thorns grew up and choked the
word and it become unfruitful and The one by the wayside is
the seed fell and the fall of the air, the birds came and devoured
it up. It snatched it from their mind
and their memory. I believe Saul here and his messengers
are a picture of that thorny ground, stony ground, and it
did not have any lasting effect. That's what I see. My question is, do I believe
Christ? Am I resting in Christ? Or am
I just a thorny ground here? I believe believers ask that question.
It's like our Lord looked at the disciples one day and he
said, one of you is going to betray me. One of you is going
to betray me. And every one of them began to
say, is it I? Is it me? except for one, which
was Judas. But Saul, he comes to take David. He's been on taking David, and
God took him. You can read into this whatever
you want to, because I read from everybody else, and that's about
as far as it went. Nobody knows, and they probably
don't know. We just have to speculate. Some
believe he fell down in a trance. I don't know. He could-he laid
there all night and all the next day. You know what I see there? God made a fool out of him. Isn't
that right? Who made a fool-God made a fool
out of him. Let me tell you this, I don't
know of any bigger fool who actually thinks he can go to Naamoth and
Ramah where God's prophet is and I can take, I can take David. I don't care where he's at or
who he's with. I'm God, let me go take him.
Isn't that a fool? It's all acting like a fool.
You know what he's acting like? He's acting just like a man with
a reprobate mind who has a heart of stone. Sometimes he'd say,
oh, David, I'm so sorry I've sinned. No, he ain't sorry. He
just feels bad he got caught. Isn't that right? But what I see here is like our
Lord said, they could not take him before his time And if Saul could have had his
way, and if we'd have had our way, our Lord would have never
sit on the throne. You notice I said, if we had
our way. Saul's messenger is no different from any of us.
We're all, we all got the same heart. We all got the same nature.
By nature, we will not have this man, we will not have this man
to reign over us. You know why them Pharisees hated
our Lord? They wanted the preeminence. They wanted everybody to notice
them. And they looked at Christ and
they said, who is he? Search the scriptures. He don't come
out of Galilee. He come from Bethlehem. That's
where he came from. Of the house of who? David. He's king. And the world may
not like it this morning, but our God reigns. You take it a
man can come in here And you know what I also saw from this?
When we come into the house of God, the world don't leave you
outside. Satan don't leave you outside.
He still comes and tries to attack you, doesn't he? He comes and
tries to hinder you, work against us. That's what he does. But
our God's on the throne. You know what David said? Oh,
this is good. He prepared a table before me. in the presence of
my enemies. And there's not a blame thing
they can do about it. He anointeth my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely His goodness and His mercy
will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in
the house of the Lord forever. And when you've been where David's
at, now listen to me, and when you've been where David's at,
then that Psalm will mean that much to you. Am I right? I pray God use that to speak
to our heart.