Good morning. Would you turn
to 1 Samuel chapter 23? Let's begin reading in verse 19. This is after Jonathan had strengthened
David's hand in the Lord, as we considered last week. right
after that took place, 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 Jeshimon? 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. We'll betray
him to you. And Saul said, blessed be ye
of the Lord, for you've had compassion on me. Go, I pray you, prepare
yet and know and see his place where his haunt is and who has
seen him there. For it's told me that he deals
very subtly. See therefore and take knowledge
of all the lurking places where he hides himself and come ye
again to me with the certainty and I will go with you and shall
come to pass if he be in the land, that I will search him
out throughout all the thousands of Judah. And they arose and
went to Ziph before Saul, but David and his men were in the
wilderness of Mahon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. Saul
also and his men went to seek him, and they told David. Wherefore,
he came into the wilderness of Mahon. And when Saul heard that,
he pursued after David in the wilderness of Mahon. 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, for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round
about to take them. But there came a messenger unto
Saul, saying, haste thee and come, for the Philistines have
invaded the land. Wherefore, Saul returned from
pursuing after David and went again against the Philistines. Therefore, they called that place,"
and I'm going to let you all pronounce that for me. Actually, I practiced on it.
Selahama Likoth, that's as close as I can come. And David went
up from thence and dwelt in a strongholds in Engadi. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would meet with us and that you would speak in power
to our hearts from your word. Lord, may we be enabled by faith
to see and to worship thy dear son and to trust him. Lord meet with us for his sake. Lord, we are so very grateful
that salvation is all of grace. We're so very grateful that all
your salvations and your son. Lord, we ask for your grace.
We don't even know what we need, but we know we need you and we
need your grace. We need the forgiveness of sins.
We need grace to believe your gospel. We need grace to walk
with our dear son and follow him. Forgive us of our many sins for
Christ's sake and be with all your people wherever they meet
together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now, soon as David has his hands
strengthened by Jonathan with that reminder of grace, the Ziphites
come along or Ziphites, I don't know how to pronounce it. And
they tell Saul that they will betray David. Verse 9, 10, then
came up the Zephites to Saul, to Gibeah. Doth not David hide
himself with us in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hekiah,
which is in the south of Jeshimon? 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. Now,
these people were no different than Judas Iscariot. All they
wanted to do was betray him. So we read in verse 21, and Saul
said, Blessed be ye of the Lord. Now, again, he implicates the
Lord in all this stuff as if the Lord was doing this for him.
Now, the Lord is in control of everything. The reason they delivered
him up, the reason they were betraying him was all a part
of God's sovereign purpose. And it was the Lord in that sense,
but it wasn't the Lord doing something merciful for Saul. You see, all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. But the opposite is true. All
things work together for evil to them that have no love for
God, to them who are not the called according to his purpose.
Saul was getting things mixed up. He was thinking, well, everything's
going to be fine. No, it's not. Nothing is going to be fine.
But he implicated the Lord in this. And so he says, go, I pray
you, and prepare yet and know and see his place where his haunt
is. And who has seen him there? For it's told me that he deals
very subtly or deceitfully. Now, what I thought about this
as a man is, so he thinks others to be. Saul was very deceitful. Saul was very subtle. That's
all of his actions. And he's putting these thoughts
that he has, he thinks, well, since I'm this way, David's probably
this way too. So he goes ahead and blames David for being this
way. So verse 23, see therefore and
take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself.
I know where David hid himself. Where do you hide yourself? You
hide yourself in Christ, don't you? He didn't have any understanding
of this, but oh, aren't you thankful to have Christ as a hiding place?
I think that's, He's our savior. He's our redeemer. He is our
hiding place. Um, I've always got things after
me, my sins, my enemies, whatever it might be. There's only one
place to hide. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That was his hiding place. Verse 23, see therefore and take
knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself
and come again with me. with the certainty, and I will
go with you, and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land,
that I'll search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah. I'll
find him." He dedicated his life to killing David. That's all
he cared about. And they arose and went to Ziph
before Saul, but David and his men were in the wilderness of
Maon on the plain on the south of Jeshimon. Saul also and his
men went to seek him, and they told David, wherefore he came
down into a rock. He came down into a rock and
abode in the wilderness. David's place of safety was in
a rock. And there's a lot of typical
significance to this. Let me give you some scriptures.
Ascribe ye greatness unto God. He is the rock. I love that name
for God, don't you? He is the rock. All his ways
are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity, just and
right is he. Psalm 18, too, the Lord is my
rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my strength in whom I will trust. David said, who is a rock save
our God? Blessed be my rock, unto thee
will I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be thou my strong rock. Thou art my rock and my fortress,
I will say unto God, my rock. Why hast thou forgotten me? You
ever felt that way? I will say unto God, my rock,
why hast thou forgotten me? Lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. He only is my rock and my salvation. They remembered that God was
their rock. He is the rock of my salvation.
He is my rock. There's no unrighteousness in
him. God is a rock. the rock of my
refuge. You can see how big this metaphor
is in the scripture. I've been quoting scriptures
concerning God being my rock. Is the Lord your rock? You know
what David's saying? I mean, you think of a rock,
you think of the strength of it, you think of the immovableness
of it. He's not talking about a little rock, he's talking about
a big rock. Y'all just saw that big rock, didn't you? It's so, they
were in Yosemite and saw what, El Capitan? What a rock, what
a rock. And David went for safety into
the rock. Now, I don't know how you get
into a rock. That's the language that's used,
but I know how you get into the rock. The Lord put you in him.
And if you're in him, you're safe and secure. David went into
a rock. Let me show you a few scriptures.
Turn to Isaiah 28, a rock and a hiding place. What do I know about the Lord
himself being my rock? Look in verse 16. Therefore, thus sayeth the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone. He's proven. He's proven. He's already proven is all that
is needed. a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. And the New Testament says, shall
not be ashamed, shall not be put to shame. If you believe
on Christ, now listen to me, this is glorious. If you believe
on Christ, you're never going to be put to shame. When you're
stood up on judgment day, there won't be anything to be embarrassed
about. Your whole life will be perfect righteousness in Christ. Look at Isaiah 32. David went
into a rock and... Verse one, behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment. And a
man, a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be as an hiding place from
the wind, a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place,
as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. A man is those
things. Turn to 1 Peter chapter two.
1 Peter chapter two. Verse four, when you're coming
to Christ, to whom coming? To whom coming as unto a living
stone. You come to him as a rock. Disallowed
indeed of men. Men have nothing to do with him,
but chosen of God and precious, you also as living stones are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That's the only
reason they're acceptable. Wherefore also it's contained
in scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect
precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
And to you, therefore, which believe he is precious. But unto
them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same as made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Now
go back to our text in 1 Samuel chapter 23. Saul, verse 25, Saul and his
men went to seek him, and they told David, wherefore he came
down into a rock. Now, obviously he didn't sink
into a rock, but I love the way the language is here. He came
into a rock and that's the only, that's the only place of safety
I have. That's the only place of safety you have in a rock, in
the rock. And he abode in the wilderness
of man. And when Saul heard that he pursued
after David in the wilderness of man. Now picture what's going
on in your mind in verse 26. And Saul went on this side of
the mountain and David and his men on that side of the mountain.
There was a mountain separating them, a mountain. David would
move this way, Saul would move, he was somehow, he would always
move so that mountain was always separating them and they never
had to come into contact with each other. Now there was a mount
of separation is what they called it, a mount of division. There
was something that was between David and his men and Saul and
his men. Verse 26, and Saul went on his
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 I think it's interesting. David was still scared to death,
even though he had all the Lord's assurance that he was going to
be the king and Saul wasn't going to be able to defeat him. He
was still scared to death. He was, he was for fear of Saul,
for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about
to take them. But you know, that's God's providence. I'm so thankful for God's providence.
But, now David didn't know this, but there came a messenger unto
Saul saying, haste thee and come for the Philistines have invaded
the land. Now the Lord caused all this to happen. And once
again, David's rescued because of this. This was God's providence
causing this to take place. And David's rescued. Wherefore
Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore they, David and his
men, they call that place Selah Hama Lakoth, what a name. What it means is the rock of
divisions, the rock of separations. That's what the word means. As
a matter of fact, that's what my marginal reading calls this,
the rock of divisions. And I want to talk for a few
moments about the rock of division. You've seen how big of rock is
in the scripture. And I think of all the different
types that the Lord spoke of. For instance, when the Lord said
to Peter, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my
church. This confession of me, thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God. That confession, he said,
I'm going to build my church on that. Upon this rock, this
confession of me, I'll build my church. I love the story of
the smitten rock. And this is just amazing, when
the children of Israel were thirsty, they were in the wilderness,
and Moses smote the rock and water came out. which pictures
the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ was smitten, when
our rock was smitten by God the Father, the water of mercy comes
from him. And do you remember when Moses
smote the rock again and he wasn't allowed to come back into the
promised land because of that? Because the rock is not to be
smitten twice. It's only smitten once. He accomplished his purpose.
And when Moses smote it twice, the Lord said, you're not going
to go into the promised land because of that because you, you, you,
busted through the type. It was a very severe sin on Moses'
part to do that, but a rock. Now, a rock of division, a rock
of separation, a rock that made a difference. What was the difference
between David and his men and Saul and his men? Well, the difference
was found in this rock, this rock of division, this rock of
separation. Turn with me for a moment to 1 Corinthians chapter
four. I think you'll see where I'm going
with this when I read this verse of scripture. Verse seven, for who maketh thee to differ
from another. Now, I don't have any question
that he is referring to what the Lord said to Moses in Exodus
chapter 11 verse 7. When he said after he was going
to come and destroy the firstborn, but he was talking about the
protection of the children of Israel, he made this statement. He said,
against the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Against man or beast, so that
you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. The Lord made the difference. Now this rock of division, this
rock of difference that separated it, it made a difference. David
was safe. David's men were safe because
of this rock of division. The Lord made the difference.
Now who makes you to differ? Let's go on reading. For who
maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
Why does our glory is if thou didst not receive it? Now who
made you? Now I want you to think about
this. I want to, I want to think about this. I want to, you know,
I was just thinking this week, I am utterly amazed that the
Lord made himself known to me. I, that's just been on my mind.
Why me? There's so many people who don't
know the Lord, who are not saved by His grace, and I am. Why me? You know, that ought to be something
that we're always thinking. Why me? Who made you to differ? Now, I can answer that question
real simply from the scriptures. Who made you to differ? If you
know the Lord, if the Lord has saved you by his grace, and maybe
some family member of yours is not saved and doesn't know the
Lord, who made you differ from them? Why is it that you worship
Christ? Why is it that you see beauty
in Christ that they don't see? Why is it you believe what you
believe and they think that's foolishness? I don't believe
that. It doesn't mean anything to them. Who made you? What is
this rock of division? Who made you to differ? Well, a believer does differ.
Oh, there's such an infinite difference between a believer
and an unbeliever. An infinite difference. It's
called the new nature. It's called being made a partaker
of the divine nature. It's being born from above. And
a believer is vastly different from an unbeliever in that sense.
They have been made to differ. A believer loves God. A believer
loves Christ. A believer sees everything in
the Lord Jesus Christ. They really believe that he's
all. Do you believe that Christ is all? Do you really believe
that? Do you believe he's all in your
salvation? Do you believe he's all to God? Who made you like that?
You know if If you believe, you know He's the one who made you
to differ. You know that. I don't have to convince any
believer of that. You know that He made you to
differ. You know that if you believe, it's because He did
something for you, not that you did something for Him. He did
something for you. Who made you to differ? Well, if you believe,
first of all, God the Father made you to differ in eternal
election when He set His love upon you before time began and
said, He's mine. She's mine. And he gave you to
the Son. God the Father made you to differ.
It doesn't have anything to do with something you did. God the Father made you to differ. Paul put it this way in 2 Thessalonians
2.13, but we're bound to give thanks to God always. Not bound
to thank you. He says, we're bound to give
thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereby
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, did you hear that? Here's
what you have by the gospel. You obtain the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God, The Father made you to differ
in eternal election. Who made you to differ? God the
Son in redemption. You know, right before he died,
right before he died, when he's praying his great high priestly
prayer to his people, he says, I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. but for them which thou hast
given me, for they are thine. And when Christ Jesus bowed his
mighty head and said, it is finished, after suffering who knows what
on that cross, he was saying the salvation of everybody I'm
dying for is finished. He made me to differ. He made
me to differ. Who makes you to differ from
somebody else? God, the Holy Spirit, made you to differ. When
he gave you life, he birthed you into his kingdom. You now
have spiritual life. You can see beauty in Christ
that the world can't see. You trust Christ. Why? Because
he made you to differ. You know, even in your own experience,
well, let's use David as an example. In the next chapter, David is
going to act as honorably as any believer ever acts when he
spares Saul's life. I mean, you look at, he demonstrates
to us how a Christian ought to behave himself. I just admire
this next chapter where he defended, didn't take Saul's life when
it was put in his hand. He could have done it. He didn't do it.
He said, the Lord judged between me and you. I'm not going to
touch you. This is in the Lord's hands. What faith he demonstrated.
But then you go on a few years later and he's plotting somebody's
murder. He's plotting the murder of Uriah
the Hittite. He's committed adultery with
Bathsheba. He has horribly abused his power. He's acted so terribly. Now what's
the difference between when he acted that way and when he acted
the way he ought to act? The Lord made the difference,
didn't he? Don't you know that if you ever do right, it's the
Lord just not letting you be what you would be. That's all
it is. You believe that? It's the Lord that makes the
difference in all respects. Who makes you to differ from
somebody else? The Lord does. What was the rock
of division? The Lord himself. He was the
difference between David and the men of Saul. Now, I remember
back on American Avenue, this had been It's been a long time
ago. Henry Mahan was preaching for us. And he brought a message,
and it was a message that hit me like no other, I don't remember
a message hit me anymore, but I remember the points. It was
entitled, Four Questions for Thoughtful People. Let me give
you the outline. Four Questions for Thoughtful
People. And I remember in the introduction, Brother Mahan said,
very intelligent people seem to check out their brains when
it comes to religion. They check their brains out at the door.
And that's very true. Very true. The things people
believe, it's amazing. But he said, I want to ask four
questions. And I want you to give these
questions thought. Four questions for thoughtful people. You've
probably heard these. I'm sure if you've heard me, you've heard
these before. But listen to them real carefully. Let's take Judas and
Peter. Judas wasn't saved. Christ called
him a child of perdition. He was a child of perdition from
the beginning. He's now, as I speak, suffering the wrath of God in
hell. Everybody knows that about Judas.
Judas was the traitor of Christ. Peter, well, you know how impulsive
and so on he was, but Peter's somebody who's saved. Peter's
somebody the Lord's done something for. Peter, right now, as I speak,
is in that great heavenly choir. Oh, I want to be in that choir,
don't you? Singing the praises of the Lamb. Peter, we know he
was saved. Now, here's the four questions
Brother Mahan asked. And he's, if God willed the salvation
of all men, if God willed the salvation of Judas, just like
he willed the salvation of Peter, What's the will of God have to
do with salvation? Nothing. If God willed Judas'
salvation, and he willed Peter's salvation, and Judas is in hell,
and Peter's in heaven, what's the will of God have to do with
salvation? Not a blooming thing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Okay. What about this? If God loved
Judas, And God loved Peter. And Peter is in heaven and Judas
is in hell. And God loved them both. What
does the love of God have to do with salvation? Absolutely, positively, nothing. Not a thing. You make the love
of God meaningless. Really? Really. That makes the
love of God meaningless. To say that God loves all men
the same, that makes the love of God meaningless. Let's take
the death of Christ. If Christ died for the sins of
Judas, and Christ died for the sins of Peter, and Peter's in
heaven, and Judas is in hell, what does the blood of Christ
have to do with salvation? Not a thing. It's meaningless. When someone preaches that Jesus
Christ shed his blood for all men without exception and made
salvation available for all men, all they're doing is preaching
salvation by works. They're saying your salvation is ultimately
dependent upon what you do, not what he did, but what you do.
And then the fourth question, if God, the Holy Spirit is calling
all men the same, if God, the Holy Spirit is calling Peter,
God the Holy Spirit is calling Judas to come to Christ. If God
the Holy Spirit is calling all men the same and one responds
and the other doesn't, what does the Holy Spirit have to do with
salvation? Nothing. Nothing. Now this is how important
this is. This isn't just a different doctrinal
position. This is life and death. This is night and day. God loves everybody the same,
if Christ died for everybody the same, if God the Holy Spirit
is calling everybody the same, if God desires the salvation
of all men without exception, that means salvation is dependent
upon what you do. Now that's something I don't
want to deal with. If salvation is dependent upon me, there is
no hope for me. No hope. My only hope is that
God did something for me, that he made this rock of division,
that he made this separation of me. And my only hope, I can't
express this as strongly as I want to, the only hope I have of being
saved is that Christ died for my sins. That's it. That's it. And if you tell me that he can
die for somebody's sins and they wind up in hell, you've taken
away the only hope that I have So, um, I, I love this rock of
division. Don't you? I love this rock of
separation where the Lord has made a difference and every believer. I don't have to, I don't have
to convince any believer of this. Everybody, every believer knows
if I'm saved, it's because the Lord saved me. He did something
for me. And here's my attitude. Why me? I deserve to be in hell. Why me? I think of what our Lord said.
He said, I thank thee, O Father. Here's the answer. Why me? I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, here's his reason,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. That's his reason for
doing what he does. It seems good in his sight. And
you know what? If it's good in his sight, it's good in our sight
too, isn't it? Whatever he does is right. So thank God. You can practice
on saying that big word. I think there's six or seven
syllables to it. And thank God for that word.
I'm not going to try to say it again. The rock of division.