Good morning. Would you turn to 1 Samuel chapter
23. 1 Samuel chapter 23. Let's begin reading in verse
6, and I'd like to read down through verse 18. And it came to pass when Abiathar
the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah that he came
down with an ephod in his hand. Now that's a strange sounding
word, an ephod. All it is is the priestly garments
that had the stones on the shoulders that represented the 12 tribes
of Israel, six on each shoulder. And it was told Saul that David
was come to Keilah And Saul said, God hath delivered him into my
hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and
bars. And Saul called the people together to war to go down to
Keilah to besiege David and his men. And David knew that Saul
secretly practiced mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar
the priest, bring hither the ephod. Then said David, he would
only approach the Lord through this priest. 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. Can you imagine how
much that hurt David? Because he had just saved these
people in the previous verses. And he finds out, well, they'll
just deliver you up. Verse 13, then David and his
men, which were about 600, arose and departed out of Keilah, and
went whithersoever they could. It seemed so chaotic. And it
was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbade
to go forth. And David abode in the wilderness
in 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. 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, this is going to
be the last time David sees Jonathan, his beloved friend. 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 knows. And they too made a covenant
before the Lord and David abode in the wood and Jonathan went
in his house. Verse 6, ìAnd it came to pass
when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David, to Geolab, that
he came down with an ephod in his hand.î Now, this is very
important. When David calls upon the Lord,
he only calls through a priest. He wonít come on his own. He
has to come through the priest, and he won't come any other way.
Now, if you'll remember, Saul didn't think that was necessary.
That's why he was rejected. He came into God's presence,
or attempted coming to God's presence, without a priest, and
God rejected him. But David knew the importance
of a priest. Now, if I don't understand the
importance of my great high priest bringing me into God's presence,
I prove by that I'm very ignorant of his character. I'm very ignorant
of myself. If I have any idea who he is
and who I am, the only way I'll come is through God's priest,
the priest of God's providing, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
David wanted Abiathar to come with these ephods. Now look in
verse seven. And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah,
and Saul said, God hath delivered him into my hand. How deceived
he was. How deceived he was. He's saying,
God did this. Well, ultimately God did it. He's in control of
everything. But Saul was trying to convince
himself. He was lying to himself that
everything's okay between me and God. God's doing this for
me. And deep down, he knew better because Jonathan said, we read
that passage of scripture. My father knows that you're going
to be king. But Saul was still bent on self-deception,
lying to himself. You ever done that? Lied to yourself
and tried to convince yourself what you're saying is true when
really deep down you knew it wasn't. Well, that's what Saul
was doing. Verse 8, and Saul called the people together to
war to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. And David
knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him. And he
said to Bithar, the priest, bring hither the ephod. Now he knew
that the only way he could approach God, even in prayer, is through
the priest. Now this is the man after God's
own heart. I don't know of anything more high you could say about
a human being than this. He's a man after God's own heart.
But this man, after God's own heart, wouldn't dare come into
God's presence apart from God's high priest, Abiathar, with the
ephod that was representing the 12 tribes of the children of
Israel, coming into his presence like that. Then David said, after
he came through the priest, then David said, O Lord God of Israel,
thy servant has 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. Verse 13, then
David and his men, which were about 600, arose and departed
out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could. Now, what comes into
my mind is just chaotic at this time. They didn't know what to
do. All they were doing was escaping from Saul, and they didn't know
what was going to take place. It was chaotic. You ever been there? Chaotic. It was told Saul that David was
escaped from Keilah, and he forbade to go forth. And David abode
in the wilderness in 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." Isn't that wonderful?
God's providence was continually preserving David. Now, David
felt afraid. David was scared. David felt
like he was in chaos. But all this time, God's hand
was preserving him. And I can say to every believer,
God's hand is preserving you. Things may seem chaotic, but
God's hand is preserving you. He's in control of everything
in your life, no matter what it is. He's in control of it.
That's wonderful. Wonderful. Verse 15, And David
saw that Saul was come to seek his life, and David was in the
wilderness of Ziph in a wood. And here's what I want us to
spend the remainder of our time on. Verse 16, And Jonathan, Saul's
son, arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened
his hand in God. He was an encouragement to him.
He was so discouraged He felt so betrayed after the way the
people of Goliath, after he had delivered them, now they're going
to give him up. He was so discouraged. And Jonathan
comes, David's friend, that he made this covenant with. And
he 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. He's reminding David of what
was going to take place. He was God's anointed king. Saul
was not going to be able to defeat him. This was all a part of God's
purpose. He said, don't be afraid. And
I shall be next to thee, and that also Saul my father knows. He knows that you're going to
be king. And they too made a covenant before the Lord. They renewed
that covenant that would one day save Mephibosheth. You remember
that. And it's the covenant that typifies
the covenant of grace. Now, what I want to emphasize
is verse 16. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose
and went to David into the wood and strengthened his hand in
God. Now that word strengthened, turn
to 1 Samuel chapter 30. Same word, this'll give us some
idea what it means. Verse six, and David was greatly
distressed For the people spake of stoning him. These were his
men. They said, let's stone him. This was after all their wives
and children and property had been, the Amalekites had taken it and
carried them all off. And David was greatly distressed.
For the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all
the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his
daughters. But David encouraged himself. That's the word. David encouraged himself. in
the Lord his God. Now, I remember one time I got
a letter from, it was Joe Terrell at the time. This had been 20,
25 years ago. And he was talking about the
work in Rock Valley. And he said, there's nothing
here to be encouraged about except the Lord. And that's enough. I thought, what a statement.
He encouraged himself. in the Lord. Now that's what
I want us to consider. In the Lord. He strengthened
his hand in his God and there's nothing more encouraging to me
than thinking about being in the Lord. What's that mean to
be in the Lord? Well, what it mean to be in the
ark? In the ark, You were safe. You were secure. Doesn't matter
how you felt, you were still safe and you were secure in the
ark. What did it mean to be in the
house with the blood over the door? It means you were safe. It means
you were secure. It means God's wrath would not
come upon you in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came and strengthened
his hand in God, in the Lord. Now I'm gonna give you just a
bunch of scriptures. Isaiah 45, 24 and 25 says, surely
shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Can you say that? In the Lord,
there's my righteousness. In the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. in the Lord, that one
in whom is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now here's the one place to always
be encouraged. In the Lord. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 12
says, in whom, you can write these scriptures down and go
back and look at them. I'm going to give you a lot of them. We have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of Him. Now I want you to think of what
he says, in whom we have boldness. I actually have boldness to come
into God's presence. Let's come boldly under the throne
of grace. In whom we have boldness and
access, free access. He's not going to kick me out.
I can come into his presence with confidence by, didn't say
faith in him, it said by the faith of him. Big difference,
isn't there? My confidence is not in my faith.
My confidence is in the faith of Him. This is what gives me
this boldness where I'm not afraid of being kicked out because I'm
coming in His faith, in His name, in His righteousness. 1 John 3, 5 says, He was manifested
to take away our sins. And in Him, is no sin. If I'm in Him, I have no sin. They've all been put away. You
see, in Him is no sin. If I'm in Him, I have no sin. Ephesians 1.3 says, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now that means every blessing
God has to give, every spiritual blessing, I already have in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I've got them all. He goes on
to say, according as he hath chosen us, in Him. Now, there's no understanding
of election, being chosen of God, apart from seeing that the
reason God chose me is I was in Him. He didn't choose me arbitrarily. He didn't choose me apart from
Christ and then put me in Christ. I've always been in Christ. That's mysterious. You know,
when I get to heaven, I'm going to find out I've always been
there. in the person of my Redeemer. In Him is no sin. We're chosen in Him. In that
same passage in Ephesians 1, it says, He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. My acceptance right now is in
the Beloved. However pleased God is with His
Beloved Son, that's how pleased He is with me, in the Beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. What a blessed, blessed,
blessed place to be in the beloved. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God This is God's work, this
is what He did, who of God is made unto us, Christ is made
unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is my wisdom. God views
this man speaking to you right now and every believer as wise
because Christ is my wisdom. He can have fellowship and communion
with me. I'm fit for fellowship with God in Christ being my wisdom. He's my righteousness. He's my
personal righteousness. He's my sanctification. He's
my holiness. He's my sin payment. He's my
complete redemption. Of him are you in Christ Jesus.
Now can you see how Jonathan used this thing? He encouraged
him. He strengthened his hands in God. In Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1-2
of them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. There's my holiness. It's in Christ Jesus. I was set
apart in Christ. Romans chapter 8 verse 38 says,
Nothing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why God can't stop loving
me. I'm in Christ. Can He stop loving His Son? No. He can't stop loving me because
I'm in His Son. I'm united to Him. 1 Corinthians
15.22 says, As in Adam all die, there's no exceptions. Everybody
in Adam dies. Even so, in the same manner,
in Christ, everybody in Christ shall all be made alive. 2 Corinthians 2.14 says, Thanks
be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. How
often do I triumph in Christ? Always. I've heard of people
talk about, well, they're living a defeated Christian life. There's
no such thing as a defeated Christian life. Everything that comes my
way, God uses for my good and His glory. It's all good. Thanks
be unto God. Believe this. Hold on to this. Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph. We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. It's always that way. Then 2
Corinthians 3 verse 14 says the veil is done away with in Christ. That veil that's over our eyes
to where we can't understand the Scriptures, we don't understand
the reading of the Old Testament, that veil is done away with in
Christ. If I understand in Christ, I
understand all the Bible. I understand everything God has
to say, all God's blessings in Christ. And then in 2 Corinthians
5 verse 19 we read that If it were 517, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. He's a new creature. If I'm in
Christ, I'm a new creation. You know what that means? Well, it means I'm created by
God, I'm God's work. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. I'm His work. But if I'm a new
creation, that means I've got a new history. I've got a new
history. It's all good. It's all good. I mean, that's one of the glorious
things of the Gospel. We're given a new history, not
just a clean slate. Let's see how you do after that.
No, I'm given a new history. I'm a new creature in Christ
Jesus. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.19
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and has committed to us the word
of reconciliation. Galatians 2.4 speaks of the liberty
we have in Christ, the freedom. Now, I'm not in bondage. I'm not in bondage. However free
Christ is, that's how free I am. Galatians 2, 4, the liberty that's
in Christ Jesus. And then in Galatians chapter
5, verse 6, we read for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails
anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Now somebody says, well, I'm
circumcised. I keep the law. That doesn't
avail a thing. Somebody says, well, I don't have anything to
do with that. That doesn't avail anything either. Here's what avails with God,
faith. Not a dead faith, a faith that
works by love. And I'm gonna consider tonight,
we're gonna consider tonight what faith does. That's the subject. But I know one thing it does,
faith worketh by love. And then, turn with me, I want
you to look at this. Some of these, Ephesians chapter
two. Maybe I should be having you look at these with me. But this is such a, Amazing verse
of scripture. Verse four, but God who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. You know when I was quickened?
When Christ was raised from the dead. I was quickened with Christ. Go on reading. By grace you are
saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. You know what that says? It says
I'm already in heaven. That's what it says. I don't feel like I'm in heaven.
Neither do I, but I'm in heaven, according to that passage of
scripture, because I'm so vitally united to Christ that as He's
seated in heaven, I am too. Now, how encouraging is that?
That you're not as sure for heaven as if you're already there, but
you are already there in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. In the person of His dear Son,
I'm as dear to God as He. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. In the person of His dear Son,
I'm as dear to God as He. Ephesians 3.11, we read of the
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. All
of God's purpose is in Christ. And it's eternal. And then we
read in Philippians 2.1, if there be any consolation in Christ,
what consolation there is in Christ? What comfort? All God
requires of me I have in Christ. That's so comforting. That encourages
my heart. I don't know if I have a more
favorite scripture than this. It's when Paul said, and probably
quoted at least once a week, Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. So that when God comes looking
for me, all he finds is Christ and me in him. That's all he
sees. And I've, I don't know how many
times I've thought, wouldn't it be horrible for Christ to
come and I'm committing some kind of sin, some kind of horrible
sin. And then all of a sudden he comes
back in there. I, you know, I thought, what a, what a horrible, everybody's
thought that. But, um, I don't even want to be found not committing
a sin. I want to be found in Christ,
so that that is all God sees. In Philippians chapter 3, verse
3, Paul said, we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice, and that means glory. Have confidence in, boast in.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And everybody who rejoices in
Christ Jesus has no confidence in the flesh. None at all. In 1 Thessalonians 5.16, In everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. I love that verse of scripture.
In everything give thanks. Because whatever it is, it's
God's will in Christ Jesus concerning you. No matter how painful it
might appear right now, it's for your good. It's God's will
for you and it's for His glory. So in everything, in everything,
give thanks. 2 Timothy 2.1, be strong in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus. Oh, the grace that's in Him.
And then we read in 1 John 2, 28, abide in him. that when he shall appear we
may have confidence and be not ashamed before him in his coming."
Now you think of this thing of abiding in him. What's it mean
to abide in Christ? Well, you stay in Christ. I used
this illustration the other day or a couple of weeks ago. If
all of God's blessing is in this room and there's nothing but
wrath outside of this room, where do you want to stay? You'll stay
in this room, don't you? Do you want to go outside of
this room? No. Now, abiding in Christ means at all times I simply
want to be found in Him. That's all I want is to be found
in Him. Whoso abideth in Him sinneth not. In Him is no sin. That's what the Scripture says.
Now, that's a mystery that we just have to believe. In Christ,
I'm not afraid of judgment. I'm not afraid of Him coming.
I'm not afraid of judgment day. Have boldness in the day of judgment
by abiding in Him. Now, I'd like you to turn with
me to this one. Turn to 1 John chapter 5. This is a passage
of scripture that has not been given proper emphasis by me at
any rate. Look in verse 20. I don't think
I've ever heard anybody deal with this, as it should be. 1 John 5, verse 20, And we know
that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. Now look at the, this is
the true God and eternal life. This thing, knowing Him that's
true and being in Him that's true. And the last scripture
I want to give you is Colossians chapter two, verses nine and
10. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And that's what's in Christ.
All the fullness of the infinite God in a human body. That's what's in Christ. All
that God is. And then in verse 10 it says,
and you are complete in Him. You lack absolutely nothing. All God requires of you, you
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed place in Christ. And I can understand how this
encouraged David so much. I mean, he was going all over
the place, scared to death, but he found out from Jonathan. Jonathan
encouraged him in the Lord. Now, we sing that hymn all the
time. Let me quote that last verse. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.