Would you turn to 1 Samuel chapter
21? Verse 7 of 1 Samuel chapter 21. Now, a certain man of the servants
of Saul was there. This is while David got the showbread
from the priests and Ahimelech helped David. And this man witnessed
this, verse seven. Now, certain man of the servants
of Saul was there that day detained before the Lord. He wasn't able
to get away. He was there for one reason.
The Lord detained him. The Lord caused him to witness
all these things. He detained him. And his name
was Doeg, an Edomite, a descendant of Esau, the chiefest of the
herdmen that belonged to Saul. He had a high ranking position
with Saul and he witnessed what happened. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. The name that's above every name.
And Lord, we ask in his name that we might be found in him.
We ask in his name that you would give us all the grace to trust
him completely. Lord, we ask in his name that
you would speak in power to our hearts from your word. We ask. In his name that you'd forgive
us of our many sins and that you'd cause your grace to reign
in us. Lord, we ask that you'd be with
all your people wherever they meet together. Bless us for the
Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. I guess I would say I've entitled
this lesson detained by the Lord. Now this man, Doeg, witnessed
everything that took place. He was an eyewitness to Ahimelech
helping David. Now let's see what happened as
a result of him being detained by the Lord. Look in 1 Samuel
chapter 22. Now remember, he saw, he witnessed Ahimelech helping
David. Verse 6 of 1 Samuel chapter 22,
When Saul heard that David was discovered, and that the men
that were with him, now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree
in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants
were standing about him, Then Saul said unto his servants that
stood after him, Hear me now, ye Benjamites. Will the son of
Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all
captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? He won't do what
I can do for you. that all of you have conspired against me. And there's none that showeth
me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse. And there's
none of you that is sorry for me or showeth unto me that my
son hath stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as
he is this day." Now, I think it's interesting how much paranoia
he shows at this time. He's blaming these men about
not telling him about David. Now here's where, remember I
read about Doeg, look in verse nine. Then answered Doeg the
Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I
saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob to Emelech, the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of the Lord for
him, and gave him vittles, and gave him the sword of Goliath,
the Philistine. Now remember, he was detained
by the Lord. The Lord caused him to see all of this. Verse
11. Then the king sent to call him elect the priest, the son
of a high tub and all his father's house, the priests that were
knob. And they came all of them to the king. And Saul said here
now thou son of Ohio. And he answered, here am I, my
Lord. This is the priest answering Saul. And Saul said unto him,
Why have you conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse,
in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired
of God for him, that he should rise up against me to lie in
wait, as at this day? He was accusing David of things
that were not true. Then Himalek answered the king and said, And
who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which
is the king's son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is
honorable in thine house? Did I then begin to inquire of
God for him? Be it far from me. Let not the king impute anything
unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father. For thy
servant knew nothing of all this, less or more. And the king said,
Thou shalt surely die of Mimelech, thou and all thy father's house.
This is the high priest. And the king said unto the footman
that stood about him, Turn and slay the priest of the Lord,
because their hand is also with David. And because they knew
when he fled and didn't show it to me. But the servants of
the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priest
of the Lord. They're afraid to do it. They just refuse to do
it. Verse 18. And the king said to Doeg, turn
thou and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned and
he fell upon the priests and slew on that day four score and
five persons that did wear a linen ephod. He murdered 85 priests. And Nob, the city of the priests,
smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children
and sucklings, and oxen and ass and sheep with the edge of the
sword. The town of the priests, Nob, he killed everybody there. Now this man was detained by
the Lord. So he would see what took place
and he ended up killing 85 people. Now a psalm is written about
this man. Turn with me to Psalm 52. Look at the title above the first
verse, to the chief musician, a mascal, a psalm of David, when
Doag the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, David has
come to the house of the Imalek. He wrote this psalm in response
to what took place here. Look in verse one, why boastest
thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? And this is referring to
Doag. The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises mischief
like a sharp razor working deceitfully. You love evil more than good
and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah, thou lovest
all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy
thee forever. He shall take thee away and pluck
thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the land
of the living. Selah, the righteous also shall see and fear and shall
laugh at him. Lo, this is the man that made
not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I'm like a green
olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever
and ever. I will praise thee forever because
thou has done it. I love the way he says this,
you did this. with regard to Doeg and all the mischief that
he created. David said, I'll praise you forever
because you're the one that has done this. You're in control
of it all. And I will wait on thy name for it's good before
thy saints. Now let's go back to first Samuel
chapter 21. We see what all Doeg did, verse seven. Now a certain man of the servants
saw was there that day detained before the Lord. That's a, that's
a strong word. He was there because the Lord
willed him to be there. He was not allowed to leave.
He was detained by the Lord. So he would witness this. And because he witnessed this,
he ends up murdering 85 priests. and destroys this entire city. Now, if he hadn't been detained
by the Lord, he wouldn't have witnessed this. And if he wouldn't
have witnessed this, these priests would not have been murdered.
Everything would have been, quote, fine. But because he was detained
by the Lord, he witnessed this, and we see these horrible things
that took place as a result. Now, there's a couple of things
that stand out in my mind about this. First of all, David, you'll
remember from last week, he told a lie. He lied to the priests. He said, the king has sent me
on a business. And because of his lies, because of what he
did, 85 priests lost their life. And he blamed it on himself.
He said, it's because of me this took place. We'll read that in
chapter 22 in the next week or two. It's because of me this
took place. This is all my fault. Because of my lies, these people
have lost their life. You know, there's always consequences
to actions. I want you to think about that.
Anytime we sin, there is some kind of consequence to it. Now,
I'm thankful there's not eternal consequences, aren't you? The
Lord's put away the sin of his people, and there are no consequences. But in this life, there are always
consequences to wrong actions. And David proved that. Because
of his lies, all these people lost their lives. And that makes
me think, Lord, preserve me, keep me, deliver me from doing
what David did, because I know I'll do it. Apart from your grace,
I want to be kept and preserved. There are consequences. to our
actions. But then I think of Doeg being
detained before the Lord. It was the Lord who detained
him. He would see this event and this was all a part of God's
good providence. You see, there's nothing that
happens in time that he is not in control of. It was his will
for Doeg to be detained before the Lord. In that strong language,
the Lord detained him. It was God's will for that to
take place, and this was used in God's good providence. Eighty-five
priests were murdered, and an entire town was destroyed. Now, this is what we call, or
I shouldn't even say what we call, this is the sovereignty
of God. God being sovereign is God being
God. He controls everything and every
event. This is who God is. He controls everything that happens
in time. I think of that passage in Amos
chapter 3, verse 6. Shall there be evil in the city,
and hath not the Lord done it? Whatever takes place, "...shall
there be evil in the city, and hath not the Lord done it?" He's
the first cause behind everything. Now, these priests being murdered,
that was a horrible sin. It was wickedness. There's no
excuse for Doeg. What he did was willful wickedness,
and he's in hell right now. I mean, the psalmist said that.
Yet the Lord detained Doeg at this time, so this would take
place. This is a part of God's providence. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
45. Verse 1, thus saith the Lord
to his anointed, to Cyrus, he was the king of Babylon at that
time, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before
him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the
two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go
before thee. Now, Cyrus didn't know any of
this. But this is God speaking, I will go before thee and make
the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates
of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I will give
thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places
that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by
thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect, I've called thee by thy name. I've surnamed
thee, though thou hast not known me." Cyrus was ignorant of all
this. He was the king of Babylon. He was the king of the world,
really. He was doing all this stuff, and he had no idea that
the Lord was controlling everything. and causing everything he did
to be done. The Lord was in control of this.
Look in verse five. I am the Lord, there's none else.
There's no God beside me. I girded thee though thou has
not known me. He's still speaking to Cyrus.
That they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west
that there's none beside me. I am the Lord and there's none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I the Lord do all these things. Now, what's that mean? Exactly
what it says. I, the Lord, do all these things.
You know, He controls what's done, and He controls what's
not done. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
20 for a moment. Genesis chapter 20. Verse 1, And Abraham journeyed
from thence toward the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh
and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. Genesis chapter 20, verse 2.
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she's my sister. And Abimelech
the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech
in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, art but a dead
man, for the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's
wife. But Abimelech had not come near
her, and he said, Lord, wilt thou also slay a righteous nation?
Said he, nodding to me, she's my sister. And she, even she
herself, said, he's my brother. In the integrity of my heart
and the innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said
unto him in a dream, yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity
of thy heart, for I also withheld thee from sinning against me.
You see what God says? The reason you didn't do it is
because I prevented it. Now, whatever happens in time,
God causes it. And whatever doesn't happen in
time, God prevents it. This is what is called God's
sovereignty. Are you glad it's that way? God has a will. God has the power
to make his will come to pass. And God always does make his
will come to pass. That's what God's sovereignty
means. He's in control of everything. The scripture says in Daniel
4.35, he doeth according to his will. in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand. None can stop him from doing
his will. And nobody can say unto him,
what doest thou? Give an account for yourself.
What gives you the right to do this? No, God is sovereign. God is God. Now, I want to, Doeg commits
this horrible crime And behind it all is the sovereign purpose
of God. Now, do I understand? No. Does he? Yes. And whatever he
does is good, and whatever he does is right. And we bow before
that. We don't really understand it,
but we bow because God is always good, isn't he? He's always good. He's always God. He's always
in absolute sovereign control of everything. Now, He controls. You think of the laws of physics.
They're His laws. You know, the law of gravity,
whatever the law might be, the law of physics, they're His laws.
And He can suspend them if He wants to. He can walk on the
water. That's against the law of physics,
but he can suspend the law of physics because who he is. He
can cause the sun to go backwards 10 degrees. He did that. He's
God. He controls everything. He controls
the weather. What manner of man is this that
even the winds and the sea do obey him? Don't you love his
glory in that? He controls the animal world.
All the animals and insects, everything that is alive, he's
in control of. The Lord said, there's not a
sparrow that falls to the ground without your heavenly father. Not without your heavenly father
knowing it, without his will being done is what that means.
He's in control of everything. He controls the demonic world.
The demon said, suffer us to go into this herd of swine. And
the scripture says, and Jesus gave them leave. I love that. They couldn't make a move without
His permission. He's in such absolute control
of everything. He controls every demon. The
devil is His devil on His chain. And He can't do anything but
what the Lord allows Him to do. That's how much control He has.
He controls the angelic world, these mighty beings, angels.
I know very little about them, but I know they're ministering
spirits, and they're His ministers. They're His servants doing His
will. He controls wicked men. He controls
the unbelieving world. He said to Pharaoh, even for
this same purpose have I raised you up. Who raised him up? God did. that I might show my
power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. He controls good men. Now you
say, what do you mean by good men? I'm talking about every
believer. Every believer. That's all I mean by that. Every
believer. They have a, they're, by grace,
they love Christ. And Paul said, regarding the
Romans, he said, I'm persuaded you're full of goodness. And
that's, you're also full of sin. I realize the evil nature there,
but there's a new nature in there. He controls good men. Listen
to this scripture from Proverbs. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. Every step a good man takes,
God has already determined before exactly what's going to take
place. Don't you love this? The steps of a good man are ordered.
Well, I want the Lord ordering my steps, don't you? He's in
control of the hearts of all men. The king's heart is in the
hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it, whethersoever he will. He controls the free and the
uncoerced actions of men. Now think about that. What you do, you do. And what
I do, I do because that's what I want to do. People do what
they want to do. Our actions are free. They're
not, I can't say, well, the devil made me do that. I did what I
wanted to do. Can't say that. Everybody does what they want
to do. We act freely and God is in control
of all of those free, uncoerced actions. Listen to this Proverbs.
A man's heart deviseth his way. I got some plans for this afternoon,
what I'm going to do. Reds come on at one o'clock.
I'm going to be laying in my bed watching a Reds game. I'm
making my plans and we all plan things every day, but we plan. A man's heart devises his way,
but the Lord directeth his steps. What I do is going to be what
the Lord directs me to do. Now I'm going to do it freely
and uncoerced. I'm going to do what I want to do, but it's only
because the Lord is actually directing my steps. He's so glorious. He's in absolute control of everything
and everybody. He controls the sinful actions
of men. Talking about the most sinful
action of man was the death of Christ. when men murdered the
Son of God. And the scripture says, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain. He controls all of that. He controls
the spiritual life he gives. Philippians 2, 12 and 13, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it's God that
worketh in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure. Oh, the awesomeness of his absolute
and complete control of everything. And you know, God, the Lord,
has an end and to design in all that he does. Now, I don't know
what his end was in letting Doeg, detaining Doeg here so he would
witness Ahimelech helping David, and it ended up costing Ahimelech
his life and 85 other priests in the other town. I don't know
what the Lord's end was in all that. You know, the Bible's got
some weird stuff, doesn't it? I mean, you look at this stuff
and you think, I don't know. It's not family friendly, is
it? You know, the things that go on in the Scripture. I mean,
you see these things and you just think, I don't understand
it. I don't understand why the Lord let this happen. And it's
a horrible thing to even think about. But the Lord does. And I know He's good. And I know
whatever He does is right. And I know that He knows the
end from the beginning and He determines everything that's
going to take place. And we bow before that. We really believe
that whatever He does is best. You believe that? Whatever he
does is best. It's right. It's glorious because
he did it. And I think that one of the most
powerful illustrations of that is Joseph. Turn with me to Genesis
45. Joseph is hated by his older
brothers. They're jealous of him. They
sell him as a slave. He is sold as a slave. He's accused of something he
didn't do. He's thrown into prison. I mean,
one bad thing after another happens to him. And this is when he finally
makes himself known to his brother. In Genesis 45, you know the story.
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that
stood by him. And he cried, cause every man
to go out for me. And there stood no man with him,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren, the same men
that had sold him as a slave, and told his father that he was
dead. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians
in the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And
his brethren couldn't answer him. And can you imagine what
they thought when he said, I am Joseph? Oh, they were scared
to death. He's going to kill us. I mean,
he's finally going to get vengeance on us. And that's what we got
coming. They couldn't even answer him. They were afraid to answer.
I'm Joseph. You can imagine how shocked they
were. This is our brother that we sold into slavery years and
years ago. He's still alive. We're in trouble.
And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at
his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near
to me. I pray you." And they came near and he said, I am Joseph,
your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, Joseph hadn't forgotten
this. Well, you've never really forgiven
somebody unless you forget it. Oh, what have you forgotten?
Really? What have you ever forgotten?
When somebody did you wrong, you forgive them. You forgive
them. But do you forget it? No, you remember. He remembered.
He remembered. He remembered exactly what took
place. I'm the one you all sold into Egypt. Now therefore, verse
5, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither,
for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two
years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five
years in the which there shall neither be earring nor harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve you of posterity in
the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. Now it
was not you that sent me hither, but God." God did this. Not you, God. And with regard
to everything, It was him that did it. Now that doesn't take
away our personal responsibility and our sin. Doesn't make sin
okay. But aren't you thankful that
regarding everything, God did it. God did it. Turn to 1 Samuel 2. This is the
prayer of Hannah. And Hannah prayed, chapter 2,
and Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord. Mine
horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is
there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge. By him actions
are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are
broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They
that are full have hired themselves out for bread, and they that
were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven, and
she that hath many children is wax feeble. The Lord killeth.
and the Lord maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and he bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raises up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to
set him among princes, and to make him inherit the throne of
glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he
has set the world upon them. He'll keep the feet of his saints,
and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength
shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces out of heaven, shall he thunder upon them. The
Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and he shall give strength
unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Now I'm so thankful
that it's the Lord who kills and that it's the Lord who makes
alive. That the Lord makes poor and the Lord makes rich. He's
good. And do you believe that? The
Lord is good. Whatever He does is good. And
I don't need to understand it. I'm so satisfied with that. I
feel no need to understand what the Lord is doing. Because I
know that He is good. And whatever He does is right,
shall not the judge of the earth do right. And he has a design
and an end in all that he does, even in the tragic events of
life, like the slaying of 85 priests. I don't know what the
good was, but he does. And I'll tell you what, Himalek,
when he was slain, you know what he did? He went straight into
the presence of the Lord. And it was the best day of his
life. Best day of his life. You know
what the best day of my life's gonna be? When I die and come
into the very presence of Christ. Best day of my life. And there's
glorious things in this that you and I don't know anything
about. Now, Doeg was a wicked man and
he will be punished for his sin and his sins. David tells us
that in Psalm 52. But what comfort it is to know
that God reigns and is in control of everything and everybody,
every thought, every event, God is absolutely sovereign. Now, what is our response to
that? There's only one response. Worship. You'll only worship a sovereign
God. If you can control or manipulate
God, if you can get Him to do certain things, you won't worship
Him. You'll only worship a God who is absolutely sovereign. You worship Him and you give
thanks. I'm so thankful that He's on
the throne. I love that, Him ye fearful saints,
fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy. and shall break in blessings
on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face." Isn't that wonderful? I'm glad he detained
Doeg. I don't understand it, you know,
but the point is God reigns. He controls everything. And everything
is going to work together for the good of His people and His
glory. And somebody says, I don't believe
any of that. Well, that's part of His plan, too. That's part
of His plan, too. Somebody says, I won't have that.
OK. OK. Everybody is in the hand of the
Lord. Doeg, me, and you. And we're thankful, aren't we?
Amen.