Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine and we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible, verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. OK. Turning your Bibles,
please, to the book of 1st Samuel, chapter 24. Settle in. We're going to be here
for almost an hour. I'm going to open up in
a prayer in a moment. If you're visiting,
you're thinking, an hour in the Bible
in the Old Testament? I don't know if I
can handle that. OK. If that's how you
feel, understood. We want you to make that
decision now, though, so that you don't get up in
the middle of the Bible study and meander out. And then everybody's
eyes are on you and you become the issue,
the focus, the distraction. We will pray. As our eyes are
closed and heads are bowed you can move
to the very back. And then if you decided to
bail out in the middle of it then you don't become the issue. Fair enough? OK? Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that we get an
opportunity to study it. Thank you for those who
have come together to learn. Lord, I pray that you would
not just increase our Bible knowledge, but that you would
help us to come to know, more intimately, the
author of this Bible. And to see in the stories of
these very imperfect people whom you have used, show us
the hope that is in that. How you use ordinary
people, what Paul referred to as the foolish
things of this world, the weak things of this world. For that we give you glory. Pray that you would open
our hearts in Jesus's name. Amen. Speaking of hearts,
there's only one person in the Bible referred to as
a man after God's own heart. And that is this man
that we're studying, that we're looking at
in this book of 1st Samuel, the latter portion. David. He's not yet king. He was a shepherd
who became a warrior. Also a poet. Who will become, also,
the King of Israel. The second King,
after King Saul. A man after God's own heart. What does that mean? Well, there's
another translation known as the Knox translation. Written not by John Knox,
but by a Bishop Knox later on who renders it based upon
his understanding of the Hebrew. A man to fulfill God's purposes. That might help you
understand that a little bit. David was a man who
was out to fulfill God's purposes, God's plan. That is, he wanted
what God wanted. He wanted to see
God get the glory. Not always, he was imperfect. We understand that if
you know David's life. But unlike King Saul,
who was not a person that wanted what God wants. He was a man who
wanted what he wanted, and he wanted all the people
to give him what he wanted. David, on the other hand, was
a man to fulfill God's purpose. A man after God's own heart. A man who wanted,
primarily, what God wanted. We saw, back in chapter 16,
how this came out of the blue. This anointing that
Samuel, the prophet, came to the house of Jesse
at the instruction of God in Bethlehem, to anoint
the next king because God had rejected King Saul. He lines up the boys. Elijah being the oldest, all
the way down to the youngest. David was still
out in the fields. His dad didn't even call him
in for the lineup, thought he was too insignificant. That was the one God chose. The foolish things of the world,
the weak things of the world. The person nobody thought,
of all these in that house, he would be the next king. He would be the anointed. Now, it sounds like it would
be a thrilling experience to be the anointed of God. To get a prophet to
come to your house and pour oil on your head. Maybe that part
wouldn't be exciting, but the idea that
you would be selected for a special plan of God. It sounds exciting. But for David, it
wasn't exciting. For David, it was exhausting. Though it sounds like it
would be an honor for David, it started out not as an
honor, but as a horror. Because he becomes
public enemy number one. He becomes a hunted individual. His entire life as
he knew it was over. His whole world gets turned
upside down as Saul, the King, makes him the one that
he wants destroyed. And he comes up with
plan after plan. No success. And it's because he knows
that his own time is up. He knows that God has chosen
this young man, David. And he wants to keep
the kingdom by force, not letting David take over. Well, we left chapter 23,
David fleeing from Saul. And we saw that he
went to En Gedi. That's the place we left David. Verse 29 of chapter 23. Then David went up from there
and dwelt in the strongholds at En Gedi. David is on the western shore
of the Dead Sea, the lowest place in the world. 1,290 feet below sea level. Anybody here ever been to
Death Valley, California? That's the lowest place
in the United States. Lower than that is the Dead Sea. Death Valley is
called Death Valley for a good reason, sort of
like why the Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea. There's not a lot of life there. And people who want to hang
out there in the summer better get used to 130
degree temperatures. Dead Sea. Death Valley. Very inhospitable place. Barren place. That's where David
goes, at En Gedi. You go, well, why
would he go there? Let me show you why in this
picture I took of En Gedi. That's the cue. There it is. Can you see that? That's an oasis in the
middle of the desert. That's En Gedi. As you climb up
this little canyon, you get to this
pool and waterfall and there are more beyond this. And so David had an oasis. He had water. It's a place with
lots of caves to hide. It's called En Gedi, which means
the spring of the wild goats because of this species of
ibex, this long horned animal called the Nubian ibex. There's hundreds, thousands
of them in the area, and that's where David
is fleeing from Saul. In this oasis of En Gedi. We always like to take our
groups there when we go. Verse 1, chapter 24. "Now it happened when
Saul had returned from following the
Philistines, a battle that he had to get engaged in,
that it was told him. Saying, 'Take note. David is in the
wilderness of En Gedi.' Then Saul took 3,000 men." Now David, he had 400,
now he has 600 men. "Saul takes 3,000 men, chosen
men from all of Israel, and went to seek
David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. "So he came to the
sheep folds by the road where there was a
cave," and there are caves all
throughout that area, "and Saul went in to
attend to his needs." There's different
translations of this. He went in to relieve himself. He went in to use the restroom. Nature called. So we went into the cave. Now look at what it is
says in parentheses. "David and his men were staying
in the recesses of the cave." So get the picture. David is outnumbered 5 to 1. 3,000 to 600. Saul brings his army to the
place where David is hiding. He doesn't know David is
in which cave he's in. But he tells his men, excuse me,
I need to go use the restroom. Now, that's a private matter. Even his own guard would not
follow him into the restroom. So it's like, give
me some privacy, I have to go relieve myself. Not knowing that there are
600 men in that restroom. Staying back in the
recesses of the caves. So it's a fun scene to look at. So he goes in. The men are in the
recesses of the caves. Now, this scene of
Saul in the cave, alone, this is the first
time that he is vulnerable. Up until now he's been
very well protected. He always has guards around him. He always has his
army around him. He's always been
on the offensive. Now, for the first time, he
is in darkness, in solitary. Alone. Completely open to attack. Completely vulnerable. You might look at
this-- his men do --as David's golden
opportunity to take vengeance. And if you're David and
in comes the man who has thrown his spear
at you a few times, tried to trick you and kill you
a number of different times, killed priests and family
members, 385 of them Josephus says, in
that town of Knob. When you see him
come in that cave, it'd be easy for your blood
to boil and you to see this as, OK, I'm going to exact
vengeance on this man. It'd be very easy
for that to happen, and his men will
encourage him to do that. The Bible says, in
the Book of Exodus, there's a law that is in Exodus
21 known as the Lex Talionis. Maybe you've heard
that term before. The Lex Talionis is
the law of retribution. God put it this way. You will take an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth, a limb for a limb. You're familiar with that law. Jesus referred to
that and said, you have heard that it was
said by those of old. An eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you,
love your enemies. So David could have said,
yep, he tried to take my life. I'm going to try and
succeed in taking his life. Vengeance comes naturally. Forgiveness comes
supernaturally. It's very easy to
see our opportunity to get even with somebody. I'll never forget a story
I heard about a maid who worked for a wealthy family
and for no reason, apparently, they fired the maid. She was dependent on
the job for her income. So she was very
disappointed when they just kind of willy-nilly
said you're gone, you're fired, you're out of here. So she reached into her
purse and took a $5 bill and called the dog and
threw it at the dog. And the family said, well,
what did you do that for? And she said I never
forget a kind favor. That's for all the times your
dog helped me wash your dishes. Now, that probably wasn't true,
but it was just an instant way to get gratification and
get some sort of relief for getting let go. Well that comes naturally. What David does only
come supernaturally. Then, verse 4. "The men of David
said to him, this is the day of which
the Lord said to you, behold I will deliver
your enemy into your hand that you may do to him
as seems good to you. And David arose and secretly cut
off a corner of Saul's robe." You'll notice that David's
men, who also were in the cave, nestled up against
those dark recesses, saw this and misinterpreted
this, misread the situation. They said, this has got to be
the Lord doing this, allowing you, giving you the opportunity
to kill the man who's killing the next King of Israel. Here's the man who's standing
in the way of the will of God. This is the Lord. Kill him. So they misread it. They misinterpreted
it as a sign from God. And, you know, I've run
into some Christians who look at life this way. They see everything
as a sign from God. And sometimes there are signs. Sometimes they just see
them when they're not there. Their car breaks
down, this is a sign that God wants me
to get a new car. Maybe. Probably not. Just get the thing fixed. Or, oh, that cute
girl smiled at me. She's the one that
I'm going to marry. Well, be careful. Don't see everything as
a sign from the Lord. They saw this as
a sign from God, delivering Saul
into David's hand. Now, David is in a
vulnerable position himself because he has to
make a decision. Here comes Saul, his enemy. Here's his men, counseling
him, saying see, this is God. You should do it. Exact vengeance on him. So David had his own feelings,
probably wanting to do it. Added to that, the pressure of
people telling him to do it. So it would be very easy to
give in to that kind of peer pressure and feelings that
well up inside of you. And that's why, when you
get counsel from people, you have to be careful. You ultimately make
your own decision. And you can go get
counsel from people but you still have to
make your own decision. But be very careful how you let
people's opinions or council weigh in or push
you to do something. Here's the case in point. Pontius Pilate knew
Jesus was innocent. Wanted to let him go. But it says in the
Gospel of Luke, but the voices of the people and
of the chief priests prevailed. Their pressure,
the peer pressure, moved Pilate just
a little bit more. Just to get it done and
get it off his plate so he didn't have to
deal with it anymore. So they said take his life. So David, instead
of taking his life, instead of cutting his
throat, he cut off his robe. Not his whole robe, but
just a little section of it, it says in verse 4. Now, what happened
afterward, as soon as David took that little-- cut
that little piece off, David's heart troubled him. You know, that's fascinating. If it said David cut his
throat, while Saul was bleeding, David's heart troubled
him, that would make sense. David just snipped off a
little corner of his robe and David is so sensitive. Oh, man. I just cut off a
piece of his clothing. I just find that fascinating. It happened afterwards. David's heart troubled him
because he had cut Saul's robe. "And he said to
his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this
thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my
hand against him, seeing that he is the anointed of the Lord. So David restrained his
servants with these words and did not allow them
to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the
cave and he went his way." So he has a tender heart. He's very sensitive. And let me say to you,
that's a good thing. It's good that you have
a tender conscience toward good and evil. Toward right and wrong. Paul the apostle
said I always strive to have my conscience
without offense before God and before men. And why is it good to
have a tender conscience? Because if you have
a tender conscience, taking from the company
a paperclip or a pen, taking it home. They don't need it. They got a lot of pens here,
I'll just take it home. If you can rationalize
that, down the road you might be able to rationalize
taking $1,000, $5,000, or more, without permission. See, one thing can
lead to another. So David does have
a tender conscience. And I think the key is to
not have an insensitive conscience, or an
oversensitive conscience, but to have a properly
sensitized conscience. Sensitized by God. Some people are insensitive. Their conscience,
nothing bothers them. The Bible speaks about
those whose conscience is seared with a hot iron. They're cauterized. They don't feel anymore. They see things, they do
things, are exposed to things. Doesn't bother them anymore. Other people have an overly
sensitive conscience. They're worried. They want to please
people because they might feel rejected, and
they're not secure in who they are before the Lord. But when your conscience is
in balance is a good thing. A conscience, as Paul
said, without offense before God and before men. So, verse 8. "David also arose afterward,
went out of the cave,". See, Saul went in, used the
facilities, so to speak. Left, not knowing David cut
off a piece of his robe. "So David also arose afterward,
went out of the cave, and called out to the King. Saying 'My Lord, the King.' And when Saul looked behind
him, David stooped with his face to the Earth and bowed down." First of all,
notice the respect. He's called the King,
who wants to kill him, The Lord's anointed. Then he says, "My Lord". Not "You creep". And then he bows down instead
of giving him out a rotten hand gesture or something like that. He bows down in reverence. He's respecting Saul. Why? Why respect the man who's living
apart from the will of God and wants to kill you? Why would David do this? I'm going to say something
that's going to sound glib. I don't think David liked Saul
but I do know he loved Saul. I know that's a very glib
thing to say, I don't like you but I love you, but this
is really true here. David understood that
your will can act independent of your feelings. That a choice that you
make, a choice of your will, can be very different
than how you feel. What I know should be done
is different than what I feel like I want to do. And that's, I think,
what you're seeing here. Remember what Jesus said. Once again, he said
love your enemies. You can only do that
by an act of your will. You can't love your enemies
if you go by your feelings because I don't think
you'll ever feel loving towards your enemies. So it has to be something you do
that contradicts how you feel. So that's a choice that
you make of your will. And so David is going
to be respectful. David refused to
let Saul change him. Saul was a certain way. It'd be easy to
say, well, if you're going to be that
way to me then I'm going to treat you this way. No. I'm not going to let what
you do change who I am. There was a man who worked
at an office building. He was on his way out and
he saw a woman coming in and he opened the door
for her so that she could enter the building. And she, being a modern
woman, turned to him and said don't open the door
just because I'm a woman. And he smiled politely
and said, no, ma'am, I'm opening the door for you
because I'm a gentleman. I'm going to treat you like this
because, Saul, I'm a gentleman. I'm the Lord's servant. I know what is right. I'm going to respect you, not
because of what you do to me, because if I did that I'd come
at you like a spider monkey, but I'm not going to do that. So he treated him
very respectfully. "David stooped with his face
to the Earth and bowed down. And David said to
Saul, 'Why do you listen to the words of
men who say, indeed, David seeks your harm? Look. This day, your eyes have seen
that the Lord delivered you, today, into my
hand, in the cave. And somebody urged
me to kill you. But my eyes spared you and I
said I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for
he is the Lord's anointed.'" Moreover, notice
what he calls him. My Father. Now, he was his Father-in-law,
but this is really a term of respect. "Moreover, my Father, see." And he held up the
little cloth that he had. "You see the corner of
your robe in my hand? For in that I cut off
the corner of your robe and did not kill
you, know and see that there is neither evil
nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not
sinned against you. Yet you hunt my
life to take it." It's noteworthy that David did
confront Saul with his sin. He was respectful. He didn't take his life. He did bow down, but he
could have just said, I'm going to leave
well enough alone. I'm just going to let
him go and move on. But he didn't do that. He didn't slink in
the back of the cave. He walked out and yelled
out to the King, who was some distance
away, presumably, and confronted him with,
not only what he had done, but what Saul had done to him. He confronted him with his sin. Jesus said if your brother sins
against you, go and tell him. And confront him. And if he listens to you,
you've gained your brother. So he was open
and he was honest. And that's important. It's important that if somebody
offends you, you tell them. An enemy will stab
you in the back. A friend will
carefully, lovingly, stab you in the front. Right? He'll confront you. He'll get in your grill and say
let me talk to you about this. This is troublesome. This is bothersome. Why would you say that? Because you're my friend. I'm not going to talk
about behind your back. I'm not going to
stab you in the back. But I'm going to stab
you carefully, lovingly, in the front. Right? Proverbs 27 says faithful
are the wounds of a friend. The kisses of an
enemy are deceitful. So he's not letting it ride. He is confronting him with it. Nathan will do that
to David later on. Nathan the prophet will come
to King David and say you are the man when David
commits adultery. Paul the apostle will do this
in the New Testament with Peter. He writes to the Galatians. And he said when Peter
was playing the hypocrite with the Gentiles before
the Jewish brethren, I confronted him. So love will do that. And just don't hold on to it. Get it out. And you go, I'm just
not good at doing it. I hate confrontation. Get good at it. Really. Let it be your friend. Get good. I had a friend tell
me that years ago. Let confrontation
become your friend. Not that you become
a confrontive person, but that you become
one who loves friends enough to check them on
things, to call them on things. That's healthy friendship. Look at verse 12. "Let the Lord judge
between you and me. And let the Lord
avenge me on you. But my hands shall
not be against you. As the proverb of
the ancients says, wickedness proceeds
from the wicked. But my hand shall
not be against you. "After whom has the
King of Israel come out? To whom do you
pursue, a dead dog?" That's what he's
referring to himself. Why are you after me? I'm like a dead dog. Not even that, I'm like a flea. Notice the next thing. A flea. I'm a flea on the dog. My dog has fleas. "Therefore, let the Lord judge,
and judge between you and me, and see, and plead my case, and
deliver me out of your hand." You'll notice in those
verses that David refuses personal retaliation
but he allows for providential retaliation. See what he says? I won't personally avenge you. Let the Lord judge
between you and me. My hands shall not
be against you. But he does say before that,
let the Lord avenge me on you. I'm going to leave
this up to God. I'm not going to be
the one who kills you. But if it is in the will of God
to rid you from off the Earth, so be it. You could take revenge against
somebody who has hurt you, or you could let
God take revenge if that's in his will to do. God has ways. And, by the way, God's way
better at it than you are. He's more creative than you are. I had a mentor, a
pastor, who said if you want to defend
yourself God will let you. If that's the person
you want to be, you're always defending yourself
and sticking up for yourself, let me explain,
God will let you. But sometimes you just let
it lie and leave it with God and let God be your defense. And, in this case,
David was right. I'm going to leave
this with God. He has 600 men telling
him get him, go for it. But David says to God, get him. Go for it if that's
in your will. "So it was when David had
finished speaking these words to Saul that Saul said, 'Is
this your voice, my son David?' And Saul lifted up
his voice and wept." Boy, this guy's a mess. (CRYING) Whoa, oh, David, oh. This is the King. He's addled. He's one burrito short
of a combo plate. He's just not functioning. He's not seeing right. He wants to kill David. Then David shows up
and he starts crying. Goes, is that you David? I love you man. Like a drunk. "And he said to David, 'You are
more righteous than I.'" Which is true. "For you have
rewarded me with good, whereas I have
rewarded you with evil. And you have sworn this day how
you have dealt well with me, for when the Lord delivered
me into your hand you did not kill me. For if a man flees his enemy,
will he let him get away safely? "Therefore, may
the Lord reward you with good for what you
have done to me this day. And now I know, indeed, that
you shall surely be King, and that the kingdom
of Israel shall be established in your hand." This is the first time
he makes this admission. Here's the King
of Israel wanting to kill David so David
can't be the King of Israel. But this King of
Israel is saying, David, I know you're in
the next King of Israel. God has showed it to me. He's going to establish
it in your hand. "Therefore, swear
now to me by the Lord that you will not cut off
my descendants after me. That you will not destroy my
name of my father's house. So David swore to Saul,
and Saul went home, but David and his men went
up to the stronghold." Do you remember a couple
of weeks ago, I think it was a couple of ago,
might have been last week, I'm not sure. But I told you that
the word for stronghold is the Hebrew word
metsudah or Masada. And I told you about
the fortress of Masada. So it's the same word here. So David went up to Masada. And if you know the geography
of around the Dead Sea, En Gedi is not far from
the fortress, Masada. So it could be that
he went back up to that same fortress of
Masada in fleeing from Saul after this little event. So David went to the stronghold. Retaliation costs. Reconciliation pays
huge dividends. David refused to take vengeance. Saul momentarily-- now,
it won't last long, but momentarily
confesses his sin. Confesses that
David is the King. So, the desire
for reconciliation is paying huge dividends. Where David's enemy
is at least verbally, temporarily, reaching out to
reconcile the relationship. It says in Proverbs chapter
16, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes
even his enemies to be at peace with him. It's a beautiful promise. When a man's ways
please the Lord, he makes even his enemies
to be at peace with him. Here is Saul, it
won't last, as I said, but he is temporarily
making peace with him. And that's what David wanted. David was trying to talk
him into this reconciliation process. If you have never read the
story of Corrie ten Boom, if you've never read The Hiding
Place, now it's an old book, but if you've never
read the story, read it. It will bless you. It'll encourage you. It's a true story about a
Dutch family who suffered in the concentration camp. Corrie ten Boom and
her sister were young and they were placed in
the concentration camp because her family housed
Jews during World War ll and they were
caught by the Nazis. She was mistreated in
the concentration camps. She was in two or three of them. And then, eventually,
the war ended. She was released. But she tells the
story in her book. She tells the story about years
after the war, a man coming up to her, putting his hand out,
saying, will you forgive me? And she looked into his eyes
and instantly recognized him as the prison guard in one
of the concentration camps. All sorts, she said,
all sorts of emotions rose within me at that moment. And here's the guy
with tears in his eyes, with his hand out saying,
will you forgive me? She said, mechanically, I
thrust my hand out and grabbed his hand. You know, I didn't want to do
it, but I did it mechanically. OK. And she grabbed
him and she goes, almost instantly I
was flooded, almost like with an electric shock,
a warmth that engulfed me. And she said, I have never
felt in my life the love of God as powerfully as I
did in that moment. She said I clutched his
hand for the longest time and I stared into his eyes. Here is the former inmate
and the former prison guard. And then she said, forgiveness
sets the captives free. And I discovered that
I was the prisoner. I was the one that
needed to be set free. He was wanting forgiveness
so he could be set free. But I realize I
needed to be set free. And she said the
love of God overcame. Because she said that
I realized that my will can act independent of
the feelings of my heart. And she said, brother,
I forgive you. Called him brother. And they had a warm embrace
and it's a beautiful story of forgiveness. So that's in David's heart. And it seems like
it's in Saul's heart, but again, it won't last. You'll see. Chapter 25, verse 1. "Then Samuel died and the
Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and
buried him at his home in Rama, and David arose and went down
to the wilderness of Paran." In verse 1 you have
a one verse obituary for Samuel the prophet. It's very, very short. That's the only thing that
came out in the papers. Today Samuel died. And we buried him in
Rama where he lived. Very, very short obituary. But it's noteworthy
because Samuel was the last judge of Israel
and the first prophet of Israel. He was in that shoulder season. He was that young boy,
dedicated by his mother at the tabernacle,
who served the Lord under Eli the high priest. And it's hard when these
giants of the faith pass on. I remember when I
was younger and I remember thinking it's
going to be difficult for me when three men that
have influenced my life pass from the scene. And I thought of their names. My pastor, Chuck Smith. The man who led me to
Christ, Dr. Billy Graham. And the governor of my state who
became president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Three giants. I said, I know
that when they pass that is going to
mean the transition of an incredible era. So it was with Samuel. When Samuel passed
from the scene, it was the removal of
an incredible era kept, by a man of God,
faithful to preach the word of God uncompromising. And now he was gone. And he is buried. Beginning in verse
2, and we'll try to move through this
rather rapidly because it's sort of a long story. This is the story of what some
call the Beauty and the Beast. Not the Disney
Beauty and the Beast, but this is a man by the
name of Nabal and his wife by the name of Abigail. He was the beast. Nabal was the
beast, the husband. His wife, Abigail,
was the beauty. She had beauty,
and brains as well. And very, very different
from one another. Verse 2. "Now there was a man in Maon
whose business was in Carmel." Now, this Carmel is
not Mount Carmel. If you've been to
Israel, that's what you're thinking of right now. But there was a
Carmel down south. Just south of Hebron up in the
Judean foothills called Carmel. That's where they were. And it says, "The
man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep, 1,000 goats. He was shearing his
sheep in Carmel. And the name of
the man was Nabal." Now Nabal I doubt was the
name his parents gave him. Nabal, I believe, was a nickname
that got attached to him and it just sort of stuck. Because the word Nabal is a
Hebrew word for fool or folly. I doubt any parent would
have their baby boy born and go, oh, look at that. Let's name him fool. Probably didn't happen. So I tend to lean that
it was a nickname. It got attached to him. He just had that reputation. He lived up to it. "And the name of his
wife was Abigail. Notice that she was a
woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance, but
the man was harsh and evil in his doings, and he was
of the House of Caleb." So you couldn't have
two more opposite people getting married. A bad man with big bucks,
and a beautiful gal with beauty and brains. They do say opposites attract. And I honestly have been amazed
when I meet certain couples and I just go, wow. You know? That guy is just such a-- Well, we'll leave it at that. And yet his wife's so gracious,
and so sweet, and so beautiful. But he's like a nerd and
he's just kind of crass. How did they ever get together? Well, opposites do attract. And when you marry
somebody you really have no guarantee how that
marriage is going to progress and how he or she
is going to end up. I mean, Jobe married Mrs. Jobe. And when he got sick her
advice was curse God and die. I doubt she talked like
that when they got married. Something had to
attract her to him. You know Socrates
is interesting. Socrates, they say, had
a really bad marriage. He had a contentious wife. And he said to his students,
he said, by all means, marry. If you find a good wife you'll
become very, very happy. If you get a bad wife
you'll become a philosopher. And, of course, he was
a known philosopher. So Nabal and Abigail. "When David," verse 4,
"heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his
sheep, David sent 10 young men. And David said to the young
men, 'Go up to Carmel, to Nabal. Greet him by name. And you shall say to him who
lives in prosperity, peace be to you. Peace to your house. Peace to all that you have." Shalom, shalom, shalom. "Now I have heard that
you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us
and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything
missing from them all the while they were in Carmel." Now, 3,000 sheep in
sheep shearing times would produce lots of
fleece and lots of fun. Typically a sheep shearing
event was a time of festivities. It was a happy moment. It's a time of celebration. Typically a person that
had that many sheep would give some of the wool
away to friends and neighbors. And in this case, protectors
like David's army. David's 600 men had
protected the shepherds, that's the reference
here, in a previous time. It would be a way to say,
I'm thanking God for all that he has done. Please, take some of
the wool for yourselves so you can make your
own woolen clothes. And let's sacrifice a lamb. You can have some of the food. It was very typical to share
it with friends and family, with neighbors. Sort of like, in ancient
times in our country, a barn raising event
where you have neighbors that get together to build
a barn, or restore a barn, for one person or one family,
and raise it up together as a community. It was a community event. David knew that and
said, hey, 600 men. It's hard to keep them
fed, especially out here in the wilderness. So let's kind of get
our fee for protecting Nabal and his shepherds. So verse 8, "Ask your young
men and they will tell you. Therefore, let my young
men find favor in your eyes for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever
comes to your hand and your servants
to your son David. So when David's
young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to
all these words in the name of David and waited." And they expected to get
wool and food and hugs. And just the great grace
and favor of these hosts. But look at verse 10. "Then, fool," Nabal, "answered
David's servants and said 'Who is David?'" Now, everybody knew David. Saul made sure
everybody knew David. Every city that harbored
him knew about David. News was all around that Saul
was trying to kill David. He goes, who's David? "And who is the son of Jesse? There are many
servants, nowadays, who break away each
from his master. Shall I then take my bread,
and my water, and my meat that I have killed
for my shares, and give it to the men whom I
do not know where they're from? "So David's young men turned
on their heels, went back. And they came and told
David all these words David said to his man. Every man girt on his sword. So every man girded
on his sword, and David also
girded on his sword." About 400 men went with David. So David now has an army
ready for battle, 400 of them. "And 200 stayed
with the supplies." So David goes ballistic. It's like, OK,
put your sword on. Let's kill them. And you'll see, their intention
is to kill every male of Nabal. Now wait, wait, wait, wait. What just happened
with King Saul? He felt guilty cutting off-- Oh, I can't take his robe. Oh, I just cut off
and, oh, I feel so bad. Kill them. He goes nuts here. He goes ballistic. I want you to see
this because David is a man after God's own heart,
but sometimes David's heart was pretty dark. And I've told you before, I said
it on a couple of occasions, that even the best of
men are men at best. And even God's choice servants
have these low, dark moments where they just kind of lose it. And here's one for David. He's like, kill them all. This is overkill. It's like throwing a bomb in
a subway to kill the rats. That's overkill. There's a lot better
ways to get the rat. So we have two beasts
now in this chapter. Nabal, the hard headed man. David, the hotheaded man. One wants to kill the other. Verse 14. "One of the young
men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying,
look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet
our master and he reviled them. But the men were very good
to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as
long as we accompanied them when we were in the field." Speaking of that
previous incident where they were protected. "They were a wall to us,
both by night and day, all the time we were with
them keeping the sheep. Now, therefore,
know and consider what you will do,"
They say to Abigail, "for harm is determined
against our master, and against all his household,
for he is such a scoundrel." Now, literally, it's,
"He's a son of Belial." He's the son of the devil. This is translated to scoundrel. I think that's an easy way
out of the translation. And it says that "One
cannot speak to him." Now that is a mark
of a foolish person. A foolish man will
not be open to advice. You're dealing with a fool
when you say, oh, I can't even approach him. I can't even talk to him. That's a foolish man who won't
let people in to counsel them or talk to them. "And Abigail made haste and
took 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five
sheep already dressed, 5 seahs of roasted grain,
100 clusters of raisins, 200 cakes of figs, and
loaded them on donkeys. And she said to her
servants, 'Go on before me. I'm coming after you.' But she did not tell
her husband," Mr. Fool. "So it was, as she
rode on the donkey, that she went down
under cover of the hill and there were David and his
men coming down toward her and she met them." Now you have two caravans. One is a caravan of retaliation. That's David. And the other is a
caravan of reconciliation. That's Abigail. She brings food,
she brings supplies, she's going to humble herself
and try to fix the situation. "Now David had said,
'Surely in vain, I have protected all that this
fellow has in the wilderness so that nothing was missed
of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid
me evil for good. May God do so and more also to
the enemies of David if I leave one male of all who belong
to him by morning light.' "When Abigail saw
David she hastened to dismount from the donkey,
fell on her face before David, and bowed to the ground. So she fell at his
feet and said 'On me, my Lord, let this iniquity be. And please let your maid servant
speak in your ears and hear the words of your
maid servant.'" She comes very humbly, calling
David "My Lord" seven times, referring to herself as
"maid servant" 6 times. "Please, let not my Lord
regard this scoundrel, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and
folly is with him. But I, your maid
servant, did not see the young men of
my Lord whom you sent. Now therefore, my
Lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives since
the Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed
and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then
let your enemies and those who seek harm from
my Lord be as Nabal. "And now this present,
which your maid servant has brought to my Lord, let it
be given to the young men who follow my Lord. Please, forgive the trespass
of your maid servant." Now, she did nothing wrong. But she states that she
is part of the problem because her job is
hospitality and she didn't know anything about it. "For the Lord will
certainly make for my Lord an enduring house
because my Lord fights the battles of the Lord,
and evil is not found in you throughout all of your days." I know you're going
to be the next King. That's a statement
of affirmation. "Yet a man has risen to pursue
you and seek your life." That's referring to Saul. "But the life of
my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the
living with the Lord, your God. "And the lives of your
enemies he shall sling out as from the pocket of a sling. And it shall come to pass when
the Lord has done for my Lord, according to all the good that
he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you
ruler over Israel, that this will be
no grief to you, nor offensive heart
to my Lord, either, that you have shed
blood without cause, or that my Lord has
avenged himself. But when the Lord has
dealt well with my Lord then remember your maid servant. "And David said to
Abigail, 'blessed be the Lord God of Israel who
sent you this day to meet me. And blessed is your advice. And blessed are you
because you have kept me this day from
coming to bloodshed and from avenging
myself with my own hand. For indeed, as the Lord God of
Israel lives who kept me back from hurting you, unless you had
hastened and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males
would have been left to Nabal.' "So David received
from her hand what she brought him and
she said to him go up in peace to your house-- and he said to her, 'Go
up in peace to your house. See I have heeded your voice
and respected your person." Now here you have
a great example of the proverb that
says life and death are in the power of the tongue. Her words brought
life to a situation that would have ended in death
for all of the males of Nabal. "Then Abigail went
to Nabal," verse 36, let's just finish this out. We can pick up a few
pieces of it next week. "Abigail went to
Nabal, her husband, and there he was holding
a feast in his house like the feast of a King. And Nabal's heart
was merry within him for he was very drunk." This guy really is foolish. He's watching Monday night
chariot races with his buddies, getting drunk. Totally oblivious to
the impending doom that's coming upon him. He's very drunk. Therefore she told
him nothing little or much until morning light. You don't talk to
somebody who's drunk. (SLURRING) Hey, sweetheart. How are you? Well let me tell you,
Nabal, what just happened. (SLURRING) Really? That's awesome. He won't remember it. "So it was in the
morning, when the wine had gone from Nabal," poor
guy with a hangover now, "and his wife told
him these things, that his heart died within him,
and he became like a stone." Apparently he had a stroke. And he'll be in a
coma for 10 days. It happened, after
about 10 days, that the Lord struck
Nabal and he died. Now watch this. "When David heard the
Nabal was dead he said, 'blessed be the Lord,'" Hey, did you hear? Nabal died. Praise God. "'who has pleaded my cause of my
reproach from the hand of Nabal and kept his servant from
evil, for the Lord has returned the wickedness of
Nabal on his own head.' And David sent and
proposed to Abigail to take her as his wife." More about that next time. "And when the servants of David
had come to Abigail at Carmel, they spoke to her saying 'David
sent us to you to ask you to become his wife.' Then she arose, bowed
her face to the Earth, and said here's
your maid servant. A servant to wash the feet
of the servants of my Lord. "And Abigail rose in haste,
rode on a donkey attended by five of her maidens, and
she followed the messengers of David and became his wife. David also took
Ahinoam of Jezreel." So both of them were his wives. Again, I'm going to talk
about that next time. We're out of time tonight. "But Saul had given Michal." that is his previous
wife, his daughter. "David's wife, to Palti, the son
of Laish, who is from Gallim." And we'll complete
that story later on when we get to it later on. Here's what I want
to close with. This woman, in her
advice, kept David from doing something
he would regret. Don't do it, David. Don't kill my husband
and all the males. Because I know you're going to
be King, and when you're King you don't want to look back
with regret to something that you did. You don't want this to
be a blot on your record. And it is good advice. Make choices now that you
will not live to regret. If you go according
to your feelings, if you move out hastily, so
often you live to regret it. And you want to be
able to look back at your life with no regrets. You've done
everything you could, humanly speaking,
before the Lord so that you don't live
with these regrets. And I'll tell you this. If you live for God completely,
you'll never regret it. If you give your
life to Jesus Christ, and turn to him in repentance,
you'll never forget it. And you'll never regret it. You'll never live
to regret that. You won't die on
your death going, I feel so bad that I
gave my life to Christ and all my sins are forgiven
and I'm about to enter heaven. Man, I really regret that. You'll never say that. But you will say that if you
don't give your life to Christ and follow the Lord
authentically, wholeheartedly. If you're here, possibly
you've never done that. Or you need to turn back to him. I'm going to give you that
opportunity now as we pray. Let's pray together. Father our lives, our heads,
our hearts are bowed before you. We are your servants. We are imperfect servants. We have chosen to be here. We have made choices
that our lives would be used by you, for you,
poured out for your glory. But Lord, perhaps some have not
surrendered their lives fully to Christ. They're not living
with forgiven sin. They're living in sin. They've never had their
lives washed clean. They've never been
liberated from that bondage of self and sin. And they know it. Lord, I pray that you will
release those shackles. I pray that they would
make a decision tonight that they will never regret. A decision to walk into
eternity forgiven, cleansed, a child, a son, or a
daughter of the living God. We know it comes by faith. We know that salvation
is a free gift of God. All we have to do is receive
it as many have received Jesus, your word says. To them, God gave
the power, the right, to become children of God. To those that
believe in his name. I pray for anyone
who might be here, or watching, or
listening on radio, or watching on their
devices, who've never given their life to Christ
or need to turn back to you. I pray they would
do it right now. If you are in this auditorium
and you've never done it, or if you're outside
in the amphitheater and you've never done it, or you
need to come back to the Lord, I want you to raise
your hand right now. Raise it up in the air so
I can just acknowledge you. As you raised your hand you're
saying, Skip, pray for me. God bless you. Anyone else? Just raise your hand
if you're saying, I'm giving my life
to Christ tonight. Or, I'm coming back
to the Lord tonight. God bless you, toward the back. Anybody else in the auditorium. If you're outside
raise your hand. Please, there is a
pastor out there as well. Raise your hand up. Father, we pray that you will
do a great work of salvation, of forgiveness, restoring that
person's life and heart back to you. In relationship in Jesus's name. Amen. Let's all stand to our feet. Now, we're going to sing a song. And as we sing
the song I'm going to ask you to do
something boldly. I saw a few hands go up. I'm going to ask you to get
up from where you're standing, and those of you outside as
well, if you raised your hand, I want you to get up and join
the ones who are coming forward in this auditorium. So if you raised your
hand, as we sing, would you please step forward? I'm going to lead you
publicly in a prayer to receive Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior. We do this to encourage
you, not to embarrass you. You raised your hand,
get up and come. Let's seal the deal. Make it your own, make it real. Make your decision tonight. God bless you. Come on. Come on down. Yes, God bless you. Come and stand right here. If you're outside you
get up and come as well. Raise your hand and let the
pastor out there walk you in. (SINGING) Where the spirit of
the Lord is there is freedom. Where the spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom, there is freedom. That's right. That's right. (SINGING) Where the spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom, there is freedom. Come out of the dark, just
as you are, into the fullness of His love. Oh, the Spirit is here,
let there be freedom. We're going to give it just
a little bit more time. I know how this works, sometimes
we're a little bit skittish. But let these who have
come forward encourage you, as you saw them come. Some of you know that
you need to be up here. You need to get your
life right with God. It hasn't been. Haven't been walking
in His will and you are sensing the tug of the Spirit. Get up and come. Again, if you're
outside let a pastor walk you right into these doors. (SINGING) With the spirit of
the Lord there is freedom, there is freedom. Where the spirit of the
Lord is there is freedom, there is freedom. God bless you. Just as you are, into
the fullness of His love. Oh, the Spirit is here,
let there be freedom. Just want to say to those of
you who have come forward, don't be ashamed. You're about to be forgiven
by a gracious God who loves you more than
words can express, who poured out his life
blood on a cross for you, and he welcomes
you with open arms, as do we, into his family. So I'm going to lead
you in a prayer. If you came forward, would
you say this prayer out loud after me? Mean these words
from your heart. Say Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe he died on a cross. I believe he shed
his blood for me. I believe he rose
from the grave. I turn from my sin. I repent of my past. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to follow him as my Lord. Help me. In Jesus's name. Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us from
this teaching in our series Expound.
