1 Samuel 24-25 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] is never tell me [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] so much [Music] is is [Music] there's much better [Music] [Music] much better [Music] is [Music] much better than anything you've seen it's know it's better [Music] keeps on getting better every day [Music] is [Music] so much better [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] would you stand and sing with us we're so glad that you're here come on scripture says where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom so we want to sing out of you tonight we pray there be freedom from chains in this room here we go [Music] step out of the shadows step out of the grave come on you're alive and break into the wild and don't be afraid run into wide open spaces graces waiting for you and dance like the weight has been lifted grace is waiting where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom there is freedom 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 or the spirit is here let there be freedom let there be freedoms [Music] bring all your burdens bring all of your scars come back to communion come back to the start we run i run into wide open spaces graces waiting for you so dance like the weight has been lifted grace is waiting there [Music] let there be freedom [Music] i see freedom in this place chains will fall sing and chains will fall and prisons shake at the sound of jesus name and lives made old hearts awake at the sound of jesus name and chains will fall present shake at the sound of jesus name [Music] the sound of jesus [Music] come out of the dark just as you are into the fullness of israel oh the spirit is be here [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] open wide blinded eyes giants fall dead men rise sickness healed at the mention of you [Music] breaking free miracles still happening i see mountains move [Music] the power of the great [Music] breaking free miracles still happening nothing is impossible with you know [Music] is jesus [Music] jesus reaching out [Music] is reaching out [Music] but jesus amen [Music] jesus is jesus no other day [Music] amen can we give him a shot of praise tonight [Music] i love you lord for your mercy never fails me all my days i've been held in your head from the moment that i wake up and telling my head oh i will sing of the goodness of god all my life you have been paid [Music] [Music] of the goodness of god me through the amen and in darkest nights you were close like no other i've known you as a father i've known you as afraid and i have been in the goodness of god [Music] and all my life you have been so good [Music] oh your goodness is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] your goodness all my is you have been faithful and all my life you have been so good of the goodness of god [Music] oh [Music] i'm gonna is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] when can we just be honest before the lord tonight i've been strong and i've been broken within a moment i've been faithful and i've been reckless at every bend i've held everything together then watched it chatter i've stood tall and i have crumbled in the sea [Music] i have wrestled and i have trembled towards surrender chased my heart adrift and drifted home again [Music] plunder blessings alive and desperate to find redemption and every time i turn around lord you're still i was found before i was lost i was yours before i was not there's grace to spare for all my mistakes when that part just [Music] i don't deserve this kind of love but some how this kind of love is who you are it's a grace i could never ride to be somebody you still want but somehow you love me as you find me we grateful tonight that's true he loves us right where he finds us [Music] if this bar of breath is yours lord take it all you are faithful and you are gracious and i'm just grateful i was before i was lost [Music] i was yours before i was not this grace to spare for all my mistakes and thou purchased me and i know [Music] this kind of love is who you are it's a grace i could never ride to be somebody you still want but somehow you love me as you find me [Music] you love me as you find me i know it's true you love me as you find me and i don't deserve it i don't you love me as you find me [Music] me cause i need your your love's too good cause i need [Music] me foreign [Music] i don't deserve this kind of love but some how this kind of love is who you are it's a grace i could never have to be somebody you [Music] you love [Applause] me [Music] if you want my heart then i [Music] your love's too good to leave [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] leave me [Music] [Applause] [Music] here i'm down on my knees again surrendering coursing them surrendering and find me lord as you draw me me i'm desperate for you oh i'm desperate for you i surrendered [Music] oh [Music] my soul is mercy and grace unfold hunger and thirst [Music] with arms stretched wide i know you hear my cry speak to me now won't you speak to me now when i surrender i surrender i surrender i wanna know i wanna know you more i wanna know you more i surrendered i surrendered i wanna know you more i wanna know you more [Music] [Music] jesus breathed with it lord have you wait lord have your way in me like [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] stir within my [Music] we cry out [Music] jesus breathed with this is [Music] me [Music] asari i wanna know you more i wanna know you more i wanna know you come on can we snap together i surrender come on truly believe it today i surrender i wanna know [Music] i [Music] i want to know you that's all we more that's all we need oh give me a little bit of praise in this place thank you jesus [Music] thank you came to church tonight thank you so much for coming would you greet each other before you seated and then turn your attention to screens david now realizes because of my sin because of my folly my sin has affected other people and it's always that way it's always true your actions always affect other people for better or for worse good actions bad actions you never sin you never do anything in an isolated in as an island you always affect others so david realize that we should realize that god said to the first humans on the earth in the day that you eat thereof of that tree you will surely die death entered the human race on that day in romans 3 we're told the wages of sin is death good evening i am so glad to be with like-minded people glad you are in this place glad to worship the lord together with you glad to study god's word together with you a quick announcement on the 22nd of this month which is a wednesday night joel rosenberg is going to be with us from jerusalem i mean live he's in country now he's in washington dc i spoke with him today joel has written an interesting book called enemies and allies and it couldn't be more contemporary of all the people i know that speak about prophecy or things in the middle east joel to me is not not only in the know but he's in the now he knows what's happening now prophetically where we are as a country a world especially things in the middle east he lives in jerusalem he has interviewed leaders from presidents to prime ministers to kings and princes and so he's going to be with us and if you want to find out where we are kind of prophetically in the calendar especially with what's happening in afghanistan joel is a must must see in here so he'll be with us that wednesday night speaking of friends i have a friend sitting in the front row that i've known for many years dennis zec dennis stand up let people see what a true hippie looks like [Applause] so dennis dennis come on up it's okay you're barefoot and everything you are such a hippie so i did that like i wasn't 60. i know it that's are you 60 3. 63. wow good for you to be your brother okay good um dennis has done a um he's been all over the world with what he calls ministry through mystery and uh he's done stuff here at the church and stuff for our kids done stuff on the mission field dennis in a nutshell tell us what you do and then afterwards people can say hi to you not that they couldn't if you didn't tell them what you do but yeah they'll want to do they'll want to say hi to you if you tell them what you do yes i deceive people and they get saved right right okay what han real quick what hand is it in it's right there you make a fist you pull and you get one of these it's real simple you push it back in with all your different fingers now no one can blink and you all have to blink at the same time you throw it in the air you catch it it flies through the air and ends up over on this side kind of sort of like i think it's there oh this it gets so small it's right there wow here's the cool thing here's the cool it cost a dollar fifty i'm just good at it i can get anybody's attention at any time and then you tell them about jesus the world is falling apart and anybody will talk to you right now about something being here's my new motto new motto be informed fight evil with love tell everybody about jesus so please i'm on the road for a month hit it up that way i appreciate your prayers and we just want to tell people about jesus read the shirt all right he didn't know i was going to call him up he just pulled that out you just did that that quick that's so good okay turn in your bibles please to the book of first samuel chapter 24. settle in we're going to be here for oh almost an hour i'm going to open up in a prayer in a moment if you think if you're visiting you think an hour in the bible in the old testament i don't know if i can handle that um okay 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 so 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 okay 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 to gather 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 what paul referred to as the foolish things of this world the weak things of this world for that we give you glory i pray that you would open our hearts in jesus 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 first 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 eliav 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 while we left in chapter 23 david fleeing from saul and we saw that he went to n getty 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 getty 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 eden getty you go why would he go there let me show you why in this picture i took of in getty that's the cue there it is okay you see that that's an oasis in the middle of the desert that's in getty as you 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 engetti which means the 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 salt in this oasis of engetti we always like to take our our groups there when we go now it happened 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 end getty then saul took three thousand men now david has 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 sheepfolds 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 that's um there's different translations of this he went in to relieve himself he went in to use the restroom you know nature called so he went into the cave now look look at what it says in parenthesis david and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave so get the picture david is outnumbered five to one three thousand to six hundred 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 uh 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 in the recesses of the caves so it's it's um it's it's a fun scene to look at so he goes in the men are in the recesses of the caves now this 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's 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 and in comes the man who has thrown his spirit 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 nob when you see him come in that cave it'd be easy for your blood to boil and you to see this as okay i'm gonna i'm gonna exact vengeance on this man 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've 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 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 five dollar bill 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 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 comes 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 as a sign from god and you know i've 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 you know their car breaks down oh 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 gonna 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 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 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 counsel 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 this plate so we 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 just not his whole rope just a little section of it it says in verse four 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 when 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 he goes 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 paper clip or a pen taking it home they don't need they gotta love pins here i'll just take it home if you can rationalize that down the road you might be able to rationalize taking thousand dollars five thousand dollars 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 over sensitive 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 they want to please people because you know 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 is 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 facility 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 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 like giving him a rotten hand gesture or something like that he he bows down in reverence he's 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 you your will can 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 than what i feel like i want to do and that's i think what 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 toward 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 is 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 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 paul i'm a gentleman i'm the lord 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 i'd come at you like 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 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 who 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 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 um an enemy will stab you in the back a friend will carefully loving you lovingly stab you in the front right he'll confront you will get in your grill say let me let me let me talk to you about this this is troublesome this is bothersome why would you say that because i because you're my friend i'm not going to talk about you 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 i think 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 when uh peter was playing the hypocrite with the gentiles with before the jewish brethren i confronted him so love will do that you know just don't hold on to it get it out you go hi i'm just not good at doing 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 hand shall not be against you as the proverb of the ancient 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 just a 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 hand shall not be against you but that 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 know 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 you 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 david this is the king he's he's he's adult 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 hey 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 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 you remember a couple weeks ago i think it was a couple weeks ago might have been last week i'm not sure but i told you that the word for stronghold is the hebrew word metsuda 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 and getty is not far from the fortress masada so it could be that he went back up to that same fortress of masada uh in fleeing from saul um 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 the desire for reconciliation is paying huge dividends where david's enemy is 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 hear us all 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 corey 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 corey ten boom and her sister were young and they were placed in the concentration camp because her family housed jews during world war ii 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 well 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 okay and she grabbed his 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 you know he was wanting forgiveness so he could be set free but i realized i needed to be set free and she said the love of god overcame because she said that i realize 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 what day 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 ramah and david arose and went down to the wilderness of iran in verse 1 you have a one verse obituary for samuel the prophet it's very very short it's that's the only thing that came out in the papers today samuel died and we buried him in ramah 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 i remember thinking it's going to be difficult for me when three men that have influenced my life passed 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 and so it was with samuel when samuel passed from the scene it was 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 two 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 two now there was a man in my own 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 caramel 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 three thousand sheep a thousand 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 i tend to lean that it was a nickname he 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 you know 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's just such a won't believe it at that and yet his wife's so gracious and so sweet and so beautiful but he's like a a nerd and he's you know just kind of crass and how did they ever get together well opposites do attract and when you marry somebody you really have no guarantee how that marriage is gonna progress and and how he or she is gonna end up i mean job married mrs job and when he got sick her advice was curse god and die i 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 uh and he said to his students he said by all means mary 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 sharing 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 three thousand 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 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 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 take let's 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 uh 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 you know 600 men it's hard to keep them fed especially out here in the wilderness so um let's kind of get our our our fee for protecting nabal and his shepherds so verse eight 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 shears 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 gird 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 okay put your sword on let's kill them and you'll see their intention is to kill every male of nabal no no no wait wait wait wait what just happened with king saul you know he felt guilty cutting off oh i can't take his robe oh i just cut off oh i feel so bad kill him he goes nuts here he goes ballistic i want you to see this because david was 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 and and here's one for david you know he's like killed them all you know it's this is overkill you know it's like um throwing a rat in a sub uh throwing a bomb in a subway to kill the rats that's overkill there's a lot of ways a lot of better ways to get the rat so we have two beasts now in this chapter nabal the hard-headed man david the hot-headed man one wants to kill the other so 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 instant incident where they were protected they were a wall to us both by night and day all the time keeping 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 a son of the devil um this is translated scoundrel i think that's a 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 with that 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 five seas 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 wrote 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 maidservants speak in your ears and hear the words of your maidservant she comes very humbly calling david my lord seven times referring to herself as maidservant six 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 maidservant 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 for my lord be his nabal and now this present which your maidservant has brought to my lord let it be given to the young men who follow my lord please forgive the trespass of your maidservant now she did nothing wrong but she is becoming 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 maidservant then 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 indeed 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 you know 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 like you could you don't you don't talk to somebody who's drunk hey here how are you well let me tell you nabal what just happened really he'll won't remember 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 that nabal was dead he said blessed be the lord hey did you hear nebal 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 in 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 and she arose about her face of the earth and said here's your maidservant a servant who washed 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 me cal that is his previous wife his daughter david's wife to palti the son of laish who is from golem and we'll complete that story later on when we 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 now 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 into repentance you'll never forget it and you'll never regret it you'll never live to regret that you won't die in your death by going i 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 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 as received jesus your word says to them god gave the power the right to become children of god to those who 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 were 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 because you raise 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 name amen let's all stand to our feet now we're going to sing a song and as we sing this song i'm going to ask you to do something boldly i saw a couple have few hands go up i'm going to ask you to get it from where you're standing and those of you outside as well if you raise your hand i want you to get up and join the ones who are coming forward in this auditorium so if you raise 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 raise your hand get up and come let's seal the deal make it your own make it real make it 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 i'll let the pastor out there walk you in [Music] [Music] [Music] we're gonna 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 you haven't been walking in as well and you are sensing the tug of the spirit get up and come again if you're outside let a let a pastor walk you right into these doors [Music] there is freedom is [Music] [Music] just want to say to those of you 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 name amen and congratulations now everyone who has come forward follow me [Music] [Music] made [Music] there is free is god bless you all we're so glad you came to join us tonight we're praying for you and we'll see you back here this weekend [Music] you

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

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Id: iG-NekiVu78

Length: 114min 4sec (6844 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021