1 Samuel 26-27 | Skip Heitzig

[Music] 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 we are in our trek through scripture we are in 1st samuel chapter 26 26. let's turn on our bibles we'll get ready for that if you're new to wednesday nights welcome tell you what it is very simple um welcome to our living room our large living room we study the scriptures together verse by verse book by book chapter by chapter book by book i've been through the bible now three or four or five times with this church and um people say well um how many churches have you pastored i probably have pastored 20 or 30 in one place because people move they are here a while they move on they go to different cities they go to heaven new generations are born i dedicate children who have me dedicate their children so we're just marching toward heaven and in the meantime studying the scriptures to find out what we should do until we get there so we find ourselves in one of the most influential and consequential lives ever lived that is the life of david king david david who was a shepherd and then a poet and then a psalmist then a warrior then a builder then a king so one of the great lives of scripture one of the great most influential people ever who have lived and we are almost through first samuel then we'll go back to the new testament then we'll go back to the old testament so if you're new that's what we're doing we're going verse by verse to the scripture um we're going to pray in a moment if you don't think you're able to sit here for an entire hour understood i mean look it's like really a bible study like for an hour i mean five minutes 10 minutes is okay but an hour so if you're thinking that way and you're freaking out when i mention that we're going to bow our heads close our eyes we're going to pray during that time you could move to the very back so that if you like 10 minutes down the road go okay i'm out of here not a problem because nobody will see you if however you get up in the middle of the study and and meander out then all the attention goes to you instead of the holy spirit's attention on the word and um you know we're not going to like tackle you or anything but but we're going to want to no i'm just kidding but just to to save all that just thought we'd warn you as we begin let's pray father thank you for this ability to gather together in the middle of our week to take a break from work from commitments from deadlines from planning and to be able to intentionally purposefully hear your voice through the scriptures to take a swath of scripture so that as a church we might learn together and literally be on the same page when it comes to eternal truth i pray that you will direct us individually but also that you will direct us as your community in this community that we would know what to do we might know how to live we might know how to present you faithfully lovingly powerfully in jesus name amen an author by the name of galen anderson wrote something i wanted to begin with he said a man's life is either like a tumbleweed or an oak tree some people just grow like a weed they're of no value in their youth and as the years of life come they break loose and become a blotch on society they have no useful purpose in life just drifters their loved ones will mourn their loss but society will not miss them then there are those whose lives are like the oak they have turned from the frivolity of this life and have invested in things that have genuine worth their influence for good will live on in the lives of others after they are gone their death is noticed because their lives were spent bettering the nation and the community they will be missed now think of that and ask yourself the simple question which am i like am i a tumbleweed or an oak tree we are studying the difference between king saul and king to be david saul really was sort of blowing through the nation like a tumbleweed making his mark sort of but the people will be glad and the nation will be better and at rest when he's passed off the scene david on the other hand greatly influential contributes greatly and goes down in history so importantly that our messiah our christ our lord is called the son of david not only because literally he is of the offspring of david but that name carried weight with it even though david himself was not a perfect man as we have and will see over the course of our study david was more like the oak tree saul was more like the tumbleweed yet as we saw last week david struggled with david he had his slow moments he almost killed nabal that was last week's study chapter 25. nabal was the guy who owned all those sheep and was sharing his sheep david's men had protected him in the wilderness david thought nabal should give him some payback like some food some grub some some wool for his troops his 600 men nabal said get out of here i don't care who you are so david went ballistic and threatened to kill every single male that worked for nabal just killed them all i mean he went all al qaeda on him like i'm i'm just you know wipe you out what's interesting is that he did not do that with king saul in chapter 24 the chapter before that when in in getty in that cave we told you about and you can see when you go on a tour with us to israel where david was hiding with his men when saul walked in and his men said there he is he's vulnerable kill him david goes i can't i can't touch the lord's anointed i'm not going to do it and he cut off a little piece of saul's robe and felt guilty about cutting off a piece of saul's robe oh man i've sinned against the lord's anointed i i cut off a piece of his shorts or his pants or his coat whatever it might be the hem of his garment yet when it comes to naval he has no problem at all killing nabal and everybody else for that infraction so that's why i say like jekyll and hyde he is strug struggling with himself david is struggling with david i can't tell you exactly why he would be forgiving to saul and so filled with anger and animosity toward nabal except and here's here's my take on it i really think david believed that he could turn saul's heart back toward him i just think that david knew saul a little bit and thought i know he's a wild card but given the right speech the right circumstances we have a history he knows my heart i think i'll be able to turn him back i know what his men have told him but i think david believed that he might be able to do that so we see this struggle and we will see many other struggles like it as we go on in our study david does have a problem with anger it it even shows up in the inspired literature of the psalms where david will be praising god one moment and then the next song psalm will be an imprecatory psalm calling judgment down on his enemies lord break their teeth in their mouth hallelujah he did struggle with anger when i was a kid i struggled with anger um there was that time i've told you about when i came in i was so angry at something my parents were making me do that i i karate chopped the door to my bedroom and put a huge hole right in the middle above the doorknob my dad thought that it would be good if i would remember that so he just put a piece of white cardboard over the white door with tape over it for months so that everybody who came inside said what's the cardboard for oh there's a hole in the door what's the hole there for well my son kicked it in put a hole in it so it's like dad get rid of the door well i didn't kick it and you get rid of the door you fix it but it was there for a while just to to remind me of that or the time my brother threw me through the front window of my parents house and broke it while they were out on a date and they paid to repair it and then as soon as it was repaired i in another altercation threw him through that same newly replaced window out into the front yard so i had a history like david did now you you i think would be happy to know and i think you suspect i don't have the same problem anymore although when i drive around albuquerque right right you feel me you're right you get that right i get i get i get tempted it's tough it's hard i i want to you know it's i want to go from the sermonator to the terminator and it's an easy transition in the days of winston churchill there was a notorious member of the parliament the first female member of the parliament at that time lady astor and in in famously they were at each other's throat famously they argued with each other and slandered each other on one occasion lady astor said to winston churchill publicly sir if you were my husband i'd put arsenic in your tea and everybody laughed and clapped at that and winston churchill not to be outdone quickly turned to lady astra and said if i were your husband i drink it on another occasion lady astor said sir you're drunk and he was but churchill said madam you're ugly and tomorrow i will be sober so on and on it went they got jabs at each other and david has that in him and he we left off in chapter 25 where he wanted to do that now in chapter 26 verse 1 i should actually get into the bible study by now now the ziphites came to saul at gibia saying is david not hiding in the hill of hakila which is opposite jeshimon joshimon just means the desert or the wasteland somewhere in that southern portion of the land of judah there's so much of that desert area down by the dead sea and down toward beersheba then saul arose and went down to the wilderness of zeth having three thousand chosen men of israel so three military companies three thousand and all went down david has 600 men he's outnumbered five to one saul brings a standing army now when we left off in chapter 25 chapter 24 excuse me uh in the previous time that saul was after david and david had the little piece of robe that he held up said see i could have killed you i didn't kill you and saul lifted up his voice and wept is that you my son david oh you know you're going to be the next king and and basically you know you know you're more righteous than i am you're when you're the king please be nice to my household but now he's back here's the david he's still alive still hiding goes after him again to seek david in the wilderness of zeph and saul encamped in the hill of hakilah opposite jeshimon by the road but david stayed in the wilderness and he saw that saul came after him into the wilderness david therefore sent out spies and understood that saul had indeed come so he dispatched a couple of guys who go go check it out i hear saul's on the road see if it's really him they came back yep he's here he's chasing you he's got his men so david arose and he came to the place where saul had encamped and david saw the place where saul lay and abner the son of nur the commander of his army so saul is there he's got a 600 men he has abner his commander in chief of the army his bodyguard and saul lay within the camp and the people encamped all around him that was standard procedure you always protect the king you've got your secret service people around you david answered and said to ahimalek the hittite and to abishai the son of zeruya the brother of joab saying who will go down with me to saul in the camp and abishai said i'll go with you first of all i really like that david was almost brazen in his bravery you know here you've got three 000 men you yourself have 600 men and you say to somebody in your camp hey i'm going down there alone who wants to come with you know just like you know unafraid now i'm thinking most guys i'm not gonna go two to three thousand but one of them abhishek goes i wanna go sounds like fun let's go so david and abishai came to the people by night and there saw lay sleeping within the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head and abner and the people lay all around him now let me explain a couple of things in our text because we could just read this through but some people want more information some may not but i'm just going to give you what i've got so you'll notice in verse 6 a himalay the hittite the reason he is named as such a himalay the hittite because a hittite is not an israelite right he's from another tribal group much like later on there will be uriah the hittite who will have a wife named bathsheba and david will hire uriah the hittite in his army and then later on have uriah the hittite killed so you've got uriah the hittite now you've got a himalay the hittite these were probably for higher soldiers mercenary soldiers special forces hired by david for the job and then it mentions also in verse six abhishei the son of zeruya zaruya was david's sister david's sister bore three sons this guy abhishai another guy mentioned here joab another guy not mentioned here azael all three of them the sons of zaruya will become very important in david's army as he builds his army up but they are nephews to him they're relatives to him and so it says abner and all the people at the end of verse 7 lay all around him saul is after david again and as i was reading chapter 24 again i was reading through some of the sections today i would i was thinking this david gave saul a second chance david could have killed him in fact his men said this is the lord he's right in front of you he's in the cave relieving his needs kill him this is the lord the lord's delivered him into your hand now i'm not going to do it david said he's the lord's anointed so we let him escape now saul was grateful and said david you are more righteous than i am that's his way of going you didn't kill me so he got a second chance what do you do when you get a second chance what do you do when you get a second chance at life when i was a kid my dad was driving from reno nevada up toward our little cabin in oregon we got in a head-on collision the man in the other car died instantly my mom and dad were put in the hospital i walked away from the accident and i was young but i know the lord was speaking to me you got a second chance and in the months and years shortly after there i gave my life to the lord what do you do when you have a second chance what should saul have done changed his way but he didn't he's right back at it again and he's going to get another chance in another situation verse 8. then abhishei said to david god has delivered your enemy into your hand this day same theology that they had in chapter 24. this is the lord and we told you then that sometimes christians misinterpret events as being from the lord or this is the holy spirit or this is god doing this when david doesn't really read that as the lord delivering him into my hands but an opportunity for me to get a message to him in a very creative way but abhishek said god has delivered your enemy into your hand this day now therefore please let me strike him at once with the spear right to the earth and i will not have to strike him a second time david i'm a good shot one blow just give me one shot at it i'll i'll make sure he gets the point and david said to abishai do not destroy him for who can stretch out his hand here it is again against the lord's anointed and be guiltless david said furthermore as the lord lives the lord shall strike him or his day shall come to die or he will go out to battle and perish interesting he's ready to off nabal and all of his sheep-cheering buddies but when it comes to this king he goes nope i'm not going to be the instrument through which he ends his life it could be that he'll die of natural causes it could be that he's in a battle and he will die and by the time we get into chapter 31 that's what we will see happen it'll be the final battle with the philistines that saul will have and saul will be killed on mount gilboa in that battle verse 11 the lord forbid that i should stretch out my hand against the lord's anointed but please now take the spear that's his spear and the jug of water that's his canteen that are by his head and let's go so david took the spear and the jug of water by saul's head and they got away and no man saw it or even awoke now when you read that if you don't finish reading the verse it doesn't quite make sense because even if you tiptoe into in a camp an army where people are sleeping when you start pulling spears out of the ground that that'll make some kind of a noise your rustling is going to make some kind of noise you're lifting up a water jug it'll make some kind of a noise when i was years ago living on a kibbutz in israel i was with a buddy who was a roommate of mine he was a physician in orange county and we were sleeping on the beach down in the sinai peninsula in a place called sharma sheikh and there were bedouins who would come through the camps tonight we didn't know this we were sleeping on the beach and he had his head on his backpack and that was his pillow got up in the morning looked around dennis's backpack was not under his head um it was strewn it was cut open and all the content strewn on the beach his wallet was taken his past passport was taken all his cash was taken and what they told us is that bedouin thieves frequent the area and no doubt pulled out the backpack and and ripped it open and took the stuff and left and we looked at each other like yeah but we we didn't feel anything or hear anything how did that happen well what you're about to read didn't happen with us but it did happen with saul so look what it says at the end of verse 12 4 they were all asleep because a deep sleep from the lord had fallen on them now that that explains it they're in saul's camp they pull the sword out they get the jug of water nobody wakes up because the lord put them into a deep sleep you know the lord can give you a deep sleep if you struggle with it you may want to consider asking the lord to put you not into a detrimental sleep where somebody will steal your sword and jug of water but you get the point the lord's in control of those things the lord gives his beloved sleep david will later write in in the psalms he gives his beloved sleep by the way it's the same wording that we read in genesis chapter 2 when it says the lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon the woman and the lord took a rib and fashioned or deep sleep upon adam and took and fashioned eve a woman the lord caused that deep sleep in both places so verse 3 verse 13 david went over to the top of the other side stood on the top of a hill afar off got a distance a great distance between them they were social distancing at that time for their a real threat their lives and david called out to the people and abner the son of nur saying do you not answer abner david yells out then abner answered and said who are you calling out to the king now you got to picture the scene david is a far off at a safe distance he has the spear in plain sight and the jug of water in plain sight david is hidden probably behind a rock or a crevice and he's just shouting out so they hear a voice and they see those things that were taken from saul's camp and david says don't you answer abner and after said who are you calling out to the king david said to abner are you not a man now he's he's kind of rubbing it in it's like what are you uh a wuss aren't you a man don't you have a job to do are you not a man and who is like you in israel why then have you not guarded your lord the king for one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king that would be him and abishai this thing that you have done is not good as the lord lives you are worthy to die because you have not guarded your master the lord's anointed and now see where the king's spear is and the jug of water that was by his head why did david take the spear and the jug of water keep in mind that a spear in those days among tribal communities as such weren't just a spear and we know that saul loved his fear he threw it to david three times and once at his son jonathan but for tribal leaders or in this case the leader of israel that that spear was his scepter that was to take the spear was symbolic of the right to rule leadership taking the water jug was the water was needed to sustain life in the wilderness right you carry your own water source so what david is saying is i have the right to rule because i was anointed by samuel the prophet and i have the power to take your life it's a very very symbolic move those two items that were displayed before saul and his his chief cia guy then saul knew david's voice abner's going who are you saul knew he recognized that voice saul knew david's voice and and said is that your voice my son that's that's how i'm picturing him do it because remember i told you before he's addled he's not right in the head he's schizophrenic he loves david i'm gonna kill him oh i love david he's the best i'm gonna kill him so he's back and forth he's just unpredictable is that you is that your voice my son david david said it is my voice my lord o king and he said why does my lord thus pursue his servant for what have i done or what evil is in my hand now therefore please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant if the lord has stirred you up against me then let him accept an offering now stop there for a moment isn't it interesting that david won't touch the lord's anointed won't kill saul and here even says you know it's possible that the lord has raised you up against me he has stirred you up and if it's the lord that has stirred you up then let me know so i can get right with god i'll go make the appropriate sacrifice i'll get my own heart my own life right with god but later on keep this in mind because later on when when david is king and there's a coup because of his son absalom and david has to flee the city and david goes out of jerusalem and goes up to the mount of olives and then gets out of town there's going to be a guy named shemayi shemayi will curse david to his face just you know it'd be the equivalent of of of twitter but uh they would do it faced if they'd have at least enough guts to do it face to face they would unload and and he just unloaded you're this and you're that you deserve it and interestingly abhishai was also with david on that occasion and abhishek says the same thing let me add them i'll kill them one blow david goes nope don't touch him it could be that the lord has raised him up to say those things to me and he lets it go he forgives it so keep that in mind so if it's the lord that has stirred you up let me know i'll give him an offering he will accept that but if it is the children of men like abner and your other army guys if it's the children of men may they be cursed before the lord for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the lord saying go and serve other gods what he means by that is because of they're telling you that this stuff putting smack in your ear about me i have to leave the land of promise the land of the covenant i have to go hang out in places that aren't under israeli occupation that serve other gods this is the lord's inheritance this is where i belong the land of israel now therefore do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the lord for the king of israel has come out to seek a flee as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains now you and i would read that and we really wouldn't pick up on the inference in these verses but let me just give you a little color to that there is and was especially in those days because there were more plentiful there was a species of partridge in the middle east still around today quite plentiful that when a hunter or an attacker is after them rather than fly away they will run away on their little bird feet and they'll become fatigued and hunters know this so they'll pick up a stick and they'll just chase that bird down until it gets fatigued and they'll just smack it and kill it but you would never go on the hunt for one partridge and keep hunting it when it goes up into the mountains keep hunting it because there's hundreds of thousands of them if one flees you just get another one so it's like why are you persistently following a flea a partridge that would run away from you that's the color behind that little phrase then saul said now watch what he says listen what he said get a load of this you may be shocked then saul said i have sinned first time he admitted it i have sinned return my son david for i will harm you no more because my life was precious in your eyes this day indeed i have played the fool and aired exceedingly indeed i have played the fool and aired exceedingly nine words a nine word autobiography g campbell morgan that great expositional teacher of a century ago in england said this is perhaps the shortest and most accurate autobiography ever stated you know every every man every woman knows himself or herself you know who you really are you know what god could have against you you know your sin you know your failure i know mine you know your own stuff your own baggage every man knows himself saul knew himself and saul was asleep and he gets woken up out of a dead sleep and so often people when they wake up if they start talking and their brain doesn't engage their vocal cords in that unguarded moment they may make an utterance that is so truthful and here's one i've sinned probably in the afternoon after a good meal and a little wine saul would never say that early morning when he shocked like this that somebody came into the camp stole his spear and water drug i've sinned indeed i have played the fool and aired exceedingly now i'm wondering because that statement is a banner statement that could be put over every person who squanders his or her life who wastes their life as i told you sunday don't spend your life invest your life when you waste it when you squander it when you just spend it you could at the end of your life say i've i've played the fool i've aired exceedingly i have so many regrets and so let let this be a be a good warning instead of saying i could have done that it could have been that just say i will by the grace of god and the power of the holy spirit be that do that accomplish that and david answered and said here is the king's spear let one of the young men come over and get it may the lord repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness for the lord delivered you into my hand today but i would not stretch out my hand against the lord's anointed and indeed your life was valued much this day in my eyes that's another robert abner he said abner where are you you're supposed to protect your king you're not a very faithful bodyguard but i'm a faithful friend because i could have killed the guy and i didn't and he's reminding that of saul in that in this particular verse indeed as your life is valued much this day in my eyes so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the lord and let him deliver me out of all tribulation then saul said to david may you be blessed my son david you shall both do great things and also still prevail so david went on his way and saul returned to his place now listen to the speech that saul is making i've sinned i've aired oh blessed are you david it's beautiful it's heartwarming question is it real may have even been a company with tears oh man forgive me man i've blown it so much okay that's great that's awesome you emoted dude awesome saul good show but that's different than repentance remorse is not repentance so paul the apostle will write to the corinthians in chapter seven he goes you know i'm not glad that i made you sad i'm glad that the sorrow produced repentance for godly sorrow worketh repentance or produces repentance that's why i'm glad judas was remorseful but not repentant peter who denied his lord repented and jesus restored him and used him again so i love his speech it's beautifully done but there's no true repentance by the way these are the last words saul and david will ever say to each other they'll part ways for 16 months and after 16 months there will be a battle with the philistines on mount gilboa and saul and his son jonathan and his son mal kashua they will die in that battle as we will see in just a few weeks so it says saul returned to his place now during this time or after this time david wrote a psalm and wouldn't you like to see that psalm i knew you'd say yes so psalm 54 i'm turning there you can find that quite easily it's a very very short psalm just a few verses but you will notice the introduction to psalm 54 to the chief musician with stringed instruments a contemplation of david when the ziphites went and said to saul is david not hiding with us so here's here's the background we just read it here's the psalm save me o god by your name and vindicate me by your strength hear my prayer oh god give ear to the words of my mouth for strangers have risen up against me who would those strangers be the ziphites the people of that region who found out that this fugitive is on the run from his king and they went and they told the king when he was in gibeah strangers have risen up against me oppressors have sought after my life they have not set god before them behold god is my helper the lord is with those who uphold my life he will repay my enemies for their evil and cut them off he says cut them off in your truth i will freely sacrifice to you i will praise your name o lord for it is good try to remember that next time you experience pain or persecution remember to praise the lord in your pain david was persecuted he was chaste he was hunted he was ratted on by ziphites but he utters praise to the lord and why i will praise your name o lord for it is good don't we say that though god is good all the time god is good for he has delivered me out of all trouble and my eyes have seen its desire upon my enemies so david is on the run and in chapter 27 david is on the run again on the run again david verse 1. it's a short chapter so we'll make it through only 12 verses so take heart as i begin this chapter david said in his heart not always good i'll tell you why in a minute david said in his heart now i shall perish someday by the hand of saul there is nothing better for me than i should speedily escape to the land of the philistines and saul will despair of me to seek me any more in any part of israel so i shall escape out of his hand then david arose and went over with the 600 men who were with him to achish the son of mayok the king of gath so david dwelt with achish at gath he and his men each man with his household and david with his two wives ahinoam the jezreelitis abigail the carmelitis nabal's widow and it was told saul that david had fled to gath so he sought him no more david so skilled so anointed at talking to god talking to the lord praising the lord writing so many of those great psalms now david is talking to himself and it's okay to talk to yourself my dad said i talk to myself because i like to hear a wise man talk but sometimes you talk to yourself and you have to monitor self-talk quite carefully because you can tell yourself things that aren't true things that are lies you can talk yourself into you know that person's against me and this is going to happen and you do it when you drive you do it when you're alone at night in your bed you start churning things over in your heart it's dangerous to talk to your own heart the heart is deceitful above all things the bible says who can know it so unless you compare your subjective feelings with the objective truth of scripture you're going to be haywire you could say i think this i feel this but i don't read this therefore it's not true or i think this i feel this and i read this therefore it is true so notice what he is churning over in his mind what he's saying to his own art he's saying i'm going to die by the hand of saul and there's nothing better than for me to run away now is that true is he going to die by the hand of saul wait a minute didn't the prophet samuel under the inspiration of the holy spirit say you're going to be the next king and pour oil on his head in chapter 16. didn't jonathan saul's son say to david in the well while he was first running from saul you're going to be the next king and i'll be next to you um didn't saul himself say now i know that you're going to be the guy in charge and didn't abigail in chapter 25 the wife of nepal say you're going to be the next king and this is going to be a blot on your record if you if you kill my husband so he had the witness of no less than four times probably by this time five maybe six affirmations that he was going to be the next king that god was doing this but i told you before we said this in in in this study of david even the best men are men at best and david was anointed by god and he was a man after god's own heart but david when he talks to himself you get a little haywire and tell himself things that aren't true and his mind can take it and go crazy with it and you have to monitor your self-talk so he tells himself these things and he says i gotta i gotta go i gotta go now and and listen the enemy will always make you think that you need to act now don't wait don't wait on the lord do it now you don't have time to pray about it do it now the bible talks about those who trust in the lord will not make haste it won't be in a hurry god is never in a hurry wait on it think it through pray it through but david thinks i got to go to gath go to go to the philistines um been there done that did that a couple chapters ago david how'd that work out for you remember when he went the first time they said hey that's the guy that they sing about in that in that song it's on the top 40 charts casey kasem says it all the time they're solid slain of thousands david has slain his tens of thousands that's the guy and dave goes oh man they've they've outed me they know who i am so he started drooling in his beard and clawing the door to act crazy and aches just get him out of here i got enough crazy people in my kingdom now he goes back goes back and it says at the end of verse 4 so he sought so saul sought him no more now you may be tempted to think well it worked for him he may have acted in haste he may have listened to his own self-talk and it wasn't the promise of god but it worked he delivered himself listen if that's how you live your life if the ends always justify the means that's a bad way to live you don't do things because they work you do things because they're right he did not need to do this now yes all things work together for good to those who love god romans 8 28 yes david will be able to get the strategy of the philistines which will serve him well later on but this is a lapse of faith this is a lapse of faith so he goes over to gath he's going to spend 16 months there david said to akish if i have now found favor in your eyes let them give me a place in some town in the country that i may dwell there for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you so achish gave him sick lag that day therefore ziklag belonged to the kings of judah to this day now the time that david dwelt in the country of the philistines was one full year and four months ziklag is down in the desert regions of judah down in the in the um area of beersheba about 13 miles away from that it's sparse it's wilderness um it's far away from the main population of the philistines i've told you this before by the time we get through second gym you'll have these memorizer five philistine cities principally that gave the israelites problems gath that's their capital that's where goliath was from that's where the king achish is that's where david goes gath gaza those five cities were sort of in the same region but ziklag is far far away which means that's good because david can come and go and nobody will really have eyes on him he becomes like a vassal state to the king to king achish to the philistines so he gives him sick lag david's there 16 months verse say david and his men went up and raided the gesherites the girzites the amalekites probably the termites as well and the turn out the lights all of them were in that area these are tribes of canaanites that have been there a long time for those nations were of the inhabitants of the land from of old as you go to sure even down to the land of egypt so in those southern areas these these tribal peoples were common enemies of both israel and the philistines so he's down there conducting raids to get rid of them which would serve the philistines but it would also serve the israelites so what david is doing during this time is taking care of some of the little enemies that would be a pain to saul and would be a pain to david later on um because they haven't really been dealt with so he deals with the little guys the little enemies or the words of solomon beware of the little foxes that spoil the grapes so he's taking care of these little tribes verse 9 where whenever david attacked the land he left neither man or woman alive but took away the sheep the oxen the donkeys the camels and the apparel and returned and came to achish and akish would say where have you made a raid today and david would say against the southern area of judah or against the southern area of the jeremy lights which is a little tribe associated with judah or against the southern area of the canaanites quick fyi kenites were a buffer group the people of judah made a a pact with them in agreement with them that the canaanites who they were friendly with for generations would be in that area to protect israel so they were in that area david would say verse 11 either man or woman alive uh of gath and alive to bring news to gath saying lest they should inform on us saying thus david did it so it was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the philistines so achish believed david saying he has made his people utterly abhor him therefore he will be my servant forever so you you get the picture david goes and deals with these tribes whose mutual enemy is the philistines and um judah he's taking care of them but when when the king king acre said what have you been doing he goes oh man i've been taking care of those people from judah so he's lying to him again this guy is out of the will of god in the flesh not trusting in the lord trusting in what his head told him to do taking matters in his own hands and again completely out of the will of god by the way what's interesting about this chapter is god is not mentioned in it at all and you might say well you said that sunday when you went through the book of esther god wasn't mentioned there yeah but he is the main character in that book even though he's not mentioned he's not the main character in this chapter he's mentioned in all the other chapters around it this chapter the name of god is absent because he's really absent from david's thoughts from david's life david is not seeking the lord verse 12 closes it i just want you to notice it and then i'll make application the king the philistine king says about david he has made his people utterly hate him now that's not true the israelites love him david is saul of slaying his thousands david is tens of thousands he was a national hero the people loved him and you'll see that in 16 months when they anoint him king and hebron they loved him he goes man david doing this for me means they're just he's just making them hate him more so they utterly abhor him therefore he will be my servant forever now that's not true either david will be the next king of israel he will not be the servant of the king of the philistines forever i am belaboring this because the devil says that to people every day i've got you on my side you will be my servant forever prove him wrong tonight if you've not given your life to christ surrender your life to him tonight defect from the kingdom of darkness defect from the grip of the enemy your enemy my enemy the enemy of our souls satan defect and get on the right side and serve the lord and if you've wandered away from the lord and the enemy says now i've got you again not letting you go this addiction i'm going to hold you down don't listen to it don't believe it prove him wrong in a moment i'm going to give you that opportunity let's pray thank you lord for these two incredible insightful chapters of a man who became though flawed an influential oak versus a man who just blew through history wreaking havoc as he went more like a tumbleweed than anything else king saul thank you for the lessons we have learned and gleaned and i pray for those who may be here in our auditorium tonight i know many more are joining us on the radio and by social media but lord you have brought some tonight who need to come back home because they've wandered away they've run away from you they've gotten under the grip of satan maybe once again or some area of the flesh once again like paul saying in that song just at the beginning of our service sinners are crooked we're we're all crooked only you can straighten us out only you can fix what is bent and what is broken but you can do it and you can do it utterly and you can do it for everyone absolutely and so we pray father that those who need your touch who've wandered away and need to come back home and rededicate their lives or need to come to christ for the first time though they've been religious or they've believed in their head that you exist they've never turned from their sin they've never repented they've never surrendered to you i pray they would do it in this setting in this living room in this place so with our heads bowed our eyes closed if you need to come to the lord for the first time or come back to the lord and you're willing to do so i want you to raise your hand up in the air just raise it up so i can notice your hand and i'll pray for you as we close this service in raising your hand you're just saying skip here's my hand here i am pray for me include me i'm going to come back home or i'm going to come to christ for the first time god bless you right over here on my left who else right up here on my right again you could be i grew up in a church i grew up in a religious home i knew the language i knew what they did when they went to church but i had never personally surrendered to christ i think some of you are here for this reason tonight who else in this room would want to do that just raise your hand up so i can see it you could be in the balcony you could be in the family room god bless you in the family room yep you could be outside i have pastors every week there's people out there raising your hand if you if you're outside watching on the screen there's probably a hundred or so of you out there raise your hand up a pastor will acknowledge you right where you are god bless you sir toward the back father i pray for all of these you loves so lavishly and you love these so individually i pray that you will forgive utterly totally let these know how precious they are in your eyes in jesus name we pray amen amen let's all stand to our feet as we sing this last song i saw hands go up to my left to my right toward the middle and both sides in the family room i'm going to ask you now to get up from where you're standing find the nearest aisle or come through the doors of the family room we'll we'll let you out and let you over if you're outside we're going to bring you in i want you to step forward out of where you're standing if you raise your hand and come right up to the front i'm going to lead you in a prayer to receive christ as lord and savior come come right now come on let us encourage you as you come you raise your hands up you get up and come come and join the family come and join the celebrations [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he lifted me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] come right on up come all the way up to the front and just stand right up here i'm going to lead you in a prayer in just a moment if you're in the family room we'll let you through those doors i saw a couple different people [Applause] [Music] so i trust you lord all i want is to serve you i will make no demands for i know this your faith [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so i could be those of you who have come forward i'm going to lead you in a prayer okay i'm going to say a prayer out loud i'm going to ask you to say these words from your heart mean them as you say them this is you giving your life to him you're giving your life back to the one who gave you life to begin with so say lord i give you my life say that i know that i'm a sinner forgive me i believe in jesus i believe he died on a cross that he shed his blood for me that he rose again for me i turn from my past i repent of my sin i turn to jesus as my savior i want to follow him as my lord help me in jesus 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 x-bound

Channel: Skip Heitzig

Views: 309

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Bible Study, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermons, Calvary Church, How to Study the Bible, Gospel

Id: cQUedqZEGgc

Length: 62min 40sec (3760 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021