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 1 Samuel 26. 26. Let's turn in our Bibles,
we'll get ready for that. If you're new to
Wednesday nights, welcome. I'll tell you what
it is-- very simple. 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
or three or four or five times with this church, and
people say, well, 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 are 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 1 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
through the Scripture. 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, ten
minutes is OK, but an hour? So if you're thinking that
way, and you're freaking out when I mentioned that, we're
going to bow our heads, close our eyes. We're going to pray. During that time, you
can move to the very back so that if you, like, ten
minutes down the road go, OK, 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 meander out, then
all the attention goes to you instead of the Holy
Spirit's attention on the Word. And, you know, we're
not going to, like, tackle you or anything, but-- but we're gonna want to! No, I'm just kidding. But just 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. 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 grifters. 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 low moments. He almost killed Nabal-- that was last week's
study, chapter 25. Nabal was the guy who
owned all those sheep and was shearing 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 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 kill them all! I mean, he went all
al-Qaeda on him. Like, I'm just
gonna 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 En Gedi, 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 gonna 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 cut off a piece of his shorts,
or his pants, or his coat, or whatever it might be. The hem of his garment. Yet when it comes to
Nabal, 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 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 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 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. 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 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 and 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 in,
you get rid of the door. You fix it. But it was there for a while,
just to remind me of that. Or the time my brother threw
me through the front window of my parent's
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, I think,
will 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, right? You get that, right? I get tempted. It's tough. It's hard. I wanna-- I wanna 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 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 Astor and
said, if I were your husband, I'd 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's has that in him. And he-- we left off in chapter
25, where he wanted to do that. Now, in chapter 26:1-- I should actually get into
the Bible study by now-- now the Ziphites came to
Saul at Gibeah saying, is David not hiding in
the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon? Jeshimon 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 Ziph, having 3,000 chosen
men of Israel. So three military companies,
3,000 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-- 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 basically, you know, you're
more righteous than I am. When you're the king, please
be nice to my household. But now he's back. Hears that David is still
alive, still hiding-- goes after him
again to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped in the hill
of Hachilah, 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 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 Ner,
the commander of his army. So Saul is there. He's got his 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 got your Secret
Service people around you. David answered and said
to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to Abishai, the son of
Zeruiah, 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 3,000
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,
you know, unafraid. Now I'm thinking, most guys-- I'm not going to
go two to 3,000. But one of them, Abishai,
goes, I want to go. Sounds like fun. Let's go. So David and Abishai came
to the people by night. And there Saul 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
six, Ahimelech the Hittite. The reason he is named as
such, Ahimelech the Hittite, is because a Hittite
is not an Israelite. 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 Ahimelech the Hittite-- these were probably
for-hire soldiers. Mercenary soldiers. Special forces hired
by David for the job. And then it mentions also
in verse six Abishai, the son of Zeruiah. Zeruiah was David's sister. David's sister bore three sons-- this guy, Abishai, another
guy mentioned here, Joab, another guy not
mentioned here, Asahel. All three of them,
the sons of Zeruiah, 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
seven, 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 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. No, I'm not going to
do it, David said. He's the Lord's anointed. So he let him escape. Now, Saul was grateful
and said, David, you are more
righteous than I am. That's his way of going,
phew, 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 and 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 eight. Then Abishai 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
them into my hands, but an opportunity for me
to get a message to him in a very creative way. But Abishai 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 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-shearing 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 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 Sharm el-Sheik. And there were
Bedouins who would come through the camps at night. 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. It was strewn-- it was cut
open, and all the contents strewn on the beach. His wallet was taken,
his 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 ripped it open and
took the stuff and left. And we looked at each
other like, yeah, but 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 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 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 13, David went over
to the top of the other side, stood on the top
of a hill far off, got a distance-- a great
distance between them. They were social
distancing at that time for a real threat, their lives. And David called
out to the people and to Abner, the
son of Ner, saying, do you not answer, Abner? David yells out. Then Abner answered
and said, who are you? Calling out to the king. Now you've gotta
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 Abner said, who are you,
calling out to the king? David said to Abner,
are you not a man? Now he's kind of rubbing it in. It's like, what, are you 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
spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head? Why did David take the
spear and the jug of water? Now 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 spear. He threw it at
David three times, and once said his son, Jonathan. But for tribal leaders--
or in this case, the leader of Israel-- 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 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 said, is that your voice, my son? 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
going to kill him. Oh, I love David,
he's the best-- I'm going to kill him. So he's back and forth. He's just unpredictable. Is that you? Is that your voice,
my son, David? And David said, it is my
voice my Lord, oh king. And he said, why does my
Lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done? 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, 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 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 gonna be a
guy named Shimei. Shimei will curse
David to his face. Just-- you know-- it'd be the equivalent of
Twitter, but they would do it face to-- they'd have at least enough
guts to do it face to face. They would unload. And he just unloaded--
you're this, and you're that, and you deserve it. And interestingly, Abishai
was also with David on that occasion. And Abishai says the same
thing-- let me at him, I'll kill him. 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 their 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
flea, 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 they 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 to 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 erred exceedingly. Indeed I have played the
fool and erred 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
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's shocked like this that somebody came
into the camp, stole his spear and water jug? I've sinned! Indeed I have played the
fool and erred 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 played the fool. I've erred exceedingly. I have so many regrets. And so let this
be a good warning. Instead of saying, I
could have done that. I 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 rub at 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 this particular verse. Indeed is your life is valued
much to 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 erred. Oh, blessed are you, David. It's beautiful. It's heartwarming. Question-- is it real? May have even been
accompanied with tears. Oh man, forgive me, man. I've blown it so much. OK. That's great. That's awesome. You emoted, dude. Awesome. Saul, good show! But that's different
than repentance. Remorse is not repentance. Paul the apostle will
write to the Corinthians. In chapter 7 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, repentant. 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 Malchisua-- 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 the background. We just read it. Here's the Psalm. Save me, oh 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,
oh 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 chased, he was hunted, he was ratted on by Ziphites,
but he utters praise to the Lord. And why? I will praise your name,
oh Lord, for it is good. Don't we say that? 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 that 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 Maoch, 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
Jezreelitess, Abigail, the Carmelitess, 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 OK 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 gonna 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 heart. He is 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 gonna be the next
king and pour oil on his head in chapter 16? Didn't Jonathan, Saul's
son, say to David while he was first
running from Saul, you're gonna be the next
king, and I'll be next to you. Didn't Saul himself say,
now I know that you're gonna be the guy in charge. And didn't Abigail,
in chapter 25-- the wife of Nabal-- say,
you're gonna be the next king, and this is gonna be
a blot on your record, 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 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-- can 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 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,
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 gotta go to Gath, gotta go to the Philistines. Um-- been there, done that. Did that a couple of
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 song. It's on the top 40 charts, Casey
Kasem says it all the time. Saul has slain us
thousands, David has slain us tens of thousands. That's the guy. And David goes, oh,
man, they've outed me. They know who I am. So he started
drooling in his beard and clawing the
door to act crazy, and Achish says,
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 four, 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 gonna spend
16 months there. David said to Achish, 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
Ziklag 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 area of Beersheba,
about 13 miles away from that. It's sparse, it's wilderness. It's far away from the main
population of the Philistines. I've told you this before-- by the time we get
through 2 Samuel, you'll have these memorized. There are 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, Ekron,
Ashkelon, Ashdod. Those five cities were
sort of in the same region, but Ziklag lag 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 Ziklag. David is there 16 months. Verse 8, David and
his men went up and raided the
Geshurites, the Gerzites, 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 Shur, even
down to the land of Egypt. So in those southern
areas, 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,
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 nine, whenever
David attacked the land, he left neither
man nor woman alive but took away the sheep, the
oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and
returned and came to Achish. And Achish 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 Jerahmeelites-- which is a little tribe
associated with Judah-- or against the southern
area of the Kenites. Quick FYI-- Kenites
were a buffer group. The people of Judah made a
pact with them, an agreement with them, that the
Kenites, who they were friendly with
for generations, would be in that area
to protect Israel. So they were in that area. David would save verse
11, neither man or woman alive of Gath-- alive to bring news
to Gath, saying, lest they should inform on
us, saying thus David did, and 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 get the picture. David goes and deals with these
tribes, whose mutual enemy is the Philistines and Judah. He's taking care of them. But when the king, King Achish,
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 has
slain us thousands. David has 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 in 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
gonna 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, wrecking 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 sang in
that song, just at the beginning of our
service, sinners are crooked. 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 gonna 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-- see, there's people out there raising your hand. If you're outside,
watching on the screen-- there's probably
100 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 love 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 on 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 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 raised 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 right now. Come on. Let us encourage
you as you come. You raised your hands
up, you get up and come. Come and join the family. Come and join the celebration. (SINGING) Here I am,
Lord, standing holy before your throne. Yes. Stand right up here. (SINGING) Giving thanks
unto You that I'm worthy to be called Your own. He lifted me from
darkness, and He draws me into the light of Your
Son so I could be one with You. Come right on up. Come all the way
up to the front. 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 of
different people. [GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC] (SINGING) So I trust You, Lord. It's all in Your hands. All I want is to serve You,
I will make no demands. For I know this,
You're faithful. Guide the way that has
been done by Your Son. Awesome. Yeah! (SINGING) So I could
be one with You. Those of you who
have come forward, I'm going to lead
you in a prayer, OK? I'm gonna say a prayer out loud. I'm gonna 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, Expound.
