"The Shepherd King" Revival Series Part 4 - From Friend to Fugitive

[Music] [Music] now today in particular we're going to be talking about uh the sermon title is from friend to fugitive now you've probably heard the expression before that power or authority can corrupt and absolute power can corrupt absolutely and unfortunately when god had taken king saul from being just one of the common people and exalted him to king at first he was small in his own eyes but then as he met with some success some popularity and some acclaim of the people he started believing all the compliments you know when you have power and influence people will say all kinds of nice things to you because they maybe want favors and they'll give you all kinds of compliments and if you start believing all of that it can be very damaging and saul began to accept this adoration and this worship and think more highly of himself started disregard regarding the lord and the law of the lord and ultimately he started grieving away the spirit and god told samuel pick someone else to be king so david was chosen and anointed this shepherd boy to be the king that would someday replace saul but it did not happen quickly god is very patient in the way he works out his will now strangely saul now he became disturbed because when the spirit of the lord left saul evil spirits tend to come in you know that parable where jesus said if a man is freed from an evil spirit if he does not replace it with something good seven worse will come in and when the holy spirit left that vacuum and saul had been grieving away and disobeying the spirit of god he was then tormented by evil spirits and darkness and melancholy and they said you need a musician who will come and pray play some inspiring music for you and we've heard that there is this son of jesse in bethlehem he's very skilled and he can sing too and bring him let him see if the music will lift your spirits and david was brought and sure enough it did well it wasn't long after this that there was this challenge with goliath which is chapter 17 of first samuel and we know that story that david he ends up coming back from the fields once again comes to the front of the battle and he soundly defeats goliath takes goliath sword removes goliath's head after he renders him unconscious with a stone and this is where our story takes up now and you go to chapter 18 of first samuel and saul is talking to his general saying who is this young man's family because i promise whoever defeats the the giant would be tax free in the kingdom and there'd be some benefits and some rewards and they said well i'm not sure who his family is you know david had been there in the court of saul but i guess they hadn't done a lot of talking and finally saul calls and calls him and this is chapter 17 58 he said whose son are you young men so david answered and said i'm the son of your servant jesse the bethlehemite now when he had finished speaking to saul evidently when saul was talking to david the crown prince saul's oldest son jonathan was there and it says in jonathan loved him as his own soul that's an interesting statement to make but you know jonathan when you read about him early he's very different from his father jonathan had the courage to go into battle with his armor bearer you remember when he said i realize there's only two of us but if the lord is with us then it doesn't matter because you and god are always a majority and jonathan and his armor bearer defeated a garrison of 20 philistines just the two of them so he had a large-hearted man he had a lot of faith and when he saw the faith of david going against the giant he was inspired he'd say yes that's what i wanted to do but my father wouldn't let me that's my theory i can't prove it but you can't disprove it and it says that jonathan loved him as his own soul there was something that the two of them shared you've met people before and you've had friends before where you know that you clicked you just resonated you sometimes knew what the other was thinking before they spoke and the hearts and the souls of jonathan and david were one and it says he loved him as his own soul and verse two saul took him that day and would not let him go home to his father's house anymore because prior to this david was sort of on call when he would have when um saul would have these bouts of depression and melancholy david would be called and he'd come and he'd play and he'd be refreshed and then he'd get busy with other things and david would go back home again but now he's telling david look after the giant business you're staying you're good luck you're staying with me want to let him go home now this next verse talks about the great friendship it says and jonathan and david made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul now i want to pause here before i read the next verse the word jonathan the way you say god or one of the names for god in hebrew is yahweh and sometimes you'll find like joshua yahshua it means yahweh is savior same name as jesus where you say jesus again in in hebrew is yeshua yannathan is jonathan nathan means gift jonathan means gift of god you've heard the name nathaniel it's another name for god elohim that means gift of god it's just kind of a reverse way of saying it we've got a boy named nathan it means gift and gifts come in many forms as nathan is a gift but jonathan means gift of god and he is the son of the king he is a type of christ says he loved david as his own soul now listen how he demonstrates that love he makes a covenant does jesus make a covenant with us because he loves us like his own soul you still with me jonathan took off the robe that was on him and he gave it to david does jesus give us a robe a symbol of his righteousness and it says he he gave him his armor does the bible tell us in ephesians chapter 6 that the son of the king jesus the gift of god god so loved the world he gave his son that the heavenly jonathan gives us his armor we are to put on the armor of god you notice david didn't want the armor of saul but he does take the armor of jonathan might have been more his size too and it says even his sword does jesus give us a sword the word of god in his bow in the bible the bow was a symbol of strength because it took strength to pull back those bows and his belt another implement in the armor of god the belt of truth and so he makes his covenant with him because he loves him and he gives them all the things necessary to be victorious it's interesting that as david is preparing to go through one of the hardest times in his life because up until now i mean he killed the giant but david doesn't show that he's gone through any real trials we're getting ready to read about a number of trials where david goes from his friendship with jonathan to being a fugitive and it's almost like god is telling us at the beginning of these chapters that he makes a covenant with him he arms him he gives him everything he's going to need to survive the trials he's about to go through so i think there's a spiritual analogy here verse 5 in first samuel 18 5 so david went out and wherever saul sent him and he behaved wisely why because the holy spirit has come upon him and saul set him over the men of war and he was accepted in the sight of the people he's the hero he's killed the giant and also in the sight of saul's servants and up to this point it says saul love david also you'll notice it says jonathan love david the servants love david now it happened as they were coming home when david was returning from the slaughter of the philistine that the women had come out of all the cities of israel now they've come back from one of their battles and um with the philistines and you've probably seen a victory parade before and you know at the time of this recording a super bowl completed and uh the winning team and i guess it was quite a game the winning team they had a victory parade and even though the weather was very inclement everybody came out and they all wanted to welcome their heroes and praise their heroes well when they came back from a victorious battle against the philistines all the people came up principally women because all the men are fighting and the women would dress up and they'd get their tambourines and they play and they sing these songs of victory and they had the ticker tape parade and and while they're doing here's here's one of the songs this is the women's saying as they dance they went out before the procession saul has slain his thousands and saul heard that and he smiled and he took a chest full of air and made him feel really good and started to look down on all the people because he was taller and being on a horse he was really high but then he heard the next verse and the women went on to sing and i don't know who wrote this song they never did get royalties for it but someone wrote the second verse and it caused all kinds of problems and david his ten thousands now david was the armor bearer of saul saul's coming back saul is leading the parade and david is back a little bit and uh when saul hears them say saul is flame his how many thousands but then the women go on to say and david his ten thousands he goes what instead of saying that's right take a bow david you deserve it isn't he great and cheering along he becomes resentful he's jealous if you don't have the spirit of god there's only one alternative whose spirit do you have if you are not like christ you're like the other character and satan wants all the praise and the glory and when saul grieved away the spirit of god he wanted all the praise and the glory and when he heard them giving a claim to david he now becomes very jealous he's not at all happy and he starts to resent it the bible says that saul was very angry verse 8 saying and the saying displeased him and he said they have ascribed to david 10 000 to me they've only ascribed thousands now anyone out there been given credit for slaying thousands of enemies i mean i'd be happy with that and he was until he heard the next verse you know if you go to baskin-robbins try this sometime you got a couple kids get one two scoops and hand them their two scoops and they will be so happy but then get their sibling three scoops watch the problems that will cost even if they've only got room to eat two scoops the fact that one of the others got three they're not happy with two anymore they would have been happy but the idea that someone else got more millionaires are happy until they find out that someone else got a billion then they're not happy anymore someone asked rockefeller how much money does it take to make a person happy he said a little more it's always a little more and if you don't have the spirit of god then you're never satisfied and saul is unsatisfied with the amount of praise he's getting especially if someone gets more i'm the king and he goes on and he says they're giving him credit for ten thousands and me only thousands and then he adds what more can he have but the kingdom now don't forget saul had received word from samuel the prophet the lord is going to take the kingdom away from you and give it to your neighbor who is better than you he knew that there was someone a nye brother someone else in the kingdom that was going to get the kingdom and it's it just cracks me up that he kept suspiciously looking at all the other subjects wondering what other clan whether the family where was this person that was going to dare to replace him and all that while he'd get he'd think about who was going to replace him and it would bother him and he'd go into one of his fits of depression and anger and rage and he'd say david come play for me i'd kind of figure out who it is going to replace me it was david his musician this is the first time he begins to suspect that maybe david is the one after all he killed the giant all the people love him boy if there was an election they'd vote for him right now you see what's happening in his mind and he's thinking oh maybe david is the one and from that moment verse 9 so saul eyed david from that day forward and here is where david's trials really begin and it happens verse 10 the next day a distressing spirit came from god on saul and he prophesied he's ranting in the house and david played music david's got his beautiful harp and he's strumming and he's singing he's trying to soothe him but why is saul ranting the day after this parade he's upset what's he upset about david that's when david's there and he's trying to sue them the last person in the world now saul wants to soothe him is the one that is scaring him that he's going to take his place and so in a fit of jealousy it says his spear was in his hand and saul cast the spear and he said i will pin david to the wall but you know if you can kill giants you're usually pretty quick and david being a shepherd and all he quickly ducked and evaded the spear some of you remember that an image from the news years ago when president george w bush was in iraq at a news conference and one of the iraqis who wasn't too happy about what was going on there took off his shoe and threw it at the president remember all that and that's a terribly disrespectful thing but you know what really impressed folks is a guy threw two shoes bush dodged them both and i was just really impressed with his coordination and someone asked laura about it and she said he's always been very athletic but it says that not only did this happen once you notice in verse 11 it says he escaped his presence twice it tells you later about the second incident throws a spear at him now i wouldn't go back to work if my boss did that to me but he's the king and they knew he was having mental problems he said well maybe that was just an episode he'll get over and that won't happen again but it didn't happen so fast so saul finally fires david david is removed from his position as the medical minstrel in the palace you've heard medical missionaries david was a medical musician and so he says look i don't want you in the palace and you don't i'm no more playing for me anymore he says i want to make you a captain of thousands where we're engaged in full ongoing declaration of war with the philistines i'm going to put you in charge of a thousand soldiers you're to lead them into battle and he thought to himself you know there was a high mortality rate among those soldiers the captains of thousands thought i don't want to destroy him i'll make the philistines kill him and so so david went out and came in before the people verse 14 david behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the lord was with him and he kept winning victories therefore when saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely now you count how many times it says david behaved himself wisely wisely wisely he's gone from being a shepherd to hobnobbing in the palace of the kingdom and he's praying always that god will give him wisdom to know what to say when to be quiet how to conduct himself wisely all of a sudden he's gone from being a shepherd he's leading soldiers into battle he was still comparatively a young man i remember years ago when i first went into ministry i know even before i was in ministry when i started attending church and i started teaching the sabbath school class that some of the folks in the church got together they said doug we need to ordain you an elder i said an elder said i'm barely growing a mustache it would make me an elder i don't want to be unkind but any of you ever had mormon missionaries visit your house that's commendable that they're out there doing that but you know they'll wear a name tag what's it say so it's elder jones and elder carpenter whoever it is it'll say elder and some of they're just young guys they can't even grow a mustache yet the word for elder there in the bible is presbytrose and it means people of age and experience i said elder and the ones asking me were in their 80s said doug we would make you an elder and i and i studied it out and i said no they said well this is what you got to do if you're going to teach and if you're going to you know administer a community you need to be an elder and so they finally talked me into being an elder but i always felt like that was a misnomer i felt like i'm way out of my league so here david is just you know he hasn't even when he went to fight goliath saul said you're just a youth he's a man of war but now they said i'm gonna make you a captain of a thousand but he's winning battles he's learning some of the skills he learned dodging bears and wolves and lions out there in the wilderness when it came to knowing the terrain and leading his army and david was a very successful general you'll never find in the bible where david lost the battle not with the enemy on the battlefield very brave very courageous very strong and very successful and this started bothering the more successful he was the more it bothered saul saul doesn't want him to be successful the more he's victorious the more kingly he appears and saul is now afraid that david's the one that's going to take his place verse 15 when saul saw that he behaved very wisely he was afraid of him but all israel and judah love david do you notice that first it says saul loved him now saul hates them you read in chapter 16 it says saul love david jonathan loves him all of israel loves him and so saul said to david i got an idea he's a poor shepherd i'll let him marry my daughter because when he killed the giant and one of the ideas was you're going to get to marry one of the king's daughter saul had several children and he said i'll let him marry my daughter miriam and i'll give you to you his wife only be valued for me and fight the lord's battles for saul thought let my hand not be against him but let the hand of the philistines be against him now that idea of killing your enemy through your enemies david later picked up on that and you remember what david did when he wanted to get rid of uriah he said i won't lift my hand against him make him go to the front of the hottest battle with the amorites and let them kill him and it happened but it didn't work for saul it's all hoped that look i know you're poor and you can't pay a dowry but if you go fight battles for me if you'll kill a hundred philistines bring me evidence that you've killed 100 philistines you know david just didn't feel worthy he said you think it's a small thing to be the king's son-in-law but then saul got word michael i'm in verse 20 your daughter michael she is smitten by david and they told saul and the thing pleased him he said ah notice this verse 21 saul said i'll give her to him that she might be a snare to him and that the hand of the philistines might be against him well it turns out michael ended up being the snare in many ways but um he was hoping that his love for michael and her love for him that he'd use the um the dowry of killing a hundred philistines that david would you know he'd be killed in one of those battles and he'd never do it saul said to david the second time you're to be my son-in-law today and saul commanded his servants communicate with david secretly saying look the king delights in you and his servants love you now therefore go and become the king's son-in-law so they told david that and so david said all right well if you insist but it just doesn't seem right that i should only kill 100 philistines i'll kill 200. so david goes out and he doubles it you know when when you loved your firstborn you gave a double portion when alcana loved hannah he gave a double portion the bible says elisha said to elijah if you love me give me a double portion and so david said i won't kill a hundred philistines i'll kill 200. and he did and he brought the evidence and saul is mystified because everything he's doing all his plots are backfiring he's getting matter and matter he's trying to pretend he likes david but inwardly he hates them he's very jealous very peevish and small and says saul knew that the lord was with david and then michael saul's daughter loved him so you've got someone else that loves him and saul was more afraid of david so saul i'm in verse 29 of chapter 18 we're about done with this chapter saul became david's enemy continually not good to have the king as your enemy now you're going to see from this point on david begins to go through a series of trials and you might be wondering why is all this happening to david didn't god have a big plan for david's life why is he going through all this hardship i thought he was going to be anointed king and suddenly sit on the throne be surrounded with gold and everybody obeying him but david goes from being filled with a spirit to all kinds of trials now don't forget that because you go through trials and life gets messy and you've got challenges in all kinds of different areas does not mean god does not have a plan for you sometimes the lord allows you to go through a whole spectrum of trials because he's preparing you to live and reign with him god through the trials was preparing david to be a king why did joseph go through all of his trials god was preparing him to lead for many years but you know you learn leadership through service and david was being prepared through these trials verse 30 then the princes of the philistines went out to war and so it was whenever they went out that david behaved more wisely you noticing a pattern than all the servants of saul so his name became highly esteemed wherever they went out into battle david would always have the best battle plan his troops would be victorious they were always the ones that were blowing the trumpet coming to the rescue of everybody else they went down mowing down the enemy and the morale of his group his team was very great so saul spoke to jonathan his son chapter 19 verse 1 that they should kill david but jonathan saul's son delighted greatly in david you notice that jonathan is interceding with the king for david again another christ-like attribute not that the father wants to kill you but it's against judgment and jonathan told david saying look my father wants to kill you therefore please be on your guard until morning stay in a secret place and hide you go out in this field they assigned a place he said i'm going to walk out in the field not talk to my dad you'll be able to listen and i'll stand in the field and i'll talk to him thus jonathan spoke well of david to saul his father and said to him let not the king's sin against his servant david because he's not sinned against you because his works have been very good jonathan waited until saul was in a good mood he wasn't having the evil spirit he could reason with him for he took his life in his hand and he killed the philistine and the lord brought about a great deliverance for all of israel you saw it and you rejoiced why will you then sin against innocent blood what did pilate say when they wanted to execute jesus i don't want to be guilty against this man's innocent blood why will you sin against innocent blood to kill david without a cause you know saul had not totally grieved away the spirit and spirit reasoned with him at this point and he listened to the voice of jonathan and saul swore he made a vow by the way this vow came true as the lord lives he will not be killed do you know that saul made another vow that his son jonathan would die and jonathan did die a violent death and david did not it's interesting saul was a prophet the bible says that and jonathan called david and jonathan told him all these things he said look he's calmed down he's okay you can go back and jonathan brought david to saul as he was in the past and in his presence in pastimes and there was war again and david went out and he fought with the philistines and he struck them with a mighty blow and they fled from him and now the distressing spirit of the lord came upon saul as he sat in his house his spear in his hand and david was playing music now if i were david i would have thought you know your majesty could you please put the spear down and i'll play for you you've already once tried to shish kebab me uh we don't want you to you know just have a flinch uh a ill temper and but he's playing do you think david was relaxed he's probably missing a few notes and saul is scowling at him and he's tightening and losing his grip on his spear and every time saul shifted david wouldn't miss a note you know and because this didn't go well last time and this was the second time and again he's playing music and saul sought to pin david to the wall with a spear but he slipped away from saul's presence and he drove the spear into the wall it's all pretty big and strong and that would have hurt and he fled and he escaped that night saul also sent messengers to david's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning now he's got assassins they're stalking his house to kill him and michael david's wife told him saying if you don't save your life tonight tomorrow you'll be killed so michael let david down through a window and he fled and escaped is that the first time that god's servant's been let down a window by a woman remember the story of rahab you remember when paul was in damascus and they had spies waiting to kill paul and he was let down through a window they let him down in a basket and he escaped and michael put an image and laid it in the bed and everyone says pastor doug what was an image doing in david's house well they did have statues back then and that's simply what it's saying the bible doesn't say don't have any work of art it says don't make them and bow down to them so for whatever reason they had something that looked like a body or a person or figure of some sort they stuck it under the the blanket and they took some red goat skin that same color as david's hair and they put it there and made it look like he was in the bed they were hoping they'd look and say look he's sick let's leave him alone so saul's messenger has got the word he's sick and saul said to the messengers bring david back bring him in the bed that i might kill him they come in there was the image in the bed and the goat's hair for his head and saul said to michael why have you deceived me like this and you let my enemy go away she's probably thinking your enemy you're the one that told me to marry him and michael answered he said let me go why should i kill you that's a fib you'll see that there's some dishonesty that is uttered during this whole thing so david fled an escape now i want you to notice what's going on here as we proceed first he's got a true friend in jonathan and jonathan prepares him and gives him his arm or his sword and watches over him and the bible says there's a friend that sticks better than a brother as long as he's no he starts out with a friend jonathan sees his friend through the whole ordeal and he encourages him through the whole thing do we have a friend in jesus so then he loses his job you know one of the hardest things that can happen to a man is lose his job david had been in the palace and he's kicked out he says now i want you to go be a captain and you know what's happening with these jealous feelings of saul saul is not fighting against david who is saul really fighting against he's fighting against jehovah because he's grieved away the spirit he sees the spirit as in david he's 20 to destroy david because god had said through his word and his prophet someone else is going to replace you and he's trying to stop it from happening he should have just surrendered to it and then he gets to marry the princess and you'll think you think that's a good thing but now saul tries to do that hoping that he'll die trying to pay the dowry and then he sends his assassins to david's house where michael is to kill him you know during that time david actually wrote a psalm while he's going through his trials and i don't have time but if you read through the psalms you're going to find it says this is a psalm that david wrote when this happened this is a psalm david wrote when this happened david actually wrote a psalm when he sent assassins to kill him at the house and you find that in psalm 59 i'm just going to read a few verses of that i wouldn't feel like composing music but david found great comfort in that psalm 59 i'll read verse 1 and 3. deliver me from my enemies oh god defend me from those who rise up against me deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloodthirsty men for they look they lie in wait for my life there they were at his house lying in wait he's outlining what happened the mighty gather against me the king was against me not for my transgression nor for my sin oh lord i haven't deserved this when they're trying to kill me they lie in weight so as you look in the psalms pay attention to some of those introductions and you'll see that david wrote some of these during times of great trial isn't it interesting how much beautiful music has been written during times of great trial and so he wrote that when he fled now it tells us if you go to chapter 19 verse 18 where does he go he's ended up on the most wanted list david now flees to samuel and this is natural samuel had been his spiritual mentor he's thinking i'm going to die before i ever become king i just like some reassurance you are anointing me to be king doesn't look like i'm a king i'm running for my life right now. and so he gets some encouragement from samuel but pretty soon word came to king saul that david was with samuel and up in naoth and that was a town nearby to rama where samuel lived so what does saul do stubborn sends his uh soldiers to arrest david but when his soldiers come to arrest him samuel is out preaching with the sons of the prophets and they're prophesying to the people the the sheriffs from saul come to arrest david and the spirit of the lord comes on them and they start to preach and saul is waiting and waiting and saying why what's taking them so long send some more to rest david bring him back so i can kill him another contingent goes out to arrest david and when they come into the presence of samuel the holy spirit comes on them and they begin to preach and teach and saul says where are they what's taking them so long send another group because saul is just south of where samuel is they're not that far away he sends another group what happened to them well looks like the holy spirit came on them and they're there preaching and teaching along with the rest finally saul can't stand it he said well if you want something done right you do it yourself it says i'll go i'll get him so he arms himself to the teeth he goes up there he comes to night off where samuel is and all the prophets and the people are teaching and the bible says the holy spirit came on saul can the holy spirit even come on a person against their will when balaam wanted to curse god's people and god said you can't curse him because i blessed him the holy spirit came on balaam and against his will he had to utter a blessing and pretty soon he runs out of um energy and saul he starts to prophesy and preach and and uh takes off his clothes and lies down naked and he prophesies until sundown you can't fight against god so now he has to leave samuel he says well saul knows where i'm at this won't work forever david flees again he goes back to jonathan and most of chapter 20 is talking about where jonathan tries to intercede with his father and david says you didn't realize that your father tried to kill me in your sister's house david is telling jonathan so then your father sent soldiers to arrest me when i was up seeing samuel he's trying to kill me john says no he promised me he swore it wouldn't happen he said no he's trying to kill me again he threw a spear at me again jonathan said look let me talk to him again said you hide out here in the field and they set up another secret mission because you know people in the court are watching their spies looking david is now hiding in the bushes and jonathan said i'll go talk to my father. he said now's the the feast of the new moon it's the new moon sabbath there'll be a feast and all the king's counselors his cabinet will be gathered together they all there and he said i'll ask him then in front of everybody and so then after the second or third day and david's not in his seat he's one of the king's captains he's supposed to be there saul says to jonathan he knows they're friends he said where's the son of jesse oh dad david asked if he could go to bethlehem because his family was having a special sacrifice for the new moon and i told him it would be okay i knew you were busy saul through went into a fit he says don't you know if david is not dead that you will never be crowned prince says you're doing this against your and he begins to curse at his son says stuff about jonathan's mother i mean saul just comes unhinged and jonathan becomes outraged he says why are you trying to kill him he has done nothing but good the people love him everyone loves him and that really bothered saul saul now throws a spear at his own son and he misses he's just not a very good aim evidently with a spear and jonathan goes out mad he meets david in the field and he embraces and he says you're right he said he is bent on killing you and i can't reason with him he's lost his mind he tried to spear me so now he has to flee from his friend so you notice what's happening he's losing his position he loses his wife he loses his home he loses his friend he separated from samuel that was the last time he saw samuel samuel ends up dying by chapter 25. he now says where do i go when you are losing everybody he goes to the house of god now the temple has not been built yet they are still operating out of a very tattered tabernacle and so he goes to knob where the priest says i think i even have a map up on the wall that you'll see there and david flees from nob later he goes to you can see where gibia is in rama at the north of the map there is where samuel was gibia is where saul had his kingdom at that time he goes down south on the right there you'll see is nob that's where the tabernacle was and he goes to a himalaya there who is the high priest and when he saw david he was scared he says how come you're alone and nobody's with you because they'd heard about saul going after david and he said i'm on some urgent business for the king everything's okay david begins to tell stories i'm in chapter 21 verse 1. thank you and he said i need some food you have any provisions and the only bread here is holy bread he said that'll work by the way do you know david jesus refers to this experience matthew chapter 12 jesus said have you not read what david did when he was hungry and those who are with him he had a small group of men with them how he entered the house of god and ate the show bread that was not lawful for him to eat nor those who were with him but only for the priests but since it had served its course and they took it out they were now going to replace it with fresh bread they said you can eat this and they gave david the bread the holy bread was given to david and he said do you have any weapons here i said this is the this is the temple he said you know the only weapon we've got here is we've got the relic that you gave us it's the saul it's the sword of goliath that you gave us david said oh there's no sword like that let me have it so he ends up coming to the house of god and what does he get he gets holy bread and he gets a sword i hope you friends can find holy bread and a sword when you come to the house of god what does that bread represent man doesn't live by bread alone but by every word what does that sword represent the word of god which is a two-edged sword he went to the house of god and he got some encouragement there he was fed with holy bread and that's what we eat when we come to church right he was fed with holy bread and he got a sword but not like any other sword there was no sword like the sword of goliath but you know that the high priest because he had helped david he and his whole family with the exception of abimelech one of his sons they were all later annihilated by saul saul became so angry he didn't care what means he used or how many people were killed if he could just get rid of david why does the devil hate people so much because the devil satan lucifer hates jesus the son of david and most of the pain and the suffering you see in the world today is not because the devil cares that much about you but he wants to do what he can to hurt jesus it's all about destroying jesus it's all about hurting jesus and that's why he vents all of his wrath against the devil against uh you and e you and me and so he now has to leave the house of god um you notice something else about david his problem was never so much the enemy on the outside as the enemy within david always was able to kill the philistines but boy he had a lot of problems from people in the kingdom now david has he leaves the house of god and he is so discouraged where does he turn he now flees to his enemy you've probably heard the expression before my enemy's enemy is my friend and he knew that the philistines hated saul and saul now hates david he figures maybe if i go to the philistines they'll protect me and this is in chapter i'm actually in chapter 21 verse 10 and david arose and he fled that day from before saul and he went to achish the king of gath what king of where king of where gath have you heard that word gas before who's from gath who is the hero in gath david is so troubled right now he is so down he's not thinking clearly he goes walking up the streets of gath he and a handful of men with him that stuck with him and on his side he's got the sword of goliath and he comes to the king and he's looking for haven and the king is going ah he says to his his cabinet he's applying for asylum isn't the one this the one that said saul killed his thousand but david ten thousand ten thousand who ten thousand of us and we're supposed to take care of him and he's wearing goliath sword and david starts to hear that it's not going to end well and you know what he does he's pretty clever it wasn't honest he says i better act like i'm crazy so they'll have pity on me and he begins to drool on his beard and start looking wild eyed and acts like he's crazy and he starts to scratch on the gates and the king says oh he's crazy do you i just i don't have enough going on you bring me someone insane i haven't got time to have an insane person in my house get him out of here that's exactly what david wanted to hear instead of killing him he pities him and he says get him out of gas i don't want him here so he's now gone he's getting rejected by his enemies you wonder how much further down can he go you know david wrote a psalm psalm 34 verse 1 a psalm of david when he changed his behavior before abimelech and he drove him away and he departed have you read where it says the angel of the lord and this is in psalm 34 the angel of the lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them something else that david said in that psalm and you think it's a confession he says keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking to seed he said lord i know i lied and acted like i was crazy i got scared i didn't know what to do it's like it's a song that includes a confession but you read the psalms it's telling about these trials that david is going through and here we'll end up with this you get to chapter 22 now david flees to the cave of adullam and i think on the screen here we've got a picture where someone tried to take a picture inside the cave of a dollar that's still there today it used to be much bigger but over the millennia we're talking about 3000 years ago it had a little more space there's been you know some cave-ins and water washes in and and people use it over time but there used to be a little more capacity in there you can still probably fit 100 people in the cave but that became his holdout he ends up in the cave now here's someone who when he got called from the fields to the palace and he knew someday he was going to be king it made sense to david that you've got a big plan for my life i'm going to be king it makes sense i should be here i'm going to learn all i can in the palace but it didn't play out the way he had expected now the king tries to kill him and he he loses his wife he loses his home he gets fired from the palace he's separated from his friend jonathan he can't go back home to his family he's sort of an alien on his own nation on every telephone pole around israel it says top 10 most wanted david was number one on the list the king is trying to kill him he's running for his life and he ends up in a dark wet moldy cave and later you can hear david says the water wasn't very good there and he was yearning after the water of bethlehem so he's drinking sulfur water and he's in a cave and he's in the dark and he's every he's got athlete's foot and everything's going bad and he thought i'm filled with the spirit of the lord why is this happening to me sometimes the path to god's will for your life is going to take you through a lot of difficulty god was preparing david for usefulness and this so i'm telling you this because you may be going through that david actually was a great escape artist i wanted there's a word i didn't highlight i want you to notice it's the word escape first samuel 18 11 david escaped the presence of saul twice first samuel 22 he escaped to the cave adullum first samuel 1912 he went and fled and escaped from michael michael's house first samuel 19 18 david fled and escaped and he went to samuel first samuel 27 1 david said i'm better uh from dying from the hand of the lord to go with the philistines i'll escape to the land of the philistines and then of course he ends up in the cave you know jesus was an escape artist too the bible says john 10 39 therefore they thought to arrest jesus again what does again mean it happened before but he escaped the son of david was pretty good at that too he escaped from their hand you know what a dulla means the cave of a dollar a sealed off place god brought david to a sealed off place and there things are going to turn from the cave on his circumstances turn from the cave on and we'll be dealing with this in our next message an army begins to form and david's greatness begins to rise and his leadership and his experience but god had to bring him down into a cave did god have to bring elijah to a cave at one point sometimes god's got to bring you into a dark place before you can see the light from the cave david wrote a psalm you can read psalm 142 verse 7 it's called the mascule of david a prayer when he was in the cave of adullum and i want to read a quote to you from the book maranatha that wonderful devotional that talks about the last days why am i emphasizing this david had lost every earthly support god was preparing david for greatness by getting him to learn to fully depend on him the lord was also telling david no matter where you go you might have to flee to naoth and you might have to go to gath you go to a dulham you go wherever you go i am with you i will never leave you and forsake you god delivered him out of all of his troubles here's that quote from maranatha page 181 in the last great conflict of the controversy with satan those who are loyal to god will see every earthly support cut off because they refuse to break his law in obedience to earthly powers they will be forbidden to buy and sell it will finally be decreed that they shall be put to death but to the obedient the promise is given his dwelling will be on high his place of defense will be the munitions of rocks will there be a time when maybe we will see friends and job and family turn against us jesus said those of your own household will become your foes that doesn't mean every person every case but we're going to see even among our family people will turn against us you may lose your earthly support in your earthly possessions in your earthly positions you might find yourself out in the woods but the promise is that i will take care of you i will support you it says bread will be given them and their water will be sure by this promise the children of god will live you know when we look at the trials that david went through as he prepared him for the palace i mean here he starts in the palace he ends up in a cave but he's going to go back to the palace again when you come to christ he makes a promise to you but you might find your path to the palace is going to take you through some really difficult trials when you're going through your trials and you're running for your life you know the devil is out to destroy you did you know that i don't scare you but it's true the devil is going around like a roaring lion to make an appetizer out of you he wants to destroy you and so you go through these trials don't be discouraged jesus is your [Music] friend [Music] you

Channel: AmazingFacts

Views: 8,339

Keywords:

Id: tuY4EgdlD2s

Length: 49min 52sec (2992 seconds)

Published: Tue May 18 2021