[0:00] 1 Samuel chapter 25. Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran, and there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved.
[0:36] He was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, go up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in my name, and thus you shall greet him. Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing, and all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David. When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. And Nabal answered David's servants, who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where? So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all of this. And David said to his men, every man strap on his sword, and every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about 400 men went up after David, while 200 remained with the baggage. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by day and by night. All the while we were with them, keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this, and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house. And he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him. Then Abigail made haste and took 200 loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared, and five sayas of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins and 200 cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, go on before me. Behold, I come after you.
[3:06] But she did not tell her husband, Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. Now David had said, surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him. And he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.
[3:37] When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, On me alone, my lord, be the guilt.
[3:52] Please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant. Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.
[4:05] But I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the lord has restrained you from blood guilt and from saving with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.
[4:25] And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the lord your god. In the lives of your enemies he shall sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. And when the lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.
[5:18] And David said to Abigail, blessed be the lord, the god of Israel, who sent you to this day to meet me. Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you who have kept me this day from blood guilt and from working salvation with my own hand. For as surely as the lord, the god of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried to come to meet me. Truly, by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male. Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition. And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. About ten days later, the lord struck Nabal, and he died.
[6:27] When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, blessed be the lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head. Then David sent and spoke to Abigail to take her as his wife. When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife. And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. Saul had given Michael, his daughter, David's wife, to Pelti, the son of Laish, who was of Gollum.
[7:24] Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hekailah, which is on the east of Jeshamon? So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped on the hill of Hekailah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshamon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped.
[7:59] And David saw the place where Saul lay with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him.
[8:10] Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Joab's brother Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, who will go down with me into the camp to Saul? And Abishai said, I will go down with you.
[8:23] So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head. And Abner and the army lay around him.
[8:35] Then Abishai said to David, God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice. But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?
[8:52] And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water and let us go.
[9:10] So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them. And David called to the army and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, Will you not answer Abner? Then Abner answered, Who are you who calls to the king? And David said to Abner, Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your Lord, the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king, your Lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your Lord, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.
[10:13] Saul recognized David's voice and said, Is this your voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. And he said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done?
[10:27] What evil is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering. But if it is men, may they be accursed before the Lord. For they have driven me out this day, that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods. Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth, away from the presence of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains. Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day.
[11:13] Behold, I have acted foolishly, and I've made a great mistake. And David answered and said, Here is the spear, O king. Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation. Then Saul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David. You will do many things and will succeed in them. So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place. This is God's word for us today. Praise God. Now, if the congregation, we could just stand up real quick.
[12:09] All right. Get that blood circulating. Now sit down. The text like today can often leave us scratching our heads at just so many different things that are going on in the text between these two chapters. Some of you may be wondering, like, what in the world, I'm scratching my head here, but what in the world does chapter 25 have to do with chapter 26? Are you just anxious to finish a 1 Samuel series? And I would answer no.
[12:47] Maybe you're lost in the fact that David seemed pretty angry at this guy who was shearing. But I don't want you to miss, in the bulk of all the text that was going on that we just read, don't miss verse 1. It's always those strange instances in Scripture that just pass you by so quickly that it seems odd of why it's there. But they hold so much significance within the context.
[13:25] What does verse 1 say? And Samuel died. Certainly, if Samuel's dead, he was supposed to be guiding the monarch kingship. And Samuel's dead. We almost get a sense that, man, how David is reacting in chapter 25. Like, yeah, the monarch's pretty screwed here. Look, verse 21.
[13:59] Surely in vain have I guarded all this fellow has in the wilderness. He has returned me evil for good. God, do so to the enemies of David, and more also if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him. Hmm. We see that tension. Samuel's very existence was the hope of God's Word to guide this monarch for God's king. But there's something that changes in chapter 26.
[14:36] Because when David has this conversation with Abishah, he says, do not destroy Saul.
[14:49] For who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? And David said, as the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.
[15:07] The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Church, what has happened along the way? What has happened along the way? To go from just as utter anger against this guy who's shearing to grace. Maybe David's bipolar. We can give him a good diagnosis here of being mentally unstable. Or has someone providentially exposed God's way and God's will for him. We have a sermon titled today, Living Expository Lives. And the passage offers us significant hope that God will guide his people and bring correction for us and to us. And the object of this guiding starts in God's Word, right? But what's going on here? There's an absence of God's Word. And so the object of this guiding is not simply in the access of a prophetic Word as we see in Scripture, but powerfully guides God's people, you and me, through the understanding of that Word.
[16:40] To say it another way, church, do we merely know verses or do we understand those verses?
[16:52] Do we merely have theologically filled heads and be able to identify all the doctrines of grace and refute any opponents? Or do we have theologically filled lives?
[17:05] Let's dive into two sections this morning and see how God powerfully guides his people through understanding what it is to trust in the Lord. So let's break this into two sections. You guessed it, one section for each chapter. Let's pray and we're going to go into this.
[17:30] Father, thank you for your Word for us today. Thank you for allowing us to gather in this way and have your Word at our fingertips. It's a luxury that we often neglect and take for granted at times, but it's something that we need to live according to, not just knowing the verses and the chapters, but knowing how it applies, what it means and how to understand it. So we give you this time to help us to live in this manner. And we pray this for you to take control of our time today. Speak to your church.
[18:10] In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So we have two interventions that occur between these two sections. The first intervention is Abigail's understanding and wisdom. And so the scene in verse 2 following the news that Samuel is dead, we should find it odd and for that significant. So God's Word is essentially removed from this entire picture. And so we see this scene. Nabal, we meet this guy. Can you picture this rich man, this harsh man? Get off my lawn, man, right? Badly behaved. He was the guy who got spanks from his mother.
[19:06] Nabal never learns. But married to this man is Abigail. She's discerning. She's beautiful.
[19:23] And we can't ignore the subtleties in these descriptions because Nabal's work and business was in Carmel. What else was erected in Carmel as a monument and a statue from chapter 15?
[19:40] This monument of Saul. Yeah, that would be a place that Nabal would be doing business, wouldn't it? Subtleties. And the subtle irony as well because it's mentioned that he's a Calebite.
[19:52] Because that would be odd because Caleb was anything but foolish, right? In other words, we need to see Saul is certainly seen in this chapter through Nabal. Nabal is essentially acting as Saul.
[20:16] And so in this entire scope, if you have God's Word, a copy of God's Word open right now, look in verse 5 and all the way down to 8. We see David is in service to Nabal. All throughout his time in the wilderness, David and his men are out assisting Nabal's shepherds. They're helping them. And we find out in the text that not one of Nabal's sheep was destroyed. They were all protected. They were all cared for.
[20:51] David was so faithful to Nabal. And we get to this point of where Nabal, historically speaking, in this day, a day of shearing would be a time of providing and giving back to those who are carrying out for the shepherds and those who are aiding in service. So Nabal, it was just culturally appropriate. It would be unfathomable in this day and age to not give back a portion to those who are in service.
[21:28] It would be equivalent to us going to, let's see, Bob Evans. I haven't mentioned Bob Evans in a while. Bob Evans and the waitress. She's so faithful to you. She's bringing you all the refills, interrupting your conversations and everything, right with that refill. Right at the moment, you're getting into a deep discussion, but faithfully making sure your French fries are on your plate and making sure. And she even goes a step further and ties your kids' shoes.
[21:58] She's just going above and beyond. And then what comes at the time of receipt? Zero on the tip. It's unfortunate that the church is often known as the worst tippers out there. That is horrible.
[22:17] May this church always tithe to the church, but also not consider the tithe as something that you don't owe to service to your waitresses and waiters.
[22:34] And so there's tension that is built in this. His denial of David's request in a time that would just be simply expected. He doesn't only deny it, but he goes a step further.
[22:47] And he tells his waitress how lousy she's dressed, how pathetic she is, how she mumbled a word, how she didn't double-knot their kids' shoes at the table. They're worthless.
[23:04] And then up and out of the restaurant, leaving them behind. Nabal rejects David's request and says, who is David? Who's the son of Jesse?
[23:18] Who is this worthless man? Obviously, he did know who David was, knowing that he did mention him as the son of Jesse. There's no indication that would say that he was informed any other way, that he knew who David was very well.
[23:34] And David simply needed resources, and he was rejecting. And so David's messengers come back in verse 12 and 13, return to David, and what does David do? He sharpens his sword and sends out two-thirds of his army after Nabal.
[23:54] What in the world has happened to David? I mean, it leaves us to wonder, is there going to be any turnaround at this point in the narrative?
[24:09] Samuel's dead. Who's going to guide him back? Here. What happened to conscientious David in chapter 24 last week?
[24:22] This David was dangerous. So dangerous that he vowed to kill every male of Nabal's household by dawn. This just doesn't seem characteristic of David, who was tore up, tore up in the heart to pieces because of a robe, a garment that he cut.
[24:42] And he ripped his men apart over it and confronted Saul. If had David responded to Saul like this, sharpening his sword like he's doing to Nabal, that would have been the end to Saul's reign.
[24:59] What I want you to see, church, is a vivid reminder of our flawed nature that we see in David. The flawed nature that we see in David.
[25:12] Because David was a shadow of Christ to come. So if in David's honor we see Christ, in David's failings, we ought to see ourselves.
[25:26] Whose remedy is, guess what, found in Jesus Christ. Are we hopeless like David? To make everything worse, Samuel is gone.
[25:41] David seems lost. David seems lost. His heart needs guidance. And how's this going to pan out? And these questions should be points of mental wrestling in our minds as another piece of the equation begins to enter the scene.
[25:57] Verse 14, behind the scenes, Abigail, the woman we were just introduced to, Nabal's discerning wife. She's made aware of the situation.
[26:09] She understands the severity of her husband's actions and also how they play in because of who David is.
[26:19] And she wisely steps in to risk her life in front of this madman at this time to make peace through a small token of goodwill.
[26:34] She sends this token of goodwill out ahead of her so that he would lower his weapon so that she might be able to speak. And this was a timely redirection in verse 23 through Abigail.
[26:47] And it happened through a brilliant and eloquent speech where she refers to David as my lord. She had four requests.
[26:59] The first request, I think she needed to get a little bit better than that because she's just like in verse 25, forget Nabal, he is worthless. Let's just throw it on and go out to Bob Evans. No, you're probably going to need to do a little bit better than that against this very angry David.
[27:15] So the second request is interesting because she asked for prayer to allow David to let God handle it as he has always done.
[27:34] And in verse 27, she prays for him to accept this token of goodwill. And then, in this prophetic reminder, to David, she asked for forgiveness that the anticipated future kingdom as it's brought by through the words and the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 7, chapter 7, verse 16, a prophetic foresight into what is essentially going to happen and pan out.
[28:07] It was words of faith that David would be king and he would have a sure house. The words of Nathan to Daniel that she is referring to here that take place is when Nathan says to David, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before the Lord.
[28:28] Your throne shall be established forever. And she makes that clear here asking for forgiveness from the king.
[28:38] What a bold interpretation of David's situation and God's plan in David's life.
[28:50] Far from flattery. She's not just trying to butter him up, as we might perceive, just so she doesn't die and her kids don't die. This is all faith.
[29:03] Faith in God's promise now, faith in God's promise then. For David, this is a breakthrough moment of the king that God desired David to be.
[29:20] Not this madman after Nabal's throat and all his kids. God never arranged that to happen. That's all David. David. This is a breakthrough moment of the kind of king God desired David to be.
[29:39] He's the antonym of Saul. He's the antonym of Nabal. And if David is to be God's man, he ought to only act if God says to act. And that requires trust.
[29:52] So you see, for that, the Lord led Abigail to intercept David's heart spot along the path of one of his worst days thus far on this hillside.
[30:07] Flawed. Just like you and me. And there's tension though. Because reading this, unfolding it as we read a book, we don't know what's going to happen in the next episode.
[30:20] There's tension. How's David going to respond? Is he just going to take a whack at her throat and that's the end of Abigail and Nabal's next, right? There's tension here.
[30:32] Similar to that of David to Saul after approaching him outside of the cave of En Gedi last week. And so we see that here. And look with me in verse 32.
[30:44] And David said to Abigail, he responds to her understanding, to her wisdom. He says, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me.
[31:05] Blessed be your discretion and blessed be you for you have kept me this day from blood guilt and from working salvation with my own hand.
[31:19] Verse 34, for as surely you had hurried and come to meet me truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal as much as one male.
[31:32] And then David reached from her her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, Go in peace to your house.
[31:43] See, I have obeyed your voice and I have granted your petition. It's definitely worth mentioning that while the constructs of creation were designed with the culturally tense discussion of male headship and male leadership and things like that in the church and in the home.
[32:11] We see that all through the New Testament as we see it in creation. David's response though should indicate that men who are unwilling and unable to listen to the counsel of women are deeply stuck in pride.
[32:32] To do so is not complementarian. To reject the counsel of a woman is actually authoritarian. And there's a difference.
[32:44] David is king, by no means is Abigail usurping David. She's operating just as God's church desired to be operated. David listens and things change.
[32:58] How different chapter 26 would have been for David sneaking into the camp of Saul. This breakthrough for David's life reminds me of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, doesn't it?
[33:13] where the Ethiopian eunuch was on his traveling, he's reading out of prophetic literature, saying like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shears is silent and so he opens not his mouth and on and on.
[33:30] And the Ethiopian eunuch's like, Philip inquires, like, do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how am I to understand?
[33:40] Someone doesn't show me. Well, Philip was placed in the pathway, similar to Abigail, to not just affirm words on a page, but how it applies.
[33:53] She offered guidance, wisdom, by her understanding. And I stand here before you in this wonderful piece of wood today in the same manner to intervene on your life on behalf of the gospel.
[34:15] The gospel of Jesus Christ that transforms our lives through understanding that he alone is the grand display of God's redemption and our vindication as being blameless, as being forgiven people, the church.
[34:34] Flawed just as David, but redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. If this is not something that you have taken hold of in your life and you've been separated from God by sin, only you know it's between you and God.
[34:52] Maybe today is a day of salvation for you to finally put away and cling to the cross of Jesus Christ by faith. And Scripture's promises that you will be received in forgiveness by the throne of grace.
[35:08] Jesus Christ paid the substitute for you on the cross and by his blood you are washed clean, white as snow. He vindicates us.
[35:21] David was vindicated here, wasn't he? in verse 36 to 37, Nabal received the news. He went into cardiac arrest at Abigail.
[35:34] What she did? You gave what to David? Oh, he went into cardiac arrest and then verse 37, about 10 days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead.
[35:47] You see, David was vindicated not by his own strength of his hand, but by the hand of God, which was carried along by understanding the promises of God. And he was wisely executing based on that understanding.
[36:02] It was vindication for Abigail. I mean, poor Abigail. She was vindicated because David then took a widow and made her his wife.
[36:15] But it seems that it's not just all and they lived happily ever after like all the Disney films. There's still some tension at the end because Nabal isn't the only one that's holding out on David.
[36:31] Remember his other wife, Michael. Saul gave Michael to another man. The one who was faithful to David, Saul gave away.
[36:44] And so we see another intervention that begins to play out is that intervention too of David's understanding and wisdom.
[36:57] And so the narrative begins to take shape in sort of asking ourselves, okay, what is David going to do next? That was pretty wild.
[37:09] What's going to happen next? Because look, in verse one and two, another betrayal, the Ziphites, pesky Ziphites, doing what they do best, right?
[37:22] Selling David out just like they did before. And apparently, Saul doesn't learn anything. He is as worthless as Nabal. He's after David again, assembling a massive army of chosen men, the winners, the ones you would want on your team.
[37:41] And in verse three, there seems to be a test, not only to see if that is actually Saul's men that are assembling on this hillside, but to see how David would respond.
[37:56] And so, it's a dual test. And David discovers that Saul is definitely, beyond a doubt, unchanged.
[38:09] there is not anything that is going to change in Saul's heart that would ever have him lower his weapon against David. There's nothing David could do.
[38:22] And we learn that because of his actions and the words that he didn't stick with from last Sunday in chapter 24. And so, verse seven, David plans to enter the camp and enlists a co-worker, Abisha, and so, this is David's nephew.
[38:44] And he's going to play a very much more prominent character in the second book of Samuel. And actually, Abisha, his bloodthirstiness, he needed to be caged.
[39:01] It led to David's despair in chapter 19 of the next book. So, there's uncertainty in the passage, though, here and now. How in the world was David able to infiltrate this camp?
[39:14] We don't know until a little bit later. Was there nobody on watch? David just approaches and walks into the camp at nighttime and just says hi to the commander chief and says hi to the other guys who betrayed him and, you know, they're all zonked out in their REM cycle.
[39:32] the army is sound asleep, but there is certainty in the passage. His renewed understanding through the counsel of Abigail has reshaped his perspective, and this was the chance for it to bear fruit.
[39:51] This is indeed a test. There's a timely redirection, just like that of Abigail to David, now Abigail to Abisha, because what does Abisha want to do in verse 8?
[40:04] Look, then Abisha said to David, God has surely given your enemy into your hand this day. Now, please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.
[40:19] He'll be good and dead. Problem solved. But David said to Abisha, do not destroy him for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?
[40:36] And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go into the battle and perish.
[40:47] The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed, but take now the spear that is at his hand and the jar of water, and let us go.
[41:02] What? And as we consider the context of chapter 25 that we just were in in the first section and this chapter, there's sort of parallel scenes.
[41:15] It's hard to see unless you had time to really lay the narrative out, but there's a scene of temptation to act against God's enemies.
[41:27] There's a redirection, but then there's vindication. Church, we know that David's restraint was not in some hope of Saul's heart to change.
[41:42] That wasn't David's restraint, but a fruit that was in David's heart has changed. There was no hope.
[41:54] We know that David's restraint was not in some hope of Saul's heart to change, but a fruit that David's heart has changed. This deep dwelling conviction that we see of David is similar to that we see in Jesus Christ who was in the wilderness and tempted to have it his way like the Burger King slogan.
[42:17] But Jesus Christ would not take it because that was not God's will. And church, trusting in God means believing that God's promises will come to pass in God's time and in God's way.
[42:34] That is trusting in the Lord. And so for that, there's theological vindication here. To our discovery, we see in verse 12, we understand fully how David snuck into the camp.
[42:49] The Lord made everyone fall asleep. This sleep was that of Adam when he performed surgery on Adam in creation. The Lord caused a deep sleep.
[43:04] There was no waking these men up. Oh man, I yearn for a sleep like that, right? Oh, four kids in and we're still struggling.
[43:18] The Lord intervenes to pave the way to David's vindication. To allow him to be tested. You see, God is trustworthy.
[43:30] So David takes Saul's spear and a jar of water. We'll just say he borrows it for a moment. We won't say he stole. And what does a spear symbolize?
[43:41] Well, Saul's aggression. That thing was headed right for David. It was headed for Jonathan. Anybody who opposed Saul, it was headed for. And what does water symbolize?
[43:53] Life. Essentially, symbolically, David had Saul's aggression and his life in his hands. And he could have done what he chose as Saul was there having his sweet dreams.
[44:10] And David, by these symbols, was vindicated. David plays around a little bit with Saul's commander in chief. We've met him before. His name's Abner. And he's holding up this spear in the water, calling out to Abner, playing a little game with him.
[44:26] Saying, well, good job you guys are doing for the king. I just snuck in there. I could have done anything to the king. Good job, Abner. Well done. And Saul in verse 17 to verse 20, Saul awakes.
[44:39] Is this the voice of my son David? Right? It's like we eye roll once again. Come on, Saul. you gathered an army chasing David.
[44:53] Don't act like the victor here. And David makes, again, just like holding up the garments in chapter 24, he holds up the spear in the water saying, I am no threat to you.
[45:10] I could have had it my way, but I chose God's way. And there's a vindication in verse 21 of David's words. David preserved Saul's life as the Lord preserved David's life.
[45:25] And the last word that Saul would speak to David for the rest of his life happened here. And Saul says to David, blessed be you, my son David.
[45:39] You will do many things and will succeed in them. And like I said, the last interaction Saul would have with David.
[45:53] Church, when God's word is out of reach, it's important we never forget that its power comes not simply through the black and white text, but the understanding that's derived from that text.
[46:12] To be exposed. For us to live expository lives. For those around. What was David if the words of Abigail hadn't been said?
[46:33] What was said to David in the absence of God's word was a powerful lesson between the difference knowledge and wisdom? You know the saying, church.
[46:45] Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom is knowing not to put that fruit in a fruit salad. Right? Knowledge and wisdom.
[46:58] Through the powerful intervention of Abigail, her understanding and her wisdom. David received not just knowledge of Bible verses of how his act would be a defilement of God's word and against this law and against that law and this verse and this verse and to repent.
[47:22] No. But wisdom of the circumstance, understanding of God's sovereignty over it all. It was a risky endeavor, but sometimes faithfulness to God is all but safe.
[47:37] And it is risky. And church, there are a massive number of Christians in our day who know the verses, who can articulate their theology, but the conduct of their lives actually reveal a complete drought of understanding and unwillingness to take risks.
[47:55] church, this is a popular month in our secular world. Month of June is now labeled as Pride Month.
[48:08] Wonderful. We know what the Bible says about pride. But better we respond not motivated in beating people over the head with the Bible verses, but leading them to understanding that love is not love.
[48:25] love is Jesus Christ. Right? Maybe we have forgotten what has happened to us along the way.
[48:38] For us, of how God has redeemed and intervened in our lives with understanding of the gospel. You see, we're not called just to lead exegetical lives.
[48:52] I'm going to get preacheristic with terms here. We're not just supposed to lead exegetical lives of critically examining and being Bereans with the word. It is good, but it doesn't stop there.
[49:04] We are supposed to take it and be expositors in our lives. Exposing the meaning of others. Exposing what the gospel means. What God has done and how He has redeemed.
[49:17] God has called knowledge and understanding even in our own midst is found that God has called shepherds, not just ranchers.
[49:30] God has called overseers, not just managers. And God has called pastors, not just celebrities.
[49:41] celebrities. It's the difference of if you identify yourself as just merely attenders of a church service, wonderful, you gather, you give some money and then on you go.
[49:53] Or you co-laborers. That's the difference between knowledge and understanding. It's the difference between this gathering just being a social club.
[50:06] Summer nights, wonderful. Gathering, wonderful. But it doesn't stop there. It's the difference of knowing if this gathering and what is known by the state of Ohio as Steel Valley Church is not just merely an organization but an organism that is living and breathing and active.
[50:28] The world doesn't just need verses, they need exposition. In Jesus Christ's first coming, he demonstrated that he did not come into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
[50:49] John 3, 17. And highlighted in John 12, 47. Yes, the time of judgment will come. That should motivate us. But we're not just trying to scare people into heaven.
[51:02] We're not trying to scare people into faith or repentance. That comes through proper understanding. And in the meantime, church, Jesus Christ, as we're on this side of the pendulum of his second return, we say he is in the business of forgiveness.
[51:23] And so, as for us, I invite us all to do the Lord's business and allow myself as your pastor to stand as an intervention for you today to understand the words of the apostle Paul in chapter 12 of Romans.
[51:40] He says in verse 14, Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
[51:52] Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one for evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
[52:10] If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
[52:32] And to the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.
[52:45] Do not overcome, be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Don't lose sight of God's grace on account of his holiness.
[53:00] holiness, and don't lose sight of God's holiness on account of his grace. For that, we will be a church that reveals not just what we know, but what we understand.
[53:17] We must be expositional. Who in your life may desperately need to receive tokens of your understanding, and not just tokens of your knowledge.
[53:31] The world is searching, and we have an answer. That answer is through grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone, according to the Scriptures alone, to the glory of God alone.
[53:44] The world is searching. May we expose it to them. Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.