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Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. John 15:4

#AbideInTheLord #churchleadership #faith #jesus #KingDavid #Messiah #salvation #Saul

https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/moral-matters/saul-and-david-abide-in-the-lord/

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00:00If you go from there, David goes from strength to strength.
00:02He defeats the Philistines, becomes a friend of Saul's son, Jonathan,
00:07marries Saul's daughter, Michal,
00:10and he goes out against the Philistines, and it's said of him,
00:13David, Saul has slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.
00:19And as a result of this, he has a place in the king's court.
00:21He's one of the in crowd, if you like.
00:23He's certainly lorded by the people, by everybody else.
00:27He's got everything going for him.
00:30But unfortunately, in that phrase,
00:34Saul is slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands,
00:37he rouses the jealousy of seeing Saul.
00:42And Saul maybe has some understanding that the kingdom has departed from him,
00:46and that it's now gone to David.
00:48And he becomes David's enemy.
00:53And Saul becomes jealous of him.
00:55He tries to kill him,
00:57hurls his spirit in him while he's playing his harp.
01:00He tries to turn Jonathan against him.
01:02Jonathan doesn't, because Jonathan remains loyal to David.
01:05And he tells Jonathan that if you don't turn against David,
01:10then David's going to take your place as the king after I die.
01:13And as a result of all this, David becomes a fugitive,
01:18and he ends up in the cave of Adullam.
01:211 Samuel chapter 2, 22 verse 1 says,
01:24Therefore David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.
01:28So when his brothers and all his father's house heard of it,
01:31they went down there to him.
01:32And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt,
01:35and everyone who was discontented gathered to him.
01:37And so he became captain over them.
01:39And there were about 400 men with him.
01:43And David goes out, and he becomes the leader of a rebel band of fugitives.
01:47Far from being the favoured insider, he's now the outsider.
01:52Saul seeks him.
01:53Saul seeks to kill him, or to remove him.
01:56He has a number of adventures and near escapes,
01:59but he stays alive.
02:01And throughout all this time, he also stays faithful to God.
02:03You see that David seeks God when he has the opportunity to kill King Saul.
02:10He says he won't touch the Lord's anointed.
02:12He won't sin against God by touching the Lord's anointed,
02:14because the Lord has already anointed Saul as king,
02:18and he's not going to sin against him by taking his life.
02:23And so David acts in some distress,
02:27but also continues to act with faith to the Lord.
02:31So then we're going to come to our second encounter,
02:34which comes back to the verse which we started with.
02:38Go to chapter 26.
02:40We find that, again, David's on the run.
02:43Saul is seeking him.
02:45And Saul encamps in a place where he goes to sleep.
02:52And David comes down to the camp.
02:54And in 26, verse 7,
02:58we see that David and Abishai came to the place, people by night,
03:02and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp,
03:04with his spear stuck in the ground in his head.
03:08And Abner and all the people lay around him.
03:10Then Abishai said to David,
03:12God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day.
03:15Now, therefore, please let me strike him at once with the spear
03:18right to the earth,
03:19and I will not have to strike him a second time.
03:22But David said to Abishai,
03:25do not destroy him,
03:26for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed
03:28and be guiltless?
03:30David said, therefore, as the Lord lives,
03:32the Lord shall strike him,
03:37or his day shall come to die,
03:39and he shall go out in the battle.
03:40The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand
03:42against the Lord's anointed.
03:45Please take now the spear and the jug of water
03:47by his head and let us go.
03:49So Abishai says to David,
03:50look, you've got him cornered now.
03:52He's asleep.
03:53Everyone around him is asleep.
03:55There's a sword there.
03:56Take the spear.
03:57Put it through his head.
03:58And you're free.
03:59David says, no, I'm not going to do that.
04:00That would be sinful.
04:01I'm not going to touch the Lord's anointed.
04:04What he does, he then wakes up Saul,
04:07shows him the spear and the jug of water,
04:09and he says, look, I could have killed you, Saul.
04:11I didn't do that.
04:12So why are you chasing after me?
04:14I don't seek your life.
04:15Why do you seek my life?
04:17I'm just like a flea, he says.
04:20Don't come after me.
04:23And apparently Saul has a change of heart.
04:26Go to the end of the chapter.
04:27See that, verse 21,
04:39and Saul said, I have sinned.
04:41Return, my son David.
04:42I will harm you no more,
04:43because my life was precious in your eyes this day.
04:46Indeed, I played the fool and earned exceedingly.
04:50So it seems that Saul has changed his mind.
04:52He says, come back.
04:53It's all right.
04:53I won't go after you anymore.
04:54So up to now, David has followed the Lord.
04:58He's done what God told him.
04:59And it appears that Saul has said
05:03he's not going to go after him anymore.
05:05Now, the next bit I want to concentrate
05:07for the rest of this talk.
05:09Go to chapter 27.
05:12David does something very strange.
05:14You think he might say, well, okay,
05:17it's all right now.
05:17I can go back and live with Saul.
05:20But what does he do?
05:21Verse 27 then said,
05:24David said in his heart,
05:25now I shall surely perish someday by the hand of Saul.
05:28There's nothing better for me
05:29than I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines,
05:33and Saul would despair of me
05:34to seek me anymore in any part of Israel,
05:37so I shall escape out of his hand.
05:40And David arose and went over
05:42with 600 men that were with him
05:44to Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath.
05:48And David dwelt with Achish in Gath.
05:50He and his men, each man with his household.
05:53And so on.
05:54Verse 4, it said it was told,
05:56Saul that David had fled to Gath,
05:58so he sought him no more.
06:01It says there that Saul says he sought him no more.
06:04So David actually had some inkling
06:05that perhaps Saul hadn't really changed his mind.
06:09And that Saul was unreliable,
06:12as some world leaders are today.
06:15They may be saying one thing one day,
06:16and then they'll say the next thing the next day.
06:18And so Saul, David departs,
06:21and he flees to the land of the Philistines.
06:24Now one of the things you notice
06:25if you follow through the story
06:26from verse 27 through to verse 30,
06:30which we're going to look at in a moment,
06:33during this time,
06:34David never seeks the Lord.
06:37There's no mention of God.
06:38There's no mention of praying to God.
06:40And what David does now,
06:41he goes over to the Philistines.
06:42He goes and lives with the Philistines.
06:44He's now actually living with the enemy,
06:46the enemies of Israel.
06:48Even more strange,
06:50if you go to verse 28,
06:52chapter 28,
06:55he goes on a raid with the Philistines.
07:03Then in chapter 28, it says,
07:04Now it happened in those days
07:05that the Philistines gathered their armies together
07:07for war to fight with Israel.
07:10And Akish said to David,
07:11You surely know,
07:13you assuredly know that you will go out with me
07:16to battle and your men.
07:19So David said to Akish,
07:20Surely you know what your servant can do.
07:23So Akish said to David,
07:25Therefore I make you one of my chief guardians forever.
07:27Can you see how strange that is?
07:33Really strange behaviour.
07:35He's not only now with the Philistines,
07:36he's actually going out to battle
07:38with the Philistines against Israel.
07:41He's in the enemy camp.
07:43He's fighting with the enemy.
07:45How can this possibly happen?
07:48What's happened to David?
07:50The one who's slain the Philistines,
07:51now he's fighting with the Philistines.
07:55Really strange behaviour.
07:57He's gone from being the one
07:59who confronted the Philistines
08:01in the name of the living God
08:02to being with them.
08:06And as I said,
08:07if you look through this section
08:09of the book of Samuel,
08:10you'll find that at no point
08:11does David seek the Lord.
08:15So he goes off with the Philistines.
08:16The Philistines actually tell him,
08:18Sorry, you can't go with us.
08:20We know who you are.
08:21Maybe when you enter the battle,
08:22you'll turn against us.
08:23And he goes back to his place
08:28which he's been given,
08:29a place called Ziklag,
08:30which incidentally is not far from Gaza today,
08:35where he set up his camp.
08:36We get to verse 30, chapter 30,
08:40verse 1.
08:41Now it happened when David and his men
08:42came to Ziklag on the third day
08:44that the Amalekites had invaded the south
08:46and Ziklag attacked Ziklag
08:48and burned it with fire
08:49and had taken captive the women
08:51and those who were there.
08:52From small to great,
08:54they did not kill anyone
08:55but carried them away
08:56and went their way.
08:58So David and his men
08:59came to the city
09:00and there it was,
09:01burned with fire,
09:02and their wives,
09:03their sons and their daughters
09:04had been taken captive.
09:06And David and the men
09:07who were with him
09:08lifted up their voices
09:09and wept
09:09until they had no more power to weep.
09:12And David's two wives,
09:13Ahinoam, the Jezreelites,
09:15and Abigail,
09:16the wife,
09:17widow of Nabal,
09:17the Carmelite,
09:19had been taken captive.
09:21Now David was greatly distressed
09:22for the people spoke
09:23of showing him
09:24because the soul of all the people
09:25was grieved,
09:26every man for his sons and daughters.
09:30Leave it there for the moment.
09:33Okay, David now has reached
09:35the lowest point in this story.
09:38He's trusted in the Philistines,
09:39he's set up his camp
09:41in a place called Ziklag,
09:43and while he's away,
09:44the Amalekites,
09:46who are the big enemies of Israel,
09:49live further south
09:50from the Philistines even,
09:51they've come and captured
09:52his town,
09:53he's taken his wives
09:55and his family captive,
09:58and all the people
09:59who are with him
09:59have gone into captivity,
10:01and he's lost everything.
10:06Must have been
10:06a terrible day for David.
10:09Very damn.
10:10He's lost everything.
10:11disaster has struck.
10:17And even now,
10:19all the people
10:20who are with him
10:20are turning against him
10:21and talking about
10:22stoning him to death.
10:24So at this point,
10:26David's got to make a choice.
10:28He could say,
10:29well, that's it,
10:30I'm finished.
10:31Okay, stone me to death,
10:32I've lost everything.
10:34But what does he do?
10:36Says David,
10:37strengthen himself
10:38in the Lord.
10:39Said this is the first mention
10:41you have of David
10:42doing anything to do
10:43with the Lord
10:43from chapter 26
10:44right through to this point.
10:47And everything's gone wrong
10:48for him.
10:49He's ended up
10:49in the enemy camp,
10:50he's lost everything.
10:52Then it says
10:52he's strengthened himself
10:53in the Lord.
10:54He turned to the Lord.
10:59So,
10:59in all these chapters
11:04said there's been
11:05no mention of David
11:06looking to the Lord.
11:07Now he looks to the Lord.
11:10So the David
11:10who came before Goliath
11:11proclaiming his faith
11:12in the living God
11:13and winning victory
11:15over the enemies of Israel
11:16not once mentioned God
11:18in these chapters.
11:20Lost everything.
11:25Didn't work out
11:26his plan to go
11:27to the Philistines.
11:29Lost everything
11:30and he's in danger
11:31of losing his life.
11:32He's about to be
11:33stoned to death.
11:34So he encourages himself
11:35in the Lord.
11:37And the next verse
11:38it says,
11:38then David,
11:39verse 7,
11:40then David said
11:41to Abiathar,
11:42the priest,
11:43Ahimelech's son,
11:44please bring the ephod
11:44here to me.
11:46And David brought
11:46the ephod to David.
11:48So David inquired
11:49of the Lord saying,
11:50shall I pursue this troop?
11:51Shall I overtake them?
11:52And he answered him,
11:54pursue for you
11:54shall surely overtake them
11:56and without fail recover all.
11:59Isn't the Lord gracious?
12:00He could have said,
12:01David, you've blown it.
12:02I've forgotten with you.
12:04You've lost everything.
12:05You've gone over
12:05to the wrong side.
12:08Forget it.
12:10But David encourages himself
12:11in the Lord
12:12and he seeks the Lord.
12:12He seeks the Lord
12:13with the ephod.
12:14That's the way
12:14by which they determine
12:15the will of the Lord
12:17in the Old Testament.
12:18And the Lord says to him,
12:19go after this troop.
12:20You shall overtake them
12:21and recover all.
12:24He prays to God
12:25and God answers him
12:25and tells him what to do.
12:27He may have lost everything
12:28in the physical realm
12:29but he remembers
12:30that there is a spiritual realm
12:31where he was once
12:33very powerful
12:33linked to the living God.
12:36Maybe some of us
12:37can get into such a state as well.
12:38We've known the Lord's presence
12:40and then we depart
12:41and we begin to backslide
12:42and go away from the Lord.
12:44Maybe we think it's all over.
12:45We've lost it.
12:47But if we turn to the Lord
12:48and ask God to help us,
12:49ask God to meet us
12:50in our point of need,
12:51he's there
12:51and he will meet us
12:52at our point of need.
12:53The Lord says,
12:55you will surely overtake them
12:57and without fail
12:57recover all.
13:00And he then goes
13:01with his 600 men
13:02who were with him
13:03and came to the brook Besor.
13:06Crosses over the brook
13:07and finds an Egyptian,
13:08a slave of the Amalekites,
13:10been left behind
13:11without food or water.
13:13They give this man
13:14food and water
13:15and he's able to direct them
13:17to the place
13:18where the people of lust,
13:21people are held captive
13:22and then David and his men
13:24recover all that's lost.
13:27He comes to the brook Besor.
13:30Probably most of you
13:31don't know any Hebrew
13:32but if you do know the Hebrew,
13:34you may know that the word Besor
13:35actually means something.
13:37It means good news.
13:39In fact,
13:40the Hebrew term for the gospel
13:42is Besorat Yeshua HaMashiach,
13:44the gospel,
13:45the good news of Jesus the Messiah.
13:48So he comes to the brook Besor
13:49and he gets some good news.
13:51The way he's going to find the answer.
13:54When we come to the end of ourselves
13:55and we realise that everything's gone wrong,
13:57we come to the good news
13:58that there is a God in heaven
14:01who loves us,
14:02who gave us Yeshua,
14:03Jesus the Messiah
14:04and we come to him
14:05and he's able to help us
14:06to recover what we have lost.
14:09And he does so.
14:10Crosses over the brook Besor,
14:12good news,
14:13and he recovers everything that's lost,
14:17both the people and the goods.
14:19Returns them to his people.
14:21Then he learns that Saul has died in battle,
14:23goes up to Hebron,
14:25claims the kingdom
14:26and gains control.
14:28In the following chapters,
14:29you read how
14:30there was a long war
14:31between the house of Saul
14:32and the house of David
14:33but David grew stronger and stronger
14:34and the house of Saul
14:36became weaker and weaker.
14:39The house of Saul
14:40representing the flesh,
14:41the house of David
14:42representing now the spirit.
14:44Becomes stronger and stronger
14:45and David ends up
14:48uniting the whole country
14:50and the kingdom under him
14:51becoming Israel's greatest king
14:53and the ancestor of the Messiah.
14:57And it all turned on that one verse
14:58David encouraged himself in the Lord.
15:01If he hadn't done so,
15:02he'd have been dead and forgotten.
15:04The disaster which had befallen him
15:06jolted him out of his backsteading state
15:08and unbelief
15:09which had caused him to end up
15:11in the camp of the enemy.
15:12He obeyed the Lord
15:14came to the brook Bessau
15:15good news
15:16and began to recover
15:18all that was lost.
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