Stopped in His
Tracks
1 Samuel
28:1-30:20
The
Scriptures declare that the word of God is living and Powerful – A sharp two
edged Sward – Piercing our hearts
An
elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church
services when she was startled by an
intruder.
She caught the man in the act of robbing her home
of its valuables and yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38!"
(Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ so
that your sins may be forgiven.)
The
burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained
what she had done.
As
the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar,
"Why did you just stand there? All the
old lady did was yell a scripture to you."
"Scripture?"
replied the bewildered burglar, "She said
she had an Ax and Two 38's!"
He was stopped in his tracks
– Well that is where we find David tonight in our text – Stopped in his tracks
1 Sam 28 – Review
We
left David in a Bad Spot – one that is going to get worse before it gets better.
A) Recall David went to
Achish of the Philistines –WORLD He is
pretending to Achish’s servant
B) Military raids of Israel
– but really he is completely destroying friends of the Philistines
1) I am sure in some way – David is justifying his dwelling with the enemy by theses
battles
C) He & his men &
their families are Dwelling in Ziglag
1) 16 months double life running from God – no Psalms – no
fellowship
D) Now David is about to do
the Unthinkable
1 Sam 28:1-2
28:1 Now it
happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for
war, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, "You assuredly know
that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men."
2 So David said
to Achish, "Surely you know what your servant can do."
And Achish said
to David, "Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians
forever."
David
is Going out to do battle with the very people he has been destined to lead.
A) He is going to fight
against the people of God – the very people he has been called to serve.
B) But We are going to see –
how the Lord stops David in his tracks –
1)
but before we do – there is a break in the Story -
C) Focus shifts to King Saul
– Rd v.3-10
So Saul, who put
the wizards and witches out of the land NOW asks for a witch!
A) Some might be prone to
say: Give him a break, he asked of the Lord and the Lord didn't answer
B) I do NOT buy that
1 Chron. 10:13-14 So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had
committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and
also because he consulted a medium for guidance. 14 But he did not inquire of
the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son
of Jesse.
C) That says that he did NOT
inquire of the Lord
1) Does that contradict 1
Sam. 28:6?
D) NO it gives insight into
it - It shows us that you can SEEMINGLY inquire of the Lord but not SINCERELY
There are those who say: I have prayed about
it and I don't know what to do?
A) How long?...... Have you
fasted?..... Have you REALLY enquired of the Lord?
B) We can fool ourselves
into thinking that we have prayed when there is NO fervency and NO intensity
C) It would almost appear
that Saul REALLY wanted a witch. RD v.11-25
Here we come to a
much debated passage of Scripture - Was this really Samuel
A) On the one hand the
woman's profession was absolutely forbidden
B) Therefore many believe
that this could NOT have been Samuel summoned from the dead
MATTHEW HENRY
says that God permitted the devil to answer the request so that those who receive not the love of the truth might be given
up to a strong delusion
C) That is all that séances
are about - Demonic impersonations to get people side tracked
1) Good place – things are wonderful – False hope
D) Some believe that this is what was happening here – This was a
Demon delivering this message
1) Problem is the message
was absolutely true – what the Demon said happened. - No foreknowledge
Now There are those who believe that since the apparition came BEFORE she performed her rituals
A) and that she herself was
shocked by the appearance of Samuel
B) and the predictions that
were confidently and accurately made, that it indeed was Samuel
C) They believe that God in
his sovereignty on this one occasion
allowed someone who had died to speak
D) I personally think that
this is possible based by what was said by the Spirit
1) I could go either
way. { We will
find out in eternity
What I think is
extra sad here is that Saul here is the Progression that we see in the Demise
of Saul
A) First met him in Ch.9 – A humble man – who ends up being anointed by
the Spirit - called
B) Here our last picture is one of a man who has so hardened his heart
against the Lord – he is consulting w/ a Witch
C) That is always the
progression of sin – it gets worse – it is a down word spiral into
DARKNESS
1) The Darkness gets darker with each passing Day
D)As we move now to Ch.29 we come back to David in the land of the
Philistines – Ready to go to War!
During that period of David’s life there is no record of him writing
any Psalms or having any real communion w/ God
A) To a
certain extent David has turned his Back on God / But God would not turn
his back on David !!!
B) As we come to ch.29 we see the graciousness of God to bring back
his wayward
Servant !!!! Read v.1-2
1 Sam 29:1-2
Then the Philistines
gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by a
fountain which is in Jezreel.2 And the lords of the Philistines passed in review
by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed
in review at the rear with Achish.
So the Philistines Gather to fight against Israel & David is
where he never thought that he would be Lined up to Fight against the people of
God
A)That often is the case When we
sin, when we backslide, when we turn away from the things of God,
B) We can find ourselves in a place we never thought we would be.
C) But it is here that we see the
Lord is going to intervene – to get David out of a very Disastrous situation
1) God is
still on the throne – He will not let go of David so easily RD v3-5
The Leaders among the Philistines
looked at David and his men, and said, “They aren’t
one of us. They are Hebrews. The worship another God. They live in the land God
promised to them. We don’t belong together!”
The
Philistine leaders could see what David
was blinded to.
A)David had started to think and
act like a Philistine, and was ready to fight with them against the people of
God.
B) But the Philistine leaders
could see that this wasn’t right, that David wasn’t really one of them!!!!
“It is very terrible when the children of
the world have a higher sense of Christian morality & rightness than
Christians themselves, and say to one another, ‘What are they doing here?’” (Meyer)
C)That is something that we often forget – is
Unbelievers expect Christians to act is a certain way
1) They have
certain expectations of those who call themselves followers of Christ –
D) It is not a good
thing when they are looking at us – Wondering why are they doing that / or
why we are in that place
1) I thought you were a Christian
– Manuel
So the Princes of
the Philistines come declaring what David should have Known all along – He
doesn’t belong w/ us
At first Achish defends David –v. 3 “David has been with me” and “I have found no fault in
him” since “he defected to me”
A)To hear an ungodly ruler say, such a thing should
have been a great wake-up call to David.
B) It would be as if an ungodly coworker insisted to other coworkers that you really weren’t a Christian
after all, because he had seen how you live!
1) God was speaking to David through this, but David wasn’t
listening?
C) The Philistine princes obviously didn’t trust David
& probably went away thinking – WE
SHOWED HIM – STUPID HEBREW
1) But in
actuality they were merely instruments in the hands of the Lord to get David
where the Lord wanted him .
RD
v.6-10
David Appeals to
Achish
A)But what have I
done? David seems genuinely disappointed that he will not be able
to fight for the Philistines against Israel.
B) David is upset that he had caused the Princes of
the Philistines to be Displeased w/ Him
C) Is
this the same David who fought Goliath?
1) Could you
imagine someone coming to David before that battle, and saying,
“Excuse me David, I
don’t think you should do that. You might displease the lords of the
Philistines.”
B)What do you think David’s
response would be? He might have said
“Of
course I will displease the lords of the Philistines! I want to displease the
lords of the Philistines!
I
can’t wait to displease the lords of the Philistines!
Kill
me if I ever stop displeasing the lords of the Philistines!”
C) But all of that is a distant
memory, in this time of backsliding and compromise for David.
1) David is
more Concerned at this point in his life w/ the fear of man than he is the fear
of God
But in the mist
of all of it – we see the hand of God at work in David’s life keeping him from
doing something he would really regret
A) David’s heart is in a bad
place, but God hasn’t abandoned him!
B) We should praise God for the times
when He kept us from sinning as bad as we wanted to sin!
C)
Pastor who before conversion – drinking problem – low point gave into
temptation to get a Beer – Unknown area – Best
friends walks in
D) Now he could have went to
another Liquor store – got the message – David could have attacked Israel on
his own – instead
v.11 So David and his men rose early to
depart in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. And the
Philistines went up to Jezreel.
D) David returns to Ziklag and
the Philistines army prepares to meet Saul
All
of that happened in this chapter should
have awakened David
A)He should have saw God’s hand
in all of this , but he didn’t.
B) Now God is going to get
David’s attention/ but at what Price ? What will
it take to bring David around?
1) Know
this Because God loves David, He will
do what it takes.
RD Ch.30 1-6
C) David & his men leave
their families unguarded & unprotected in their compromise to join forces
w/ the enemy to fight against the People of God –
1) Upon
return they find a disaster – their city is burned down / their homes are in
ruins & their families are gone
D) That is usually the case w/
sin & compromise can do –It leaves your family in ruins/ House divided and Family taken captive by the enemy
David & his
men begin to weep – until there was no power left in them to cry – They wept
until they had no more strength to WEEP!
A)Now picture this
: these are commandos / warriors – some of the finest fighters in Israel’s
History –
Sobbing uncontrollably
B) These men are broken why ? Because of the loss of
their families
1) Often
takes this to break a MAN OF HIS PRIDE!!
BB) Seen too many men go down this road of
Compromise & double life who weren’t broken until their families were
ruined
C) What they do at this point
makes all of the difference in the world /Chose the pathway that will result in
any hope of Restoration
1) Or Will they continue on the one that leads to further death &
Despair
D) He is the God of Restoration –
if we would be humble ourselves – submit to his direction
The tendency of
some people when confronted like this w/ the results of their sin is to turn
inward & get bitter
A)They get bitter at themselves / bitter at God /
bitter at those who hurt them
B) And that ROOT OF BITTERNESS
permeates the soil of their hearts & bitterness spreads like poison
throughout their whole being
1) They sub consciously
make a pact w/ themselves that they will never hurt like this again.
C) They turn themselves off to
people & to the Lord – they are not going to
trust God or anyone else for that matter
anymore !!
D) THIS PATH LEADS
TO DEATH
1)They go to their graves ANGRY BITTER /
CANTERKOROUS individuals who make everyone’s life around them miserable
So some turn
inward – others turn outward – They look for someone to blame - - I am
in this mess not my fault, it is their fault
A)They are looking for someone to get mad at –
someone to blame –which is what David’s men do v.6
B) They
turn to David & were talking about Stoning Him
–
1)
Instead of dealing w/ their own hearts they turn to David
who they willingly followed into Sin
C) This
dates back to Adam in the Garden – Looking to make excuses for our actions – not me – it was
the Women you gave me
D) The need to take
responsibility for our actions !
So some turn
within & get bitter – Some turn outward looking for someone to blame – But
the wise man / woman turns to the Lord
A)Now it took 16 months / it took a severe tragedy –
but that is what David finally does v. 6c – David
strengthens himself in the Lord
B) This is what matters most –
not recovering family – but it is getting
right w/ the Lord – RETURN TO SANITY – Prodigal came to senses
1) Too
often that never happens – see people who because of their sin / compromise
– have lost their families / or Ministry.
C) But instead of really
surrendering their hearts to the Lord / instead of really repenting of their
sin – they go through the motions
1) Great EMOTION- cry tears /
anguish / they seem sincere
D) But they don’t stop the
drinking / they don’t totally break off the relationships w/ the person or
people who were bad influences
David Strengthened
Himself in the Lord
A)David turned to the Lord broken
hearted in full surrender –
B) And God was more than READY to
supply David w/ the Strength courage & Assurance that He Needed
C) Also note: The Amalikites were Savages who made
their reputation in battle by attacking the rear ranks – Weak /women &
Children –
D) They would emotionally Pulverize an
army w/ a surprise attack killing their families
1)Here
they take them captive – God’s gracious hand
Rd v.7-20
God’s promise was
proved true.
A)When David inquired of the Lord, God promised You shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all (1
Samuel 30:8).
B) Note The promise was
fulfilled exactly, but it wasn’t fulfilled as David sat back passively and
said, “All right God, now You can do it.”
1) The Lord fulfilled His promise, but He used
David’s actions to fulfill the promise.
C) God’s promise didn’t exclude
David’s cooperation, the promise invited
his cooperation.
1) David
cooperated w/ God – trusting in the Promise of the Word of God & recovered
all .
D) God can RESTORE THE YRS THAT
THE LOCUST EATEN
REMINDED OF JESUS
A)All that
was lost by sin, our glorious and victorious Captain has recovered. What then
shall be his spoil?
B)Treasure
in the Field – buys the field to get the treasure –
V.13 David
asks the Amalakite man that they found 2 questions I want to close w/ today –
Who do you Belong to ?
A)Is it
Christ – are you his follower – His servant – Is it seen by your actions the
way that you live your life ?
B) 2nd
Where are you from – Who have you been hanging out w/? Where have you been
spending your time