Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: God will take your life and your history and your moment and God will translate that into real ministry, into real benefit to not only yourself but to the people around you. Just go in and out before the people.

David J.: Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David J., thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible.

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David J.: On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called 1 Samuel and a message titled "Friends and Foes in the Faith, Part 2." Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets. As we continue in Chapter 18, we’ll consider how a godly heart will have its enemies.

You see, there is a deep bond between Jonathan and David, but King Saul is increasingly jealous of David, which results in both political and relational tension. Someone might appear to be an ally in the faith but can become an adversary through insecurity and control. Today, Pastor Jack teaches that a godly heart will be approachable. David was a man who enjoyed being himself among the people. There was no hypocrisy in him. Having a sound mind, he was mindful of the things of God and His power. Now, with his message called "Friends and Foes in the Faith, Part 2," here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: God’s real. He says, "You know what? This is an evil world. This is a fallen world, and it’s extremely imperfect. I, on the other hand, am a holy God. I have redeemed you, and I’m getting you out of this thing my way. You worship me, a holy God, in an imperfect world." Yes, there are hurricanes. Yes, there are earthquakes. And yes, there are Muslims killing Christians in Pakistan as we speak.

But the circumstances in life—you will either turn to God and grab onto His Bible when the storm is raging and receive from His Word that peace that passes all understanding, or you’re going to throw your Bible to the side and you’re going to reach for a drug or a gun or whatever. What are you going to do? God’s all you’ve got. He’s all you need. Has it gotten so bad that I need to get friends to pray? Pray anyway. Pray at all times.

But listen, for those of us who are Christians tonight, whatever the circumstances are in our lives, God knows. Please hang on. He’s working something out. I know you feel like exploding. I know you feel like caving in. I know you feel like what we were talking about earlier, how if I’ve become weary with the footmen, what am I going to do when the chariots arrive and when the Jordan begins to overflow? What’s going to happen to me then?

We begin to worry, we begin to fret, and we begin to defeat ourselves. God, strengthen us that we might step back and say, "Lord, my life right now kind of stinks. It’s not going the way I’d have it, but I am Yours. I’ve called upon Your name. I believe that You are my Lord and Savior. God, be big in my life now and cause Your grace to surround me, and I will walk from this moment forward in You. And if I get hit by a train, then Lord, this body’s Yours. If that’s what You wish, then I’m Yours." Trust in the Lord. Have your heart rested and settled upon Him. It’s the only way we’re going to make it.

Verses 13 to 16, under this last and final point of number two, which is the issue of the heart. Verses 13 to 16 is this: that a godly heart will be approachable or friendly. Look at this. What an example. Therefore, Saul removed him from his presence. Get David out of here. David was willing to go, praise the Lord. And made him his captain over a thousand. And he went out, that is David, and came before the people. And David behaved wisely—there it is again—in all his ways, and the Lord was with him.

Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved wisely, very wisely, he was afraid of him. By the way, the word in Hebrew is he was more afraid, more and more, getting more afraid. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them. Can you underline that? He went in and out before the people. David was approachable. There goes the giant killer. I wonder what it was like to kill a giant. Why don’t you go ask him? You can talk to him. Go ask him. Isn’t that cool?

David came in and out before the people, and they loved him. You know what it means? David was just like them. And the message that he sent to them was that he was just like them. Saul stayed in a palace; David walked around with the people. Saul stayed in safety; David went to war. David trafficked among the people. He trusted God, he lived for God, he sought after God, so why should he hide? He was a true minister, a true shepherd, a true servant of God. He was among the people.

David enjoyed the people. He enjoyed being with them. Don’t you think that God, in all of His years of having that young boy as a shepherd, took that in preparation for life? Listen, God took the preparation of life that he was in, growing up, and God translated it into a real-life situation. God will take your life and your history and your moment and God will translate that into real ministry, into real benefit to not only yourself but to the people around you. Just go in and out before the people.

It’s our prayer that this church is an approachable church, that we’re all people that are friendly because we’re secure in God. Third and final point and we’ll be done. Verses 17 to 30. It’s having a sound mind. First point, it’s a matter of the soul. Second point, it’s an issue of the heart. Third point, it’s having a sound mind. Verses 17 to 30, we find this. When we have a sound mind, we’ll be mindful of who we are.

Verse 17 says, "Then Saul said to David, 'Here is my older daughter, Merab.'" Because this was the promise, by the way, to the man who would kill the giant. "I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me and fight for the Lord’s battles." For Saul thought, "Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him." So David said to Saul, "Listen, who am I? And what is my life or my father’s family in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king?"

Saul is planning on killing him by placing him into this impossible situation, and David is thinking, "What a tremendous honor to be invited to be in this family." Do you guys see the difference of heart? Is this not black and white? Verse 19 says, "But when it happened at that time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, then she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife."

You see what Saul’s doing? He’s trying to provoke David, to get him to act. If sending him into the battle to go after the Philistines didn’t kill David, well then, that didn’t kill him, so what I’ll do is I’ll break the promise, get him really ticked off because he obviously wants my daughter. He thinks it’s a pretty good deal. I’m going to take her and give her to somebody else to really get him infuriated. He’ll get into the flesh, he’ll do something stupid, and I can have him arrested or hung by the neck. You see how the flesh works? It manipulates people. It plays with people.

It takes people and gets into power plays, all for one thing, and that’s to advance the person who’s behind the whole gig. And it happens in spiritual things. It happens with the King of Israel. It happens among God’s professing people. Isn’t that sad? Are we mindful of who we really are? David was mindful. "Who am I?" he says. What a healthy thing for us. We should be saying, "Who am I?" Oh, you guys, we’re going to be gathering together at the property to sink the Bibles into the foundation. Be there.

I was walking around there this morning and I’m looking at that thing, and I’m just like, "God, who am I? Who are we that we might have this opportunity to be involved?" You know what? Honestly, if an earthquake came and knocked it down, we’re going to put foundations into the Bible. An earthquake can knock the walls down, but it can’t do anything to the foundation. It can shake it up, but the Bibles are in it. You say, "Well, what do you do? Trust in the fact that the Bibles are in there?" No, it’s what it means, man. It’s a spiritual thing.

We’re trying to do something externally to announce to the world what we’re doing is founded on the Word of God. When we deliver messages and when we sing songs of worship, we want to be standing on the Word. It may sound silly to you; it’s important to me. Being mindful. Romans 12:3 says, "For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly." Don’t be drunk with self-thought. "As God has dealt to each one of us a measure of faith."

You know what that means? It’s beautiful. "Lord, here I am, reporting for duty, sir." "Alright, this is what I want you to do." "Thank you, sir." We march out and we do what God’s told us to do. When it’s done, we step back and say, "God, thank You for getting me through that. I know You asked me to do it. I thought I was going to die through the midst of it. But not only did I make it, it was awesome. And You did, God, more than I thought. You overwhelmed me. God, thank You. You are amazing."

God, by faith in us working in this world, wants to accomplish things. But when it’s done, we step back and go, "Whoa, wow! I didn’t think I’d make it. God, You’re awesome. Praise the Lord. Can we do it again? Bring on something else." God gets all the glory, and you have a measure of faith. When that measure of faith is walked in our lives as we do it, as we embark upon that path, we have a wonderful assurance. God will get the glory, we’ll make it through, and we’ll sign up again.

You see, when the world does it in us and through us, we get to the end, we get all the glory, we get a check or a bonus, and then we wind up being used, broken, beaten, and left alongside the road for dead. But when God uses us, He’s got an amazing, miraculous way of dealing with His people. Once we sign up for Him and we get through it, we sign up again.

Verses 20 to 26, we learn this about having a sound mind and being mindful of things: being mindful of God. Verses 20 to 26: "Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. So Saul said, 'I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him.'" Kind of lets you in on what kind of girl she was. "'And that the hand of the Philistines might be against him.' Therefore, Saul said to David a second time, 'You shall be my son-in-law today.'"

Saul commanded his servants, "Communicate with David secretly and say, 'Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, come before the king and be the king’s son-in-law.'" So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, "Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am poor and lightly esteemed?" The girls are probably saying, "Is this guy for real?"

The servants of Saul told him, saying, "In this manner David spoke." Then Saul said, "Thus you shall say to David, 'The king does not desire any dowry but 100 foreskins of the Philistines to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.'" But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. Verse 26: "So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the days had not expired." We’ll pick this up in a second.

David goes, "That’s it? I only just have to kill 100 Philistines and I can be in the king’s family?" I mean, come on, you guys, you’ve got to agree with me. Would you want to be in the king’s family? David’s got his eyes on God. He’s looking at it in the spiritual realm. This guy is blessed by God. He sees things differently. No wonder why we see now why Jonathan was so impressed with the nature of this guy.

He’s mindful of the things of God. Verses 27 to 30: he’s mindful of the power of God. Therefore, David arose and went, he and his men, and he killed 200 men of the Philistines. Now, how many men did Saul want him to kill? 100. I’m sorry, I just delight in the fact that when Saul hears that he killed 200 and survived, it’s going to drive Saul more crazy.

And this part’s pretty sick. "And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law." Then Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, as a wife. Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him. And Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually.

Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed. Man, mindful of the power of God. Who would you like to have standing with you in life’s difficulties? Would you like to have Saul with you? Now let’s just pause right here. We’re done; you can close your Bible and rest. You did good tonight.

Listen to this. Saul’s got the box. He’s got the cars. He’s got the palace. He’s got everything. He’s got fountains and servants. He goes like this, and they bring crackers and cheese. There are people fanning him. When you come into the—can you imagine coming into the palace there in Israel? We’re talking extreme opulence. The cultures of this world know nothing of that grandeur.

And Saul, he thinks he’s something. Boy, that’s the world’s trap. The world loves cocktails. "Hey, that guy’s moving upward and onward. Let’s get along with him. Let’s follow in the wake. Smoother behind his wake. Let’s chum along with him, and maybe we can gain some political status or power. And if, maybe who knows, he could become governor, and then we might have some place in his court. Oh look, there’s that pop star. Let’s follow in her wake because you know what? Money will just be falling along the way. We can pick up some of the stuff that’s left behind."

People could still have said back then, "Hey, there’s King Saul." As far as the nation knew, he was king. Did they know what was going on in the palace? Maybe not. When Saul pulled his chariot out with the motorcade and went into town, everybody, "Ooh, whoa! Impressive, you know?" And then there’s David. He’s just a soldier. He’s one of the leaders in the Israeli Defense Force. He’s like others. Now, there is a rumor going around that he’s a giant killer, and many of the nation’s soldiers had seen that happen.

But you know what? He doesn’t have any money. He doesn’t have any real influence. He only commands a thousand guys; it’s no big deal. But God is establishing him. So Christian, be careful. God does not look at the outward and is impressed. I think God looks at the outward, and if it were possible, he would be depressed because we begin to look and we begin to think and we begin to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, "Oh, look at this great kingdom that I have built." It’s not true.

I’m wondering, if you and I lived back then, who would we be gravitating toward? A poor man shepherd like David? Or a rich, influential man with a house on the hill like Saul? Their hearts are being exposed. This chapter has made it very clear. One man is rising upward, but he sees himself small. One man sees himself large, and he’s descending downward. May we be humble servants of the Lord God Almighty. Amen?

Father, we come and we tonight humble ourselves before You. What a lesson is learned in this great chapter, that You resist the proud, but You give grace to the humble. Heavenly Father, we as a church tonight summon Your will to be done in our lives this way: that You would do the doing, that You would accomplish Your task, that Father, in this life, in this world of uncertainties, we pray now that if we have a faith that is erring, a faith that is odd, Lord, we invite You to come in and do the repairs. If our hearts have been gravitating toward the opulence of this world and for the power of this world, Lord, change our hearts. And Lord, for those that are in power here, men and women of position in the community, in politics, in corporate dealings, men and women of power—You’ve blessed them. Keep them blessable. Lord, keep them humble in their own eyes, to the glory of God. In Jesus’ name, and all God’s people said, "Amen."

David J.: Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio and his message called "Friends and Foes in the Faith, Part 2." Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called 1 Samuel. It’s a series that highlights the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel’s darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Narrator: Ever felt like something’s missing in your life? Maybe you’ve been searching for answers, for peace, or a sense of purpose. You know, the truth is, those longings are there because you were created to know God. At jackhibbs.com, there’s a tab called "Know God." It’s designed to help you discover what it truly means to have a relationship with God. This isn’t about religion; it’s about understanding who God is, why He loves you, and how you can find hope and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

The page breaks it down in a simple, clear way, answering common questions and guiding you through the steps of faith. It’s a great place to explore and reflect, whether you’re just curious or you’re ready to make that next step. So don’t miss out on the most important relationship you’ll ever have. Visit that tab called "Know God" at jackhibbs.com and start your journey today. That’s jackhibbs.com, because knowing God changes everything in your life for the better. Take that next step. Explore and reflect at the "Know God" section at jackhibbs.com.

David J.: This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.