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Jack Hibbs: The bottom line tonight is every one of us, we are subjects in a kingdom that has a king. Some of us know who our king is and you know what? We would risk our lives and cross land and sea for him just to bring him a drink of water.

David J: This is Real Life. 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. Looking for real answers in real time? Jackhibbs.com is your go-to destination for resources on faith, world events, and everything in between.

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On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues now with his series called First Samuel and a message titled The Two Kingdoms. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of her prophets. So, here in Chapter 22, we'll consider how King Saul is growing increasingly paranoid and violent, causing David to find refuge in a cave.

You see, King Saul and David are like two contrasting kingdoms: Saul with his worldly kingdom versus David's God-ordained kingdom. Saul is the king but ruled by fear, jealousy, and spiritual darkness. David is not yet king, but he's gathered a kingdom of misfits, not defined by political power, but by faith, purpose, and a divine cause. Today, Pastor Jack teaches us that, like David, God's kingdom grows within us quietly and oftentimes invisibly at first. Humble beginnings are often God's way of working through our fear and insecurity to form a more godly outcome based on security and trust. Now, with his message called The Two Kingdoms, here is Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Paul says that the love of money and the pursuit of money and those who seek after it pierce themselves through with many sorrows. Have you honestly—come on, have you ever really met a very rich person who's really happy? It's rare. And the ones that are trying to be happy or even kind of close, you see them nervous because they're constantly being sued by people who don't have any money. They worry about everything. But I've got money. Satan blinds people with money.

Then just that thing of influence that comes from beauty or whatever Madison Avenue is pumping up this week. It's a tremendous thing, and it's of that kingdom. It's of that realm. It manifests itself from the heart of Satan into the lives of men and women in the world. We were all there. God's delivered us from it. But the temptation still pursues even the most devoted Christian. Why? Because we once belonged to a kingdom and that ruler was the prince of the power of the air of this world, says the Bible. He was a king, so to speak.

I'm going to share something with you that I read by the wonderful godly man who's now with Jesus, Alan Redpath. Alan Redpath talks about this very thing. He says that Satan, Lucifer at the time, who was one of God's most anointed cherubim, says the scripture in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, talks about him and his attributes. When Satan fell in his sin, prior to that, he was to be in some sort of dominion over the earth. But in his fall, he lost all that.

God created man. In Psalm 8 and in Genesis, you hear how God gave dominion to Adam over this planet to till it and to take care of it and to nurture it. Redpath points out in his book when he's talking about this that there has got to be an extreme hatred that Satan has for mere human beings. It is interesting to think because, first of all, we can be redeemed; angels cannot. If they're fallen, they cannot be saved. They can't be brought back. It's only for mankind to be brought back, humankind. The scripture teaches that.

God loves us with a special love. What's funny is we have never seen God. Angels do. Satan sees God. We've never seen him, but we love God. To get more into that, you can read a commentary on that thought. It's called the Book of Job. Job loved God. Job drove Satan nuts. You read the Book of Job, and it's a tremendous witness of a man's love for his God whom he has never seen and an insult to a fallen angel by the name of Lucifer who stood in the presence of God and disobeyed him to his face.

What kingdom are we in? His kingdom or God's kingdom? You say you're in God's kingdom. Good. Then take your distress and your debt and your discontent and bring it to the Lord. The word discontent here means that these men became bitter over prolonged disappointments. They became bitter. What's amazing about these 400 men is in the book of Chronicles, you'll find out that these 400 men became David's mighty men of valor. They became the most famous and even in Israel to this day, they look up to these men who are long gone. It was the greatest military force that Israel had that came through these men.

Do you want to know why? David poured his life into these 400 guys and they turned around and poured their lives into the Israeli army, and they became the greatest force on the planet at that time. It all came from a bunch of losers, men discontent, in debt, and in distress. In this, we see a snapshot of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Doesn't Jesus say, "Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest"? And he loves us.

Jesus says to his followers, "I don't have any place to lay my head." I'm wondering now, looking at this chapter, if they might, those Jewish followers that were hanging around Jesus 2,000 years ago, I wonder if he was provoking them to think of their own scriptures, to think of the chapter that you have open on your lap. They had this book. Isn't it wild to think 2,000 years ago they had the book open like you have in your lap? They had First Samuel 22. I wonder how many times Jesus was trying to provoke his audience to see him in the light of the forerunner in the life of David.

He was rejected by his brothers initially. Remember that? So was Jesus. He was considered somebody insignificant. So was Jesus. He was mocked. So was Jesus. He was pursued for his life. So was Jesus. He was misunderstood. So was Jesus. David and Jesus, their lives are an amazing thing. It's a strange contrast.

There's another thing that we consider in these verses here. Look at verse 23 when David says to that young man, "Stay with me, do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me, you shall be safe." You ought to write down in your notes this: it is in Chapter 22 of this book that David from these events wrote Psalm 34. You can read it later if you want to know what David was thinking and feeling in Chapter 22. He writes in Psalm 34 what he was thinking and feeling. Then he writes Psalm 57 regarding Chapter 22 of First Samuel, and then he writes the 142nd Psalm. Three Psalms he writes, and you can hear and feel what he's thinking at this time.

One of the things is this. It says, "I will say to the children, 'Come and gather around me and I will teach you the ways of the Lord.'" That's from Psalm 34. What's beautiful about that is it's apparent that David takes these 400 guys and he teaches them the way of the Lord. He trains them because they become his mighty men of valor. He trains them. That's in physical combat. Again, I told you this before, I love David. He was an amazing guy. He could write a song, then he could write a psalm. He could play a harp, pick up a sword and cut somebody's head off, and go back to playing a psalm. Not that he was crazy, but he was a warrior at one moment, and when the war was over, he could sit down and write a song.

He was really in touch with every side of himself. He was really sensitive and played the harp. Then, "David, the enemy's coming!" He was a pretty amazing guy. He was a tremendous soldier. So, listen, he takes his disciples, 400 of them, and he trains them in the art of warfare, physical combat, the sword for war. Then he trains them in the ways of the Lord, in the sword of the Spirit. He shows them the life of the Spirit and he teaches them. These guys become, as history progresses in our book here, they become tremendous men in history of great feats and great battles.

How did it all begin? They were absolutely wiped out in this world's view. They went from the tyranny and the captivity of one king and his kingdom to a king that apparently on the surface could offer nothing. But they followed him. Frankly, like Peter, they had nowhere else to go. They followed David. Jesus no doubt at this hour is enjoying the fellowship of Peter and Paul and John and James. These men followed David. What happened in due time? David not only received the kingdom and the throne of Israel, but these men were great, great men under David's rule. That's a lesson for us.

David J: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To hear more episodes and catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And for now, let's get back to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: As Christians tonight, when is it going to get better? We would almost feel better if somebody promised us something. But watch out. Like Satan, Saul approaches and he says, "Hey, who around here is going to give you vineyards and take care of you and make you wealthy? Follow me, you're going to be all right." Promises from a man who cannot be faithful to God, a man whom the Holy Spirit no longer resides in.

David, on the other hand, basically invites the guys to hang out, fellowship, and learn. There's never any coercion. David's men fall in love with him. They'll do anything for him. We shall see. They'll even go into enemy territory and get him a cup of water because David says, "Oh, I wish I had some of that arrowhead water out of that sparkling fresh mountain stream." He goes to sleep and his buddies, part of these 400 dudes, they slip away and they risk their lives into the enemy camp to get some fresh water for David. They say, "Here it is, David. We love you so much, we want you to have this water."

He said, "Man, you guys risked your life. Are you guys crazy? Don't ever do that again. I'm not even going to encourage such loyalty. That's crazy." He pours it on the ground and he says, "This is the Lord's water." What a man of God. Don't you guys ever think of that idea again because your lives are more valuable to me than me getting a drink of water. So I'm going to pour it out unto the Lord. Don't do that. I need you guys. I'm going around sneaking off and getting me a little gift like that. You know those big burly dudes, they kind of went away. They just wanted him to know that they loved him.

These guys are going to have tremendous victories. The whole thing changes from Chapter 22 on. How? Why? Because they left one kingdom and they entered into another kingdom. Get out of this world and into the light and into the fellowship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Get out of it now. You say, "Now?" Yes, now. Do I have to go back and bury the dead and lock up the door and plow the field? Leave it alone.

The bottom line tonight is every one of us, we are subjects in a kingdom that has a king. Some of us know who our king is and you know what? We would risk our lives and cross land and sea for him just to bring him a drink of water. It's not necessary, but he has forgiven us of so much, we would give him our lives. Then there are those of the other kingdom, and the subjects of that kingdom, all they can think about because they're just like their king and they're just like their kingdom is me, myself, and I. What can I get? I'm going to just take care of myself. I'm going to promote me. I'm going to push my program. I'm going to get my thing through.

You're just like Saul who's just like Satan. You would never want to admit that and you would never agree to that. But which kingdom are you in? Which kingdom is it? It's not too far for us to say in verse 23 that Jesus could have said those words, "Stay with me, don't fear, for those who seek my life seek your life." Didn't Jesus say that if we loved him in this world, people would hate us and put us to death? It's all because we love him. But with me, you shall be safe. I love it. Only with Jesus are you safe. Only with him.

Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you that you have never failed, Lord. You're so good and faithful. Father, tonight, we would just desire that by your Holy Spirit, you would just be talking to people right now about what kingdom they're in, about who they're serving. Is it Jesus and his interests? If that's true, by the way, if you're serving Jesus and his interests, it's very easy to spot people who are of that kingdom because they have joy.

It's funny. They can be broke, they can have all kinds of distressing things coming against them, but you know what? The bitterness has been taken away and the debt has been lifted, canceled. The pressure may be all around them, but it doesn't look like it's affecting them. People ask them, "What's wrong with you? Why aren't you worried about this? Do you understand what the judge said? Or did you hear what he said to you? Or did you hear what she's going to do?" We would quickly almost accuse them, "They're out of touch. They're not even thinking. They're in denial."

But they would come back if they're of his kingdom and say, "The joy of the Lord is my strength. God is my defense." Or maybe you're in another kingdom to where you're tired. Every day's a push, push, push, and you're scared to death that somebody might find out who and what you are. Jesus says, "I know who you are and I know what you are and I love you. I want you to join my people and then eventually, they're going to be out of this world and you'll all be with me in heaven because I died on the cross for you."

While we're praying right now, don't raise your hand unless you're serious. If you want to have a new kingdom in your life, if you want to have your throne in your chest and your heart taken by a new king, King Jesus, if you want to live your life with him, if you want to be the subject no longer of Satan's realm but of his and you want to cross over, we invite you tonight to come on over. Be careful too because all that junk's going to come up in your head right now, all that excuse about some boy or about some girl in your life or about some thing.

Don't be thinking that you've got to clean up your drug habit and then you'll come to Jesus. I'll go break up with her and then I'll come to Jesus. Come to Jesus, he'll give you the strength to witness to her and then break up with her or whatever he calls you to do. But my friend, if in your head you're thinking, "I'll clean up my life and then I'll come to Jesus," that's impossible. If you want him right now, I want you just to raise your hand where you're at. I'll see your hand and I'll just tell you to put your hand down. Just lift your hand up wherever you're at tonight. God bless you. You can put your hand down. Anyone else? You want to cross over. You want to come into the kingdom of Jesus and his forgiveness.

Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you, Lord, that the kingdom of heaven, eternity, your dwelling place, expanded tonight by one person forever. Lord, may you touch this person's life and God, may you just blow their mind with your goodness. Lord, tonight, as they go home, may they almost feel you squeezing them and hugging on them. God, tomorrow morning when they wake up, may they just think the most bizarre thoughts about Bible, prayer, getting to know God. Lord, I remember how it was in my life and just that sense of being released from trouble. If I died, I'd be in big trouble. Lord, lift the guilt. Lord, show them that you are the one who relieves the load. Father, we thank you for this. We thank you, Father, for an addition to the kingdom in Jesus' name. Amen.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called The Two Kingdoms. Thanks for spending some time with us today. This message is part of Pastor Jack's series called First 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. We will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

As you heard from our broadcast, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. If you'd like to know what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life personally, we would love to help you out with that. Go to jackhibbs.com/knowgod. That's K-N-O-W-G-O-D. There you'll be guided through what a commitment to Christ can mean in your life and the freedom that you'll find in knowing God. Don't miss out. That's the Know God tab at jackhibbs.com.

Your week is packed. You're running on empty. Sometimes Sunday already feels like a distant memory by Wednesday. That's exactly why Real Life Devotions exist. Each week, Pastor Jack Hibbs brings you a short but powerful moment in God's Word designed to encourage, equip, and refocus your heart. It's not another podcast or a long sermon. It's a few meaningful minutes that meet you right where you are. Whether you're on a commute, going for a walk, or you just need a reset in the middle of your day, Real Life Devotions are ready when you are. Fresh encouragement straight from the Scripture, and it's all just one click away. Check out the newest devotion now at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Your place for real faith, real encouragement, and real life. That's Real Life Devotions at jackhibbs.com.

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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 Hibbs 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.