Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Coming up on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. If God's ways are not our ways, then He's got a third way. You see it this way or this way, right? And I don't see how either way can work. But then God's got His third way, that's His way, and He's going to bring it to pass. He's going to take care of it.

Proverbs 21:1 says that He holds the king's hearts into His hands and He directs the kings wherever He wants them to go. God's in control, folks. He's going to have the last word anyhow. Give it to Him. Let Him have it. Trust Him.

This is Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson, brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey. Today we will finish up Jeff's message in 1 Samuel 23. Throughout God's Word we read about faith in God. Sometimes it's a lack of faith and sometimes it's an abundance of faith. The point is, why do we find ourselves so often relying on our wisdom and not having faith in God's wisdom? In 1 Samuel chapter 23, we see David being pursued by Saul and his men. It seems inevitable that David is doomed. Here's where faith comes into play. Let's join Pastor Jeff now.

Jeff Johnson: David now realizes that he's in a trap. God warned him of this situation. David now leaves the city, and I want you to note this because when David leaves these people, he is leaving with no ingratitude or anger lingering on just because of these people with their thankless indifference towards him. He doesn't leave with a thorn in his flesh. He doesn't let it get to him.

I think that we need to learn this lesson from David. David, when he left, he realized that these people were just people, and they were freaking out, fearing for their lives, and he didn't hold it against them. You know how quickly we hold things against people? You know what that does to you in your life? Jesus said, "Father, forgive them." How can He say that? Because He committed Himself to the one that judges righteously.

You need to give your situation, your life, to the Lord and trust Him that vengeance is the Lord's, and trust Him for that. He'll take care of all things that this earth tries to serve up on you. But don't let it affect you because it will affect you in your life and ministry for the Lord. Anger's not good. Ingratitude's not good to let get to you. People's indifference towards you, it's not good to let it get to you. Protect yourself with God's love.

David did that, and then over in verse 13 now, notice: "Then David and his men, which were about 600 now, arose and departed out of Keilah and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbore to go forth." Under God's word to David, they scatter, all 600 of them. You can see that they're not a real organized army yet because these guys get word David goes hit the wilderness, guys, and 600 of them just scatter everywhere.

The ranks are growing, though. Notice he's at 600. He was at 400 before, remember? He had only 400, now he's got 600. It's just like today. We are continuing to grow. The body of Christ continues to grow as the Lord adds daily such as should be saved. Our ranks are getting bigger and bigger as the Lord's coming back. Time is short. There's room for a few more. People getting on board and it's exciting, isn't it? As we see many coming to the Lord, added daily such as should be saved.

Verse 14: "And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life. And David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood." David as the coney again was hiding out in these caves all over the place. There's millions of them out there, especially in this area of Ziph. It's interesting the word Ziph means that it's a place of refining.

I think that's very appropriate for David to be in this area of Ziph right now because he was being refined by the Lord. We sang the song this morning, "Refiner's Fire." Have that work in my life. Let trials, let things of this life refine me, Lord. It's a place where they were actually digging out and finding and mining iron ore in the area of Ziph. This is a very dry and desolate area today, an area by Hebron. It's south of the Dead Sea.

Notice it says "in the woods." At one time, this area was full of woods, lion, tigers, and bears. Oh, my! They had them in Israel. They were everywhere. There were forests, thick forests, huge animals over there that you wouldn't believe. Hippos, hippopotamus were over there. Alligators were rolling around in the Galilee. They were everywhere. But now the swamps are gone.

The forests have been cut through all the years of wars, and now they're replanting and it's beautiful to see the forest coming back in Israel. I mean, there's just beautiful, beautiful mountains and mountains of forest now after 40 years of being in the land. Notice it says "woods." Let me not miss this one point. In this area, this is the area where the Jewish Zealots would hide from the Romans, this area of Ziph, running for their lives.

This is where David was hiding. And the enemy notice was seeking him daily. Saul was after him every single day. Doesn't that remind you of your enemy? Satan, he never has a good day, does he, where he can rest? He never says, "Well, I can just leave him alone." No, he's always wondering how he can mess this life up today and he's always looking for something to do. Daily he's on us and after us.

But I love the second part of that. The Lord would not let the enemy get to him. Isn't that great? I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail. Jesus says that you're going to do all right. I'm with you. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Through the endless ages, I will always be with you.

Verse 16: "And Jonathan now, remember Jonathan, David's near, dear best friend, Saul's son, arose, went to David into the wood and strengthened his hand. And he said to him, 'Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee, and that also Saul my father knows.' And they two made a covenant before the Lord and David abode in the wood and Jonathan went to his house."

It's interesting to me that Saul couldn't find David for the life of him. But Jonathan couldn't miss him. Jonathan went immediately right to where David was. "Hi, David. How you doing?" Saul's going, "I don't know where that guy is. When I get him, I want to kill him." But see, here's the difference between hatred and bitterness. You're going to be lost. You're not going to find yourself. If you allow it to continue on in your life, you're never going to get anywhere. But love, it goes directly. It's beautiful. Jonathan loved David. He knew right where he was.

Jesus, as Jesus came to Paul that night in that prison and encouraged him, Jonathan now goes to David and encourages David. It reminds me of a Barnabas. Barnabas was the son of consolation. He would counsel and he would take time. So Jonathan took time to be with David knowing that David was down. He said, "Don't be afraid. I want to cheer you on. I want to be your cheering squad here. You just David, you continue on. You're going to be king. Listen to the word of God.

Listen to what God told you. That's God's word. You will be king. And guess what, David? I'm going to be standing right with you." Look at this guy. He's like John the Baptist, that I might decrease and He might increase in my life. John the Baptist just came, "I'm a voice in the wilderness. That's all I am. I'm here just to support Jesus." Jonathan said, "I'm here to support you, David. I know I'm next in line to be king, but David, you're going to be king and I'm going to be right next to you."

That's friendship. This guy, Jonathan, was humble. He was submissive. He was just in the background just wanting to help David. "My dad," he says, "he knows." You see, Satan knows his days are numbered, doesn't he? He knows what's going on. Listen, his days are numbered and he's trying to work overtime today. You can see it in our land today that we're losing it quickly, quickly, quickly. I mean, it's chaos on the streets. Crime is out of control.

Look what's going on. Satan's pouring it out. The coming of the Lord is near. The day of the Lord is at hand. So cheer up, Jesus is coming back. You say, "Cheer up? That's hard to do." But listen, Satan's trying to stop God's plan and he's not going to be able to. Saul continued to think that if he killed David, he'd stop the whole thing. You're never going to get your hands on him, Saul. God's program's going to go all the way to the end, isn't it?

Look at verse 19: "Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah saying, 'Doth not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood and the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down, and our part shall be to deliver David into the king's hand.' And Saul said, 'Blessed be you of the Lord, for you have compassion on me.'"

This guy makes me sick. But look at this. The Ziphites, who David thought were his friends, now through treachery take David. It's human nature that there's a lot of people that like to kick somebody when they're down. Just kick them. There's something about us that we got that in us. These Ziphites see David. He's running for his life. He has no home or anything. He says, "Okay, we're going to turn him in. We're going to give him over to Saul." Nice guys. How could David ever sing again with all these people turning against him? Think about it. You'd think David would be an angry, bitter man, wouldn't you?

The Psalm we read this morning is the one thing that saved David, Psalm 54 during this time. Would you look at it with me real quick? Psalm 54. And this is right on the top of the Psalm there, it says, "A Psalm of David when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, 'Doth not David hide himself with us?'" And so David writes this Psalm during this period of time. David says, "Save me, O God, by Thy name and judge me by Thy strength. Hear my prayer."

Again, David's a man of prayer. "O God, give ear to the words of my mouth, for strangers are risen up against me and oppressors seek after my soul. They have not set God before them." And so a word about his enemies to the Lord. "Behold, God is my helper and the Lord is with them that uphold my soul." So David kind of encouraging himself in the Lord. He goes on to say, "He shall reward evil unto mine enemies. Cut them off in Thy truth. I will freely sacrifice unto Thee."

He starts talking about his own life and what was going on in his heart. He says, "I will praise Thy name, O Lord, for it is good." His eyes were upon the Lord. He was on His goodness, not upon the treachery around him, not about how his friends were turning their backs on him, not about how everybody's against him out in the world. He got his eyes upon the Lord and he praised His name. "For He hath delivered me out of all trouble, and mine eye hath seen His desire upon mine enemies." Vengeance is the Lord's and He's going to protect me. Nobody touches God's anointed. I'm going to trust the Lord. And he did, and he got victory. We need to see that.

Look at verse 20 now, 1 Samuel 23, verse 20. "Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down, and our part shall be delivered into you." And Saul said, "Blessed be you of the Lord." And so Saul and his little words, he goes off and says, "Oh, blessed are you in the Lord." This is the type of guy that's going to say, "Lord, Lord, didn't we in those days, didn't we do this in Your name? Didn't we do that in Your name?"

And the Lord's going to say, "Hey, I never knew you." Saul reminds me of this group. It's not what your talk is. It's your walk. It's not how high you jump. It's how straight you walk when you come down. There's a lot of people today having church jumping up and down, going, "Praise the Lord! Amen! Hallelujah!" and then they go out there and it's all down the tubes. You will know that they are truly My disciples by their love to one another.

That's speaking of your walk, your walk in love, your walk in the Lord. How is it out there? It's through your walk that the Lord knows your life. How do you walk? Saul wasn't walking real good, but he was a great talker. There's a lot of people that are like that. But it's the walk that counts.

Verse 22: "Go, I pray you, prepare yet and know and see this place where his haunt is and who hath seen him there, for it is told me that he dealeth very subtly." In other words, this guy's very sneaky, you guys. Know this. David knows his stuff. "See therefore and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself." David was a shepherd, remember? He at times probably was out there with his sheep and he knew this area.

David knew all of the caves. He knew the places to hide, the lurking areas. "And come ye again to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall come to pass if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah." And they arose and they went to Ziph before Saul. And David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon in the plain on the south of Jeshimon, which is the southeast of the Dead Sea.

Saul also and his men went to seek him, and they told David, wherefore he came down into a rock and abode there in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. In 1 Samuel 26:20, David says of what was going on in his life as far as Saul hunting him, David said, "For the king of Israel is come out to seek as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains. I'm hunted as an animal. He's after me constantly."

All of a sudden, there's this army. He's coming up the side and he's always being surrounded, always coming after me. David says, "I'm hunted like an animal." But David knew the area. He hid in the places where he could outflank Saul. Saul had David, though, trapped, and there was no human way out now. Saul surrounded David. Saul, it says in verse 26, "went on the side of the mountain and David and his men on the other side, and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul."

But notice Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them. They totally surrounded the area where David was in, and all of a sudden, I'm sure it went through his men, his thoughts: is this it? Is this our end? So God has led us into a trap? So much for direction and answered prayer. This is great. Don't that sound like the children of Israel with Moses? "You brought us out here to get slaughtered? This is great! Your God's half a bubble off. Look what's happening. We're against the Red Sea. Pharaoh's army is coming down. There's mountains on either side. What are you nuts, Moses?"

I know this went through their minds. God is always going to make a way, though, isn't He? It's going to be in His time, though, right down to the wire. Isn't that crazy? Don't you hate it? I mean, gosh, right down to the wire. In the meantime, our knees look like camels. Why? That's the position God loves to see us in, right? And so sometimes we get in situations that brings us to our knees. Is that bad? I don't think so. I think that's right on.

God says, "Yes. Pray, pray, pray, pray." But against the Red Sea, the Pharaoh's army, the mountains, what's going to happen? Look at verse 27, and this is a great "but." You know as a counselor, as a pastor, you have people coming in and you give them the word of God and they always go, "But... I know that scripture, but..." and always lame "buts." What do you mean, "but"? I mean, God said. "Yeah, but..." Get out of here!

This is a good "but." Verse 27: "But there came a messenger unto Saul saying, 'Haste thee, come, the Philistines have invaded the land.' Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Sela-hammah-lekoth." It's one of the Hawaiian Islands or something, I don't know. Sela-hammah-lekoth. It means that it is the rock of divisions. The last minute, right down to the wire, God's ways are not our ways, are they?

How's God going to work this out now? Saul's surrounding us. We're going to be slaughtered. Well, remember what Moses said. Moses said to God, "God, what are we supposed to do? Go into the Red Sea and fish all the fish out to feed these people? These people want meat! How are we going to feed all these people? We're going to start killing the cows that we're supposed to bring into the promised land? That's how we're going to feed them?

What are we going to do, surf or turf? Which is it, God? I mean, what are we going to do? Beef or reef?" Lord, tell us. And what did God do? Neither. You're going to have bird. It's poultry time for you. You don't need the beef anymore, and you don't need fish. You need poultry. So He sent these quail in, thousands of them coming out four feet off the ground so they're batting them down. They got all the quail they could eat. Moses never thought "quail." He never thought. It's either fish or beef.

It's the same way here. It doesn't seem that there's any way out. And I think what the Lord is telling us, don't lose sleep over it. You say, "Oh, yeah, it's easy for you to say." Well, wait a minute. If God's ways are not our ways, then He's got a third way. You see it this way or this way, right? And I don't see how either way can work. But then God's got His third way. That's His way, and He's going to bring it to pass.

He's going to take care of it. Proverbs 21:1 says that He holds the king's hearts into His hands and He directs the king's wherever He wants them to go. God's in control, folks. He's going to have the last word anyhow. Give it to Him. Let Him have it. Trust Him. He'll intervene. Notice the only rock over David's being captured, there was one rock that's mentioned there. It even gives the name of the rock, the Rock of Divisions.

And I thought, wow, if the rock is Jesus Christ in a type of Christ, then what a blessing one rock can make in your life and in my life. One rock. Is He your rock? Are you planted on the rock? And finally, verse 29: "And David went up from thence and dwelt in the strongholds," notice, "at En Gedi." En Gedi is northwest of the Dead Sea. It is out there in the Judean wilderness, but it is a beautiful tropical lush with waterfalls like you see in Hawaii.

It's a lush area. Why? Because of underground springs. There's lots of fruit out there. There's animals. We always take our people over there to En Gedi and walk up to the falls of En Gedi. Why? Because there's coneys everywhere. Everybody gets to see a coney. There's ibex up in the mountains. You get to see an ibex. And there's goats there in En Gedi. It even talks about them here in the Bible. No, it's not the same goats. These are younger goats.

But there's lots of caves, and you get a feel of David running away from Saul when you're up in that area because there's caves everywhere. David could have hidden in any of those caves. And yet David wrote the Psalm: "You lead me beside still waters, beside green pastures. You restore my soul." You know what? To those who the Lord is their shepherd, God will take care of you. God's promise to you is green pastures and still waters.

Guest (Male): Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a few moments with a closing thought for us as we bring our study in 1 Samuel 23 to a close here on Sound Doctrine. It's our sincere hope that you've been blessed by the word spoken today by Pastor Jeff as we continue verse by verse through the book of 1 Samuel. This great Old Testament account contains some of the most practical lessons we can learn about being a believer in Jesus Christ in the 21st century.

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Jeff Johnson: And I'd like to end by sharing a scripture out of Luke 18. This is the prayer that God hears and answers. There's a story here that Jesus gives about a Pharisee and a sinner. The Pharisee came to God and said, "O God, thank you that you didn't make me like one of these sinners. Thank you that I'm such a great guy." and he went on and on and on and everybody's going, "Yo, this guy's boring."

And then this sinner came up and he just pounded on his chest and he hit the ground and he said, "O God, forgive me a sinner." And then Jesus said in Luke 18:14, "I tell you this man that went down to his house justified rather than the other man. For every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted."

If we will just humble ourselves and come to the Lord, the Lord promises that He will hear your prayer if you will simply say, "Lord, forgive me a sinner." He will hear that prayer and He will not only hear it, He will answer it and He will give you an amazing, an amazing forgiveness and He will restore you and He will bless your life. But it's up to you.

Guest (Male): Join us for another study in 1 Samuel next time we meet for Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. Have a blessed day in the Lord. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.