Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): We all have difficult people in our lives. What should we do about it? Here's Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: That individual in your life is God's anointed for you. You say, “Oh, no.” Yeah. Oh. What am I going to do? You've got to give him to the Lord. Let the Lord deal with him. God's got a nutcracker for every head.

And he's going to deal with. Lord, he's yours. And just be delivered from it. Don't deal with it. Don't fight with it. You're just wasting your steam, and you're getting all caught up and frustrated and confused yourself. Let it go. Don't touch it. It's the best way to handle it. Because if you touch it, you yourself get burned.

Guest (Male): As we continue to study the life of David today on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff Johnson will contrast the life of David with the life of a man stalking him, Saul. Now, both men were sinners to be sure, just as all of us are. But David had something Saul didn't have: a repentant heart. We would do well to soak in the difference between a repentant heart and a cold, indifferent heart. Join us in 1 Samuel chapter 24 as we turn things over to Pastor Jeff for a great message from God's Word. And don't forget to visit us online at sounddoctrineradio.org.

Jeff Johnson: We get all emotional about things. And there's many people I know that come forward to receive Christ, and they're all emotional and they weep and that's neat. But if you don't have a changed heart when you leave here and your life's not been touched by the Lord, then it's for nothing.

It was just an outward show. And Saul was having this outward show. Repentance means to turn from your old life and go to the God life or the good life. It means to go his way instead of your own way. That's repentance. It's change the way you've been living.

It's a lifestyle, a new way of living. And many people get caught up in emotions. And usually, it's the guy that got caught. Or you've got pressure and your girlfriend says, “You don't know the Lord, and I'm not going to date you anymore.” And you go, “Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it. I know the Lord now. I've done it.”

It's usually those thieves out there in the world that when they get caught, they break down. “Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.” So sorry you got caught. And I've got four years, I've got to learn not to do it again, not to get caught again.

I was doing my remote again, and I got this little excerpt about the courts. They actually have you go into a real court where there's real people doing real situations. And as I was watching it, it was this woman that was a teacher in a school.

And she sought out a 15-year-old boy to molest him and to rape him. And it was proven in the letters that he wrote to her and she wrote to him that they found that she was guilty. And she was lying like crazy. “Oh, no, we're just friends,” and this and that.

And finally, the judge said, “That's it, man. I can't believe, here you are, the teacher, the adult, the one that's supposed to be a good representative, and you're leading this boy this way.” He threw the book at her, and she broke down in the courtroom. See, she was all nice and all lying great and then all of a sudden he throws the book at her, and she breaks down. They had to cart her off with oxygen.

And I don't think it's because she had a changed heart. I think she goes, “Oh, no, I got busted and they're going to send me up the river.” And she was broken down because she got caught. The evidence was way against her. Saul's jealousy and bitterness was put on temporary hold here. We'll see it. Be sure that the Bible says your sin will find you out. It will surface again.

God help us to truly repent, that God will give us a true heart change. I hear this all the time with husbands and wives. I know that wives have a rough time, and I know that husbands a lot of times say, “Well, I'm sorry, I'll never do it again.” And then they end up doing it again and again.

And then finally, the guy comes and he's tried this and he's tried that, he comes to me and he says, “Listen, I've tried everything. She still won't listen to me. She won't listen to me in anything that I say, she won't listen to me. But she'll listen to you. Oh, she respects you. If you just call her and you just tell her I love her and I want to do this and I want to do that.”

And I go, “Give me a break.” No, listen, what you need to do is not for me to call her, but you need to repent of your sin and get it right and have a changed heart. She'll see that, and that'll speak to her. And that's what needs to happen.

The Bible says rend your hearts and not your garments. But so many rend their outward, and yet it's not a rending of the heart. They're not truly repentant; they're not truly sorry. Everyone sees a heart change. And what I'll tell you about a heart change: time will tell.

So just wait and watch and you'll know them by their fruits, by what comes out of their life, if their heart is truly changed. That's why we have this prayer, and David writes, “Change my heart, oh God.” For the scripture goes on to say, “My son, give me your heart, for out of the heart come the issues of life.”

That's why God deals with our heart. See, we've got hard hearts. We need a heart transplant, and he's the only one I know that can do it and successfully do it and change a life from within. David had a heart change, and I want you to notice this. He knew Saul was the Lord's anointed.

But anointed for what? Well, anointed to develop within David a character, integrity, a depth, a spirituality in his own life. That Saul was God's tool to work something beautiful in David's life, to cause David to come to a place of seeking and trusting the Lord as never before.

If David never had a Saul, he wouldn't have grown so much. David was being prepared to be king. David said, “I'm not going to touch that. I won't touch that. I'm not going to get near the Lord's anointed. I'm not going to lay a hand on you.”

Let me ask you a question: who is your Saul? Is it your husband? Could it be your boss? Who is the Saul in your life? And you say to yourself, “Well, I can handle it. I always pray about the guy, and I'm always giving him to the Lord.” But you know what? I like to help God out, too.

I like to just get in here and just nail him myself. “Yes, I talked to him. Oh, I cut him good and I clipped off and I dealt with him.” The old character assassination thing. I'm just helping God out, straightenin' this guy out. But is that God's way?

Words are powerful things. They can destroy. James says they're like fires. We know what a firestorm can do: destruction, great destruction. So words are also destructive tools. They can be used to just clip somebody down, to cut them off, and they hurt deeply. And you're not getting anywhere.

Listen, I've heard this saying. Wives, if your husband is in the basement and he's a low this and that, don't you put yourself into the cesspool by start talking about him and talking to others about him. Because it's not going to do any good. It's not going to get you anywhere.

Because here they are, so they're in the basement and they're going through it and they're doing this and that. But look what you're doing: talking about them and cutting them and cutting them down and doing your little thing, thinking you're helping the situation out when you're not, you're making it worse.

God's plan is that that individual in your life is God's anointed for you. You say, “Oh, no.” Yeah. Oh. What am I going to do? You've got to give him to the Lord. Let the Lord deal with him. God's got a nutcracker for every head.

And he's going to deal with. Lord, he's yours. And just be delivered from it. Don't deal with it. Don't fight with it. You're just wasting your steam and you're getting all caught up and frustrated and confused yourself. Let it go. Don't touch it.

It's the best way to handle it. Because if you touch it, you yourself get burned. Same with you kids that are out here listening to me. You might have parents that you think are half a bubble off, and they're not in touch, they're just not with it.

Well, let me tell you this: they're there and they're your parents and they're God's anointed to deal with you, to make something beautiful out of your life. Give it to the Lord. And if you see this, I want you to see that it'll set you free from hassling it anymore.

You no longer have to go at it. You can give it to the Lord. You can be free from the hassle of it all, from the Saul hassling you in your life. You can be delivered totally. And I pray this morning, as David was convicted, you also will be convicted if you start to touch God's anointed.

That God will bust you for what you're doing, that it's wrong and you'll pull away and you'll confess it as David did. We've got to learn to respect one another's position, to be as David and just grab them and thank God for them.

Notice David came out of the cave and just bowed down, humbled himself before Saul and just acknowledged him as Lord, to realize that they're there to teach you. David had a test that he had to pass. And guess what? He passed it.

He didn't jump into bitterness and hatred and anger. He didn't jump into those things of the flesh. He pulled back, he gave it to the Lord, and he passed the test. He didn't kill Saul. And guess what else? He was a good example to his men, and he taught his men out of not touching Saul either and just said, “Let it alone.”

Oh, parents, we need to be good examples at home of how we deal with Sauls to our children, so when they go out there in that world, they'll know how to deal with Sauls. Lord, let us be as David, give us this testimony, that we would be good leaders in the home, that we would be good as far as giving a good example how to deal with the enemy.

Who's your example? David said the Lord is going to judge. I refuse to touch it, to get into it. Now, how do you do this practically? It sounds great, doesn't it? But how do you really deal with this situation with a Saul in your life?

Would you turn with me to Matthew's gospel chapter five? In Matthew chapter five, way over in the last part of the chapter, starting with verse 43, look at this. This is Jesus talking, and Jesus says in Matthew 5:43, “You have heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.”

Okay, but Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” Well, right off you say, “Well, Jesus apparently doesn't understand my enemy.”

He really doesn't appreciate the situation I'm in, or he would never say this. Do what? I believe that Saul was a real enemy to David. David was hated. Saul was ruthless to him. Saul did everything a man could do to another man in ripping everything out of his life. And yet David learned to love him and he spared him.

So Jesus, who is the Son of David, said this: “Love your enemy.” And he says there's three ways to do it, and I'll give them to you. Number one, he says, “Bless them that curse you.” You see, blessings and curses are very powerful things.

Not only is a blessing powerful, but a curse is powerful. We see this in Balaam. Remember Balak wanted him, Balaam, and hired him to curse Israel. So Balaam got up there and started to try to curse Israel, and blessing would come out of his mouth.

He wasn't able to curse Israel. He went to another mountain, did another sacrifice, tried to curse them, and blessing came out of his mouth. Jude, in speaking of Balaam, said that his error, Balaam's error, is that he didn't understand mercy and the blessing of God.

He didn't understand it at all because he felt that they deserved a curse by the way they were living. And so Balaam got up there and said, “Yes, I'll give them a curse because they're cursed people in the way they're living.” And he thought he justified it all in doing it.

But you need and I need to learn that when we point at somebody, we've got three coming back to us. And when you curse somebody, you're cursing yourself. You see, David would say in the Psalms, “Lord, break their teeth in their mouth.”

And he was kind of cursing them, I would say. I mean, he was really up front in what he wanted God to do with his enemies. “Break their teeth in their mouth?” Think about that. Just shove the guy's jaw and break all his teeth.

I mean, that's pain. You know the dentist, the work the guy'd have had to have to have. But that's wrong. He cursed his enemy. David had a lot of love in his life, but he did some things wrong, too, because Jesus hadn't come around yet.

And Jesus said, “You've heard that it's been said this way, but let me tell you how it really is. It's wrong to curse.” If you're caught up in cursing, we need to repent of it. We need to get rid of it. We need to not get into it.

We need to ask God for a new heart, a changed heart with a new vision for the situation. That it's not doing us any good to curse. In fact, it is hurting us. It is not helping the situation; it's making it worse. What do I do? Bless them. It's the antidote to curse. Just bless them.

And as we bless, we're going to break the error of bitterness and anger and hatred. Do you remember what Jesus did when he hung there and they were reviling him and threatening him and cursing him?

He hung there and he said, “Father, not only forgive them,” but he didn't threaten them back, he didn't curse them back. He committed himself to the Lord who judges righteously. And that's the key. Give it to the Lord. Give yourself to the Lord.

Say, “Lord, here I am with a weird, hard, angry, bitter heart and I don't like it. And it is hurting me. It's not only hurting me, it is hurting those around me because I'm a bummer to be around. I need a heart change, and I know you're the only one that can do it. And I want to give you this situation because I want to be delivered from it. I don't want to deal with it.”

So Jesus gave the situation to God who judges righteously. That's how come he was able to hang there and to say, “Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing.” It's an awesome thing to see God's way and to be able to actually have action towards that way.

So likewise, he goes on there in 1 Peter chapter 3, says talks about wives and you can put husbands in there, too. Do the same thing, have the same attitude. Bless them. Let them see the quiet and the changed heart of your life. Not with your much words, but with your just manner of living, the inner man. And bless them. Strength, Lord, and prosperity on them.

Wow. How can they do that? Well, I'll show you how you can do that and the Lord will set you free to be able to actually bless your enemies and really mean it. The second thing is: do good to them, notice, that hate you. Wow.

How come you've got to do this? The Bible says where your heart is, so is your treasure also. If you've got hate in your heart, that's where your treasure is, in hate. It's called the transference of treasure.

If you do something good to them and for them, you are going to protect yourself from what I call the Saul spirit of anger, bitterness, and hatred. You're going to protect yourself by just reaching out and doing good. You're going to deliver yourself from getting caught into that trap, those things that would overcome us.

And the third thing, notice what Jesus said: “Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” Why should I pray for them? Well, that they'll be changed, right? Lord, instead of break their teeth in their mouth, change them for your glory.

But not just to change them, but more importantly that you would be changed. Pray for them because I tell you something about prayer: you can't be mad at those that you're praying for. It's rough. Try it, especially if you're in the spirit praying for them. It's hard to really get angry.

All three of these Jesus gives us primarily, and I want you to see this, for you and for me. He gives these things to do to our enemy for who? For the enemy? Not so much, but for you and for your own deliverance and for your own liberty in your life, to protect you from that Saul spirit.

And here's the reason why he finishes it, verse 45, “That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

That you will be the children of your Father, that you will be like your God, that you will walk in love. And that's the reason he says to do this, so you can be born again by your Father which is in heaven.

And if you're born by your Father, then his characteristics are going to be put on you. You're going to have his characteristics in this world. You're a child of God, and so you're going to be loving others, even your enemies. That's heavy.

And one more scripture: let's turn to Romans 12. Look what Paul said in Romans 12. We'll finish with this. Actually, I have one more after that, but it's a shorty. Look at this. Romans 12:18. Look at Paul's instruction here.

“If it be possible, and it is, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.”

You see, God keeps good books. When Jesus says, “Lord, I give you to the one that judges righteously,” he was freeing himself of it and just saying, “Lord, you deal with it. Vengeance is yours, you keep good books, you keep track of everybody excellently, and everything that is going to be meted out as far as judgment and all that is going to be dealt with by God. I'm going to trust God with it.”

“Therefore,” he says, “if your enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” So if your Saul is hungry, what do you do?

You give him food. If your Saul's thirsty, give him drink. Now, it's not to say we're going to do good to him so we can just watch him burn. Because the Bible says if you do good, it's kind of a way to get back. Let's get back at them, let's just be real loving, and he'll burn, and it'll really bother him and upset him.

And I think when I was a younger Christian, I used to think that that's the way it was. Just be good so you can get them. No, that's not what he's talking about because if you understood coals back in those times, coals were transferred by the pots.

And when your coals got cool in your own house and it was cold in your house, cold in your own self, you would go to your neighbor and they would give you their warm coals to warm up your coals so you could go back in your home and have warmth.

You see, we need to see a lot of transference of coals going on this time of the year more than ever before. That there's a lot of people that are hard out there and cold. Why? Because iniquity is abounding. The hearts of many are growing cold.

But he says love them. Give them a warm coal for their own hearts because they're so hard. It might touch them as Saul was touched. And who knows, they might be touched forever. And yet they could bring it back home and their homes can be warm because there's a lot of homes that are really hurting. There's a lot of warfare in a lot of homes. But the Lord's saying, “I just want to touch hearts and I want to melt them because my love will do it and we just need to be his channels as David was.”

Guest (Male): Are you a channel for God's love? What an amazing impact we can have on this hope-starved world if we'll just let God lead us. Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a few moments to share with us more about sharing God's love here on Sound Doctrine.

If you enjoyed today's message from Pastor Jeff Johnson from the book of 1 Samuel, I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to sounddoctrineradio.org where you can hear today's study as well as make a donation to this radio outreach.

That's at sounddoctrineradio.org. You can also listen at oneplace.com and through the Sound Doctrine Radio app. I should also mention Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Now, here's Pastor Jeff to wrap up today's edition of Sound Doctrine.

Jeff Johnson: Our call is to love our Sauls. And man, I know some of you. I had a girl come up to me afterwards, the last service. She said, “Well, wait a minute.” And she was just crying. She said, “I don't understand. Doesn't your neighbor have to come to you and know that it's cold in their house and cold in their hearts and then they'll ask for coal?”

I saw where she was coming from. In other words, let them come to me. I'm not going to them. But wait a minute: Saul didn't come to David. Saul just had a hard, cold heart. And there's a lot of people out there that don't know they're hurting and need a physician.

They're just hard and they're cold and they're hateful and despiteful against you. And Jesus is saying, “Just warm them up with my love. Give them my love. You can't love them, you don't have the love, but I can love them through you.”

And let me end with this verse in Ephesians chapter 4:32. I love it. “Be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving (and in the Greek it's forbearing) one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.” The key is as he has forgiven you.

Look at all that God has forgiven you. Look at what he continues to put up with you and continue to forgive you of. So you should go and forgive others and love others, and you'll be able to forbear, you'll be able to put up with, you'll be able to handle your Sauls with victory. And you won't touch them because you know that that doesn't help. You commit them to the Lord and you give them coals to warm their hearts.

Guest (Male): Be sure to join us again next time we meet for another encouraging and challenging study with Pastor Jeff Johnson in the book of 1 Samuel. That's here on Sound Doctrine, presented by Calvary Chapel Downey.