Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): If you're waiting to hear God audibly answer your prayers, Pastor Jeff Johnson has some advice for you.

Jeff Johnson: You can't just think that you can just pray and then hear God clearly and then, "Yes, Jeff, I heard your prayer," like Moses did. "Moses," you know? We saw the movie, right? Yeah, that's how I want God to speak to me.

It's not that simple, is it? To understand, to inquire, and then to hear. To wait upon the Lord doesn't happen overnight, and we make mistakes. Lord knows I've made mine. And you're going to make mistakes, but it's awesome, this relationship that we have that continues to grow, and it is a growing process.

Guest (Male): Calvary Chapel Downey welcomes you to Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. Well, we're just about halfway through the year 2026. Are you still following any of the resolutions you made back in January? Many people make resolutions concerning consistency.

They wish they'd be more consistent in their diet and exercise, in their relationships, in their work, and in life in general. For the Christian, a consistent faith makes for a closer walk with the Lord. That should be our goal no matter what time of year it is. Here's Pastor Jeff Johnson who concludes his study in 1 Samuel 23.

Jeff Johnson: We need to submit ourselves and humble ourselves before the Lord to just say, "Lord, I want what You want for my life. Help what I ask for to be Your will. Change my will to be Your will." And He'll do that. And all of a sudden, you'll be asking prayers where He's going, "Yes, yes, yes, yes."

There are certain prayers that you give to Him where God goes, "Yeah." And you go, "Wow, I want to know those prayers." Well, as you get into the Word of God, you're going to see these prayers that God just answers, answers, answers, that are just right up. Immediately, you know you're going to get a yes on it.

So in the midst of David's trial here, you see David reaching out and helping others in the midst of his chaos. I love this because we can do the same thing. When you're in the midst of a trial or a tribulation in your life, you can actually help others in the midst of it.

Christians are just like that. They're in the midst of all kinds of things going wrong in their own lives, and yet here they are reaching out to help somebody else. There's something about it that's just awesome. It's the Lord. In fact, we can help even more so when we're going through things because we're going to be more soft and open and understanding and merciful because we're going through some stuff, too.

When we're going through it, we can really reach out and help others. David is doing this right here. Now, God's answer to David was what? "Do it. Go." The tough thing about answered prayer is that God's spoken to you about whatever you prayed about.

But others in your family, in your job, or whatever you're dealing with really don't understand because they didn't hear God, you did. And sometimes they get a little scared, especially when you say, "The Lord spoke to me." And they go, "Uh-oh. This is what we're going to do." And they go, "Uh-oh. Wait a minute, wait a minute."

And they get a little scared. They get a little uptight. It's happened to me many times in the ministry here at the church and at my own home. When God will speak and then you make a decision, people freak out. It happens. It's going to happen.

Notice verse three. And David's men said unto him, "Behold, we're afraid, David, here in Judah. And how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?" We're scared here, let alone go after them and go into this city on the outskirts and go into their territory. We can't handle it.

Verse four. Then David, notice what he did. He inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered him and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand." David wanted to be sure. Do you sense that? As his men were afraid, thinking, "Well, maybe God, You need to speak to them."

Wait a minute. "Lord, did I hear right? Do You want me to go down here?" He said, "Yeah, go." Some people would say you don't ask God more than once. If you do, it's a lack of faith. These people are weird. Jesus asked three times. If Jesus asked three, I think maybe we might want to ask a few more times.

Paul asked three times, remember? It's not a lack of faith to be persistent in your prayer life, to seek God, to knock on that door and keep knocking. God gives us illustrations to be persistent in your prayer life before the Lord. God wants to see that you mean what you're saying and you really want it. And so we continue to knock. "Lord, it's me again." And you give it to him again.

"Are you sure, Lord?" And the Lord says, "Yeah, go. I am with you, and I'm going to give you the victory." What a great blessing to hear from God and to get answered prayer and to have God reaffirm in your own life and confirm it to you that He is with you and that He's going before you and you're going to have the victory.

When you get a word from the Lord like that, you just sit there and go, "I don't care what I see or what goes on. God spoke to me, it's going to happen." And I believe it. And you're just void of everything else. What a blessing answered prayer is.

The only thing scary about prayer life and you hearing God is the big three-letter word called sin. Do you know how we're to avoid sin in our lives? It's a terrible thing because if you're in sin, Isaiah 59 says, verse one and two, that God's hand is not short that He cannot save you, His ear is not deaf that He cannot hear from you, but it's your sin that has caused you to be separated from you and your God.

Sometimes we're not hearing because we're in sin. And it's like, "Is your ear shut, Lord?" And yet we're the ones that need to repent. So that's one thing we need to deal with. And the Lord says if you confess your sin, 1 John 1:9, God will forgive you and wash you of all uncleanness and you can walk in fellowship, walk in the light as He is in the light.

The blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin, and you have that fellowship then with Him again. So be restored. Get restored. Stay away from S-I-N. Keep the channel open. It's so important. Husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge. Really ask the Lord for a double portion of His Spirit to minister to her, to love her, to meet her needs, that your prayers would not be hindered.

That's one in 1 Peter 3:7 that is direct right to the husbands because God wants our communication to be open. I want it to be open. We all should. It's important. Now, David's lesson here is very interesting, and that is, no matter what, it's important to seek the Lord.

If it comes up and you've got a question about it, you seek the Lord. He did it. Verse five. So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

And it came to pass when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. Now, right here we see David's men went with David. I love that because it took some faith and trust in David. "David, you heard from God, we're to do this, You say we're going to be all right. Okay."

And they went with him. They just trusted the Lord that God spoke to this individual. Sometimes you're in that position that God is speaking to someone and you're just going to trust the Lord that God really spoke to them and He's going to bring us into that place of victory.

God has provided David now with a prophet. He's given him Gad the prophet earlier on, and now He's given him a priest. So as God said, David went in and had victory. This is how you can really tell if it's of the Lord or not, and that is when God speaks to you, does it happen or did it happen?

If it did happen, you know, "I listened to God, He spoke to me, it was God. It happened." You learn through this. Sometimes it's a step of faith and you heard from God and okay, I'm just going to believe the Lord on this. We grow from these times. Learning to ask, learning to listen, learning to receive direction doesn't happen overnight.

You can't just think that you can just pray and then hear God clearly and then God's going to speak to you in an audible voice. "Yes, Jeff, I heard your prayer," like Moses did. "Moses," you know? We saw the movie, right? Yeah, that's how I want God to speak to me. "Jeff." "Yes, Lord."

It's not that simple, is it? To understand, to inquire, and then to hear. To wait upon the Lord doesn't happen overnight, and we make mistakes. Lord knows I've made mine. And you're going to make mistakes, but it's awesome, this relationship that we have that continues to grow, and it is a growing process.

But we're not to faint. Remember that. We're not to faint. David in Psalm 31, which was written during this time, in verse seven, it says, "I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy," David says. "For thou hast considered my trouble, thou hast known my soul in adversities."

In other words, "I've given you my prayer, Lord, you know my situation, and I'm just going to be glad, I'm going to rejoice because I have given you my prayer requests." Remember what the Bible talks about, don't be anxious about anything, Philippians 4:6, but in everything make your request known unto God and then what happens?

Then the peace of God will rule in your heart and in your mind through Christ Jesus. We need to pray about it, and then you can give thanks and you can start to praise God. Why? Because you just gave it to the Lord. You casted your care upon the Lord.

Over in verse 21, he says, "Blessed be the Lord, for he has showed me his marvelous kindness." And then he says, "In a strong city." And he was talking about this city of Keilah in Psalm 31. We're to always seek the Lord. We're never to settle for second best. God gave David kindness in this strong city.

And then it goes on in again with Psalm 31, it says in verse 15, "My times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me." In Psalm 31:19, "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men."

He goes on to say in verse 20, "Thou shalt hide me in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." And then his final encouragement to us this morning in this whole thing of prayer, he says, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart," in verse 24, "all ye that hope in the Lord."

So continue on to pray. Continue on to seek Him about your situation and be of good courage as you trust in the Lord. Verse seven now of 1 Samuel 23. And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, "God has delivered him into mine hand, for he is shut in by entering into the town that hath gates and bars."

And Saul called all the people together to war to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men. Saul was totally deceived. We've already seen how Saul's in the flesh. He is driven by this Antichrist spirit. He is against whatever God is doing.

And yet he also is doing it in the name of God. He thinks he's on a mission from God. That's how deceived this guy is. And he thinks all of a sudden as he sees David and he hears about David going into this city, he thinks it's an open door. He thinks, "Wow, God, You have given me David." And he gets all excited and he gets the troops rallied.

But I'll tell you something. An open door doesn't always mean that it's God's way. Not always. We need to get confirmation from the Lord. Okay, a door does open. What are you going to do? Just run through without getting the okay to go in? "Well, a door opened." Well, wait a minute.

Then when it opens you need to ask, "Lord, can I walk through that door now?" "Yeah." Okay, and then you walk through. You just don't rush through or think that an open door is now a sign from heaven, this is God because I'll tell you, the enemy can trip you up in this.

And all of a sudden you're looking to move. You're looking to get out of the city and you want to go to the country. So all of a sudden, a house opens up. It's beautiful, but no job opens up, and you say, "Well, that's an open door, we're supposed to move."

So you go up there and you get into the house and there's no job. And you lose everything. I've heard of so many people doing this. They look at one door opening as the open door to leave and to go, and they get in so much trouble.

They didn't continue to seek the Lord and get confirmation of what was going on and if it's all working out according to His will. Very important. Saul was in hot pursuit of David. You can see that here. And just like our enemy, he never gives up.

But remember, God says, "I don't want you to be weary. In due season, you shall also reap." Keep on, even though you see the sides coming in, you keep on. David was doing that. We've got to do what David did and that's cast our cares upon the Lord because our adversary is seeking for those who are weak and sick spiritually.

We have an enemy that's real that knows if you're in the Word, knows if you're in prayer, and knows if you're not. And if you're not, he's going to be dealing with you. He's going to be seeking to get to you. Remember Peter's mistake as he was asleep.

Remember Jesus said go off and pray, and he didn't pray. He should have been in prayer, but he was asleep and the enemy caught him off guard and all of a sudden pressure came in. They came to get the Lord and Peter got in the flesh, took out his sword, cut a guy's ear off, and he made a mess of things.

There was blood everywhere. People were going, "Oh my gosh!" I mean, he hurt somebody. Why? Because in his time of weakness, because he wasn't strong in prayer, he got into the flesh and hurt somebody. And he felt really bad. We've got to be careful.

Saul thought for sure that David was trapped, so he gets the troops together. And David's secret, again, going back to the Psalms real quick, Psalm 27, David said this during this time, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, mine enemies and my foes, came up on me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and they fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident."

And that was in his Lord and in that God led him there. God wanted him to go there, right? He said, "Yes, go to Keilah." And so he goes there and Saul goes, "Got him!" And then he's surrounded with Saul's forces. David just says, "In this will I be confident. I prayed, God answered, and I'm just going to hang in there."

We need God's direction or we are the ones that are going to be in danger. Look at verse nine. And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him. He knew a lot about what Saul was wanting to do to him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring hither the ephod. I want to pray again. Bring the ephod to me."

And then said David, "O Lord God of Israel, thy servant has certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up to his hand? Will Saul come down as thy servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant."

And the Lord said, "He will come down." Then said David, "Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the Lord said to David, "They will deliver you up." We are not ignorant, the Bible says, of our enemy's devices of what he's going to try to do.

Two of the devices of the enemy are despair and confusion. David did not want to buy that off. He didn't want to get into despair, and he didn't want to get into confusion, so he sought the Lord. Because I'll tell you something about confusion, it's not of God. So when you're in confusion, you can know that the enemy's right there and he's hassling you. It's not of the Lord. We need to seek Him.

So David again seeks in prayer. And the lesson here, I think, is that we need to be very specific in how we pray. David prayed and he got one answer, and then he prayed again. He was very specific. "Lord, is Saul coming?" Yes. At first, he said, "Is Saul coming and are they going to turn us in?"

And then the Lord answered one at a time, remember? "Yes, Saul's coming." Then David went again and said, "Now Lord, let me ask You that again. Lord, is he going to turn us in?" And the Lord said, "Yes, David, he is going to turn you in." Both yes.

My question comes up in this situation, and I was thinking, if David wouldn't have asked the Lord, would the Lord have told him? And I have to come up with the answer no because the Lord wants us to seek Him and He wants us to ask.

What does the Bible say? James says, "You have not because you ask not." We've got to ask. If you don't ask, you sit there and think, "I don't know what's going on. What's going on? Why?" We're not asking, we're not in prayer, we're not doing anything, and everything's just coming in on us.

The Lord wants us to ask. Seek, knock. It's part of the training process of getting in a relationship with the Lord. The Lord wants us to be close to Him. He wants the communication to be open.

The second lesson I see here is you'd think those people that David had delivered, that David had saved from their enemy, would have been grateful and on David's side. But here we see, it's so clear, it's very dangerous to assume anything. We've got to ask the Lord.

You don't assume anything with the Lord. You ask the Lord. David did that. He asked the Lord. To assume is to make a real mistake. We need God's counsel in everything that we deal with. So God warns David. He acknowledged now God is directing him.

See, David said, "God," and God says, "Now let me tell you what's going on, David." And He begins to direct David. Instead of assuming, David asked God. 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." And how can He say that? Because He committed Himself to the one that judges righteously.

You need to give your situation and your life to the Lord and trust Him that vengeance is the Lord's. 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 it get to you. People's indifference towards you, it's not good to let it get to you. Protect yourself with God's love. So David did that.

Over in verse 13 now, notice, then David and his men, which were about 600 now, arose and departed out of Keilah and went whatsoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbore to go forth. Under God's word today, 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 the 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. So let trials and 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.

Guest (Male): Trials and tribulations will come our way. It's part of life. But if we'll allow God to use those hard times to refine us, as Pastor Jeff Johnson just mentioned, the end result is a closer walk with God. You're listening to Sound Doctrine at a part of our study in 1 Samuel.

If you enjoyed today's message, 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. Be sure to join us again next time we meet for another encouraging and challenging study with Pastor Jeff in the book of 1 Samuel. That's here on Sound Doctrine, presented by Calvary Chapel Downey.