Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): When facing a trial in life, there are two ways to go. Here’s Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: Maybe you feel rejected this morning. Maybe you feel burnt out. Maybe you're losing your family or your kids. Maybe your ministry is falling apart, and it’s a painful process that sometimes we have to go through. But as David, you're at the crossroads, and the crossroads is here and now today. Thank God, it’s over.

But there are two ways you can go. You can either go to greater greatness and be used of the Lord, or you can just go away into oblivion. Oblivion, wiped out, fade away. You can even be killed. They took up stones, and David could have went like this: "Okay, go ahead. Stone me. Everything else is gone. Kill me. I want to die. Go ahead. Lay it on me. I don't care." As many do at this time. They give up. Many take their lives successfully.

Guest (Male): It’s been said when God puts his children in the furnace, he keeps his hand on the thermostat and his eye on the thermometer. Scripture promises that God won’t allow us to be tempted above that which we are able and will make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it. But we must seek him as David did.

That’s what we’ll talk about today on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. This is a ministry of Calvary Chapel Downey. What happens when we put ourselves in the furnace? Again, we can and must look to the Lord. From First Samuel, chapter 30, here’s Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: If they wouldn't have gone to fight with the Philistines, David's 600 men, the Amalekites would have attacked. I’ll tell you something, David would have missed, I think, a key time of chastening in his life by God. You see, God wanted to use this situation to get a hold of David. It’s a wake-up call for him. It’s a slap in the face like, David, what are you doing? God has to give us a wake-up call because we're getting so far away. You see, that’s how much he loves us.

David needed this to see the burning of Ziklag, to see that all of his family are gone, taken away. David needed this in his life. You say, does this really happen? Does God do this? Listen to Hebrews chapter 12. I'll read it to you in verse 5. He says, and have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children: My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Then over in Revelations 3:19, Jesus says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and I chasten." Then he says, "Be zealous therefore and repent so I won't have to chasten you." Has anyone here ever been in the woodshed and been spanked by the Lord, and been dealt with, chastened by the Lord? You see, he loves us, and when you're under the chastening hand of the Lord, you know at least you're his son or daughter. If you never felt it, then you kind of question, am I really the Lord's child? If I was, he'd chasten me.

That’s how we know sometimes that we are his child because we do get chastened. Well, David needed it at this time. Some say, I don't understand why God wanted me to date this guy for so long. Now look what has happened. It’s like wasted time. But wait a minute, David needed to be dealt with, and God loves us so much that he chastens us and wants to teach us important lessons as he does with David here. There’s a reason why God allows some things to happen in our lives, and then it has a crazy end. God allowed it.

His timing is perfect, isn't it? God knows what he’s doing. When you receive Christ, you put your life in his hands. You said, "Lord, I'm getting in the back seat. You drive this thing now." So you crawled back there, and he’s been going away at it. Sometimes we don't like what we're driving into and what we're into, but God’s still trying to teach us, still trying to get our attention because somehow, some way, we always drift a little bit. We have that tendency.

We're in this world, and when you're in this world, you're going to get dirty. It’s a filthy place, so he’s always there to wash us off and keep us clean. We sing the song, "In His Time He Makes All Things Beautiful," and that’s so true. How come I was allowed to work at this job for so long and then to have it turn out like this? His timing is right on, as with David. He was gone long enough for God's chastening hand to be on him, yet not gone too long where he couldn't go after and restore that which was taken from him. It was God's perfect timing. It just was right on.

We're always too late and too early, aren't we? We're always messed up. We're not on his timing a lot of the times. He’s going, "No, no, no, my timing is perfect. Look to me." Look at verse 6 now. Verse 6 is interesting because David's men now are turning against him. It says that he was greatly distressed because the people started picking up stones. I wonder why.

"David, you've led us long enough. You've led us right into this situation, and the reason all our stuff's burnt and our family's gone is because you went to the enemy. You took us along with you to live in the enemy's camp, and now this is what we get." David, enough's enough, and they start leaning down to pick up a stone. David's going, "Man, what else can happen to me?" His house is burnt down, his family is taken into captivity, his friends now are against him. Even the Philistines reject him, and David, it says, is greatly distressed.

Let me throw a few more adjectives out. He was discouraged, he was depressed, and he was in despair. I think something else was taking place as he was bottoming out here. Everybody's got a different bottom, don't they? Everyone hits bottom at a different place. Like some people you'd say, "Wow, man, I can't believe what’s happening in that person's life. I would have repented a long time ago and got it right." They're just still going on in their sin. Well, they have a different bottom than you do.

They need a little bit more. They're just going for it. God’s got a nutcracker for everybody. It fits perfectly around your head. Some need a little bigger one, a little smaller one. You never know. David now, I think, was realizing that he was in a backslidden condition, and it was almost like, "What have I been doing?" Finally, it’s a wake-up call. God’s got David's attention.

The presence of the Lord was far away from him. God's promises were unfulfilled in his life. He was hurting inside. Everything is against me now. I've lost it all. The flesh versus the spirit. Which one is going to rule and reign in your life? Which one are you going to be led by? Which one are you going to receive from? You're going to go the way of the flesh? Oh man, it’s going to be tough. The way of the spirit? What a blessing. So this battle was going on.

David's time away from God brought him into a place of lying. He was cheating, he was deceiving, he was cruel, and he even turned against his own people. It’s amazing when you turn away from God how hard you can get. Now the pressure is on. Everything is caving in, and you know what? You might be thinking to yourself, "This is what’s happening in my own life. I mean, I'm going through it right now. Things are caving in. I feel the pressure is on. What do I do?"

I don't think this is what God likes to do. Remember the psalm we read? Psalm 32, verse 9. It talked about don't be stubborn as the horse or as the mule that has to have a bit and a bridle in its mouth. You see, God doesn't like to give pain. He’s not a God of pain. He’s a God of love. But he will allow pain to come into your life if it will get your attention. You see, a horse without a bit or a bridle will not do and will not stop. He says don't be like that though, to where I have to use pain, because a bridle and a bit is pain to the horse and to its mouth, and it brings it to a halt.

David had to go the painful way though. But this is really good for David, and it could be good for you. Because not only does God have your attention now, but this is when your backsliding stops. You're not going to mess around anymore. This is where it is halted, and this is where we see David now stops in his tracks. Now the response, I think, is a word from the Lord that David has to say here to many of you this morning. Look at this response, and it says in verse 6, "But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."

When no one else would or could encourage him, what did David do? He was all alone. What could he do? Well, he has two choices, and he chose the right way. He encouraged himself in his Lord. Maybe you feel rejected this morning. Maybe you feel burnt out. Maybe you're losing your family or your kids. Maybe your ministry is falling apart, and it’s a painful process that sometimes we have to go through. But as David, you're at the crossroads, and the crossroads is here and now today. Thank God, it’s over.

But there are two ways you can go. You can either go to greater greatness and be used of the Lord, or you can just go away into oblivion. Oblivion, wiped out, fade away. You can even be killed. They took up stones, and David could have went like this: "Okay, go ahead. Stone me. Everything else is gone. Kill me. I want to die. Go ahead. Lay it on me. I don't care." As many do at this time. They give up. Many take their lives successfully.

But David didn't do that. When all was crashing down, David's secret is right here. He encouraged himself, and he was encouraged in the Lord. He sought the Lord to spend time with the Lord. He said, "Lord, I am sorry." He began to worship the Lord. He began to have fellowship with the Lord. He began to get back with God. I know he began to read the Old Testament promises new and afresh. He began to pray as never before. He began to confess his sin.

What happened? He was encouraged. Remember again, Psalm 32. David was stubborn at first. He wouldn't confess his sin, and he held on to it. His bones were hurting. He couldn't sleep at night. Sin was killing him until he said, "Finally, I confessed my sin before the Lord, and guess what happened? He forgave the sin in my life. He washed me clean."

That’s what God is waiting for you to do, is to come to this place of confession, of repentance. He knew, David knew God's chastening hand was upon him, and David didn't stay stressed out. His life changed at this point. Your life can change at this point. Not until when things get tough, you can do two things. You can either go and sit and have your little pity party, which some of us are great at doing. Just wallow in self-pity. Nobody likes me. Friends are throwing stones at me. My girlfriend left me. I lost my job.

You can either lose it completely, or you can begin to encourage yourself. Seek the Lord. Talk to yourself. Even David in one of the psalms said, "Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me?" He began to actually minister to himself. Trust thou in God. He’s still on the throne. God’s still in control of everything. Give your life to the Lord. Trust the Lord. Get back with God. He began to talk himself into it.

He encouraged himself, and he was encouraged. Is your home base burning? Have your friends taken up stones? Do you know you're in a place maybe where you shouldn't be? You know you're doing what you shouldn't be doing. Do you feel like throwing in the towel because the pressure is on and things are caving in right now? You need to encourage yourself in the Lord. You don't need to run to get counsel right away.

I think sometimes immediately we say, "I got to see my therapist. I got to see a Christian psych." We try to make it Christian. I just need to sit down with somebody and let them tell me how I'm all right because I'm losing it. No, you don't need to run to that. Counseling is good, I'm not trying to put down counseling. Counseling is good, but sometimes we depend way too much on it. That’s not what you need right now.

You don't need to run here and there to everywhere. You just simply need to go to the Lord and get right with him. Go and do your first works over again. Get back with your first love relationship. Get that going. Then if you need some more counseling, fine, for encouragement and all. But at first, we just need to run to the Lord. He’s all we need. His love is all we need. When are we going to wake up and see that he’s been waiting for us to come to him and to have that personal relationship?

He will never leave us nor forsake us, the Bible says. Listen, others will judge me outwardly, but he knows me intimately. I need to get close to him, and I need to just bear all things to him because he understands. He’s there for me, and he loves me, and he cares for me. As I commune with him, as I seek his word, it’s so beautiful because as you do this, his presence comes into your life. In his presence is fullness of joy.

You see, what we're lacking is his presence. David said, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me." Man, that makes all the difference in the world, doesn't it? To know that I'm walking in the presence of the Lord. I'm worshipping him, I'm having fellowship with him. We have a right-on relationship with my right-on redeemer. We're walking and talking together.

If David didn't do this right here at this time, I don't think he would have ever made it into the word. I think this was a crossroads for him. This needed to happen in his life, or he would have been wiped out. Like many of you this morning, unless you follow David's example, you too will perish. You'll wipe out. It’s up to you, and really it gets heavy because it depends all on you, your decision this morning between you and the Lord and what you find yourself in today.

David, it says, is encouraged in the Lord. What is the result of being encouraged in the Lord? What is the outcome? Look at verse 8. And David, it says, inquired at the Lord saying, "Shall I pursue after this troop?" Excuse me, go back one verse. I can't miss verse 7. This is the result of encouragement. David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod." And Abiathar brought hither the ephod to David.

What is the ephod but, hey, I want to talk to the Lord. The ephod was, remember, the breastplate, and behind that were the two stones, the Urim and the Thummim. These were the two stones where you'd seek the Lord and ask God. See, David's getting it together now. He’s saying, I want to talk with God again. I want to hope in God, I want to trust in God. Because remember in chapter 27, verse 1, David said, "I know that I'm going to die by Saul's hand," and he gave up. He let go of the hope and he gave up. He says, "I'm a dead man." Which was not true.

He didn't hope in God at that time, did he? But now he’s saying, "I just want to seek God. I want to pray to the Lord." So now he hopes in his God. If he would have done this a while back, I'll tell you, he would have not suffered so much. If he would have done it a long time ago. Same with us, right? But there’s something about us that we're so stubborn. We're like a mule.

We just go on and go on until things get so messed up that we go, "Oh God." And we begin to cry out, and God’s going, "I've been waiting for you to do this for so long. I just wondered where your bottom was." I found a scripture in Psalm 119 where David says this: "Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." Then he goes on to say, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." So affliction does have its place in our lives, doesn't it, folks? God does speak to us through it. If we're going to be stubborn, he wakes us up.

Verse 8 now, as David's back on track, he begins to inquire at the Lord and saying, "Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them, Lord?" And the Lord answers him. I love this. Not only is he speaking to God, but God is speaking to him. There’s nothing like it in all of this earth to be able to speak to the living God through Jesus Christ our Lord and then have him speak to you. I'm not talking about an audible voice where he comes out and he goes, "Jeff, I am the Lord thy God." I've never had that experience, but I know God speaks to me.

He’s given me his word. He speaks to me all the time. As I get into his word, he speaks to me. Sometimes it’s a still small voice, by his spirit he begins to speak to me. But to be able to speak to God and have him speak to you is awesome. So David's back on track talking with his God, asking his God what should I do. God answers him and says, "Go, David, pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail you're going to recover everything." I like it. Everything’s going to be restored.

You know what the Bible says? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, and your household. Isn't it great? We have hope of restoration in the Lord, that God is going to save our parents, our uncles, our aunts, our brothers and sisters. God is going to intervene as we continue to pray for them, as we continue to be a light for them to see a true Christian. That helps sometimes, doesn't it, if someone can see a real Christian?

So Jesus is our encourager. He’ll always say go. You can do all things through me because I will strengthen you. I am for you, who can be against you? Most of all, I love this, that he is able. He’s able for whatever situation I find myself against. You can just imagine, I can see God's joy here, and where David finally speaks to God and God goes, "David, finally! Hey, how's it going? What do you mean? Go? Yeah, go, pursue. You're going to get everything back again."

And God was excited to see finally David turn back to him, and they're on talking terms. Now, David, we're going to really get some stuff done because you're back with me. Now you go, man, and we're going to get everything back together. We can do it. Isn't it exciting to have God working with you and through you in your life? You know that anything is possible, anything. Even the hardest nut in your family is coming down by the glory of God.

So David is encouraged, seeking his God, and his men are looking at David and they're seeing something change. Because here they have stones, and they're getting ready to throw stones, and David's just having this experience with his God, and something’s happening in him. All of a sudden they look at David and they go, "David's right with God. Hey, David, we'll follow you, we'll go with you. Wherever you go, we'll go." Something tremendously changed in his life to cause them to now follow him again.

Let me say this: the Bible says that we're to be examples of the believer in our conversation, in our manner of living, in everything that we do. At home, I think it speaks the loudest. There’s where we can cause our family, our wives, our husbands to follow with us, to get on board because the power is seen in the home and in the everyday circumstances of life. God wants to be revealed in those places. Why? Because he wants us to truly become salt, to make others thirsty. He wants us to truly be a light as David has become here.

Guest (Male): Pastor Jeff Johnson will bring us the conclusion of today's message in just a few moments, so stay with us. This is Sound Doctrine, and what you heard today was part of Pastor Jeff's series through First and Second Samuel. We pray you've been blessed by what you've heard today.

First Samuel is filled with practical insights for Christian living, and if you'd like to hear this study again, go to sounddoctrineredio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app. You can also hear Sound Doctrine on oneplace.com and wherever you enjoy podcasts. That includes Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

If you'd like to get behind what we're doing and donate to this radio outreach, you can do so at sounddoctrineredio.org by clicking the Give tab. And thank you very much for your support. It’s greatly appreciated and will be put to good use helping others build their lives on the sound doctrine found in God's word. Now with the rest of today's message, here’s Pastor Jeff once again.

Jeff Johnson: Verse 9. So David went, he and his 600 men that were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. And David pursued, he and 400 men, for 200 abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over to the Brook Besor because it was just a huge valley to climb, and they were just wasted. They couldn't go any further, but 400 of them continued to pursue.

They went just as God had told them to go, and God says, "I'm going to restore everything back to you." And that is just how God is. If you and I will simply be obedient to the Lord and seek the Lord in our lives, he promises us restoration. For Joel said God will restore the years that the cankerworm has tried to destroy in your life and in my life. God is a God of restoration. Isn't it neat? He restored my family, he restored my marriage. He’s an awesome God of restoration, and he wants to continue it in all of our lives as we yield to him and obey him.

Guest (Male): Come back after the weekend when our study of First and Second Samuel continues on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff, a presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey.