Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): One of the most important functions of the church is to serve as a refuge for people in need. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: This church is a place of refuge. It needs to always be a place of sanctuary for those that are hurting. And the day that it stops being that is the day that I pray that God shuts the doors and closes this place down. If they do not and cannot come to us, where are they going to go? They're going to go to the world.

"I can't go back to that church," and this and that, and anger, and what happens with people sometimes, and for little stupid things. God, help us to see that hurting individual and say, "That's all right. Come back."

Guest (Male): Thanks for being a part of today's edition of Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson, presented by Calvary Chapel Downey. We're going to bring you the second half of Pastor Jeff's message in 1 Samuel 21. It's a pretty amazing scene we see here.

David is fleeing from Saul, and he ends up in Gath before King Achish. David was a pretty smart guy, and in order to buy some time as he fled Saul, what does he do? He acts like a deranged nut. Of course, there's a method to his madness. Here's Pastor Jeff to tell us about it.

Jeff Johnson: When you're under stress, when you're going through a trial this next week, because you have sown to the spirit, you're going to reap everlasting life. In fact, over in John's Gospel, Chapter 14, verse 26, Jesus says, "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and he will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

The Spirit has come that as we sit here, we're going to receive of the word of the Lord. Why? So when we get in a tough situation, God's going to give it back to us when we're in a time of need, just like with David. It's neat. The Lord does it. He's faithful. So we need to really continue to feed on the word and take it in as much as we can. Give the Lord the time. Sit at his feet, take it in, and you'll have so much. You'll be able to go out there and use your weapon wisely to the glory of the Lord.

Job said, "I esteemed his word more than my daily food," and he went after God's word. So should we. Verse 10 now, 1 Samuel 21. "David rose up and noticed he fled that day for fear of Saul, and he went to Achish, the king of Gath." David travels about 30 miles away, running in fear, notice, and he runs into the enemy's camp. He goes to Gath. Do you remember what Gath is? It's the home of Goliath. He runs in there with Goliath's sword, running to his enemy.

Now, I personally think the Lord's given me a little insight into this. Maybe not, I don't know, but I think that David knew the politics of the time. And I think that he knew that there were some things going on in Gath with Goliath and Achish. In other words, Goliath possibly could have been coming up in the ranks and would have been maybe put into the place of king, and Achish knew this and he was kind of his rival. But now Goliath is out of the situation. So here comes David with Goliath's sword walking into the city, and King Achish sees him and says, "Come on, look at this guy. You're a nice guy, I like you. You took away all my competition, man." I'm looking at this like the king receives him. That's interesting.

But notice he is running in fear. Elijah, after having a great victory of slaying the 450 prophets of Baal, all of a sudden loses his mind. Jezebel puts a contract out on him, and he runs for his life in fear after already having a great victory. David just slew Goliath, had a great victory, and now he's running in fear. What happened? Did you lose it or what? You saw what God can do. Why are you in fear?

Remember as Peter got afar off from the Lord. Listen, guys, when you get away from the Lord, you're capable of doing some very weird things. When Peter got away from the Lord, what did he do? He ended up warming himself at the enemy's fire. He's sitting there in bad company, a good guy in bad company. Well, David is a good guy here in bad company.

Why did he go to his enemy, though? Well, I think it's because he didn't find any refuge in God's house for him. He went to God's house; there was no refuge there. Even Jonathan, his best friend, said, "Go, David. You must go." This is great. My best friend sends me out. Nobody's backing me. I'm out here by myself, running for his life. No sanctuary amongst the people of God. Living in fear, lying for his life, no refuge.

God help us, Calvary Chapel of Downey. This church is a place of refuge. It needs to always be a place of sanctuary for those that are hurting. And the day that it stops being that is the day that I pray that God shuts the doors and closes this place down. If they do not and cannot come to us, where are they going to go? They're going to go to the world.

"I can't go back to that church," and this and that, and anger, and what happens with people sometimes, and for little stupid things. Oh God, help us to see that hurting individual and say, "That's all right. Come back." There's nothing going to happen out there in the world. You're not going to get your needs met. It's sad but it's true that sometimes you can be more accepted by the world than the church.

Many of you have experienced that. More accepted by the world out there than the church. Sometimes husbands, not really thinking, have driven their wives to Gath. Sometimes wives have driven their husbands to Gath. And sometimes as parents, meaning well, we drive our children to Gath. And when we finally see what has happened, we go, "Oh my God, what have we done?" May God help us.

I thought of the time where Jeremiah, who was thrown into prison by his own king, the King of Judah, do you know who let him out of prison? The King of Babylon. It's weird, but it takes place. Verse 11 now, 1 Samuel 21. "And the servants of Achish said unto him," as David is there in the town, "Is not this David, the king of the land?" In other words, isn't he known because of his great exploits?

"Did they not sing one to another of him in the dances, saying Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands?" They knew the tune in those days. They knew the greatest song; it was the biggest hit, it was on all the radios. Everybody knew this song. And "Are you the guy?" And again, God's not going to make it easy for David.

He's trying to sneak in the town with his enemy now and he's trying to just kind of be liked by them and be accepted by them. And all of a sudden here they're going, saying, "This is David!" And David just freaked out. He couldn't hide from anybody. Here he is, an older man; he's got a beard now. He figured he could go in there and nobody would recognize him. No.

People just go, "Hey, that's David!" It's like Peter. Peter is sitting there. "I don't know the man," and they said, "Aren't you one of the Galileans?" "No, I don't know the man." You can't run. You can't get away. Where are you going to go? Jonah tried to get on the other side of the world. God still had a big fish for him. It's amazing how people try to run from the Lord. Where are you going to go? "We'll go to Oregon." Well, you don't think God's in Oregon? And then you've got to take yourself there, and that's your biggest problem.

So David really going through it. Verse 12 now. "And David laid up these words in his heart and was sore afraid of Achish, the king of Gath." All of a sudden fear got into his heart again. "And he changed his behavior before them, and he feigned himself mad in their hands, and he scrabbled on the doors of the gates, and he let his spittle fall down upon his beard. And said Achish to his servants, 'Lo, you see the man is mad. Wherefore then have you brought him to me? Have I need of a madman that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? Get rid of this guy!'"

Over in the book of Proverbs, in Proverbs 29:25, it says that the fear of man brings a snare. With David, it's so true. He feared man more than he feared God, and it brought a snare to his life. It was bringing him down. David now fakes insanity. He escapes now, notice, through this little endeavor, through this light going on in his head. It says in Chapter 22, verse 1 that David did escape. You say, "All right, David, good thinking."

It's like the settlers coming across the prairie and all of a sudden the Indians run up and say, "Well, just act like a madman, they'll leave you alone." "Thus saith the Lord." They always read the word. Isn't that weird? The guy grabs a Bible and acts like a madman. I wonder if that's a hint to us as Christians. People look at us like, "You guys are nuts, man, reading that Bible." It's weird.

So a light goes on and he says, "I'm going to act like a crazy guy." And he starts this very humiliating thing. Think about this. David, the King of Israel, a mighty man of God, because of fear in his life, spit is coming down on his beard. He's throwing up all this goo, and he's on the ground just going for it, just grunting like a madman.

Notice David is in this place that he was a legend. Notice the place that God allows David to go through his little shenanigans. It's the place in which his reputation was the greatest. Do you think that God is trying to make a point with David and maybe pop his bubble a little bit? I mean, maybe the Goliath thing did get to him a little bit and he was thinking, "I'm bad." Okay, you're bad. Look at this guy spit all over the place. You're bad, man. And he's down on the ground, hoping to save his life.

I think he's being humbled. He's definitely being humiliated. It's a tough lesson, but we've got to learn. Notice the king's reaction. "This guy, look at him, he's nuts! Why have you brought him to me? Get him out of here!" And he totally rejects him. What would be your reaction to seeing David like this? What would you do? "Oh, poor David. He used to be such a great guy. Look at him down there. The guy's nuts. He's totally lost it. Get him out of here."

Would that be your receiving of what you see? Is that what your decision is going to be, just get rid of him? I believe that many Christians many times act the same way. They write people off because they're a little nuts, they think they're nuts. David had such potential. It's too bad that he's weird now. Why don't you just get out of here? Just get him out of here.

The last part of that Proverbs Chapter 29 is interesting. It says in verse 25, "But the fear of man brings a snare, but whosoever puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe or saved." David's outward action was gross. He was desperate. But what really counts is the spiritual state of his heart. And if you want to know what David's heart was going through at this time, you need to find out what Psalms he was writing during this time.

Psalm 56, would you turn with me? This really reveals the Psalms to us when we can see it in its context with what David was going through at the time he wrote it. In Psalm 56, it says right at the top of the Psalm that this is written during the time when the Philistines took him in Gath. In verse 3, it says, "What time I am afraid," David says, "I will trust in the Lord. In God will I praise his word, in God have I put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."

And then in verse 11, it says, "In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me." It was written during this time. It reveals David's inward relationship with his God during this time. You say, "Well, wait a minute. He's like a madman doing some weird things physically." But now this is revealing what was going on in his heart. He still had a presence of God in his mind and in his heart. He wanted the Lord.

David was doing something out of pressure. Stress came upon him. He hit the ground; he was desperate. But he also had an awareness of God. Now turn with me to Psalm 34. Notice this Psalm written during the very time that we're talking about right now. Look at Psalm 34, right at the top of the Psalm. Listen to what it reads. "This is a Psalm of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech."

Now you say, "Wait a minute, who's Abimelech?" This is the King Achish. Or actually, Achish, the king of Gath. Abimelech is his title. That's why it says Abimelech. It's a title given to Achish, which was his name, who was the king of Gath. It was like Pharaoh; they had different Pharaohs, but Pharaoh was his title. Or like Caesars; Caesar was the title. Abimelech is the title.

So he says he changed his behavior before Abimelech, which is Achish, the king of Gath, who drove him away, and he departed. Notice what he writes: "I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear there ever be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together." He says, "I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears."

You see, God, even though David was afraid, God never wrote David off. God knew his heart. Look at verse 5: "They looked unto him and were lightened, their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all of his troubles. And the angel of the Lord encampeth roundabout them that fear him. He delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him."

God knew David's heart and he delivered David. You see, God's forgiveness, God's acceptance, is conditional towards us, isn't it? It's conditioned on your heart. If your heart is turned towards the Lord this morning, God sees your heart and he will forgive you and he will accept you and bring you into his family, and he will deliver you. But it's conditional on your heart, isn't it? God knows our hearts. You can't hide anything from him. So he looks at man's heart. He deals with our hearts.

But our forgiveness, our acceptance, must be unconditional. You say, "Jeff, why is that?" God's is conditional because he can see your heart. Ours needs to be unconditional. Why? Because we don't know what's going on in somebody else's heart, do we? Oh, you can say that you know, but do you truly know? I doubt it. Only God can know that. So our love, or our forgiveness and acceptance, needs to be unconditional.

They came to Jesus and said, "Jesus, how many times are we supposed to forgive this guy? Seven?" Jesus said, "No, not just seven, but 70 times seven." What? You mean 490 times and then I can deck him? 490 times? I don't know if we can count that many times and how do you? Well, what the Lord was saying was just forgive them and love them unconditionally. No. Yes, what he's saying.

"Well, I can't." That's right, you can't. But he can through you. You see, it's going to cost you something. You've got to give yourself to the Lord. Jesus gave himself to him that judges righteously, knowing that he would pay recompense. God's going to take care of it. He keeps good books. Trust the Lord that he's going to handle everything fine. But you need to give your heart and that situation to him so you can then become a channel of his love to that individual who has abused you, misused you, and done everything else to you. But you give them to the Lord.

Unconditional forgiveness. Look at Colossians 3:12. He's talking to Christians and he says to us, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy," or hearts of mercy, "kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and longsuffering. Forbearing," or putting up one with another, "putting up with one another and forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you forgive." That's the direction. Unconditional forgiveness.

One more Scripture, Romans Chapter 15. Romans Chapter 15, look at this, verse 5. Paul writing to the Romans says, "Now the God of patience and consolation grant to you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore," he says, "receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God."

When did Christ receive us? When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, when we were children of wrath and of disobedience, and we had the lust of our mind and the lust of our flesh, and we were just full-on sinners. Jesus says, "I love you. I forgive you. I accept you." Wow. Then he says, "Now you do the same thing to those that are coming against you."

Why? Because we can't see each other's heart. That's why. We don't know what's in there, so we are unqualified to sit in judgment on anyone. We need to get off the old judgment stand and say, "Hey, listen. I realize I'm stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. I do not know where they're at really. I see some things that the guy is," he's got foam out of his mouth and he's kind of going around in circles. Okay, he's having a hard day, all right?

But I really don't know what's in his heart. So I can't sit there and say, "Away with him, the nut!" Just get him out of my sight. I can't do that. We have no grounds to write anybody off. No grounds because only God has that right. David was in a jam. Needing God's people, he ends up with the enemy. Yet God's word has a way of deliverance and of delivering from our enemy.

God has a way of getting us out of the jam and giving us a whole new outlook. The Lord loves to restore the years the cankerworm has tried to destroy. He loves to give us not the spirit of fear, but of love and of power and what? Of a sound mind. He loves to set us free.

I'd like to end with this Psalm, Psalm 121. "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help? My help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber." In other words, he will never write you off. God will never write you off. Notice verse 7: "The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore."

Guest (Male): How's that for an awesome promise? A lot of times human promises have a pretty short shelf life, but God's promises are forever. Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a moment to wrap up today's edition of Sound Doctrine and our study in 1 Samuel 21.

I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to SoundDoctrineRadio.com where you can hear today's study as well as make a donation to this radio outreach. That's at SoundDoctrineRadio.com. 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 once again with a closing thought on God's amazing love, a love that never ends, no matter how badly we mess up.

Jeff Johnson: How many of you this morning, be honest, can relate to David? Here he was, he lost it, and he got away from the Lord and some things happened. And others wrote him off; a lot of people wrote him off. But God didn't. Do you relate to that anyone? That you went through it and people around you said you're nuts, you've lost it, and they forsook you and you thought, "Wow, what do I do?" The Lord never did. He was always there, and he loved you and he brought you back and he forgave you and he restored you. He accepted you.

May God help us to be to one another as he has been to us. That's it. Learn that out of all of what I shared this morning. That as he has been to you, so he wants you to be towards one another. This is a place of restoration. This is a place of forgiveness.

Guest (Male): We'll continue to follow the life of David, a man in God's training program to be the king that God intended for the nation of Israel. Don't miss our study in 1 Samuel 22 coming up next time on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.