Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Let's go camping today on Sound Doctrine, but before you leave, Pastor Jeff wants us to choose which camp we're going to.

Jeff Johnson: Whose camp are you in? Are you in Saul's camp, or are you in David's camp? Are you saved, or are you in the world? Here's a way you can find out. You can tell whose camp you're in by how it changes your life.

If there is no difference in your behavior, in your ethics, in your morals, in your mind, in your thoughts, in your desires, in your ambitions, then you can for sure say that your faith is not working, that you don't have a close, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Today on Sound Doctrine, we get right back to our study of 1 Samuel with Pastor Jeff Johnson. As you may recall, David knows he's going to be the next king of Israel, and he's running for his life. But all the way through this trial, God is reminding David that he's going to keep his promises, and that he's with him and for him.

Today, we'll take a look at the suffering David experienced in his life, and Pastor Jeff Johnson will relate this to what we're bound to experience as well. So with a look at 1 Samuel chapter 22, here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: We're not going to let somebody just say, "Thus saith the Lord." And I know David didn't do that either. It's neat to hear the word of the Lord and have it confirmed in your own heart and say, "Thank you, Lord. I'm going to do it." And then become obedient as David was obedient.

Notice verse six. "When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him;) then Saul said unto his servants that stood around him, 'Hear now, you Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds; that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that shows me that my son has made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or that shows unto me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?'"

Saul is sitting there with a spear in his hand just thinking. This guy, he's a spear chucker, isn't he? We've already learned that. This guy's a dangerous guy. You don't have a spear in your hand unless you want to hurt somebody. So he's always going like this. And yet we saw it already that David didn't have a spear in his hand; he had a harp in his hand. A spear speaks of hurting. A harp speaks of helping and healing. Which is it? What have you got in your hand? Are you like Saul, carrying around a spear, or are you carrying around a harp, wanting to heal somebody and help them?

Saul's insecurity now is revealed. If David was king, he says to his men, you guys wouldn't have any of these perks that you have. I mean, I'm a Benjamite, I've taken care of you guys. I've given you all this stuff. And would David give you that? No way. Then he starts going off in this thing of a persecution complex. You always get it if you're a very jealous person. If you have jealousy working in your heart, you'll get to this place where you have a persecution complex, and Saul was there.

He's saying, "You're all against me. I can't believe it. Not one of you are sorry for me." And he's trying to pull on their compassion and get them to feel sorry for him. "None of you told me about my son and David conspiring against me. How come you guys aren't on my side?" Paranoia strikes deep into your heart, and this guy's having a double dose of it, and he's afraid of everything and everybody. Saul's panicking now, and he tries to get their loyalty. But notice how he's trying to hold on to something that's not even his. Have you ever tried to do that? It's very frustrating. Saul's trying to hold on to something that's not even his.

Look at verse nine. "Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, 'I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.'" Doeg, if you remember in chapter 21, verse seven, was hiding out and ran into David in the sanctuary of the Lord. David knew he was in trouble, that this guy's a Judas. And he was. He went and told everything to Saul when the time was right. When he saw politically how he could climb up that political ladder and become something to Saul, he raised his hand and said, "I've got some information that you might like, king. Let me share it with you." And he shared everything.

But notice this that he talks about in verse 10, that he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him victuals. When in chapter 21 did Ahimelech pray for David? He never did. He never inquired for the Lord for him. Doeg is giving the right information, but he's a false witness because he's giving the wrong implication. The wrong conclusion is being decided on to Saul because of the way he's saying it. You become a false witness, and we have to be careful about this. It's easy to do this, when all of a sudden you're giving the right information.

Let me give you an illustration. Jesus, when he was in court, remember they said about Jesus what he said? They said, "Didn't this man say that in three days, you tear down this temple, I'll rise it back up again?" And that's exactly what they said. That's the right information. But what were they implying? That he was against the government, that he was going to tear down the temple, that somehow he's going to be against the government. He was talking about his body. Right information, wrong implication. And so we see Doeg doing the very same thing.

I'm sure that there's a lot of people who say, "Well, now, I didn't lie. I told the whole truth. That's the truth. I just gave the information." But was it implied? Was it wrong? Maybe, and this is what happened, Doeg saw David with Ahimelech and figured, well, that's the priest, that's David, I bet the priest is blessing David in what he's about to do. And so he just said, "Oh, I saw that together. I know the priest prayed for him." That's wrong. He didn't. And because of this, big problems.

Notice verse 11. "Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. And Saul said, 'Hear now, thou son of Ahitub.' And he answered, 'Here am I, my lord.' And Saul said unto him, 'Why have you conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?'"

First of all, I see that Saul is desperate. We all know that he's desperate during this time. But he sees the priest as a part of a coup, a plot to kill Saul. And he's telling the priest this right now. And the priest comes back in verse 14. "Ahimelech answered the king, and said, 'And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king's son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honorable in thine house? Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.'"

It seems to me that the priest did not, number one, know what was going on, the dynamics going on between Saul and David. Remember, Saul's running after David to kill him. The priest didn't hear about it. So as soon as the priest answers, he says, "Well, David's a good guy, king." He sides with David, right? "He's a good guy. This guy is the most honorable you've ever had in your house. He's your son-in-law. Come on. This guy loves you. He would never do anything against you. But as far as I'm concerned, I don't know what you're talking about, a coup. I'm not a part of a coup. I don't know anything about a coup. What are you talking about?"

Notice verse 16. "And the king said, 'Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.' And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, 'Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me.' But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord."

When Saul's angry, you've got to start ducking. David's learned this over the period of time. When Saul freaks out, you duck. Even Jonathan, he tried to kill with the spear. This time he loses it in his madness. He says, "Off with their heads. You guys put them to death now." They couldn't do it. They couldn't kill priests of the Lord. No way. We're not going to touch these guys. These guys are anointed of God. We're not going to get involved here. No, king, I don't think we will. This is the secret service of Saul. The footmen there, that's his secret service guys. They wouldn't do it.

Saul was too far gone though in his rebellion and in his sin against God. You can see it here; it just begins to like a steamroller downhill. He's a runaway train. Look at verse 18. "And the king said to Doeg, 'Turn thou, and fall upon the priests.' And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons (85 priests) that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword."

So Saul looks over at Doeg and says, "I want you to do my dirty work for me. You take care of these priests." This, of course, is another nail in Saul's coffin, because there is an old lesson here that we need to pick up on. If you sow an act, if you yield to sin in your life, listen. If you sow an act, you'll reap a habit. And if you sow a habit, you'll reap a character. And if you sow a character, you're going to reap a destiny. And this is exactly what is happening to Saul. The nail's driven in again. His destiny is he's history, and he puts another nail in it.

Doeg that day made a great slaughter, even though it was prophecy being fulfilled. And you say, "Jeff, this was a prophecy that was going to be fulfilled?" Look over in 1 Samuel chapter two, verse 31. We already went through this at one time, but notice this is a prophecy against Eli and his family because of his sons. Remember how wicked they were? This is the prophecy.

"Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house." Notice the last part of verse 33. "And all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age." God said you're going to have a horrible, horrible reaping of what you've sown in your sons. It's going to be terrible, and I'm telling you about it before it happens. So when it happens, God always gives us prophecy so when it happens, you'll believe that he knows what he's talking about.

But just because of it's prophecy doesn't let Saul off the line, does it? Saul is still the one responsible. He's still the one that gave the order, and he's still going to have to pay. The result of the root of bitterness in Saul's life is incredible. I looked up in Hebrews chapter 12. It talks about the root of bitterness. In verse 15, it says, "Looking diligently lest any man fail the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled."

That root of bitterness that some people allow to stay in their lives, that they will not deal with, not give it to the Lord, will not only consume you, it'll consume those around you. It will hurt people. In fact, later on, we're going to see how David says, "This vicious hatred and this wicked sin that Saul has done, I also have to confess. It was part my fault." Because remember, he blamed himself because of when he was talking to the priest, he lied to the priest.

The priest said, "Why are you here the way you are here? There's something wrong here." And he lied to him, remember? And he said, "I'm about the king's business." And yeah, of course the priest is going to receive him. But if the priest really knew what David was doing, running from Saul, would he receive him as well? I don't think so. But he lied. And because he lied and had that meeting with Ahimelech, that's when Doeg saw them and said, "Aha, there's something up." And so David confesses. Lies will lead to horrible destruction of lives. You cannot say a lie and have it not come back to you in one way or another.

David is really reaping a harvest. Hard lesson to learn. 85 priests were slaughtered that day. Men of the ephod, or men of the cloth. This is where we get the saying. You've heard of it? "Oh, you're a man of the cloth." I hate when people say that. But this is where you get it, a man of the ephod, a man of the cloth. The question comes up though, why did he slay all of the priests? Why didn't he just single Ahimelech out and kill him for what had happened? Why do you wipe out all of them?

The only thing I can come up with is that Saul was angry at God because the prophet of God told Saul, "You're history. You're not going to be king of Israel anymore." And all of a sudden, Saul raised his fist up, and he didn't do it like this; he just kind in his own heart said, "I hate God. God is taking me away from something that I want to do, and I'm angry." And notice what happens. Saul, because he has a respect of God and will not curse God, through his frustration, he wipes out all of those that represent God. He wipes out all the priests. It's like a man who can't confront his wife but beats the children.

He's crazy. He's lost it. And this happens today over and over again. People go through hard times, they don't like what they're going through and what's happening to them in their lives, and so they reach out to blame somebody. And who do they blame? They blame the church and the pastors. And that's nuts. "Well, I have to have it's their fault. They just didn't do right." Wait a minute. That's ridiculous. If you're really concerned about how things are going in your life, you need to talk to him about it. He has everything to do with how things are going in your life, and quit blaming everybody. We're so quick to blame mom, dad, this, that, and the other. But when you point out, three are coming back, and you're the problem, and you've got to talk it over with him.

So people are doing that today more than ever, blaming the church and blaming the pastors. I hear there's books going around today saying that the church is the enemy of the government. People are writing these things about the church, and they're getting fed up to here with pastors. They blame everything on the church. So you talk about persecution coming? It's on its way. It's already happening in some situations. A matter of time, it'll be here, because people are into this, blaming the church.

Dangerous thing, but it's happening. And so Saul blames God's people and he wipes them all out. Verse 20. "And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David." So there is one priest that got away. "And Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. And David said unto Abiathar, 'I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there...'"

Notice what David's saying. "I knew that that guy would go and cause problems. I knew that if Saul got angry, what he's capable of doing. That he would surely tell Saul." And then notice what David says. "I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house." David takes the blame because of his lying. But David also had a heart of repentance, didn't he? He takes the blame. But David would also be forgiven for his sin. But it is a costly thing because there's a lot of people that got hurt.

I don't understand. You mean you can be forgiven and then that's it, it's over? Well, not really. To confess brings forgiveness with God. But what about the scripture that says God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap? And what is this whole thing about sowing wild oats? A lot of people say, "Oh, don't mind him, he's just sowing his wild oats." Guess what? You sow wild oats, what do you get? Wild oats. So does that mean you can just go through this life and sow corruption and not get any corruption back? No, no, no.

Listen, Christians, a lot of us are reaping what we have sown over the years. So just look at it like that, just saying, "Okay, this is coming back because, alright, I see it. God loves me, he's forgiven me, I'm washed in the blood of the Lamb, I'm clean before God, but these are some of the things I've just got to reap." And you face up to it and you go, "Okay, I understand." And David had some things that he was going to also have to face up to. Yes, we're forgiven, but you still have to deal with the damage. And there was great damage done here, and so it's going to be dealt with.

Now notice the last verse, verse 23. "Abide thou with me," David says to him. "Fear not." Because I'm sure the guy was, everybody was killed. He was the only one that survived. "For he that seeks your life or seeks my life seeks your life: but with me thou shalt be safeguarded." I looked at that and I went, "Wow." To be one of David's men during this time was really the safest place to be. David said, "If you just stick with me because I'm with God, we got it made."

David's guys, his 400, I found out in 1 Chronicles 12 and verse eight, it says this of them: "And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains." These 400 turned into be a mighty army because they were with David. They were mighty men of God.

Jesus says, "Satan wants to sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you." You're a part of God's army. You've joined the family of God. Satan wants you, but Jesus says, "I'm praying for you that your faith would not fail." You've got the Son of God praying for you, interceding for you. You got it made. You can say as Jesus said, "Don't fear, no man's going to pluck you out of my hand. You're mine. You'll be safe with me."

We've got a friend in Jesus, don't we? And when you've got the Lord in your life and you're his child, you are safe, saved. You've got it made to eventually rule and reign with him, as these who stayed with David would do with him.

Whose camp are you in? And here's the question you need to answer. Whose camp are you in? Are you in Saul's camp, or are you in David's camp? Are you saved, or are you in the world? Here's a way you can find out. You can tell if you're really whose camp you're in and how it changes your life.

If there is no difference in your behavior, in your ethics, in your morals, in your mind, in your thoughts, in your desires, in your ambitions, then you can for sure say that your faith is not working, that you don't have a close, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. If your heart has not been touched, because I'll tell you something, when Jesus comes and touches a life, he changes your heart. He deals with heart issues, doesn't he? The thoughts and the intents of the heart. He changes our affections. He changes our desires and our thoughts, our behavior, our morals, our thought life, and he makes you alive. And he makes you a new creature.

You're a child of God. Check yourself out. Whose camp are you in? When you go out there in the world, are you different than those in the world? Check yourself out. Are you a child of God? But if you can't see any difference, then you need to be saying, "I might not be in his camp."

Guest (Male): Definitely something for us to think about and examine within our hearts. We may say we are in God's camp, but is there evidence to back up that claim? Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a moment here on Sound Doctrine. We pray you've been blessed by what you've heard today. 1 Samuel is filled with practical insights for Christian living.

And if you'd like to hear this study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.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 sounddoctrineradio.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, here's Pastor Jeff with an invitation to join God's camp.

Jeff Johnson: If your heart's in distress, if you are in debt, spiritually bankrupt, if you're discontent, unhappy, if you will receive the Lord, if you will believe in the Lord and submit your life to Jesus Christ, you will come into his camp. He'll protect you, he will train you, he will use you and one day he will come to reward you for all that you have done. And that day's coming quick.

It's up to you. Whose camp you're in. You got to decide. It's a choice everybody needs to make. But if you have a question about whose camp you're in, I wouldn't leave here without answering that question. Because if you go back out into that world, I mean, no difference has happened. Nothing has changed.

But God's in the business of changing lives, changing hearts. And he's calling a lot of you who are distressed, in debt, and discontent, and he's saying, "Come on. Join the forever family of God. Be a part of the son of David, Jesus Christ's family. Join the forever family of God, and you'll be safe."

Guest (Male): Be listening for the weekend edition of Sound Doctrine on many of these stations and at oneplace.com. Then join us next week as our study of 1 Samuel continues on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.