Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: Rejection is protection. That's coming up today on Sound Doctrine. David's rejection is protection. So it is with us. Father knows best, and there's a reason why this is going on in your life. I think we're just to hang on and go with the flow and hang on to the word of the Lord as never before and learn our lessons well. Yes, it hurts from rejection, but God is working to protect David as he's working to protect you and I always.

Guest (Male): Welcome to this edition of Sound Doctrine. If you've been with us, you know that we've been studying 1 Samuel. Today we come to chapter 29. It's a low time in the life of David. When you think things couldn't get any worse, they do get worse. That's not only David's story, it's everyone's story at some point.

And what David did at this time will prove to be very instructive for us in getting through the hard times. Here's Pastor Jeff Johnson in 1 Samuel chapter 29.

Jeff Johnson: We've been talking about two individuals throughout this book, and that is, of course, Saul and David. Two men making two different choices, two different outcomes. Both are disobedient to God. Both of them suffer tremendously in their lives. But it is interesting, one dies and fades out of the situation. He's phased out. He fades himself out. And the other one goes on to live to be blessed and used of God.

So hopefully this morning, if you get anything out of this this morning, you will find out the secret that David had to be blessed of the Lord and to be used of the Lord, even though he had his rough times and his rough edges. And this is what we're going to be dealing with this morning. We left Saul eating his last meal in chapter 28. Right before his death, he's having his last meal with a witch. Still in rebellion, he's still fighting against God, doing his own thing, and that's where we left Saul.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we've got David now as we turn towards him in chapter 29. He is out of fellowship totally with God. He is continuing to go against the people of God. And now he's in his enemies' camp, finding himself sitting there and he's in trouble. You know, it kind of reminded me of Lot. Remember when Lot first, it said, he pitched his tent towards Sodom? And then as he did, he decided, "I'm going to go down there and live in Sodom."

First you—and that's how it starts. You first pitch your tent towards the situation. You say, "I'm not going to touch it. I'm just going to look at it. I just want to look at it." "Ooh, it looks good. Look at all those lights. I think I'm going to go down there and find out what everybody's having such a party about down there." So he went down there and found himself living with those in Sodom. And he was affected by that choice. In fact, he lost his wife because of that choice.

You see, we never understand that when we make a decision like that, it affects a lot of people, not just yourself. So David will be affected by his decision here as we see David now going deeper and deeper in rebellion against his God. Chapter 29 and verse one it says, "Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel."

Jezreel, of course, is that area, that plain of Armageddon. It's the plains of Armageddon where you can sit up on Mount Carmel and look over all of the plains of this great ancient battlefield. Yet it is going to be a future battlefield. You can see all the way to Nazareth, which is up on a hill, and all of the valley in between. You go up on Megiddo, the ancient ruins of Megiddo that tell. We always like to take our group up there. You get an awesome view of the valley of Armageddon.

And this is where this battle was fought. This is where the Philistines, who are a chariot people—they had the metal, they had the manufacturing of the chariots where Israel had no chariots. They were always up on the hills because the chariots would always bog down on the hills. But the battle was fought on the plains, and the Philistines knew they could cut Saul off from the northern tribes if they used the plain of Jezreel.

Verse two, "And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed on in the rearward or in the back part with Achish. Then said the princes of the Philistines, 'What do these Hebrews here? What are they doing here?' Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, 'Is not this David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto this day?'"

"And the princes of the Philistines were angry with Achish, and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, 'Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us. For wherewith should he reconcile himself to his master? Should it not be with the heads of these men? Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, "Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands"?'"

You see, it's still on the hit parade, isn't it? The hit song: Saul slew his thousands, David his ten thousands. And they're still singing about it, and these guys were reminded of this tune. This David guy is a dangerous guy. But they asked David, Achish did, didn't he? He said, "David, now you are coming with us when we go to battle with the Philistines, aren't you?" And David says, "You bet. You know what I can do." So he was ready for the battle, 600 men with him.

But the Philistine lords still looked at David as the enemy. "Hey man, that guy's a Hebrew. We're going up against the Hebrews, and here we have Hebrews in our ranks? We don't like this because this Hebrew, this David, he's a trouble guy. He could turn on us in the midst of the battle, trying to make up with Saul, and he could make points with him and wipe us out. So we don't want him to be with us."

Look at verse six. "Then Achish called David and said unto him, 'Surely as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight. For I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day. Nevertheless, David, the lords favor thee not. Wherefore now return and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines.'"

So you can see what's going on here. Achish's heart is towards David and he says, "David, you're such a faithful guy." And I don't know what he was talking about. He was really snowed by David. Faithful? He wasn't faithful. David was a backslidden liar and a deceiver. And he was stabbing the king in the back all the time as he went against the king's allies in the south and lied to him and said, "I'm just going against Hebrews."

I mean, deceiving him all along the way, just always pillaging and taking what he could out of the whole situation. And he said, "Well, David, you're such a faithful guy. I love you so much, but you know what? They don't like you too much. So why don't you go home? You just go back home, be in peace. It'll be all right." So David was asked to turn around and return. Verse eight, "And David said to Achish..."

He said, "But what have I done? And what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go against the enemies of the Lord the king, the enemies of my lord the king?" he said. Remember the Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard. The way of those that sin against God is rough. And the Bible says God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that he shall also reap. Can't get away from it.

If you sow to the flesh, you can count on reaping of corruption. That's exactly what God has said. David is, I think, at an all-time low. Well, not totally bottomed out, but way close to bottoming out. He now is calling his brothers his enemy. He's now finding himself fighting against God and with Israel's enemy. I mean, he's in a bad situation. But you know when you look at it, this is the result of turning away from God, of not seeking God.

In fact, you'd be surprised, and I would be too probably, the things that we are capable of doing if and when we get away from the Lord. You'll find yourself doing things and you thought, "Oh my gosh, what am I doing? I thought I'd never get back or go back to this again. I can't believe I'm doing this." So David is doing a very horrible thing. After tasting the goodness of the Lord, David had no idea that this would turn out this way. He would be fighting against his own brothers.

This is David's bed, though, isn't it? He made it, so I guess he's going to lie in it. This is David's lapse of faith. This is his pit that he is sinking in. And yet, as we look back, we see David once the good shepherd. Good little boy out there watching the sheep, did a good thing. He was a good shepherd. And yet we see him writing the Psalms. Wow, what a writer as God used him to put the Psalms down for us.

And now we're going to see that David's a great actor too. In verse eight, look at this. David says—and this is acting at its ultimate—"But what have I done? I didn't ever do anything. Why did you tell me to go home? I've never done anything against you, king. I've always been good." He's lying. You know how some people can get so far away from the Lord, they're so hardhearted, they can look you straight in the eye and lie straight in the eye to you? And man, what an acting job, you know?

David was right there, now becoming a great actor. David is playing his cards to the end, though, all the way he's going with this thing. Notice verse nine: "And Achish answered and said to David, 'Listen, I know that thou art good in my sight. You are as an angel of God.'" Man, was this guy had the wool over his eyes. He just loved David because he just didn't want to know anything about the bad things that he was doing. He just was—I mean, totally taken by him.

An angel? This guy's not holy. He's lying and he's deceiving the king here. He's backslidden from God. "Notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, 'He shall not go up with us to the battle.'" See, he might have deceived Achish for a while, but the lords of the Philistines saw past what David was saying. They said, "There's trouble in this guy. You know, he's really never been totally with us, and we pick that—we pick up on that. And we don't want him going with us at all."

You see, David's mistake—maybe he wasn't totally wholeheartedly on their side, but his mistake was going to his enemy to begin with. So first he goes to his enemy, then he finds himself running with the enemy. You see, this is why we put such an emphasis on the word of God and what God says. When God says, "Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers," what do you think he means? He means don't go into business with an unbeliever. Don't go into a relationship with an unbeliever. Don't go into a marriage with an unbeliever.

You say, "How come? I mean, she really loves me. She's a good person." Or "He's a good guy." But does he believe in the Lord like you believe in the Lord? "Well, he's going to when we get married. As soon as I get hitched with him, things are going to change." No, no, no. They're going to change for your worst. Because God says to the children of Israel, "When you go into the land, don't intermarry. If you do, you'll find yourself going away from me and worshipping strange gods."

God knows what he's talking about. I mean, we're either going to just be obedient when God says it, just go, "Thank you, you're the creator, I'm the creation. You know what's best for me. You know what is going to make me happy. I'm just going to listen to the Lord." Now, some of you have been burned enough to know that. Yet some of you need to be warned over and over again. There's a danger in being unequally yoked. David is paying dearly for it.

Verse 10, "Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants"—and this is what Achish is telling David—"and thou art come with thee, and as soon as they're early morning and when there's beginning to be light, depart." So David and his men arose up early to depart in the morning and to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel. So David and his men returned.

I think David is coming back very weak. He feels like a failure and he's putting his hands up saying, "Now what?" I mean, "Now I got to even turn around, I can't even be involved in the battle at all." I want you to remember this: that God uses imperfect beings. And we look at David and what he's doing here, and we are going to see that God is going to be very forgiving and very merciful upon David's life. God loves us with an everlasting love, and he cares about us as he did with David.

Even David in his testimony in Psalm 40 said, "Lord, you have taken me out of the horrible pit, out of the muck and the mire, and you've set my feet upon a solid ground, a rock. You put a new song in my heart, even praise unto my God. Many shall see it and fear and trust in the Lord. That God is good, that God is loving, he's merciful, he has restored me." God loves to do that. So David's testimony is powerful to us.

But I want you to note this and recognize this here: that David's rejection here from going to the battle would be his protection. David's rejection would become his protection. If David would have joined them in the battle, he would have sinned greatly by fighting his brothers, and he could have been hurt physically in the battle. David, I know, felt rejected. Do you feel rejected this morning? Have you been rejected?

I mean, has there been a boyfriend or girlfriend in your life that has told you to take a hike? No longer wanting to say, "Well, you know, I'm going to write this guy a Dear John letter, you know. We're just not compatible. It's just not happening." And you've got that just shut door in your face. That's rejection. And it hurts. David was going through rejection here. But remember, rejection can be your protection, as with David.

God knows and sees what's right, and he knows what's best for us, and so he's going to protect us. And rejection is always hard to handle, but God help us to see and to stand upon your promises that, Lord, all things are working for my good. Everything is working for my good for those called according to his purpose. Even this situation. Okay, so, you know, I dated him for a while and then it didn't work out and you're going, "Why though? I don't understand it! How come this is, you know, I thought he was the one!" and then it's just exploded in my face.

Remember, God's rejection can be your protection. God doesn't lie. And maybe you got fired from your last job and you've been maybe working there 15 years and the boss comes up and two-checks you, you know? "Why two-checks?" "You're out of here. I don't need you anymore." "What? I've been with you for 15 years and this is all I get is two checks? Not even a gold watch? Wait a minute! Wait a minute, what are you doing?" "No, you're out of here."

Now, you talk about rejection. Some of you guys have felt this. You put it all out, man, on the line for the people, and they just reject you. And you just go, "I don't understand what's going on." David's rejection, his protection. So it is with us. Father knows best, and there's a reason why this is going on in your life. I think we're just to hang on and go with the flow and hang on to the word of the Lord as never before and learn our lessons well.

Yes, it hurts from rejection, but God is working to protect David as he's working to protect you and I always. Look at verse—or chapter 30, verse one. Let's go on with the story a little bit. "And it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag"—see, they went home—"on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire. And had taken the women captives therein. They slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way."

"So David and his men came to the city and behold, it was burned with fire. Their wives, their sons, their daughters were all taken captive. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and they began to weep until they had no more power to weep." I mean, they were so struck by what had happened when they saw the devastation, when they realized they had nothing and nobody. They began to cry until they couldn't even cry anymore.

Then it says that David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam and Abigail. And then verse six, "And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters." So after his rejection, he comes home to find it in ashes. Everything and everyone is gone. And they're taken off into captivity and will be sold into slavery because the Amalekites are a ruthless bunch, could care less about anybody, would steal people and then sell them to the highest bidder.

Now, the Amalekites are an interesting group. We've heard of them before. In fact, to hear of them the first time is interesting because remember when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them, and they attacked them from their weakest point from behind and they sought to get the sick and the old ones and wipe them out to discourage them. This is what kind of people we're dealing with here, a ruthless bunch.

And remember, as the Bible so beautifully sets out types for us, we can see the Amalekites are a type of our own flesh. Now let me carry this a little bit further. Remember as Moses and the children of Israel fought against the Amalekites, they went up on a hill. Moses did. Joshua's down with the soldiers fighting the Amalekites. And as Moses would place his arms in the air, Joshua would wipe out the Amalekites.

But then his arms got tired and they started coming down, and he started letting them down. And when they came down, all of a sudden the Amalekites got the upper hand. Aaron and Hur, seeing what was going on, grabbed each arm and held up each arm for Moses. So as Moses' arms were raised up, they wiped the Amalekites out and eventually won the battle. But God said this to Moses: "Don't you ever forget what these people have done. And later on when you get into the land, you're going to settle the score."

So we get into the land now. The children of Israel settled the land and we've already read about it. Samuel the prophet tells Saul what he's to do now with the Amalekites. "Saul, I am the prophet of the Lord, thus saith the Lord: you're to totally, utterly annihilate the Amalekites." Now remember, the Amalekites are a type of our flesh. So he's saying, "I want you to utterly wipe them out," just like our flesh needs to be utterly crucified in Christ.

We need to reckon the old man dead. We need to be careful not to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. We need to mortify, put to death, the deeds of the body. We need to die to self and live unto God. The scriptures constantly warn us about this flesh. It needs to be destroyed, crucified with Christ. Why? Because if it's not destroyed—and Saul, remember, you know the story, didn't destroy the Amalekites completely.

Wiped a lot of them out, but saved the best cattle and saved a lot of the good-looking ones, saved the king. And we know that God came against him and said, "You didn't destroy them!" He said, "Well, I brought all these nice cattle and everything to sacrifice to you, God." Well, wait a minute. You have disobeyed the Lord. And because of this, not only the Amalekites doing this to David right now, ripping their wives and their children off and taking them into captivity, but also later on we're going to see how Saul is killed by the very hand of an Amalekite.

See, if you don't destroy your flesh, it'll come around to destroy you. That's how strong this enemy is that we live in. And it is a real live enemy that seeks to destroy us on a daily basis. And we got to deal with it. Got to deal with it. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me." And even Paul said, "I bring my body under subjection." God help us.

Now, notice God's perfect timing here in this situation. If David was allowed to fight with the Philistines and go and fight with them, it would have been too late to track down his wives and children. They would have been sold off into slavery. And we'll see how he tracks them down eventually and gets everything back.

Guest (Male): Well, we'll have to pause right here for now, but the exciting conclusion of this message comes your way next time here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. 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. 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.