Just have another word of prayer.
Lord, we started this morning by being reminded that we have a great High Priest. And we do so worship You for Thy priestly function, Lord.
We thank You that as we gather in Thy presence around Thy table, Lord, it is You that have made the way for us to confidently enter in. And Lord, now as we gather around Thy Word, again, it is You that have made the way for us to have access to this living Word—to see beyond the words that are written on a piece of paper and to really touch the very living Word, the very heart of God.
Lord, we thank You that You are making intercession for this time. We yield ourselves unto You, Lord. Lord, would You set aside things that would distract us, things that would occupy us, and allow us to really draw our hearts—our whole beings—to You?
Lord, it is in the mighty name of Jesus that we gather at this moment. And we thank You, Lord, that we gather unto One who has won the victory. And we thank You, Lord, that by faith we can enter into that, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
I’d like for us to turn this morning to 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.
Now, Keith has mentioned that this morning what the Lord has touched upon my heart is this matter of David’s mighty men. But before we get to that, what we want to see is why we are looking at David’s mighty men and how it applies to our lives.
We thank the Lord for all the beautiful pictures, testimonies, and examples we have in the Old Testament. But they are not there just for history lessons. They are not there just to learn moral principles; they are there to show us how the Lord works in lives. And we see the Lord, in a very consistent way, working throughout the New Testament and in our lives today.
So, as we look at 1 Corinthians 1, we want to start in verse 26 and read to the end of the chapter:
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to shame the things which are strong;
and the base things of the world, and the despised, did God choose, yea and the things that are not, that He might bring to nought the things that are:
that no flesh should glory before God.
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
that, as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
As we look upon these verses, and we have been considering even over the last months this whole matter of considering our calling, we see that as we look upon the ones that the Lord has called, who are we looking at here? We need to be reminded that as we look upon these very verses, we are seeing ourselves.
The starting point as we look here is this: this is us. This is what the ones the Lord has called are like. And He has called us. What has He called us to? He has called us into that precious fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Why has He called us into that fellowship? Just so that we will have a wonderful time together in that fellowship? He has called us into that fellowship so that He can do a marvelous transforming work, that Christ could increase within us.
He does not try to dress up the old man. Transformation is not changing the old into the new. Transformation is that new life of Christ, that new creation where the old has been dealt with, coming forth and seeing Christ’s life manifested in a people.
As we look at this description of ourselves in 1 Corinthians 1, let us look at another description of us as the Lord’s people. Turn over to 1 Peter 2.
We see in 1 Peter 2 that Peter again is testifying of who we, as the people of God, are. And we see quite a contrast here. If we look at 1 Peter 2:9:
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light:
who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
We see here this beautiful picture of how Christ is working within us. As He looks upon us, there is quite a contrast between the description in 1 Corinthians 1 of the despised, foolish, weak ones and the ones here that are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a people of God’s own possession.
We know these ones were used of the Lord to establish His testimony on the earth. And we know it is God’s desire that not only we as individuals would testify of His life, but that there would be this wonderful transforming work that occurs, that we would be that corporate expression of the life of Christ.
We would allow that transforming work to occur, that we as the people of God could enter into and know the reality of the call that He has upon our lives: to be that eternal companion, those ones that are transferring the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of our beloved Lord and Savior.
We see in these verses the beginning—the despised, the defiled, the weak—and we see the end: those, as we even read in Revelation 22, ruling and reigning with Christ.
And so the simple question we have is: how do we get from point A to point B? We all want to be over here. We want to be ruling and reigning with Christ. We want to enjoy the riches of being that royal priesthood. We want to enjoy the blessing of being God’s chosen people.
How do we get over there? Because so often our eyes are upon ourselves. We see ourselves as weak; we see ourselves as despised. We think we are totally disqualified. But the Lord, in His great wisdom, takes the weak and despised of this world and allows them to be a beautiful testimony to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
He is doing a marvelous work. And there is a great battle between point A and point B. What we would like to look at and consider in our time together is, how do we really get there? How does this transforming work transform us to allow us to be those ones who are ushering in that kingdom, who are ruling and reigning with Christ?
The Lord calls this whole process transformation. It is the transforming work of the life of Christ within us, of His life increasing. And when we talk about His life increasing, what we are saying is that His life has more control over our lives.
It is a lifelong process. But as we have been called with this precious, holy calling, there is that life that has been brought and placed within us through the Holy Spirit. And we, just as Paul, are explorers our whole time upon this earth. We are exploring all of those unsearchable riches of Christ.
How blessed we have been, and how He has made every provision for this transforming work to occur in Christ Jesus. As we took of the table this morning, it is the testimony that the work, in reality, has been done. But experientially, day by day, we enter into this and allow more and more of His life to come forth.
This is why I would like for us to consider David’s mighty men. We have this point A, as described in 1 Corinthians 1, of the weak, the defiled, the base, and the despised. Then we have this royalty over here. How do we get there?
Being the accountant that I am, I like pictures. I am a black-and-white person. We have artists within our midst, and they can paint beautiful pictures, but I am the accountant, and I like the simple black-and-white pictures that go from this to this to this, to walk us through this process.
That is the preciousness of our Lord in the Old Testament: how He gives us these wonderful pictures to teach us, to train us, and to allow us to see that there is a hope that we have. The hope that we have as we start this transforming work is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
It is because we have Christ in us that this transforming work not only can be done, but it will be done. He will accomplish all that He has desired to do upon His heart. We want to be those that are simply found cooperating with Him and not resisting Him in this hour.
Turn back over to 1 Samuel 22. This is where we see the beginning of this process. As we look throughout the life of David and his mighty men, we will see the beginning, the foundation, then a process, and finally the end.
Today, as we are together, we are probably just going to look at the first part: the very beginning, this foundational work that the Lord does within these men.
We turn to 1 Samuel 22 and read verses 1 and 2. As we read these verses, keep in the back of your mind what we read in 1 Corinthians 1:26:
David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
Now, hold your finger there. I want to read a verse out of 1 Chronicles. In 1 Chronicles, we have the testimony of the kingdom of Saul being transferred to the kingdom of David, and this great work that is going on there.
In 1 Chronicles 11, this chapter testifies of David’s mighty men. It says in 1 Chronicles 11:10:
Now these are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who showed themselves strong with him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel.
If you look through 1 Chronicles 11 and 12, you see many testimonies of these mighty ones who were there: mighty men of war, mighty men of valor, ones who were risking their lives, taking on hundreds by themselves. All Israel would flee, but these ones were standing there, fighting for the interest of their king.
They were used to bring the kingdom of David upon this earth. We know the kingdom of David is a picture of the kingdom of God, because we see David as a picture of Christ.
But as we look at these mighty ones, we see here in 1 Samuel 22 that it is, again, quite a contrast. You have these ones that are in distress, in debt, and discontented—and this motley crew, the Lord chooses to do a mighty work of bringing in His kingdom upon this earth.
I find this very encouraging: that He can take these ones and do this great transforming work, transforming what the world would see as nothing—this worthless group—and allowing them to rule and reign with Him.
Now, we said David is a picture of Christ. Who are these mighty men? Well, brothers and sisters, I think these mighty men are simple, normal Christians who are living in abnormal times.
These are ones who simply responded to the love of their master. They saw something in David, and they responded to him. They followed him wherever he went. It sounds like, in the New Testament, those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes end up before that throne in Revelation 14. These were ones trained to rule with the King.
As we look at these mighty men, there are two things that characterize their life. One was their love for their master. The second was a love for their master’s desire and purpose.
These ones came selfish. They came just looking to have their own needs met. But as we see them go through this transforming work, David at one point just says, “Oh, I wish that I had a drink of water from a well in Bethlehem,” and three of them go down. They break through the enemy lines, get this cup of water, and bring it back to David.
We see ones denying many natural affections. We see ones, in spite of all Israel fleeing, fighting there over a piece of barley land. It says he was fighting so hard that his hand was almost glued to the sword, but he stood and won the battle.
They knew the master’s heart. They knew his purpose. These were the mighty men who, when David was old and the kingdom was ready to be transferred, knew what to do when Adonijah rose up and tried to take the throne.
We know it was God’s heart that Solomon would have the throne. At that point in time, people had to make a decision. Some that had been with David went toward Adonijah. But the mighty men knew what the king’s heart was. They knew his purpose. They went with Solomon.
There are times when outwardly we might not know where to go unless we have been through the training process to know the King’s heart. And as we fall in love with our Master over and over again, every day, He loves to reveal His heart, His desire, and His purpose.
He had one purpose for David; He has one purpose for us in this hour. He desires that we would be the people of God used in this hour for His kingdom to come and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
There would be a people through whom the kingdom of this world would be transferred to the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Not just talking about stuff and learning stuff, but really being that living example of ones who are no longer thinking of themselves, but thinking of Him.
It even reminds me of the Song of Solomon. The bride there starts off saying, “My beloved is mine.” But in the end, the more she gets to know her beloved, she says, “I am my beloved’s.” That is the testimony of the mighty men. They said, “We are our beloved’s.”
Is that our testimony today? Are we our Beloved’s? Are we our Lord’s? That is the people He is looking for in this hour.
It is striking how David had just four hundred men here. David was king, but not all came to him right away.
As we look at the setting here in 1 Samuel 22, we know that previously Samuel had anointed David king in that ceremony at his house. We know that, up to this time, David had been Saul’s most faithful servant. David had been faithful. David had been loyal to Saul. David had even been called Saul’s son. There was this relationship there.
But there came this point in time, David being that man of Christ and Saul being a picture of the flesh, where ones had to make a choice. Who are you going to serve? Are you going to serve the Spirit of the Lord, or are you going to serve your flesh?
There came that point. And we see how, in David’s life and in the work within these mighty men, these mighty men made this choice. These ones who had nothing upon this earth, coming to David from very selfish motives, were taken by David and transformed into kingship.
Now we know, as we said, that David was made king. Did everyone come to David all of a sudden when he was made king? We know it was in stages. After what we see here in 1 Samuel 22, this really was David’s time of rejection.
It was not very popular. It was not even safe. It would cost you something to go and be with David. Up to this point, because Saul and David were together, you could go back and forth, doing each one. But then there came this point where God was doing this work.
Even though He had Saul as king at the people’s request, His real heart was for David to be that king. And so He starts this work. Praise God, there were four hundred that recognized, “This is the one we want to follow.”
During a time of rejection, during a time when he was not very popular, during a time when it would cost them the comforts of life, they left Jerusalem, their other cities, and their homes. Where did they go? They got to live in a cave out in the wilderness and get chased around the wilderness.
Now, if you are putting out a recruiting poster for the military, they generally do not show you pictures of living in a cave. Most recruiting posters show everybody nice and clean, sleeping in at least a clean tent or having barracks. They never show you some of the rough conditions that you have to spend the night under.
These ones made a choice. We know after this that soon David became king over Judah. It became a little more politically acceptable, and more and more started coming to David. Finally, he was made king over Israel. At that time, everybody came to him.
It reminds you, as we say in Philippians, how one day every knee will bow. But the question for us today is this: the days we are living in now are really our Lord’s time of rejection.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is not accepted in this world. He is not the most popular person. In fact, He is one of the most provocative persons. You mention the name of Jesus, and you will provoke a lot of responses.
But it is His time of rejection, and we have that choice before us today. Who are we going to serve?
We see at different points in Scripture how the Lord sets before us choices. Remember Moses at the end of his life in Deuteronomy? He said, “I have set before you today life and death. Choose.” Joshua says, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”
Yes, it is a one-time choice, but it is a daily choice too. That is why I like that it says in Joshua, “Choose this day whom ye will serve.”
Remember when Elijah was there at Mount Carmel? They had all the prophets of Baal there, and they were going to have this great contest between God and Baal. Everybody from Israel was there.
Elijah issues this call to the people of Israel and says, “Choose today whom you are going to serve. If you are on the Lord’s side, quit hesitating between this and that. Choose today whose side you are going to be on.” And the people were silent.
They did not make that choice. Afterwards, when the Lord displayed His power by the fire coming down, everybody cheered for the Lord.
Isn’t that like us? After the Detroit Tigers win the championship, then there are more Tigers fans everywhere. We love to be bandwagon people.
Instead of consistently going through day by day, if somebody says they are such-and-such a fan—you know, I like sports—I always like to ask them, “How long have you been a fan?” Everybody is a fan in the good times, but how about those lean years?
If you are a Yankees fan, you had some lean years back ten or twenty years ago. But that is how we see those that are committed.
When our Lord Jesus becomes popular and accepted, is that the time we go? Or now, when we are in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our schools, is now the time that we are making those choices to stand for the Lord and allow His life to be working within us?
Praise God, these are the ones who made this choice to come to David. Again, it was a very self-serving choice. They were coming to have their needs met, but the Lord reached down and took them all in.
What we would like to look at this morning are some of the lessons we can learn as we start this training process—whether you want to call it basic training, foundational issues, or essentials.
Before we can really enter into this ruling, there are some foundational things that the Lord needs to settle in our lives. There are some very basic issues that we need to understand. We see a beautiful picture here in these dear ones.
I came up with seven lessons from a couple of chapters here. I am not saying these are the only seven; they are just the seven that touched my heart. As you read these chapters, maybe there are more, and maybe you can combine a couple of these.
As I was looking at these ones in verse 2—the distressed, the indebted, and the discontented—it is really essential, brothers and sisters, that we recognize our condition. The first lesson, we could say, is recognizing our condition outside of Christ.
We are a motley crew. So often, we do not really know our true self. We think we are pretty good, particularly if you come from the Bible Belt of the South. We start off thinking we are a little better than some of those people from New York—the heathens up there.
I mean, we were in New York last weekend, and they were all heathens. They do not know how to act like a Christian, and it is actually very refreshing. You go into the meeting there, and they do not have a clue how they are supposed to act. They just love the Lord, and He brings out His life.
But Southerners, you know, we are raised to know how to act. We know how to be somber. We know how to be very religious in our nature. Sometimes, when we get saved, it is tough for us to see our true condition because we come thinking, “Oh, well, I have something I can offer the Lord.”
“I am not that bad. I am not as bad as somebody from Long Island. I can really have something that I can offer and bring in.” I have got to live with these people in my group, so they will get me.
But we think we have something to offer, and we are only kidding ourselves. The Lord has to take us to a point of allowing us to see our true condition.
I always appreciate a quote from Brother Nate. He says that often we think that we are too evil to gain the victory. But actually, it is because we do not realize how evil we really are that keeps us from gaining the victory.
We think, “I am so bad, I can never gain the victory.” But actually, we do not see how bad we really are, and that is our hindrance.
As the Lord shines His light—and this is the beautiful thing about our Lord as we come to Him—it is His light that shines. It is not self-introspection, but it is that we walk in the light as He is in the light. He touches those things, and He starts this transforming process.
It is a whole lifelong process. We know He will touch a certain area and say, “I want to deal with that now. I want you to release that area to Me. I want to be Lord of that area. You have been having it; you have been controlling it too long.”
As we release that, we think, “Oh, that is the end.” And He says, “No, I have got a little area here. I have got some here I want to touch. I have got something here.” But it is seeing that this is a description of ourselves.
What is the end of knowing yourself? It is Paul’s testimony there in Romans 7: “O wretched man that I am!” But praise God, He has set us free. That is not the end of us in Christ. We continue on and allow Him to really do this transforming work.
One of the beautiful things, too, is that we see this motley crew. I mean, these are not ones you would recruit to form a mighty army to defeat the Philistines and take the kingdom away from Saul. These are not the ones you would choose. But God chose.
That is why I love 1 Corinthians 1. It says God chose. God has chosen each and every one of us for this work. He is looking for ones who will respond to the love of the Master and allow the love of the Master to form the Master’s interest within our hearts.
One of the precious things we see here in these verses is that no one was rejected. David did not say, “Oh, you are too bad off. Go straighten yourself up. Come back later, after you know how to hold a sword and wield a spear. Then come back and join me.”
No. He took them just as they were. That is how the Lord takes us. He accepts us just as we are. But praise God, He does not leave us there. He starts His transforming work.
Yes, we are accepted as we are. Then, in His great mercy, He sets us free from ourselves, from the tyranny of self, and allows us to enter into the wonderful joy of our Master.
In David, we see one who loves the unlovely. It is a beautiful picture of One who loves the unlovely. Is that not a picture of Christ?
Brothers and sisters, Christ came down to us, but He never looks down upon us. He came down to us, but He never looks down upon us. He is always by our side, there for us.
If Christ is for us, who can be against us? Not even our own self, because He has won that victory. We thank the Lord.
Would we associate with ones like this? Our pride would say no. But thank the Lord, through this transforming work, we can see how the Lord takes these ones and works with them to form them into those mighty men, that mighty army to bring in the kingdom.
As we look at these first couple of verses, there is a second lesson here: separation from the past and coming unto Him—concluding the past.
These ones, when they came to David, left everything behind them. Whatever they might have had, they left it behind them and came to him.
Brothers and sisters, when we come to the Lord, there is a concluding of the past. Because of the testimony of the table that we celebrated this morning, the past has been concluded. We leave that behind us.
That is the testimony of baptism, is it not? All of that old yuck has been crucified with Christ. Now, as we come up out of that water, we are a new creation in Him, and we can enter into all the joy and blessing of our Master.
That is the testimony of concluding the past and going on. Too often, we look back and try to fix things. We look within ourselves and try to become spiritual.
How do we grow in Christ? It is not by changing our habits or our customs. Sometimes we say, “Oh, if I could change this in my life, if I can change this and do this, I will become a better Christian.”
No, that is dressing up the old man. But as the new life within us springs out of that new life, it brings forth new habits—holy habits. It brings forth a new life, a new way of things being expressed.
All of a sudden, the things that we used to do, the things that attracted us, we are putting behind us and going on in Him.
I love this: as I mentioned, we were in New York last week, and we were with one brother. He is a construction worker up there on Long Island, and he is forty-two years old. He had been saved about eight or nine years, and he is Italian.
He said one of the marvelous things the Lord did for him when he got saved was that immediately He cleaned his mouth up. He said, “I did not even try to quit cussing.”
He said, “On the job—I think if we have been around construction sites, the language that flows around is not too edifying—I noticed all of a sudden after I was saved, I was not cussing. Even when I hit my thumb with a hammer, I hit my thumb one day and everybody on the site looked at me.”
They knew. They could see the difference. It was not him trying to be a better Christian. It was the life of Christ within him being expressed.
He said, “Praise God.” But he said it was so interesting because there were certain things in his life—and we all experience this—where he was still struggling and working through. But that thing, the Lord just dealt with like that.
Praise God, we are all so unique and different. He works with us in wonderful ways. But as that life of Him gets expressed, and we yield to Him and have that desire, we fall more in love with the Master and His heart. This transforming work is occurring.
We can know the reality of the past being concluded. We celebrate this table; we have partaken of baptism. But have we entered into the reality of the past being concluded, or do we still live under the guilt and condemnation of it?
Oh, how the Lord wants to set us free. Well, let me say that again, because that is wrong. He has set us free. He wants us to enter into the joy of experiencing that freedom.
There is a great freedom that we had on Calvary. When we were saved, we were delivered from that. We spend our lives really entering into what we have been set free from.
The bonds were broken. The prison gates were opened when we were saved. But so many of us—I know within my own life—I have stayed within the jail cell. I have not walked out.
But praise God, there are those times when you can walk out and experience the freedom that we have in Christ, that the past has been concluded.
These ones, when they came to David, gathered to him. They said, “We are settled with David. We are with you. The past is behind us, and we are going on with you now.”
Thank the Lord how He is calling us not to focus upon the past, but to look ahead at the future.
We see in these verses a third lesson, at the end of verse 2: “And he became captain over them.”
They settled the issue of lordship within their life. He was their master. He was their captain. In New Testament terms, we can call this consecration.
They settled who was master and lord of their life. When we settle this issue of who is master, who is lord of our life, we are really giving Him permission to start this transforming work.
That is what consecration is. Consecration is simply settling who is in charge of your life. It is giving ourselves to Him so that He can be in control of our life. It is giving Him the reins to our life so that He can start this wonderful work of transformation within us.
So often we think consecration is doing something for Him. But no, consecration is simply letting Him be in control of our life.
As we give ourselves to Him and yield to Him, it is a freewill offering. One of the precious things we know from Romans 12:1-2 is that the Lord does not demand consecration. He does not demand that we bow the knee.
He simply shows us His marvelous love and mercies, and He says, “Therefore, by the mercies of God, present yourselves.” We present ourselves one time, but we also present ourselves daily, that He can be doing this wonderful work.
That freewill response, as we are motivated by the love of the Lord, daily giving ourselves to Him, allows Him to start this transforming work.
What is the greatest hindrance to us being transformed into the image of Christ? It is our own self—our self-love.
Self-love is our greatest battle as we are upon this earth. There are certain parts of our life that, as soon as we are saved, we want to get rid of. “I want that dealt with.”
But then there are these little treasures, these things we like. We say, “Lord, this is going to be a good life. I have got You taking care of all these problems, and I have got these things here that I can enjoy.”
He lets us enjoy our toys for a while. But as we keep going on and on, all of a sudden He touches one of those little toys of ours, one of those favorite things. We say, “Lord, You want that also?” He says, “I want it all.”
It is one of the great contrasts between the Lord and the enemy. The Lord desires one hundred percent. The enemy will accept any small percentage you give him.
The Lord is jealous to be Master of all of our life. But the enemy is simply content. You give him five percent, two percent—he will take it. He will take that little foothold there.
Then he is jealous too, and he will start ravaging. Initially, he says, “I will be content with that little bit,” but then we see how he starts eating away more and more and more.
Oh, how we need to be alert and wise in this day, that we could be trained. We see these dear men. As they bowed the knee to David, they were saying, “Train us, that we can really know the great work that you have called us to.”
We need in this hour to know of that great work.
As we continue on in chapter 22, we see that before this, one of the priests named Ahimelech had helped David. He had given David some food and a sword. Then Saul found out about it, and Saul got extremely jealous.
Really, throughout the rest of this chapter, up through verse 19, Saul is taking revenge upon those who had helped David. Saul goes in and has men kill all the priests. Then they murder all the citizens within the town of Nob.
As you come down to verse 20, after this great massacre has occurred, we see a fourth lesson that we can learn from these mighty men and David’s precious testimony.
But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.
And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the Lord’s priests.
And David said unto Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father’s house.
Abide thou with me, fear not; for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: for with me thou shalt be in safeguard.
Verse 23: “Abide with me. Do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life, but you are safe with me.”
The fourth lesson is the simple lesson of learning to abide in Christ. That abiding in Him—that true place of dwelling, of making our home—that place of safety.
In spite of all the circumstances, everything that had gone on, David says, “Abide with me.” How we need to learn this lesson in this hour, because we see many things going on, and the Lord is calling us in a fuller and greater way to abide with Him.
If we can learn this as a foundational lesson, it will keep us through many of the trials of life. Now, we will see that by abiding in Him, it does not mean we will not have any troubles or problems. But He keeps us through those.
Through all the troubles, through all the problems, He keeps us.
This was David’s heart. As he was learning the preciousness of abiding, he said:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
That issue of abiding, of dwelling, of really settling in—where is our home, and where is our place of dwelling in Christ?
We thank the Lord that as we see David teaching these ones this basic lesson, they go through various trials. They find themselves surrounded. They find themselves betrayed. Yet there is a stability within them because they know where their abiding place is.
As we go through the shaking times, we too need to know where our abiding place is, because that will keep us in this hour.
I skipped over one verse there, in verse 3. As David was there watching out for his mighty men, David sent his parents to the king of Moab and said, “Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you.”
What was David’s connection with Moab? Why would David pick Moab? Bible trivia question: what was David’s connection with Moab? Who was David’s great-grandmother? Ruth the Moabitess.
So David sent his parents there. We do not really know what happened to his parents. There are a lot of different thoughts, but we do not hear from them again.
But we see how, just as David says in verse 23, “He who seeks my life seeks your life.” They will hate you because of Me. He wanted to put his parents in a safe place and take care of them there.
Some say that was a loving son putting his parents in a safe place. Others say he did not have faith that God would protect them. We do not know. But we see David operating by this principle: he who hates me will hate you. It reminds you of John 15.
So often, as we have given ourselves to the Lord and separated ourselves unto Him, as we consecrate to Him, we have to be aware that he who hates Him hates us.
The world will try to entice us and say, “Oh, you can be our friend. You can be our buddy. Come over here.” But it is all a snare and a trap. It will betray you and turn upon you.
Thank the Lord that He warns us there in John 15, and the Lord continues to keep us in this hour. The world can be so attractive, pulling us one way away from our Lord and offering us all of these momentary pleasures.
This is where we have to know where our true satisfaction is, where our abiding is. As we learn of our Master, it is His love that draws us in a fuller way away from the things of the world and unto Him.
As we come to chapter 23, there is a fifth lesson. In verses 1 through 5, we are going to call this the lesson of having an honest or transparent relationship with Him. These men developed a wonderful relationship with David.
Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing-floors.
Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.
And David’s men said unto him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?
Then David 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 thy hand.
And 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.
In this scene, we see how the army of the Philistines is attacking this one city of Keilah. David hears about this and asks the Lord, “Should we go defend this city?”
Why would David have an interest in this city of Keilah? If you look back in Joshua, it is one of the cities within the tribe of Judah. This was one within David’s family, within that tribe of Judah. David had this interest.
So he inquires of the Lord, “Should we go up?” The Lord says, “Yes, go up,” and they get this mighty victory.
But thank the Lord, as we see here, these men had this transparent relationship with David. They could say, “Just a minute, David. There are four hundred of us, and there is this whole army of the Philistines. Are You wanting us to go up? We are afraid.”
They did not try to put on some fake spirituality. They went to their master and said, “Lord, we are afraid.” How did David receive them? We see the loving One. We see the Good Shepherd. We see One who has understanding.
He listened to what they said. He goes back and inquires of the Lord again. How does the Lord respond? He does not respond by saying, “I told you to go up there. Get going.”
The Lord understands too. He says, “You go up, but let Me make it clear: I will win the victory.” There is a little difference there between verse 2 and verse 4. He says, “I will win that victory.”
Praise God, once we go and ask the Lord and He responds, then they went up. They responded in faith. It is so precious here how they had this transparent relationship, this honest relationship.
So often, one of the greatest hindrances between us and the Lord is that we have not entered into having that honest, transparent relationship.
Now, we know sometimes things that interfere with that are sin, such as with Adam. Think back on the garden. He withdrew from the Lord. We see how sin can interfere. But praise God, His light shines in upon it, and He forgives us of that sin after we have confessed it. We can go on; that relationship can be restored.
Sometimes we do not have a transparent, honest relationship with Him because we really do not know His love. We have a warped image of God’s love. We have a warped image of who He is.
We think He will just condemn us, beat us up, and tell us how bad Christians we are. No. He wants to show us His love.
The enemy has so lied and distorted the image of our Lord and Savior. He is for us. He is for us. Who can be against us? Do we know how much He is for us?
As we take this table, we see how much He is for us. He desires to have this relationship.
We see ones in Scripture. We were reading the other day in Acts 9, when Paul had been touched by that heavenly vision and was led blind into the city. The Lord touched Ananias and said, “Go to Paul.”
Did Ananias immediately go? He said, “Wait a minute, God. This is the guy who has my death warrant in his hand. He is there to take care of me and kill me.” But the Lord understood that.
All I am trying to convey is that if there are things in our lives where the Lord touches us with something and we do not really understand it, we can go back to Him and say, “Lord, this thing You wanted me to do, I am afraid. I am terrified.”
That is what these guys said: “We are terrified.” But the Lord, in His mercy, will touch us and show us again. But after He speaks that second time, then we go.
We go in faith that He will give the victory. He knew the word they needed to hear. The Lord was going to give the victory the first time, but He trained them in this, and then they responded.
Nothing within the situation changed. The circumstances were exactly the same. It was only their perspective that changed.
At first they thought they had to win the victory. But then they realized God was winning the victory. The circumstances before and after were the same, but in faith they stepped out.
So often, it is not the circumstances that need changing, but our perspective of the circumstances needs to be adjusted and corrected so that we see from God’s perspective and not our own natural perspective. This is what He was training them in through this lesson.
As we continue on in chapter 23, we see another precious lesson—lesson number six. It is a lesson to teach these men, and to teach us, whom they are really serving. Who are we really serving?
David and his men had gone and set the city of Keilah free, but then Saul heard about it. He said, “Oh, now I have got David trapped in this city. I am going to go down and get him.”
David again inquires of the Lord about what to do:
Now David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod.
Then said David, O Lord, the God of Israel, Thy servant hath surely heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as Thy servant hath heard? O Lord, the 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 up me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up.
Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah.
We see how David and his men had risked their lives. They had come and defeated the Philistines and done a marvelous service to this city. You would think that they would be welcomed with a royal welcome and made lifelong buddies.
But as soon as the times got tough, they turned around and betrayed them.
Now, applying this to us, the issue is: who are we really serving? Were David and his men serving the people of Keilah, or were they serving the Lord? They were about the Lord’s business.
Brothers and sisters, we have got to have it settled within our hearts. A lot of our service goes toward one another, and praise God, how we need that even more. But in the end, we are not serving man; we are serving God.
Colossians 3:23 says, “Do all your work heartily, as unto the Lord.” We are really not serving men. We are serving the Lord.
If we look at our service as being directed toward one another, it will become a stumbling block for us.
All of a sudden, we take somebody a great meal, and they do not even thank us for it. We do all this work. We offer a prayer, and nobody says amen to my prayer.
We serve the Lord so faithfully. We have the Friday-night meeting in our home every Friday night, and people never appreciate it. They go home and leave the house dirty.
We have our workday, and so-and-so never shows up. I am here every day cleaning those toilets.
Brothers and sisters, we have to have it settled within our hearts that we are serving the Lord. Our ultimate service is to the Lord. Or we will become offended when ones whom we have helped turn around and betray us.
This is what the people of Keilah did. They turned around and betrayed David. But they did not become a stumbling block to David and his men because they knew within their hearts whom they were serving.
How we need to have that settled within all of our hearts. Every day, there are so many actions—every day there is the opportunity for offense, for stumbling, and for hurts.
We will be sitting at home saying, “Oh, no one loves me. No one has called me. No one has checked on me. No one has done this or that.” We are looking at ourselves. Who are we really serving?
Now, we do not make this service to God so spiritual that we do not serve one another. David was very practical. He went and got his hands dirty. He risked his life for the sake of those at Keilah.
We go and risk our lives. We love not our lives unto death for our brothers and sisters. But in the end, we are serving the Lord.
When that service of laying our lives down is not appreciated, how do we respond? Or if our service is even turned upon us, how do we respond?
David learned, and he was teaching his men, whom they were truly serving.
The seventh lesson we can see in this same set of circumstances is that we learn who the enemy really is and who the enemy is not.
It is so essential, as the Lord is starting our training process, that we learn who the enemy is and who the enemy is not.
Now, obviously, this city of Keilah could not defend itself. David and his men were strong enough that, once they heard these people were not caring for them and were going to betray them, it probably would have been pretty easy for David and his men just to slaughter the whole city, take it, and take all the spoils for themselves.
They were developing this ability. But praise God, He was working within them, and they recognized that the people in Keilah were not their enemy.
How we need to see within the house of God today who our enemy is. These people of Keilah, as we said, were of that tribe of Judah. They were family. We are part of the family of God.
It is tragic throughout church history, even today, how it seems that at times the family of God becomes the enemy. We start fighting against one another.
David and his men did not take it out on them. They just left. They did not fight them. They learned who the enemy was.
It is tragic in this story, as we look at chapter 23, that Saul was not willing to fight against the Philistines. The Philistines were battling against Keilah, and Saul was king. He should have been there defending that town.
But Saul would not lift his hand against the Philistines. Saul was ever ready to lift his hand against David, because Saul had not learned this lesson.
How we need to see, in the day and time that we are living in, who the enemy truly is.
Thank the Lord, as we look later on, we will see how these mighty men were learning this lesson. They were in the cave, and David was teaching them. As they had opportunities to kill Saul, he said, “You do not raise your hand against God’s anointed.”
Over and over, we see them learning this lesson. Brothers and sisters, the ultimate target of the enemy is the testimony of Jesus. We, in our little selves, are not the target. The ultimate target is that testimony of Jesus.
How He wants us to recognize that we are in a great battle. There is a great battle going on in this hour, but one of the things that has weakened the people of God is that we spend more time fighting amongst ourselves than we do fighting the enemy.
But praise God, David’s men learned this. They learned who the enemy was and who the enemy was not.
Now, we know there is—as we have heard—a need to exercise discernment and judgment in all of this. But David left Saul with the Lord. David was not going to go attack Saul. David left Saul in God’s hands.
At times, we need to be leaving one another in God’s hands. He can handle the situation. He is training and doing a work in our lives. Would we be willing to be those who are trained?
So, these are just seven initial, basic lessons that we see within David’s mighty men, and how the Lord has taken this motley crew—these ones who were in debt, discontented, and distressed, the weak and the despised of this world—and is transforming them to bring in the kingdom.
Brothers and sisters, this is what the Lord is doing and desiring to do within each and every one of our lives.
It is sad, as we see as we go on, that not all of these ones learned the lessons. We will look at that the next time we share. We will look at some specific ones, because the goal is always: where do we end up?
There were those that ended up in Jerusalem, ruling and reigning with David. There were some that were with him in the end but were not listed with the mighty men.
We can see how the Lord, in calling us in this hour, wants us to respond to this call of offering ourselves to Him and allowing His transforming work to be made reality within our lives.
As we said, the characteristic of these men was that they loved the Master, and they knew the Master’s heart, desire, and purpose.
The challenge before us is this: do we know our Master’s love? We can sing of the deep love, but have we really learned? How much of that love do we need to learn?
As we are in this heart-to-heart relationship with the Lord, this is how David’s desire to build the house of God came about. It said the Lord revealed it in David’s heart.
David was a man after God’s own heart. As he was in this relationship with the Lord, God revealed His purpose in David’s heart.
As we are in this heart-to-heart relationship with our Lord, He will solidify the purpose of God within our hearts. It will be what governs our lives and our actions.
We will not be distracted by the many little things, but we will keep pursuing the call of God and the desire of God that He has for His people in this hour.
So, let us pray.
Lord, we thank You ever so much. As we do just see small glimpses of ourselves, we see, Lord, the frailty and the weakness of our condition.
But we thank You, Lord, that does not disqualify us. Lord, in Your great patience, in Your love and Your mercy, You do this work of transforming. You do this work within us.
Lord, this day, as we find ourselves in this place of needing much basic training, of really allowing You to clarify the foundational and essential things within this relationship that we have, work within us.
Allow us to put aside all the unnecessary stuff and really allow You to bring our hearts back to keeping the main thing the main thing.
Lord, You are that God of purpose. We want to be those who are found following the Lamb wherever He goes. In Thy precious name, amen.