Payday Someday

Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Amen.

Thank you, Miss Libby. If you all would please stand for our call to worship from Psalm 30 verses 4 and 5. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name, for his anger is but for a moment, and his favor for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Amen.

Please be seated. Gracious and Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you today, ask you to prepare our hearts for worship as we come to you. Lord, just soften our hearts, open our ears, as we hear the word that it might change us more to be more like Christ. And through that, we would glorify you. Lord, we would grow to be more like Jesus each day in our lives. We need the Holy Spirit to equip us for that.

We need your saints that we might edify each other. Lord, help us as we live in this world that what we say would be salt and light to the world, that hearts might be changed. Father, you are a good God. You are fair, you are just, and you are holy.

Lord, you paved the way for us in this world. We go through trials for a season, for a reason, and Lord, you help us walk through those valleys. Lord, we lift up Linda McCaffron to you as we just ask that you would minister to her and Teddy, strengthen her, and help her as she fights. Lord, give her peace. We pray for Teddy, that you would encourage him, that your word might change him.

Lord, we pray, Lord, for John and Shelby's daughter, Wanda Key Chilson. Lord, just ask that you would equip her and for these trials that she goes through. Lord, prepare her and each day as she battles, as she fights, give her the strength, give her the courage, and just lift her up to you. We pray for Miss Nancy Malone, Lord, as she deals with her amputation, and just be with her as she is at home, as she comes here to visit and worship. We just ask you to lift her up and strengthen her each day as well, Lord.

Let her look to you. Lord, we lift up our nation to you, Lord, that your saints would go out, share your word, and change hearts. Our world is in need of a savior. You have provided that savior, Lord, and just pray for the many in America. We lift up our leaders to you, Lord, that you would direct them.

Lord, if they don't know you, that you would draw them to you. Lord, that you would help our nation be more inclined to you. Right now, many of our nation are angry and against you.

Lord, just let your people work in this nation to change it. Lord, we ask that you would be with us in this service, that you would, again, prepare us for the word to be heard. As we sing praises to you, Lord, let us reflect upon those words, let us sing them, knowing that you get all glory and honor. Lord, we lift our voices up to you. Father, we ask you bless us this week, help us as we study, encourage us, and we praise and thank you for your mercies. In Christ's name, amen.

We've gathered here for worship this morning, but we need to remember something. God does not need our worship. God needs nothing. He is entirely self-sufficient.

He has everything he needs. We don't come to him giving him something he needs. Contrary to what my fourth grade Sunday school teacher taught me, God didn't make us because he was lonely. God created us to bring glory to himself, and part of the way he does that is by pouring out his grace, his mercy, his favor, his love on sinners like us. This first hymn says, come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore.

If that describes you, then let's worship a God who is merciful and gracious and full of an everlasting love that never waxes or wanes. Let's stand together and sing. Come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Come ye thirsty, come and welcome, God's free bounty glorified. True belief and true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh. I will rise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms, in the arms of my dear Savior.

Oh, there are ten thousand charms. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. I will rise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms, in the arms of my dear Savior.

Oh, there are ten thousand charms. Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. Oh, the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of faith. I will rise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms, in the arms of my dear Savior.

Oh, there are ten thousand charms. Live high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim. Till all the world adore his sacred name.

Come brethren, follow where our Savior trod. Our King victorious, Christ the Son of God. The cross, the love of Christ proclaim. Till all the world adore his sacred name.

Led on their way by his triumphant sign. The halls of God, he offering ranks combined. Live high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim. Till all the world adore his sacred name.

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree. As thou hast promised, draw men unto me. Live high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim. Till all the world adore his sacred name. Thy kingdom come, that earth's despair may cease.

Be ye not a shadow of its healing peace. Live high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim. Till all the world adore his sacred name. For thy blessed cross, which doth for us atone. Creations, praises rise before thy throne. Live high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim. Till all the world adore his sacred name. Amen.

You can be seated. Our New Testament reading this morning is from 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 1 through 10. This is a passage of scripture that reminds us of the efficacy of God's word.

It accomplishes what God sends it out to do. It also reminds us of the power of the testimony of those who have been changed by that word. Let's read together 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 1 through 10. Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.

You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything, for they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. This is the word of the Lord.

It's exciting to see how God used the testimony of the Thessalonians to realize how God uses even our testimony of how Christ has changed our lives and yet I think if we are honest with ourselves we'd all have to admit we don't even live up to our own testimonies, do we? We need grace, we need mercy, we need pardon, and Jesus offers exactly those things. Let's take a moment this morning to confess our sin to our merciful God.

Would you pray with me, church? Oh God of grace, you have imputed my sin to my substitute and have imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom's robe, decking me with jewels of holiness, but in my Christian walk I am still in rags. My best prayers are stained with sin. My penitential tears are impure. I need to repent of my repentance.

I need my tears to be washed. I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness. I am always standing clothed in filthy garments and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for you always justify the ungodly. I am always going into the far country and always returning home as a prodigal, always saying, Father, forgive me, and you are always bringing forth the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it, go out to the day's work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it, shining as the sun. Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace in him who has loved me and called me by his name, amen. Take a moment to silently confess your particular sins to the Lord now. Listen to these beautiful words from 1 John chapter 1 verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Our God is a merciful God. And praise our God, we have a hiding place. We have a rock that will cover us from the wrath of God, one who absorbs God's wrath against our sin in our place.

That one is Jesus Christ. He is the rock of ages cleft for us. Let's stand and sing together. Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be of sin out of the cold, cleanse me from its guilt and foul. God, the labors of my hands can fulfill thy lost demands. Could my zeal, no rest could know, could my tears forever flow, all through sin could not atone, mama said and now alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I keep. Take it come to thee, fortress, helpless, Lord, to thee for grace. Foul like to the fountain fly, watch me, Savior, or I die. God, I draw this fleeting breath when my eyelids close in death. When I soar to worlds unknown, see the all-night judgment thrown.

Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Amen. Let's remain standing in honor of God's word as we read it together this morning. If you have your Bibles with you today, turn with me if you would to 1 Samuel 25. We're looking at verses 35-42. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk.

So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And about ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing.

The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head. Then David sent and spoke to Abigail to take her as his wife. When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife. And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul said, And whatsoever a man soweth, actually also reap. If we sow to the flesh, we reap to the flesh. If we sow to the Spirit, we reap to the Spirit. In this passage that we are dealing with today, we see a man, Nabal, who lived his life as if there were no God.

He lived every moment to please the flesh. We understand what will happen to him in eternity, but in this passage we see judgment upon him in this life. A passage like this reminds us that you are holy, that you hate sin so desperately that you cannot let it go unpunished.

As I worked on this sermon this week, I was reminded of how often I have been like Nabal, and have pushed God and His Word to the back of my mind. I should have to pay for my sin like Nabal did and still is, but I have experienced glorious, undeserved, free, amazing grace. Forty-nine years ago, the Lord opened my eyes, revealed in my heart that I was a sinner deserving judgment now and hell later. And my only hope out of it was the shed blood of Christ. That day, Jesus became my Lord and Savior. That day, Jesus took my sin and gave me His righteousness.

He took my hell and gave me His heaven. Most of the people here today have also experienced that grace. As I preach today, help me to remember that without that grace, we are nothing but Nabals. It is in Jesus' name I pray, amen.

You may be seated. I want you to think back over your Christian life for just a moment, if you will, and I want you to focus in on some very special sermons that you have heard in your life. Maybe read the sermon, or maybe you heard them on CD, or maybe you heard that sermon in person, or maybe it was on the radio or on television. But whatever, it was a sermon that just moved you powerfully, that stopped you in your tracks, that sent you in a completely different direction.

I want to share a few of those sermons that the Lord has used in my life. I think one of the most read sermons outside of the sermons of Jesus is a sermon that was preached by Jonathan Edwards called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It was published, and it's been around for a long time.

But the first time I read it, I was in the 11th grade, read it from an English literature book of all places, and it was in a public school. And I can remember it being horribly convicting. It was a sermon about hell. When Jonathan Edwards preached, he preached from a manuscript, and it was said by the people that listened to him that he read his manuscript word for word, and sometimes didn't even look at the congregation. But it was a sermon that was so graphic, so powerful, that every time he preached it almost, there was a harvest of souls. I read one of Edwards' biographies, and in this biography it said that he was preaching in a neighboring church, and he preached this message, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And that during the, right in the middle of that sermon, there were men that got up and grabbed onto the pillars of the church and prayed that God would not let them die until they could get saved. Another sermon that moved me was a sermon that Charles Spurgeon preached, and he preached it during a time called the downgrade era. It was a time in England's history where the church was becoming more and more liberal, and pastors were doubting and denying the inerrancy of scripture. Spurgeon preached this message to deal with that problem, and it was a powerful message on the Bible. I don't know the name of it, but it was a message that showed us the absolute reliability, infallibility, and inerrancy of scripture. Another sermon that got to my heart was a sermon that was preached by D.L.

Moody. I read it in a book called Walking with the Giants by Warren Wiersbe. It was a sermon called What Think Ye of Christ. I remember reading that sermon with tears of joy just flowing down my cheeks.

But right after my conversion, Chip Sloan, the guy that led me to Christ, brought a record player down to our house. It was a record player, and he brought a record, a big vinyl record, that had a sermon on it. It was a sermon by R.G. Lee, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and it was a very powerful message called Payday Someday. It was a message on the certainty of judgment from 1 Kings 21.

It was a message talking about the judgment of King Ahab and of his wicked wife Jezebel. It was a riveting, heart-rending, spirit-empowered message. The four of us sat there around that record player listening to that, absolutely enthralled with what R.G. Lee was sharing.

I remember that sermon like it was yesterday. R.G. Lee's died. He's gone on to heaven now.

But everybody that has ever heard of R.G. Lee and knows much about him will tell you about the power of that sermon, Payday Someday. He preached it in revivals and churches all over America.

Let me share with you a funny story. R.G. Lee and his wife left Memphis, Tennessee, to go down to New Orleans, Louisiana, to be a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. And as they were going down there, they were leaving on a Sunday morning, they got down into New Orleans, and they wanted to go to church. And so they went to a little country Baptist church way out in southern Louisiana.

They got there a little bit late, so they came in, they sat down on the back road. The preacher stood up, and he said, My text today is 1 Kings chapter 21, and he read the text. And then he preached R.G. Lee's sermon word for word. I mean, he had totally memorized the entire sermon.

And R.G. Lee sat there, and he got mad, and his face got red, and he finally turned around to his wife and said, That's plagiarism! He stole my sermon! He's preaching my message!

That's not right! And he grabbed his wife's hand, tried to pull her up, and she pulled him back down. She said, You sit down. She said, I've listened to this sermon hundreds of times, and now you're going to listen to it. And said, Besides that, he's preaching it better than you do. The message of that great sermon was this, We don't get away with sin. Numbers chapter 32 verse 23 says, As we get into the second part of 1 Samuel 25 today, this message comes to the forefront, payday, someday. Now, if you remember from last week's message, we were looking at the wealthy landowner whose name was Nabal. Nabal owned this huge parcel of land in the area of Carmel, and David and his men had gone very close to that land, and were now asking permission to go onto the land, and to use their creeks for washing up, to get spring water for their canteens, and they needed some food, some apples and figs from their trees. And so David's men went to Nabal and asked permission to do this.

And Nabal acted horribly. He mocked David. He cursed David. And he told the men, If you don't tell David to get off my property, then I will do him bodily harm. And if it had not been for the wise and godly counsel of Abigail, Nabal would have died because David had plans to kill him, and was out to do just that. What I'd like to do today is to look at this story through the light of one verse.

Proverbs chapter 11 verse 31, Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner. Now up to verse 35 in this chapter, we see a situation where the wicked were triumphing, and the righteous were being oppressed. Nabal had slandered David, cursed David. He had plans to do harm to David, God's anointed, and it looked like he'd gotten away with it. It looked like he was just scot free.

It looked like nothing was going to happen to Nabal, that he had sinned and gotten away with it. I want you to know that is not the truth. Now we all believe that there is a future day of retribution, when God will reward the righteous and God will punish the wicked. We know that the scripture teaches that when the unbeliever, the wicked, dies, that they immediately go to hell at death. And the day is coming when there will be a final judgment. They will be called to stand before Christ, and then they, as wicked unbelievers, will be cast into a burning lake of fire.

But what about here on earth? Let me share a verse with you. 1 Timothy 5, verse 24, Paul said, Some men's sins are opened beforehand, going before to judgment, and some men they fall after. It's very true that nothing gets by God's eye, and all accounts are going to be dealt with in eternity. But it does seem that some people get away with much more here on this earth, than others do. And you know people, and I know people, who have lived terribly sinful lives, and we have never seen the judgment of God come upon them on this earth. So I think that Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 31, is a general principle. But sometimes there are exceptions to general principles. Now what does that verse say?

Let me read it again. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in this earth, much more the wicked and the sinner. Of all the many Proverbs that King Solomon wrote, this is the only one that is prefaced by the word behold. The word behold is an attention getter.

It is kind of like Jesus in the New Testament. When he said, verily, verily, that was to wake you up. That was to make you listen.

That was to say, something very important is getting ready to be said. And in the Old Testament, the word behold is used in the same way. He's saying, behold! And what is the message?

There is a payday someday, always in eternity, but yet often in this earth. A number of modern day scholars object to this idea, and they say this idea makes God look petty. It makes God look like he's trying to get even.

It makes him look petty. I want you to know that God is not petty. God is holy.

God is perfectly holy. And we are by nature sinners. And because we are, we sometimes think that God will just turn his eyes away from our sin and just totally ignore it.

Let me tell you something, that's not going to happen. All sin will have to be punished. Our God is so holy that he sent his own son to go to the cross in order that he might take our punishment for us, in order that he might die on that horrible cross that we might live. And so what do we do as Christians? We revel in the grace of God. We revel in that grace because it's free grace to us. But too often we forget how wonderful and glorious that grace is. We forget because that grace is free to us. We forget that it cost Jesus his very life. And oftentimes God pours his judgment out, not just in eternity in hell, but also on this earth.

In R.G. Lee's sermon, Payday Someday, we see that personified in Jezebel, Jezebel wickedly brought Baalism, that false religion, into Israel. And she tried to push it down the throat of the people of God. And then she took the man Naboth who owned the vineyard, wanted that vineyard, and he wouldn't give it to her. So she went out and she said, I'm going to do something.

I'm going to get false witnesses and bring them in here and lie about Naboth. And they did. And then she had him put to death and then took his vineyard and gave it to her husband. Folks, she didn't get away with that, for God sent Jehu. And Jehu came, took her, saw her up in the window of a tall building, and got the people there to throw her out.

She landed face down on the ground. And then the scripture says that the dogs ate her flesh. People, there is a payday someday. Alright, four points I want to share with you. Point one, the paralysis of sin. Look at verse 36 with me. And Abigail came to Nabal and behold, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of the king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. After Nabal ran his mouth to David's men and threatened David, then he just totally forgot about the horrible thing that he did.

He went out and he threw this big party, brought everybody in, and he got drunk as a skunk. So when Abigail finds him, she didn't even tell him that David had mercy on him and spared his life, because she knew at this point in time that he wouldn't understand it, he wouldn't even get it. He wouldn't see how deeply he needed that mercy. What a picture of our world today. The curse of God's broken law is hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles, yet the world is blind to that sword. The pleasures of sin for a season have paralyzed our world. We're so intoxicated with pleasure that we don't think about God's judgment. And we don't really even see that we need God's mercy.

I was watching some of the hearings this week where they were examining, asking questions of Amy Coney Barrett. And I watched some of those smug politicians who were asking questions that essentially were saying this, What if we nominate you and vote for you to become the Supreme Court Justice? And what if you tell us that we can no longer kill our babies in the womb? What a horrible thing that would be.

Or what if you as a Christian would say to us that it is wrong before God to have a homosexual marriage? I thought to myself, those poor, deluded people have no idea of the sword of God that is hanging over their head. Folks, we need to understand that they are mocking God's law. They are mocking the people who believe God's law and trying desperately to bring hurt into the life of Amy Coney Barrett.

Folks, we need to see there is a payday someday. Isn't it something that Nabal would not get David a drop of water? He would not let him have a bite of apple? He would not give him a plate of food? And he didn't even want David on his land.

And so all this time when he's doing all that harm to David, he throws a big party for all of his drinking buddies, brings them all in, and says, Let's just party! And spends money just head over foot. I'm amazed at how we can spend thousands of dollars on cars and houses and toys and then get offended when we're challenged to give to missions. Is that not what sin does to us? It blinds us.

It makes us major on the temporary and minor on the eternal. Let me give you an illustration. When I was a little boy, I went to James' food store, a little food store in our community, and I went with a friend of mine, and we went there for the specific purpose of buying baseball cards. And so we got there, and my friend took 20 pennies, put them up on the counter. Mr. James, the guy that owned the store, looked at those pennies, and he saw that there were very old pennies. And he said to this young boy, my friend, he said, Where'd you get these pennies? He said, I got them from my dad's coin collection. And he said, Oh, no, no, you don't want to use those for baseball cards. He said, Oh, no, I'm going to buy them, and I want to buy them right now.

I need those cards. And so he took the pennies. Later on, Mr. James knew the family, and he called the man, his daddy. And he told him, Could you stop by the store after work? And the man did. And he said to the man when he walked in, he said, You got two dimes?

And he said, Yes. He said, Give me those two dimes. And he did, and he gave him the 20 pennies. The man looked at those pennies, and he said, What is this? And he said, Those are pennies that came out of your coin collection. And he said, Your son came in there, and he used those 20 pennies to buy a few baseball cards. And the guy says, What? He said, These pennies here in my hand are worth about $250. That young boy could have cared less about how much that meant, how much those coins were worth.

All he cared about was getting his temporary needs met. Do you know that's how the flesh deals with eternal things? But sometimes we can be just like Nabal. We can sell ourself out to get our fleshly needs met, and never consider the eternal consequences. There is a paralysis of sin. Point two is leaving vengeance to God. Look at verse 30 through 31. Abigail said, And when the Lord is done to my Lord, according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, my Lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause, or for my Lord working salvation himself.

And when the Lord has dealt well with my Lord, then remember your servants. Now leaving vengeance to God was not something that was out of the norm for David. For several years now, David has been chased by King Saul, as King Saul has been trying to put him to death. King Saul threw a spear at David, trying to kill him. David refused to take revenge. King Saul tried to turn his son Jonathan, and his daughter Michael, David's wife, against David. And David refused to try to get revenge on King Saul. King Saul put out a bounty on David's life, and David refused to take vengeance. King Saul was up in Getty, chasing David all through the mountains, trying to kill him. King Saul went into the cave where David was, and when he went to sleep, David cut off the hem of his garment. Didn't hurt King Saul, just cut off the symbol of his authority, and refused to take vengeance on Saul.

But now it's a different story. This arrogant, big-mouthed, hot-shot Nabal runs his mouth against David, and David just takes all that he knows, all the principles of God's Word, and just pushes them to the back burner of his mind, and he says, I'm going to kill him. And he sets out to do just that. Well, why didn't he kill him? He didn't kill him because Abigail, this godly wife of Nabal, calmed him down with the principles of God's Word. Verse 26, he said this, she said this, I have come to restrain you from blood guilt by convincing you not to take vengeance into your own hands. And in verses 31 and 32, she adds this, And you will be glad that you didn't.

Let me share with you some of the wisdom that Richard Phillips shared here. He said, likewise, David's response shows that the best decision is always the one that yields to Holy Scripture. People do not always take biblical reproof for the blessing that it is. But David knew how much courage and discernment it took for Abigail to act as she did. She had both saved lives and kept him from a tragic sin, that of avenging himself with his own hand. David realized what John Murray would later summarize, the essence of ungodliness is that we presume to take the place of God, to take everything into our own hands. It is faith to commit ourselves to God, to cast all our care on Him, and to vest all our interest in Him. David's responsive heart to biblical correction was one of the chief factors that account for his greatness as a man of God. Such humility before God's Word is a recurrent feature among the exemplary figures of the Bible.

Point three is a certainty of judgment. Look at verse 37 through 38. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

Nabal woke up the next morning, probably still got a hangover. Abigail came to talk to him. She didn't fuss at him. She didn't even rebuke him. She just simply laid out the truth, gave him the facts. She said, husband, listen to me.

Listen to me. You don't even realize this, but your ugly attitude and your harsh, terrible words almost cost you your life and your men's lives as well. David was madder than a wet hornet. He'd marched 400 men, and were headed to get you, to put you and your men to death. And it would have happened, but I brought a great feast out, and I fed them this wonderful food, and then I shared with David the Word of God. And I shared with David the Word of God in such a way that David changed his mind and repented and decided not to kill you.

That you could have very easily died, and you would have, if I hadn't stepped in and been your Savior. What happened to Nabal? Nabal heard these words. The scripture says that his heart died within him, and he became like stone. There's a very interesting verse in Proverbs 29, verse 1. It says that he that being often reproved hardens his neck shall suddenly be cut off in that without remedy.

The words of Abigail struck fear into Nabal's heart. For years, Nabal had been living his life as if he could just do whatever he wanted to do, and there would never be any consequences. And that's how he had lived for a long, long time.

And all of a sudden, it's like God takes the blinders off, and it's like a neon sign that's just shining in his eyes, flickering back and forth, back and forth, payday someday, payday someday, payday someday. Several years after this, there was a pagan king named Belshazzar. It was the king over Babylon. He threw a party, much like Nabal had. All of his drunken buddies were with him.

It's kind of an orgy. It was a horrible, terrible thing. And not only that, but they were drinking liquor and strong drink out of the holy vessels that had been stolen out of the temple of God in Jerusalem. They were making a mockery of God by doing this. And all of a sudden, as they were sitting there, drinking and just partying, a message came across the wall, a hand, showed up out of nowhere and wrote a message.

Meeny, meeny, techo, you farcen. Had no idea what that was. They brought Daniel in to interpret. And Daniel said, that means you've been laid in the balances and found warning, and this day you will die.

The scripture describes Belshazzar's reaction this way. It says, all the color drained out of his face. His hands began to shake. His knees began to knock together. The scripture says that all of his bones went out of joint. That's exactly what's happening to Nabal right here. In other words, when he came face to face with God, he fell apart. About ten days he was in a senseless stupor, kind of like a comatose state. And then on that tenth day, God smote him and he died.

You know I might be wrong, but I bet Nabal had said to himself a thousand times during his life, I know this is wrong, and I feel guilty about this, and I should repent, but I've got wild oats to sow. I've got a lot of living that I want to do. I've got a lot of stuff that I want to enjoy. So I'll wait, and then when I'm getting ready to die, right before I die, I'll repent of my sins, and everything will be fine. You know people like that?

You know people who live like that? They think that they can live their life out any way they want to live it, and then right before they die, they'll make things right with Christ. They say, I'll do it like the thief on the cross did it.

The thief on the cross lived a horrible life, doing everything he wanted to do, and then finally when he was dying on the cross, he cried out to Jesus, and Jesus saved him. Folks, I would encourage you not to go that route. I would encourage you not to think that that's the way it usually happens. That was an exception, a very grace-oriented, glorious exception, but what I found out is this, most of the time, people die the same way they live, playing games with God. Folks, we need to be careful. They are living like Nabal was, and so often a person that does that will die in a quick fatality, or they'll get a disease, get thrown in the hospital, they'll put them on some kind of stupefying drug, and they'll be totally incoherent out of their mind, and over a period of time, the health goes down, and they die in that incoherency.

How sad. This is what James was talking about when James said this, Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day shall bring forth. All right, my fourth point is there is a reward for righteousness. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head. Then David sent and spoke to Abigail to take her as his wife. When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife. And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord.

And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife. Now why did God allow this incident to take place in the life of David?

I think four main reasons. Number one, he did it to purify David's heart. Number two, he did it to teach David patience. Number three, he did it to help David prepare to be the king of Israel.

And number four, he did it to bless Abigail. Here was a lady who was in a bad situation. Many of the marriages that day were prearranged marriages, and I have to believe that her dad saw this situation where Nabal was such a wealthy man and he said, This will take care of my daughter and this will be a great thing.

She'll not have to worry about money and everything will be great. And so that marriage took place and it was an absolute mess. She found out and he found out, her dad, that money does not buy happiness. It was a mess because she married a fool. She married a man that could care less about spiritual things. She married a man that kept embarrassing her over and over again. She married a man that would just hinder her in her spiritual growth.

So what should she have done? Should she have divorced this man? No, God says, Don't do that. God says, If your unbelieving spouse will stay with you, then stay with them and live a godly life out before them and see what happens.

About 42 years ago, I was counseling with a couple in the first church that I pastored and the young man was drinking, drugging, partying, had no use for the things of God. His wife had trusted the Lord just a couple of years before this and she was making great strides in her spiritual life. She was walking with the Lord and she would look around and she would see these other couples in the church that were on the same page spiritually, that were equally yoked. And she was just so jealous. That's what she wanted for her so much. And she had friends that were saying to her, Why don't you just ditch him?

Just ditch him and start over again. She wouldn't do that. She kept praying for him. She kept loving him. She kept living a godly life before him.

You know what happened? God brought that man under great conviction and he ended up trusting Christ as his Lord and Savior. That man and that woman today, and that's been 42 years ago, have a marriage that is just absolutely glorious. In this situation, the Lord did not save Nabal.

He took his life. And when David heard that his life had been taken, he went to Abigail and proposed to her and asked her to be his wife. Abigail was beautiful. And beauty, physical beauty, attracts men, doesn't it? But it was not just the physical beauty that attracted David.

It was much more than that. It was a spiritual beauty. It was the love of God that she had in her heart that drew David to her.

And that spiritual oneness brought them together in an unbelievably great union. Wives, I know that many of you are in a situation that might be very similar to that. Maybe you're in a situation where you've got a husband who is, humanly speaking, a good man, but he's not a spiritual man. Or maybe you've got a man who loves you, but he just doesn't love God.

Or maybe you've got a situation where you've got a Nabal, just an out-and-out fool. What do you do? I think you do like Abigail did. You serve the Lord with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength. You become a good example to your husband.

You live out a life that will bring conviction into his heart. And then you leave the results to God. In this situation, God did something that Abigail would not have thought of in a million years.

And that might happen to you. You know, the Lord may save your husband, or the Lord may do something that you never believed in a million years could happen. But in this situation, Nabal died. God got Nabal out of the way and brought her into a relationship with David, who's one of the godliest kings that Israel ever had. Folks, God honored her obedience.

God honored her obedience. And we need to remember that there is a payday someday. Or as Paul told us, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, what a story we are dealing with today. What a gracious thing you did for your servant David. He was getting ready to sin grievously against you.

He was getting ready to kill a man because he was so angry with him. Yet in your great mercy, you sent a messenger. You sent Nabal's wife, a beautiful lady, that not only got David's attention, but shook David's soul. You used Abigail to wake David up spiritually. You used Abigail to pour into David's heart the fear of God. David repented of his evil intentions, and you rewarded him by taking out his enemy.

And David did not lift a finger. Then you gave David a wife, Abigail. I can't help but to believe that this godly woman was used over and over again to keep David on the right path with you.

And the obedient Abigail was given a husband who loved God like she did. Help us, Father, to learn that following you is our only hope for true joy. Forgive us when we fail and bring people into our lives like Abigail who will turn our eyes to Jesus, for it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray.

Amen. The doctrine of divine retribution is frightening and sobering. But there's another doctrine we dare not forget, and that is the doctrine of grace. Paul says that where our sin abounds, grace super abounds. Grace one-ups our sin for all those who are in Christ. He wants to think about that as we conclude our time of worship this morning.

My brother-in-law introduced me to a very simple and yet very profound hymn earlier this week, and I want to share it with you. If you would stand as we learn this new expression of worship together, Jesus strong and kind, let's think about the grace that is to be had in Christ. Jesus said that if I thirst, I should come. Jesus said that if I thirst, I should come to Him.

No one else can satisfy, I should come to Him. Jesus said if I am weak, I should come to Him. No one else can be my strength, I should come to Him. For the Lord is good and faithful, He will keep us day and night. We can always run to Jesus, Jesus strong and kind. Jesus said that if I fear, I should come to Him.

No one else can be my shield, I should come to Him. For the Lord is good and faithful, He will keep us day and night. We can always run to Jesus, Jesus strong and kind. Jesus said if I am lost, He will come to me. And He showed me on that cross, He will come to me. For the Lord is good and faithful, He will keep us day and night. We can always run to Jesus, Jesus strong and kind. Jesus strong and kind. Eugene, your brother-in-law is a good hymn chooser.

That was glorious. Thank you for coming and worshiping with us today. Let me encourage you to be back with us tonight. I stopped preaching in 1 John back last March. And so we're starting again right where we left off. I felt very good about this because John Calvin, years ago, was run out of Geneva, persecuted, had to leave Geneva, where he was the preacher there in Geneva. He had to leave there and was gone for three years. Finally, things kind of let up a little bit.

They brought him back into Geneva. And he said when we stopped last time, we ended up at the end of chapter 21. He said now turn to chapter 22.

And it went right on. That's what we'll be doing tonight in 1 John. I stopped back in March in 1 John 5-1. We start with 1 John 5-2 tonight. And 1 John is a glorious, glorious book. When we were having our session meeting this past Wednesday night, Jay Crestar shared a scripture with us that just blessed my heart as we dealt with it. And a scripture that speaks specifically to the day that we're living in right now. And he said this.

This says this. For the Lord spoke thus to me, with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy, all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread, but the Lord of hosts. Him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, let him be your dread, and he will be to you a sanctuary. And all God's people said, Amen.