Sometimes in life, in God's presence as believers, it is not today's bread, but it is yesterday's bread. It's yesterday's faith.
Sometimes I just don't have it fresh. You know, I'm flying on fumes, you might say. Life gets pretty rough that way. Faith is not always so choreographed, where it's just this dance of the nutcracker or something, and it comes out so gracefully. It can be quite brutal.
The other times in God's presence, it is not fresh faith we have before Him, but faith we used to have. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 21 as he begins his message, A Bad Idea. 1 Samuel 21 The title of the message or the consideration is a bad idea. And we know that faith. to be proven authentic is It's going to have to be tested. And the tests are They are repeated.
But The flip side of that is, being that the world is under a curse. The unbeliever goes through tests also, but they're really not tests, they're just trials. Not about faith, it's just getting through life. We're considering David Fleeing for his life. And while he's doing this, there are other people in the world, in Israel and beyond, that have problems of.
Every type. The ones who face it in earnest before God. of course, are blessed. Ultimately? And the others, well, we just assign those to God.
He'll sort them out. But for those who claim Christ is Lord, We very much pay attention to these stories because we know God's eyes are on us. and not in the way that He's looking to judge us But he certainly wants our performance to be the best that it can be, what Christian does not want to perform. the best they can perform. in good times or bad times.
And so that's a little bit of a thought that occurred to me as I was walking up. Genesis thirty-one verse three Then Yahweh said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers and your family, and I will be with you. This was very personal between God and Jacob. and it seemed to be a good idea at the time. to Jacob.
He was going to go home. He had lived with Laban for twenty years, and now he's coming back home. And on the way back home, we read in Genesis 32: then messengers returned to Jacob saying, We. came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you. And four hundred men are with him.
That's not good news.
So Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and And he divided the people. That were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two companies.
So he took measures to.
sort of lessened the blow that he anticipated coming from his brother in anger, because when he left, last time he saw his brother, it was in anger. And my point is: there's Jacob being told to trust God, God telling him, trust me, go home. And then he does that. And what happens? Is there's this giant test waiting for him, the requalification of our faith.
And so we're not supposed to be surprised, we're supposed to kick into action what to do. Under these circumstances, and I hope there are many lessons from David, so, just a brief review now. In chapter 19, David was chased by Saul. And where did David go? To Ramah Naoth, where Samuel's school of the prophets was.
He ran to a man of God. Saul of course chased him there. God delayed Saul. gave time for David to escape.
So departing there, David doubles back and gets with his very close friend, his dear friend Jonathan. They have to go separate ways, not because they didn't get along, but because circumstances demanded this. When David leaves Jonathan, again, where does he go? He's an enemy of the state. He is thought of as committing high treason against the king.
He goes again. to the people of God. He goes again to the godly people, to the high priests, Abimelech, in this case. While he is there, he'll notice a man named Doag is also there. Saul's man Saul's man spots David there.
David gets a bad feeling about this, as does the high priest, I'm sure. And so, on the run for his life, David comes up with a good idea. At least he thought it was a good idea. It was really a bad idea. And That bad idea was born of losing sight of God's care in the midst of pressures.
That's where his mistakes began to expand. He sought refuge amongst the enemy. And so now we look at verse 1.
Now David came to Nob. to Abimelech the priest. And Abimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, Why are you alone? And no one is with you.
So the high priest He knows that this is not the way it should be. David, again, having left the school of the prophets, met with his friend now at the house of God, not knowing where to go, not wanting to jeopardize his own mother and father. He couldn't go home. He knew Saul would do harm to them.
So again the second time he goes to the house of God, we can say it that way. We're not surprised that David heads twice to the men of God. In the direction of the house of God, the people of God. We would have been surprised to find Saul do such a thing. The only time Saul went to church was to hurt people at this point in his life.
There at Naoth, and he's going to do it when we get to chapter twenty two. This priest is the great grandson of Eli. Who was largely responsible for discipling Samuel himself. And this city, Nob, known as the city of the priests, the Bible refers to it that way. And the priests ministered the rituals for God's people, which were highly symbolic and had much to do with the education of the people.
Visible worship was what they were conducting. The prophets, on the other hand, they ministered the revelations. The invisible side of worship. And they were to bring what the Lord says to the people. This David coming here to the house of God will end in death for Abimelech and many others.
It will be quite a tragedy. Evil is real. And it says here in verse 1, and Abimelech was afraid when he met David. He had a bad feeling about this because he knew. Saul had destabilized the kingdom.
with you know his just his madness He ruled through fear and terror, but terrorizing those under him. He upset the kingdom. And again, Saul cultivated this idea of mistrust, and so suspicion and fear. Which will evolve into bloody terror in the next chapter. And it says here in verse 1.
At the bottom, Abimelech speaking to David, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no one is with you? David at this point was given the rank of captain over a thousand men. By our standard, that would make him a full colonel. Possibly a lieutenant colonel, but he's got rank. A colonel is one rank lower than a general.
And so the High priest is saying you're You're a battalion commander. Which is lieutenant colonel. Where are your men? This is not right. Verse 2: So David said to Abimelech the priest.
The king has ordered me on some business. And said to me, Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you. What I have commanded you and I have directed my young men to such and such a place. Four lies and what we call two sentences. And David is lying no less to the high priest.
If you're in ministry, don't be surprised if people claim the Lord is their Savior. Lie to you from time to time. Hopefully, it's not all the time. As I look at this, I ask myself: what would I do in David's place under such pressure? What would you do?
Would you dare to give an honest answer to that question? What would you do if you were running for your life, you had absolutely nowhere to go, you were marked as an enemy of the state? And that's where David finds himself. God has not left Questions of right and wrong to be decided by circumstances. A lie is a lie.
And if you lie to save your life, It's still a lie. It's not okay, that wasn't a sin because I really needed to do it. War, of course, puts a lot of pressure on people. And thank you that God is merciful because God does not throw this up in David's face. This is real stuff.
David's lying, however. Before we say, well, you know, it was a lie, I can understand it, no harm, no foul, not true. That lie of David led to the deaths of all the priests, the male priests in this village.
So it was not harmless. And Scripture does not cover or gloss over the shortcomings and the sins of its own heroes. But it tells it like it is. And fortunately, it also tells the good things, the victories also. It shows the heroes in the Bible at their best as well as at their worst, if they're given enough space.
But it tells these stories and struggles to us in the light of God's commandments, nonetheless. And the commandment is, you shall not bear false witness. leaving the reader to gain understanding And direction. and strength In life, and so when we're cornered and we lie we know it. The bigger problem is when we lie and we excuse it.
That's when there's a serious problem brewing.
Well, Saul's brand of love had reduced David to the status of a fugitive in verse 23.
Now, therefore, What have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found. David He proceeds authoritatively, does he not?
Well, again, he's battalion commander. I mentioned full colonel, he's probably lieutenant colonel. two grades below general. She's speaking with authority. And so he says, you know, that part of him kicks in, verse 4.
And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread on hand. But there is only holy bread. if the young men have at least kept themselves from women. Why no food?
Well, because the priests were putting their efforts into preparing the holy bread first, and they had not gotten to, evidently, preparing their own breakfast. It's probably early morning. Um and David again on the run, probably famish. And the common bread referred to here in verse 4 is the ordinary bread. And he said, there is no regular bread for us to eat.
It's still, you've got to wait a while for that. But the consecrated bread. That was set apart. In the tabernacle on the table, to be eaten only by the priest, Leviticus 24, 9. And We're not told here, but we are told in chapter 22 when Abimelech is telling Saul what happened: that Abimelech sought God.
He did not just say, well, you can have the showbread that's only for the priests. He does not do that. He seeks the Lord. And that's quite impressive. It meant nothing to Saul.
In fact, it just meant nothing because he's the devil. But having direction from the Lord, and still determined to meet protocols within that permission of God, the priest continues and he does a great job. He doesn't back down from David. He asks these questions, and he's not just careless with the things that he's been entrusted with. He doesn't say, oh, you're hungry?
Go. But the ceremonial procedure, the regulations, even though they are overruled under the circumstances, they are not done solely. in a sloppy way.
Now of course our Lord brings this passage up. His disciples were going through the fields and they were taking grain off the stalks and rubbing them together, blowing the husk off and eating the grain. And of course, the Pharisees had a problem with that. The Pharisees had a problem with the disciples wearing the sandals on the right foot. Whatever they did, it was something wrong.
Our Lord never agreed with rabbinical Judaism. He never honored it. And stood up to him every time, got a bad name for that to the point where they killed him. But he refers to this passage and he says, Don't you know the Scripture? Don't you know what David did under a certain circumstance?
You know, in human need. When we pray the Lord's Prayer, Prayer that he gave us. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses.
So, before we get to dealing with our trespasses, we're asking for provisions. To survive, my point is: bread's very important, very important to God that we eat. He built us this way. Be nice to not have to read. It would change a lot of things.
Probably no one would work. It just lay around all day. You wouldn't even read the papers because nobody would be printing them. All right. Anyway, that was my break.
So, of course, our Lord was dealing with the inflexible, misguided legalist. That thought it was their role to add to the rules of God. But higher laws exist, and when they are in conflict with lower laws, they suspend the lower laws. where the two run into conflict with each other.
So this is a priority. And he says, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.
Now this stipulation goes back to Exodus. for the Jews that they were to keep separate for three days in Exodus 19. And so again, we see the priest not just, here you go, David, have what you want. What if they were not? What if he said, Well, no, I was with my wife last night.
Then the priest would have said, Well, you're going to be ceremonially unclean. You have to wait till sundown. That's how that would have been dealt with, but it didn't have to go that far. Then verse 5, David answered the priest and said to him, Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And there's an indirect reference to Exodus nineteen.
And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common. Even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.
So David is telling the story, evidently, and he's saying, I had to, you know, I had to. Work on the priest. I had to tell him things because he wasn't just so forthcoming.
Now, the priest is nervous about this thing. He's got this fear going on. Again, as we mentioned, Saul. And David, of course, he's hungry. He's very hungry.
And he says, Well, the bread is really expired. It's not the fresh bread you just brought to replace it. And so Surely there's some space for this. And he's right because remember, the king believes David is on official business. It's not a casual thing.
Oh, I forgot to bring my lunch box. He believes he's on an urgent call for the king. The king that was given to Israel by God. And so Abimelech is, he's in a tough spot. It says, which had been taken from before the Lord, in verse 6.
For from the Lord it comes in the first place. That's what we understand. That's why when he says, which had been taken from before the Lord, well, the Lord gives bread, that's part of why it was in the temple. And it comes from him, it belongs to him. It speaks of his presence and his provision, Exodus 25.
And you shall set the showbread on the table before me always. And that's why it's referred to by the Rabbis. As the bread of the presence of God, because it is set before Him. is very serious is my point. It's no longer just bread.
So he says, in order to put hotbread in its place on the day when it was taken, so they've swapped it. And that's what David is saying. Surely you can give me some space here a fresh work is what that is to the priest to weakly rotate the bread. And one of the lessons I think that exists in that are several, as I Consider the bread being changed in the tabernacle.
Sometimes in life, in God's presence as believers, it is not today's bread, but it is yesterday's bread. It's yesterday's faith.
Sometimes I just don't have it fresh. You know, I'm flying on fumes, you might say. Life gets pretty rough that way. Faith is not always so choreographed, where it's just this dance of the nutcracker or something, and it comes out so gracefully. It can be quite brutal.
The other times in God's presence, it is not fresh faith we have before Him, but faith we used to have. Saying the same thing. Slight variation. Matthew chapter 13, verse 52, one of my favorite verses. Jesus answered them, Therefore, every scribe instructed.
Concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder. who brings out of his treasure things new and things old. You've got enough. You've got all sorts of moves. You have fresh material.
You've got some old stuff, too. And you know, it's a just a I don't know if that verse appeals to you the way it appeals to someone in my position. But it is Quite a remarkable verse. And I see it in the temple. The fresh work But yet there is also that which is not so fresh, which the priests who ministered there were able to partake of.
However, There is always that word of caution when there is liberty. Disregarding the so-called ceremonial laws. can be dangerous. It can be dangerous to our faith. because we can become sloppy and careless.
Years ago, I remember preparing communion articles in the church when I was in New York City. And there was one of the brothers and he was sort of snacking on the wafers, the bread. I was kind of new in the church And I didn't like it. I didn't, you know, get nasty or anything, but I thought it was very immature. and missing a lot of things.
I could go on and on, but I'm not going to do that. And he was a shallow person who was actually the head usher. That kind of sloppiness does not just happen. It takes a little time to keep passing over important points. Not thinking things through in your devotional time.
Devotional time is so important. It's not the same as study time, at least if I'm telling you how I approach it. My study time is one thing. I get my maps and charts out and I look up words and I cross-reference. But my devotion time is my systematic reading through the Scripture, and I want God to speak to me about life, about things.
It's very hard as a pastor because I see a sermon in every verse. And I have a quick note on the side, but my devotion time is devoted to God for me so that I can be edified, a better Christian. And the ceremonial laws, yeah, we're not under them, but we still pay attention to them. As a witness to their importance, you could bring up men like Uzzah. who touched the ark when he wasn't supposed to?
Or King Uzziah, who went into the temple to offer incense, these ceremonies were not for them.
So we New Testament Christians say, yeah, we're not under the law, we're free in Christ. But we're not to be reckless, and we are to pay attention to the Spirit. Of the letter, what God is saying to us. Verse 7 now.
Now, a certain man. of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh, and his name was Doag, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belong to Saul.
Now we play the dramatic music right here, the mention of this man Doeg. We are now introduced to another vile sickening, disgusting, despicable, dark. devilish egregious character. Dough egg. It'd be nice if they took the E out of his name.
and just put dog. He's the one that's going to actually swing the sword to kill the priests in the next chapter. And why should I be fine with that? Why should anybody be fine with that? The exact Nature of his business there, why he's detained, we're not sure, except to say it is the Sabbath, and he probably has traveled as far as he can, and he's stopped at the tabernacle and waiting for sundown.
Either way, there he is, giving everybody an uneasy feeling. You know, you just know with some people. that they bring trouble. When they show up. May we not be that way.
David knew, and he puts it in here early, because the character comes back in. I think David knew that there was evil in the air with this man, and I think Abimelech knew also. He's an Edomite. The descendants of Esau. They were pretty much enemies of God's people throughout.
Their history. Obadiah, his entire prophecy, the prophet of Obadiah, deals with the Edomites. They hated the Jews. And he may have been, you know, Saul warred against the Edomites. He may have been captured and enslaved and said, Look, you know, I'm a skilled herdsman.
I'll take care of your herds like they're my own. I'm yours now. That would not have been uncommon. We remember, General Naaman had a little Jewish girl that was a slave there. And what did she do?
She looked out for Naaman. If my master would only go to Israel, there was a great prophet there. Anyway, verse 8: And David said to Abimelech, Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste.
So he's keeping up with the untruth, the lie. He started. But he's uncomfortable being unarmed, and we're happy that he's that way, because men should be a little bit unarmed. in a bad neighborhood. Be nice to have my, anyway, verse nine, so the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
If you will take it, take it. For there is no other except that one here. And David said, There is none like it. Give it to me. Hard to do a verse like this justice because it's quite meaty.
So the priest said the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Eli was legendary. Everybody knew the story. And this sword had been used to kill before. Certainly by David. The head of Goliath with it, perhaps by Goliath.
Maybe Goliath never got to use it. Maybe everybody just fainted in front of him. I don't know. But either way, there it is. And to David the sword of Goliath was a reminder.
of its true source of strength. Uh Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel. If you'd like to listen again to this or other messages or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreferenceradio.com.
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