Put enough pressure on a person, you find out, you know, what cloth they're cut from.
Some people lie like that. You put a little pressure on them, they lie instantly. Others, you know, they're tougher in that area, but weaker, maybe in another. Rock, paper, scissors is so much a part of life. Strong in one area, weak in another area.
Well, this pressure on his conviction, if you crack, you can leave you with very negative results. Many, many become apostates. Many fall away from the faith because they don't get out of their Christianity what they were expecting to get out of their Christianity. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Aston. 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 27 as he begins his message: a repeated mistake. 1 Samuel chapter 27.
A repeated mistake. It's not easy to give a title to so many of these chapters because there's so much else in there.
Well, the first clause of Verse one in chapter twenty seven is Linked to the last section of chapter twenty-six. And it's critical to understand that, to understand what's going on in David's head at this time, to sort of allow ourselves to put ourselves in his place to some degree. He's just so sick and tired. Of Saul, who is obsessed with hating David and determined to kill him, to murder him. And David's just sick of running.
He's fled to the Philistine territory before. That was a disaster. And he repeats this mistake. And it's good that we consider this. In our own lives, because it's so easy to do.
Well, it didn't work the first time. You know, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Sometimes it can be an evidence of insanity to do the same thing over and over again. It doesn't work. Fact. David would flee to the Philistines. and not be harassed by Saul again.
Fat It's not where he belonged. Had Saul not died sixteen months later, Who knows what would have happened to David's heart, his relationship with the Lord? What if he had been there five years? We have no psalm from David at this time in his life. Not that they're I mean, many of the Psalms are not There's no indication as to when they were written.
But We've covered this earlier, many of the Psalms that came out of this time in his life. Are it titled for us. We have the indicators there to know.
Now we look at verse 1 of 1 Samuel 27, and David said in his heart, Now I shall perish some day by the hand of Saul. There's nothing better for me. than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines. And Saul will despair of me. to seek me any more in any part of Israel, so I shall escape out of his hand.
Well, that's how what was going on in his head. At some point, of course, he shares this, and that's how it becomes published. And as I mentioned, these words belong with chapter 26 because David had a chance again to kill Saul and put an end to this nightmare. But he takes the moral high road and he spares Saul's life. Any Of course, exposes Saul, and Saul goes into this monologue about how sorry he is.
It's a sorry monologue. David said, I am trusting him with my life, I don't believe a word of it. And so they go separate ways, but as this is playing in David's head, he's saying he's not going to stop. You're gonna come after me again. and if I don't get out of here he's gonna kill me.
And we'll open some of that up.
So here he is talking to himself about his problem.
Now we could point out very easily, yeah, but he wasn't talking to God.
Well, that might be so. But before we sit in the seat of judgment, put ourselves in the hot seat. A little bit also. But that does still come out. You can't dismiss that point because when the Bible points it out, we're quick to pick it up.
And when the Bible omits it, We have to pick that up also. And so this is what he says to himself. And Part of it is that Saul's obsession. Is God's permission? I mean, he's got to be saying, why can't he just fall off of his horse, Saul?
Why can't he just fall off, and everything will be all right? wore down his faith. down to this moment. Saul will not leave him alone. And where I am going, Saul will not dare to follow me.
That's his reasoning. felt this was his best choice, the lesser of two evils. There were other choices.
Now understand he had Quite a few men and women with him. And they're a livestock. And so it wasn't as though it's just David. He could just flee, you know, pretty much anywhere to get away from Saul. He could have, not that he would have, but he could have fled to Egypt, for example.
So it is understandable, but it's not acceptable based on the information that we have. And I don't think that we should look to emulate David's approach. Of going to the enemy's territory to find safety there. But, again, it's easy to stand here. In an air-conditioned room.
with friends And say such a thing as opposed to having to try to survive the next day. Promises of God. They became distant and blurry to David, and we understand these things. After a while you wonder what God is doing. David had to be wondering: well, what is my responsibility as far as my survival goes?
And what is God's responsibility? But the way he words it is though he's going to get caught by Saul, and God has said that's not going to happen. He's going to get to the throne. Remember, we had that beautiful. Speech by Abigail.
And they're great assurances, but when you're hounded by something in life, it doesn't have to be a saw, it could be something else. You ride the roller coaster. One minute you're up, trusting the Lord, you've got your spiritual muscles. You come to a church like this, you hear beautiful, great, powerful sermons that you've never heard anywhere else. Yeah, thank you.
And then, of course, you go back into your car, and the problem's, hi, I've been waiting for you. I used to feel like years ago I'd get up in the morning, and there was this bear sitting at the foot of my bed. Hey, Red. I've been waiting for you to get up. And onto my shoulders, he would go.
I haven't had that too much and don't want it. But I understand And I know many of you do also. And so again, we can't blame David for feeling this way. I would not want to be in his situation, but it doesn't mean he made the right choice. Even though God's mercy is all over this, Even if Saul does stop hunting him because of this choice, does not confirm that this is what was supposed to happen.
Now, how could I say this? Knowing that doubts will silence our convictions. You know, you have this conviction, don't do that, and you begin to doubt, well, maybe I will do that.
Well, here's why we Well, at least I believe and others too. that David should not have fled. First Samuel twenty two.
Now the prophet Gad said to David, Do not stay in the stronghold, depart, and go to the land of Judah.
So David departed and went into the forest of Hereath. Those were his last orders. We don't Here of God giving David any other direction. He also had the prophet, the priest with him. He could have consulted the Urim and the Thummim.
He will do that later. In fact, when he finally Saul does die and David goes, he seeks the Lord from Ziklag, where do I go? And God says, Go to Hebron, because he has this means of contacting the Lord. But he does not exercising it here. At least we don't read of it.
Doubt presses us to change our convictions. Pressure. You put enough pressure on a person, you find out, you know, what cloth they're cut from.
Some people lie like that. You put a little pressure on them, they lie instantly. Others, you know, they're tougher in that area, but weaker, maybe in another. Rock, paper, scissors is so much a part of life. Strong in one area, weak in another area.
Well, this pressure on his conviction, if you crack, you can leave you with very negative results. Many, many become apostates. Many fall away from the faith because they don't get out of their Christianity what they were expecting to get out of their Christianity. They had hoped for something else. And when in time they realized, well, this is not how it's going to be.
They change convictions. That pressure. Upon them for not arriving at some state of perfection. Other religions say seek perfection too. It's not in this life.
But the pursuit of perfection is everywhere, and we are supposed to be in pursuit of perfection. We do a lot better serving Christ, pursuing perfection, than we would otherwise. But If These Doubts press on my convictions. What countermeasures do I have? What protection, what can I throw against these things?
Because God has not left us defenseless. Faith. Faith mutes doubt. At the very least, it fist fights it. At the very least, Hebrews chapter 11.
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
Well, doubt can be a mouth of a lion to gobble you up. And faith can overrule. These little or should I say, subtle attacks. David gave in to doubts here. resulting in a repeated mistake.
I mean, last time he had to play crazy to get out of this place. But he had nowhere else to go. You know, he made buddies with King Achish of the Philistines with that sword of Goliath. What else happened to it? He goes to the temple, he gets the sword.
Next thing you know, he's with the Philistines. You think he just says, Yeah, it is nice, but you can't have it. Of course, he gave it to them. What's he gonna do lugging that thing around? For nearly a decade God allowed his enemy to live and to harass him, and that had to play on his mind.
It stole away his peace. It stole away his marriage. It almost stole away his life on numerous occasions.
Now I shall perish some day by the hand of Saul. I think most Christians, if you serve, you're going to get to this place. At some point, you serve long enough, you will get there. He had, as I mentioned, just had this big victory. By not killing Saul.
What a moral victory. He had to walk away from that. We talked about how Abishai was just so impressed with David that years later, he indicates that he learned these lessons. And David walks away from that knowing he did the right thing. And yet now he's having a spiritual defeat.
By seeking escape, in the land of the Philistines. and this contrary to his last order received from the prophet, as I read just a moment ago. But still Still, God does not change the situation. I did the right thing. And God did not give me anything.
And see, that's where the apostate apostasy can come in and it does to some people. I mean, they write Christian books, they write Christian songs, they can stand in pulpits, they can be in pews encouraging people, then all of a sudden they're not in the faith anymore. You can argue your theology all you want. Fact is a fact. They become disenchanted.
David does not become disenchanted with God nor his faith. Yes. looks to get away from it. in a less than ideal way. being God's anointed, made him an outcast.
Well, that's what persecution is. And it should be the case with us, and we better be ready to stand up to it. We find ourselves persecuted for Christ, we should be going, Yeah, man. Thank you.
So they persecuted the prophets who were before me. What use are the promises of faith when Satan appears unstoppable? Unbeatable.
Well the The Bible takes the time to tell us about these things. The whole 11th chapter of Hebrews is just dealing with that very thing. The whole 11th chapter is saying to us: this is what happens when your faith remains. in the face of defeat. Hebrews 11 verse 32.
And what more shall I say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah. Also of David. And Samuel and the prophets.
So you can see the writer is just bubbling with all. He believes this. He believes that these people lived, they were real people. And they faced a very real devil. And while they died one day, they are alive and they won.
That's what the writer believes, and so do we. And then verse thirty-eight. Hebrews 11, he says, still others. There's more. Still others.
Where am I? Still another verse. Verse 36 is still others. Had trials, mockings, scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. And then he goes on, verse 38: Of whom the world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith. Did not receive the promise. They died not seeing what they were hoping to see. And in so doing, they got to see what we all hope to see.
The King of Kings.
Well, not at that time, because there's that whole theological thing with the cross and sheol and paradise, but Eventually they got there.
So there are times when God's tender love for his people seems to be contradicted by suffering. Suffering seems to contradict God's love, but faith overcomes that, it addresses that, it faces that. Many Christians have died unpleasant deaths, trusting God nonetheless. Which he allows for his purposes. Job says, The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
It covers the faces of its judges. He says, if not he, who else could it be? God allows this. Nobody else can overrule him. He allows this.
Doesn't mean he authors it, though. He's the author and finisher of our faith, not of evil. He just uses evil to develop our faith. And so his provisions appeared to be contradicted by the problems in our lives, as promises challenged, and our faith, if our faith might fail from time to time in the sense that we just don't Trust. Not that we walk away from the faith.
But in those times, God still comes by and delivers us. Paul writes to Timothy: He says, If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. This is who he is. He is loyal.
He is trustworthy. He cannot deny himself. It does not mean that verse that, well, yeah, well, God's good. If you are faithless, He's going to deal with you because that's who He is. Because we'd be dealing with all of us.
Remember Peter? Denying the Lord? The Lord looked at Peter, and Peter went out and wept. That look, that look that Peter got, that eye full, was not wasted. penetrated the heart of Peter and the Lord rebuilt that man.
Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, when he gets to the part where the character Christian faces Apollyon, Satan, and they're having this. Argument. And Apollyon is being defeated in the argument by Christian. And Christian says, right before Apollyon, the devil pounces on him physically in the story, the metaphorical story. But Bunyan says this to the devil when the devil says, Yeah, well, if God is so this and so that, and why are you people suffering?
Why do Christians, you know? And so this is his response. He says, His forbearing at present to deliver them. is on purpose. to try their love.
Whether they will cleave to him to the end.
Now remember, Bunyan was suffering as a Christian. He was put in jail for preaching the truth. He was not conforming to other people's ideas. He was adhering to the Scripture. Jeremiah, after seeing what happened to Jerusalem at the hands of the Nebuchadnezzar's armies, I mean, they just leveled it.
He writes in the lamentation about God, he says, You have covered yourself with a cloud. that prayer should not pass through. Do you hear me, Lord? I'm praying. I'm crying out day and night.
David wrote Psalms, and my tears run down my face day and night. I'm sobbing, and you just not doing anything. Again, the backdrop for everything I'm saying is David just saying. Saul's gonna get me. I've got to take matters into my own hands and go over to the enemy.
But Psalm 97 answers Of course, in Lamentations, the Jews brought that on themselves, all prophetic fulfillment. But still, the prophet went through it emotionally. Psalm 97: Clouds and darkness surround him, righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Yeah, I don't get what he's doing because of these clouds in the way. Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see.
The fact is That even if I don't get it. You are who you are. You are righteous and you are just, and these are the foundations of your sovereignty, your throne. You rule. And you may not rule the way I want you to in this life.
But after this life, It will be all where it needs to be. And we will rejoice. No less than seven times do we read in The life of David About David seeking the Lord. We read these words no less than seven times, David inquired of Yahweh. But not here.
These are the lessons the Holy Spirit. He lays it out and he puts it in front of me: this is what I want you to learn.
So that when it's your turn, you know that you're not the first one. That you have a template for success, for victory in faith. It says here in verse 1. We're still in verse 1. What is wrong with you all?
There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines. Words of a weary soul. Your heart's got to go out with him. He's just exhausted spiritually and more. He's tired of this.
He wants his life back. And he's got to care for all these people that are with him. He's the type of man that cannot just walk away from them. You know, they wake up in the morning, where's David? He's gone.
He's not that kind of man. And Saul will despair of me and seek to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. Yep, yep, that's what's going to happen.
So I shall escape out of his hand. And for 16 months, as we'll be told in a little bit, He will be Saul free in th that sense. But still, he didn't know he was untouchable. And yet, being chaste made that not that important because it still involved pain and suffering. Yeah, he's not going to kill me, but this is miserable, he could have also said.
I mean, I've believed at times and Still do sometimes, and God works too slowly and inadequately. I don't believe that. I mean, I think that the thought comes across my mind. I had a friend years ago tell me, my mother told me, he said, God works two ways. Mysteriously and slowly, That was all of his theology.
And it was right.
So Paul writes to the Corinthians, he says in 1 Corinthians 1. Chapter 1, verse 9: God is faithful. He doesn't have to write the rest of the letter after that, you would think. But we need the details. God is in the details when it comes to the scripture.
The devil may be in the detail with contracts. God's in the details in Scripture. And God's apparent His silence, his apparent inaction, does not point to his cruelty. Or his withholding. A blessing, he knows what he's doing.
It's sort of that, and he we told this in Deuteronomy 29, 29, and these words, I'll paraphrase it. God says to us, It's for me to know and you to find out. And because we know who he is, we can say, okay. You are worthy. You are worth it.
Romans 12 gives us a New Testament reminder of the Christian life under all circumstances, rejoicing in hope. Patient in tribulation. I don't have time for patience. I hate patience, actually. It's so much in the way of what I want to do.
Continuing steadfastly in prayer. Spurgeon, in one of his sermons, I'll paraphrase him to say Stop praying, find out what happens to you. Stop praying and see how quickly things get worse. Even if you think you succeed, have not I commanded you, Joshua, be strong and of good courage. He goes on to say, then you have good success, because there's such thing as bad success.
Verse two. Then David arose and went over with six hundred men Who were with him to Achish the son of Maok. King of Gath.
So his following has grown. He now has six hundred men. We talked about this. Yeah. 1 Chronicles, he's going to get even more, not a lot more, by the time he gets to the oasis, Ziklag.
But God increases David's number in anticipation of David. Dwelling amongst the hostile Philistines. How do we know that?
Well, the first time David shows up, he's with about five guys. They go to the temple, there's just enough bread for them. This time he's got a battalion with him. They won't be so quick to push him around and think about taking him prisoner this time. But he's seeking political asylum.
And Achish, the king of Gath, who seems to be a nice guy as Philistines go, but a little naive. He can use the mercenaries that David is bringing with him. We're not privy to the. What the Philistine Council warlords were discussing the five overlords of the Philistines. They were, of course, plotting Saul's death.
which they will pull off in sixteen months, and take them about that long. Just to get ready for it. I mean, how many arrows do you have to make? You don't have an assembly line.
So before you go to war, you've got to build up for it. You don't want to go settle for a. An army that's not supplied, supply is everything. Tactics for amateurs, supply is for Prose. It goes the saying.
Anyway, I feel in a very paraphrased mood because I can't remember the quotes.
So, This uh Is a spiritual setback, as I've been mentioning, to go back again to where he failed. But David, you know, optimistic, it's going to be better this time. No, I do not think David is thinking he's going to bring revival to Gath. I don't think that's even possible. I mean, it's not how they thought back then.
You've got your gods, we've got our gods. Israel never really flashed a light. The church does. But Israel, you know, had. Look, Jonah.
Jonah tried to bury his lamp in the ocean. It's just. Anything but have to preach to the Ninevites, and that wasn't just Jonah. There were others who shared that view. 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. Here, you can also listen to interviews with Pastor Rick to learn more about his life and ministry. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss another edition.
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