Revival or Funeral?

If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 30 and we're going to start off with verses 1 through 6. When David came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinohem of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, what a glorious and hopeful story we have before us today. David is in a situation where his wives and family and his men's wives and their families have been stolen away from them.

They are hurting and heartbroken. David's men take it out on David. Finally David runs to you for help. The scripture says he strengthened himself in God and you changed everything.

They destroyed the Amalekites, they got their families back and David regained the respect of his men. Lord, teach us to strengthen ourselves in God. This year we're dealing with a plethora of heartaches, the COVID virus attacking our world, corrupt politicians trying to lead us into perversion and immorality.

We are seeing violence in our streets, attacks on our policemen. We pray that you would lift the veil of confusion off our eyes that we might know truth. Help us to not put our faith in government but to stand strong in you. Help us to love our families and guide them correctly. Help us to love our church and serve her unselfishly. Help me to preach today with anointing from your spirit. Keep my lips from error for it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. David has reached a crossroads in his life. He has been living in a backslidden condition and he's become so frustrated with Saul, pouring out all this persecution on him that he decides to run down to the city of Gath and he got some recognition from King Kish in order that he might come and take refuge and live there in the Philistine land.

He actually became a general for King Kish and fought with the Philistines. But the time is quickly approaching that David should be coronated, anointed as the next king of Israel. David didn't realize it at the time but King Saul and Jonathan, his son, are getting ready to be killed in battle and when that takes place then David should be ready to ascend to the throne. But David is not ready for David is living in a state of backsliding. His mind is in confusion.

His heart is not fixed. His eyes are on self and they are not on the Lord. And it was in that context that God brought a calamity into David's life, one of the worst calamities that David would ever have to face. David and his men were all fighting with King Kish. They are out with the Philistine army and while they are out doing this, something happens to his wives and children.

The Amalekites attack Ziklag. That's where their wives and children are. And they not only attack them but they burn the city down to absolutely nothing.

They take all the material possessions to themselves and they take the women and the children, their wives and all the children, take them captive and they leave. When David comes home and he finds this out, he is thrown into a very deep, deep depression. His men are terribly upset with David. They think it's David's fault and they want to hold him accountable. In fact, they are ready to just mount a mutiny against David. So David is at a crossroads.

What can he do? He can continue to live on in his double-mindedness and live with the consequences of it or he can repent. For David, it's a choice of revival or funeral.

Which will it be? Praise God, David chose revival. There are six points I want to share with you today. Point number one is a blistering attack. Look with me at verse one. Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and they had burned it with fire. Now notice first of all who it is that is attacking Israel. It is the Amalekites.

Who are they? They are descendants of Esau. They are ones that for centuries now have been fighting against the Israelites. They try to do them harm every time they come in context with them. They are a terrible, horrible people and David has had to deal with them and all the Israelites before them have had to deal with these terrible people.

It's very interesting. A few years before this, King Saul had been given a command by God that he was to attack the Amalekites and that he was to perform a jihad, a holy war where all the Amalekites would be killed. Man, woman, boy, girl, the whole race would be just extinguished from the face of the earth. But Saul said, no, I'm not going to do that. Saul thought he was smarter than God. He thought he was more compassionate than God. And so he didn't kill all the Amalekites as he was told. He left alive King Agag, many of the soldiers, many of the men, as well as most of the women and the children.

And what happened? Well, they paid for it dearly. For here we have another situation where the Amalekites, who should not even be in existence at this time, are once again attacking the people of God. Folks, the Amalekites are an Old Testament picture of the flesh. And in the New Testament we are told that if we toy with the flesh, if we pamper the flesh, that we're going to get ourselves in terrible trouble.

This is why Paul tells us that we are to die to self, that we are put to death the flesh. But while David was not expecting anything, the Amalekites engineered a great attack against Ziklag, and they burned it to the ground. David was not prepared for that. David was not expecting that. And we might ask the question, why wasn't David expecting it? David wasn't prepared for it. He wasn't expecting it because David was all caught up in his own compromise. David was being pulled apart by his double-mindedness. David didn't have time to think about protecting Ziklag, or protecting his family, or protecting his people.

Why not? Because he was trying to get out of the mess. That he had created himself by coming and joining with Israel's enemies, which are the Philistines. Folks, like I said last week, sin will take you further than you want to go, it will keep you longer than you want to stay, and it will cost you more than you want to pay. Alright, point two is a besieged people. Look with me at verse two. And taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, they killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.

Now I see God's grace in a beautiful way here in this verse. For the scripture says that none of the women and the children were killed. That is a miracle in itself because the Amalekites were a very wicked, very mean, very ruthless, barbaric people. And the Lord did a work in their minds and their hearts, so they did absolutely no harm to the women and the children. But the families were taken captive.

Folks, how many children today are suffering, are terribly suffering, because they have a mom and a dad who are beating them, beating them down, either physically, spiritually, emotionally, or mentally, and doing it because they're just addicted to alcohol? How many families do we know of today that have been absolutely split apart because of immorality? The Amalekites have stolen away the wives of David and his children. Now is that happening in our society today?

No, that's not happening in our society today with Amalekites. There are kidnappers today that are attacking our children and that are attacking us. What are those kidnappers? Those kidnappers are humanistic TV shows. They are ungodly friends that have great influence on us. It is pornography.

It is blasphemous music. And those things are attacking the hearts of our children, and they are attacking and having influence on us. And what is our excuse? What do we say about it? We just don't have time to deal with it. We're living in a society that is the most hectic society and the most fast-paced society that there's ever been. The problem is time. No, the problem is not time.

The problem is misplaced priorities. So how can we survive spiritually? How can we touch our children's hearts? Look with me at verses 4 through 6, and this is point 3, a burning regret. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices in wept until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, a Hinnom of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. When David found out what had happened to these women and children, it was like all of a sudden nothing else mattered. All of those things that he thought were so important, he was able just to push back to the back burner of his mind.

David and his people probably thought at this point in time that the wives and children had probably been killed. And it's in the light of that, that all of a sudden politics didn't matter. All of a sudden King Saul didn't matter. All of a sudden King Achish did not matter any longer. Nothing mattered anymore, except their families.

They mattered a lot. I remember back in 1987, I was in my former church. I got a call one Friday night late in the evening, and it was a call from a family in our church. And they had just had a 17-year-old daughter that was killed after a football game in a car accident. I went over to their house, I sat down with them, tried to minister to them, and they were grieving and weeping about as deeply as anybody that I'd ever seen before. Before all this happened, there was another couple in our church, another family, that had had a misunderstanding with this family.

And it was just kind of some friction there. And this other family had been treating them kind of coolly and aloofly. And because of this misunderstanding, there was a wall that had been built up between these two families. And I can remember at the funeral service watching the other family come in, and they met the family who had the daughter who had been killed. And I remember them looking at each other, and all of a sudden they both burst into tears. And they walked over to each other, and they threw their arms around each other, and they hugged their necks.

And you could see that wall of division just completely break down. The tragedy made them realize that a lot of things that we think are important are not important at all. Folks, Christianity is not a set of rules and regulations. Christianity is a relationship. It's a relationship first with the living God of this universe, and it's a relationship second with our brothers and sisters in Christ. When you face a real tragedy in your life, and it does something to your priorities, and it does something to your heart, it makes you realize that people are important.

And imperfect people are important. David and his men wept like babies. The scripture says they wept until they could weep no more. And David's men were frustrated with David. They felt like David should have been protecting them, and David was not being responsible like he should, and so they were holding him responsible for all that was going on. That takes us to point four, a bolstered child of God. Look at verse 6b, the last part of verse 6 through verse 8. But David strengthened himself and the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of a himalek, bring me the ephod. So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the Lord, shall I pursue after this band?

Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue. All of a sudden David receives a brand new vision, fresh vision of God. For several months now David has taken God and just put him to the back burner of his mind.

Haven't given God much of a thought for a long time now. And all of a sudden this tragedy hits, and David realizes just how helpless he is. He realizes what a horrible situation he has put himself into.

And what does he do? He falls on his face before God. He knows that he's helpless and he cries out to God for help. And he says to the Lord, I'm surrendering myself to you, lock, stock and barrel. Whatever you want me to do, wherever you want me to go, I'll do it.

Just call me, tell me Lord, I will do it. And the Lord moved in David's life. And the Lord moved in his life and gave him this fresh, sweet vision of who God really is. And he revealed his will to David.

The scripture says David was strengthened in the Lord. He went to the high priest and he said to the high priest, I need you to find out, find out what God's will is for me in this situation. And so the priest went and he got the ephod. The ephod, there was the Urim and the Thumen which were the flat stones that were used by the high priest in order to determine what the will of God was. And the high priest said to David, listen, you are to go and you are to fight the Amalekites and you're going to go and you're going to win.

And you're going to take this battle and you are going to recover all. For the first time in months, David heard from God. David finally knew what God wanted him to do. He knew that God was going to be with him. He knew that the Lord was not going to forsake him, that he was not going to walk away from David. David, for the first time in a long time, felt the loving arms of God around him. David's personal revival started with a vision from God.

God broke him and David went after the Lord with a reckless abandon. All the things that he thought were so important in the past, all of a sudden, just weren't important anymore. Now all that mattered was the Lord and His will. You know, revival seldom happens until that takes place. God's presence never comes in power until we have that vision that He is not just Lord of all, but that He's Lord of me.

When that happens, personal revival can take place. Alright, point five, a blossoming passion for God. Look at verses nine through ten. So David set out and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Bezor, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued.

He and four hundred men, two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook. David got his marching orders from the Lord and he took off out of there with great excitement and great enthusiasm. And the six hundred men took off with him. And they were all filled with excitement. They were all ready to go.

And you know, that's a miracle in itself, isn't it? Because what had these men been doing? They had been crying. The scripture says that they were crying so much that they could weep no more. And they had been grieving. And what does grief do to you? Authentic grief will wear you out. It will take away all your spiritual energy, your physical energy, your mental energy, your emotional energy.

It will just strip it from you and leave you at a point where you feel like you can't even function. Not only is it amazing to me that David and his men had the strength to go, but it also amazes me that the men were willing to submit to the leadership of David. These are the same men who were ready to mount a mutiny against him. They were ready to stone David to death. They were ready to take his life. And now all of a sudden, they submitted themselves totally to David. And they were on a trip now going at top speed as fast as they could to go fight against an enemy that was probably ten times as large as they were.

That is amazing to me. But why did it happen? These men saw David's passion for the Lord. They saw the resolve in David's heart. Then they knew that David was going to be obedient to God. And they knew they could trust him.

And they were willing to get under his leadership once again because they knew that David was going to do what God commanded him to do. So the pursuit started. But they really didn't know where to go at this point in time because they weren't sure exactly where the Amalekites had gone.

So what did they do? This is where the providence of God comes in. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, they find a man.

Look with me at verses 11 through 13. They found an Egyptian in the open country and they brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink. And they gave him a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. And David said to him, To whom do you belong?

And where are you from? He said, I'm a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. David and his men came across this little Egyptian slave boy. And it just so happens that he had been there with the Amalekites. He had seen everything that they did. He watched them as they burned the city down. He watched them as they took everything that belonged to Israel. And they took it for themselves. He watched them as they took the women and children captive. And he watched them as they led them out of ziklag. And they went to a place where they could celebrate their wickedness.

They went to a place where they could party. And then by the providence of God, this Egyptian boy got sick. And when he got sick, the master said to him, Well, you're not going with us. We're going to leave you here. You're not going with us. We're not going to let you take up space having to haul you around in one of our wagons. We've got too much stuff for that. So we're just going to leave you here on the side of the road. You're probably going to die anyway.

And then if you die, we won't have to worry about burying you. So that's how this Amalekite master treated his servant, who had worked with him probably for several years, who had probably been very faithful to him. And what does he do now?

He just throws him to the side of the road to let him die like he was nothing but an empty Coca-Cola bottle. Folks, the scripture says that, Whatsoever a man soweth, actually also reap. He was an Amalekite master who sowed hatred and incompassion into the life of this servant. And what was he reaping?

He was reaping a conclusion that was going to cost him and was going to cost him dearly. God put an Egyptian in David's path, a little Egyptian boy, put him right there in his path, and the little Egyptian boy told him that he knew where everything was and that if he would make a covenant with David, that David would not kill him, he would take him right to the camp where the Amalekites were and David once again could see his wives and children. Also notice that 200 of the men stayed behind. 200 stayed behind at the brook Bezor with the baggage.

There's an interesting verse in Psalm 103 verse 14 that says that God knows our frame and He remembers that we are dust. David talked to these 200 men. They were too tired to make the trip. They were too tired to go and fight.

They just couldn't do it. David understood that. He knew their limitations, so he told them, you just stay here with the baggage. So David just took 400 men to do the battle against an army that was probably as many as 4,000.

Absolutely amazing. And when they went, they went with a vengeance. Why did they go with a vengeance? Because they knew who was going to win this battle. They had got assurance from God, a promise from God that when they went, they would win this battle and so they went with great enthusiasm and great excitement.

I think this is exactly how David felt when he went to fight Goliath and he stood on that valley, Goliath on the other side and he screamed out to him, Goliath, you come to me with a sword, a shield and a javelin but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts and this day you will die because this battle is the Lord's. David's vision from God gave him a passion for God and that passion was unbelievable. And what did it do to his men? It motivated the men to fight. It scared the dickens out of the Amalekites and it glorified God.

Alright, point six is a blessed action through God. Look at verse 16 through 20. And when he had taken him down, behold there were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight to the evening of the next day and not a man of them escaped except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken, David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds and the people drove the livestock before him and said, this is David's spoil.

The young Egyptian boy led them right to the Amalekite camp. The Amalekites thought they had gotten away with all this and so what did they do? They partied. They sang, they danced, they started drinking and they got drunk. They got drunk and they got so drunk that they didn't even think about putting up posting guards there to watch over them and protect them in their drunkenness. And it's in that context that David and his little band of men, about four hundred of them, come up and they slaughter the Amalekites. Four hundred young men got away on camels. The rest of them were slaughtered, probably about three thousand people.

The Amalekites, folks, are truly a picture of our culture today. They live with no thought of eternity. They live with no concern about God's law or about God himself. All they're living for is to satisfy the flesh and all they're living for is just to have a good time.

But the cost was extremely high. David slaughtered all the Amalekites except these four hundred and he slaughtered them from dawn until evening. What a horrible conclusion to a good time. What a horrible conclusion it will be for everyone, every one of us, everyone in our world today who defies the law of God, who rejects the precious blood of Jesus, shed for us on the cross as they head for a good time. Folks, the day will come when they will die. The day will come when they will breathe their last breath. They will cease to live on this earth and they will immediately go to a hell. A hell where they will for all of eternity experience nothing but pain and sorrow and sadness and memory forever. All for a good time. Notice that the scripture says here that David recovered all, all the wives, all their children, all their material possessions and then all the spoils of victory from the Amalekites.

What do you call that? I call it amazing grace. Look with me at verse 21 through 25. Then David came to the 200 men who had been too exhausted to follow David and who had been left at the brook Bezor and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him and when David came near to the people he greeted them. Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said because they did not go with us we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered except that each man may lead away his wife and children and depart. But David said you shall not do so my brothers with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hands the band that came against us.

Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is goes down into the battle so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike and he made it a statue and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day. David and his men came back with their wives and children and the 200 that were there at the brook Bezor I can just imagine them seeing them coming over the hill and man they're jumping up, they're shouting, they're praising God.

They are so happy. But the scripture said there were some worthless men that were there fighting with David and they turned around and they said look these guys aren't getting anything. We're the ones that did the fighting. We're the ones that put out the effort. We're the ones that slaughtered the Amalekites and yeah we'll give them their children back. We'll give them their wives back but they're not getting any of the stuff. David overheard that conversation and David stood up and said no, no, no.

You are not doing this. The Lord gave us this. And they said no the Lord didn't do this. We did this. We went out and fought the Amalekites. We went out and conquered and slaughtered them.

We didn't stay behind like these worthless 200 did. We went out and we fought that battle. And David said you don't understand. God did this. God's the one who orchestrated this campaign for us. God's the one who gave us the energy to go and fight. God's the one who put the little Egyptian boy there to guide us right to their camp. And God's the one who saw to it that they got drunk and confused so we could slaughter them easily. And not only that but all of our wives and all of our children have not been harmed and they have not been killed. He said how dare we take credit for that which God has done.

And essentially I think this is what David is saying. Freely the Lord has given to you. Now freely you give to others. He even tells them that the 200 who stayed back behind and who were there with the baggage will receive equal reward.

An amazing thing. Folks I believe that what we have here is a missionary principle. A missionary principle. God doesn't call us all to the mission field. He calls specific missionaries to the mission field. But He calls us all to missions. Some of us are to stay behind as prayer warriors for those missionaries.

Some of us, most of us, have a responsibility of giving to mission work that they might go if they might be on the field. I have a great friend that's gone on to be with the Lord now, Dr. J. Allen Blair. He was one of the most missionary minded preachers that I have ever known.

I loved him to death. And he described missions this way. He said a boy fell down into a well. A man saw him fall down. And so the man went over to the well and he took a rope and he tied it around his waist. Then he called several men over and he said, I want you to lower me down into the well and I'm going to get the little boy.

Then you pull me back up. And he said, explained after that what this was all about. He said the well is the mission field.

The little boy is a picture of the lost world. He said the man with the rope around his waist is the missionary. And the ones holding the rope are you and me. We're the ones holding the rope.

And if we don't pull that rope up, if we don't let him down, then what's going to happen? The missionary will fail. David said all will share alike in the reward. Folks, that's true with us as well. The supporters of missions, that's me and you, are just as important as the missionaries on the field.

We've got a job to do and we need to get serious about the cause of missions. David had a choice before him and that choice was a revival or funeral. What did the Lord do to bring him into revival?

God gave him a vision of God that led to a passion for God that led to an action by God. And God did all that in great part to help David to get prepared to be the king of Israel. And folks, so it is with us. Did you realize that we're kings and priests here on this earth? That we are going to reign over God's kingdom here? Did you realize that's what we are called to do? And so God lets us go through times of tribulation and through times of suffering and through times of heartache and through times of persecution.

Why? Not to destroy us, but to toughen us as Christians, to make us prepared to do the work He has called us to do. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, when David fought Goliath, he fought with faith.

He said to Goliath, you come to me with a shield, a sword, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts and this day you'll die, for this battle is the Lord's. Before David went to fight the Amalekites, he strengthened himself in the Lord and you gave him that same faith and courage that he had when he fought Goliath. What an encouragement that is to us. Help us to quit depending on self. Help us to quit depending on human sources and may our full trust be in you.

Help us to know you more. Fill our hearts with the desire to feast upon your word. Fill our minds with truth that will help us stand.

Years before David was born, Joshua dressed the people of Israel and said, Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. May that be my conviction. May that be the conviction of every member of Grace Church. Thank you, Lord, for loving us. Thank you, Lord, for saving us, for it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.