Oh, let the Son of God enfold you
With His Spirit and His love Let Him
fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh,
let Him have the things that hold you
And His Spirit like a dove Will descend
upon your life And make you whole Welcome
to The Word for Today Featuring the Bible
teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith Of Calvary Chapel,
Costa Mesa, California Pastor Chuck is currently leading
us on a verse-by-verse venture Through
the entire Bible And on today's edition of
The Word for Today We'll be following David's
fight with the Philistines As we pick up
in 1 Samuel 23, verse 1 And now
with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith Then
they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are
fighting against Kelah And they are robbing the
threshing floors Now, during the time of harvest
They would harvest the grain, the threshing floors
And then they would heap the grain Into
piles there around the flat rock Until they
had finished threshing And then they would put
it Wherever they would keep their grains, in
the silos Now, while it was being stacked
in these piles It was unprotected, there on
the threshing floors And that's when the Philistines
chose to attack them And to rip off
these beautiful piles of grain That had just
been threshed And so they came and they
began to harass the people of Kelah They
robbed them from their threshing floors And David
therefore inquired of the Lord, saying Shall I
go and smite these Philistines?
Now, Kelah was only about four miles from
The cave of Abdullam, where David was hiding
And so it was just a short distance
away He got word that the Philistines are
down there harassing the people And David inquired
of the Lord Probably through Abiathar, because when
Abiathar came He brought the ephod with him
The instruments by which, the urim and the
thumim The instruments by which they sought the
wisdom of God And so David had the
priest with him And he inquired of the
Lord, no doubt through Abiathar Shall I go
down and smite the Philistines?
And the Lord said unto David, go and
smite the Philistines And save Kelah And so
David's men said to him, verse 3 Behold,
we're afraid here in Judah How much more
then if we come to Kelah against the
armies of the Philistines Hey man, we're not
ready for this We're hiding from Saul, we're
afraid here in Judah We're not ready to
tackle those Philistines going to the Philistine country
So David inquired of the Lord again Lord,
are you really sure?
And the Lord answered him and said, arise,
go down to Kelah For I will deliver
the Philistines into your hand So David and
his men went to Kelah Fought with the
Philistines And they recaptured the cattle And they
smote them with a great slaughter So David
saved the inhabitants of Kelah It came to
pass when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled
to David to Kelah That he came down
with the ephod in his hand And so
it was told Saul That David was come
to Kelah And Saul said, God has delivered
him into my hand For now he is
shut in by entering into a town that
has gates and bars Now I can capture
him So Saul called all of the people
together to war To go down to Kelah
to set a siege against it And against
David and his men And David knew that
Saul secretly practiced mischief against him And he
said to Abiathar, the priest, bring hither the
ephod And David said, O Lord God of
Israel Your servant has certainly heard that Saul
seeks to come to Kelah To destroy the
city for my sake Will the men of
Kelah deliver me up into his hand?
Will Saul come down as your servant has
heard?
O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee,
I beg thee, tell thy servant And the
Lord said, He will come down And David
said, Will the men of Kelah deliver me
and my men into the hand of Saul?
And the Lord said, They will deliver thee
It is interesting that if you had been
the one Who had delivered the people, the
inhabitants of the city from their enemy Who
was harassing them You would think, well surely
the people will appreciate what I've done And
they will help protect me It is quite
possible that you would think There's no need
to even pray about this It's quite obvious
what the answer is I don't have to
ask the Lord about this situation And you
know, that's always a dangerous assumption to make
It's always wise to seek the counsel of
God Even when things seem to be quite
obvious The Bible says, If in all of
your ways you acknowledge Him He will direct
your path But you've got to seek, you've
got to acknowledge And it is always dangerous
when we presume The answer and we don't
seek the guidance and the wisdom of God
David could easily have assumed that these people
are so appreciative They'll help me And so
he is begging God Well my life is
on the line God Answer me, please answer
me on this issue Is Saul really coming
here?
The Lord said, yes Saul is coming Well
Lord, will these men then turn me over?
Yes they will And so he was guided
by the Lord God gave him the answers
he needed And as a result David was
able to escape From the hand of Saul
David and his men, which were now about
600 Remember back in the last chapter, verse
2, there was only 400 The ranks of
David are growing rapidly His popularity is increasing
There's more people who are distressed in debt
and discontent And they're gathering together As David's
popularity and army begins to grow And he
went, whether so ever they could go And
it was told Saul that David had escaped
from Keilah And so Saul called off the
attack And David stayed in the wilderness, in
the strongholds And he remained in the mountain,
in the wilderness of Ziph Which is in
the area again, eastward from Hebron Towards the
Dead Sea, a very barren area And Saul
sought him every day But God did not
deliver David into Saul's hand And when David
saw that Saul was come out to seek
his life And he was in the wilderness
of Ziph in a wood Jonathan, Saul's son,
arose and went to David into the wood
And strengthened his hand in God So Jonathan
heard that David was there And Jonathan slipped
out and came to David And he said
to David, fear not For the hand of
Saul, my father, shall not find you And
you shall be king over Israel And I
shall be next unto thee And that also
Saul, my father, knows By this time Saul
had figured things out God had said to
Saul through the prophet Samuel Because you have
rejected God from reigning over you God has
rejected you from reigning over His people He's
going to take the kingdom from you And
give it to a man whom He pleases
A man of His choice Saul knew that
his days were numbered as king God had
ordained another man And by now he had
figured out David's the man And that is
why he is intending to kill David He's
trying to thwart the plan of God He's
trying to keep God's plan from being inaugurated
actually By killing David, he figures he can
maybe hold on to the throne Jonathan, though
he is the son of Saul And if
the kingdom then went into the family Would
have been the heir apparent to the throne
Realizes that David is to be the king
And Jonathan is saying, David I'll be next
to you He is abdicating his position willingly
to David Because of the love that these
fellows have for each other And so the
two of them made the covenant before the
Lord And David remained there in the wood
And Jonathan went back to his house And
then came up the Ziphites to Saul, to
Gibeah And they said, does not David hide
himself with us In the strongholds in the
wood, in the hill of Hakela Which is
on the south of Jezamun And so they
are telling Saul where David is Rats Now
therefore, O king, come down according to all
of the desire of your soul to come
down And our part shall be to deliver
him into the king's hand Come on down,
we'll deliver him, king, into your hand And
Saul, this hypocrite, said, blessed be ye of
the Lord Not so Boy, if you listen
to David's prayers too Lord, cut off their
noses, you know And wipe them out, Lord
And those that hate me, you know, without
a cause Blessed be ye of the Lord
For you've had compassion on me Sick, sick
Go, I pray you, prepare yet And know
and see his place where his haunt is
And who has seen him there For it
is told me that he is a very
subtle man You know, he's clever So, you
know, spy him out now Therefore, take knowledge
of all of the lurking places where he
hides himself And come again to me with
certainty And I will go with you And
it shall come to pass, if he be
in the land That I will search him
out through all of the thousands of Judah
So they arose and went to Ziph before
Saul But David and his men were in
the wilderness of Maon So David had already
moved on a little bit further south Into
the area of Maon In the plain that
is south of Jezimun And Saul also and
his men went to seek him And they
told David, wherefore he came down into a
rock And he abode in the wilderness of
Maon And when Saul heard that, he pursued
after David in the wilderness of Maon And
Saul went on this side of the mountain
And David and his men on that side
of the mountain And David made haste to
get away for the fear of Saul For
Saul and his men had encircled David And
his men around about to take them Now,
in this area where David was hiding Was
this steep, steep ravine That you just couldn't
get across Here was Saul, they probably were
inside of each other Saul on this mountain,
David on this mountain But between them, this
steep, deep ravine And the only way Saul
could get there would be to go around
the ravine One way or the other Which
would of course give David time to escape
So what Saul was doing was breaking his
troops into two companies To go around both
sides and to encircle David And David was
in a trap Saul had pretty much circled
him in at this point But there came
a messenger unto Saul saying, hurry Come, for
the Philistines have invaded the land Wherefore Saul
returned from pursuing David And went against the
Philistines Therefore they called the place the Cliff
of Division And David went from there And
he dwelt in the strongholds of En Gedi
Now he's heading on down toward the Dead
Sea In that wilderness area of En Gedi
But David was providentially saved by God By
the attack of the Philistines And Saul had
to go in order to protect the people
from the Philistines So it came to pass
when Saul was returned From following the Philistines
It was told him saying, behold, David is
in the wilderness of En Gedi Then Saul
took three thousand chosen men out of all
of Israel And went to seek David and
his men Upon the rocks of the wild
goats And he came to the sheep coats
by the way Where was a cave And
Saul went in to cover his feet That
is to go to sleep, to take a
nap And David and his men remained in
the sides of the cave Now David and
his men were hiding in this cave And
Saul came to that very cave And went
in to rest, to sleep Now those caves
looking into them is pitch black You come
out of the sun and into those caves
and it's just pitch black You can't see
five feet ahead of you Trying to look
into the cave But inside of the cave
where you're in the dark and your eyes
are accustomed to the darkness Looking out you
can see anything that's going on So here
were David and his men Perched back in
the cave And who should come into the
cave but Saul And he lies down Goes
to sleep And the men of David said
unto him, behold The day which the Lord
said to you That I will deliver your
enemy into your hand That you may do
to him as what seems good to you
Hey David This is it man You know
God's placed him in your hand So you
can wipe him out So David arose at
the instigating and the encouragement of the men
And he cut off the skirt of Saul's
robe And it came to pass afterwards that
David got convicted I shouldn't have done that,
that's not right Because he had cut off
Saul's skirt Sensitive, sensitive conscience, got convicted for
it And he said unto his men, the
Lord forbid That I should do this thing
unto my master, the Lord's anointed To stretch
forth my hand against him Seeing he is
the anointed of the Lord David had tremendous
respect for Saul Even though the anointing of
God had departed from Saul God had ordained
that David be anointed king Samuel had come
with the anointing oil, anointed David And yet
the fact that this man had once had
the anointing of God upon his life David
would not touch him Tremendous respect for the
anointing of God So David stayed his servants
with these words And the word in the
Hebrew is quite strong He actually restrained and
with difficulty He would not allow them to
rise against Saul They were ready to do
Saul in right there But Saul rose up
out of the cave and went on his
way So David also arose afterward And he
went out of the cave and he cried
after Saul saying My lord the king And
when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with
his face to the earth and bowed himself
And so here's David still respecting and honoring
Saul Calling him my lord the king And
then doing obeisance, bowing himself before him And
David said to Saul Why have you listened
to men's words who say Behold David is
seeking to hurt you Behold this day your
eyes have seen How the Lord delivered you
today into my hand in the cave And
some of those that were with me Were
urging me to kill you But my eyes
spared you and I said I will not
put forth my hand against my lord For
he is the Lord's anointed Moreover, my father
And calling Saul respectfully his father Not a
father-in-law but just a term of
respect I am the son, I am inferior
You are the elder my father See, yes,
see the skirt of your robe in my
hand For in that I cut off your
skirt of your robe I did not kill
you Know this And see that there is
neither evil nor transgression in my hand I
have not sinned against you And yet you
are hunting my soul You're trying to kill
me The Lord then judged between me and
you And the Lord avenged me of thee
But my hand shall not be upon thee
Here is tremendous wisdom in David's part And
it shows the spiritual character of David I'm
not going to touch you If God wants
to do it, that's his business But I'm
not going to take God's business into my
hand If the Lord wants to smite you,
that's his business But I'm not going to
smite you And David was willing to wait
for God's purposes to be worked out by
God It's a lesson that we often stumble
at Understanding and knowing the purposes of God
I feel that it is my duty to
plunge in and help God do his business
Doesn't God want this done?
Of course he does Then let's get in
and help God out Because how can he
do it without our help, you know David
did not make that mistake Hey, if God
wants to depose you and put me on
the throne God can do that I'm not
going to step in to do it I'm
not going to try and help God out
I'm not going to lay my hand against
you If God can avenge me But I'm
not going to try to avenge myself We'll
return with more of our verse-by-verse
study of 1 Samuel In our next lesson
As we find David saving Saul's life And
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And be sure to join us again next
time As Pastor Chuck Smith Continues his verse
-by-verse study Through the book of 1
Samuel That's right here On the next edition
of The Word for Today And
now, once again Here's Pastor Chuck Smith With
today's closing prayer Father, we thank you for
this opportunity Of studying the Word That we
might learn and grow thereby And Lord, we
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and our confidence in you Lord, too long
The enemy has held us down Too long
has the enemy Tried to keep us in
defeat In the name of our Lord, we
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you, Father In Jesus' name Amen Peace
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