Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction:

!! A.           The Promises & Motivation to Pursuing Fear.

!!! 1.            Do You Delight to be Afraid?

!!!! a)            Fear is Something Most of Us Want to Get Rid of, not get More Of.  Let’s Look at the Spectacular Promises of God to Those Who Fear Him.

*The Friendship of the Lord*—Psalm 25:14 cf.

John 15:15 – Friendship with the Lord is reserved for those who fear him.

With them he shares the secrets of his covenant.

*The Watchful Care of the Lord*—Psalm 33:18 – But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.

*The Deliverance of the Lord’s Angels*—Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.

(Psalms 34:7 NKJV)

*Freedom From Craving*—Psalm 34:9-10 – Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!

There is no want to those who fear Him.

The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

(Psalms 34:9-10 NKJV)

*The Lord’s Fatherly Pity (compassion)*—Psalm 103:13 – As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.  (Psalms 103:13 NKJV)

*The Permanent Love of God*—Psalm 103:17 – But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, (Psalms 103:17 NKJV)

*Being Enjoyed by the Lord*—Psalm 147:11 – The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.

(Psalms 147:11 NKJV)

*Having the Beginning and the Essence of Wisdom*—Job 28:28; Ps.111:10; Pr.9:10 – And to man He said, `Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’

(Job 28:28 NKJV)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

(Proverbs 9:10 NKJV)

*Confidence & Place of Refuge; Drinking at the Fountain of Life*—Proverbs 14:26-27 – In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge.

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

(Proverbs 14:26-27 NKJV)

*Being Satisfied*—Proverbs 19:23 – The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.

(Proverbs 19:23 NKJV)

 

*B.

**David Flees to the Philistine King (v.10-15).**

*

1.            David flees to Achish the king of Gath (v.10-11).

a)            ‘…David fled that day to Achish king of Gath…’  (v.10).

(1)           A good man in bad company.

Why has a man of God who has been anointed by the Spirit of God, gone to live with a Philistine and unbeliever?

Here is a truth that some of us would not like to admit, that /sometimes a persecuted Christian gets better treatment from the enemies of God’s people then from his Christian friends/.

(2)           Jobs friends thought they had all the answers.

*The Scriptures say that we are to* "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”  (Romans 12:15, NKJV)

*Compassion and sympathy are to be excercised on those who have been afflicted.

Job said *"To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend" (Job 6:14, NKJV)

*The writer of Hebrews says to *"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also."

(Hebrews 13:3, NKJV)

!!!!! (3)           Here are some promises to those who show compassion and sympathy:

*The writer of Proverbs says that *"He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given.”

(Proverbs 19:17, NKJV)

"And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."

(Matthew 10:42, NKJV)

!!!! b)            Compassion and Sympathy Illustrated - The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)

!!!!! (1)           The Apostolic Confession, an ancient church confession, says, /“//If any Christian is condemned for Christ’s sake to the mines by the ungodly, do not overlook him, but from the proceeds of your toil and sweat, send him something to support himself, and to reward the soldier of Christ”/ You can see from this quote that the early church took seriously its responsibility to help people who were suffering persecution.

To obtain money to free a fellow believer, some early Christians even sold themselves into slavery.

!!!!! (2)           Through His healing miracles Jesus participated in human pain and sorrow in that *He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases*.

He participated first of all by sympathizing with man’s pain and sickness.

!!!!! (3)           Jesus knew men’s hearts and all of their inner feelings.

He knew the agony, the confusion, the despair, and the frustration that disease and sickness bring in addition to physical pain.

!!!!! (4)           Repeatedly the gospel writers tell of Jesus’ having compassion on those who came to hear Him teach and to experience His healing touch (Matt.

9:36; 15:32; Mark 1:41; Luke 10:33).

!!!!! (5)           You can have loving empathy for someone in at least three ways.

!!!!!! (a)           First, you can simply /“be there” /as a friend to encourage the other person when he is in trouble.

!!!!!! (b)           A second way to show empathy is by /“giving direct help”/.

The Philippians shared with the apostle Paul in his affliction by financially supporting his ministry in other places (Phil.

4:14–16).

In this way they also encouraged him spiritually.

!!!!!! (c)           Third, you can give empathy /“through prayer”/.

Paul’s closing words to the Colossians, “Remember my imprisonment” (Col.

4:18), were an appeal for prayer.

It was the only means remaining by which the church could effectively support him.

!!!!!! (d)           If we have Christ’s example, who is not /“a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses” (//Heb.

4:15)/, how can we possibly ignore the hurts of others, especially those of fellow believers?

Instead, sincere empathy should be a regular part of our service for the Lord.

c)             ‘…the servants of Achish said to him, Is this not David…’  (v.11).

(1)           Isn’t this the guy that Israel sings about?

!!!!! (2)           The song and dance about David that swept the nation of Israel (1 Samuel 18:6-7) apparently also made the charts among the Philistines.

If he didn’t know it before, now David found that there was real price for fame.

2.

David fears man (v.12-15).

a)            ‘…David took these words to heart…’  (v.12a)

(1)           David took the words of man and allowed them to affect his heart to the point that he feared.

*But I love what the Psalmist says* "Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You."  (Psalm 119:11, NASB95)

*In the New Testament, Paul said that we are to *"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  (Colossians 3:16, NASB95)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b)            ‘…David…was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath…’  (v.12b).

(1)           When David was walking in the Spirit, not even Goliath as big as he was, could bring fear to the heart of David.

*Listen to what David said to Saul about Goliath "David said to Saul,* “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine…”  "And David said, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

*Then David said to the Philistine, *“You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

“  This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you.  …that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands."

(1 Samuel 17:32, 37, 45-47, NASB95)

(2)           And note that in (17:48) when Goliath ran toward David, David ran toward the enemy, not from him.

But now since he is walking after the flesh, he fears man.

*The writer of Proverbs says that *"The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”

(Proverbs 29:25, NKJV)

(3)           The fear of man has caused great men of God to fail, bringing them into many compromising positions.

!!!!!! (a)           Abraham was afraid that the men of Gerar might kill him to take Sarah from him so he said that she was his sister, rather than his wife (Gen.20:1-11).

*God is the One Whom we are to fear.

Isaiah says *"The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.”

(Isaiah 8:13, NKJV)

*The Lord says in Jeremiah 32 that* "I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.

And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.”  (Jeremiah 32:39-40, NKJV)

 

c)            ‘…He changed his behavior before them…’  (v.13)

(1)           Davids fear now led to a change of behavior before men.

(2)           In (18:5) we read that /“David behaved wisely”/ and the NASB interprests wisely as /“prospered”…  /In (18:12) says that "/Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul /"…  In (18:14-15) we read that "/And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him.

Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him./"

(3)           But here we read that because David feared, it caused him to change his behavior.

!!!! d)            Several Reasons Why Men Have a Fear of Other Men: Dont be trapped by this fear.

!!!!! (1)           Peer pressure—The fear of rejection—Pilate’s Fatal Choice (Mark 15:6-15).

Pilate for fear of being reported to Caesar as allowing another man to claim to be king, turned Jesus over to the crowd to be crucified.