1 Samuel 27-28:2; The Fickle Heart

Introduction

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Martin Luther was a very cheerful man, as a rule; but he had terrible fits of depression. He was at one time so depressed that his friends recommended him to go away for a change of air, to see if he could get relief.

He went away; but he came home as miserable as ever; and when he went into the sitting-room, his wise wife Kate, Catherine von Bora, was sitting there, dressed in black, and her children round about her, all in black.

“Oh, oh!” said Luther, “who is dead?”

“Why,” said she, “doctor, have not you heard that God is dead? My husband, Martin Luther, would never be in such a state of mind if he had a living God to trust to.” Then he burst into a hearty laugh, and said, “Kate, thou art a wise woman. I have been acting as if God were dead, and I will do so no more. Go and take off thy black.”

~The Complete Works of C. H. Spurgeon, Volume 38 By Charles Spurgeon

Need

We need the promises of God to be spoke to our own hearts and minds so that they become written upon them. Let our hearts be saturated, stained, and permeating with the goodness of our God. Let us not forget his glory and love for his people.

Topic

This morning, we are once again turning our attention to David. We will see even the man after God’s own heart was a man with a fickle heart.

Referent

1 Samuel 27-28:2

Organization

David’s Defeat (vs. 1-7)

David’s Dilemma (vs. 8-22:2)

Application

Sermon in a sentence:

I will speak God’s promises to my heart.

David’s Defeat (vs. 1-7)

v. 1 “David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day…”

Daul was falsely prophesying to his own heart.

Remember, God had promised through Samuel, David would be the next king.

Because David was speaking of worry, doubt, and fear into his heart he could not remember how many times God delivered him.

Goliath

Saul’s spear

200 Philistines

Doeg the Edomite

Keilah

Ziphites

Saul at En Gedi

v. 1 “There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines.”

David thinks that the best move is for him to leave the covenant people of God and go over to the Philistines.

David must have been meditating on this for some time. We see in 1 Samuel 26:18, David is complaining to Saul because David will have to leave Israel in order to survive.

vs. 2 ‘and went over” vs. 5 “If I have found favor in your eyes” vs. 7 “the number of days that David lived”

David crosses over into enemy territory and now he is seeking the approval of the enemies of God.

He has also shown himself to be a cunning and deceitful person.

Dale Ralph Davis calls this a “God-less text”

There is not mention of God in this text. David doesn’t produce a psalm while in Ziklag. We see in this text, David has totally forgotten about God and put his mind to other tasks.

Holly and I married when she was 19 and I was 18. We looked for a church for a year.

We put ourselves in Godless situations and then question where God is. I want us to not forget the ordinary means of grace.

We run to social media, the bottle, or any number of answers instead of the ordinary means of grace. That’s a starving man coming into the church and complaining that our hard mints are gone while refusing to go eat the food in our fellowship meal.

David’s Dilemma (vs. 8-28:2)

vs. 8-9 - David’s Vitories

Is David wrong for doing killing innocent people? Possibly.

God is the author of life.

This is a unique revelation time period

This is how ancient cultures spoke of military defeats.

The Amalakites were destroyed in Chapters 15 and here in 27. They will show up again in 1 Samuel 30 when they take the wives and children of David’s men.

John Gill argues that David is doing what God commanded Israel to do, wipe out the Canaanites.

v. 10 and 2 David continues his habitual lying and craftiness

David was a godly man, but he allowed his sins to put himself in compromising positions over and over.

Bathsheba

He kept being deceitful because it worked for him (sometimes). We all know some people like that. Even in this god-less text, we have a hope of a remedy for such a hopeless text. There is still a better Davidic king that would seek only the approval of his God and not men. One who never once neglected the promises of God.

Conclusion

Charles Spurgeon

I remember once feeling many questions as to whether I was a child of God or not. I went into a little chapel, and I heard a good man preach. He was a simple workingman. I heard him preach, and I made my handkerchief sodden with my tears as I heard him talk about Christ, and the precious blood. When I was preaching the same things to others I was wondering whether this truth was mine, but while I was hearing for myself I knew it was mine, for my very soul lived upon it. I went to that good man, and thanked him for the sermon. He asked me who I was. When I told him, he turned all manner of colors. “Why,” he said, “Sir, that was your own sermon.” I said, “Yes, I knew it was, and it was good of the Lord to feed me with food that I had prepared for others.” (MTP 32, Sermon No. 1877)

Application