“Your Grace is Enough” - 1 Samuel 30 (part 1)

In her book Amazing Grace, the writer and poet Kathleen Norris shares what she calls "the scariest story" she's ever heard about the Bible. Norris and her husband were visiting a man named Arlo, a rugged, self-made man who was facing terminal cancer. During their visit, Arlo started talking about his grandfather, a sincere Christian. The grandfather gave Arlo and his bride a wedding present: an expensive leather Bible with their names printed in gold lettering. Arlo left it in the box and never opened it. But for months afterwards his grandfather kept asking if he liked the Bible. Arlo told Norris, "The wife had written a nice thank-you note, and we'd thanked him in person, but somehow he couldn't let it lie, he always had to ask about it."

Finally, Arlo grew curious enough to open the Bible. "The joke was on me," Arlo said. "I finally took that Bible out of the closet and I found that granddad had placed a twenty-dollar bill at the beginning of the Book of Genesis, and at the beginning of every book … over thirteen hundred dollars in all. And he knew I'd never find it."

The horrifying thing about this story is how common things like this are. Many who have bibles and all the pages are still stuck together. Why? Most people in our country desire to read and understand the Bible.

The Bible in America Study reports that 62 percent of the people in the communities surrounding our churches would like to read the Bible more. Another study reports 87 percent of the people in our churches want help understanding the Bible better.

But…

The same study shows that Bible reading is waning. Recent studies demonstrate that in one generation the number of occasional Bible readers has fallen by 20 percent—the equivalent of 700 people per day. If this trend continues, by 2040 two-thirds of Americans will have no meaningful connection with the Bible.

The scripture is one of the greatest gifts the Lord could have given to mankind. It is the source of all life and godliness. It is our hope, it is our light, it is our comfort, it is the all sufficient grace of God. If we believe all this… why do studies show that reading the Bible is waning and Bible study attendance is falling?

Is it because we do not believe that it is enough? The Lord says, “my grace is enough.” What more are we looking for? The problem is… we want more than what the scriptures have to offer. Especially when we are faced with difficulty, sometimes the words are not what we want to hear. You ever feel that way? You ever felt that way? Well today we are going to find out why we can boldly say that His grace is enough for us today.

David was saved from a serious situation. He was face to face with either fighting against his own kingdom or becoming a turn coat. What a wonderful display of the grace of God in a way that transcends the mind. He was saved by being rejected. And now as he goes home, he is faced with his most difficult test.

Now as David and his men came close to home full of excitement, I’m sure they saw smoke rising in the horizon and they wondered with fear. As they got closer, they made a mad dash to find that the city of Ziklag was burnt to the ground. They were attacked by the Amalekites who took captive all of the women and the children. When David and his men found out that their wives were gone they wept till they could not weep anymore (or till they had no more strength to weep). It is well known at the time what happens to women and children when they are taken. Sold as slaves. Even David’s own wives were taken. What is more, David was now in trouble because the men thought that this was enough. (enough is enough) They became bitter and they just had it David. This is all your fault. They were so angry they all began to speak of stoning him. However, David strengthened himself in the Lord. He called for the priest to seek counsel from the Lord. The Lord told them to go after the Amalekites and they will get back everything they have taken.

1 Samuel 30:6-8

1 Samuel 30:6–8 NLT

David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God. Then he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring me the ephod!” So Abiathar brought it. Then David asked the Lord, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?” And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

David is Overwhelmed

David is Strengthened

Christ Gives Us Strength

The first thing we will look at is how David found himself in a no win situation with total loss of all that was important to him. The second thing we will see is how true faith in the Word of God brought strength to David just like it brings strength to us. Finally, we will see how our High Priest in Heaven sitting at the right hand throne of the Father gives us strength to overcome total loss with and increase in this thing called Faith which comes by hearing.

Thesis: Though the philosophies of the world and the effects of our own foolish sins brings us to the point where we cannot imagine things getting any worse, it does, and we turn from our God to the horrid of Idolatry, our Lord Jesus full of grace and mercy will bring forgiveness, the power to overcome, and the light of His Word and though weeping may last through the night, joy comes in the morning.

I. David is Overwhelmed

- Sometimes we think things could not possibly get any worse... and it does.

A. What David did, was get himself into such a mess when he crossed over to be unequally yoked with the Philistines because he was running away from Saul. And now, matters are worse. The excitement of going home was cut short to find that it has been destroyed and their families taken captive to be sold into slavery.

B. The blow was not only too much for the men...for many it was the last straw. “We linked up with the Hero of the Lord and what did we get out of it… nothing but despair, hardship, fear, humiliation and living deceitfully.” There were so many times all of this could have ended. He should have just killed Saul and ended it all and none of this would have happened. Now our wives and children are suffering Lord knows what and everything we have worked for is gone. Our lives are gone. Let’s stone him. Let’s kill him. His leadership has caused us nothing but grief.

C. How many times have we been face to face with this kind of predicament? We live our lives as Christians making sacrifices, hard decisions, giving of so much time and effort to be obedient, we do what the Lord asks of us, we obey and follow our leaders, and now, in our lives, we have extreme difficulties and suffering. Look at all our obedience and sacrifices in doing the right thing in following the Word of God and our leaders and this is what we get? Sometimes we feel this way.

D. Shane urged me to preach the Gospel to everyone and I obeyed and now everyone in my school and work, avoids me and makes fun of me. Is this what I get for obedience? The Scriptures tell us to love our enemies and I let this person get the promotion by getting out of the way and now he just fired me. The Scriptures say to consider others as better than ourselves and I do and they just take advantage of me. I gave my brother the big piece of chicken and he still ate all the rice.

E. How many times do we feel resentment because it seems that Christianity has caused more harm than good in our lives? It has caused grief. This feeling has created in us the same kind of feelings of resentment for God that the men had for David. Of course we can’t stone God, but we can turn our backs on Him. Many of us have done this before. Many of us have “backslid.” Many of us could be in church today, still here but have hardened our hearts toward God, His Word, and His people and are only coming because we still want to go to heaven.

F. So what did David do? The best thing a leader can do when leadership is questioned… lead! A Story is told of a tank company that had mutinied in the Vietnam war… When leadership is challenged the best thing to do is lead.

G. The men were distraught, but they knew that if they were going to get their family and possessions back they were going to need the Lord. In this way, it might have been the same for David. Fine you guys can leave me, but the priest and the stones are coming with me. The Word of God was going with David. “If you want to rescue your family, you are going to have to follow me.”

H. Whether we believe it or not, want to admit it or not, want to accept it or not, we all know that it is the Word of the Lord that will bring the blessings we desire. His Grace is enough. This is why when Jesus told the 5000 that they need to eat his flesh and drink His blood and everyone left him accept the disciples, Jesus asked them…

John 6:66–68 NLT

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.

J. Where else are we going to go? Sure we can be disappointed with God, but do you have anything better? Sure you may feel let down and betrayed by God, but where else are you going to go? What direction are you going to follow? The path of the world… Plato, Aristotle, Joseph Smith, Mohammad, Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche, Swami Muktananda, The Dali Lama, Nostradamus, Oprah, Calvin Klein, Microsoft, Bono, Susan Sarandon, O Bi Wan Kenobi, or Sponge Bob.

K. Who you gonna call? Ghost Busters? Who of these have the Words life? Who can bring rest to the soul? Who else can make us strong when we are weak, give us hope when we are hopeless, give us faith when we are faithless, give us clarity when we are confused, light when we are in darkness, unconditional love when we have a broken heart, and who will bring forgiveness of sins? His Grace is enough.

L. Man does not live on bread alone. We follow the Word. We need the Word. It is the Words of Life. The Bible is inspired, it is required, it is efficient and it is sufficient. We have all that we need for life and godliness. This is why we are passionate and uncompromising on the preaching and teaching of the Scriptures here… nothing else will satisfy. Some think that pop psychology, business methodologies, life coaching, motivational speaking and books of pragmatic methods to live your best life now, will bring prosperity? The Scriptures say…

Isaiah 55:11 NLT

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

M. The grass withers, the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever. David’s men knew it. Do we know it? Do we believe that His Grace is enough?

II. David is Strengthened

- Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of the Lord.

A. David has himself in one of the worst positions and filled with despair and possibly second guessing himself. Maybe he might have thought that he should be stoned. I mean he was not innocent of the charges? He lived the 16 months in clear deception all because he was hiding from Saul. Even though, every time Saul came close to catching David and the Lord thwarted the plans, he still fell into despair and unbelief and took matters into his own hands and got himself into a huge mess.

B. David found strength in the Lord…understood more as, David strengthen himself in the Lord. Now this is not a magic formula. It is not a switch that you can just turn on. It is not 5 secrets of successful restoration of strength. It is not superficial or superstitious.

C. How? First, David went to his God. He did not do the Saul thing and conjure up the ghost of Samuel. He was not like Saul, calling out to God calling Him the Shepherd of Israel, but David calls to the Lord saying the Lord is my Shepard. We today call Him the Son of God, but we find strength when we declare that He is the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians) He is not just God, but He is the God who loves us. He cares for us.

D. Second, we are also strengthen by going to the Word of the Lord. Most likely David, writes in the Psalms

Psalm 119:28 NLT

I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word.

The very Word in your hand that we don’t read as much as we should, is the way we become strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Sharper than any two edged sword and though heaven and earth pass away, His Word will remain forever!

III. Christ Gives Us Strength

- He will never leave us nor forsake us and His word will stand forever. His grace is enough.

A. Finally, we are strengthened by coming into the presence of God. David went to Abiathar the priest and in the presence of the Lord received his answer. But we don’t have access to God like David and we don’t have a priest. O yes we do!

Ephesians 3:12 NLT

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.

Hebrews 4:14 NLT

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.

B. We can come into the presence of God boldly and confident more so than many of the kings of Israel because of Christ who is our High Priest who is even greater that Abiathar and all of the others put together. This is how we strengthen ourselves. Faith.

C. Now we find strength in knowing that God cares about us personally. So much so that he sent His Son to die for us on the cross. We find strength in the Word of God that we all have access to even on our phones! We find strength in the privilege of coming into the presence of the Lord with boldness with a great High Priest.

D. We can do and have all of this… then why don’t we use it? Because of our flesh our sin nature and idolatry of self, we just don’t believe it. We don’t really believe that God is personal, but deistic or only there when I need Him for something important. A Father that we have no relationship with, but one we call if we need something. We don’t really have faith in the promises of God. We don’t bother going into the presence of the Lord like David did, but go to someone else like Saul did with the spirit of Samuel. The problem is faith. O ye of little faith. The Word says that we are weak in faith and we know that faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of the Lord, but if we don’t believe it then we will never get it because we will not read it. Sound insane? The insanity of sin.

E. We are truly unfaithful to the Lord on a daily basis and we deserve any punishment or effects of our disobedience. However, our Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He loved us so much that He gave us His Only Son.

F. We deserve punishment for our sin, but the good news is that Jesus died for our sins and He was buried and He was raised on the third day…The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, Christ Jesus came into this world to save…

G. Come into His presence with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise. The door is open and it is open to you everyday and night… the Word is there for you every day and night. He is there for you everyday and night.

H. Though weeping may last through the night His joy comes in the morning. His grace is enough it is sufficient for you and me.