When the relationship cannot be fixed
Notes
Transcript
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I. Don’t Stop trying
I. Don’t Stop trying
the scene (1-5)
Why does David go to Saul’s camp? (6-7) Only reason I can think of - to get proof of his ability to infiltrate Saul’s camp so he can once again prove his innocence.
Why ask for a volunteer? It’s not like two of them would be safer in the middle of Saul’s army. Again logically what makes sense is that he knew one of these two would (1) have the courage to undertake it, and (2) hated Saul enough that he would have to talk them down and set up the confrontation. Whereas the strategy in ch 24 was accidental, here it seems that David is intentionally manufacturing another incident where he can save Saul’s life and therefore prove his innocence.
II. Stick to your Principles
II. Stick to your Principles
God is just and will uphold your cause if you are in the right. (God was still protecting David; some of the means that David suggested God might use to remove Saul.)
Preserve proper relationship to authority (the Lord’s Anointed is still untouchable)
Be prepared to wait as long as you have to for God’s timing. (David’s conviction that “his day will come to die”)
III. Don’t cast your pearls before pigs
III. Don’t cast your pearls before pigs
Why call to Abner, and not Saul? He also does not identify himself. v.16 is in the plural, so David is addressing Abner as the representative of Saul’s Army.
It seems likely that David intended to be discovered. How could he not at some point? And without that it is difficult to explain why he is doing what he did. He does intend to charge the whole army with dereliction of duty.
He seems to treat Saul as if he is irrelevant to the discussion, only addressing him when Saul asks. Only then does he again appeal to Saul. It seems, therefore that David’s goal was not merely to make another appeal to Saul (for he must have known Saul would answer), but to reinforce his position on Saul to Saul’s army, in addition to again establishing his innocence, and also showing how clever he is and how it is not a good idea to keep chasing him.
The principle is - know when to make an appeal and know when not to waste your breath. Matt 7:6; Prov 26:4-5
“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
IV. Process the situation theologically
IV. Process the situation theologically
Only two possibilities as to source of this pursuit - God or men
God forgives. Let him accept an offering.
Man has driven him away to serve other gods
God owned the land, every Israelite had an allotment from God that had to be passed down to their children, forever Lev 25:23-25
‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.
‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.
God’s blessing for obedience and cursing for disobedience was inextricably tied to the land Deut 28:1, 4-5, 11-12, 15, 21, 36
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
“Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.
“The Lord will bring you and the king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone.
Therefore, being forced off of his God-given portion disconnects him from the blessings and cursings of the Mosaic Covenant and therefore disconnects the normal motivation to serve the Lord.
Application -
No sacrifices today, but God still forgives anything.
We are not under the Covenant and our only inheritance from God is heavenly, but when persecution arises for the gospel, the normal reward/pain for doing right is still inverted. Phil 1:27-28
Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,
and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.
Blood “fall away from the presence of the Lord” - God is everywhere. but his special presence, where he manifested his glory, is only around the Ark of the Covenant. David is unable to enjoy coming to the place where God manifested his glory because he is still running for his life. If he dies, he dies deprived of his fundamental right as an Israelite to come into God’s presence and worship him.
Application - the Christian “worships God in spirit and in truth” not at a specific location. The church building is not like a temple. It’s a convenient place for the church (the people) to gather. It’s not more holy than other places, other than the fact that this body of believers have put their name on it and in that sense God’s name on it. But it is our presence that sanctifies the church, it does not sanctify us.
Yet, the Christian has a fundamental right to gather with other believers. It is the command of God to do so (Heb 10:25 ). So to order a church to not meet, unless it is for a very limited time to avoid an immediate and present danger, is a violation of the Christian’s god-given right to worship. Are you exercising that right?
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
The Lord rewards every man - Universal principle, applies to everyone everywhere.