Samuel No.21 Unbelief is sure to err

I'm going to read this morning from 1 Samuel 27, 1 Samuel 27. But David thought to himself, one of these days I shall be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines.

Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel and I will slip out of his hand. So David and the 600 men with him left and went over to Achish, son of Mark, king of Gath. David and his men settled in Gath with Achish.

Each man had his family with him and David had his two wives, Einoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him. Then David said to Achish, if I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns that I may live there.

Why should your servant live in the royal city with you? So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months. Now David and his men went up and raided the Gershites, the Gerzites, and the Amalekites.

From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur in Egypt. Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.

When Achish asked, where did you go raiding today? David would say, against the Negev of Judah, or against the Negev of Jeremiel, or against the Negev of the Kenites. He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought they might inform on us and say this is what David did. And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory.

Achish trusted David and said to himself, he has become so odious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant forever. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave This is the passage that Cindy brought to us.

1 Samuel and chapter 27. And let me read to you the first verse again. Just for those who are visitors here, and we're always glad to have friends looking in on us from time to time.

Let me explain, it's our habit at the tab, particularly on a Sunday morning, to go through a book of the Bible. And as you'll have gathered from notes and news, we're now on to our 21st study from the first book of Samuel. But David thought to himself, one of these days I shall be destroyed by the hand of Saul.

The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand. Sometimes I quote from other preachers, very often actually.

Sometimes I don't quote, you think it's me and it's really them, to be honest. But there's a preacher who always grips me, who lived many decades ago by the name of Alexander White. He was a Scottish preacher, and he used to preach the Bible through biblical characters.

That was his style, and it was a very remarkable ministry that he exercised there in Edinburgh. And in the books that he publishes on biblical characters, he gives two chapters to David. And I've never forgotten the title of his chapters.

David in his virtues. And then David in his vices. It's very rare that a preacher will touch on the vices of David.

And immediately that word is lifted up, and it's rather an unpleasant one. In the context of David, you immediately think of Bathsheba, and that multiple bout of mad sinning that David, alas, engaged in. But really, the vices of David do not just cover, alas, that period in his life.

You see, there are other sins besides sexual sins, as I shall try to show this evening, that displease the Lord. And one of the major sins that I think possibly the majority of us here are in danger of, or have at some part in our lives committed, is the sin of unbelief. The sin of unbelief.

Listen again to another great preacher from the past. Nothing is more offensive to God than disbelief of His promise, and despair of the performance of it because of a difficulty that lies in the way. Now here's David.

Let's set up the context. And then you'll see that David really speaks for you. David has just had an encounter with Saul.

It's almost a repeat of something that we came across earlier on in this narrative. David, you remember, has gone out into the wilderness. He's followed the course of the arrows.

For some years in his life, he's been removed from the Bethlehem that he loved where he was brought up and all that he held dear to him. He's a fugitive. The schizophrenic Saul has been after him.

And in the earlier chapter, you discover another incident when David has Saul within his grasp. But because Saul is the anointed of the king, David does not take his life. And Saul once more sheds what possibly were crocodile tears and apologizes to David for the very cruel and unjust way in which he has treated him.

And Saul returns home, back to the place of his headquarters. And you read of David in the final part of verse of chapter 26. So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

But David thought to himself, one of these days, I shall be destroyed by the hand of Saul. You see, he's plunged into despair. He begins to commit the sin of unbelief.

Now, I don't know what stands for Saul in your life. But you must have come to a point at some time, and maybe even this Sunday morning, when you say of that particular circumstance, of this difficulty, one day, it will be the death of me. It will get the better of me.

I fought it for a long time. But I now have this realization that I won't be able to beat it. And in utter despair, you do a David.

You commit the sin of unbelief. One of these days, I shall be destroyed by the hand of Saul. Now, what I want to do is to use David as an example of you and me.

Because I'm so bold as to repeat that sooner or later, and probably at this moment, this particular condition affects us. Now, taking David as an example, bearing in mind what I have just said, the immediate thing that I need to draw to your attention is this, that David's position was utterly unreasonable. It was utterly unreasonable.

In effect, you see, David is passing judgment on God. All he can see in his mind's eye is Saul. And he's forgotten the great purposes of God for his life.

He's reacting to the immediate, and he's panicking, and he's coming to conclusions which are utterly unwarranted. Now, you never bring the verdict of guilty in on someone unless you've surveyed the evidence. That was the great responsibility of the jury, you remember, in this case, where this man has now been given 45 years for the attempted blowing up of an Israeli airplane.

Now, if it's necessary for the British judicial process to ensure that before a man is condemned, the evidence is evaluated, how much more when you are passing comment on the dealings of God in your own life? You see, David has done that. And I argue that the position that he takes up is utterly unreasonable. There is not one shred of evidence to support it, that he will ultimately die at the hands of Saul.

So let's talk to David for a moment. Can you, David, give us any instance when God let you down? After all, you have just escaped your bloodthirsty pursuer. Can you, David, check in your diary any time, any day, any month, when this God of Israel, who you knew when you were a shepherd lad on the undulating slopes of Bethlehem, can you tell when he let you down? Where's the evidence to support it? My dear friend, what about you? Forget, David, this sin of unbelief, this collapse of faith that compels you to say, one day this thing will get me to the point where it will be the death of me.

If that's your argument, then you are by implication saying that God is letting you down. Now, where's your evidence? Because in the case of David, there was not one shred to support it. Indeed, I would go on to logically argue this.

There was much to refute it. The very notion that God would let David down and leave him to the conniving of Saul, there was much to refute it. You remember, David, your shepherd boy experiences? After all, you told us.

One day a lion came, and then a bear came. And your sheep, the life of one of them at least was precarious. But you came along and you took the sheep from out of the jaws of the ferocious animal.

And when you told Saul about this, you told him in the context of that overgrown Philistine giant, the God who delivered me there, Saul, will deliver me here. If he was faithful in the lesser, then he will be faithful in the greater. And David, we congratulated you on that.

Indeed, we preached an address on the logic of David. How you move on from one faith victory to an even larger faith victory. So, David, there is much evidence to refute the notion that God would one day leave you at the mercies of this schizophrenic king.

Indeed, the occasion was when you escaped his javelin as he tried to dash it into your heart. And there were times when out in the wilderness, you came across other men of evil intent, Doeg, by way of example. And God restrained them, and he preserved your life.

Now, David, how can you argue when there's no evidence to support it, and there is every evidence to refute it, that this God will let you down? Now, my friend, I go for the jugular this morning, in your own experience. Because some of you are in the same case of David. So I ask you to produce the evidence against, and sift the evidence that refutes it.

The time in your life when God slid alongside you, so to speak, and helped you in a myriad of circumstances. Can you then, in your 60s or your 70s or your teenage days, for that matter, suggest that this God will play you foul tomorrow or next week? You see, the very notion that David dangles in front of himself, the conclusion to which he drags himself, is one that contradicts even the testimony of his best friends. The beloved Samuel, who is now being called into the presence of God.

Do you remember him, David? Years back in Bethlehem, he takes the holy anointing oil, and he caresses your forehead with it. And he tells you that in the economy of God, you will be king of Israel. Will God libel the memory of Samuel by delivering you into the hands of Saul? And do you remember your beloved friend, Jonathan, of whom you are later to say that his love to you is greater than that of a woman? Does God allow Jonathan to perjure himself when he predicts of you, David, a future that is royal? Bring all the strands of evidence together, you see.

And David is in the problem of illogicality. His position is utterly unwarranted. As he says one of these days, I shall be destroyed by the hand of Saul.

Now what about you? You see, the Lord says to his flock, none of them, or he says of his flock, speaking to the father, none of them have I lost, saved one. It is impossible for the Christ to lose those for whom he died. Now you gave him your life years ago, maybe here in Worthing, maybe in London, maybe some other part of the country, other globe.

I care not. But you entrusted yourself to him. The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, he cannot, he will not, desert to its foes.

He will keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. You have his signature across the promise. There you tremble in your heart on the promises of God.

Do you step across the promises of God like a little boy when it's winter and ice has formed on the pond, and he's not too sure how thick the ice is, and so with precarious steps he goes one upon another upon another, wondering if at some time the ice will break. Is that the promise of God? Is that the veracity of God? Is that the unpredictability of God? Surely not. If it is, where's your evidence? Your evidence to support your case, because I can bring you a thousand bits of evidence to refute it.

The sinner of unbelief, that's David's, and his position is utterly unreasonable. But if you will allow me for a moment to suggest that it is the lot of the preacher, of a pastor preacher, to be a physician of souls, then I would like to put my finger across David and try to give you some analysis of his condition that has led him to this particular point. And I think in analyzing David, once more, my finger will be upon you.

And I know you because I know myself. And whether you're prone to admit it or not, we have a lot in common. At best we're a bundle of contradictions.

As we limp along, side our Savior step by step and yard by yard, until the point comes when we finish up in his eternal kingdom. Now this is my diagnosis. You see, I argue that his condition is explicable.

I don't say that his condition is excusable, but I do say that I can explain it. And the way that I would go about explaining David's lack of faith at this point is by reminding you of this. And as I remind you of this, on the part of David, immediately you'll identify him with yourself.

And that is his humanness. You see, the best of men are men at best. Never put a preacher on a pedestal.

Never think of any leading Christian, if that adjective describing a Christian is ever permissible. Never think of him as being the one on whom you should build your life. Because it has been known for statues to have clay feet and for leaders to fall.

There is only one rock on which you can build. There is only one man who you can take as being your example par excellence. And that is, of course, the gospel of Christ and the person of Christ.

The best of men are men at best. And there's a humanness which therefore speaks of a weakness. Now David has been hounded.

He's gone from pillar to post. He regards himself as a partridge. You remember that comment? Or as a flea.

He hops from place to place. Not because he wants to. Actually, he's a man who loves his own home.

He loved Bethlehem. He loved his dad. He loved his closest friends.

But because of the circumstances we've outlined so many times, you find him moving around. First it's Ziklag. And then he goes to the cave of Adullam.

And then somewhere else. And wherever he goes, he doesn't have anywhere to lay his head, so to speak. He anticipates the role of Jesus in this.

And there's a strain. Cindy here has been itinerating for quite a long time and seeing something of her life in Nepal. I can well imagine that she and many of her colleagues are often in the same condition as David.

Oh, that there was somewhere that could really be one's home. Where you could stay month after month and year after year and not be worrying about tomorrow. Now, that's not dishonorable.

There's nothing to be apologized for if that's the feeling of people. You see, it's our humanness to want that sort of thing, to want that sort of security. And when we don't have it, then strain builds up in our lives.

And that was the case for David. You explain his condition by the humanity of the man. And then, if you please, by the hangover of the previous night.

You see, if you read the chapter, the 26th chapter, you would discover that David has engaged in a most remarkable feat. Similar to an earlier one. With a colleague, Abishai, he has gone into the very camp of Saul.

Saul is asleep, and so are his men. And David has gone step by step towards the king, past many, many soldiers, armed to the teeth. You can imagine the adrenaline going into the system, can't you? Just the noise of a broken twig.

It might awaken the men, and David would be done for. But he gets all the way to Saul, sleeping Saul. And then there's the temptation, which he's had before.

It comes from the mouth of his colleague. God has given your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear.

I won't strike him twice. In other words, says Abishai, in verse 8, I'll polish him off. And David won't have it.

You see, here is the end of all his problems. Because this is the man that's caused him to live the sort of life that he's had to endure for months. The possibility is there.

And David's a human being. And yet he resists it. Why? Well, Saul is God's anointed.

God brought him into the kingdom in the first instance. And if Saul is to be eliminated, it will not be at the hands of David. But you see, when you've gone through that sort of exciting experience, it has its own repercussions the following day.

It's like having an amazing encounter with God. That does happen, doesn't it, from time to time. Thank the Lord for it.

Sometimes in community. Sometimes here on a Sunday. I think it's true to say we have known the blessings of God upon us.

Sometimes I've walked out of this place almost on air. I felt the Lord. But you know, the greatest problem in my week is not Sunday.

It's Monday. You know, Tommy Steele used to sing a song. It's not a hymn.

I never felt more like singing the blues. The preacher generally feels that way on a Monday. You see, from the heights of the Sunday, the experience of God, right down on the Monday.

Do you have that yourself? Not necessarily a Monday. It doesn't really matter. I'm not bothered about the calendar.

I'm just illustrating a point. Here's Peter. Who is Jesus? What's his identity? Now, nobody else knows.

But Peter, full mark. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah.

Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. But my Father who is in heaven. The excitement.

Peter got it right. In God's grace, he identified who the Messiah was. And then, almost within minutes, he's groveling in the dust.

As he is persuading Jesus to do less than the Father wants him to do. And the Son of God spins round on Peter and says, Satan, man, you're trying to prevent the will of my Father being achieved in my life. You see the point? From the heights to the depths.

Here's Elijah. Another example. He's on Carmel.

It's so wonderful. He confronts the priests of Baal. And he's a spiritual champion.

Is Elijah. And then, in the flesh of victory, as the days go by, you find him moving off into the wilderness. He's whimpering.

He's afraid of Jezebel. Thank God for these examples from the Old and from the New Testament. That speak of ourselves.

And the swing of the pendulum, you see. You can begin to understand, David. As I say, his reaction is not excusable.

But it's explicable. There's a humanity about the man. And in the humanity, there's a weakness.

And then, he's gone through this exciting but strenuous experience. And put that together with this third thing that I diagnose. And you'll understand his predicament.

And the third thing is his failure to consult God. Listen again to my opening verse of the 27th chapter. One of these days, I shall be destroyed by the hand of Saul.

The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. And I will slip out of Saul's hand. Aye, aye, aye.

This isn't the David that we've come to know. This isn't David at his best. This is David declaring UDI.

This is David going it alone. The worst thing to do with your difficulties is to consult yourself about them on your own. And this is David's problem, you see.

This is David's great error. He's got 600 men. Saul's got 3,000 men.

He doesn't have supplies. Saul's got all the supplies that he needs. You see, David is bringing his human wisdom to deal with the problem.

But he's left God out of the arena. Now, you can't condemn David unless you're guiltless yourself. But how many times, my friend, have you done the same? You've vaulted over the discipline of prayer.

God hasn't been brought into the equation. Whether it's a condition that's affecting you as a young person or a middle-aged or an old person, I don't know. Whether it's to do with bereavement or lack of finance or lack of a job or health, I don't know.

But when you address your problem, address it with the thought that God must be brought into view. You must consult him. That David didn't.

And so if you put all these things together, then you begin to understand that David's condition is explicable. But let me close down. By drawing to your attention some of the unforgettable lessons, at least I pray they will be unforgettable, that you can glean from this passage.

You see, it seems to me there's a certain irony about David's situation. I say that because I want to introduce you to Saul at this point. Where is he? Well, I'll try and show you even more graphically next week.

But he's limping along, both spiritually and physically. He's consulting some muttering old lady, some medium, if you like, some witch. Saul, you see, is almost bereft of his reason.

He's certainly bereft of hope. He's got no one to consult apart from this woman. Now, here is a man who is terrorizing David.

Saul. And he's in such a pathetic state that David doesn't really need to get himself that worried about Saul. Not now.

You see, there's some Philistine soldier who's already sharpening the spear that one day shall dash into the heart of Saul. And that day is not far hence. In other words, David's problems are virtually over.

That's the irony. David buckles unwittingly. Unwitting that his trial was virtue at an end.

It's so hard, isn't it, my friend, for patience to have its perfect work. That's what God wants in your life. For your patience to last out until that thing that was a problem to you has been completely taken out of the way.

David had done so well, you see. The months had gone by. In fact, they'd lengthened into years.

And he'd lived with this great difficulty. And then just as the difficulty is about to disappear, he not knowing this, his faith running out, he buckles. How ironic.

Hang on, man. Just another day. Another couple of days.

Keep your faith. Keep your powder dry. Is that God's word to one or two of you this morning? Hang in.

Hang on to the promises of God. Don't buckle. Allow your patience to run its course.

Learn this, that an erratic removal from the place of trial may also take you from the place of blessing. You see, David is offering to go into the land of the Philistines. Now, this is a curious thing, isn't it? I mean, he was a man who fell Goliath.

Who was Goliath? Well, he was a Philistine. Philistia was as hostile to Israel as the hostile comments coming out of Damascus are this morning towards London. For David to go there, it's incongruous.

Now, why does he go there? Well, for the reasons that I've just indicated. He believes that somehow getting to Philistia, getting from the position of his trial, will bring him into blessings. And you know, when you try to anticipate the will of God, push it on a little bit, you discover that removal from where God wants you to be, far from bringing you into blessings, compounds your difficulties.

I could prove that historically from David, but I've run out of time. But you check the remaining chapters in this book. Removal from the scene of trial, unless God moves you from it, does not necessarily lift the difficulties, but compounds the difficulties.

Learn that, my friend. And finally, never forget. Never forget the message, the beliefs that you taught others, that you passed on years ago.

Now, here's something for my older friends. All right, you're a Sunday school teacher. Or you had your kids at your knee, assuming you're a mother or a father.

And you taught them precious truths about Jesus, didn't you? What a friend we have in Jesus, all that sort of thing. You taught them, you taught them clearly. Now, David's taught a lot.

He's sung a lot of psalms. He's made a lot of proclamations about the Lord, and even quite recently. Now, you see, the point in preaching is this, and in one sense, if we're Christians, we're all preachers.

The moment comes when your preaching has to be self-applied. Now, the easiest thing is to apply it to others. The difficulty is to apply it to yourself.

And this is a lesson that David has to learn. That the things that he has been saying, even recently, the Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. Verse 23 of the previous chapter, it also applies to him.

Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. That's what David was doing, wasn't it? His unbelief was causing him to err. And as he looked out, he didn't have his biblical spectacles on.

He'd taken those off. And so what he saw was utterly distorted. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain.

Oh, may God exorcise unbelief from your eyes this morning. May He put on your spiritual glasses so that you can see that the purposes of God for you in the present are as sure as they were in the past. And the future is a very happy scene for you to anticipate.

Let's pray to the Lord for each one of us. Lord Jesus could do nothing in some areas because of their unbelief. Do you remember that? I don't want this tabernacle to be thronged with unbelieving people.

Be gone unbelief, my Savior is near. We have every right to trust in the promises of the Lord Jesus. Even more right than David did.

So now, get a grip on yourself. Yes, I'm talking to you. Everyone within the compass of my voice who has this problem of unbelief.

Get a grip on yourself. Analyze it. Is there any evidence to support it? What about the evidence that disputes it? Get a grip.

And recognize that this great God who helped you in the past will help you now. And to disbelieve this is to drag his reputation down and to bring grief to God that is almost beyond computing. Because He wants you to trust Him.

He wants you to have faith in Him. Because His word is His bond. Lord God, abolish unbelief from this congregation.

In the name of Jesus, Amen. Be gone unbelief, my Savior is near. And for my relief will surely appear.

Let's stand and sing. And for my relief will surely appear. Thy bread let me wrestle, and He will perform.

With Christ in the vessel, Christ my aftersong. Be my way, since He is my guide. His mind to all else is empty broken.

His love it is me to give. He'll lift me at last in troubles and sin. His sweet heaven and earth, I have it with you.

Out comes His good pleasure to help me guide you. Since all that I need, apart from my sins, will follow. Now Father, we thank you for the basis of our belief.

And yet we do ask that you will minister to hearts who, during these past few days, have felt in some way very grief-stricken, very despondent. A myriad of factors perhaps crowding in to produce this feeling. And we just ask that the benefit of your word this morning will be that it's lifted them out of that despondency into a much royal, full-blooded faith in a God who loves them so much that He showed that love by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for them.

Father, may we continue to know your blessing and as in a moment or two we come around this table confirm afresh your interest in our lives as we take bread and drink wine together in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.