The Fugitive chapter 9 I Sam. 21

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1 Return To Lowell F. Johnson Master Menu Return To Lowell F. Johnson Sermons on David Menu The Fugitive chapter 9 I Sam. 21 Approximately the last third of the book of I Sam. is devoted to the period in which David is running from King Saul. -No one ever said it was easy to walk with God. Yet, when problems and difficulties seem to be overwhelming, the man of God learns lessons he could never learn otherwise. -In the fire, he learns how weak he really is and how strong God really is. -God not only gives us faith, He maintains our faith by His grace and power. David is around 20 or 22 at this time. He has already had quite an exciting life for a man that young. He has defeated a lion, a bear, a giant, married the King's daughter, and gained victory over other enemies in battle. Paul gives us a very challenging word in Gal. 6:9 And let us not grow weary while going doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. -It takes real discipline to maintain a consistent walk with the Lord. And once you let down, it's easier to let down the next time and the next time. -The life of David is a perfect example. Sometimes we hear of a believer falling into sin and we ask, How could that happen? -Sometimes folks ask, Do you think someone could really be a Christian and? Then they fill in the blank with some sin that one who claims to be a Christian has committed. Do you really think a person can really be a Christian and - - lie? Steal? Commit adultery? Murder? Listen: I believe a Christian can get so far away from the Lord that He could commit any sin known to man-kind because I find them in the Bible! There are no depths too low for a man to sink if he breaks fellowship with God and begins to walk in the flesh. -I have watched Christians assassinate one another with their tongues, deliberately cause division in the church, and even embezzle money from other believers. -Believers, who get out of fellowship with God, can do some pretty terrible things. So, don't be surprised to find that the same man anointed king over Israel got into a lot of trouble. None of us can stand in righteousness on our own we all need desperately to cling to Christ. David is about to sink to the lowest point in his life up to now. -Fear has caused him to lose sight of God. Saul is trying to kill David. There is no indication that David was afraid of Goliath, but he is afraid of Saul. Saul looks like a giant he can't defeat. -Fear is the enemy of faith. Doubt and fear can shrink our faith. Much of the Christian life deals with how to overcome our fears. You say, I'm not afraid of anything. Yes, you are. (1)There's the fear of People -People fear the opions, ridicule, rejection, persecution and criticism of others. They fear being unpopular or losing friendships. -Ps. 118:6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do to me?

2 (2)There's the fear of Failure Isa. 41:10 (3)There's the fear of the will of God A lot of folks are afraid to do God's will because, they are afraid God will ask them to do something they don't want to do. (4)There's the fear of Death and standing before God Ps. 23:4 Let me share three steps that David took because he was fearful and out of fellowship with God: I. Deception Listen carefully! Don't miss this! One of the first evidences that you and I are out of fellowship with God is the way we handle the truth. (Repeat that again) Every child of God needs to understand that the first indicator of how we are in our walk with God is how we handle the truth. -Once people begin to mishandle the truth, it is an evidence that they have already departed from being in fellowship with God. In I Sam. 20, David concocted a lie for Jonathan to tell Saul concerning his whereabouts. He asked Jonathan to lie for him as to why he was not at a palace feast. -Once we begin to lie about something, it is easier to continue to lie. In fact, some have lied so much and so often, they will often lie when it is actually easier to tell the truth. Read 21:1-7 When David leaves Jonathan in the field, he knows Saul is going to soon be on his trail. Saul is obsessed with finding and killing David. Saul has made it clear to his family and to his soldiers and to the nations around Israel Kill David! David heads to Nob. -David did not haphazardly end up in Nob. He sought relief in the city of priest. -Nob was a village between Jerusalem and Gibeah on what we know as the Mount of Olives. It is where the tabernacle had been relocated after the destruction of Shiloh. Like many of us, in time of crisis, David wanted to draw closest to those who seemed closest to God not a bad idea. How many times have you reached out to your pastor or Sunday School teacher, or deacon, or someone you felt was close to God in time of need? -Eighty-five priest were there, including Ahimelech, a great grandson of Eli. When Ahimelech saw that David was all alone, he knew something was wrong. -In 21:1 it says Ahimelech was afraid. a better translation, he trembled. He knew Saul was after David and the last person he wanted in Nob was Saul. -He asked David, Why are you alone, and no one is with you? Everybody knew that David was captain over a thousand, and when David showed up alone, without weapons, and out of breath, the old priest knew something was up. In 21:2, David tells his first lie to the old priest. To put it in modern terminology, David said, You see Ahimelech, King Saul has sent me on this top secret mission. It's so secret, I can't tell you anything about it or even give you a hint. So don't ask me any more nosy questions.

3 -Instead of trusting God to meet his needs, he began to use deception, scheming, conniving and lying. -David didn't need to do that. He's getting into the habit of lying. Sin leads to further sin until it becomes a gripping habit. -You would expect David to say, Well, Ahimelech, something has happened to Saul and my relationship. Saul is out to kill me and I'm running for my life. He's already tried to kill me twice and I know if he finds me now, he'll kill me. Some try to give David excuses as to why he lied. Here are some suggestions: (1)Maybe David thought if he told the truth Ahimelech wouldn't help him. (2)Maybe he thought Ahimelech would send word to Saul and rat him out. (3)Maybe he thought that if Ahimelech didn't know the truth, that Saul might spare him when he came through Nob. (4)Maybe David meant to tell the truth but a lie just came out of his mouth because telling a lie was easier than telling the truth. Why he told the lie is not important. What is important is that God never blesses lies...for any reason! -David must have been convincing because Ahimelech trust David. David was known as a man after God's own heart. He was known as a man whose yea's were yea and whose nay's were nay. And while everything looked suspicious, if David said it, it must be so. -But the results of David's deception are death and destruction. If we could only see the consequences of our decisions. Ahimelech innocently helps David, and Saul takes out his vengeance on him and the rest of the priest. Only one of the eighty-five of the priest escaped death by the sword. -Not only that, but the wives, children, and cattle were also put to death. The entire town suffers for what David thought was a little white lie. Your sin has a ripple effect. It affects more than just you. -After the death of the people of Nob, David realizes the impact of his sin. He takes responsibility for his selfish deception 22:20-22 There's another problem and David tells another lie 21:3-5 -David was hungry and needed bread. There was no bread except for the showbread in the tabernacle. Every seven days the priest put fresh bread on the table and the priest could eat the old bread. David asked for the bread for himself and his men. But, the men could only eat the bread if they were ceremonially clean; meaning they could not have been with a woman for three days. David said, Oh, yeah. We're all clean. There aren't even any men to be ceremonially clean. He has no men with him. He's alone. He's lying. But, he gets the bread. II. Delusion 21:8-9 Ahimelech must have had questions in his mind, but they do not come out of his mouth because he trusts David. -David is living in delusion. Who in their right mind would believe King Saul would send David and a squadron of soldiers on a secret mission without providing them with food and weapons. -Ahimelech said, The only weapon we have here is the sword of Goliath which is part of the artifacts of the tabernacle. David said, Oh, let me have it. There's not any sword like that sword. Now I want to ask you, What could David possibly want with Goliath's sword? It didn't do Goliath any good. -David, what's gotten into you? First, you lie and then you lie again. Now you've taken the sword of Goliath to fight your battles. David, have you lost your mind?

4 Telling the lies was an act of fear; taking Goliath's sword was an act of desperation. But the worse is yet to come. III. Derision 21:10-15 David is on his way to the bottom, but he hasn't hit it yet. -Fear drove him to Nob. Fear drove him to Ahimelech. Desperation drove him to take Goliath's sword. Now fear is about to drive him to do the dumbest thing he's ever done. -David goes to Gath, Goliath's hometown Philistine territory David is under the delusion that he can go to Gath with the hometown's hero's sword in full view and not be recognized. -But he was recognized immediately! They even began to sing the song the women sang to David. I don't think Goliath's Sword is going to help David now! -Here is the man of God hiding in the enemy's camp. It was an act of outright spiritual treason. The people of God were to have nothing to do with the Philistines. -When you start compromising your convictions, when you go over to the world's side, disaster is soon to follow. -I think of Simon Peter, warming his hands at the enemy's fire. David decided he had to do something quick, so he changed his behavior before them, acting like a madman, a crazy man. -Here's the sweet singer of Israel, the man after God's own heart, banging his head against the wall, drooling on himself to try to work himself out of trouble. -You can never tell what a person will do when they fall out of fellowship with God. David humiliates himself, dishonors God, and acts like a madman. He lost all his self-respect. -You may be wondering why the men of Goth didn't kill David on the spot. Pagan people of that day were terrified of a madman. They believed a madman was indwelt with some kind of god or demon that had the power to do them harm if they harmed him. -I like King Achish's response 21:14-15 We have, hidden in scripture here, one of the greatest miracles in the Bible. Achish, King of Gath, simply drove David away, saying that he had enough madmen in his country. The Philistines were butchers. They thought nothing of slaughtering villages. This was Achish's worst enemy, a killer of his people. Why didn't he kill David and mount his head on a pole? Why didn't he blind him and make him a farm animal as his ancestors did Samson? There is only one answer: God was in the shadows, keeping watch over His own AND David knew it! How did David escape? God rescued him. David writes two powerful Psalms during this experience. They show us that even when David lied and failed to trust God that the Spirit was at work in his heart. Ps. 56 -Note the heading of the Psalm. The Silent Dove in a Distant Land means a mournful song written in prison. Imagine David in a lonely cell in the city of Gath. 56:1 All day long There seemed to be no end to the threats to David's life. There was one attempt after another to kill him. 56:1,2,5,6 Note the verbs that underline the reality : swallow me up or tramples; oppresses or hounds

5 me; swallow me up or attacks; fight or injure me; wrest my words or twist my words; they gather themselves together ; Mark (watch) my steps ; waited for my soul. 56:3-4, 8-11 Ps. 34 Notice the heading. Achish and Abimelech are the same person. 34:1 Can't you see David as he steps past the gates and they close behind him? He's free and he cries out (v.1). 34:4,7-8,15,17-18 Return To Lowell F. Johnson Master Menu Return To Lowell F. Johnson Sermons on David Menu