David Wright

A Man After Gods Own Heart: King David

Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

06 How to Lie to Your Pastor

Last time we talked about this we were looking at every crutch removed and we saw how in David's life everything was quickly becoming Unraveled and how he entered into 1 of the deepest and longest and darkest valleys Perhaps of his entire life and how he went from the highest pinnacle of popularity to literally running for his life, and in depression and despair.

And we talked about how every crutch in his life was removed.

He was separated from his spiritual mentor.

His closest friend, Jonathan, they couldn't be in each other's company either.

And so all of these systems of support for David were being taken away.

And so that's what we looked at last time.

And as part of that, we briefly mentioned how in chapter 21 of 1 Samuel David flees to Nob to Ahimelech the priest in fear and desperation and we mentioned how he lies to the priest and that is something that I want to revisit this morning.

And this message I've entitled How to Lie to Your Pastor.

And we recognize at this point that David's strength was running very low.

He had never before faced so much loss in close succession again and again and again.

So much heartache, so much fear for his own existence, for his own life.

And so fear really became the driving emotion for David.

And so David is on the run, and he runs here to Nob.

And so while we revisit that portion of this story and really look at it, last time we didn't look at it, we just mentioned it, but I think there's some important points for us there.

And so if you have your Bibles, I encourage you to turn to 1 Samuel chapter 21, and we'll begin just by reading the first verse.

We're in 1 Samuel chapter 21 beginning there in verse 1 and I'll be reading from the New King James Version and there we read Now David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David and said to him, why are you alone and no 1 is with you?

So we could essentially say, here is David's mentor's mentor.

We might think of him today as a giant of the faith.

Are there any giants of the faith in your life?

Someone you enjoy listening to on a regular basis when any time they're in town you want to go hear them speak or maybe they've since passed away but their books still speak to you.

Here is where David has come, and where is he?

He's in Nob, this little village between Jerusalem and Gibeah.

Years earlier, the tabernacle had been taken there after a devastating battle at Shiloh.

And so at this point in time, Nob is the center, the heart of all of Israel's worship.

And so in David's panic, he arrives at the sanctuary at Nob, and he's, I imagine, quite breathless, weak from hunger.

And we notice right off the back that Ahimelech is afraid, he is bewildered, he's literally shaken.

Because high profile leaders, such as David, don't travel alone, or ever look so desperate.

David's been sent out on multiple missions, and he always has an entourage, He always has his troops, his forces.

And Ahimelech also knows that such figures like David are politically sensitive matters and could essentially put one's life on the line if you enter into a situation that maybe you shouldn't enter into.

Is it safe for me to get involved, he might think.

And it's in verse 2, we see David makes up a story.

Well, perhaps it's because he's prideful.

He doesn't want to admit to this spiritual giant that he's in fact desperate.

Perhaps he simply wants to protect Ahimelech.

Whatever the reason, David makes up a story and we read about it in verse 2.

So David said to Ahimelech, the priest, the king has ordered me on some business and said to me, do not let anyone know anything about the business which I sent you or what I have commanded you.

I have directed my young men to such and such a place.

Here is 1 of the first downward steps in David's slide, from faith to fear.

David tells this spiritual mentor a bold-faced lie.

Well, it seems to be the norm as this whole narrative expands.

Saul had lied to David concerning his first daughter in marriage, you remember that.

The king's servants had lied to David when they communicated that the king was delighted in David.

His own wife, Michael, daughter number 2, had lied for him so that he could escape and then turn around and lied against David to protect herself and her own life.

Jonathan himself had lied when Saul had asked, why is David not at the dinner table?

Oh, he asked to be excused, to go sacrifice with his family.

And so David here is surrounded by falsehood, by lying.

But after all we could say desperate times call for desperate measures.

Or we could also say the end justifies the means, doesn't it?

So in fear, in desperation, David is seen lying to his pastor.

Once blown away, you can never retrieve them again.

Once a lying tongue is unleashed, some falsehood, we cannot halt the consequences of that falsehood, can we?

And so David seems to think this is all quite innocent, this isn't gonna have any repercussions.

It's not a big deal, something we oftentimes call a little white lie, right?

It's none of their business or whatever we might tell ourselves and so he thinks that this will just be a little blip on the radar of the story.

But then we read, the king has ordered me on some business and said to me, do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you or what I have commanded you.

Do you ever feel safe in that little phrase?

I'm gonna tell you a secret, but don't tell anyone.

I'm gonna tell you a lie, but don't tell anyone because it's very serious that you don't tell.

"'I'm gonna be immoral, and I'm gonna bank on the fact "'that you will be.

"'And I have directed my young man to such and such a place.' And he thinks that he'll get away with all this, but look at verse 3.

"'Now therefore, what you have on hand, "'give me 5 loaves of bread in my hand or whatever can be found.

Verse 4 is what I'm really trying to get at.

And the priest answered David and said, there is no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread.

If the young men have at least kept themselves from women.

Then David answered the priest and said to him, truly women have been kept from us about 3 days since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.

And so the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread, which had been taken from before the Lord in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.

So 1 lie leads to another lie and more lies about his men and all these other things, but eventually he gets the bread that he needs for his nourishment.

Verse 7, now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

05 Every Crutch Removed

Have you ever sat out under the stars, maybe you laid down on your back, and you just look up into the night sky?

There's something spiritual about that for me.

You feel your nothingness, really, your smallness, if you will, and the vastness of God, and sometimes you can just pour out your heart to God in those moments.

Just you and the sky, the stillness of the night.

Sometimes you just thank Him for His goodness.

Thank Him for the way that He has led countless times before.

Thank Him for the ways that He answered prayers in a different way than you perhaps wanted, but you saw that it was for the best.

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated Thanksgiving.

I don't know how you celebrated or where you went or who you were with, and you may have spent some time talking about and reflecting on the things you were thankful for.

1 I don't imagine many of us mentioned, but was thinking about just the other week, how thankful I am that I don't know the future.

We know what eternity has in store, what God has in store, we know what's coming there and God can't wait to tell us that.

He tells it to us over and over and over in his word.

Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me.

But as far as our future in this life, our future here on this earth, I'm thankful we don't know.

I mean, just imagine, if you will, if you knew everything that was coming down the pike and could worry about it in advance.

It's true God never changes, but we certainly do.

The places we live, people change, even friends change, jobs change.

Sometimes children are conceived unexpectedly.

Many parents are brokenhearted because 1 of their children is not walking with the Lord.

Others may be in a deep sense of sorrow this Christmas season because, well, someone's missing.

They were a big part of family traditions, and now, Well, their chair is empty.

Maybe it's a parent, a brother, sister, son, daughter, and if that's the case for you, no, it won't be the same kind of Christmas this year.

What has happened in the past 5 years and aren't you glad that you didn't know about it in advance?

Aren't you glad that we are just called to take things 1 day at a time?

And the same could be said of David, who we have been studying.

And I wonder how many people think that after killing the giant, within just a few days David waltzed in and became king of Israel and took the throne.

In fact, that's not at all how it happened.

And if David knew the day that he was anointed, what was gonna be coming down the pike?

And so we're continuing this series, David, a man after God's own heart.

And last week we looked at the aftermath of a giant killing and how at every turn, David is being lifted up because he's submitting to God.

He's submitting to his timing, his plan, he's behaving wisely it says 3 times in chapter 18.

He's determined only to do what pleases God and inversely Saul is becoming more and more angry and jealous, seeking at every turn to undercut David and it's not working.

But this week we begin to see how things start to unravel for David.

As David is led into 1 of the deepest, longest, and darkest valleys, I believe, of his entire life.

And we'll see how he goes from the highest pinnacle of popularity to running for his life to depression and despair.

And so part 5 I've entitled, Every Crutch Removed.

And so if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me, and we're going to be in chapter 19.

We're gonna try and cover a fair bit of ground, but we're going to start here in chapter 19, beginning here in verse 1.

We're in 1 Samuel, chapter 19, verse 1, and I'm reading there now, Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants that they should kill David.

But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted greatly in David.

Verse 2, So Jonathan told David, saying, My father Saul seeks to kill you.

Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide.

Verse 3, and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are and I will speak with my father about you, David.

Verse 4, thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, And because his works have been very good toward you." Verse 5, for he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel.

Why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause?

Verse 6, So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and interestingly Saul swore, As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.

I'll make you this promise today, Jonathan.

As the Lord lives, Lord as my witness, we're not gonna touch David.

Verse 7, then Jonathan called David and Jonathan told him all these things.

So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.

Verse 8, and there was war again and David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow and they fled from him.

Verse 9, now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand and David was playing music with his hand." And then verse 10 says, "...then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul's presence and he drove the spear into the wall.

This isn't the first time nor is it the second time, rather this is the third time that Saul seeks to take David's life.

Now the distressing spirit from the Lord it's really that the Lord is withdrawing and allowing evil spirits to inhabit Saul.

Saul is just really all over the place at this point.

Moments later we see him throwing a spear, and so David has to flee and escape that night.

And we see very quickly Every crutch begin to be removed and the first 1, we could say his job, his financial security is taken away.

Maybe it wasn't your job, but there was some shift, a change, and all of a sudden you couldn't pay your bills.

Maybe it was a medical crisis and the mounting doctor bills and you can't apply for assistance because you have an emergency fund and so You're not eligible, but the emergency fund continues to dwindle lower and lower and lower.

1 of the leading causes of marital strife and divorce, finances.

Verse 11 continuing in our chapter, Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning.

And Michael, you remember Michael, David's wife, told him, saying, somehow she gets word of this, maybe she sees the soldiers, he knows something is happening and she says to David, if you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.

So Michael let David down through a window, and he went and fled and escaped.

Certainly she was a comfort to him during this time, but now she is cut off.

We will see later that Saul will marry her off to another.

And so, he's lost his job and his financial security.

Add to that the loss of his wife and her support.

Time Magazine this year ran this article.

Losing a spouse makes men 70% more likely to die within a year.

04 Aftermath of a Giant Killing

So what does it mean to be a good winner?

Some of us have more practice in that than others.

But what does it mean to be a good winner?

How should you behave yourself after doing something well?

It was the European football championships and Spain were the victors over Germany.

Spain was also the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated.

I don't know, you may not be aware of this, and I wish I could show you in the back, in this bottom picture here on the right is somebody from the German team.

He's being interviewed, is often done after a game, what went wrong, what went well, what could you have done differently, how did they beat you, and so forth.

And while they're doing this, Spain essentially does some kind of a Congo dance behind them with their arms around each other, and they're cheering and chanting, and da da da da hey, hey, hey, hey, and they can't even conduct the interview as it's literally right behind them, and then they circle around, they come back in.

Is that what it looks like to be a good winner?

Terry Owens, player for the 49ers, going to touchdown.

He leaves the end zone and runs all the way to the midpoint on the field.

The announcers are saying, where is he going?

He goes and stands right in the middle of the Cowboys star and then he proceeds to say, aren't I amazing?

And does his little thing there to celebrate.

Baker Owens, also there pictured, planted an Oklahoma flag in the middle of the Ohio State field after Oklahoma beat Ohio.

Is that what it means to be a good winner?

And of course, recently various football dances have become popular with young kids learning how to do them.

Justin Jefferson started the gritty, the floss is another 1, the dabbing, and we could go on and on.

You've seen this if you've watched any kind of ball at all.

When they make it into the end zone, when they do something amazing, they have to do their whole little dance.

Sometimes they just stand there, Drop the ball, I'm the 1 that did this amazing thing that you just witnessed.

So I come back to my question, what does it mean to be a good winner?

Maybe we could phrase it a different way.

We are continuing our series, David, a man after God's own heart.

And last time we looked at 1 Samuel chapter 17, perhaps the most well-known piece of the story of David.

And when we ended last time, when we were together, David had just accomplished an incredible thing, a remarkable achievement.

A young man, not yet 20 years old, who had never worn the uniform of the Israeli army, never once suited up for battle, never once known what it was to carry a sword, runs out onto the battlefield, faced a giant.

The prophet says he was 12 feet tall and killed him with 1 throw of his sling.

As a result David gained instant popularity.

Friends few people could take all that in stride, but David did.

He knew how to live with success without having it affect him.

And it's rare a person who can do that, especially at such a young age.

And so in 1 Samuel 18, we start to see the effects of what has taken place.

And it's an interesting drama that begins to unfold.

And so today, the next piece that we are looking at, it's in 1 Samuel, I hope you brought your Bibles, It begins in chapter 18, but I've entitled it The Aftermath of a Giant Killing.

And so in chapter 18 of 1 Samuel, we see several things that begin to happen.

Many of them are intertwined, and so we will begin in verse 2, if you're with me.

Chapter 18 of 1 Samuel, in verse 2, there we read, Saul took him, that's David that day, and would not let him go home to his father's house anymore.

But Saul says, no, you're not going home.

And if you let your eyes drop down to verse 5, it says, so David went out wherever Saul sent him.

Here is the champion of champions, the slayer of the giant, the 1 who saved Israel, and here it is recorded that David went wherever Saul sent.

Saul, who had recently proven himself to be the cowardice against the Philistine.

It had not been for this courageous, or had it not been for this courageous young man who went out to face him, this lad, if you will, it's very probable that Saul himself would have died.

It's very probable also to think that perhaps David could come parading into town.

Come on, come on, let's hear it, let's hear it.

And as Saul tries to continue to be the 1 in charge, to be the king, to have the authority, to have all of the trust of the people, things are starting to shift.

But notice that David went wherever Saul sent.

David acts in loyal submission to his King.

So before we go any further, I don't want us to miss that.

In fact, he or she is perhaps being very irrational.

You clearly know what needs to happen, but it's not your place.

You want to speak up, you want to go around them, you want to make something happen.

But rather than do that, we see David submitting to authority, the authority of the king that God has put in place.

And so ultimately, walking in victory here we see means to submit to God's timing.

David knows that something else is coming and it'd be easy to think this is it, the momentum is here, everything has built for this moment, let's seize the day.

David is cool-headed and he's going to submit to the timing of God.

He's going to submit to the authority of Saul and so David went wherever Saul sent.

Back to Menu

Presenter

David Wright

All Recordings

06 How to Lie to Your Pastor

33m

05 Every Crutch Removed

51m

04 Aftermath of a Giant Killing

38m

03 Giant Lessons Worth Remembering

42m

Lessons from the Life of Peter 3

50m

Lessons from the Life of Peter 2

53m

Lessons from the Life of Peter 1

52m

Myths About Seeking The Lost

34m

02 God’s Heart, God’s Man, God’s Ways

25m

01 The Nobody Nobody Noticed

37m

Are You Offended

40m

Choose To Forgive

37m

Sound Doctrine