MK040 Sermons
Divine Justice (Audio)
we have. I was in 10th grade and I don't remember much about the conversation, but I had an interest in a girl and my mom decided that that girl was not good for me and so my mom had a conversation with me and proceeded to tell me why I should not pursue a relationship with this young lady. I don't remember why she didn't think I should. I don't remember anything about that conversation. I don't even remember having conversations with my parents about dating, but for some reason this conversation stands out in my mind. I was planning to ask her out. I started driving and had an interest. I was going to ask her out and I had all plan to do that. I happened to mention it and passing and she stopped me right in my tracks and said I don't think that's something that would be a good idea for you. To this day I don't really know much of it other than the fact that it was a conversation that stopped me from the direction that I was moving on and I want a different way. That often happens in relationships. A parent, a friend, a mentor sees you pursuing a relationship and they might see something that's kind of in a blind spot that you can't see because your love struck heart is fully engaged and they say I'm not sure that's a good idea for you to keep pursuing this person and it stops you right in your tracks. Maybe you're about to take a job and you've gone through the interviews, you've taken everything you've done all the things that you need to do and you're about ready to sign on the dotted line and someone who's a good friend says what's that job going to involve and they tell you about what the job is going to require and the demands and they say but that's not going to match with what the priorities you've set for your family and your life and investing in your kids and that stops you right in your tracks. Maybe you're talking to your spouse, your husband or your wife and in the course of that conversation they mentioned something that you know is true about yourself and you thought it was just one of those things that they had decided to live with and was never going to be mentioned but they brought this up and they said let me tell you how this is impacting me and how this is impacting our relationship with each other and how this is impacting our kids and it stops you right in your tracks. Maybe you've been talking to God and you're quiet with him, reading a few verses, just sitting there thinking about him and suddenly to your mind God brings a habit that he wants you to break, a part of your shadow that he wants you to confront, a pain that he wants to heal, a hidden closet he wants you to take a step into and empty out and it stops you in your tracks because you thought that was finished. This morning we're going to look at a story in the life of a man that we've been tracking with over the last few weeks where he gets stopped in his tracks and he has to make a decision at that moment in time will I step forward and will I continue to do what I'm going to do and just blow off what this person had to say or am I going to change course. If you haven't been here with us this fall, if it's your first time here we are in a series entitled The Unlikely Hero in which we're tracking the life of a man by the name of David, a man who went from a shepherd boy to a giant killer to a military leader to a fugitive on the run and each week we've been challenged by his life because the Bible says that this was a man after God's heart. This is a man whose life, whose actions, whose priorities, whose choices were someone who wanted to do what God wanted him to do and ironically over the last two weeks and again this week we're going to look at the subject of decision making, decision making. It's not often that in speaking I get an opportunity to talk about the same subject over and over and over again so if you feel like you heard this record before you have but that's what seems to be happening in David's life. He has decision after decision after decision in all kinds of situations that confront him. How often have you been ready to make a decision? Been firmly committed in your own mind. You're about ready to step forward and something stops you right in your tracks. What do you do when this occurs? Well this morning we're going to look at a story in the life of David and see what he did. If you have your Bibles if you would turn to 1 Samuel 25, 1 Samuel 25 if you don't have a Bible with you our guys have some they'll pass them out or you can follow along on the screen. If you don't have a Bible of your own we encourage you to take the one that they hand out with you and read this over as well as other things in the Bible this week. 1 Samuel 25 the page number for the Bibles they're handing out is also on the screen there. 1 Samuel 25 if you're turning there let me tell you what's been happening in David's life. David has been on the run. He's a fugitive. He's on the number. He's at the top of the most wanted list in the land of Israel at this time and he's being hunted down he's being chased down and he had saw right in his clutches about ready to take his life and he turned and went a different direction. But it wasn't a person that caused him to stop it was his conscience God's spirit that caused him to stop and this week something different is going to cause him to turn around in his tracks. David at this time because he's a fugitive and on the run he's living as a nomad in the caves of the land of Judea and while living in these caves individuals had found David and he had formed a small militia a small army if you would have nearly 600 men and these men would follow David for a long long period of time and they were what was known as the guardians of the wilderness they were protecting they were protecting anybody that lived in the wilderness they would protect shepherds and travelers and people coming through from thieves and robbers and people that would try to attempt to steal and do harm to others. So as chapter 25 unfolds there's a story the story begins with the death the death of a man by the name of Samuel say why is that significant because Samuel was the one person who said to David you are going to be king one day it's like he was David's cheerleader he was David's spiritual mentor he was David's encouragement and now he's gone and so David is left feeling further isolated. And so as the story unfolds we meet someone who lives in this region where David is patrolling the wilderness we meet a man by the name of Nabal let me tell you about Nabal Nabal was very very wealthy Nabal owned multiple properties and wealth in those days was not determined by your bank account or by what the size of your home that your wealth was determined in those days by the number of goats and sheep that you had and he had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep and so this guy was very very very wealthy incredibly wealthy not only does the story tell us that he's incredibly wealthy but he has a very beautiful and intelligent wife you know how does that happen how does the rich guy get the beautiful wife I don't know how that happens but it was happening back then as well but there was something else that the Bible tells us about this guy he was basically a jerk he was rude he was obnoxious he took advantage of people he mistreated people and he still got the beautiful woman how does that happen well it wasn't his charming personality that got her in those days there were arranged marriages so likely her father got a pretty good payout when he arranged for her to be married to Nabal so David and his men one of their tasks when they were taking care of things in the wilderness is they would protect the shepherds they would protect them from thieves they would help protect them from wild animals and so David had gotten wind that Nabal was about to shear some sheep shearing was something that happened at the end of the harvest so the harvest had finished they had brought it all the crops they had been everything was done for the growing season and now it's time to take care of the livestock so that's what would happen and at the time that they would take care of the livestock it was usually a time when there would be great celebrations because they were celebrating all the plenty that they had from their harvest and so it was a time when there would be lots of parties and lots of celebrations and David sent some of his men he sent ten of his guys and he said why don't you go have a conversation with Nabal and say to him hey we took good care of your men when they were out there any chance we can come and share a little bit in some of the extra that you have sounds like a reasonable request isn't it it would kind of be like if you were building a house and you had some neighbors and they saw you were building this house and you were doing likely a lot of the work yourself and so they would come over after work and they would say hey I'm good at this I'll help you with this and another guy would say hey I'm good at this I'll help you with this and another guy would say hey I'm good at this I'll help you with this and so you had all these guys in these individuals helping you actually build this house and get this house ready so the guys go to Nabal ask if they can there's any extra for them to join the party and they have been men of honor men of good character look what it says in verse 7 it says we did not mistreat them and the whole time they were a caramel nothing of theirs was missing so they were men of honor men of honor and so Nabal gets this request and look what Nabal says to their request in verse 10 he says who is David who is Jesse I don't even know who those guys are they remember everybody knew David everybody knew this is the guy the top of the one most wanted list is the guy that killed Goliath this is the guy that was the military leader everybody knew David he says they're servants breaking away from their masters there's run away slaves I don't want to help those out he said by the way why do I want to give my bread my water my meat that I slaughtered and give it to I don't know who coming from where that's what Nabal says so back to your house building project you've constructed your house it's all finished you decide to have a housewarming party you set up a big tent you have music you have lots of food and there's lots of people there and your neighbors come over who've been helping you on this project and they say hey it looks like it looks like it's done everything looks great you mind if we come and join you and what would be the obvious response to someone who had been gracious and helpful to you at that point in your life the obvious response would be what sure come on in right that would be the obvious response but you say to them who are you by the way what was your name where did you come from I don't think I ever met you before you know there's people think just because I'm having a party they can just stop in and eat my food and drink drink my drinks and he said I don't even know who you are and I don't just give handouts the total strangers go take a hike and your response would be sorry to bother you have a nice day I don't think so I don't think so we thinking who is this guy you know where does he come off thinking that he just treats people like that I know what yard my dog's pooping in every day when I take it for a walk you know I mean you're like what am I going to meet this kind of dark alley somebody should teach this guy a lesson and put him in his place so what did David do man after God's own heart word gets back to David David says to his men strap on your weapons boys we're going to war we're going to war nobody treats my people this way nobody does we're beyond frustrated we're beyond you know who does he think he is we're at rage off the charts at this point in the story meanwhile back at the sheep sharing party neighbor's wife Abigail gets wind of what is taking place one of the servants says Abigail you're not going to believe what happened these guys took care of us they protected us they were like a wall nobody got through them they were willing to put their lives on the line and they didn't steal from us they didn't treat us like dirt like everybody else treats shepherds like dirt they didn't treat us like that they treat us with honor and with respect and and your husband he just blew them off and look what they say in verse 17 is going to happen he says disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household he said it is coming down on us and look what he says no one can even talk to him never know anybody like that they kind of make life miserable for everybody around them they take advantage of people they step on and over people they mistreat people and no one can say a word to them no one can speak into their lives at all well Abigail was no fool she knew what was happening she likely knew her husband my guess is this was not the first time he had ticked people off not the first time this song has been played so what does she do she says all right grab everything in sight and the text goes on to tell us what she did she grabbed 200 loaves of bread two skins that's a keg by the way of wine you know she also grabs five dress fully cooked and ready to eat not clothing on them sheep you know like your kids might dress up 60 pounds of roasted grain 100 raisin cakes 200 fig cakes she just cleans out the freezer in the fridge grabs everything that's there and says let's go and they take off they take off somehow she knew that food does something good to a man when he's angry I don't know if that does that really work I don't know is that really work lays I don't know but the guys are shaking their head like yes it works every time you know so so as she decides to go out and meet David who is just seething with anger and rage we get a glimpse into David's thoughts we get to hear what's going on in David's mind as he and his men are riding at full speed fully armed ready to take these people down look at verse 21 these are David's thoughts he said it's been useless all watching over this guy's property so that nothing of his was missing he paid me back evil for good he didn't pay nothing for good or good for good he paid back evil for good may God deal with David be it ever so it severely if by the morning I leave while I have one male of all who belong to him David said what's the point why do good why help people out why go the extra mile why take why let because it's what's going to happen you're just going to get taken advantage of why should I bother why should I bother I don't know how to communicate to you how mad David is how mad he is he's just absolutely furious I don't normally turn to an older translation to give you a glimpse of that but in the King James version this describes and gives you a taste of how mad David is look at this next verse it says it's the verse there verse 22 some more and also do got into the enemies of David if I leave all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisses against the wall did you get that slowly coming he said anybody that pees on the wall I'm taking them out I'm taking them out he is absolutely furious he's absolutely furious in the midst of his ranting in the midst of these rage in the midst of him about to take this action on this man that has treated him with complete and other disregard and disrespect Abigail shows up on the scene what does she say in verse 24 she bows down to him their face to the ground she says pardon your servant my lord and let me speak here what I have to say she says pay no attention my lord to that wicked man naval he's just like his name his name means fool and finally goes with me with him as for me your servant I did not see the men my lord son she basically said David my husband's a jerk and an idiot please ignore whatever he said I wasn't around when he showed up and then she goes on to this long explanation of all these things that are going to happen to David she said one day you're going to be king and and one day you're going to rule and one day you're going to be a man of great significance and and you are someone who God is clearly with you and God is protecting you and yet at the end of all of that she makes one final statement in verse 31 she says this she says my lord she's talking to David this is why she's asking him not to do this will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself Abigail looked down the road and she knew that if David took this action he was going to have something on his conscience on his heart and on his mind that he was going to have to live with the rest of his life it says there needless bloodshed David was a warrior right David killed Goliath right he was a military man he was in battle he knew what it meant to take life when war was at stake but this was described as needless bloodshed simply because he was treated wrongly and look at that last phrase of having avenged himself she said David I don't think you want to live with taking someone else's life and have that on your conscience the rest of your life I don't think you want to live with taking matters into your own hands and making things happen what did she do she looked down the road somehow she knew this is what he would live with she also knew these things that have been prophesied about him these great things that would happen but she also knew what he would live with if he took these actions and she cautioned him to discontinue his actions which might jeopardize his future a couple weeks ago I challenge you that when you're making a decision in life I challenge you to ask someone who is where you want to be about that decision ask someone who's where you want to be there's a lot of wisdom in that why do you think in high school they do job shadowing right because you want to observe someone you want to talk to someone who's in the field who's in the career who's pursuing those things that you are considering what's the job like what's the requirements what's the demands what's the benefits and decided that a good fit for you your mouth to make a financial decision what do you do you ask someone who's made that same financial decision how did that work out what were the hidden costs what are the things that they're not telling me that I need to know why so that you can make a wise decision so what happened well of all the things that David that she said to him is like six verses she says the he David says this in verse 33 he says may you be blessed for your good judgment and look at he says for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands David realized what had just happened he realized someone stopped him in his tracks someone stopped him as he was about to make a decision as he was about to go a follow of course as he was about to go away in which he was going to regret that the rest of his life her good judgment had spared him David stopped in his tracks David listened to her advice she pointed him down the road and said I don't think this would be a good decision for you and I think you should change directions and he did says he turned around and he went home so what happened with the rest of the story well Abigail goes home and tells navel what just happened and navel has either heart attack or stroke we're not sure which one I don't know if that was because he was told that David's army is going to come and I stopped him or because she told him that he just she just gave away all of his food likely if he was rich and rude it was because he gave away all of the food that he was upset but regardless he had a heart or heart attack or a stroke was in a coma for ten days and the Bible says God killed him and then David married the beautiful woman end of story you know literally what happened I'm not making that up that's what happened but the point is is how do you what do you do when someone stops you in your tracks when you're about to make a decision I don't know about you but I don't like to get stopped when I'm ready to make a decision I don't I'm okay if I'm in the okay I need to get some input mode I need to talk to God I need to listen to others you know I talked about that a couple weeks ago I'm okay give me input give me input but I'm ready to go when I'm ready to move when it's time to get in the car and go when it's time to lay that car down and pay I'm not real ready to have someone say hey wait I think just before you do that you should reconsider I don't really like that but what do you do when you're about ready to make that purchase to go out with that guy to move forward in that divorce to move your family and take that job to take matters into your own hands to marry him in spite of the warning flags to sue the pants off of them and someone says I don't think that's a good idea you might want to reconsider that choice you see wise people listen to input and they avoid foolish decisions say that with me wise people listen to input and avoid foolish decisions wise people listen to input and avoid foolish decisions David had a son a son's name was Solomon Solomon was known as the wisest man who ever lived I wonder if David told Solomon some of these stories that had happened to him because Solomon had a lot to say about listening to what other people have to say look at some verses on the screen that are going to talk about that Proverbs one five a wise man will hear an increase in understanding increase in learning and a wise man oh can we go back I wasn't done there yet a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel next one the way of a fool is right in his own eyes but a wise man listens to counsel Proverbs 1215 through insolence comes nothing but strife but wisdom it was with those who receive counsel Proverbs 1310 listen to counsel and accept discipline then you may be wise the rest of your days Proverbs 19 20 where there's no guidance to people fall but in abundance of counselors there's victory Proverbs 11 14 and lastly without consultation plans are frustrated but with many counselors they succeed I think Solomon Solomon saw some wisdom in getting counsel I think Solomon saw some wisdom in listening to other people in your life because wise people listen to other people and they prosper fools do not fools do not if you say I don't need your advice I'm just going to do what I want to do it's my business and not your business chances are that you are about to step into something you will at one point in time regret and many of life's greatest regrets if we just stopped and listened to someone could have been changed often when I'm meeting with someone and we'll talk about something that's going on in their lives and I'll say I think this is something you need to pay attention to or do some work personal work on or meet with someone and get some additional counseling on that and they're sitting there looking at me like this kind of bouncing off you know I'll say to them I might not be right I could be wrong but I want to challenge you to do something I want to challenge you to ask three people in your life that know you well enough to give you honest feedback what they think about this issue in your life three people that don't get a paycheck for them you three people that you're not their boss or supervisor but three people that will give you honest feedback because wise people listen to input to avoid foolish decisions and it's not just with decisions I had someone recently say to me John I kind of they pointed something out in my life and I was like hmm I don't really like that and I don't think you're right I think you're wrong but I was willing to go to a couple of individuals say what do you think about this and what do you think about this and what do you think about this because wise people listen to input to avoid foolish decisions you say John do I have to listen to everyone I don't think you have to listen to everyone but you have to decide who are the people in your life who their your decision is going to impact them the most you see the closer someone is to you the greater your decision will impact them the closer someone is to you the greater their decision will impact them my decisions that I make in my life are going to impact my wife very significantly very significantly someone who waits on me and the restaurant is my decision going to impact their lives probably not probably not some people say well John I don't really get into other people's business as well I don't need people being into my business I don't need people being in my business but the truth is once you make a decision it becomes everybody's business you know that that's what happens once you decide to buy that car guess what everybody in your life knows about it right once you decide to say I do and I'm going to give it to everybody knows about it right once you decide to upgrade that house and sign up everybody knows about it right and so we have this foolish notion that I'm not going to get anybody's business because now I don't want anybody to know in my business but the truth is once you make decisions everybody knows and the other thing that happens is when you don't listen to advice in your life and you make a bad decision where do you go for help when you make a bad decision the people you didn't want to listen to when you were trying to make that decision wise people listen to input and avoid foolish decisions you know students and young adults you are moving into the season in your life where you are making decisions that will shape the course of your life it's not always easy to listen to people in your life when you're making these decisions to say that you should just do it well yeah you know you should do it but you don't like it I get it that's normal that's normal but be willing to face what's keeping you from listening which is usually our pride and say I'm going to put my pride on the shelf and I'm going to listen and if it's not mom and dad that you can't hear say is there someone in my life is there someone that I know is there one of mom and dad's friends that they make good decisions and I like where their lives have ended up and I want to learn from them so I'm going to go to them because you always reap the results of bad decisions and you're not the only one that suffers everybody suffers around you the truth is no one gets to the point where they never need wise counsel no one does no one does because the reality is is we're not wise about everything and we never will be and you'll never reach your full potential without tapping into the wisdom that God provides in other people in your life you're someone who struggles to listen to the input of others ask yourself why why is it hard for me to go to others and ask for input you might know how to do a lot of things and you might be pretty wise but are you willing to say I still need to learn from others and say are there someone in my life that I'm going to ask for input on this decision if you're someone who struggles with decisions and maybe you made decisions and it seems like you keep making bad decisions it's probably a reason for that and it may directly relate to who you're listening to and the counsel that you're receiving you see it's not just students it's not just young adults it doesn't matter what sees no matter what season in our lives we are in we never outgrow the need to gain wisdom from listening to wise counsel from others so as we close this morning a couple questions for you to ask yourself first question is this are you listening to wise counsel that stops you in your tracks some of you have a decision right in front of you a relationship a purchase a career direction a struggle you're facing revenge you're considering taking and some of you have had someone speak into your life and you are struggling to listen to what they have to say in just a moment I'm going to invite you to quiet to bow your heads and just I want you to think about the words that they have said to you and maybe you don't have a decision right in front of you that's going to someone's going to stop you in your tracks but maybe number two maybe you need to ask yourself are you seeking wise counsel are you seeking wise counsel because I would tend to guess that between now and the end of the year a significant portion of you are going to have a decision that you will have to make and within the next year likely every person in this room will have some decision of some significance that they have to make and ask yourself now who are the two or three wise people in my life that are where I would like to be that I would seek counsel so I don't need to get stopped in my tracks like Abigail did with David. I want to invite you to close your eyes and just sit quietly for a moment if you receive some counsel you're struggling to hear it just think about it you have a decision that's coming who are you going to ask and if you struggle to do that ask yourself why you're not going to ask yourself why you're not going to ask yourself why you're not going to ask your question. [ Pause ] This story this morning reminds us that even when we want to follow God and we are deeply wronged something rises up inside of us as it did in David. And apart from this woman who stopped him in his tracks he was about to make a decision that he would have lived with the level of regret the rest of his life. God there are decisions facing many of us today some staring us right in the face others that are on the horizon. God I ask that you would make us men and women and students who would have the courage and the humility to seek the wisdom that can only come from others. Help us to do that God we pray because we can't do that on our own in your name we pray. Amen. As a band comes to the stage to lead us in a song to close we've talked a lot this morning about the role of other people in our lives other people providing direction and guidance for us but ultimately as a person of faith or a person that wants to follow God as David did David had to come back to this understanding that God was the one that was going to give him the stability in the midst of those times of uncertainty. So we're going to close to this song God my rock that just reminds us that when we're faced with those decisions when they're faced with those uncertainties we need to seek wise counsel but we also need to lean on him as we face those challenges on our own.