of God's Word, and I hope that you do. Please turn with me to the book of 1 Samuel. We are almost through the book of 1 Samuel, and so we praise God for His faithfulness and watching over us as we've made our way through this. So 1 Samuel chapter 23, And in case you are wondering, yes, yes, we will, in fact, go through 2 Samuel as well, because we need to get the other part of the story. So 1 Samuel 23, we will only read the first 13 verses. I think it gives us the bulk of what we need. Otherwise, we'd read the entire chapter. But 1 Samuel 23, and if you're physically able to do so, I am going to invite you to stand with me as we honor the reading of God's holy and written word. 1 Samuel chapter 23, and I pray that you and I would hear together the word of the Lord that's given to us this morning. Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, Go and smite the Philistines and save Keilah. And David's men said to him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah. How much more, then, if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord yet again, and the Lord answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. And it came to pass when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David to Keilah that he came down with an ephod in his hand. And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars. And Saul called the people together to war to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, bring here the ephod. Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver you up. Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbore to go forth. Let's pray. Our Father, this is your word. We accept it this morning as your word, and we pray that you would guide us and direct us and give us wisdom and direction in your word now. Empower us now by the power of your Holy Spirit, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen, and amen. I think you can be seated. So this morning, what I want to do is I want to show you how God presents himself in this passage of scripture this morning as the God who provides, the God who provides, the Lord who provides. I'm sure all of us have been in places in our time and in times in our life where we have had to say, Lord, I don't know how this is going to happen. I don't know how this is going to work out. I'm not sure how anything is going to work itself out, but God, I know that you are the one who provides. And I know and trust you that you are the God who ultimately will provide for all of our needs and all of my need. I heard a story of a young pastor, and you've probably heard it too, but it's a preacher story, so I'm sure it's made the rounds quite well. But I did think it was interesting. I heard of a young pastor years ago who was invited to a Bible conference, and this was the first Bible conference he'd ever preached at. He was quite nervous, and so he began to discuss with the elder pastor, and one of the elder pastors that were there, and a seasoned pastor who had been a pastor for many years, and tell him about all about how he was nervous and how he was fearful because this is the first Bible conference that he'd ever been in. And the older, the seasoned pastor just simply said, well, young man, the Lord will provide. And to which the young man began to explain even more about why he was fearful until he came to the point to where he said, brother, I was so nervous and I'm so nervous that I even forgot my Bible and my sermon at home. To which the older pastor handed him his Bible and said, the Lord will provide. It came time for the younger pastor to preach, and he did, and he did a fine job. As a matter of fact, he did an excellent job. After he was finished, the elder statesman said to the young man, leaned over, and he said, you not only took my Bible, but you stole my sermon, to which the young pastor said, the Lord provided. It's true. It's true. Now, I don't know if that story is true, but it is true that God provides. And God indeed does provide for us, and in ways that you and I can't even begin to fathom, in ways that you and I can't even begin to understand, in ways that perhaps we haven't even taken notice of or taken stock of, of how God provides for us in every single moment of every single day. It's a conviction, God's provision for us, the Lord's provision for us is a conviction that arises out of God's word and confidence in the promises and the faithfulness of God. When we're stressed, when we're facing difficult times, when we're facing difficult decisions, we need to find God's wisdom and God's strength in those moments in time. So this morning, what I wanna do is I wanna take you in our first 13 verses of chapter 23, and I wanna show you ways in which God ultimately does, in fact, provide for us. Here's the first one. God provides for us in the counsel of his own word. In the counsel of God's word, God provides for us. In the counsel of God's word, God indeed provides for us. It's interesting, isn't it, that as God's people, we often take for granted that, well, you know what? God has given us his word. God has given us his word. And we take it for granted that God, I think, has given us his word. But yet at this time, when David was living, David only had the first five books of the Bible. He only had the Pentateuch, the Genesis through Deuteronomy. And it's interesting that God provides counsel for his word. So how does he do this? Well, for David, he does this in two distinctly unique ways. And yet he does provide for his servant here. And the first way that he provided through the counsel of his word is through the prophet. Now, if you remember, earlier we ran into the prophet Gad who had instructed David to go down and to go in one direction or another. And so it was through this way that David, in seeking the Lord's face, God ultimately provided through the prophet Gad who gave David a direct word from God to provide for David a direction in which he was to go. That happened in 1 Samuel chapter 22 and verse 5. But why? What was the purpose of it? Well, it wasn't ultimately revealed why David had been instructed by Gad, the prophet, by God to return to Judah. But now we see God's ultimate plan coming together. And it was so that David would go down eventually and he would provide for protection and deliverance from the hand of the Philistines and provide Kilo with this protection. with this deliverance. And so God doesn't always explain to us the things that he commands of us or tells of us, even his revealed word. We may be quite questioning, okay, God, why have you told me to do this? Or God, why is it that you have commanded this of us in your word? Only for us to later understand why this has been provided to us. like here in 23 where it becomes very evident why God commanded them in chapter 22 and verse 5 to do this. The only thing you really need to know about Keilah is that it was in fact a walled town, a walled village. It was basically made up of farmland in the country of Judah. And it was a very lush, pleasant place and it would have been why, ultimately, why the Philistines chose this area to come down and to invade them and to steal away, as it says here in 1 Samuel 23, 1, steal from their threshing floors or to rob all of the threshing floors in which they had. Basically, the Philistines were seeking to economically ruin this town. They were seeking to destroy God's people in this way. And it's interesting that news of this had spread very quickly throughout the land and now come to David's ears. David in his zeal for his own countrymen and for his love for his people is seen willing to endanger himself on behalf of the city. Now, I ask you this question, where, oh, where is Saul? Saul is more concerned about killing David than he is taking care of God's people and destroying the true enemies of God. Saul is more about vengeance than he is about protection and doing the job who God had called him to. Thus it is with any tyrannical leader. Thus it is with any leader who raises themselves above the standards of God's word. Thus it is with any tyrant who lives and has existed throughout history. They are less likely to care about protecting their own people to protect their own interests. And this is the case often with tyrants. And Saul, you must make no mistake, Saul had become a tyrant. Saul was, in fact, a tyrant. He did not care about the suffering and the people's hurts and the people's suffering at the hands of the Philistines. He could care less. The only thing he cared about at this point was to destroy David, the man of God, who was dedicated to Saul, who loved Saul, who was Saul's son-in-law, who had done well by Saul and to Saul. Where is Saul? Saul is still sitting under a tree trying to make plans to kill David instead of protecting God's people. And again, David and Saul's character are clearly displayed for us. David, the future king of Israel, loving God's people, protecting God's people, watching over God's people, and Saul, the tyrant who has decided that he is only gonna care about his own interests. Such are their character. Such are what they cared about. Such is their zeal. But notice this, even in David's zeal, what doesn't he do? Well, he doesn't run headlong into trying to save Keilah. He hears of this, but what is the first thing David does? Well, David, like any of us, does what we should all do, and that is to begin to seek the Lord's face. He begins to seek the Lord's ear. He has heard about everything that's happened, and he's willing to endanger himself and even his own men on behalf of protecting God's people. But here in chapter 23 and verse 2, David inquires of the Lord. David's zeal and his care in consulting God's word indicates that David's spiritual recovery was quite full by this time. You say, well now wait a minute, what do you mean David's spiritual recovery? Do you remember the last time David had made a play without consulting God? He ended up where? He ended up in Goliath's hometown, acting like a fool and a madman in order to escape being killed. This time, David has fully recovered from that. And now, what is David doing? He says, well, we're not going to do that again. I learned my lesson there. We're going to ask God what he wants of us. I'm going to seek God. I'm going to say, God, what is it exactly that you want from us? What exactly is it that you are calling us to? And so David has learned not just to have zeal, but also to have care in consulting God in his word. And he does. And consequently, David is told to go down to Keilah and to deliver Keilah out of the hands of the Philistines. And again, it is showing a wavering, or a distinction, even between David now and David before. David before was wavering in his faith, he was fearful, and David now is a man of courage, and a man who is seeking to actively honor the Lord. But there's another way, not only through the prophet does God answer here in this in this way, but also through the priest. Because we're told here that not only does God provide the prophet to David, but he also provides the priest of God in the form of Abiathar and the ephod that now comes to David, and David is now able to inquire of the priest of God. What is God ultimately doing in showing this? He is showing that David, not Saul, is now the rightful king of Israel. because Saul has slaughtered the priests of God at Nob. David has taken in the priest of God here at Keilah. Saul has sent God's servants running. David has delivered, has delivered God's people and it's now protecting them. Saul cares nothing for the people of God. David has every care in the world for the people of God. Saul being a tyrant and a wicked man, David being a man of God, a man after God's own heart. A man who seeks to know the will of God. And in case you're wondering, because as you come across and you read the Old Testament, you'll see, you'll read, whether it's in Exodus or throughout the Old Testament, you'll read about the ephod. What was the ephod? Well, quickly, it just simply was a part of the priest's uniform. And it contained what is known as the Urim and the Thummim. And it provided, literally was provided by God in order for the priest to be able to seek God's will, whether a yes or a no, into pointed questions. And it's now Abiathar who brings this, and Abiathar that brings this apparatus to show, to show what though? Not only that God had now, had fully moved the kingdom into David's hands, But there were actually two other reasons. Listen to this. First, the two functions here is to show this. First, to show that David would reign in accordance with God's Word. David wanted to reign in accordance with God's Word, completely unlike Saul who reigned according to his own vengeance. And second of all, David would be rescued and would rescue according to God's word. So God's word becomes a very centerpiece, the very centerpiece, the core of David's reign here in, even very early on in the scriptures, God's word becomes the centerpiece for David. Christian, let me ask you this. Where is God's word in your life? In our lives, where is God's Word for us? Is God's Word at the center, at the core of who we are? Do we seek God? Do we pray God's Word? Are we reading God's Word? Are we seeking God's face in accordance with His Word? Or are we trying to justify sin and say, well, you know, and so I can twist this scripture, twist that scripture, or are we just allowing God's Word to be God's Word and letting God's Word sing and allowing God's Word to proclaim itself over our lives? Do we allow God's Word to speak? Or do we seek to, like so often happens, do we seek to grieve the Holy Spirit by not listening to the Word of God and not hearing from God Himself in His Word? Listen, listen. Brothers and sisters, the only infallible, inerrant Word of God that has ever been given to us aren't in signs. It's not. Where is it? It is found in the 66 books of the Bible that's been given to us. Signs and feelings are fine, but the only absolute inerrant word from God given to us is in the 66 books of this Bible. If you want to know God's will, read your Bible. If you want to follow God's will, read your Bible. If you want to know and follow through and honor God in your life, read your Bibles. It does no good for us to say, I believe the Bible, cover to cover, preacher, and then my Bible sits on my coffee table or on my bookshelf and I've never cracked it once. It does no good for us. Read your Bibles, know God's word, memorize God's word. If you want to know what God says, open the Bible. Know the Bible, love the Bible. Second of all though, there is comfort from God's word. There is comfort from God's word. And how do we find, David is comforted from God's word and so are we. But how? Well, first and foremost here in the first 13 verses, what do we say? Well, first is God's word comforts us in allowing us to overcome fear. You say, well, how do you know this? How do we know comfort in the midst of fear? Well, do you notice there's something interesting here that happens. David, of course, we see, and his men are very fearful. That's why David asks. But do you notice the inclusion of where David was? Where was David? David was in Judah. You say, well, what does that matter? Well, because it reminds us that the Lord is speaking through his prophet and telling David to go into the land of Judah, and then not just to go into the land of Judah, but also then demanding that David confront his destiny and to be placed in harm's way for God's glory, so that he, God, might use David to deliver his people, God's people. And so Gad has been 100%. Gad has been 100% accurate. If you wanna know a false prophet, that the fact that they would ever speak and something that they say doesn't come to pass, means they are a false prophet. The only way you can know a true prophet is if they speak 100% of the time in the name of God and it comes to pass. Our world is filled with so many false prophets. God told me this, God told me that. God ain't said nothing outside of his word to people. God's word is 100% infallible, it is 100% inerrant, and if somebody says, I have a word from God for you, and what they say doesn't come to pass, they are a false prophet. They are a false prophet. But God's word has 100% come from God and has been 100% perfectly given by God to David. And David, as a result, is able to face his fear. He's able to face and courageously face harm in the name of the Lord. And the reference to David's fear and his men's fear, we should not overlook. We say, well, what do you mean? Well, so often, don't we do this? Don't we say so often, hey, guess what, guys? These guys are so spiritual, right? They are so spiritual that none of the guys in the Bible, it's easy for us to gloss over them and say, ah, hey, they're perfect. But don't you and I dare gloss over the fact that it says that David's men were afraid. David was afraid too. Don't place more effort on David than needs to be or more emphasis on David than needs to be. Listen, brothers and sisters, let me say this very clearly. I want to say this very clearly to you, as if anything I've not said hasn't already been clear. But let me say this very clearly to you. The only one, the hero of every single story in this book, the hero of every single story isn't David. It's not Abiathar. It's not David's men. It's not Saul. It's not Peter. It's not James. It's not John. The only hero in every story is Jesus. He is the only hero in every story. David was afraid, his men were afraid, but Jesus is going to get the glory. Peter was afraid, James was afraid, John was afraid, but Jesus gets the glory. And I want to say this to you, Christian, you're not the hero of your story. I'm not the hero of my story. We're not David. More often than not, we're the children of Israel hiding. We're Saul cowering. Jesus is our greater David. Jesus is our greater David who destroyed the giants of sin and death and hell in the grave upon the cross. Jesus is the greater David who destroys and is heroically, valiantly overcoming all things and has overcome all things upon the cross of Christ. Jesus is the greater David. Not you and not me. Not you and not me. And so we need to look and we don't need to see that David is the hero here because he's not. God is the one who is going to provide. God is the one who is the hero. God is the one who is going to defeat the enemies of God. God is the one that's going to do this. He certainly uses David, but who is the one that gets the glory? God gets the glory for all of this. and in guiding our path, because David ultimately acts upon the word of God. David ultimately is emboldened by faith in God's word. David is ultimately bold in acting upon faith. Saul should have been the one saving Keilah, but David is the one that now saves Keilah from the Philistines. And God blesses David's victory. God blesses those who he rescues. God protects David in the midst of all of this. God protects us. And Christian, let me say this to you. Whatever it is that we go through, because Jesus is the hero, because Jesus is the king, because Jesus is the one who has overcome all things, why is it that we can have confidence in this life? It's not my faith. Listen, if it was about how much faith I had, like there are days, and this is going to sound completely nuts to some of you, there are days in which I don't even know that I have the faith as much as the grain of a mustard seed. And if I were the focus of my story, and I'm the hero in every story, who's going to get the glory? Me. But I don't even have enough faith of a mustard seed. And so who has faith for me when I'm struggling, when I'm doubtful, when I'm fearful, when I'm hurting, when I'm in pain, when I don't know which way is up and which way is down, what's to the left or what's to the right? It's Jesus who holds me. It's Jesus who keeps me. It's Jesus who protects me. It is Jesus who guards me. It is Jesus who guides me. And so Jesus is the hero and Jesus keeps us. And God blesses David's faithfulness. and that he protects him and he heals, or he protects him and he guides him and he's allowed to deliver the Philistines. But then ultimately Saul says he's going to come down. David hears he's going to come down and Saul, God says Saul will come down and the people will deliver you up. And yet David acts in faithfulness. Let me show you one other thing here. Here's the contrast of God's word. There's contrasts here in verses one through three. You say, well, what do you mean here between between contrast. Well, listen. There's the difference that is clearly seen here between the rebel and the chosen. This is the first contrast that God's word makes for us, the rebel and the chosen. We say, well, who's the rebel? Well, that's Saul. Who's the chosen? Well, that's David. Well, notice the differences here, even in our passage. Saul is what? Worldly. David is godly. Saul is selfish. David is selfless. Saul relied on the network of spies. David relied upon the Lord. Saul relied on betrayal. David relied upon providence. Saul abandoned God, David sought God. Saul alienated God's prophets, David embraced God's prophets. Saul slaughtered God's priests, David protected God's priests. Saul abandoned, or God abandoned Saul, but God was with David. You say, well, that's all great and cool and kind and awesome, right? But I want to show you that there's one other type of contrast here, one that you and I may never have seen before. Maybe, maybe, maybe you have, maybe not. And that that is the serpent and the seed. You say, now what? Do what? The serpent and the seed? What the heck are you talking about, preacher? In Genesis 3.15, it says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise or literally crush your head and you shall bruise or strike his heel. This ongoing narrative is throughout scripture. The battle between the chosen line of Seth and those of the serpent. And the serpent's work to destroy the line of Seth, the line of Judah, which ultimately would culminate in the line of Jesus, the Messiah. And Saul represents the serpent well, while David ultimately represents the line of Seth, the godly line, the chosen line. And Saul clearly represented the serpent's desires, while David represents the line of the woman, Eve, the line of Seth, the promised line, the godly line. Saul seeks to destroy the line of the woman, right? Saul seeks to destroy David and cut off the line of the godly. But David, the line of the godly, seeks to honor God. The serpent and those who are impacted by the serpent have their minds set upon the world. The godly, the godly line have their minds set upon God. The serpent and those who follow him are filled with an evil spirit. Saul, Saul was filled with an evil spirit. David, the godly and the godly line was filled and are filled by the Holy Spirit. Saul, And the serpent seeks to take life. The godly line seeks to protect life. The serpent only offers tyranny and rejection of God's rule and God's word. The godly line offers theocracy. It offers a life lived under the word of God and in accordance with God himself, in accordance to God's word. Saul here in this passage is cast as another Cain. Like Cain, he displays anger and jealousy, envy, and murderous desire toward the line that was chosen, Abel. God casts David here in this passage as another Abel. Like Abel, he loved God, served God, worshipped God, was a shepherd, and tended God's flock. And as a result, David was the prototype of the ultimate seed of the woman, King Jesus. David offers her and David is of the line of the godly line and the prototype of the ultimate seed of the woman. One last thing that I want to do before I close with some application is I want to show you Jesus in this passage. I want to show you Jesus in this passage. And then I want to get down to some very nitty gritty application. Jesus is the greater David. who had compassion upon his people who were in dire need and delivered them at great cost. He delivered them at the cost of his own blood and his own life. Jesus is the greater David who submitted to the Father's will. Jesus is the greater David who overcame the doubts and objections of his disciples. Jesus is the greater David was betrayed and instead of being delivered from death was handed over to death so that through death victory would be proclaimed and secured for God's people Jesus is the greater David because he doesn't need a prophet or a priest. Jesus is the greater David because he is God's prophet. He is God's priest. He is God's king. So you say, Pastor, how does all of this then get down to for us? Well, let me do something that I don't normally do. And let me close out by making just some very clear application here in the last two minutes that we have. First, how do we make decisions biblically? I know I made a big point of that about decisions and about following the Bible and being centered upon God's word. So I know I made a big deal of that. So I think it'd only be right for me to actually say, well, if that's not right, then or if just instead of some general read the Bible comment, how exactly does this look like? Well, let me say a couple of different things to you. How do we know and discern God's will? One, as I said, study the Bible, be in the word, know the word, love the word, pray in faith. Absolutely, 100%, pray in faith. Seek godly counsel. We should seek, be seeking godly counsel. And we should use godly wisdom. And what do I mean by all of this? Well, let me ask you this. Is what you're seeking to do, is it helpful for you? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, 12, everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Is it permissible? Is it helpful? Is it beneficial for you? Is it spiritually helpful, what you're seeking to do? Is it physically helpful, what you're seeking to do? Is it mentally helpful for what you're seeking to do? Let me ask you this, will it control you? Again, everything is permissible, Paul says, but not everything is beneficial. Why? Why does Paul say that? Well, if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, he says, because I will be mastered by nothing. I'll be mastered by nothing. So is what you're seeking to do, is it habit forming? Is it going to negatively affect and impact our lives, your life, my life, our lives? Is it going to do this? Is it going to hurt me? Is it going to harm others around me? Listen, and I'll be as genteel as I can be here, but I want to be very specific. I once counseled a man. who told me that it, or a woman who told me that it was God's will, God had spoken to her and it was God's will that she leave her husband and her son and go off and marry this other dude. And I asked her, how do you know that? Well, because everything is just so right here. Like we have the butterflies and we pray together and we talk together and we do everything me and my husband don't do. To which I told her, you know what that is? That is nothing more than the hiss of the serpent. Because God has already told you what his will is for you. To repent and to flee back to Christ and your husband and your son. All of this silliness about ooly-ooly little feelings, gushy little feelings, and I had a feeling, and I had a burning in my heart. Listen, the Mormons say that. How do you know the Book of Mormon is God's Word? Well, I have a feeling, I had a burning in my heart. And yet you're gonna tell me that the Book of Mormon is okay? No, no, most certainly not. So when I have a feeling, how do I judge that feeling? Well, I judge that feeling in accordance with God's Word. I let God's Word guide me, I don't let my feelings guide me. And I don't, certainly don't encourage something or someone to do something that's wrong. Will my actions cause me to sin against someone? Will my actions reflect negatively upon Christ? Will it reflect negatively upon my life? Will it reflect negatively upon the church, the local church? And ultimately, does it glorify God? Because, you know, you have Disney who says, oh, follow your heart. No, no, no, no, no. Don't ever do that. Good gracious, mercy me. Don't ever do that. Jeremiah, God's word is very clear. The heart is deceitful above all things. Don't ever follow your heart into doing something. Don't do that. No, no, no. That comes from Walt Disney. That doesn't come from the Bible. Don't follow your heart. Follow God's word. Now, does that mean that there aren't gonna be providential circumstances that take place? No, no, absolutely there will be. God at times uses providential circumstances in our lives. But ultimately those circumstances come when I am surrendered by God's word or to God's word by God's Holy Spirit seeking to honor Christ. And then ultimately then I must act in faith. Brothers and sisters, we are eaten alive. We are eaten alive by so many who say that they love God, and yet we don't know God's word. Let me encourage you, let me challenge you to know God's word, to be in God's word, to follow God's word, to trust God's word. Don't turn to the right or to the left. Trust God's word and trust that God's spirit will always lead you in accordance with God's word and then follow him. You don't need a second word from God. You need God's word given to you plainly in black and white and red. Follow the word of God. Let's pray. Father, help me and us as a church, as a people of God to follow your word. May we not turn to the left or to the right. May we not go in any direction that would not honor you, that would not glorify you, that would not be a blessing to you, and that would not bring us great benefit and blessings. God, let us not be given over to anything but the word of God. Father, this is why our forefathers bled and died for sola scriptura, for Scripture alone. So God, may we give our lives to this belief and this teaching. May we be guided by the Word, by your Spirit, empowered in the Word to obey the Word, we pray now. Help us, guide us, direct us, we ask in Jesus' name.