Tag: bible study

1 SAMUEL #28: TRUSTING GOD AMIDST FAILURES

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment
Photo by Everton Nobrega on Pexels.com

David was weary and discouraged, and he made a major decision without consulting the Lord. But the greatness of David was not about him doing everything right. It was about the fact that he repented when he failed, and almost always relied upon the Lord in everything. In spite of his failure, the Lord graciously allowed David and his men to have a season of safety and stability for their families, and gave the warriors an opportunity to still serve the Lord. When God blesses us, it is not necessarily an endorsement of everything we’ve done. It is a sign of his gracious nature. He does not treat us as our sins deserve.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 1 Samuel Part 28

1 SAMUEL #28. CHAPTER 27:1-12

Many people have the misunderstanding that David only failed spiritually once in his life, in the matter with Bathsheba. If you have been following this sermon series, however, you will have noticed that in fact, even before he became a king, David failed a number of times in his life, both spiritually and in terms of achieving his goals. The picture we have of David is not a man who was almost perfect. Instead, he is a very flawed human being. But he was a person who was always willing to admit his mistakes, and he continually looked to the Lord (not to himself or to others) for forgiveness, help and encouragement. That is what makes him a hero of the faith.

Chapter twenty-seven seems to record yet another time when David failed spiritually. The last time the Lord spoke to David about where he should be making his base, he said, through the prophet Gad, that David should stay in the land of Israel, in the territory of the Tribe of Judah (1 Samuel 22:5).

David did that for several years, but it was brutal. He and his men couldn’t live in a town for fear that Saul would catch them. If they stayed in a town, but escaped before Saul got to them, it was likely that Saul would punish the citizens of that place. So David and his men lived in caves and outdoors. They couldn’t farm to support themselves. There were six-hundred of them, so they couldn’t hunt or gather enough food either. They relied on friends and strangers to help them through their tough times. But often, the people alerted Saul to their location, and they found themselves running for their lives. They continued to barely survive, but it didn’t look (at least on the outside) like they were doing anything constructive.

At one point, it looked like David had convinced Saul to leave him alone, by sparing Saul’s life in the cave. But Saul eventually came back, and David was so surprised, he had to go see for himself. Last time we saw how David once again dramatically showed Saul that he meant him no harm. This caused Saul to leave again, but you can almost see the wheels turning in David’s head, as he realizes that Saul will never leave him alone for good. If sparing his life the first time would not convince Saul that David was a loyal subject, nothing could.

There is something else that the text mentions that we haven’t talked about yet. These men were young, but many of them, including David, had families (v.2-3). Living like they were, it must have been hard on their wives and children.

I’m sure you noticed that David now had two wives, not including Michal, daughter of Saul, who married someone else after David had been gone for a few years. Remember, this is historical narrative, which tells us things that actually happened, not what should have happened. Every time the Bible draws particular attention to polygamy, it paints it in a negative light, showing the jealousy, bitterness and other sins that result from it. Not only that, but even in the Old Testament, there are clear teachings that show that polygamy is wrong. The second chapter of Genesis portrays marriage as created to be between one man and one woman, and Jesus, in the New Testament, makes that very clear. But even elsewhere in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) it teaches that polygamy is wrong:

14 “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’ 15 you are to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses…  …17 He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself. (Deut 17:14 & 17, HCSB)

Now, it is likely that David had never heard this verse. Nobody had a personal copy of the Torah at home. To know what was in it, you had to go to the worship services and hear it read. It seems unlikely that David was there on any of the few days on which that particular passage was read. But obviously, the priests at the time did not make sure that this was known throughout Israel. It seems that David unthinkingly adopted the values of his culture on this issue. Powerful men in the ancient Middle East had multiple wives. So, David got himself multiple wives. I think this serves as a useful warning to us. Is there anything in our own culture that we adopt without thinking about it? Could it be that some of what we think of as “normal” is actually wrong in God’s eyes?

Anyway, to get back to the narrative, David and his men were living in a hard place, and so were their families. So David did something uncharacteristic – he made a unilateral decision without consulting the Lord. The last thing he heard on the subject was that he should stay in the territory of Judah. Without asking God again, he took his men and their families and went to the territory of the Philistines. The Hebrew shows David’s thoughts to be something like this: “There is nothing good left for me. So I’ll go to the Philistines.”

Now, we should be careful stating absolutely that David was sinning by doing that. The scripture doesn’t say one way or the other. But I think we can say that to do this without asking God was unusual for David, and it did not seem to reflect the relationship of trust in the Lord that he normally had. In fact, it seems more like something that Saul would do, not David. At the very least, it looks like David made a decision that was based more on fear, hopelessness and weariness than on faith. We can also see that as a result, he put himself in a position where he had to be deceptive.

He went back to Achish, king of the Philistine city of Gath – the same place he went when he first fled from Saul (chapter 21). No doubt Achish had heard what David had been doing since he left last time, and he knows now that David is not insane. However, it was probably a decade or so since David killed Goliath, and many years since he fought against the Philistines. All of that time, Saul had considered David his enemy. You’ve heard the saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That’s probably what king Achish was thinking. David might be a powerful ally. He was bringing six-hundred men who were hardened by the wilderness and by some battles. He was technically the enemy of Saul, king of Israel. So Achish once again allowed David to take refuge in his territory. He saw the potential in an alliance, and also the potential danger in picking a fight with David and his six-hundred hard men.

This time, however, David was a little wiser, and sought to keep physical distance between himself and the king. He asked if he and his men could stay in some town out in the country, away from the capital, Gath. So Achish gave David the town of Ziklag to live in.

Four hundred years before, when Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan river, the entire land was given to the Israelites by God. They still had to enter in and take possession of the land by driving out the pagan Canaanite tribes – but the Lord promised to be with them and help them do that. However, no Israelite tribe truly trusted God enough to fully possess what he had promised. So the town of Ziklag was supposed to belong to the tribe of Judah – but they had never actually taken possession of it, being too afraid to challenge the Philistines. Now, David – a man from the tribe of Judah – received this little town as a gift, without any fight at all. 

We could look at this and say, “Oh, I guess David did the right thing after all, because things began to work out for him.” But I  think it’s a lot more complicated than that. Just a little more than a year after David went to the Philistines, David’s problem with Saul was solved, and he was free to live in any city in Israel. This would have happened whether or not he had gone to live in Philistine territory. So I don’t think the gift of Ziklag was God’s endorsement of David’s actions. Instead, I think it shows us how gracious God is. Even when David was afraid and more or less ran away, the Lord blessed him, and through him, blessed his people. The Lord did not allow David’s fear and lack of faith to hinder what He (God) wanted to do. Though David didn’t deserve it, God used him anyway. Though David didn’t deserve it, God allowed he and his men to have a time of relative rest and stability. God continues to work, no matter what happens. Our own failure will never stop him from being at work.

There is something else that strikes me. Right or wrong, now that David had done this, the Lord moved forward from that point, and he led David to do the same. Remember in chapter 15, earlier in Saul’s reign, the Lord told Saul to wipe out the Canaanite tribe called the Amalekites? Saul only partly obeyed. He didn’t carry out the war the way the Lord asked. But now David began a campaign of raids against the Amalekite clans. In each raid, he completely wiped out everyone he found. This was something that God wanted to happen. We don’t have time and space to re-hash all the discussion about Holy War, where we considered why God might want to do this. If you need to, go back to 1 Samuel parts 13 and 14 to review this subject. The point here, is that David, even after he messed up, is back on track. He is letting the Lord accomplish his purposes through his (David’s) life. David and his men were warriors, with the hearts and desires that go along with that. So the Lord used them just as he made them. Even so, there is an obedience here. They weren’t fighting just anyone they could find. They were letting the Lord fight His battles through them, making war only when and where the Lord led them to.

Unfortunately, David had to engage in some deliberate deception at this point. King Achish wanted to know what he was up to. So David replied accurately, but deceptively. He said he was raiding in the southern territories of Judah and Israel. Technically, that was true. All that land was supposed to belong to Israel, including the places where David fought the Amalekites. But he was certainly not fighting other Israelites. Even so, he let Achish believe that he was making war on his own countrymen.

Now, we might say that David’s deception was part of the war between Israel and the Philistines, and therefore it was justified. After all, Achish was actually David’s enemy, though they were in a temporary truce. So it is almost like a spy lying to the enemy – it is an act of war, not a sin. I won’t say that interpretation is definitely wrong. And in the short term, David’s deception allowed him and his men to be at peace, and to advance God’s agenda.

Even so, David’s deception led to problems in the future – even as it had in the past. It put him in a very awkward position not too long after this. He had to be saved from that position by people and circumstances beyond his control. In fact, I suspect it was the Lord who saved him from the consequences of his own lies.

In the long run, true honesty is always the best policy. One reason I suspect that it wasn’t in the Lord’s original plan for David to be among the Philistines is because it put David in this position where he basically had to lie. And, as far as the fact that he was attacking the Amalekites as the Lord wanted, it seems to me that he could have done that while he and his men were still in the wilderness of Judah. They could have gained much needed supplies and food that way.

Let’s turn to application. Here are some things that I personally take away from this passage:

First, when I think about David marrying multiple wives, it makes me think that I need to learn to look at my own culture with a skeptical eye. Perhaps there are things that we think are normal, and “OK,” but are actually wrong in God’s eyes. For instance, wealthy men in David’s time had many wives; while wealthy people in our time have many homes. I wonder if it is really OK for Christians in America to own a vacation home while Christians elsewhere in the world are starving. That’s just one example; I’m sure we could come up with more.

A different thing that strikes me about this passage is how the Lord moves forward with us and with his plan, even when we take a wrong turn. We don’t go back to where we messed up and do it over. Instead, the Lord mercifully picks us up where we are, gets us back on track. When David went to the Philistines, the Lord didn’t make David go back to Judah and start over. Instead he adapted his plan, accounting for David’s mistake.

As we have seen before, the main goal in the life of faith is to trust God. If we do that, our behavior will naturally be pleasing to  God. And even when we fail, if we return to a place of faith and trust, God is overwhelmingly gracious. Despite David’s failure, God gave him stability and rest, and through him, restored to Israel one of the towns that had been given them. Despite David’s failure, he continued to use him and bless him. I can trust that the Lord will deal with me in the same way . I know I am not perfect – not in behavior, not even in how well I trust God. Because of Jesus, my failure is not the final word, not the most important factor. God’s grace is always a bigger factor than my failure. God has a way of turning failure into gracious victory and blessing. That takes a lot of pressure off me.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?

1 SAMUEL #25: HISTORY’S MOST EXCITING POTTY BREAK

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Bible, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

David once again shows us what genuine trust in the Lord looks like. He apparently had an amazing opportunity to end his troubles and enter his destiny as God’s chosen king. However, David refused to take it, because it involved harming the man who was trying to kill him. It was more important to him to be right with the Lord than to achieve his ambitions. He trusted that the Lord would bring it about in His own time, and he, David, would not have to compromise to receive what God had promised.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 1 Samuel Part 25

1 SAMUEL #25. CHAPTER 24:1-22

This is one of my favorite stories in the entire history of David. I think what David does, and what he refrains from doing in 1 Samuel 24, shows more courage, faith and heart for God than any of his amazing feats in battle. This is David at his best.

I want to briefly summarize the end of chapter 23, since we did not cover it in detail anywhere else. After David left the town of Keilah, he took his men and went into the wilderness on the other side of the Judean mountains. It may have been more green there 3,000 years ago, but these days, it is mostly desert. It was farther away from Saul, and in terrain that was significantly more rugged. Even so, Saul pursued David there several times, hoping to capture or kill him. During this time, Jonathan came secretly to David, and “encouraged him in his faith in God.”

I think I mistakenly said in an earlier sermon that the last time David and Jonathan ever saw each other alive was recorded in chapter 20. I was wrong, obviously. However this, here, in chapter 24, was indeed the last time the Bible records them being together. I want to focus for a minute on this last meeting of the two friends:

15 David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in Horesh when he saw that Saul had come out to take his life. 16 Then Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and encouraged him in his faith in God, 17 saying, “Don’t be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. You yourself will be king over Israel, and I’ll be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows it is true.” 18 Then the two of them made a covenant in the LORD’S presence. Afterward, David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home. (1 Samuel 23:15-18, HCSB)

Remember, Jonathan, like David, had a heart for God. Like David, he was filled with faith, and confident that God would fulfill his plan. In fact, Jonathan was entirely at peace with the idea that David, not he, himself, should be the next king. What a contrast between Saul and his son! Saul thought David might be God’s next chosen king, and his reaction was to be filled with hate and fear, and to try and kill David. Jonathan thought the same thing, but his reaction was to encourage David. Jonathan’s faith is even more amazing when you think about the fact that at this time, David was running for his life. It sure didn’t look like David was ever going to be king. Even so, Jonathan had confidence that the Lord would take care of David, and that he would make sure his plan indeed happened. Jonathan himself encouraged David with this attitude.

I love that one line: Jonathan encouraged David in his faith in God. Even David, man of God, sometimes needed encouragement to continue to trust the Lord. If that was true of David, how much more so of us.

The people of the region betrayed David, as the citizens of Keilah had done. When you read the Psalms that David wrote, you will often find references to treacherous people, liars and friends who betray. This is because this sort of thing happened to David astonishingly often. In spite of his integrity and the help he brought to others, in spite of his faithfulness to God and respect for Saul as king, people were quick to believe the worst of him, and spread lies about him, and betray him to Saul.

I don’t know about you, but this encourages me. I think my natural expectation is that if I surrender my life to Jesus and have integrity in letting him live through me, people will see it, and like it, and praise God for it. I expect a positive response to God’s life shining through me. I expect good results, and favor with people. But Jesus said we ought to expect the opposite:

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. 20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of My name, because they don’t know the One who sent Me. (John 15:18-21, HCSB)

He explains that there is blessing for us in this situation:

10 Those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 11 “You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt 5:10-12, HCSB)

Peter, in his first letter, also talks about this:

19 For it brings favor if, mindful of God’s will, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if you sin and are punished, and you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God. (1Pet 2:19-20, HCSB)
13 And who will harm you if you are deeply committed to what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed, (1Pet 3:13-14, HCSB)

Seeing the life of David, and hearing what the New Testament says, gives me hope. Being a person with a heart for God is not necessarily a way to get a whole bunch of people to like you. It isn’t a road to sure success. It is often the opposite. But I cling to these promises that there is great blessing for us in those sorts of trials, sooner or later. At this point for David, he experienced the persecution, but not the blessing.

At one point, David was almost caught. He and his men were in a valley or canyon, and Saul and his men were coming down another valley on the opposite side of the mountain. They were gaining on David. But before they could close, messengers found Saul, reporting that the Philistines were attacking elsewhere in Israel. Saul had to break off the pursuit. Once again, I want to point out that David did not know what his future held. He didn’t know for sure what God was doing, and he might very well have been caught. In that particular incident, it must have seemed like it was merely lucky timing that saved him.

And then we come to the incident described in chapter 24. Saul was back to his new hobby of trying to find David and kill him. He and his men were traipsing around the rugged desert and mountain terrain where, according to rumour, David was hiding. They weren’t having any luck. David appeared to be miles away. One day, Saul had to relieve himself, and he went into a cave alone for privacy. It just happened to be the cave where David and some of his men were holed up.

I want to make sure we understand the scenario. David was anointed by Samuel to be God’s chosen instrument. David and his brothers (who were there at the anointing, and with him in his trials) probably assumed that the anointing also meant that he was supposed to be Israel’s next king. Jonathan certainly thought so, and so did Saul, and probably, along with his brothers, the rest of David’s men. Israel’s present king – Saul – who was no longer God’s instrument, has been trying for a long time to kill David. Now Saul was alone, unarmed and unaware, standing right in front of David, sun-blind in the dark cave, back-turned with his pants down. Saul could not have been more helpless.

David could not have possibly have had a better opportunity to kill Saul without hurting anyone else.

David’s men believed that this was a gift from God. Surely Now was the time for David to kill Saul, and become king himself. I suspect that nine people out of ten would agree with David’s men. Killing Saul at that moment would have been easily justifiable self-defense – after all, Saul was there for the express purpose of killing David. Saul was acting contrary to God’s stated will and purposes – he was trying to kill God’s chosen instrument. So killing Saul would be not only self-defense, but also protection of God’s work in the world. I don’t believe there was a person living at the time who would have blamed David.

Hopefully, you have read the scripture. You know what happens: David creeps forward, knife held low and ready. He raises his arm to strike…and then lowers it, and quietly cuts off the corner of Saul’s robe. He creeps back to his men, and a furious but quiet argument ensues. Now David’s men, seeing that he will not kill Saul, are eager to do the deed themselves. Once again, who could have blamed David if he had let one of his men do it? Not only would he have the justifications listed already, but he could always claim that it wasn’t actually him who killed Saul, and he really didn’t want it to happen. But David argues vehemently, and commands his men not to touch Saul. Finally, Saul leaves the cave and the opportunity is lost.

I picture that the cave was up on the slope of a hill or something. After Saul has gone down a little ways, David emerges, and calls to Saul. He bows low to the ground in respect. Then he shows Saul the corner of his robe and says:

11 See, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. Look and recognize that there is no evil or rebellion in me. I haven’t sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my life. 12 “May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you. 13 As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness comes from wicked people.’ My hand will never be against you. (1Sam 24:11-13, HCSB)

All this wisdom from a man not yet thirty years old. But of course, it wasn’t really David’s wisdom – it was the Spirit of God at work within David. I think the key is verse 12: “May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you.” David literally refused to take matters into his own hands. Remember when Saul was about to lose the entire southern portion of Israel? His army was deserting him, Samuel wasn’t showing up, and so Saulheld a worship service merely for the purpose of getting people to stick around. Saul took matters into his own hands. But David would not do that. His trust was not in what he could do, but in what the Lord said the Lord would do.

We tend to look at circumstances as if they “prove” what God wants us to do. I think this is a very dangerous tendency. I knew a man who thought God was calling him to have an affair, because he felt that circumstances had so clearly put him and the other woman together. He thought it must be God. I am not making this up. It might be better to wonder if circumstances are being used by the devil to tempt us. Now, I’m not saying that circumstances never align with God’s will, but it should not be our default position to think that.

However, there is a natural question. When God sends your enemy into your cave with his pants down, unable to see in the dark, facing away from you, how do you know that it isn’t God’s will for you to kill him? I mean, we’ve already offered many reasons why no one would condemn David for doing it. So how did David know he shouldn’t do it?

I think there are two answers. The first is one that I never get tired of talking about: we need to live in a day-by-day, moment-by-moment relationship with the Lord. The ten commandments told David not to murder, but it would have been easy to justify it as self-defense, or war, not murder. David, like us, had to rely on a connection of faith with the Lord. Through that faith, the Lord communicated to him that it would be wrong. In the first place, let’s get real: if stabbing an unarmed, unaware person in the back isn’t murder, what is? David knew that the word of God was against murder.

We might say also, that David knew in his heart that to kill Saul was wrong. However the reason he knew it in his heart is because he knew the word of the Lord (in this case, “do not murder”), and he knew the Lord himself. It isn’t some mystery. If we want to know the will of the Lord, we too need to know His Word (the Bible) and spend time with him in prayer, worship and fellowship with other believers. Without that, what we “know in our hearts” might be very, very wrong.

I also think that for David, the Lord guided him in this situation through other “ordinary” factors. David, at least for a while, viewed Saul like a second father. Though Saul seemed to hate David, David did not hate in return. He still respected him, and had affection for him, and he was sad that they couldn’t have the relationship they used to have. In addition, I think David probably thought something like this: “How could I ever look my best friend Jonathan in the eye again, if I kill his father?” These might seem like very ordinary, “unspiritual” factors to go into such an important decision, but I think that the Lord uses exactly such things to guide us at times. He made each one of us. He knows the way each of us tends to make decisions, and honestly, I think we are too quick to put things into the category of “spiritual” and “unspiritual.” In my own opinion, everything is spiritual, because all of life belongs to the Lord.

Another thing is this: I think the Lord allowed David to see that to kill Saul at this point would be taking matters into his own hands, rather than trusting. I believe that there are times when God calls us to act speedily and courageously without hesitation. But there are also times when the Lord calls us to let opportunities pass by, and trust Him to bring about his purposes in his own way. Personally, I think the second way is harder, and in our culture we almost never think that way. We typically assume that if we see a means to meet our goals, it is God giving us that chance, and we should take it. Sometimes, that may indeed be true. But sometimes the Lord calls us to wait and trust so we can receive it from him, not get it by our own effort. Especially in our world today, I think we need to consider waiting on God as a first option, and only act if we are sure God wants us to. I say this because our culture will never encourage us to do that. We are taught by everything around us to act rather than wait.

Consider this: if David had killed Saul at this point, he might always afterwards wonder if God really wanted him to be king, or, if he had simply made himself king. And there was something that was more important to David than reaching his goal of becoming king. It was more important to him to be right with the Lord than to achieve his ambitions. So he said, “Yes, I’d like the Lord to judge you Saul, for what you’ve done. But my priority is not to judge you, nor to make my goals happen. My priority is to be right with the Lord.”

I want to point out that David did not meekly accept the way Saul was abusing him. He confronted Saul about how unjust he was being. He had proved his loyalty, and proved Saul’s own suspicions to be false, and he pointed those things out to Saul. He confronted Saul with the truth, but he left judgement to the Lord. So, when we are treated badly, it is not necessarily wrong to  speak out against it. It’s not necessarily wrong to get out of a bad situation if we can. But like David, we can leave judgment to God.

So, today, what’s your priority? Think of something that you really, truly want. Now imagine that you have the power to make it happen, right now. It would be easy. Would you do it, even if you knew in your heart that God didn’t want you to?

Now, I don’t want the message to be that we are just not as righteous as David. That’s not actually true. David wasn’t any better than us. He just learned to trust God, and he made that trust the primary and most important part of his life. But he wasn’t perfect. In fact, we’ll see in the next chapter that David forgot every thing he had demonstrated here, and had to be reminded of it. So, the message is: Trust God. I’ll say it again: Trust God. The thing that you want so much, the thing that you are convinced is even God’s will for you – God will take care of that. David eventually did become king. It didn’t happen that day. In fact it was still years away. But God did take care of it. He worked it out the best way possible.

I want to add something else. Maybe you’ve tried to trust God, and you haven’t been able to do it like David did. Understand this: David trusted God by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we want to trust God, it is more about surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in us than about us trying hard. It’s about giving permission to the Lord to lead you. Once you give that permission, and you surrender your choice to God’s best will, search the scriptures, and if you have no definitive answer from that, do what seems best, trusting that the Lord is leading you.

Also, we need to remember that when we fail, we have the Anointed One, Jesus, who trusted God perfectly, on our behalf. He did what we could not do, so that when we fail (not if!), we can trust that he has made it right between us and God. To do better next time, the main thing we need is more trust.

So trust him.

1 SAMUEL #24: THE LORD’S HEART TO SAVE

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Bible, Bible Teaching, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment
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David demonstrates the best attitude for us: to recognize that we are here to do as the Lord pleases. God is not our servant, but rather, the other way round. At the same time, David shows us the Lord’s heart to rescue us. The Lord has not forgotten you, and was willing to go to extreme lengths to save you. Once we know this, we can trust him as he calls us to do things that stretch us beyond our comfort zone.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

For some people, the player above may not work. If that happens to you, use the link below to either download, or open a player in a new page to listen.

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download 1 Samuel Part 24

1 Samuel #24. The Lord’s Heart for Rescue. 1 Samuel 23:1-14

We are reading a book of the Bible that is primarily a record of history. Theologians call this kind of Biblical writing, “narrative.” In Sunday school, we all called them “bible stories.” The gospels – the bible stories about Jesus – are narrative. So is the book of Acts. So also, is much of the Old Testament. Whenever we read narrative we should keep in mind that there are three basic layers to it.

First, narrative parts of the Bible are descriptions of actual historical events. Archaeology has consistently confirmed and correlated the bible stories we read. Skeptics used to claim that it was all made up – but in trying to prove that, they instead proved how historically reliable the Bible is.

Even so, we need to realize the second layer: that this history was written with a purpose in mind. In other words, it wasn’t just recording history for the sake of history. In the case of Biblical narrative, it is history for the sake of learning about who God is, and how he deals with his people. By the way, all history is told with some kind of purpose like this, told with the purpose of advancing a particular kind of perspective. As a for instance, a few years ago, my friend, historian Dr Mark Cheathem published a book about Andrew Jackson: Andrew Jackson, Southerner. It informed readers about actual facts surrounding Andrew Jackson and his life, to be sure. But Mark also told the events of Jackson’s life from a definite perspective, and built a case that it is a valid perspective. His main thesis is that Jackson’s life was shaped by his own perception of himself as part of the Southern gentry class. (If you are interested in Mark’s book, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Jackson-Southerner-Southern-Biography/dp/0807162310)

In a similar way, the Bible tells us real history, with a certain particular perspective about God and his people. The perspective used in the Bible is that God was at work in these events, and the writers, inspired by God, document how God was interacting with humans through the incidents that are recorded. So we not only look at the historical events, but, trusting that God inspired the writers, we look at how God was at work in them.

Finally (the third layer), we recognize that God is still telling the story, and he uses the Bible to communicate with us today, to tell us how he is at work in us and around us today. The bible is there to help us know God better through Jesus Christ. So as we read, we look for how he wants to communicate with us in this very moment, and how it helps us to know Jesus better, and walk in relationship with him.

In 1 Samuel 23:1-13, David heard that the town of Keilah, near both the cave of Adullam and the forest of Hereth, was under attack by the Philistines. As soon as David heard of it, he had two immediate reactions. First, he wanted to go rescue them. Second, he chose to ask the Lord if he should do that. Remember, both a prophet and priest were with David at this point, and I am sure that together, the three of them asked God about it. As it turned out, the prophet and priest discerned that David’s first reaction was exactly what God wanted. God’s heart, and David’s heart, was to deliver his people.

However, David’s men had a different reaction:

But David’s men said to him, “Look, we’re afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces! ” (1Sam 23:3, HCSB)

Remember David now had about six hundred men with him. The way war was waged in those days, it is possible that some of them had previously been sent to help Saul for a short time in some of his earlier battles. These citizen-soldiers usually just stayed for one battle or one short campaign, and they were not as important to battles as the professional warriors. Generally, they just hung around, and if the battle went well, they provided manpower for pursuing enemies; if the battle went badly, they would have been the first to flee. Because these men were so low in society, however, it is even possible that some of them had no experience in warfare at all. Certainly, aside from David, none of them were professional warriors – yet. Quite simply, they were afraid.

Consider the contrast between David and Saul in this kind of situation. When Saul’s men didn’t want to obey his orders, Saul sometimes tried to manipulate them through false religion, as he did by offering the sacrifice himself, before Samuel arrived, in chapter 13, or through his rash oaths in the second half of chapter 14. Or, he assumed that he didn’t need to ask for God’s guidance, as in the early part of chapter 14. Or, he caved in to whatever his men wanted, even if that conflicted with God’s desires, as in chapter 15. In chapter 22, Saul tried to goad his men into killing the priests by speaking insultingly and sarcastically.

Now, it was David’s men who are baulking at obeying him. His approach was very different from Saul. He had already asked the Lord if he should attack the Philistines, and received an affirmative response. When his men were afraid, he asked the Lord a second time. This is so good at several different levels. In the first place, it shows that David was humble. He thought he had heard correctly from God, but he was willing to entertain the possibility that he was wrong. He wasn’t too proud to admit that. Second, it showed he had compassion on his men. David wanted to fight. But he could see that his men were afraid, so the second time asking God was for their sake, not his. However, once he did hear a second time that this was what God wanted, David didn’t tolerate any more discussion. His men could either follow him, or not, but he was going to follow the Lord. He did not seem nearly as insecure as Saul. So, he led them into battle, and they won a resounding victory, saving the town of Keilah.

But all was not well. No doubt David and his men were tired of living in the forest and the cave. So they weren’t in a hurry to leave Keilah – a real town with houses and even a wall. They were glad to hang out in civilization for a while. Saul heard that they were there, and declared: “God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with barred gates.”

I want to pause and point out two things. The first is a small difference. In all David’s interactions with God in this passage, he calls him “the Lord.” Saul calls him “God.” “The Lord,” is the way most English translations express the Hebrew personal name for God (we might pronounce it: “Yahweh.”) So, in fact, it is a more casual and intimate way to talk to God. To picture it another way, say you were talking about a man named John Smith. David is calling him “John” and Saul is calling him “Mr. Smith.” I think this is a reflection of their different relationships with God. To Saul, God was a distant Supreme Being, one that might possibly be manipulated into helping him (Saul). To David, he was a close personal relation, a friend in all things.

The second thing I want to highlight is their different approach to God’s guidance. David paused and talked to the Lord multiple times on many occasions. He asked what God wanted to do in every situation. Four times in these thirteen verses, we see David seeking God’s guidance. On the other hand, Saul simply assumed that God existed to assist him to fulfill his (Saul’s) own ambitions. In these verses, he did not once seek to know what God wanted him to do.

Let me state this even more clearly. In Saul’s mind, the whole point of God’s existence is to help Saul have the kind of life he wants. God is his assistant. But in David’s mind and heart, he (David) exists to serve God and carry out his will on earth. He is God’s servant, and even calls himself that exact thing in verse ten. I think that these two attitudes compete for dominance in everyone who believes in the existence of God. Is God there to help us live our lives – or are we here to express His Life and fulfill His Purpose here on earth? In other words, is my life about me (with God as a help and support to me), or is my life about God (with me as his valued tool and helper)? I think we all know the correct answer to that question. But practically speaking, many Christians live as if God is their servant, not the other way round. It is so easy to start thinking that the main point of God is to do good things for me. The truth is, the main point of my life is to let God work through me.

The citizens of Keilah were apparently not very grateful to David for his help. There is no record of any expression of thanks. Instead, when David asked the Lord if it was safe to stay there, the Lord told him that the people of Keilah would hand David and his men over to Saul, if he stayed. Saul’s intention was to surround the city and destroy it, with David and his men inside. It does not say so overtly, but it seems likely that it was a citizen of the town who went to Saul with the information that David was there.

This is ironic. The people of Keilah rejected their rescuer, David. Instead, they sent for Saul to come and capture David. In rejecting God’s anointed one, the citizens of Keilah were inviting their own destruction. In their rejection of David, they were destroying themselves.

Thankfully for everyone, David sought God’s guidance, as he did so frequently, and he led his men back into the wilderness, saving both himself and the town of Keilah, yet once again.

Now, we have heard the history of what happened. We have noticed how God was involved back then. But what does this mean for you today? How is the Lord using this to speak to you, to help you know Jesus better and walk with him?

Remember that David is a type of Christ. God used his life to show us what the ultimate “anointed one” is like. One of the things I think the Lord shows us here is that the heart of God is to rescue us. David, anointed with God’s spirit, heard of people who were in trouble and oppressed, and his first response was, “Can I go save them? Please?”

So, too, the heart of Jesus is for our redemption. He saw the people of earth being oppressed and destroyed by sin, and he said to his Father: “Let me rescue them!” And the Father said: “Yes!” He sees you and me, and says to his Father: “Let me rescue them!” And the Father says “Yes!”

God’s heart is for redemption. I know there are many things that happen in this life which we don’t understand. Believe me, I am a living illustration of difficult things that are hard to comprehend. I don’t know why God has not delivered me from my unrelenting pain, pain that afflicts me even right now as I write this.

But we can’t doubt that God loves us and wants to save us. He came in the flesh, he gave up his body in tortuous suffering to rescue us. More than that, he suffered unimaginable torment of soul for us. So, we know, His heart is for our redemption. Whatever you face, you are not forgotten. There is One who sees you as precious and valuable. His heart is for your ultimate salvation, for your best good.

David rescued the people of Keilah. Today, three thousand years later, it makes no difference to those people because they are dead. But the redemption we get through God’s Ultimate anointed one is eternal. It is the redemption of our spirits, souls and eventually the re-making and resurrection of our bodies. Three thousand years from now, the redemption of Jesus will still make all the difference in the universe.

Sometimes, like the people of Keilah, we don’t welcome the one who delivers us. Their rejection of David is pretty poor behavior. Here, he has just saved them, but now they turn around and try to have him killed. But if they had succeeded, they would have brought about the destruction of their own town as well. When we reject Jesus, it is just as offensive and ugly. He gave his life for us. He gave up his soul to be tormented on our behalf. Some people would like the benefits of his salvation, but want nothing to do with him – they don’t want a daily relationship with him. They feel that following Jesus, that surrendering our lives to him, will make us uncomfortable in various ways. Perhaps he interferes with our lives in ways we don’t like. Just as the town of Keilah, When we reject God’s anointed redeemer, we are inviting not freedom, but destruction into our lives. Let their behavior caution us to receive what God wants to do in our lives.

Maybe you identify with David’s men. You aren’t a professional, like he is. Perhaps God, through Jesus, is inviting you into something new and scary that you aren’t sure you are ready for. When God’s anointed (Jesus) invites you into his mission, don’t shrink back. David’s rough group of beggars and rabble weren’t fighters at this point. They were afraid, too. But out of that same group came the greatest warriors in the history of Israel.

Maybe you think you don’t have the background to pray for others, or to share your faith with your neighbor, or make a stand for God. You might be right. You probably don’t have the right background. But neither did David’s men. All they really needed was enough trust to follow where God’s anointed one led them. That’s all we need. We small, no-account group of Jesus-followers might be exactly the tools God chooses to use.

Let the Lord speak to you right now.

1 SAMUEL #23. THE CONTENT OF GODLY CHARACTER

On By Pastor TomIn 1 Samuel, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, Uncategorized1 Comment
Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels.com

There was a tragic contradiction between the integrity of David, and the insecurity of Saul. While David was not perfect, he had a heart for God and took responsibility for his failures with a repentant heart, which was very unlike Saul. He also made sure to take care of his family. Though we sometimes think that David’s life unfolded exactly the way it should have, from David’s perspective, everything was uncertain. He didn’t know how it would all turn out. He simply did the best he could, repenting when he failed, and put all of his hope and trust in the Lord alone.

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1 SAMUEL #23. 1 Samuel 22:3-23

The Bible calls David a man after God’s own heart. We have already seen why on several occasions. He trusted the Lord to do battle with Goliath. Later he gave Goliath’s sword to the priests, because he saw it as God’s victory, not his own. He held on to his integrity even when Saul went back on his word to him. David ran not to his family, but to the Lord when he was in trouble. His orientation was toward God, and all his hope and trust were in the Lord.

But this does not mean that David was perfect. Most of us probably know about his major sins in connection with Bathsheba and her husband. But that wasn’t the only time he messed up, and it certainly wasn’t the first. Two weeks ago we looked at 1 Samuel chapter 21, and saw that even though David ran to the Lord when he was in trouble, he gave in to fear and lied to the priest Ahimelech. Now in chapter 22, we see the horrible results of that lie.

Before we get to that, however, I want to point out some unrelated positive things. At this point, David was in the cave with some of his relatives, and a number of other desperate men. It is unclear whether his parents had also joined him there or not. In any case, he knew his parents were likely to be in danger from Saul, and he could not expose them to the kind of harsh conditions that he would have to bear for the foreseeable future. So he took his parents to the kingdom of Moab.

There are two special things about this action. First, is the relationship David’s family had with the Kingdom of Moab. The book of Ruth is a short history (four chapters) of David’s great-grandmother Ruth. She was the grandmother of David’s father, Jesse. It is a sweet story about a family that went through hard times, but still trusted in the Lord. It shows us that David came from a family of people who had a heart for God. But the important thing for this particular passage is that Ruth was originally from Moab. Jesse may have grown up hearing stories about Moab from his Nana. So David did not just randomly dump his parents on the first foreign dignitary he could find. He took them to people who were actually relatives, albeit distant ones.

Second, this highlights something we don’t talk about much in modern western society. Both Old and New Testaments are clear that we have a responsibility to take care of our families, and even particularly, the elderly members.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn to fulfill their duty toward their own household and so repay their parents what is owed them. For this is what pleases God. (1Tim 5:4, NET)
If any believing woman has widows in her family, she should help them, and the church should not be burdened, so that it can help those who are genuinely widows. (1Tim 5:16, HCSB)
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1Tim 5:8, ESV)

David took his responsibility to his family seriously. He could have said, “Look Ma and Pa, I’m just really busy these days. I’m trying not to get killed, I have this band of men to lead, I am God’s chosen instrument in this generation, and oh, by the way, I have a kingdom to win.” Those things might have easily been more pressing than taking care of his parents. But he didn’t feel right doing anything else until he knew that they were safe and well cared for. We sometimes forget that both retirement and social security are relatively new developments. In all of history until about 50 years ago, elderly people did not have these. Instead, they had children. Where I grew up in Papua New Guinea, it is still that way. When someone gets too old or infirm to provide for themselves, their family takes care of them. It may have to be that way again in America before too long. That isn’t the end of the world. It worked pretty well for most of human history. And David managed it, even in his precarious situation. (I really hope my kids are reading this.) By the way, this didn’t mean, in David’s case, that he was always there. He was for a while, and then when he left, he made sure they were going to be OK even while he had to do other things.

When David left his parents there, his words to the king of Moab were very humble: “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, until I know what God will do with me.” He was not arrogant. Even though he knew Samuel had anointed him as God’s chosen instrument, and to be the next king, David did not presume upon God. He humbly admitted that he was in a pretty uncertain situation. I think this is also important because sometimes we read the Bible and we think faith was easy for the people that we read about. But this shows that David felt he had no guarantee of how his life would turn out, or even if he would survive the next few weeks. It is easy in hindsight to see how powerfully God worked in his life. It seems inevitable to us, reading it three thousand years later. We might feel that this was exactly how things were meant to go. But when David lived it, he had no more reason to trust God than you and I do today. He had no special guarantee. He didn’t know what was going to happen. This should help us to have confidence that God is still working in our lives, even when we, like David, can’t be sure how things will turn out.

Now, it appears that David stayed there in Moab for a time. In fact, it says that David himself took care of his parents (they lived with him) while he was “in the stronghold.” Then the prophet Gad (this is the first time we’ve heard of him since the very first chapter) says, “Don’t stay in the stronghold, but return to Judah.” “Judah,” of course, means the area belonging to the tribe of Judah in southern Israel. It can be confusing, but obviously then, the “stronghold” doesn’t mean the cave (because that was in Judah), but rather, the stronghold of the king of Moab.

The presence of the prophet Gad is interesting. If you remember from the first message on  1 Samuel, Gad was one of the three sources for the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. Remember that Samuel the prophet was Saul’s advisor for a time, but Saul never really listened to him. Finally, they parted ways forever. By the time of the events narrated in chapter twenty-two, Samuel was very elderly indeed, and would have been unable to live the hard life David was living. So the Lord sent David another prophet – this man named Gad. Fittingly enough, Gad appears to have been one of those original desperate, in-debt malcontented men that joined David. But the Lord gifted him to speak prophetically into David’s life. And unlike Saul, David listened and immediately responded to the Lord. This wasn’t necessarily an easy choice to make. The Lord was telling David to go back to a place where he would be in jeopardy from Saul. David did not want to fight Saul or any Israelites, yet he was supposed to go there where they wanted to kill him. Frankly, it didn’t make a lot of sense to go back there – what was the purpose of putting himself and his men in such a precarious situation? It doesn’t seem reasonable. Even so, David didn’t hesitate. Here again, we see David’s sensitive heart toward God.

Meanwhile, the text gives us a glimpse into what was happening with Saul around that time. It looks like Saul had, by this time, completely given himself over to hatred and jealousy of David. He verbally abused his own son Jonathan, as well as his men, accusing them of conspiring against him. He thought David had bribed them with promises of land and military commands. This was pure fantasy – how would David even speak to them? So we can see that Saul had moved from insecurity to almost full blown paranoia.

It is at this time, through Saul, that David’s lie to the priest brought forth its terrible fruit. Doeg, the man from the kingdom of Edom (not an Israelite) spoke up. He told Saul what he saw and heard when David came to the sanctuary at Nob. He mentioned that not only did David get bread, and the sword of Goliath, but Ahimelech the priest “inquired of the Lord” for David. “Inquiring of the Lord” at the very least meant a brief worship service and then use of the Urim and Thummim (– the “holy dice,” so to speak). It may have included a more thorough time of worship, and a sacrifice. So here is our proof that David went there not mainly for physical help, but to hear from God and worship in his presence.

Saul summoned Ahimelech (the high priest) and all the priests of Nob. He confronted Ahimelech, who tried to remind Saul that David was his good and loyal son-in-law, a faithful captain in his armies. Of course, Ahimelech knew nothing of the rift between David and Saul, because David had lied to him. It may well be that he would have helped David anyway, but David never gave him the chance to do so honestly. So, Ahimelech freely admitted that he had helped David. However, by insisting to Saul that David was a good and faithful servant, he only provoked Saul’s irrational paranoia and rage.

Saul erupted with wrath, and ordered his bodyguards to kill Ahimelech and all the priests. They balked. To kill the priests was an abomination. Even Saul’s faithful followers knew that he was ordering a horrible crime. Saul’s Israelite followers would not go through with it. I picture Saul screaming and raging, and then Doeg, who was not an Israelite, but who was cunning, unscrupulous and ambitious, did the deed. He murdered 85 priests that day. He continued on afterwards, and directed the murder of all of their families and the destruction of the village at Nob. With eighty-five men, plus their wives and children Saul, through Doeg and Doeg’s men, murdered two-hundred people or more. Not only that, but the text says they slaughtered all the livestock as well.

Does this remind you of anything? When the Lord called Saul to destroy the Amalekites, among other things, he was supposed to kill all of their livestock also, but Saul would not do it. He kept it for himself and his men, because livestock represented wealth in those days. Now, however, when the Lord definitely did not command Saul to do this, Saul tried to ensure the killing of every last person, including women and babies, and he also ensured that all of their livestock was also killed. What a horrible contrast! He will not engage in holy war for the Lord, but he will do so on his own behalf, for mere revenge.

However, they missed a priest. Actually it’s possible they missed two. Much later we will learn that Zadok, son of Ahitub, was a priest during David’s reign. Ahitub was the name of Ahimelech’s father, so Zadok might have been his brother. Of course, however, it could be a different Ahitub. However, we do know clearly that Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, escaped, and he took his priestly garment, called an “ephod” with him. The important thing about this is that the ephod was where a priest kept the Urim and Thummim. These were the “lots,” or “holy dice” used to determine God’s will. Abiathar fled to David and told him what happened.

22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day and that he was sure to report to Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s family. (1Sam 22:22, HCSB)

David’s response was remarkable. Saul was the one who ordered the murder of the priests. Doeg was the one who carried it out and did the actual killing, probably assisted by some underlings. But David said, “this was my fault. I am responsible for the loss of those lives.”

You see David had a heart that God loved. It wasn’t because David was perfect. He lied to Ahimelech. But he was open, willing, humble and, when confronted with his sins, truly repentant. When Samuel confronted Saul about the sins he committed, Saul’s response was always something like: “Well I had to do it,” or, “Circumstances demanded it,” or, “My men made me do it.” David could easily have said, “I had to lie to save my life.” He might have said, “It was an extreme situation, calling for extreme measures. Besides, I’m not even the one who killed them.” But instead, his response was: “I was responsible for this great tragedy.” He willingly accepted the blame, and repented.

This is not to say that David was blind to the evil of Saul and Doeg. After hearing of this horrible crime from Abiathar, he wrote Psalm 52, in which he castigates the evil of Doeg, and by implication, Saul. In David’s eyes, their biggest sin is this:

Here is the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, taking refuge in his destructive behavior. (Psalm 52:7)

Even more amazing is what David wrote next. Remember he was still hiding in fear of his life. Remember, he had no more reason to trust the Lord than you and I do.

But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God; I trust God’s faithful love forever.

I will praise you forever for what you have done. In the presence of your faithful people, I will put my hope in your name, for it is good. (Psalm 52:8)

David did not say that because he was now out of danger, and in a secure situation. Instead, David was seeing with the eyes of faith. He trusted that God’s goodness and his faithful love meant that he was indeed secure, no matter what else was happening.

As always, the Lord brought some good out of every terrible situation. David was his chosen servant. Now David had both a prophet (Gad) and a priest (Abiathar, son of Ahimelech) to worship with him, and give him godly counsel. And unlike Saul, David humbly and willingly received what God said through them.

Now what does all this mean for us today?

Maybe you need to hear the specific practical advice that you should take care of your family, and even your parents when they are unable to take care of themselves.

Perhaps you face the temptation that Saul had, the temptation to give in to insecurity. Do your fears drive away the people you love, or cause them harm? I doubt anyone reading this has committed murder on the scale that Saul perpetrated that day. Even so, the difference between faith and doubt is huge, and it matters a great deal. Without trust in the Lord, if we trust only in ourselves, like Saul, we are doomed to hurt those around us. See how much better it is to be like David and put your trust in the Lord alone.

Like David with Gad and Abiathar, do you have godly spiritual advisors who listen to the Lord and have permission to speak honestly into your life? If not, ask the Lord to send you a few.

For me, and possibly some of you, it might be that we need to learn to see with the eyes of faith, to recognize that whatever might be going on in our lives, we can trust the faithful love of God, and feel secure in Him.

There is one last thing. Last time we talked about the concept that in the Old Testament we find people or events that remind us of Jesus, or show us what Jesus is like, or what following him is like. There is another one this week. More than two hundred people lost their lives for helping David. So today and throughout all history, people around the world have been persecuted and killed for following Jesus. It is a reminder that we should pray for those who are persecuted today, and also that we should be ready to make a choice between our own life and our obedience to Jesus.

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you about all this right now.

PRACTICAL BIBLE STUDY TOOLS

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Churches in Lebanon, Podcast, Religion, Sermon1 Comment

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Here are some practical resources and tools for understanding the bible better.

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Understanding the Bible #10.

To close out our series on understanding the bible, I want to offer you some practical things that will help you understand and study the bible for yourself.

First, to really get a grasp on things, you need the right tools. Though a lot of the bible is easy to understand, bible scholarship is, in fact an ancient and scholarly discipline. You don’t need an advanced degree to get a lot out of the bible, but it really is worth a little time and effort on your part to understand it better. In other words, if you are going to look at the bible as a primary source of wisdom and guidance for your life (and I highly recommend that you do; not only that, the first message in this series explains why you should consider doing so) you should take it seriously.

Start with a high-quality, understandable modern-English translation. I know about the King-James-Version-only people out there. I’m not trying to make anyone angry, but frankly the arguments for using the King James translation are short-sighted, ignorant, and mostly just plain wrong. The most “intellectual” sounding argument for the KJV is that it is based on a certain set of Greek Texts known as the Textus Receptus. The KJV-only crowd maintains that the other Greek Texts are corrupted by false-doctrine. I’ve already explained to you about the huge number of ancient copies of the New Testament in Greek (in part 3 of this series). The textual variants (also spoken of in part 3) are stunningly insignificant. In other words, there is not actually much difference between the textus recptus and what we call the “majority text” (which is the basis for most other bible translations). From time to time, when I’m studying the bible, I compare the two. This isn’t a comprehensive study, but I’ve found only two “significant” differences, and in both cases, it was proven long ago that the textus receptus was altered. Even so, those differences do not change any major doctrine.

Of course, all that is for the New Testament. The source-documents of the Old Testament is the same for virtually all bibles.

If the majority text was so different from the textus receptus, then long ago, two branches of Christianity would have developed, based upon the two different textual traditions. That hasn’t happened, because the only major difference between the King James Version (KJV) and modern English translations, is that the KJV has to be translated not only from Greek to English, but also from early 17th century English into modern English. In other words, the main difference is that the KJV isn’t very understandable to modern English speakers.

Sorry for the rant. To continue, I highly recommend the English Standard Version (ESV) and also the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). Both of them are highly accurate compared with the original Greek and Hebrew. The ESV renders the Greek and Hebrew a little more literally – as much like “word for word” as possible. The HCSB is also very accurate, but is willing to “bend” a little to make it more readable.

You can buy both of these bible versions online, or at many local bookstores or bookstore chains. You can also get them free with various bible apps or software programs. I highly recommend getting a study bible version of one of these translations. A study bible is a bible that has notes (usually on the lower half of the page) giving background and explanation about the verses you are reading. Study bibles are a very helpful tool when you are just getting started, and even as you learn more. I’ve placed a “Bible Study Resources” page into my Amazon a-store. Most of the resources I mention here are available for sale there, including the ESV Study Bible, the HSCB Apologetics Study Bible, and my standard from about 1986-2007, the Concordia Self-Study Bible. If you click through from here, the price will be the same as directly from Amazon, but I’ll get a few nickels for commission.

I have an inexpensive Android tablet, and on it, I use the free Olive Tree Bible Study app (I don’t get a commission for anything but the resources on my Amazon a-store. I’m just sharing resources that I think are good). Look it up in Google Play, or from your apple device. The link here will take you to their free Bible translations page, which includes my two favorite translations, the ESV and the HCSB. I paid extra to get the ESV Study Bible notes, to attach to whatever translation I’m reading in the app.

I also found a great web-based study bible, built on the HCSB, at https://www.mystudybible.com/

Many of you have asked about how to learn the cultural and historical background that is so important for understanding the bible. Certainly, blogs like this one, and reliable, solid preachers and teachers are a good place to start. I also recently found Fred Wright’s Manners and Customs of Bible Times as a free PDF download. You can right-click the link in the previous sentence, and download it. It’s a great historical/cultural resource. It was written in 1953, but all bible-times were before that, so it’s still accurate!

I also highly recommend Eerdmans’ Handbook to the Bible, which is easy to find in my a-store. I own the British version of this, which was given to me by my parents when I was thirteen years old. The information I learned from it is still helpful to me today, and I still occasionally use it as a reference. Zondervan’s Handbook to the Bible is the latest version of that, but I have not personally looked at it to see what they might have changed.

Another very helpful Bible Study tool in this day and age is a good computer program for Bible Study. Over the years, I have paid hundreds of dollars for various versions of three different programs (QuickVerse, PC Study Bible and Logos). However, three years ago I settled on a fourth, free program that is truly excellent: The Word. If you do end up using and appreciating The Word, I encourage you to donate something to the program’s creator Konstantinos Stergiou – I did (and I get nothing from this – I just think the guy deserves to be blessed for his amazing work, offered for free). The program may take a little while to learn, but it’s worth it. There are hundreds of free add-on resources you can use with The Word to enhance your Bible Study, and there are paid modules as well, if you are interested.

If you are staying “old school” and prefer physical books, I do recommend that you get a bible that includes both cross references, and a concordance in the back. A cross reference is like a footnote – it is a suggestion of other bible verses that talk about the same topic as the verse that is noted. You can learn a lot by following the cross references to other parts of the bible. This helps the bible to “explain itself,” so to speak. A concordance is a list of words that appear in the bible, and where. There are some stand-alone exhaustive concordances, but most study bibles have decent partial-concordances in the back. They are helpful for finding verses if you only remember a key word, or for helping you understand how certain words are used throughout scripture.

Come back to this sermon series from time to time – we’ve covered a lot of ground that should help you understand the bible better as you encounter parts of it that seem difficult.

All right, let’s say you have assembled your tools. You have a book on the historical and cultural background of the bible. You have a study bible, or bible app, with the ability to find cross references and search for specific words. Maybe you have a computer program, or a web-based bible-software program. Now what?

Let me give you simple way to get more out of your bible.

Remember, as you read, read it in context. Learn about the history and culture, as necessary. Pay attention to the genre. Check cross references. Remember to use the clear parts of the bible to help you understand what is not clear. Look up key words in a dictionary and concordance. And then do this: SPECK.

Look at the passage you want to study, and go through SPECK, one letter at time.

S – read the verses and see if there is a sin identified here. Is the Lord calling you to repent of it? Is he warning you to stay away from it?

P – read the verses again, this time looking for promises. Is the Lord speaking to you through a promise here? If you are ambitious, you can also look for prophecies (which also begin with “p”).

E – read the verses yet again, now looking for encouragement and exhortation. How does the Lord want to cheer you on through these verses? How is he calling you to keep going?

C – now read through your passage and see if there any commands to consider. Is the Lord asking you to respond to him in a certain way through these verses?

K – read a fifth time. Is there any information or knowledge that you have gained from these verses?

After you SPECK, I encourage you to write a short note/prayer to the Lord. Something simple like this:

Lord, as I read John 3:16-18, I see that sometimes I sin by not trusting you. But I also hear your promise that as I trust you, you save me. You don’t condemn me. Thank you for your mercy and grace! Increase my trust in you! Help me to trust you in these things that are going on in my life right now, as well as for eternal life. AMEN

Writing down your thoughts or prayers help to solidify God’s word to you in your mind and heart. If you do it regularly over time, later it becomes a source of encouragement and hope to go back and see how God has spoken to you throughout the years.

I hope this series has been of help you to you understanding where the bible came from, why we can trust it, and how to understand it. I’d love to hear your comments and questions.

~

I want to briefly make you aware of our situation. This ministry (Clear Bible) until recently was supported by our local church. However, we have had some changes there, and we are now a house church. Today, we have about 8 families. Our church cannot fully support me financially any longer.

 In contrast, about 430 people subscribe to this blog, and an additional 300 or so each week come and visit the site. In other words, by far, most of the people who benefit from this ministry are not part of our little church.

 I’m asking you internet readers/listeners to pray for us. Seriously, before you give any financial support, please give us some prayer support. I value that more than anything else. Pray for this ministry to touch lives. Pray also for financial provision for my family and me.

But then, as you pray, do ask the Lord if he wants you to give financially as well. Be assured, after a small fee to Paypal, 100% of your donations will go to help support my family and me in ministry. In turn, supporting this blog means that you are helping to bless more than 15,000 people each year who visit this blog.

 

Some of you may have noticed that I am also a novelist. Often, people have misconceptions about authors. Most of us, including me, make a part-time income through writing, and no more. In other words, we aren’t “raking it in” somewhere else. Now, we trust the Lord to provide, and I don’t want you to give out of guilt or fear. I just don’t want you to get the idea that your donations will only be an “extra” for us somehow.

 If most of our subscribers gave just five or ten dollars each month, (or even less, if everyone pitched in) we would be in good shape. It’s easy to set up a recurring donation when you click the Paypal donate button that is located on the right hand side of this page, down just a little ways.

 You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

 Your check will be tax-deductible. Unfortunately, we cannot do the tax deductible option with the paypal donate button, however the money does go directly to support my family and me.

 Thank for your prayers, and your support!