Episode Details

Preach to Yourself

1 Samuel 27:1-28:2, 29:1-30:31, Remsen Bible Fellowship, 05/16/2021

Intro:

In the book of 1 Kings, chapter 18, we read one of the most famous showdowns in all of history. Elijah climbs to the top of Mt. Carmel and builds an altar to Yahweh. In the other corner of the ring stand 450 prophets of Baal. And Elijah issues a challenge: let’s see who has the real God. Prepare a sacrifice, and call for fire from the sky. The prophets of Baal do just that, and spend all morning wailing, cutting themselves, and praying. Elijah mocks them- maybe your god is going to the bathroom, or is on vacation, or maybe taking a nap? No one heard. No one cared. No one answered. But when Elijah has his altar prepared it is dowsed three times with water, surrounded by a water filled moat, and essentially fire-proofed with everything but asbestos. Then he prays, and fire falls from the sky. It not only consumes the sacrifice, but the water in the moat as well. Yahweh hears. Yahweh cares. And Yahweh answers. But this makes chapter 19 almost shocking, because in the next chapter Jezebel, the queen, makes clear that she is displeased with him. And he runs for his life into the desert and begs God to kill him. The turn almost leaves the reader with a sense of vertigo.

David seems to be in a similar position as we approach these late chapters of 1 Samuel. In the beginning of chapter 27 we read this, Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.” David has just been on a mountaintop of victory - maybe not quite like Carmel, but certainly a high. He has seen God spare him time and again, but this last time it really is rubbed in Saul’s face publicly. The plains Indians of North America had a custom of counting coup in battle. This meant that if you could ride up to your enemy and touch him with your hand or your bow or your coup stick, and ride back unharmed, you actually accrued more renown for yourself than if you killed him. This served several purposes, it humiliated him, but it also meant you had a way to defeat your enemy without having to draw blood. Well, David has essentially has counted coup on the most powerful man in the region. God has protected him to walk away unscathed. And yet here we find David despairing that this could continue. 

The Danger of Preaching a Bad Sermon

The first principle we find in our text this morning is the danger of preaching a bad sermon to yourself. 

1 Samuel 27:1-4 Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.” 2 So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow. 4 And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. 

Do you see what David is doing there in verse one? David said in his heart. David is talking to himself. I’ve spent most of my life talking to myself and being corrected for it, and someone should have corrected David here. But the issue isn’t that he’s talking to himself: we all do that. The issue is what he’s saying. Here this man who has been displaying such faith, such confidence in God, has despaired to the point where he just wants to throw in the towel and pack it in. There’s no way this keeps working in Israel, he says