Spiritual Maturity is an Ongoing Process

have another real quick additional prayer. Heavenly Father, we pray for our troops and the conflict that they are involved in, that loss of life will be few. We pray for the people of Iran and the Persian people all over that the loss of life will be few, that your will will be accomplished in the actions of our country under takes. Jesus name, amen. All right, you've got your Bible. Let's turn to, guess where we're going to turn. Not a big secret. First Samuel chapter 25, we're going to plow on through. There's a really good stuff here. I hope it's a blessing to you. First Samuel chapter 25. We've been with David for 25 chapters. We know that he's been anointed to be king. He's not there yet. And then last week he had it within his grasp. He had it within his grasp. He actually was in the cave with Saul. He could have taken him out, but he didn't. He cut a robe and then he felt guilty. And that's a good thing that his conscience kept him from doing that because it would have stained his kingship. So let's see what happens after that. Let's see where Scripture takes us. This is how the word of the Lord opens. And Samuel died. And all Israel gathered together and laminated him and buried him in the house of the Lord. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Perrin. Can we just stop for just a second? This is Samuel. And this feels like a footnote. A single sentence to mark the end of a very dramatic error in the nation of Israel. This is Samuel. I mean, Samuel was the conscience of the nation. Samuel was the last judge of Israel. Samuel was the one that consecrated Saul, but then stood up to him when he did wrong. Samuel was the one that faced him down. He said, "It's all the Lord's removed the kingdom from you." Samuel is the one that anointed David and Bethlehem when Jesse forgot to bring him to the lineup. Samuel represented spiritual stability of a country. When Israel sinned, it was Samuel that prayed the prayer that appeased God. When Samuel prayed heaven moved and now he's dead and that voice is gone and in that death, it kind of seems like a visible spiritual protection. It seems to be removed. And the text doesn't really dwell on the grief at all, but I want you to imagine for a second what that meant for David. Because Samuel was really the only prophet that David ever knew. Samuel was the one that poured oil over his head in Bethlehem. Samuel, at least to David, was the visible confirmation that God's promise was real. And in many ways, Samuel's living presence was reminder that the throne was an offanacy. David is still anointed, but his prophet is very. David is still anointed, and God's promise hasn't changed, but the voice that confirmed that calling is now gone and silent. Some of you all have belonged to a church where the pastor or that church or the former pastor or that church has really let you down. Imagine that. And I'm kind of thankful that our faith is not built on any human, but on the divine human being of Jesus Christ. Because people will let you down. And their absence can hurt. Now you don't even have to look too far to think about that, right? Even in the south that we got Jim Baker and Tammy Faye, that was a disaster, Jimmy Swagger, oops. You know, people rise up and Christianity and fall just as quickly, but thankfully our faith is not built on any one pastor, not based on any one prophet, based on Christ. He never lets you down. And I thank God especially as we dig through this story. So I want you to notice, but in this moment, in this verse right here, have you ever noticed that there are delicate moments in our life in our spiritual life? And they occur right after something stabilizing has been removed because Samuel was a stabilizing influence in David's life. And maybe for you, it's not a Samuel, but maybe a mentor has moved away. Maybe a parent has passed or spouse. Maybe a trusted friend relocates or a season of clarity ends. You're still called. You're still a child of the God. You still got his gifts, but all of a sudden as a Christian, your support system has really shifted. And the text doesn't explicitly say that David felt vulnerable, but the narrative arc kind of suggests that he's about to be, David's about to be tested in the way internally. Because David had just passed this monumental test in chapter 24. In the cave of Ingeti, in his grasp, he had the kingdom, but he refused to seize the throne prematurely. He cut off a piece of Saul's robe in 24. And even that symbolic act wounded his very sensitive conscience. And he declared, "Man, the Lord judged between me and thee. It was, it was restraint. We saw last week that it was faith and we saw last week that it was trust." But here's what's chapter 25 does for us all. It reminds us that a moment of obedience does not inoculate us against the next temptation. And you can spare a king in one chapter and almost slaughter a rancher in the next one. But because sanctification is, you know, we are eternally sanctified by God, but there is a temporal sanctification, one that is the awareness of our sanctification. And that's real, but there's also the lingering, lingering volatility of the pride that we have. And we're going to see that because here's what I want to get at. The spiritual maturity is not proven once and then you're good to go. It's something that we have to work on every single day. We have to exercise our spiritual maturity time and time and time again, especially when circumstances feel smaller, but the cut is much more personal. We're going to see that. And this next test that we're about to see in chapter 25 is not going to involve a murderous king. That's big time. This is going to involve a foolish landlord. Let's jump on in verse two. And there was a man in May, whose possessions were in caramel. And the man was very great. He had 3000 sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in caramel. So he were introduced to this dude in May on whose business interests or headquartered in caramel. And he's described is very great. The text tells us 3000 sheep, 1000 goats. And then then let me tell you something. Even today, that's pretty massive. But back then, that was staggering well because sheep or currency. Goats were assets. Livestock meant trade networks, hired workers, seasonal festivities. It meant regional influence. And this is not a marginal figure. This is a dude that has a is a pillar in the local economy. But immediately scripture reframed him. Let's read it. Verse three. Now the name of the man was naval. And the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and a beautiful countenance. Notice the order of that. She was smart. And oh, yeah, she was good looking. So the emphasis is on her brain. Now we all want to woman this good looking. I mean, come on. But it's even better. Oh, come on guys. Amen. Hey, y'all are all good looking. But you want somebody of a good understanding to the, you know, just don't marry somebody just cause of their looks. Don't date somebody just cause of their looks. And so scripture is immediately reframed him because it says right here you married this woman who is good understanding beautiful countenance. But here it is. Underline this, but the man was churlish and evil and is doing. And he was at the house of Caleb. His name is naval. This is what we need to know from that. Naval and the Bible literally translates to full. Now why is that important because Psalm tells us that the fool has said in his heart. There is no God. So this doesn't mean that he is stupid. It's an idiot who doesn't. This is why he's stupid. He doesn't reverence and recognize God. That's why he's stupid. He thinks he is a self made man. But his name literally meant full. Can you imagine introducing him at the local dinner party? This is my husband. He's the idiot. All right. So here's what you need to know about naval. Naval is wealthy. Naval is successful. Naval is secure. But naval. Hear me is spiritually tone death. He's got the money. He's got the wealth without worship. He's got the prosperity without perspective. He's got success without surrender. And here's the thing about prosperity because we live in a very prosperous country. Prosperity has a way of magnifying what's already in the heart. And we all have something in our heart that doesn't need to be magnified. And here's the tension of the situation. David and his men have been living in the case of in Getty right outside of Carmel. They have been fighting the Philistines. They have been providing protection for everybody in the city of Carmel, including naval and his 3000 sheep 1000 goats. So he's been working. He's been blessed. And now it's sheep shearing season. So here's the tension in the situation. David had protected naval shepherds in the wilderness. They kind of formed this living wall around them. No theft, no violence, no loss. And in that culture, protection deserved provision. So David sends 10 young men with a simple request. Hey man, peace, courtesy provision. And it says in verse four, and David heard in the wilderness that naval that shearing sheep and David sent out 10 young men and David said unto the young men, get you up to Carmel. Go to naval, greet them in the name and thus say ye to him that live it in prosperity. Peace be both to thee, peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I've heard that thou hast shears. Now vice shepherds which were with us, we will hurt them not. Neither was their ought missing unto them. And all the while they were in Carmel, asked thy young men and they will show thee. Wherefore let the young men that are tending your hurt, find favor, they're here find favor in your eyes for we come in a good day. Give I pray thee whatsoever comeetheth thy hand unto thy servants and to thy son David. So you catch it. David sends messengers during sheep shearing season. It's a time of astivities. It's a time of generosity. And it was culturally appropriate to give out of the abundance. And David's men had been in the wilderness protecting them from the raiders all this while. Acting is at defensive wall. So David's request is not extortion. It's a symbiotic reciprocity of blessing. Here it says in verse nine. So David's people go. They say this to the naval. And when David's been came, they speak to the naval according to all the words in the name of David and ceased. Now I want you to watch Naples response. Verse 10. "Enable answered David's servant and said, 'Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?'" There there be many servants nowadays a break away every man from his master. So he's not only being dismissive. He's being contemptuous. And then he's poking David in the eye by making reference to the fact that he's left souls employee. And I want you to listen. This is not ignorance. David's reputation is widespread. And matter of fact, you know, Naples knew it because he knew he's the son of Jesse. But listen to the contempt. Here we go, verse 11. "Shall I then take of. " Here it is. "My bread, my water, my flesh that I have killed from my shears and given unto men whom I know not once they be." Did you hear the possesses? "My sheep, my bread, my water." See, here's the thing. This is a danger to all children of God. Prosperity has distorted his theology. He says, "My so much you think that he personally invented the livestock." This is the theology of self-ownership and it's stupid. He's living up to his name because everything he calls mine is ultimately borrowed breath borrowed land borrowed mercy. His entire household stands one angry David away from annihilation. So this is where we get into the heart of this text. We built the background. You got the backdrop. Let's look at David's reaction or David's overreaction. Verse 12. So David's young men turned away and went again and came to him all and told him all those things saying, "And David said unto his men, "Here it is verse 13, "Gurgye every man his sword." So David hears the report and he says, "Get every man his sword." So 400 of the 600 men prepare for war. 400 men strap up over an insult. Saul tried to pin David to a wall with a spear. David restrained himself. Navel insults David. David mobilizes a militia. And they girded on, "Every man his sword." And David also girded a sword and there went up after David about 400 men and 200 of bowed by the stuff. So 200 people stayed behind to guard the provisions. Have you ever noticed, and we look at David and we're like, "Man, dude, come on, but we're just as guilty." Right? Have you ever noticed how sometimes persecution, it feels noble, but disrespect? That's intolerable. When someone attacks your mission, you can spiritualize it. When someone questions you're worth, "Man, that feels personal." And David's response is not measured justices. It's wounded pride. And he declares by morning that every man in Navel's household is going to be dead. "Man, dude, that escalated quickly." So let's just say David would not have handled Twitter very well. So he's one sarcastic comment. 400 people are lacing up. Their sandals strapping on their sword. But y'all, that's what pride does. It whispers. You can't let that stand. Anger, here's the thing, when baptized in self-righteousness feels like strength. But often anger is the armor of insecurity. Right, why do we get mad sometimes? I know I get mad as when I feel attacked. And I'm insecure about something. But I want you to notice something as wrong as David is. I'm killing a whole group of people because he got insulted. We can all agree that's wrong, right? Okay, so David's still chosen. David's still anointed. David is still called. But in this moment he is reacting reflexively. But our God, our God is gracious. And our God sends grace to children who make bad decisions too. Amen. Thank the Lord. Because every one of us makes bad decisions at times in their life. Interlady by the name of Abigail. But one of the young men told Abigail, "Nables wife," saying, "Behold David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master." And he reeled on them. But the men were very good unto us. And we were not hurt. Neither missed we anything. As long as we were conversant with them when we were in the fields and they were a wall unto us by both night and day and all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what that will do for evil is determined against our master and against all his household. Underline this, because they're described and able. You know, bad things are going to happen. Here it is. For he is a son of Balaal that a man cannot speak to him. So he's all kinds of stupid. Not only does he think he's a self-made man, doesn't acknowledge God in it. Not only does he not bless people out of his abundance, it says that he's so stupid, he can't even talk to him. And the text describes her as a woman of good understanding. That's biblical language for someone who sees clearly when everybody else is emotionally foggy. So the servant goes during it says we're about to die because our boss is an idiot. Let's see what Abigail does. Let's pick up with verse 18. And then Abigail made haste and oh, by the way, he's a son of Balaal. That's in the context of the fact he won't listen to anybody. If you ever have a point, and there's times when you have to stick by the courage of your convictions, but don't overspiritualize stubbornness. Amen. Oh, y'all got it all you polishing your hayless. Okay. Other people can have good ideas too. And if you're leading an organization, it's good to have a council. And if you ever lead an organization. This is just a voice of experience. Assign one person to disagree with you. Hey, and make it that way they can resist and maybe you can consider all the options. It's good to have somebody though. Tell you when you're right and when they think you're wrong. So Abigail is a good person. A woman of great understanding. It's a blessing to have somebody in your life that will lead you back to the right path whether they be a parent, a child, spouse, friend. It's good to have that person. Don't resent them. Then Abigail made haste and took 200 lows. Two bottles of wine. It's not like they didn't have it. She took 200 lows. Two bottles of wine. Five five sheep ready dressed five measure, support corn, a hundred clusters of raisin, 200 cakes of figs and laid them on the asses. And she said under her servant, go on before me. Behold, I come after you. And she told not her husband, Navel. And it was so as she wrote on the ass that she came down by the covert on the hill and behold, David and his men had come down against her and she met them. Now David had said, this is the promise he'd made. Now I want you to listen to this promise. My container word that some of the parents are a little uncomfortable with. Now David had said, but there's grace in this. Now David had said, surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow half in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him and he has required me evil for good. So and more also to God under the enemies of David, if I leave all that pertained to him by morning light, any that pisseth against the wall. Abigail does not panic. She prepares the bread. She gets the wine. She gets the sheep. She gets the corn, the raisins, the figs. She has a snack basket. This is a peace convoy. She interrupts David before he arrives. And when she meets him, she says, forgive my master. But he had made an oath that he had related that he was going to kill everybody as the scripture say, pisseth against the wall. Don't get mad at me. I'm telling you what scripture say. And I am so thankful that the Bible doesn't varnish the language. Doesn't clean it up because God is in control and cleans up our messes all the time. This is a stupid promise. It's a it's kind of a crass promise. But the Bible shows us that even in our craftness, even in our stupidity, even in our vulgarity, God is at work. And he was at work in this promise too. Why is David making a promise like this? She rides out to intercepts David when she meets him. She dismounts. She gets low. She says something absolutely astonishing. And when Abigail saw David, she hastened, lighted off her ass and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground and fell at his feet. This is what she says upon me, my Lord, upon me, let this iniquity be and let that hand made and I pray the speak in the audience and hear the words of that hand made and let not my Lord David, I pray the regard this man of Bell L, even neighbor. Here she goes. For as his name is so is he. Yeah, he's named fool and he is a fool. She's not varnishing it. Naval is his name and Folly is with him. But I thy hand made and saw not the young men of my Lord, whom doubt that sin. Now therefore my Lord is the Lord, as my Lord, as I soul live it, seeing the Lord, with holding the coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with my own hand, now let the enemies and they that seek evil to my Lord be as them all. Now this blessing which I hand made in health brought all these 200 lows, these couple bottles of wine, these this bread and food, all these blessings which your hand made in health brought under my Lord, let it even be given to the young men that follow my Lord. I pray the forgive the trespasses of the hand made so she's intersealing she's taking it on herself. But the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house. Because my Lord fight at the battles of the Lord and evil have not been found in dying all the days. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek my soul, but the soul of my Lord should be bound to the bundle of his life with the Lord thy God. And the souls of the enemies, them shall he out as out of the middle of a sling. So here's what Abigail does. There's a lot of King James. Let me break it down. She assumes responsibility that she did not incur. She does not defend, navel sin. She doesn't excuse his foolishness, but she stands in the gap and she acknowledges his character plainly as his name is so is he, which is the biblical equivalent of, sir, he lives up to his reputation. But then she does something profound. And it shall come to pass. This is verse 30. This is the one that's just like man. This for me was a key verse. And it should come to pass with my Lord. She'll have done when and it should come to pass when the Lord should have done to my Lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee. And shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel that there shall be no grief under thee nor a fence of the heart unto my Lord, either that thou hast shed blood, causeless, or that my Lord hath avenged himself. Did y'all see what she just did? Y'all Abigail reminded David who he really is. She's encouraging the future king of Israel. She's encouraging him to live out of his identity. She's reminding him that the Lord will establish him as the ruler over Israel. The urges him not to secure this promise through bloodshed that's going to haunt him later. She says that this shall be no grief under thee. She is protecting David from future regret. Now, and godly counsel often sounds like that. Sounds like that. You know, you'll thank me later. And this is remarkable. Abigail is protecting a king who's not even enthroned yet from a regret that hasn't even occurred yet. And David recognizes it verse 32 and David said to Abigail, "Bless be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me." So he recognizes the intervention. Blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with my own hands. For in very deed is the Lord God of Israel, Liveth which has kept me back from hurting thee except thou hast hasten to come to meet me. Here it is. Surely there had not been left unto enable by the morning light any episteth against the wall. Here we go again. So first of all, can we appreciate that the Bible is not sanitized? That the Holy Spirit is not afraid of the language. This is not the hallmark channel Hebrew version. This is wilderness talk and what that phrase means is every man because in the ancient world that was the colorful way of identifying man and honestly the bluntness of it is part of the point. David is not saying, "Hey, we're going to have a stern conversation." He's saying, "I was about to wipe out every last man in that household." So the phrase is crude but it's crude on purpose because David's anger was crude. David had moved past diplomacy. He had moved past negotiation. He had moved all the way to no males, no male boxes, no mercy. And this is the Bible's way of saying, "You know what? I was about to remove the men's section from this department store." But it actually explodes with something a little bit deeper. Look, when we're angry, we tend to talk big. We exaggerate. We escalate anger. Always thinks in terms of absolutes. You always. No one's left. Never again. Always. Ever. David's language right here shows just how far he was in that moment and he had mentally erased an entire household before breakfast over an insult. And it's amazing how quickly we can go from that hurt my feelings to burn it all down. Nobody starts it nuclear. We escalate to nuclear. And so the Holy Spirit preserved this phrase, this raw, slightly embarrassing phrase to remind us that even a future king can sound ridiculous when anger is driving the chariot. But here's the grace of the verse. David says, "The Lord God of Israel have kept me back from hurting thee. The same man who is talking like a frontier warrior now recognizes that God has restrained him. And here's the beautiful tension. The verse is earthy. The anger is real. The threat is extreme." But mercy is greater. And so David's essentially confessing, "Hey, I was out of control, but God stopped me." And that might be the most relatable part of the whole story because if we're all honest, most of us have been in moments where we, if we had followed through and what we had planned, we would have needed the witness protection program and a new church. Instead, God sent Abigail. Sometimes he sends a phone call, a text, a friend, an ex, a pause, a spouse. And afterwards, we look back and say, "As the Lord living, he kept me back." So this reminds us that God's mercy sometimes keeps us from being the worst version of ourselves before sunrise. And that's something worth thanking him for. So it says verse 35, "So David received of her hand, which she had brought him and said unto her, "Go up and peace to thine house. And see I have harkened to thy voice and have accepted thy person." So David recognizes something critical. Abigail is not merely a wise woman. He recognizes she's also a divine interruption. And if you walk with God long enough, you're going to discover that he sends Abigail's in your life. And they're not necessarily angels with flaming swords. They're not always thunder from heaven, but they're people, friends, co-workers. And this is the humbling part. Usually they're the person that you would least expect. And Abigail is someone who steps into your emotional momentum and says gently, but firmly, "You don't want to do this." And Abigail sees tomorrow while you're reacting to today. She cares more about your future piece than your present pride. And here's the key. The Abigail's in your life rarely show up applauding your anger. They show up slowing it down. Which means if you only listen to voices that agree with you when you're upset, you may silence the very mercy that God is sending. So Abigail returns home to find a naval feasting. Let's pick up. And Abigail came to naval and behold, he held the feast in the South like the Feast of the King and Navel's heart was married within him. And he was very drunk. And wherefore she told him nothing less or more until the morning light. But when it came to pass in the morning when the wine was gone out of naval and his wife told him these things that his heart died within him and he became a stone. And it came to pass about 10 days after that the Lord smote naval and he died. So he goes into a coma and Navel dies. The irony is sharp. Abigail returns home, Navel's hosting a feast like the Feast of the King and the irony's thick because the real king is sleeping in the cave and the fool is throwing a royal banquet. And he is drunk. And when Abigail tells him what happens, his heart fell. And the Lord strikes him dead 10 days later and David never drew a sword. Verse 39. And when David heard that Navel was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Navel and hath kept his servant from evil. And the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Navel upon his own hand. God handled what David almost mishandled and that's grace. And the deepest comfort in this text is not David's growth. It's really God's faithfulness when David falters, right? Because it the future of Israel had depended on David's emotional stability, his in an ending faithfulness. If it had depended on that, it would have gone away in this moment. And this chapter would have ended in a disaster, but God got intervening, he kept his promise not only from the enemies, but also the impulses of his own children. And this is comforting because the fulfillment of the Lord's purpose in our lives depends on our flawless reactions. And we would do Raylett regularly, the security, the security of your redemption does not rest on your composure. Hallelujah. It rests on Christ's accomplishment. And when our identity is anchored in Christ's finished work, insults lose their power to destabilize us. This is 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21, for even here too were ye called, because Christ who suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. Christ left us an example who didn't us in neither was gall found in his mouth. Who here it is, verse 23, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. Who his own self bear our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. Christ died to leave us an example and he left us a perfect example. He didn't leave us a David example that when somebody insults you, you strap up 400 men to go murder every man in the village. Christ lived perfectly for us and because he lived perfectly for us because he took us and died on that tree, now we get to live righteously. He didn't live righteously and then earned his his affection. He loved you and his empowerment enables you to live righteously. Hallelujah, because we are emotionally unstable people. And here's the juxtaposition between David and Christ. David needed Abigail to restrain him. Jesus didn't need anybody. He was reviled and reviled not. David almost retaliated over an insult, but Jesus endured mockery, spitting, a crown of thorns and nails to a cross and never retaliated. And where David needed mercy, Jesus became mercy where David required intervention. Jesus was our intervention. So grace. Grace doesn't rest on your calmness. It rests on the finished work of Christ. So that's liberating. Now you don't have to avenge every insult because your identity is already secured. You don't have to fight every slight because your future is already anchored. Now you you don't have to prove yourself because the king of kings has already claimed you and because he did the battles that you refuse to fight in pride becomes testimonies of trust. The greatest victory is not defeating your enemy is laying down your sword and trusting the one who has never lost control. If you'd like to serve Christ as we do here at Camp Creek Church, we give you that chance as we stand and sing him number one. We'll sing the first and the last dance of him. And number one, opening the doors of the church for the reception of members just come on for stand if you'd like God has been my.