Nothing Better for Me Than to Trust God Part 2

Guest (Male): Feeling some pressure to make a quick decision? Pastor Ed has this to say on the matter.
Pastor Ed Taylor: When Satan's beginning to pressure you into action, it's always got to happen quickly. You just know it's not from the Lord because the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and patience, long suffering, either depends on what version you use. The fruit of the spirit is patience. The rottenness of the devil and the world system is quick and now got to do it. Do it now. Even marketers understand that and salespeople. Limited time, act now. How many infomercials have you seen limited time, act now that have been on the air for like 10 years? If you just call right now, the first 30 people right now. Oh my gosh, when? 1975? When is what 30 people got that deal? I mean, come on now. The devil's just like that. Hurry up. Do it now.
Guest (Male): Amy Carmichael once said, if God can make his birds to whistle in drenched and stormy darkness, if he can make his butterflies able to bear up under rain, what can he not do for the heart that trusts him? We know that trust is a must during the storms of life. But what's the normal course of action when a crisis strikes? Many of us sink deeply into discouragement, lose heart. Even some turn their back on God. Today on Abounding Grace, we learn a thing or two from a low point in David's life. In 1 Samuel 27, we learn there's nothing better for you and me than to trust God. We'll start things off in Romans today.
Pastor Ed Taylor: Turn over to Romans with me chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. We get to see the insight in David's life of what it looks like in someone else to have a lapse of faith so that we can look back on our own lives and say this is what it looks like to others when we have a lapse of faith. This is the pattern. It's a lack of the trusting in the Lord even when things look completely contrary to the promise of God. Notice with me Romans chapter 4 verse 16. Romans 4 16. Therefore, it is a faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all see. Notice the promise is to be what? Sure. The promises of God are sure. Not only to those who are of the law, but to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who's the father of us all. As it is written, that's where we find the promises of God. I've made you a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed, even God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Do you think God's worthy of being trusted? God has some power. He can call things that he can call things that don't exist just like they did. Why? Because he knows. He knows. He is calling David right now. That that is the promise of God. He is calling David that doesn't exist. David, you're the king. It doesn't exist, but he says it as if it does. Why? Because it's going to it's going to exist. He says in verse 18 who contrary to hope in hope believes. See, everything was against hope. It was hopeless, but by faith he believed. May the Lord give you and me that kind of faith when things seem hopeless because just because they seem hopeless doesn't mean they are because you can you can even though everything is contrary to hope. Here's the answer. Everything's contrary to hope, but in hope you can believe. So that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken. So shall your descendants, see the plural, be verse 19. And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb. You know, Abraham was given the promise of a child and his body said no way. If he went to the doctor, the doctor said no way. If they did an ultrasound and checked for all the parts that were needed, no way. And did a test on all the things that were necessary, no way. And and maybe the doctors didn't even do the test and like, dude, look at yourself. Here's a mirror. It's free right there. You're old. You don't need a doctor for that. And I'm not going to speak about your wife. You can do that. I mean, from the age of their bodies, it's just like no way. How often we've been ripped off from the best in God because we've trusted our eyes and we've relied upon our feelings instead of everything being contrary to hope, we just lose hope. But like Abraham, we need to follow him. Everything's contrary to hope. So what do you do? You are counter intuitive. That's how God is. That's how the life of the spirit is. It would make sense in the natural realm, in the physical realm, in our humanity, if everything's contrary to hope, then let's just throw up our hands and be hopeless. But from the spiritual, in the spirit, you never lose hope because God's the very source of hope and a hopeless person is a fleshly person. That's where David is. A hopeless person is a fleshly person because in verse 20 mark this, memorize it. You want you're looking for a verse to memorize, mark this verse. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God and being fully convinced that he, the speaking of God had promised, he was also able to perform. He did not waver at the promise of God. You can pray for that. Through unbelief, but he was strengthened in faith. You can pray for that. Giving glory to God, you can do that. Being fully convinced, you can have that that the promises of God, that the God that made the promise is also able to perform it. It will sustain you even in the most difficult times. It's trouble to think to think to ourselves and I quote, I better do some about it cuz obviously look, God isn't doing anything about it. Look. Don't you see and then you start asking, what do you think God's doing? I God's doing nothing. What do you think God do? God doesn't do nothing. Well, what has God done before? You know, every single time God's done nothing. That that's that's not going to build your faith. You're going to start to believe the naysayers. You're going to start to believe the discouraging reports. You going to start to conclude God isn't keeping his word. God's not fulfilling his promise. And as Pastor Chuck said and I quote, that's just an opening to invitation for a disaster. Yes, sir, Pastor Chuck, you're right. I've seen it. The minute that I think I can take better care of my life than God, the minute that I think I can improve upon God's plan for me or my family, that I've got to take over now and I've got to do it myself and I'm feeling pressure and I'm afraid and I have unbelief. When I think I got to help God out. Well, you know, I I know what God wants. I know. And you know what? I how can God do it without my help? And I jump in. It's disaster. Warren Wiersbe put it this way. God was using the difficulties in David's life to make him a man of God and prepare him for the throne. But now he decided to go his own way and solve his own problems. God's children must be careful not to yield to despondency. Moses was discouraged over his heavy workload and wanted to die. Elijah ran from the place of duty because of fear and discouragement. And when we start to look at God through our circumstances, instead of looking at our circumstances through God's eyes, we'll lose faith, we'll lose patience, we'll lose courage, and the enemy will triumph. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding end quote. Remember back in verse 1. Making a lot of progress, I know. But please do take note once again of that phrase nothing better for me. That 's a sad false conclusion. Nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the enemy, David says. Nothing better for me than to cast my lot in with the Philistines because obviously King Saul and Israel isn't helping this life on the run for 7 years. But really the truth is there's nothing better for you or me than to submit myself totally to the will of God. There's nothing better for you and me than just rest in his care leaning on his promises, looking to him for approval and help. And by the way, my my heart goes out to you today if this is right where you are in your Christian life. This encapsulates the season of your life right now. My heart goes out to you. I'm not standing here judging you or putting you down, no way. It's a very sad thing to be in the middle of. It's a very sad thing to watch in a person's life. My heart actually aches with you and I just pray that you I just pray that you do the right thing. I pray that you exercise the faith that God has already given you as a believer. I pray that you trust him. As a matter of fact, let me just pray for you right now. God, I I pray for those that are back up against the wall, getting bad advice, talking to themselves, trying to figure it out, fearful, depressed, pressured. And they've come to the conclusion there's nothing better for me than to escape this problem. There's nothing better for me than to escape this difficulty. There's nothing better for me than to take things into my own hands. And I just pray you to establish them by your promises and give them the faith that was given to Abraham. It wasn't much, but it was enough. And this has caused great trial and calamity, this attitude for so many. Not just the one making the decision, but the one that has to handle the consequences of that decision. And I just pray for those that might be under the heavyweight of conviction or perhaps even the heavyweight of condemnation tonight. You would relieve them of that burden by drawing them to yourself. And where repentance might be necessary, you would speak that into their lives through brokenness and contrition, Lord. And we recognize like David, we we live a very imperfect life and yet at the same time God we we want to walk in the spirit not fulfilling the lust of the flesh in Jesus name. Amen. You see David here in verse 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 cuz it says in verse 2 that he acted on his emotions that David arose and went over with his 600 men. And then verse 3 it says David dwelt. And then it was told to Saul that he fled and then Saul so David saw the results cuz Saul sought him no more. It would be very easy to conclude my scheme worked because look at the result is so quickly. I feel so much better. King Saul left me alone. Disobeying God through lapses of faith never works. God never blesses that. And see, he's not just emotionally drained, but he's also feared with fear and anxiety for his life. He's tired. It's not fair. He's the godly man and paying a high price for the sins of someone else. So he's not just come to the wrong conclusion, but you see there's another word here that that you don't want to miss. And he he speaks of this phrase, so I shall escape out of his hand. And in the phrase I want to point out to you is in the beginning where it says there's nothing better for me than I should mark that word speedily. This is happening very quickly. That's a key for us. We don't want to miss that word. It would be not wise for us just to skip over that word. So let me give you the wisdom here. When Satan's beginning to pressure you into action, it's always got to happen quickly. You just know it's not from the Lord because the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, and patience, long suffering, either depends on what version you use. The fruit of the spirit is patience. The rottenness of the devil and the world system is quick and now got to do it. Do it now. Hurry. Don't think about it. Don't think about the consequences. Don't think about other people. Don't think just just get it done. You got to go go go speedily. Get out of here. Make the decision. And even the present day marketers, they totally understand this. I don't know if you totally understand it, but all of these, you know, the offer is not good. The offer is only good till Friday. What? Friday? It's only good till Friday? What's the price on Saturday? I I mean, it just it got you you you were completely no. Says well, you know, when I walk out the door, I'm sorry. It's not it's not the offer. Even marketers understand then salespeople. Limited time, act now. How many infomercials have you seen limited time, act now that have been on the air for like 10 years? If you just call right now, the first 30 people right now. Oh my gosh, when? 1975? When is what 30 people got that deal? I mean, come on now. The devil's just like that. Hurry up. Do it now. And when we are pressured into the speedy decisions, then we act before we have an opportunity to pray, before we have an opportunity to spiritually think it through, we move out on our own without seeking the council of God. And that was David's problem. You know, he had the priest with him. He could have sought the Lord. He he had the priest with him. He had his own prayer life. The priest had the ephod. David had been consulting God. God had already warned David that Saul was coming. God showed him. God delivered him. He sought God through the priest, but in this case there's nothing about God seeking the Lord, seeking the will of God. He's acting now just out of his own analysis, his own emotion, his own situation, his own conclusions, not seeking any guidance, not seeking the council of God and and not even giving anybody a chance to give him council. Why? Cuz he's got to move speedily. He's got to move speedily even after we see at the end of chapter 26 that God had already shown his presence. He had already tested him with Saul again. And Saul said at the end of 26, you know, I've sinned and all the empty words, but still you can see the faithfulness of God. Satan will so often pressure us into actions that we spend years regretting, if not lifetimes regretting because we hurried into a situation without waiting upon God first and getting the mind of God. And if God wants it for you, listen friends, if God wants it for you, it'll be there tomorrow. Even after the Friday deadline, if God wants it for you, you don't have to worry about it. It'll be there next week. You can spend a week in prayer on it. And the more heavy the situation, the more prayer required. And the less action. And just wait on the Lord. Speedily in pressures not from the Lord. Verse 5. Then David said to Achish, if I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore, Ziklag belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistine was one full year and 4 months. 16 months in the enemy's territory, 16 months thrown away to never get again, 16 months of compromise, 16 months of sin, 16 months of corruption, 16 months of bad example to the men and the families that he had with them. David arrives and he goes right to the king. He wants favor with the king. No doubt the king, this is all military exercise here. I 'm sure the king is fine. An enemy of Saul is my friend. An enemy of Saul is my friend. I really mean I mean David could have been Achish enemy too. But as we've seen time and time again like in the day of Jesus, if there's a common enemy, even the enemies become friends to destroy another person. Have you ever noticed that? I think there's a phrase. I don't know what it is, but I 'm sure there's a phrase that you know like your enemy is my friend or my friend. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. That's probably some from some monster movie. Why do you guys watch that stuff? So what is it? The the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I I've seen that many times. Jesus saw it. Perhaps you've experienced it. And here it is with David. But that's not the way of the Lord. The way of the Lord is this. Proverbs chapter 16 verse 7. You can jot it down. When the ways of people please the Lord, he'll make even his their enemies live at peace with them. That's the right phrase. The enemy of my enemy could be my friend when my ways please the Lord. And there can be reconciliation. Summarized there in verse 7, we see he met 16 months and David must have thought he had it made 16 months of relative peace. And when we find out he goes out and fights and does some things in a moment, but at least Saul's not after him. It seems like relative peace. Saul's not chasing him. The enemy's not harassing him. He became comfortable in the enemy territory, but it's not true. Things always start out seemingly easy, but sin always complicates things. I repeat, sin always complicates things. Verse 8. David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the the the Girzites, and the Amalekites for those nations were the inhabitants of the land from old as you go to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt. Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the ox, and the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel and returned and came to Achish. Then Achish would say, where have you made a raid today? And David would say against the southern area of Judah, against the southern area of Jaharal Amalekites, and against the southern area of the Kenites. Man, that's a that's a pretty slick answer, isn't it? Where you been fighting today? Oh, in that area over there. You know the area of Judah. You know the area and what would Achish conclude? He's on my side. In the area of Judah, he's taking out Israel for me. Wow, what an ally to have. David would save neither man verse 11 or woman alive to bring news to Gath, right? He wiped everyone out. He's such so deep in his sin, so deep in his lie that he would wipe everyone out so nobody could come back and say, you've got a problem Achish. David is no friend to you. Unless they should inform on us saying thus David did and so was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. So Achish believed David saying he has made his people Israel utterly abhor him. Therefore, he will be my servant for other forever. These Iites were all in the area of Judah in the southern part. David and his men launched attacks on the Canaanite tribes. David won every battle battle he fought, it says. But don't confuse outward its success with the approval of God. Don't mistake what seemingly seems like peace and safety for 16 months of compromise. If you enter into the 16 months on day one in compromise, then every other day of 16 months will be another day of compromise. It doesn't change somewhere down the road. It's like well, you know, I haven't experienced the judgment of God yet. It's coming. Yeah, but wait a minute. I thought Jesus took upon my himself all the the pain and penalty of my sin. He did. He did positionally before God the Father. But he didn't remove 16 months of compromise and the consequences of compromise. He didn't take that upon himself. He took the consequences of sin before God the Father so that you can stand as a holy righteous man in Jesus Christ forgiven. But just because it's silent, just because you think it's peaceful, just because you haven't dealt with the consequences yet, please don't confuse that with God's approval. Oh look, David's successful. He won every battle against the enemy. Look at all that he got. He got the sheep and the ox and the donkeys. Wow, the camels, the clothing. I mean, he's so rich, so much. But he's not doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. And he's lying and murdering. He made Achish believe he was killing his own people, but what Achish didn't know was David David's bent toward lying. Did you notice that in David's life yet? David had a bent toward dishonesty. He asked Jonathan to lie for him in chapter 20 verse 6. He lied to Abimelech in chapter 21 verse 2. And later he'll lie in a huge way when he tries to cover up his adultery and conception of a child with Bathsheba in chapter 11 of 2 Samuel. This was an area in his life not submitted to God. How can a man of God? How can a man that's described as after God's own heart lie? Not too long ago we had someone call into the radio broadcast to call Calvary Live and ask a similar question. Why does God approve of that sin? Let me say that God doesn't approve of that sin. Yeah, but it's in the Bible. It's in the Bible, so you would see that God tells the truth about the people that he uses. It's not in there that God anywhere says he approves of sin or adultery or you know the redefinition of marriage or any of the weird stuff that it's out there today. This something's in the Bible or something's declared in the Bible that is sin doesn't mean that God's approving of it. He's simply telling us about it. God doesn't approve of sin, but he does use imperfect people. God sees and knows the heart, your heart and mind. And David will pay a high price for not walking in God with his sin. God isn't justifying sin. He's this isn't so well, how can God approve of David a man after God's own heart? How can David have all these sins and and God's approving? That's not what's happening here. God is not justifying sin. God is using a man in spite of his sin. In relationship, knowing that God will speak to him, God will be close to him. This isn't approval, not at all. In spite of sin, God still used David. God doesn't give up on David. And eventually turn over to Psalm 120 Psalm 120 here. God doesn't give up on David. God doesn't give up on you or me. Notice Psalm 120. Eventually we're going to hear David's heart. Eventually we're going to see it. He cries out in distress here in Psalm 120 and notice in my distress I cried to the Lord. And he heard me. Deliver my soul, oh Lord, from lying lips. David knew it. David knew it all along. You know, sometimes you'll see something and then the other person goes, no, that's not me. That's not me. You know, believe me. They know. And in God's timing, one day David will finally say, deliver me, Lord, from my lying lips from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to you or what shall be done to you, you false tongue? Sharp arrows of the warrior and coals of the broom tree. Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech and I dwell among the tents of Kedar. My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I'm for peace, but when I speak they are for war. You see it was being around lying lips that God revealed to him his own lying lips. Nothing's wasted by God. And though the Lord was gracious to deliver David and his men from participating in the battles against Israel, he isn't obligated to step in and deliver his people from situations caused by their own sinful decisions. Why? What does the Bible say? We reap what we sow. And in later years David suffers from his being deceived by fam them fam members of his own staff, member of his own family. And all we can do at the end of chapter 27 is just say a prayer for ourselves. Lord, help us in our humanity. That's really the only conclusion. We're no different than David and except that the story's different. The details might be different, but on our own lives we find oh Lord, protect me from in my heart, protect me from myself, protect me from the speedily pressure packed feelings that I'm having, the the pressure of life, the discouragement, the depression, the difficulty. Just just Lord, help us in our humanity. And I believe that's a prayer that God will answer. Amen.
Guest (Male): Thanks for hanging out with us today here on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. Are you interested in hearing this again? If so, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com. What happens when God's spirit invades the heart of his people? Author Jim Symbola sets out to answer that very question in his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. With over a million copies sold, this book will show you what the Holy Spirit can do when believers get serious about prayer and the gospel. Give us a call at 877-30 Grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado here in Aurora.