WHEN DAVID ALMOST BECAME SAUL
1 Samuel 25:13-31
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A boy refused to take a bath. His mother insisted. He still objected. His mother asked, “Why do you think you shouldn’t?”
2. He replied, “My Sunday school teacher said we shouldn’t do anything in private we wouldn’t do in public!”
3. I think we’d all agree with the general idea: we shouldn’t do anything in private we wouldn’t do in public. No secret sins. Tonight, we’re going to see how David almost veered off into serious sin. Read with me:
B. TEXT
21 David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s [Nabal] property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22 May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!” 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David...[Abigail said] 28 “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. 30 When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, 31 my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself.” 1 Sam. 25:13,21-22,28-31
C. THESIS
1. SUMMARY: David had allowed the same spirit of revenge that was on Saul to influence him into murdering all the men of Nabal’s house. God sent Abigail to save him from ruining his character. May God give us such friends! who will help save us from doing wrong!
2. We see in this that sometimes we become like those who offend us – like our parents, etc. We’ll see that God sends people into our lives to thwart us from tarnishing our reputation by wrongdoing.
3. The title of this message is “When David Almost Became Saul.”
I. HOW WE BECOME LIKE OUR PARENTS
A. THE TEENAGER’S NIGHTMARE
1. How many of you remember when you were a teenager – that you thought your parents were old-fashioned, stick-in-the-muds from the Stone Age? If you were like me, you often promised yourself you would NEVER be like your parents!
2. Many kids make big efforts to break from their parent’s lifestyle – they a). MOVE away, b). CUT TIES with parents, c). adopt an OPPOSITE LIFESTYLE, d). convert to a DIFFERENT RELIGION or abandon it altogether, e). do things they know will AGGRAVATE their parents (shave their heads, get tattoos, go wild, do drugs, etc.). All this to make the point: “I’m NOT going to be like my parents!”
B. BECOMING LIKE YOUR PARENTS IS INESCAPABLE
1. Psychological studies now prove, “If you are over 33 years old, it’s likely that you have started to behave like your parents.” As the Star-Trek Borg Collective always say, “RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!”
2. One young woman was packing for the holidays to go see her family. She started cleaning her apartment. Her boyfriend said, “Why don’t you clean it when you get back?” And she said, “I don’t want to come home to a dirty house.” She was stunned to realize that’s EXACTLY what her mother would’ve said!
3. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN? Because 50-58% of our personality traits are hereditary – that is, they’re programmed into our DNA! Things like obsessive traits: double-checking the doors, or making sure the lights are all turned out, or that the gas is turned off.
4. A study carried out in the United Kingdom revealed that when women reach the age of 33, they begin to behave more like their mothers, adopting habits, tastes and attitudes very similar to theirs. For men, it’s 34. https://psychology-spot.com/why-do-we-resemble-our-parents-behave-speak/
C. HUMOROUS EXAMPLES OF IMPRINTING
1. SONG BIRD. Parker Hilton said when he’s walking through a grocery store or eating in a restaurant and he hears a song playing in the background – he’ll interrupt the conversation to belt out the words of the song – just like his Dad did! (He was often embarrassed by his Dad doing this.)
2. HE BECAME THE “MOM” OF THE GROUP. Keith Reid-Cleveland realized he’d inherited his Mom’s very unique personality. At college he became the designated dad (or mom?) of his group of friends; always checking on everybody and making sure they “made it home,” just like his Mom did.
3. “THAT LAUGH.” Alyssa Fikse realized that she and her dad had the same laugh. She even developed his wheezy, silent shake. LUCKILY, she also got her mom’s love of reading. No one could talk books or history with her quite like her mom.
4. BORDERLINE HOARDING. Dan Seitz’s parents hoarding of things always annoyed him; “I’ll never do that when I’m grown!” But then – dreadful truth – he found himself unable to throw away disposable, one-use items. He bought a TV-stereo set that had a disposable screwdriver for assembly. He couldn’t throw it away! He figured out that HE had developed his parent’s borderline hoarding behavior! https://uproxx.com/life/similarities-to-parents/
II. HOW DAVID BECAME LIKE SAUL
A. SAUL’S MISTREATMENT
1. 1 Samuel 18 Saul heard them singing, “Saul has slain his 1,000s, and David his 10,000s!” Saul became jealous and wanted to kill David. Saul tried throwing spears at David. He put spies around him. He took David’s wife away. Saul sent people to arrest him. He sent 3,000 men to Kill David.
2. How do fig wasp’s eggs end up in a mature fig? Eggs are laid in it while it’s only a flower, and they lay there dormant until the fruit is mature. We have to be careful we don’t allow the evil seeds of Adam or Cain’s nature to come up in us!
3. The spirit of revenge that manifested in Saul must have laid its eggs somewhere in David’s nature, the old carnal seed. David was originally pure; God called him “a man after His own heart.”
4. I’m sure David had said to himself while being pursued by Saul, “I’m never going to be a hateful person like Saul when I’m king!”
B. BITTERNESS HARDENED DAVID’S HEART
1. But later when Nabal insulted David, saying, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat...and give it to men coming from who knows where?” 1 Sam. 25:10-11. It stung David.
2. Nabal was lying; he knew plenty about David. Who had not heard of his victory over Goliath? Or how David led the armies of Israel into battle against the Philistines? Nabal was just being insulting.
3. David’s anger almost led him to indiscriminately kill a bunch of people – it would have been an over-reaction. Satan used Nabal to try to detour David and to ruin his character in the eyes of God and people.
III. ABIGAIL: GOD’S AGENT TO AVERT DAVID
A. WE ALL NEED AN ABIGAIL
1. As soon as he heard her, David recognized that Abigail was an agent sent from God to protect him from failing the character test. How many times we’ve needed Abigails!
2. Abigails keep us back from sin; they’re the angels that lead us away from Sodom. They keep us from turning to the dark side. David’s hands would have been stained with innocent blood had Abigail not intercepted him.
3. Have you ever noticed that it’s easier to be a Christian around certain people? They are good influences; they make you want to do the right thing!
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. When Gordon Maxwell, missionary to India, asked a Hindu scholar to teach him the language, the Hindu replied, “No, Sahib. I will not teach you my language. You would make me a Christian.”
2. Maxwell answered, “You misunderstand me. [I’m not asking you to become a Christian.] I’m simply asking you to teach me your language.” The Hindu responded, “No, Sahib. I will not teach you. NO MAN CAN LIVE WITH YOU & NOT BECOME A CHRISTIAN!” [Paul Lee Tan, 7,700 Illus., #3039]
3. We need to choose - to be around good influences and not bad ones. Wholesome people will edify us, spiritually, but ungodly people will tempt us to do something we shouldn’t. CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS CAREFULLY!
4. WILBUR CHAPMAN’S RULE FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING: “Anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult is wrong for me, and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it.” [7,700; # 3108]
5. He’s saying that it’s NOT just things that are sinful which must be avoided, but anything that will quench your fire, as a Christian. Even GOOD THINGS not done in moderation – TV time, social media, eating food, sports, vacations -- etc., would fall under this rule. Is what we’re doing stoking the fire in our souls, or damping it out?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Casualties of War
1. The movie “Casualties of War” tells the true story of a squad of soldiers which fought in the Vietnam War. While there they both saw and participated in some terrible crimes.
2. One of their crimes was to abduct and rape a young Vietnamese girl. The lead role in the film is played by Michael J. Fox. He takes on the character of a Private Erikson, a soldier who is part of the squad but didn’t join in the abduction and rape.
3. As he struggles with what has happened, he says to the other men in his squad, “Just because each of us might at any second be blown away, we’re acting like we can do anything we want, as though it doesn’t matter what we do. I’m thinking it’s just the opposite. Because we might be dead in the next split second, maybe we gotta be extra careful what we do. Because maybe it matters more. Maybe it matters more than we ever know.”
B. THE CALL
1. He’s right! The fact that we DON’T KNOW how long we have to live, and that we’re going to stand before the Judgment Seat -- are important reasons to be careful to do the right thing.
2. We need to all recognize that we have the seeds of potential failure in our DNA. We don’t want to be like Grandpa Adam or Grandma Eve.
3. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author & Finisher of our faith. Let’s let Jesus be our example and the Holy Spirit our guide to transformation into Jesus’ likeness!
4. How many want to join in that prayer? How many want a new relationship with God tonight? How many need forgiveness of sins? Let’s PRAY!
[The kernel for this message came from statements by Tim Dilena.]
