1 SAMUEL 23:15-29 PURSUE GODS HEART TOWARD PEOPLE AROUND YOU2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 23:15-29 Pursue Gods Heart Toward People Around You

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

We're going to be in 1 Samuel chapter 23, continuing our journey through the book of 1 Samuel and continuing to look at and understand what it means to pursue God's heart and what it means to be a man or a woman after God's own heart, just like David was, just like the prophet Samuel was, just like Hannah was even before that, just like Jonathan was.

uh, was as well. And, and so we've seen many examples of that. We're continuing to, to really focus on the life of David now and his, uh, journey to become the King of Israel. God's already declared that it would take place, but it's a windy road to get there and some wilderness experiences. And, uh,

He is in the middle of being pursued by King Saul, who is determined to put an end to God's plan and to not let David be king. But of course, God is going to overrule and have his will be accomplished. Last week, we had the Thanksgiving service, and so we took a break from 1 Samuel. But two weeks ago, we saw the first part of 1 Samuel 23, where David has now kind of come back to his senses.

He's come back to a reliance upon the Lord. He's asking God for direction each step of the way and setting a great model for us on how to let God lead us step by step, moment by moment, situation by situation. And David has been hearing from the Lord and following again in the things that God has spoken to him.

And so now we're picking that up again, and David is still on the run and still hiding from Saul, but God is still delivering him from the hand of Saul. And so I want to read the portion this evening as we get started, and then we'll jump into what God has for us. And so we're looking at 1 Samuel 23.

verses 15 through 29. It's a little bit of a longer passage, but I think it's important for us to read it all the way through and understand the different components of what's happening so that we can get a good picture of what God wants for us this evening. So bear with me, read along with me, and let's work our way from verse 15 through 29. It says in verse 15, "'So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a forest.'"

Then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, do not fear for the hand of Saul, my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that. So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord and David stayed in the woods and Jonathan went to his own house. Verse 19.

Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, is David not hiding with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hekila, which is on the south of Jeshamon? Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand. And Saul said, blessed are you of the Lord for you have compassion on me.

Please go and find out for sure and see the place where his hideout is and who has seen him there, for I am told he is very crafty. See therefore and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides and come back to me with certainty and I will go with you. And it shall be if he is in the land that I will search for him throughout all the clans of Judah. So they arose and went to Ziph before Saul.

But David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain of the south of Jeshamon. Then Saul and his men went to seek him. They told David, therefore he went down to the rock and stayed at the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David into the wilderness of Maon. Verse 26. Then Saul went on one side of the mountain and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. So David made haste to get away from Saul.

For Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them. But a messenger came to Saul saying, hurry and come for the Philistines have invaded the land. Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David and went against the Philistines. So they called that place the rock of escape. Then David went up from there and dwelt in the strongholds at En Gedi.

Here in 1 Samuel chapter 23, again, we're looking at David and watching him, journeying with him as he is hiding from Saul, fleeing for his life as Saul is out to kill him.

But as we look at this passage and we look at this encounter that David has with Saul in the wilderness, what I really took note of as I was reading through this in preparation for tonight is the way that people were relating to David throughout the passage. I've titled the message this evening, Pursue God's Heart Toward People Around You.

And I want to ask you to consider the different ways that people are relating to David throughout this passage. And I would ask you to consider which ones best reflect the heart of God. You could look at the beginning of the passage where we see Jonathan who comes to David and strengthens him or strengthens his hand in God. And then we will look at the Ziphites.

this group of people who lived in this town nearby where David was hiding, they go and they tell Saul where David's at. They go and

tell on him. They're tattletales. They betray him, you know, however you want to describe it. But they go inform on him to Saul where he is hiding. And then, of course, you have Saul interacting with David and chasing him around the wilderness. Now, as you look at Jonathan, as you look at the Ziphites, as you look at Saul, which of these best reflect the heart of God in

towards David. Which of these are, you know, in a full-on pursuit of God's heart as they relate to David? And of course, as you look at this, you would, uh,

see and understand that Jonathan is accurately representing the heart of God. And we see that God is working in David and delivering David. And so in spite of Saul's attempts in fighting against God, David is being preserved and protected by God. But along the way, the way that people are interacting with him is, it's important to consider. And it's important to consider for us because we

Well, we interact with a lot of people and we have, you know, relationships with people around us. And it is really important that we keep at the forefront of our minds that the reality that we have a responsibility to

to pursue God's heart towards those people in our lives. That as we talk about pursuing God's heart, it's not just, you know, me in my private devotional time in my closet, I'm pursuing God's heart and it's just me and only me and not you and nobody else, you know, and it's just me and Jesus and that's all I need and I'm pursuing God's heart. But then I go outside of the closet and I start interacting with you and I relate to you in a way that is not representative of God's heart towards you.

So if I'm angry with you and God's not angry with you, if I'm cursing you and God's not cursing you, if I'm happy with you and God's not happy with you, you understand I'm not reflecting God's heart to you. And so I might be pursuing God's heart, you know, me privately in my closet all by myself and be convinced that I'm good. I'm pursuing God's heart. But

But the reality is God also calls us to pursue his heart in regards to all that we do, not just that prayer time in the closet where nobody's interfering or irritating us, right? That it's meant to be that we represent his heart and pursue his heart in all aspects of our lives. Remember the great commandments. Jesus said there were two, the two most important commandments, love God and

And how do you love God? With all your heart and soul and mind and strength, right? That's pursuing God's heart.

And then love your neighbor. That's the second greatest commandment. And those two go together and you can't have one without the other. If you love God, you're going to love your neighbor. And the only way you're ever going to be able to love your neighbor is if you love God. And so the same thing is true for us. In pursuing God's heart, it's not just about that closet devotional time. It's not just about your personal decisions and the things that you think only affect you, but it really does impact us.

how we relate to one another and how we interact with one another and the way that we reflect and portray the heart of God towards each other. Love is doing what is best for people that you love. It's doing what is best for them. And the only way that you can do that, the only way that you can do what's best for somebody is to genuinely pursue God's heart.

And have his heart and his mind on what's best for them in their lives and from you. And so pursue God's heart toward people around you. We're going to look at these three different examples of Jonathan, the Zephites, and Saul. And just to make it fun and confusing, we're going to go backwards through the passage, okay? We're going to start with verses 25 through 29 for point number one. And that is, don't pursue people against God's will.

As we talk about pursuing God's heart towards people around you, here's what we need to know. There is a pursuit against people that is not right, that is not appropriate. There's campaigns that we launch, and maybe they're not, you know, with all kinds of social media or billboards, but campaigns in our hearts and in our minds against people that is not according to God's will, and that is not appropriate.

The pursuit of God's heart. Jumping into verse 25 again, it says, when Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, therefore he went down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David into the wilderness of Maon.

Saul has been in pursuit of David for some time. We have this chart that we refer to from time to time of Saul's attempts to kill David throughout the book of 1 Samuel. And you can see, you know, from throwing spears at him, from plotting and planning and trying to get him to be killed by the Philistines in the midst of battle, for, you know, the various ways that Saul has attempted and tried in a lot of ways. And

He is wanting to put David to death. Now Saul knows what God has said. God has clearly told Saul his kingdom is coming to an end. And God has told Saul through the prophet Samuel, I'm taking the kingdom from you and I'm giving it to your neighbor who is better than you. And he has suspected for a long time, ever since David went out to

fight against Goliath, that David was the guy that God was choosing to place over the kingdom of Israel. And Saul and his rebellion against God has been fighting that plan of God. Since he suspects it's David, he has been on a rampage trying to

to kill David, trying to get rid of David so that David will not be king. In fact, he even threw a spear at his own son, Jonathan, a few chapters back saying, look, as long as David's alive, Jonathan, you can't be king. And so he is bound and determined to make his own will happen. And that is he wants his son to be king. He wants his legacy to continue. He wants Jonathan to be on the throne, but he knows that's not what God wants.

And yet he is working hard. He is fighting hard. Here in this chapter, in 1 Samuel 23, verse 17, as Jonathan is talking to David and telling him, hey, David, you are going to be king. He says in verse 17, even my father Saul knows that. My dad knows it, Jonathan says. My dad knows that you're called to be king. He knows that's what God wants. Even my dad knows that. But here we find Saul still pursuing God.

David. It's against the will of God. He is fighting against God and taking it out on David. And that is something that we need to be careful of. Sometimes we don't get that excited about what God plans for us. I mean, we talk about

hey, Jesus loves you. You know, God loves you. He has a plan for your life. And, you know, that's presumed to be a good thing. And it is a good thing. You know, we all, we know that it's a good thing as far as eternity is concerned. But, you know, we also recognize that sometimes God asks us to do things that we don't want to do. Sometimes God commands us to do things that we don't want to do. Sometimes God orchestrates situations and things in our lives that

We're not happy with, and we don't want, and we want it to be some other way. And we want to be out of that situation and in a different situation. And we can easily find ourselves like Saul in a place of fighting against the will of God. And one of the great dangers of that is not just the issue of fighting against the will of God, but there are people who pay the price of our battle against God's will. There are people affected by our rebellion against God that

And we begin to pursue people against God's will as we rebel against what God has for us and what God has set before us. And we're fighting against that. And there are people that pay the price. There are victims, there are casualties.

Because we are so resistant to the will of God. Verse 26, we see that Saul went to one side of the mountain and David and his men went on the other side of the mountain. And so David made haste to get away from Saul. For Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them. This paints a nice picture for us, right? You see them kind of scattering and they're separated by this mountain. And David's going one way, Saul's going the other way. He sends half of his guys to go the other. They're trying to circle him.

You know, sometimes it's like you watch the kids running around after service, right? You know, the kids are like running around the chairs, right? And they're trying to get each other, trying to catch up. And that's what Saul is doing with David and seeking to take him out. And he's almost there. I mean, he's like this close. He's like right there.

And then God intervenes in verse 27. But a messenger came to Saul saying, hurry and come for the Philistines have invaded the land. Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David and went against the Philistines. So they called that place the rock of escape. They called that place by the skin of our teeth. You know, like we just barely made it. Like God just provided a division, a separation and God intervened.

He allowed the Philistines to come in at just the right time. And although Saul is fighting against God and trying to accomplish his own plans, God is protecting David. And he's been protecting David for a long time with a variety of means. This time he chooses to use the Philistines as they come into the land. It takes Saul away from his intention in taking David.

It tells us in verse 29, then David went up from there and dwelt in the strongholds at En Gedi. And so he's going to be at this place called En Gedi, which is like a little oasis in the desert, in the wilderness. And he's going to hide out there for a little bit. We'll see a little bit more about that next week as we go into chapter 24.

But here we have Saul pursuing David against God's will. He's fighting against God's will, and David is the one who's paying the price. Now, I think it's important for us to consider and understand, even though it's not exactly the point of this passage, but there is a place, an appropriate time, for there to be a pursuit of sorts, for there to be an attack of sorts, for there to be opposition against David.

situations or people in our lives sometimes. I would ask you to consider what God spoke about Nebuchadnezzar. Now, many years from what we're reading here in 1 Samuel chapter 23, Nebuchadnezzar is going to be the king of Babylon and Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar is going to be God's instrument. He's going to choose them and say, I'm going to use Babylon to come and bring judgment upon the nation of Israel for their rebellion against me.

And in Jeremiah chapter 27, verse six, it's one of many examples, but God declares this. Now I have given all these lands, that is all of Israel and all the areas around them. I've given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And notice what God says, my servant. And the beasts of the field, I have also given him to serve him. And so God declares, here's my will. All of these lands belong to Nebuchadnezzar.

And he's telling the nation of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah through the whole time, you can either submit to that and receive him as authority and king over this land, or if you fight against it, he will battle you and you will be destroyed.

But God's will is that he is the authority over the land. That he says, he's my servant. Nebuchadnezzar is my servant. And there are those times, there are those occasions where God calls us to fight. There are those occasions where it is appropriate for there to be a pursuit. There are those occasions. And it is appropriate in those instances where God wants to use us as an instrument, as

of pressure, destruction, judgment. It's not that we get to bring the judgment or it's our judgment, but it's that sometimes God will use people to bring what is necessary in the lives of the people around us. And in that case, it is totally appropriate. And so it's not that pursuit is always wrong. It's not that affliction in this way is always wrong, but that it needs to be according to God's will.

And the issue here is not so much the pursuit of David, but the rebellion against God's will. That's what Saul is fighting with. That's his real enemy. He thinks his enemy is David, but his enemy is God. Now, what's interesting about this is even though Saul was treating David like an enemy, David refused to treat Saul like an enemy. And again, we'll see that next week in chapter 24, where David has an opportunity to take Saul out

But you know what David does? He pursues the heart of God. And so even though this man, Saul, is doing so much harm towards him, David says, that's not what God wants. I'm not going to take his life because that's not what God wants. On the other hand, Saul is saying, I know what God wants. I don't want what God wants. And so I'm going to try my best to do what I want. Even if David was treating Saul like an enemy, it would be wrong for Saul.

to pursue David in this way, unless it was the heart of God. You see, it's only God who has the authority to say there needs to be some trouble brought. There needs to be some pursuit and some affliction. There needs to be some, you know, attack that is taking place. Only God has that authority. He does have that authority. And so if he calls us to that, then we need to follow that. But the issue is what's God's heart and it's God's heart.

a pursuit, an attack of the people around you. You know, there are people that you butt heads with. There are people that, you know, maybe kind of, it's one of those things where it doesn't take you long for both of your voices to be raised. Maybe there are situations that deliberately, like, yeah, any chance you get to kind of, you know, put in some jabs and to bring some affliction, that's a welcome opportunity as far as you're concerned. And

We need to be reminded this evening that if that's not the heart of God, then that is, like Saul, wrong. It's a pursuit against the will of God. It's a fighting against God. If that's not what God has for them, then we are not free to just treat people however we want.

That's not right. That's not appropriate. And we're not allowed to do that. And so don't pursue people against God's will. But instead, we need to represent the heart of God to the people around us. Well, moving on now to the previous verses, verses 19 through 24. I don't often teach backwards through a passage, but every once in a while we do it just for fun. Okay, so verses 19 through 24, we have point number two, and that is don't participate in other people's sins. Okay,

And here we're going to look at now the Ziphites. These are the inhabitants of this town nearby where David is hiding. In verse 19, it says, Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying,

Here as we look at the Ziphites now, we have this, it's kind of an interesting situation because it's not here in the passage clear and apparent that

what the motivation and the heart of the Ziphites is in the midst of this. Not everybody is privy to all of the context that we get in the scriptures here, right? Remember when David showed up with the priest and the priest didn't know about the contention between Saul and David and

And so as David is, you know, lying to him and hiding the truth, it works because not everybody knows the whole scenario and not everybody knows the whole situation. And here the Ziphites, we don't know exactly how much they know. I mean, we can imagine that they've been told that David is the enemy by Saul, right? By Saul's PR team, you know, that everybody is on the alert, that David's, you know, an enemy of the state as far as Saul is concerned. And so we can

guess we can surmise that that is probably the case, that they've probably been informed of that. But do we know that they understood or that they knew that David was innocent or that David was called to be king or that, you know, we don't know any of that. And so it's easy to look at this situation. So say, you know, those dirty Zipfites, you know, telling on David and can't believe them, you know, how they would participate in that. But

At the same time, we don't know how much they knew. But however much they knew, whatever their motivation was, they go to Saul in Gibeah and say, Saul, we know you're looking for David and we've seen him around. After he saved that city of Keilah and he's been hiding out in our backyard. In verse 21, Saul said, blessed are you of the Lord for you have compassion on me.

It's always interesting as we look at Saul invoke the name of the Lord. Oh, blessed are you. While he is in full rebellion against God, wants nothing to do with God, wants his plan, not God's plan. Blessed are you of the Lord. You know, using the verbiage, using the right words. But of course, his heart is so far away. Saul says, you know what? Please go find out for sure. Find out where his hideout is. Find out specifically who saw him there. Because I know that he's very crafty.

I don't want to be running all over the place unless it's really good information that you're bringing me. He says in verse 23, see therefore and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides and come back to me with certainty and I will go with you. And it shall be if he's in the land that I will search for him throughout all the clans of Judah. I'll look all over, but just come back with a word of absolute certainty that you can verify David is there. He has been seen.

Verse 24, it says, So David had moved on from the immediate area around of Ziph. And so they came back and, you know, they're going to tell Saul now he's moved on to this other area now. But again, considering the people of Ziph, what was their motivation?

You can think about it in one sense. Saul is their king. They don't really know necessarily the whole situation, the whole scenario. What they do know is that Saul's, you know, put out a, what's that? The, you know, everybody, all points out like an amber. Okay, that's a good one. Yeah. You know, anybody sees David, let me know.

Anybody sees David, you know, holler. It's everybody pay attention to this. And so you could think about it in one perspective and say, they're just doing what their king told them to do. Just like we are commanded, like in Romans chapter 13, right? To obey the laws of the land and to be submissive to the authorities that God has placed in our lives. You could look at the Ziphites and begin to think about them from that perspective and just understand that

They were just doing what their king told them to do. And the majority of the time you might say, that is what God wants us to do. But of course, this case is a little bit interesting because here we have Saul who's in rebellion against God, seeking to kill David. And again, we don't know what they knew. And so their participation, what they did here was, was this okay? Was this right? Was this good? This likely was done intentionally.

out of fear of Saul. And that's another factor for us to consider because it wasn't not that long ago when the priest Ahimelech, who had helped David, was killed by Saul and all of his family was killed. And then Doeg also killed the whole city of Nob where the priest lived. And so that whole town was wiped out because of Saul's anger and pursuit of David. And so it could be out of fear.

The men of Ziph are looking at each other and saying, look, we've heard rumors that David's around, you know, so-and-so saw him. And we don't want Saul coming here and wiping us out. So it's better for us to go and tell Saul where he's at so that at least we're off the hook. We're not in any danger because we weren't harboring him. We weren't hiding him. And so there's another perspective. You could look at the people of Ziph and just say they feared man more than God.

And behaved this way because of that. There's another perspective that you could consider as you look at this. And that is that they hoped to gain Saul's pleasure.

As you read through the verses and kind of the exchange that happens between Saul and the men of Ziph, there seems to be some indication like, hey, you know, remember us because like we're doing you this awesome favor and, you know, set us up and, you know, be kind to us and we're going to be good friends after this because we did you this awesome favor. And it could be this attempt to really kind of, you know, get some favorable position in Saul's eyes.

And so there's different ways to look at this. Maybe they were just patriotic. Our king told us to watch out for this guy, David. And so here he is. Or maybe it was fear. We're afraid. We don't want to be punished like that city was. And so we better tell on David when we see him. Maybe they were greedy. They were like, hey, if we do this to Saul, you know, he's gonna give us everything that we want. He'll give us anything we need. We're gonna have him made after this if we

let him know where David's at. We don't know what their motivation was. And there's a few different ways you could consider it. There's a few different ways you could take it. But we do have a little bit more insight from David himself in Psalm chapter 54. And I want to turn there for a moment. Would you turn there to Psalm chapter 54? We'll come back here to 1 Samuel in just a moment. But there are just a few chapters to the right. Psalm chapter 54. It's found on page 397, maybe.

In Psalm chapter 54, there's the heading above the actual psalm itself, and that is something that is part of the original text. It's part of the scriptures and the word of God, and it gives us here insight into the situation which was happening when David wrote this.

It says it's to the chief musician with stringed instruments, a contemplation of David when the Ziphites went and said to Saul, is David not hiding with us?

And so this song is specifically written from this exact situation we're looking at in 1 Samuel chapter 23. And here's what David writes in this song. He says, Save me, O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your strength. Hear my prayer, O God, give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen up against me, and oppressors have sought after my life. They have not set God before them. Selah.

Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is with those who uphold my life. He will repay my enemies for their evil. Cut them off in your truth. I will freely sacrifice to you. I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me out of all trouble, and my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.

This is the song that David writes, and we're not going to try to analyze every aspect of it. There's a lot of things that we could consider in here. But what I would call your attention to again is verse 3. David says, These guys who are not part of the situation, they weren't in the courts. They didn't see the interaction between Saul and David, but they've taken sides. They're strangers.

They're not part of the situation, but they have chosen to be against David. They've taken sides and they've sought the life of David by bringing this news to Saul. But notice the end of verse three there. He says, they have not set God before them. And here we have a keen insight into what's happening in the heart of the Zephyrites. It's more what's not happening in the hearts of the Zephyrites.

And that is, they are not in pursuit of God's heart. They have not set God before them. That word Selah there, it's believed to mean like, just pause and reflect on that for a moment. They have not set God before them. As we talk about pursuing God's heart, David says the Ziphites behaved the way that they did because they have not set God before them. They have not pursued the heart of God.

Now, we don't know exactly what their motivation was. And it could have been fear. And that would be reasonable, right? And if we were there counseling the Zephites, we would understand. Yes, that makes sense. I understand why you were fearful of Saul after he wiped out that other town. I understand that. We could understand, oh, you want to be patriotic and you want to be really faithful to your king and the people in authority. I can understand that. But whatever their motivation was...

The real issue boiled down to this, that they had not set God before them. This was their real mistake. Because even if they were fearful, if they were pursuing the heart of God and set God before them, well, then things would be different. If God was leading them and directing them, then even though they feared Saul, they wouldn't behave this way. Or even though they were patriotic, they wouldn't behave this way.

Or maybe they were acting in ignorance and they didn't know the whole situation. As David says, there are strangers that have risen up against me. But if their actions were directed by God, even their ignorance would not cause them to behave this way because they would be looking to God for the direction that they need. They are joining in this battle against someone because they have not set God before them. I think that's important insight for us to consider.

And that's why I made the point, don't participate in other people's sins. You know, there's a lot of solicitation that you and I get to join in other people's sins. I'm angry about this, and you should be angry about this too. And it's easy, and it's, we get caught up in those things. And listen, a lot of the things that we deal with are designed to manipulate us. They're designed to pull us in before we think about it. But

But in the pursuit of God's heart, we need to stop and think, is God angry about this? Is that what God wants for me to be angry about this because he's angry about this? Whether it's patriotic or fear or ignorance or what, it's not right. It's not okay for us to jump in against people when it's not consistent with the heart of God. There's no excuse for that. We can't just say, well, I was really angry

or I was really fearful or I had this or that or this. We have our explanations for everything, but that doesn't excuse, hey, you didn't seek the Lord and ask God what he wants from you in that situation. That's the bottom line and that's the issue that we face when we do not pursue the heart of God and we're gonna end up participating in other people's sins. This is really Saul's issue.

But now the Ziphites are involved. They've participated now in this sin of attack and rebellion against God and fighting against David. They're participating in that because, and maybe for what on the surface looks like really good reasons, but the real issue is they haven't set God before them. In verse four here of Psalm 54, David says, behold, God is my helper. The Lord is with those who uphold my life. Notice that. The Lord is with.

those who uphold my life. Do you want God to be with you? Then don't be against those that he's with. Don't be against those. He says, God is my helper. Don't be against those who have God as their helper. And how do you do that? It's not just by doing everything that you're told from, you know, authorities. That's important. We need to be obedient and submissive. All that's important. But the most important thing is

is that we pursue God's heart, that we seek, that we are on a full-on, all-out seeking to understand, God, what do you want? What brings you pleasure? What's your desire? And you see, if the men of Ziph had had that mentality, had that heart, they would not have behaved this way, regardless of whatever fear or patriotism or whatever else may have been going on. The issue is the pursuit of God's heart.

Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5, verse 22, he says, do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure. And this is a little bit challenging, right? It's a little bit scary because how do you protect yourself from the things that you don't know are wrong? And it could have been absolute innocence, the behavior of the Zephyrites. How could they keep themselves from something they didn't know was wrong? And here's how you do it.

Pursue God's heart. Be on an all-out endeavor. When we talk about pursuit, I would encourage you to think about high-speed pursuit, not O.J. Simpson's slow-speed pursuit. High-speed pursuit. Pedal to the metal, sirens blaring, you know, fast as you can, all you can do, you're trying to know, to understand, to live out the heart of God. That's what it means to pursue God's heart. That's what David was doing. That's not what the Zephites were doing.

And so they ended up sharing in other people's sins, sharing in Saul's sin, because they didn't know what God wanted. They didn't know what was pleasing to God. And put them in this situation now where they're against the one that God is helping. Well, looking at the final passage for our passage this evening, verses 15 through 18, now we come to point number three, and that is strengthen people in God. And so, of course, we have these two bad examples of Saul and

Fighting against God's will, pursuing David, even though it's not what God wanted. The Ziphites who were caught up, maybe innocently, maybe, you know, just patriotically, maybe out of fear, whatever. Their motivation was, we don't know, but we don't know.

But the bottom line was, now they're participating in that sin. They're contributing to that sin because they're not pursuing God's heart. But now we get to see a positive example. Here's an encouragement of what to do found in verses 15 through 18 with the example of Jonathan. In verse 15, it says, "'So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a forest.'"

Then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. We've seen Jonathan already a couple times here in 1 Samuel. And so here we see him again. Him and David have a strong friendship ever since. Jonathan saw David go out against Goliath. He said, wow.

this guy trusts God. And we got to see Jonathan trust God in a similar way in chapter 14 of 1 Samuel. And so they had this relationship, this friendship, and this commitment to one another. And since David's been on the run, Jonathan's met with him a couple times. This is the final time they get to meet. The final time they see each other in this life. Now they, you know, see each other in eternity and that's different. But this is their last meeting. They don't know if it's going to be their last meeting or not, but Jonathan goes out and

He spends a few moments with David and it's really interesting to see that he strengthened his hand in God. Jonathan here accurately represents the hearts of God. What did God want for David? God wanted David to be strengthened. God wanted David to be built up, to be edified. He wanted David to be established in what God had said and what God had promised. The commentator William McDonald says it this way. He says, what a needed ministry today.

The church would greatly benefit if there were more encouragers around. Only those who have experienced the power of a strengthening word spoken in season know the blessing it brings to the soul. Have you had that kind of strengthening word that just in that season of wilderness, that

There has been that word and whether it was a personal thing that was shared with you or something that God spoke to you through your devotional life or something that was spoken through a Bible study or a teaching in some way, but there was that encouraging word and you understand how that revives you and gives you strength and gives you what you need to carry on. William McDonald said, that's such a needed ministry today. People are in need. You and I are in need.

of those who would come alongside of us like Jonathan and build up and strengthen in the midst of the things that we face. Listen, we all face difficulty and we all face hardship. We all face things that challenge us to the core. And there is a great need and there is sometimes a lack of this kind of ministry. There's a lack of the Jonathan ministry amongst believers.

And sometimes, you know, Christians, we can have the reputation of being like the most sour, the most critical, the most, you know, like we'll just break apart, you know, you and all your motives are probably wrong and you're probably this and you're probably that and you dress funny and you're ugly and you know, all that. Like we...

We can be so critical and self-righteous, much like the Pharisees. We can be so easy to tear down. And well, you know, the reason why is because you're a bad parent. And that's what, you know what I mean? Like we just, we know how to scold. We know how to smack people around. We're good at that. But it's not really what's needed. Man, what we really need is the ministry of Jonathan. That strengthening, that strengthening. It's something that each of us needs without exception.

Jonathan says to him in verse 17, do not fear for the hand of Saul, my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that. So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord and David stayed in the woods and Jonathan went to his own house. I think Jonathan sets for us a great sample, an example for us for how to participate in this strengthening ministry.

Here's kind of three sentiments that he expresses. And you could think about this in various ways, but just here's a couple to think about. So first of all, your enemy will not have victory. Listen, this is a message that needs to be on our hearts and that needs to be communicated consistently and regularly to the people around us. Your enemy will not have victory. That's God's promise.

In Isaiah chapter 54 verse 17, the Lord says, no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Listen, if you're a child of God, no weapon formed against you can prosper. He says, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. It's your heritage. It's your inheritance. You don't have to earn this.

You're not being cut out of the will. You're a child of God. You're a servant of God. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. No matter how much the enemy wants to do, he cannot defeat what God wants to do in your life. No weapon formed shall prosper. That's what Jonathan says to David. Saul is not going to find you. Don't fear, David. Take heart. Take courage. Listen, this is a message that people need.

And even those who know this message and know this truth need to be reminded of this message. Your enemy will not have victory. When you have opportunity and you're around someone who's broken, who's hurt, who's defeated, maybe failed completely and it's their own fault they've sinned and messed up, this is still the message of strengthening. Your enemy will not have victory.

Secondly, he goes on to say, God will fulfill his promises. He tells David, you shall be king over Israel. Now this is just, isn't, this isn't just like wishful thinking. You know, sometimes we just ramble and just say, you know, oh, it's all going to work out. And you know, we're not, we're not even necessarily believing that. It's just words that we say to try to be comforting to people, right? That that's not what Jonathan is doing here. He's saying, look, remember the promise of God.

I know what God said. You know what God said. You shall be king over Israel. God is going to fulfill his promise. You were anointed king at a young age, David, and God is going to bring that to fruition. Don't lose sight of that. And you can imagine David there in the wilderness. Being king is kind of like, it looks impossible. It seems like it's never going to happen. There's no way this can happen from here.

And it is easy for us in similar circumstances where we know what God has said, but based on what we're seeing right now, there's just no possible way that could ever come to pass. How needed it is for a Jonathan to come alongside and say, you know, God did promise that and you can count on it. God will fulfill his promises. And thirdly, Jonathan says, you're not alone. He says, I shall be next to you. I shall be next to you. Now here's Jonathan.

He is, according to the royal traditions, right? He would be next in line to be king. But Jonathan is willing to lay aside his own ambitions. He's willing to lay aside his own rights. He's willing to lay aside his own and say, I'll back you up. I'm going to be right there with you, David. And it tells us in verse 14, the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David, you're not alone. I'm with you. Even though David,

In most circumstances, it would be understanding that I would be against you like my father, like, you know, I would be your first enemy, but David, you're not alone. I'm with you. I'm with you. This is a message that is needed. People need to be strengthened in God to be reminded that your enemy will not have victory and God will fulfill his promises and you are not alone.

alone. And so many times people come and we're in contact with them. We're relating to them. We're interacting with them. They're hurting. They're struggling. They're broken. They're, you know, and maybe they're not expressing any of that. And so we have no idea about that situation and what's going on within. And it is easy for us to be critical, to be tearing down, to be breaking down, to be misrepresenting God to those people right there in front of us.

And that is not right. That is not okay. We need to represent God's heart, to pursue God's heart. There are times where correction is necessary. And that's where it's God's heart and where God says, here's an issue, here's a situation, and you need to correct it. And so there needs to be an openness to do that when God wants. But let me just say, generally speaking, that happens way less than we really think. Those occasions are far fewer, right?

than we might hope. God doesn't need us to go around and be critiquing everybody's parenting skills or employee or employer skills or driving skills or devotional skills or this or that. And, you know, that's not our job. We don't need to do that unless God specifically tells us to do that. As we're pursuing his heart, he says, okay, you need to go have a talk with Harvey. Okay, I'll go have a talk with Harvey.

But unless God tells me to go have a talk with Harvey, it's not my job. My job is to reflect God's heart. My job is to, well, to strengthen. Let you know, Harvey, God's not done with you. God is still going to fulfill his promises. The enemy is not going to have his way. And you're not alone. We got your back. We're with you. We're praying for you. You got this. This is what we're called to be as members of the body of Christ and members of one another. That

That we would be those who are strengthening one another. Again, there is a place for correction. And I'm not saying that's never appropriate. There is a place for hard truth to be brought. But the majority of, I would say this is the default. This should be our default status. I'm here to strengthen. I'm here to encourage. I'm here to build up. I'm here to remind you of truths that you know, but you need to be reminded of the enemy's not going to have his way. He doesn't get the final say.

God still has a work for you. He still has promises in your life. He will finish the work that he began in you. There's a great multitude, a huge wealth of promises of God that we can refer to. We don't have to just spew nonsense and just say, I hope it's all gonna be okay. But we can communicate and remind. God will fulfill his promises. You can contrast this, right, with Job's friends. Now, what would Job's friends say to David here in the wilderness? Now, David, there's probably some sin in your life.

They would have been more accurate with David than they were with Job, right? Because David did have issues. I mean, he did lie to the priest and, you know, he did have some wavering. He did have some issues. You know, that wasn't God's heart. Jonathan here represents God's heart to David. David, you need to be strengthened. You need to be reminded of what God has said.

What's great about this too is Jonathan doesn't come with all the answers. He doesn't come and say, well, let me tell you why, David, and explain this whole situation because that's not going to help you at all anyways. He doesn't try to explain why. He doesn't try to say when. Here's when this is all going to happen. He doesn't have the solution. He can't change the situation. He doesn't have to fix the problem or deliver David out of this situation, but he does what he can and that is

to come and strengthen David's hands in God. He comes and he points David to God and says, trust God. You can count on God and God is going to have the final say and not the enemy. He helps him to be looking to God for all that he needs. It tells us in verse 18, and David stayed in the woods and Jonathan went to his own house. Jonathan was there. He strengthens David and then he has to go home. I

I read a few different commentators who kind of slighted Jonathan, like he should have never left. If Jonathan really loved David, he would have stayed with him. That's a little bit of nonsense. David's in the back. David Burns is like, what? Like, that's crazy. Yes, it's crazy. It's okay. God had a different course for each one. And you know, sometimes when we're the ones in the wilderness, we do want, no, you stay here. You know, I need you here, you know, and we want you to come and fix my problem and deliver me. But that wasn't Jonathan's role.

That wasn't God's heart. God didn't call Jonathan to that. Jonathan had his own course. He had his own walk that he had to follow in pursuing God's heart. He had his own things that he had to do as he walked in obedience to God. But he made this time, he had this occasion to connect with David and to bring great strength. This is what we are all called to do. Strengthen people in God. Let that be your default strength.

status. That's your job. You show up in this place, your job is to strengthen people in God. And someone comes to you and says, man, I blew it and I really messed up. Your job, they probably don't need a scolding. They probably don't need a lecturing or a list of 25 things, you know, that you do so that you never find yourself in that situation or why they should have never been there in the first place or how your cousin, you know, they don't need any of that. You know what they need?

They need to be reminded that the enemy will not have his victory, that the Lord will fulfill his word and that they're not alone. This is the message that needs to be communicated and shared to be strengthened in the Lord, even when they failed.

Or they're coming and they're saying, man, there's this situation and, you know, it's just, this is all out of control. And well, let me tell you why, because I don't think you're very good at that, you know, and look at your personality and no wonder you fly off the handle and, you know, they don't need that. That's not what people need. You know what people need? They need to be strengthened in the Lord to be reminded that the enemy doesn't get to have the final say. The Lord is with you. He's going to fulfill your promises and I'm with you. I'm not your enemy.

Even though maybe in other circumstances and without the Lord, I would be your enemy and you would expect me to be your enemy, but I'm not your enemy. Like John the Baptist, right? I must decrease. He must increase. That is where we need to be. Having a heart of building up, strengthening the people around us. That's God's heart for them. Does God want you to tear down people? Does God want you to slight them and slander them and critique them and criticize them? Is that what God wants?

then why do we behave that way? Because we're not pursuing God's heart. We all find ourselves like David in seasons of wilderness, seasons of coming back from wandering, sometimes away from the Lord and messing up in our own plans and plots and decisions. And I find it encouraging that the Lord told Peter, you're going to be sifted like wheat, Peter. But when you've returned, strengthen the brethren. When you come back, Peter, Jesus says, you're going to be able to

list out and tell everybody exactly what they're doing wrong. That's not what he says. You're going to be able to tell them, you know, why they're failing and what you think about them and your opinion about this and your opinion about their job here or how they're doing in this or, you know, what you think they should be doing. And Peter, just tell them everything that you think. That's not what the Lord says. That's not what God calls us to. We fall, we fail, we struggle. We have different seasons as the

Remember, our job is to strengthen the brethren. That's what it looks like to pursue God's heart. Don't pursue people against God's will. Don't let your dissatisfaction with what God wants in your life cost the people around you. Submit to the will of God. Submit to the plan of God and let God have his work in you. Don't make others pay the price for your fight against God.

And don't participate in other people's sins. There's a lot of attempts to manipulate you. There's a lot of temptation to manipulate you. And maybe you could gain great favor with your boss if you, you know, joined in in that attack and joined in in that behavior, in that conversation. But don't participate in that. Don't let those things suck you in to misrepresent God to anybody.

And that's in the workplace, in the home, on the freeway. Your job is to represent the heart of God to the people around you. That's your job. That's my job. That's what it looks like to pursue God's heart, to know what he wants, and then to live accordingly, to show that, to demonstrate that to the world around us. And you know what God wants most? You know what God cares about most? People. He wants them to be strengthened. He wants them to be pointed to him.

and encouraged in him, sometimes corrected. There's appropriate time for that, but strengthened, built up. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter four, to not let any corrupt word proceed out of our mouth, but only what's necessary for edification. Only what's necessary. You're not free to just say whatever you think, whatever your opinion is, your estimation of anything. Your job is to know God's heart and to represent that

in the way that you communicate to the people around you. Strengthen people in God. Build them up. Help them to accomplish what God has for them by being like Jonathan, pursuing God's heart towards the people around you. I want to finish with this quote while Ronnie comes up to close us out in a final song. This quote from F.B. Meyer. It says, this is the mission of a friend, to strengthen our hands in God, to whisper words of hope to

and enter into renewed covenants with us. But then he goes on to say, is this not what our best friend does? He finds us out in the deepest woods and whispers his fear not. There is no hunted soul to whom Jesus will not come to pour in the oil and wine of his presence. Here he reminds us, our job is to strengthen one another, but also we have one who will strengthen us.

And our best friend is Jesus. And so we can look to him. And like I said, we all have struggles. We all have times of wilderness experiences and rebellions as well as failures, as well as just circumstances of life. And we can look to Jesus. And even if nobody else will strengthen you, you can come to Jesus and find strength.

You can come to Jesus when you're weary and find rest for your soul. That's his promise. And as we spend this time in worship, I want to encourage you to do that. If you need that strength from the Lord, ask him. Come to Jesus with your weariness. Come to Jesus with your weakness.

Let him give you strength. Let him remind you of what the Father has promised you and how he has promised that the enemy will not have victory and that he is with you. He's so with you in this battle, in this fight, that he himself became man and experienced life on this earth so that he could be the sympathetic high priest, that you could come to him and experience grace and mercy to find help in time of need.

As we usually do, we also want to give the opportunity, though, to minister to one another. And so during this song, if the Lord stirs your heart and you need to just go be a Jonathan to somebody, then you're free to do that. Just go. Bring not some critique of, you know, their performance and what you think or your opinion about this or that, but you have some prayer, you have some word of encouragement, some scripture perhaps. This is a good occasion, a good opportunity to do that. Let's pursue God's heart.

towards the people around us right now this evening as we worship the Lord together.