Gospel—Doug Jacobsen
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Begin by seeing #2, please.
To Jesus and we holy, He will care. It's all of praise.
When you're here from their heart, Holy, come down, I will give you rest.
House stands open where there is one and light and song.
And.
Turn into the Father.
All to you may now be honest.
From since and land of the.
I'm still waiting.
Sadly waiting.
Till the day it's for yourself.
And I don't say anything, Jesus, always when you're sworn in.
Let's ask the Lord's blessing.
Our God and Father, we thank Thee.
For the beauty that we have found in Christ. For the peace that we have found.
That passes understanding.
For the ministry of reconciliation that we most of us have received.
And now we pray that thou wouldst give the message.
From thy word.
By thy spirit.
To a soul in the room, perhaps tonight.
That knows thee not.
We ask it.
And the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Like to start in Proverbs chapter 6.
We're going to read about a sluggard, but we're not going to talk about a slugger. Anything but a slugger.
But the end is the same, so.
I I wanted to read Proverbs 6.
And maybe.
Verse 9 How long wilt thou sleep? O sluggard, When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
I suppose we could say a spiritual sleep.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth and I want as an armed man.
00:05:16
Nowadays.
When we're going to visit our family.
Heather.
Sends me a text and when you're going to be here and I already have her in Google and they say we'll be there in 43 minutes.
When I'm going to meet a client.
Often there's traffic or whatever and so there's some going back and forth, but he tells me he's going to be there in 32 minutes and I say it's going to be 36 and we pretty much know when we're going to arrive.
In the olden days.
They had no such method of communication, and so I think this verse kind of escapes us.
The bill collectors coming, and he's coming 500 miles to collect.
And he comes to my door.
And he just knocks.
Whether I'm ready or not.
A guest comes like Jacob going to see Lavin.
I had no idea was coming. Just all of a sudden one day, here's my sister's son.
And so the door opens.
Are you prepared?
Are you ready?
Or not.
And we're going to read.
About a man a day of decision.
And he was not ready.
I love a good story.
And this is a good story. I'm going to read you a good story, but it doesn't end well for everyone.
In the story.
We're going to read Samuel I Samuel, 25.
And Samuel died, and all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Rhema.
And David arose and went down to the wilderness, to parent of parent. And there was a man in Mayon, whose possessions were in Carmel, And the man was very great, and he had 3000 sheep and 1000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail, and she was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance.
But the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the House of Caleb.
And David heard in the wilderness.
That naval did shear his sheep.
And David sent out ten young men. And David said unto the young men, get you up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in my name of peace, the margin says.
And thus shall ye say to him that lives in prosperity.
Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace unto all that thou hast.
And now I have heard, that thou hast furers now thy shepherds which were with us. We hurt them not, neither was there aught missing.
Unto them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask the young men, and they will show thee.
Wherefore, let the young men find favor in thine eyes, for we come in a good day.
Give I pray thee whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
And when David's young men came, they speak to Nabel according to all these words, in the name of David. And ceased.
And Abel answered David's servant. Naval answer, David's servants. And said, Who is David, And who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be So David's young men turn their way.
00:10:27
And went again, and came and told him all these things. And David said unto his men gird on every man his sword, and they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about 400 men, and 200 abode by the stuff.
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed on them. But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything. As long as we were conversant with them when we were in the fields, they were a wall unto us both by night and day, All the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore, no one consider what thou wilt do for evil.
Is determined against our master and against all his household, For he is such a son of Belial that such a man cannot speak, that a man cannot speak to him. Then Abigail made haste, took 200 loaves and two bottles of wine, 5 sheep ready, dressed 5 measures of parched corn, 100 clusters of raisins, 200 cakes of figs, and laid them on *****.
She said unto her servants, Go on before me. Behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Mabel. And it was so as she rode on the *** that she came down by the covert of the hill. And behold, David and his men came down against her, and she met them. Now David had said, surely in vain, if I kept all this, that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him. For he hath requited me evil for good.
So and more also do God under the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that ****** against the wall. And when Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off the *** and fell before David on her face.
And bowed herself to the ground.
And fell at his feet, and said upon me, my Lord, upon me.
Let this iniquity be, and let thy handmaid. I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thy handmaid.
Let not, my Lord, I pray thee, regard this man Abilio, even Nabal. For as his name is, so is he, Nabel is his name, and folly is with him. But I, thy handmaid, saw not the young man of my Lord, whom thou did send. Now therefore, my Lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholding thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand.
Now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my Lord be as an able. And now this blessing which thy handmaid hath brought unto my Lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow. My Lord, I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thy handmaid, for the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house, because my Lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.
Yet a man that is Saul is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul. But the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God, and the souls of thy enemies. Them will he sling out as out of the middle of a sling. And it will come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my Lord, according to the good that he has spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed the ruler over Israel, that this shall be no grief unto thee.
Nor offensive heart unto my Lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my Lord hath avenged himself. But when the Lord shall dealt well with my Lord, then remember thy handmaid.
And David said to Abigail, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent the.
00:15:04
This day to meet me, and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand.
Notice how she knew him better than he knew himself.
For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted, and come to meet me, there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light.
Any that ****** against the wall, so David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thy house. See, I have hearkened to thy voice, and I have accepted thy person. And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabel's heart was married within him, and he was very drunken. Wherefore she told him nothing less or more, until the morning light.
But it came to pass in the morning when the wine was gone out of neighbor and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him and he became as stone. And it came to pass about 10 days after that the Lord smote neighbor that he died. And when David David heard that Nabal was dead, he said blessed be the Lord.
That hath pleaded the cause of my reproach.
From the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil. For the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail to take her to him to wife. And when the servants of David were come to Abigail de Carmel, they speak unto her, saying, David has sent us under thee to take thee to him to wife. And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth.
And said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. And Abigail hasted and arose, and rode upon a *** with fine 5 damsels of hers that went after her. And she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. David also took a hanoam of Jezreel, and they were both of them his wives. But Saul had given Michael his daughter David's wife.
To falty, the son of Laish, which was of Galen.
So shall thy poverty come.
Without warning.
As 1A traveler and they want as an armed man.
The first thing we notice.
David, of course, is in the wilderness, fleeing from Saul.
But I think there's an order of importance or an order of operations in these versus 2:00 and 3:00.
The first thing the Spirit of God tells us.
There was a Man in man whose possessions were in Carmel.
That's like 2 Counties that he kind of.
Had some control over. They were all in the land of Judah. They were side by side.
Mayon didn't have quite the the fertile land as caramel.
And the man was very great, we here.
And he had. Oh, whose possessions that word, possessions struck me this time as I was meditating upon it.
You had 3000 sheep, 1000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep.
In Carmel.
This man.
Well, let's see, Maybe I'm going to read the next verse too. Now, the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife, Abigail, and she was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance. But the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the House of Caleb.
00:20:08
What's outstanding about this man is he had a lot of possessions.
And you know, there was a rich young ruler.
Who on the outside?
Seemed to be a good neighbor.
Follow the law.
Undertook for the poor.
Did everything according to the law and was pretty sure of himself until the Lord put his finger.
On his possessions.
And so we live in a world.
That makes a lot of possessions and this man that was in the forefront.
Not only that, but he was of the House of Caleb.
You know, I noticed as I was driving back to the hotel this afternoon.
The the beautiful landscape here between here and the hotel.
And being in real estate, I looked off to the right and I could see those Equestrian estates and appreciate the setting, the beauty. All these things are from God.
God has camped around this nation like David's men in camped naval and they kept him from danger. They preserved what he had.
That's one reason why he should have given to David.
But he was of the House of Caleb.
And This is why.
When I thought about standing up here, this is really what led me to this passage. I'm looking in the faces of those.
For the most part, that are of the House of Caleb.
Caleb was a man of faith.
A man of perseverance.
A warrior.
One who endured.
Counting on the promise of God.
For 40 years in the wilderness.
And then claimed what God had promised.
Boldly.
Knowing that God would honor his request.
Defeated the enemy.
And gave good gifts to his children.
Of whom Nabel was a descendant.
What had naval done?
To earn this place.
Very little. He was probably a very good businessman.
But if he'd been in the deserts of Syria, he wouldn't have had much to work with. But here he had Caramel and Mayon.
In the heart of Judah.
Because of someone else's faithfulness.
And that's a warning to us, I believe.
It's delightful to see the the young people and the young marrieds.
Until recently, I thought of myself as young, married.
But.
I was reminded.
Of a time.
I was in Southern California.
In my late teens and 20s and there was quite a young people's effort. The expenses and others devoted a lot of time to bringing the young people together and this particular weekend we had a ski weekend and we were in the mountains in Big Bear.
All.
Going skiing that day and there must have been.
00:25:01
35 or 40 of us.
If anybody was there, they know. I'm not exaggerating. There was a lot of young people right in the Buena Park and Fullerton and and Burbank areas could have been more. And you know, we sang the songs, we listened to the ministry, we went to Toledo conferences together, we went to Chicago conferences together. We saw each other.
You know, face to face.
Weekend after weekend, trip after trip, Walla, Walla, wherever it was, we saw the same bright faces.
And here we were.
At this.
Ski weekend.
And.
I had the right to name that. I keep forgetting.
My wife makes me take notes. I try not to look at them, but John Tabor.
Some of us remember John Tabor, a very, very unusual.
Person.
And he stood up. It was a it was somebody had a short word. And then there was a, you know, some of the young brothers were encouraged to pray. And so we were all ready to go skiing.
But not John Tabor.
He stands up with his great big Bible and he turns to Isaiah 3314 and he says I want to read a verse.
And here's the verse. Who among us?
Shall dwell.
With the devouring devouring fire, who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
I'm an impatient type.
So.
You know, now that he got that off his chest, I was ready to go.
But he wasn't ready to go.
He said. I feel that in this room there is somebody who doesn't has not received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And so, being antsy, I looked around the room and all familiar faces again.
We were growing up together.
Going to college, enjoying.
Hymn sings and all that. And I looked around at every face and I thought.
John, you have lost your mind.
And he would not sit down.
He stood there for 1/2 an hour.
And he said, I'm going to wait until you stand up and admit that you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
And he just stood there.
And you could have heard a pin drop for 1/2 an hour. After 1/2 an hour he closed his Bible and we went skiing and five young people.
That were there.
In their later life proved.
That it is very likely they did not have life.
The names shocked me.
Not recovered, never turned back. Started on a path.
That never ended.
Still sinning to this day.
Out of 40 young people.
So that's why I turn to this passage, because.
I and you.
For the most part.
Our children of Caleb.
We have been given.
More than we know.
Not here to talk about myself.
00:30:01
But.
Doctors told me a few years ago.
I was a dead man.
I was a Walking Dead man.
I laid in my bed. My wife can't stand hospitals, so I'm by myself.
And I want to tell you I had perfect peace.
Can't say I was rejoicing. Can't say I was afraid, Can't say I was apprehensive. I was just at rest.
Two doctors came to me later and they said we knew you were a believer.
No lost person.
Goes faces death without agitation.
And that's what I want for you tonight.
The peace of knowing.
That.
If the traveler knocks, you're ready.
This man.
Was not ready.
And there are some things here for us I'm going to run out of time.
Abigail.
I hadn't really. Most of what I had meditated on was this first part, but in reading this.
From.
Her talking to David. Maybe someone else has noticed this before, but it sounds like Hannah.
I mean, she is telling David you are not going to kill Nabal.
You are going to be king, and the Lord is going to sling your enemies. He is going to give you the Kingdom.
David didn't even believe that. Not really. He kept falling short of that. But Abigail, she knew who God's man was.
And you know.
Spiritual things are individual.
When I was first married, a guy, a man, young man, came to me and he said, a laboring brother told me this is an individual path. You're married, but you're responsible directly to the Lord. And that is where Abigail stood. He knew what God's will was. You know, I can hardly come to Denver without talking about the Continental divide.
And you know what I'm going to say?
This man came to the Continental Divide. 1 part goes into the Pacific Ocean. One part goes into the Atlantic, down the Mississippi or wherever it is. I don't know much on that side of the Rockies.
You.
Take the sample out of the Gulf of Mexico and you look at the markers and you look at the DNA and you look at the source and you're not going to find any water that went down the West side of the Rockies.
It either goes one way or the other.
And this world is planting in our minds the Gray area.
That if you mean well, God can accept you If if, if you don't do anything to offend anybody, that you're going to be OK.
I want to read you a verse.
And you say oh.
And here's the thing about Nabal. Do you think that Nabal, when he woke up every morning, thought?
I hate David.
I don't think he ever thought about David.
Until he made a claim.
And so you say, I respect Jesus Christ.
You don't have anything against God until he makes a claim.
Until he touches you. Till he puts his finger on you.
00:35:00
Then you find out and he finds out.
Who is inside? And here's what the Lord says.
If I can find it.
I'll just quote it.
He that is not with me.
Is against me.
Nabal was not with David. Abigail was.
And the day before, I don't think he would have said one way or the other, but this day.
When the traveler came.
And the finger was put on him.
He reacted and he had a conscience.