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[0:00] In the meantime, let's find in the Bible 1 Samuel 23. 1 Samuel 23.

[0:13] Finished with our series on the Apostle Paul. And just going to go a little bit random here today.

[0:24] And so I remember years ago reading through this chapter and coming through it from time to time. And something stood out to me. The name of this town, it's mentioned in verse 1, Keilah.

[0:40] And it's mentioned 14 times by name in the 13 verses that we're going to look at. And I'm not saying that's something significant. It's just something that stood out to me.

[0:51] My eyes caught that and I guess in reading it, it just felt like, man, I'm pronouncing the name of this town an awful lot of times. And so I just went back and looked.

[1:02] And I think there's only one verse in 1 through 13 that it's not mentioned, but it doubles up elsewhere. And so that just caught my attention. So every time I come to 1 Samuel 23, that town just stands out to me like nothing else.

[1:15] And I found myself here a little while back and just kind of started to make a few notes on some things that I was thinking on. And revisited it the last couple days for this evening.

[1:29] And I hope that what comes out of this is something that helps you and edifies you as you seek to serve the Lord and avoid people and problems along the way.

[1:39] So what I want to do with you is read the first 13 verses. And if you would follow along in verse number 1. Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they robbed the threshing floors.

[1:54] Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go and smite the Philistines and save Keilah. And David's men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah.

[2:08] How much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.

[2:22] So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. And it came to pass when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

[2:39] And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

[2:54] And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod. Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake.

[3:09] Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come down.

[3:21] Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up. Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went whithersoever they would go.

[3:35] And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbear to go forth. Now if I put that thought in your head about the name of this city, then you couldn't help but hear it and hear it and hear it and hear it and hear it.

[3:46] Because it's fourteen times I read that again. And I found that odd. But nevertheless, that's kind of what drew my attention to this passage. But as I looked into it and studied it out a little bit closer, I noticed that there's five, there's actually more, but five that I'll focus on tonight.

[4:02] Different, whether individuals or people, groups that are represented in this story. And when we analyze their role or their actions here, we see that each one has a different personality or a different manner in which they act.

[4:18] They reveal some things about themselves that are very relatable, I think, to the Christian life. And so that's what I want to draw out from this. These thirteen verses that I read, it's just one episode in the life of David.

[4:33] It's really just one little glimpse and snapshot of this ongoing drama between he and the king Saul that's trying to kill him and after his life.

[4:46] David outshines Saul and David outlasts Saul. And David then, he is the prime character in not just this, but these two books named after Samuel, 1 and 2 Samuel.

[4:58] He's the prime character in this story. It's his name, actually, that shows up fifteen times in these thirteen verses. And Saul only shows up, I think, eight times, if I remember.

[5:09] Somebody else can do the counting whenever you want to. That would be a good job over here. Count those names up for me. So I want to look at all of these five different characters or peoples and try to learn something and discern something about the Christian life that we live.

[5:24] And see if it can help us, because I think it can. And so let's pray together again and then go forward. Lord, as we bow before you, we are seeking your wisdom.

[5:35] We're seeking your word to come alive to us and to speak truth in 2024. And this little episode between David and Saul, let it help us.

[5:46] And God, as I studied and prepared this, please help me now to preach it, to deliver this message to your people and help them to receive it. And by your spirit, gain something from it to help them. Lord, that's my prayer, is that your people would be helped, would be grown, and would seek to please you.

[6:02] And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, let's take a look at the first character. And that is the first one that shows up in verse one, David. Then they told David.

[6:14] And David, as I mentioned, he is the focal point of this entire episode and the majority of this book and the next book. David's the captain. Back in chapter 22, verse 2, they made him captain over them.

[6:28] Or he became a captain over a group of men that we'll look at later. David is the leader and the prime character in this story and in these verses. And I want to just use that term, the focal point, to emphasize David by way of outline.

[6:43] David is the focal point. And what's interesting about David is that David is a strong type of the Lord Jesus Christ in this Bible and in his life. He pictures Jesus Christ in a lot of ways, and he does here too.

[6:56] And just for sake of you Bible students that can consider this, think on this. The story is not so much about the other characters that show up, though they're here, they're present.

[7:07] It's their names or their lives. But the story is really an account, a portion of an account of the life of David. The Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:18] He's the focal point of that book. And David here, well, he's the focal point of this book, matching the Lord Jesus Christ. The majority of 1 and 2 Samuel, as I said, is written about him. David has an enemy.

[7:31] An enemy with an unclean spirit or an evil spirit in chapter 16 and verse 14. You can read that, how King Saul, an evil spirit from God, came upon him.

[7:42] David has an enemy with an evil spirit. And this enemy is seeking to kill him. David goes down in verse 4. The Bible says, Arise, go down to Keilah.

[7:53] He goes down to a place that has gates and bars, like verse number 8, when Saul gets excited that he's closed in, or rather that's in verse 7. And entering a town that hath gates and bars.

[8:05] David goes down to a place with gates and bars, and his enemy believes that he's trapped. I think you see the picture already, the typology. I don't need to explain it. But in verse 13, it was told Saul that David was escaped.

[8:20] Verse 13, it says, David and his men, which were with him, 600, arose. David arose and escaped from Keilah. And the Lord Jesus Christ went down to that place with gates and bars.

[8:34] The gates of hell shall not prevail against the stone, the rock, rather, the Lord Jesus Christ, on Matthew chapter 16. And he prevailed against it.

[8:47] And so Jesus Christ arose. And while the enemy may have thought he had him and felt he was trapped, he came forth and escaped. And because of that, the term captain, I already mentioned from 22 verse 2, applies to David as well as the Lord Jesus Christ.

[9:04] In Hebrews chapter 2, he's called the captain of our salvation. And so David is the focal point. I'm not going to really spend time on David. He represents to us the Lord Jesus Christ, what is clear and strong picture, even just in this little happenings here, that you read through.

[9:21] But secondly, I want to look at the Philistines. The Philistines, in verse number 1, then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah.

[9:32] And they rob the threshing floor. The Philistines represent the foe. The foe. The Philistines are mentioned six times in this passage. And the foe shows up and fights, in verse 1.

[9:46] And it robs, in verse 1. In verse 3, the Philistines show up in armies against a city. Armies against just one city of Keilah.

[9:57] Likely they showed up unannounced. Very much likely they showed up unprovoked. But the foe shows up to fight. And the foe shows up to steal.

[10:08] And to smite. And to destroy. It reminds me, just to keep this type going a little bit stronger, of the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 10, the Bible says that, The thief cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

[10:25] But the Lord Jesus Christ, the door, and the good shepherd said, I am come that they might have life. And it's David, in verse 5, that saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

[10:37] It's David that saves. And so the type grows stronger. But this foe, that we're looking at now, is a perpetual enemy of Israel. Would you just remember with me, we won't turn back through this book and others, but would you remember that Samson, Samson had several encounters with the Philistines, this judge of Israel.

[11:01] And we read in Samson's life that it was of the Lord. He sought occasion against the Philistines, so he sent Samson down there to be attracted to a woman of the Philistines.

[11:12] Samson had his own lady friend say, The Philistines be upon thee. Samson, Samson, the Philistines be upon thee. And they were.

[11:24] They were upon him. And so Samson had dealings with the Philistines. It's Eli. Just shortly after Samson's time was Eli's time, where he was priest there in Shiloh.

[11:35] And Eli lost his own sons to the Philistines. He lost the Ark of God. And hearing that, he lost his own life as an overweight, heavy man fell backwards and died and break his neck.

[11:48] He lost his own life due to the activity of the Philistines. Samuel. Samuel was there with Eli, and just as a boy, got to experience what it is to see the Philistines.

[12:01] His entire life he experienced the Philistines. It was under Samuel's watch that, I don't have the chapter marked, it's earlier here in this very book, where he sets up the stone Ebenezer.

[12:14] And you're familiar with probably that song, maybe just as much, where here I raise mine Ebenezer, in Come Thou Found. It's reference to raising up that stone to remember the deliverance of God.

[12:25] It says that the Lord thundered that day upon the Philistines. And so through Samuel and his ministry, God wrought a great victory over that enemy, the foe, the Philistines.

[12:36] They're a perpetual enemy from one generation to another to another. And then here, of course, you know Saul, King Saul, his entire reign. His son Jonathan went up earlier on in this book and went and smote the Philistines, a garrison of the Philistines.

[12:52] And it was that very day that just Saul, in his stupidity and his, whatever you want to call it, wanted to kill his own son. He said he, you know, put him to death then, if you remember that story.

[13:04] Then a little bit later in chapter 17, Goliath shows up, the Philistines are back, because they've got themselves a warrior, a champion. And they think nobody will beat us now. And they keep coming back.

[13:16] And look at this very chapter. We stopped at verse 13. Some David escapes, and Saul chases him around for a while in the wilderness and other places. But look at verse 27 of chapter 23.

[13:30] It says, But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David. The Philistines, you get past one attack, and another one comes from somewhere else.

[13:48] Unannounced and unexpected. And you can whip them, but they never go away. The Philistines represent the foe. This perpetual enemy.

[14:01] And so Christian, let's make the application, it's pretty plain. You will not make it out of this life. You will never get through this life without having to deal with the foe.

[14:13] The foe. He's real. Or I could say they are real. And it's a real part of what's going to be your life experience. You could say the foe that's against you is the world, because it is against you.

[14:26] And you could say your flesh is your foe, your biggest foe, because it is too against you. Or you could say our adversary, the devil, is the foe, or the principalities and the powers and the rulers of the darkness of the world.

[14:37] Spiritual wickedness in high places, all of which can be your foe. They're real and perpetual. Just never go away. The world's not going away.

[14:49] It's still going to fight you and resist you. Your flesh is going to be with you till you die. And so is true with all the other enemies mentioned. The Philistines represent the foe.

[15:01] Very real enemies. These enemies of, or the foe is always so present, and the point I want to get across here is that you just need to expect that, I guess, is what I want to say.

[15:13] Face it. Realize that you're not going to escape the Christian life without facing some battles or somebody that's going to resist you. It could be in your own home.

[15:26] It could be from your extended family. It could be at your employment. It could be just getting outside of here. You're going to get mocked if you stand for Christ. You're not going to be received.

[15:38] The world will hate you as it hated Jesus Christ. Count on it. So there's the foe. And the foe just keeps coming back. Look earlier in chapter 22, just like toward the end of chapter 22, and I want to point out that you can expect some problems and some casualties.

[15:58] This guy, David, just came off some real casualties. In verse number 18, you have to know the story really in its entirety, but just understand that Saul is after David, and when David flees, Saul accuses an honest and good godly man of helping David.

[16:17] And so he demands that he and all of them be put to death. In verse 18, the king said unto Doeg, Turn thou and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests and slew on that day four score and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

[16:34] Innocent, you might call them holy, consecrated men of God, were murdered, slaughtered in the wake of David's running from the king Saul.

[16:47] Verse number, Abiathar comes, he flees after David, he gets away. Verse 22, David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul.

[16:59] And look how he takes this. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house. I didn't read it. Verse 19, it was a whole lot more than those 85. He smote men, women, children, sucklings, oxen, asses, sheep with the edge of the sword.

[17:15] He just left, he had a bloodbath in that town. And David said, that's on me. I'm trying to run from this king and if I didn't go there seeking refuge, none of this would have happened.

[17:29] But I did. And David's innocent. He didn't do anything wrong there. It's just the wickedness that is following him and pursuing him and coming after him to take him out. And so Christian, there's a foe.

[17:42] There's a real enemy. And you're going to see, you're going to experience the casualties in the Christian life. You're going to feel the loss. It's coming. It's going to be present in your life.

[17:53] So understand that, okay? Just understand and know that and be prepared for it. The foe is perpetual. He's never leaving you. Thirdly, first it was David, the focal point, then the Philistines who are the foe.

[18:07] And then we want to look at verse number three. We see the third group here is David's men. And notice David's men are the fearful. In verse three, David's men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah.

[18:21] We're running for our lives as it is, David. Why would we ever go and seek trouble? We're trying to avoid trouble at all costs.

[18:32] Why would we stick our necks out when we don't really have to here? Think about it, David. Come on. They're the fearful. David is a protector and a captain of a band of men that you might just kind of say they're not in such good standing with society.

[18:50] Look back at chapter 22. This is where they're identified in verse 2. 22, 2. And everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became a captain over them and there were with him about 400 men.

[19:12] And so these aren't all considered like the cream of the crop of society. In some cases, they're on the run themselves. And so this group of 400, we see Abiathar, he comes and joins David.

[19:27] Look at verse 23. David said to Abiathar, Abide thou with me, fear not, for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life. But with me, thou shalt be in safeguard.

[19:42] And so Abiathar is at least 401. And by the time we're into chapter 23, there's 200 more that join with David. We read in verse number 13, David and his men, which were about 600.

[19:54] So this is a growing, very quickly growing group, this band of men. But they're fearful in verse 3. They're afraid in Judah and much more afraid to go to Keilah and fight against the armies of the Philistines.

[20:11] They might be kind of a rough crowd. I can't say that for sure. But whatever the case is, they're on the run already. And they're hiding out and not looking for trouble. And I can imagine them just kind of saying to David, David, just leave it alone, man.

[20:26] We've got enough attention on our backs already. Just leave that thing alone. That's not even your job, is it? That's King Saul's job to fight the Philistines.

[20:37] That's not your job. And so they're fearful. And they're afraid before God even sends them to battle. They're afraid in Judah. And they reason amongst themselves.

[20:50] This isn't a good idea. They don't want to get part of it. So there's the fearful. And there's another type here that you're going to encounter in the Christian life is the fearful. They're afraid to stand for Jesus Christ wherever they are, much less go out of the way to fight the good fight of faith.

[21:07] They're not even doing it where they can do it. They don't much less go do it out there. The fearful, they want to be safe in the arms of Jesus. They want Him to have them in safeguard.

[21:20] But they don't want to engage the enemy. They don't want to fight for what's right. They'd just rather, let's just keep to ourselves. Why? Because they're afraid. They're intimidated.

[21:32] And they'll just keep in their own lane and stay off the grid and keep to themselves and keep their mouths shut. And they're just like a group of Christians that never draw any attention to themselves.

[21:43] Just live in this world content to never do anything for Christ. Avoid confrontation. Avoid being seen. Avoid standing out.

[21:55] I wonder if when you go to work, I wonder if you're the fearful. Or if there's fearful Christians at your work that you know of and you rub shoulders with that nobody would know they're a Christian.

[22:07] Do you ever wear any t-shirts that say anything about the Lord in public? Do you ever wear a verse of Scripture on your back or have any means of, any way of identifying that you're a believer in Christ?

[22:20] Do you ever hand a track to somebody? Do you ever witness to somebody that knows you personally? Or you just stay in your lane? Nice and quiet.

[22:31] We're afraid where we are. We're not going to go fight and pick a fight with the enemy. They're the fearful. And the fearful have it in them to fight. And they have the right leader that'll lead them into the battle.

[22:45] They're just scared. And their mind is weak. And they attempt to stay away from the battle at all costs. The Bible says that the fear of man bringeth a snare.

[22:58] And the Bible says that God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And Christ rebuked his own disciples and said, Why are ye so fearful?

[23:10] How is it that you have no faith? That's David rebuked to his men. Why are ye so fearful? God commanded us to go. Let's go fight.

[23:22] And they fight eventually did and won that victory. But fear is very natural to the old man. If the old man's confronted with a spiritual battle, he's afraid and he cowers and he'd rather hide than take a stand.

[23:39] But God says, Go and fight. Now there's another character here and this is King Saul. And so Saul was mentioned in verses 7 and 8.

[23:51] I want to call him the fooled. Saul is the fooled, meaning he's deceived about something. Look at the verses again. It was told Saul that David was come to Keilah and Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand.

[24:08] Did God deliver David into Saul's hand? Is that what the working of God going on here at all? Does Saul have any clue to what God's will is and to what God is doing and whose side God is on in this battle?

[24:26] God hath delivered. Does he have the word of God saying, Saul, hunt down David and slaughter him? He is defected against the people of God.

[24:37] Does he have a word from God saying to go do this? Not at all. Does David have a word of God to go fight at Keilah? Yeah. He's following the Lord's word. Saul is not.

[24:49] But Saul is the fooled. And he calls, in verse 8, all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David. Not the Philistines.

[25:00] He's not even concerned about the Philistines here. David's taking care of that. Saul's after David and his men. He's the fooled. His heart is so set on destroying David, it's filled with bitterness and with envy that goes back, you know, back to Goliath and the whole scene there and the fighting, the battles of the Lord.

[25:23] David behaved himself wisely. Saul eyed him. And so Saul is imagining that this is the will of God. God is helping me. This reckless behavior, this vendetta, is based upon something he's imagined in his own mind.

[25:42] He thinks God's okay with it. And in reality, he's just fooled himself into believing something that never came from God, ever. And there's another type here of a Christian that you'll encounter is the fooled.

[25:59] The fooled. They imagine their lifestyles and their actions are right. And they imagine, God's okay with what I'm doing and how I'm living. And in reality, they fooled themselves into believing something that never came from the Word of God, ever.

[26:17] And Christian, here in a Bible preaching and believing church, you better be careful. And you better be cautious and exercise discernment because you too, just like Saul, can get something stuck in your heart and you can want it so bad or desire it and cause you to justify going after it and imagine and pretend that it's okay.

[26:40] There's nothing wrong with it. I've told you this before. It's like the curse of the Christian church today is saying, is that phrase, there's nothing wrong with it. There's nothing wrong with it.

[26:52] And they won't call sin, sin. They won't call worldliness, worldly. And they like to say, well, it's not that bad. It's not that bad.

[27:03] Look with me. Just keep your place. But here's a verse. I don't know if you've seen it for a while, but it'd do you good to see it tonight. Look at Jeremiah, chapter 17. Saul is fooled.

[27:15] Jeremiah 17 is a verse you ought to have memorized and understand how much this applies to you.

[27:29] And verse number 9. And starting in verse 5, it says, thus saith the Lord.

[27:45] And in verse number 9, the Lord says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

[27:55] The question comes, who can know it? And the answer is obviously, no man can know his own heart. But the Lord in verse 10, well, he can know the heart of man.

[28:08] He knows what's in man. But be careful, Christian, because you can be easily fooled by your own heart. You can justify things that are wrong and imagine that God's behind this and he'll bless this and it's okay and other Christians are doing it and you don't have the word of God telling you it's right.

[28:30] You don't even have any godly Christians. You're just paving your own way, deceiving your own self because of your sinful heart. The Bible says, keep thy heart, meaning protect it with all diligence.

[28:46] My son, give me thine heart. Why? Because your heart's deceitful and desperately wicked and God says, just give it to me. Give that thing to me and let me guide it.

[28:59] Let me fill it with truth. Let me speak into your heart. The Bible says, let not thine heart be hasty.

[29:12] Let not thine heart decline, Saul. Let not thine heart envy, Saul. But, let thine heart obey my commandments.

[29:24] Let thine heart retain my words like David did. In Psalm 119, verse 57, David said, thou art my portion, O Lord, I have said that I would keep thy words.

[29:38] But Saul, in contrast, he's not seeking the word of God. He's not keeping the word of God. His own wicked heart has deceived him and he's fooled. Do you know how many Christians or people that claim to be Christians, I'm not judging, I don't know whether they may be or not, but how many claiming to be Christians there are that act not in accordance to the word of God, but their own preferences, their own personal beliefs, things that creep into their own hearts and then decide there's nothing wrong with it.

[30:16] It's got to be fine and it's got to be right. And then go after it or embrace it and say there's nothing wrong with it. What's your problem? And things that if you analyzed it, it's all about them.

[30:33] And in Saul's case, it's completely against what's right, against what's holy, against what's just and against what's good. But they're fooled.

[30:44] They believe it's fine. And how dare you judge me? And so there's Saul, the fooled. Now, the last category, the last number five is the men of Keilah.

[31:00] And down in verse number 12, since we've already read the story, you got the scene, you know that David came and delivered them and smote the Philistines. He saved the inhabitants of Keilah in verse 5.

[31:13] And so now in verse 12, then said David, will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, they will deliver thee up. Really? Why would they deliver David up?

[31:27] Are they not grateful for what he just did for them? Why would they turn on David and obey Saul? This evil spirit, possessed, filled with hatred and wrath and envy.

[31:41] I mean, talk about a demented king. He was willing to kill his own son over something that he said, nobody gets to eat tonight. It is for Saul that I may be avenged upon my enemies.

[31:54] They're all going to fast for me. David, I mean, he's such an arrogant, self-conceited man. Why would the men of Keilah go after, or follow him and reject David?

[32:08] The men of Keilah, I'm calling them the flaky. The flaky. They're going to deliver up David. They should be defending David. They should be standing for David.

[32:18] That thing I mentioned earlier, look back at chapter 14. This is where Saul turns on his own son and look how the people responded to that statement.

[32:29] Saul was, I mean, Jonathan wrought with the Lord. His armor bearer followed him and delivered him from the garrison and then the whole battle took place. And in verse 44, Saul answered, God do so and more also for thou shalt surely die, Jonathan.

[32:44] 14, 45. And the people said unto Saul, shall Jonathan die who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid. As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground.

[32:58] The people rescued Jonathan that day. Well, where's the people of Keilah rescuing David that day and his men? What's wrong with them? They're flaky.

[33:10] They don't have any backbone. They don't have any allegiance. They don't have any strength to stand up and fight and resist the enemy. These guys couldn't fight the Philistines.

[33:22] They didn't have any help there. They were weak. They were pathetic compared to them. So David with maybe six, looks like 600 at the time, comes down and takes care of business.

[33:37] I just can't understand why they wouldn't turn and make him the king. Set up a monument to David and not worship him, but you know what I mean?

[33:48] Sing some praises. Saul didn't get here in time, but David killed the Philistines again. Start another verse. But no, not these flakes.

[34:00] They need an ally. They need to be rescued from their problems and then just turn on the one who shows up to deliver them. You know what it reminds me of in the New Testament?

[34:11] The apostle Peter. Peter one day says, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And then a little pressure comes on Peter and he curses and says, I know not the man.

[34:26] And three times he betrays the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that he said, I'll never leave. I'll die for you. Yeah, Peter, you flaked on him, didn't you?

[34:39] I know not the man. And there's another type right here that you're going to encounter in the Christian life is the men of Keilah, the flaky. They're shallow individuals.

[34:52] They'll be with you while there's something good going on with them. While you're helping them, they'll be with you. But as soon as the tide turns, they'll turn on you.

[35:03] They're flaky like that. They're weak. They'll deny Jesus Christ, the first sign of confrontation. They'll take his deliverance. They want to be in safeguard. They want to know what it's like to not have the Philistines wiping them out.

[35:18] They don't want the foe taking them to hell. So they'll take Jesus Christ, but then they'll turn on him when they should be standing for him, when they should be defending him.

[35:32] The Bible says in the Proverbs, meddle not with them that are given to change. So be aware, Christian. Avoid the flaky. There's plenty of them.

[35:43] They're weak. They can't stand for Christ. They'll turn on them. You can't count on them to have your back. They'll turn. And so, in conclusion, we've got through five types here.

[35:58] David being the first. A picture of Jesus Christ, that focal point. But you're going to face the foe. We've seen that over and over. They just keep coming back. Defeat them once, they're coming back again.

[36:10] You can count on it in life. But you don't have to be afraid of the foe because you have a captain. A captain that's stronger than the foe. A captain that's whipped them once and will whip them again.

[36:22] And so you don't have to fear the foe. The captain we have, he's not afraid of the foe and he never has been. You're going to encounter, though, in this Christian life, the fearful, the fooled, and the flaky.

[36:34] And sadly, today, the body of Christ is riddled with weak and deceived members that are seemingly, sadly, incapable of standing in rank and fighting.

[36:48] And they're falling away. And so be aware tonight of these characters. And I just say, maybe stay close to your focal point. Stay close and centered to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that this whole book's written about.

[37:04] He ends up the victor. He's got to deal with some things before that, but he ends up the victor. And eventually, he takes the throne. And so be sure that you're standing with him now.

[37:16] Because you sure will be sorry later if you don't. I wonder how the men of Keilah felt when they heard that David was anointed king over all of Israel.

[37:29] I wonder how they felt that day. You know what? They felt they were ashamed that they didn't stand with him then. And let that be a lesson and a little charge to you tonight to take a stand for Jesus Christ.

[37:42] Don't take that. Don't be fearful. And don't flake on him. He didn't flake on you. He paid the full price of your pardon to keep you out of hell.

[37:54] And so don't be afraid. Take a stand for Christ. You'll be glad you did when he takes the throne. Amen. Amen. All right, let's close with prayer. Father, it's been good to be here.

[38:05] It's been good to see brothers and sisters and to come apart for a while. Thank you for this story and for the representation of David and picturing the Lord Jesus Christ.

[38:18] Lord, thank you for delivering us from our greatest enemy. Thank you for saving our souls. Thank you, Lord, that it's eternal. And God, then help us to be aware of these in this passage and these in our lives and let us not fall into this fearful mindset or into this mindset that could be fooled and not adhere to the scriptures and to go with the crowd and go with the flow and let our own deceitful heart decide what's right and wrong.

[38:48] God, open our eyes and then finally, I ask, Lord, you'll help us to be strong, to stand, to not turn to the right hand or to the left or be like that man that wavereth in the sea.

[39:01] Help us to just be strong in Christ and I trust and know that we won't regret it and we'll be rewarded accordingly. We love you tonight. Thank you for each person that's here.

[39:12]  Please bless the fellowship to follow in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I'll see you Sunday.