1Samuel 27:1-4
The Sin of the Defeated
Have you ever been discouraged? depressed? defeated?
Have you ever given up?
Sure you have. We all have. That is what David does in this chapter.
David’s life is a lot like ours, only on a much bigger scale.
1. David knew something of hard work.
a. He was the youngest of eight boys.
b. He was a shepherd.
2. David knew something of being blessed.
a. He slew Goliath.
b. He became a captain in the king’s army.
c. He married a princess.
3. David knew something of heartache.
a. He lost everything.
b. He was hunted for years as a criminal.
4. David knew something of having to live the same lessons over and over.
a. Twice he had Saul in his sights and could have easily killed him
(1Sam 24, 1Sam 26), but David believed Saul to be the Lord’s anointed
and refused.
(1) That was a lesson learned and remembered.
(2) The details are given in the last chapter.
(3) David is back in the wilderness of Ziph.
(a) The last time the Scriptures say David was there, Saul almost
caught him.
(b) The Ziphites give David up again and Saul comes with 3,000
soldiers.
(4) David does do something different this time.
(a) Instead of waiting for Saul to find him, David goes to hunt
for Saul!
i. It is better to take the battle to the devil than it is
to have the devil take the battle to us.
ii. At least then you are fighting on his soil instead of
yours.
(b) He and Abishai, who will one day be numbered among David’s
mighty men, go into Saul’s camp.
(c) While there, they take Saul’s spear and water.
(d) Once outside of the camp, David wakes everyone up and talks
to King Saul as he did when he spared Saul’s life in the
cave.
(e) And, like that time, Saul feels remorse for what he has done
and leaves.
b. Twice David fled into the land of the Philistines seeking escape from
Saul (1Sam 21, 1Sam 27). That was a lesson either not learned or else
not remembered.
I. \\#1Sam 27:1\\ David was depressed. Sometimes we forget, Bible heroes
were still Bible humans.
A. David was tired of being hunted.
1. This had gone on for years by now.
2. His life was in constant danger.
3. He had the responsibility of all of those who had gathered
around him.
4. I suppose he suffered from lack of rest and adequate food.
B. David felt like God had forgotten him.
1. God had told David he would be king, but David no longer
believed it would happen.
2. He felt his only choices were die or flee.
3. That’s discouragement and it shows in his Psalms.
Psalms 13:1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou
hide thy face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart
daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Psalms 35:17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their
destructions, my darling from the lions.
Psalms 89:46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy
wrath burn like fire?
II. \\#1Sam 27:2\\ David fled to Gath.
A. Yes, there is some déjà vu going on here.
B. This city is a key city.
1. It was the city of Goliath \\#1Sam 17:23\\.
2. It was one of the chief or capital cities of the Philistines.
3. It was the same city that David had fled to early \\#1Sam 21:10\\.
C. Why would David do this?
1. It is obvious that he wanted to get out of Saul’s reach.
a. Saul could not follow David into enemy territory.
b. \\#1Sam 27:4\\ It worked.
2. And apparently, King Achish was very gullible.
a. \\#1Sam 27:5-7\\ This king welcomed David and gave him a city,
Ziklag, to live in.
(1) When David became king of Israel, he kept the Philistine
city!
(2) \\#1Sam 27:6\\ Ziklag became a city belonging to the kings
of Judah from that time forward.
b. David had not been as much a threat since Saul started to hunt
him, but he had continued to do some fighting with the
Philistines.
(1) We know he fought them at Keilah.
(2) It is likely that he fought them more than once while
on the run.
c. Perhaps Achish believed in the expression, "Keep your friends
close and your enemies closer."
3. This is what depression and discouragement do to you. These
emotions entice you to do things you would not normally do.
a. David was repeating a sin he had committed earlier. He
was trying to make an alliance with the Philistines.
b. Earlier, we tried to excuse it somewhat by saying he was
young and made some rash decision before he got his feet
planted, but we can’t say that now.
c. The truth is that David just got discouraged and messed up.
III. David compromised.
A. What is compromise?
1. Compromise is when IN YOUR MIND, you bend the line between right
and wrong.
2. Of course, you can’t bend that line! A thing is either right or
it’s wrong.
3. David, for a little peace, was willing to leave Israel and make
an alliance that God had commanded Israel not to make.
B. How can you tell when you are compromising?
1. David did something he knew was wrong.
a. David knew living with the Philistines was wrong.
b. He knew it because he had already tried it once and it was
wrong then.
c. If it was wrong when Saul first started hunting him, it
would still be wrong after years of being hunted.
d Sin does not change with time. It does not turn from wrong
into right just because of age!
2. David moved into the enemies camp. Anytime you are living in
the enemies’ camp, you know something is wrong!
a. The Philistines were not just Israel’s enemies.
(1) They were God’s enemies!
(2) God had commanded that the Philistines be killed by the
Jews when they went into the land.
Deut 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither
thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the
Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and
the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater
and mightier than thou;
2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt
smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with
them, nor shew mercy unto them:
3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not
give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve
other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and
destroy thee suddenly.
5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and
break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven
images with fire.
b. One of the difficulties that atheists have with God is that
He commanded the complete annihilation of all of those who
remained in the land He had given to Israel.
(1) How do you answer that?
(a) All sinners are under the penalty of death. God
may collect that debt whenever He chooses.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(b) God has declared all sinners His enemies and has
such, He may destroy them whenever He likes.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the
world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God.
Philippians 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you
even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
1 Corinthians 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his
feet.
(c) The only reason God is not executing His enemies
today is that during this time period He is offering
them grace.
i. We are under a truce of grace.
ii. At the rapture, that truce will end.
(2) That offends our sensibilities because God has taught us
to love and forgive our enemies. To some, it seems God
is setting a double standard.
(a) God gave us laws to obey among ourselves because,
except in a very few cases, we do not have the
right to execute judgment upon each other.
(b) However, God is the Judge and Executioner. He does
have that right and may execute it whenever He
chooses.
(c) This is the difference in being the Creator and
the creature, the Law Giver and the law obeyor,
the Judge and the sinner.
c. David had made an alliance with the people God had commanded
no alliance be made. This was wrong.
3. \\#1Sam 27:8-12\\ David started living a lie.
a. David went out and attacked the enemies of Israel.
b. But he told Achish that he was attacking Israel!
c. Of course, this was very risky.
d. David had to make sure there were no witnesses.
e. Whenever you have to lie to keep others from knowing what you
are doing, you know you are doing the wrong thing.
4. David exchanged the blessings of God for the labor of his own
hands.
a. We don’t read of him praying or seeking the ephod.
b. Sadly, what we do see is that he is lying and making his own
plans again.
D. What should a person do who is depressed?
1. Realize that we have a part in making our own circumstances.
a. David is unique in his situation.
(1) Like Job, David had not done anything to place himself
in the position he was in.
(2) Most of the time, we can’t say that.
(3) Life is largely action and reaction, cause and effect.
(4) It does little good to get discouraged over the results
of what we have done to ourselves.
(b) However, the compromised life that David was living would lead
to his next set of problems.
2. Be encouraged in the Lord.
(a) He is in control.
(b) He has a plan.
(c) He can and will fix our problems when He is ready.
(d) Until then, we should choose to rejoice.
3. Work to fix what is wrong.
(a) Depression is usually part of defeat.
(b) Together, these indicate that you have quit.
(c) Instead of giving up, we need to get back in.
IV. \\#1Sam 28:1\\ David got caught! You can only live a lie for so long
before it catches up to you.
A. King Achish believed David was his loyal subject!
1Sam 27:12 And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people
Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.
B. David had to keep his lie afloat!
1. \\#1Sam 28:2\\ The king said you will go kill Israelis with me and
David said, "Yes, sir!"
2. \\#1Sam 29:1-2\\ The enemies of Israel gather together and David is
right there with them.
3. \\#1Sam 29:3-5\\ The other Philistines were not so gullible.
a. They wanted David and his men out!
b. \\#1Sam 29:6-7\\ So Achish sends him back.
c. \\#1Sam 29:8\\ But look at what David says!
(1) Was David actually going to fight his own people?
(2) I would say, "NO. NEVER."
C. So why was David on the wrong side of the battlefield? Why was David
saying those things?
1. Because there is no good place to get out of a lie!
a. Once you start lying, you get trapped in the web of your lies.
b. If David didn’t follow his lie to the end, Achish would have
killed him.
c. And once he was on the battlefield, if he had not followed it
to the end, the other kings would have killed him.
2. Did David have a plan?
a. Probably not! He was probably winging it.
b. I would guess that when the battle started, he would turn on
the Philistines and try to fight his way out, but that would
have still left the families back at Ziklag.
D. The truth of the matter is that David was in an awful fix!
1. For a little peace, he had compromised his walk with God.
2. Can you imagine what Saul was saying back in Israel?
3. Not to mention that for this deception to work, David had to look
like a traitor even to his own people!
4. If this had been such anybody, David would have become a man
without a country and a man without a friend!
a. David should have had both the Philistines and the Jews trying
to kill him!
b. The only reason that did not happen was that God was gracious
to him!
(1) God kept David safe.
(2) God kept the Israelis heart tender toward David.
5. However, we best understand that God is under no obligation to do
that for us if we compromise.
A compromising life is a sinful life. If despair and discouragement afflicts you,
do not follow David’s example in the matter! Take courage in the Lord and work
your way out of it, but do not compromise. It is The Sin of the Defeated!
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