I invite you to turn tonight in the scriptures to 1st Samuel chapter 25 1st Samuel chapter 25 it's a lengthy section I thought it would be unhelpful to break it up it seems to me that it's meant to be looked at together so we'll consider the entirety of the chapter tonight It's found on page 292 in those Bibles that are in front of you. This is the word of the Lord, beginning at verse 1 of chapter 25. Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran, and there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved. He was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep, so David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, go up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in my name, and thus you shall greet him. peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shears. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore, let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David. When David's young men came, they said this all to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. And Nabal answered David's servants, who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shears and give it to men who come from I do not know where? So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this. David said to his men, every man strap on his sword. And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about 400 men went up after David, while 200 remained with the baggage. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, behold, David's messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master. And he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm. And we did not miss anything when we were in the fields as long as he went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day. All the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do for harm is determined against our master and against all his house. And he is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him. Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seas of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, go on before me, behold I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey and came down under the cover of the mountain, behold David and his men came down toward her and she met them. Now David had said, surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him. When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, On me alone, my Lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant. Let not my Lord regard this worthless fellow Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him. But I, your servant, did not see the young men of my Lord whom you sent. Now then, my Lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from blood guilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my Lord be as Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my Lord be given to the young men who followed my Lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house, because my Lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemy shall he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And when the Lord has done to my Lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my Lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my Lord working salvation himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my Lord, then remember your servant. And David said to Abigail, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me. Blessed be your discretion and blessed be you who have kept me from this day from blood guilt and from working salvation with my own hand. For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me truly by mourning, there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male. Then David received from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, go in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I've granted your petition. And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had got out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him. And he became as a stone. And about ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head. Then David sent and spoke to Abigail to take her as his wife. When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife. And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young men attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. Saul had given Michal, his daughter, David's wife, to Palti, the son of Laish, who was of Galim. And there ends the reading of God's word this should be a five-part series you understand but it's important tonight to see the whole picture obviously the big issue in our day is one of justice isn't it we seem to be in our day obsessed with justice this is the talk this is the issue of our day we want justice now it's an interesting discussion because it's not always just about human rights and equity. No one questions that the Bible places a lot of value on justice. This is what the Lord desires from us, to be a just people, and justice is something that he loves. The problem today is that it's not really about justice. When people use the term justice, it is often being used synonymously with vengeance and repayment. Anyone who does not meet our standards of justice and anyone who commits an injustice today is absolutely despised and we want blood in our society. We want the law to be used to punish and to judge. There's so much injustice right now. There's so much injustice. There's so much evil and oppression. People are looking today for a hero. People really are looking for a hero to go after these things. And right now, you can make your name great in the pastorate if you want to fight all of the justice battles. You can be a warrior against injustice in every form. The movies that interest us prove this. Whether it's Denzel Washington as the equalizer who is going to come along and help and take out all of those who hurt the oppressed or whether it's the awful movies that used to be with Charles Bronson where he would come after anyone who hurt his family. We want justice now and we're going to take it into our hands now. Those are the movies we love. That's what society loves. The question is, what is the biblical ethic of justice and how are we to think about injustice and then vengeance? And what is before us tonight is this very issue. It's a wonderful issue to consider in light of everything that I just read. David faces the greatest test tonight of justice and the issue of vengeance. Does it belong to him? What kind of king would David be? How would he handle these injustices in the kingdom? A beautiful thing is shown to us here that even in the Old Testament, we see glimmers of light of things teaching us of what our Christ would look like, what the Messiah would look like. When in the face of injustice, he would love his enemies. And isn't it remarkable to have this shown to us through a woman again? You see, there's something beautiful about this passage tonight that is shown to us here that in the face of injustice, when we love our enemies, We entrust ourselves to the one who just judges justly. That is when we are most like Jesus. And vengeance is his. He will repay. He will make everything right. And that is shown to us tonight in this really wonderful story. To set the stage a bit, we have to remember what just happened. Saul had been in pursuit of David. And if you don't see the connection, this is the beauty of going through a book. In the last section, Saul had been pursuing David and had actually come into a cave to relieve himself and think of all of the ruthless things that Saul had done to David. And there he was for the taking. All the men, David's men, his warriors, are sitting in the back of the cave and there is Saul relieving himself naked and they have the swords pulled and they say, David, go do it. It's your moment. Get them. Kill them. don't execute vengeance on him he's an unjust king he's a ruthless king and david felt terrible for cutting off a little corner of his robe remember his conscience struck him david passed this huge test in the wilderness it was a really big test the kingdom would not be brought in by david himself the lord would give him the throne in his timing this was his preparation period in the wilderness. The kingdom would not be established ultimately by him and his warfare. It would come when the Lord decides. It would come when the Lord takes out Saul. We learned all of that. We looked at all of that. But isn't it interesting now that he's faced with the same test right immediately after on the heels of taking the corner of the robe of the king, we have David now faced with something similar. We open up chapter 25 and we read the shocking statement that Samuel has now died. It really is a tragic moment in Israel's history, a painful moment. A great leader has been taken from them. A leader was the last judge who judged Israel justly, who led them well. And the question seems to me, to see the connection here, is who's going to fill the shoes of such a leader? Who's going to step into this place? It's not Saul. When a great man dies, that's the issue before everyone. Who is going to fill the shoes of a man like that? Well, here is Israel, and it's as if the text is challenging us to think about this very question. Who will fill those shoes? Who will be a just leader like Samuel? On the heels of this question comes the next test. He moves on to the wilderness of Paran, and he takes up residence in Carmel, and there sits a huge monument, remember, in Carmel that Saul had set up for himself. David now has a massive army with him. We know that David is conducting himself well. In fact, the text really highlights the good behavior of David and all of his warriors in the land. Multiple times it says that he has been good to the people. Verse 15 says that. Very good to all the people of the area. They did not steal. They did not abuse. They did not hurt anyone. David is really leading in a just and beautiful way. Saul was not like this. Never exerting his power. Not pushing his agenda. David is really showing himself remarkably, isn't he? But here comes the test. There was a man from Maon who was very, very rich, and his name was Nabal. Contrary to David, we read that he was a kingly figure in the region, and he was a fool. He would have drunken feasts. Did you catch how drunk he is at these feasts? and everyone would have to come to his feast and treat him like a king. The scriptures portray Nabal as the worst sort of man you could ever come across. Who do we despise? Who do we think is a bad man? He was harsh. He was evil. He was abusive. There are some people in life like this who get into positions of power and it's remarkable when they're wealthy what they can accomplish and what they can do. oppressive and wicked whatever light of nature was in nabal was out that's the imagery of this man the light of nature the light that the lord had put in him of writing the law on the conscience was completely suppressed it's all about him it's all about his gain it's all about his money it's all about his kingdom and and the imagery you have is he's crushing the poor in the land They oppressed everyone. He oppressed everyone for game. His name is interesting because the text seems to say that it means fool. And there's a play there because I doubt his parents named him fool. Right? Did you ever name your kid fool? No one does that. No one does that. It's probably a euphemistically translated fool which is a Hebrew synonym for the word that is used. David has to care for all these servants. David has a lot of servants in Carmel. He doesn't have the means to do so. Really, David's poor. So he sends ten men to Nabal. They're hungry. He sends ten men to Nabal on the feast day, which would have been when the harvest was brought in. There's food everywhere. He's a billionaire in our terms. And David is simply asking, would you feed us? He's respectful. He's kind. Would you feed us? It's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do. The law of God commands this. The law of God says, be neighborly, love your neighbor, care about word and deed, feed your enemies. If they're cold, give them your coat. This is the kind of biblical ethic and command at the heart of love, of what love is and care. So here David is, he's simply asking to be fed. And Nabal answers, who's David? He knows who David is. Everyone knows who David is. Who is David, this son of Jesse? There are many servants these days breaking away from their masters. I mean, what a dig. Shall I take my bread and water and my meat that I have killed? By the way, who does that sound like a little bit? Jesus told a parable of this, didn't he? Talked a parable about the rich man who stored up barns and said, Here's what I will do with what I have produced and what I have built. I'll build and build and build and build. Shall I give that to anyone else? Fool, this night your soul. Fool, Nabal. That just came to me. I don't know if that's right, but it seems right. This night your soul will be required of you. Shall I give David any of this? You're lazy. Go get a job, is his attitude. What a jerk. I mean, I'm being kind tonight. This fellow was oppressive. Isaiah 5 would speak of people like this. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are as pleasant planning. And he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed. For righteousness, but behold, an outcry. Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field until there's no more room. And you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. In other words, in Israel, they just bought and bought and bought and bought and squelched out the poor. He knew David. He knew David took out Goliath. I have no time for this man. Now here you are with all your mighty men with swords. You just withheld judgment on Saul, who's been far worse to you. You just took a corner of his robe and you felt bad. What do you think David said at this moment? I do not have to put up with that. I am God's chosen king. This guy's done. Gird your swords. I mean, you can just hear it. When the servants came back and reported this, everyone up right now, this guy's gone. And all of them got in war mode. Surely in vain I've guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness. which shows that David had been a wall around them defending the whole area from enemies. Nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he's returned me evil for good. Every New Testament ethic, I think, is working off this. It talks about how to treat people and how to respond in adversity and how to love your enemies. I'll come back to that. God, do so to the enemies of David. Who? Enemies of who? See what's happening to him? And more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belongs to him, so 400 men are strapped with their swords and they are writing out. David was the epitome of a just leader in Israel. In his power, the kingdom was free from this kind of oppression. And he is leading here, and all would say in the whole area, what a just man David was. But isn't this an interesting moment here? The question is, was it time for David to get justice? Who gets justice? Who gets vengeance? The king is still being trained. The king is still being tested. But wasn't he right even in the old theocratic arrangements to purge the scoundrel off the land? Wasn't he right? He's not the king yet. He hasn't been really placed yet. The kingdom has not really been established yet. But what of this injustice? What do we do with this? Here's the marvel of the story tonight. The marvel of the story is Abigail. Introduce this wonderful woman. Notice what's said of her, verse 3. A woman of good understanding, a beautiful appearance. She was an epitome of a godly, beautiful woman. This good woman, this really good woman, hears from her servants that David's men are coming. And in fact, her servants say, your harm is determined against our master. Harm is determined against our master Nabal and all his household, for he is such a scoundrel, no one can talk to him. So here comes her restraint. It shows how remarkable she was. Did her husband not feed them? Look at the list of things she cooks up. Look at how much she prepares. It's overwhelming the amount of food that she now prepares for David and his army. 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of raisins, I mean on and on and on to make restitution for her husband. But here's the remarkable thing. She falls down before David and her first words, Let this iniquity be on me, asking for forgiveness. the heart of her request, now then, my Lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from blood guilt, and notice this little statement keeps ringing out here, from saving with your own hand. Please forgive the trespass, verse 8, of your servant, for the Lord will certainly, verse 28, the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house, Because my Lord is fighting the battles of the Lord and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living and the care of the Lord your God. What? What a strong, godly woman who understands the care of the Lord, who knows the Lord. And the lives of your enemies, he shall sling out from a hollow sling. She knew that story. Do you remember, David, when that stone struck Goliath, it came from a sling? That was the Lord. He holds the sling. And when the Lord has done to my Lord according to all the good he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, my Lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my Lord working salvation for himself. There it is again. her appeal is so important isn't it don't earn the kingdom yourself don't get it yourself through the vengeance of your hands don't work salvation for yourself you don't save by your hand instead forgive the lives of your enemies he shall sling out from the hollow of a sling In a moment, David had become Nabal. We have already run into this. But David became like Saul back at Nob. Now he has become like Nabal. You see why I say this woman is remarkable? How in the world did she ever marry a scoundrel like this? I couldn't get away from that question. I mean that. I can only assume that he with his money arranged the marriage. Maybe he took her. But the marvel is, I've seen some of the best women, the most wise and godly women, marry absolute spiritually dead jerks. Maybe she married him for his money. I don't think so either. Pete, you're right. We're two for two today. I have a young one and an old one. I can't read this without saying to all the women here, marry well if you're young and not married. Marry well. Don't rush it. It is not worth marrying for the wrong reasons just to get married. One pastor said, consider how many times such a woman must have grieved the misery of her marriage like being in a dreary prison. You don't want this life. you don't want it. But think about this statement. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord, is not a New Testament statement. Abigail was quoting Deuteronomy 32. Vengeance is mine and recompense for the time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand and their doom comes swiftly. But there's something so right about Abigail tonight teaching us to love our enemies and entrust ourselves to the Lord. Isn't there? There's something so right and beautiful about Abigail teaching us to love our enemies and entrust ourselves to the Lord. She is teaching the king. Anyone say that women don't have an important place in the kingdom? You've seen two today. And both of them had to instruct the men on compassion. Both of them had to instruct the men on compassion. The woman at the well in the disciples' training, and now Abigail to David. Remarkable, both women, the Lord put this together to help us. We're not like this today as men, especially. We pounce on people. We put out people. The essence of ungodliness is to presume that we are the innocent ones of sins ourselves, and that in the face of other sins of injustice, we presume to take the place of God ourselves and take matters into our own hands. And doesn't Abigail display the kind of Christ-like spirit we all should have? David's imprecatory prayers never were prayers saying, I will get vengeance. David's imprecatory prayers were always leaving the call out for vengeance to the Lord in his timing. Now think of our Lord tonight to bring this somewhere, who in the face of every injustice, in the face of every abuse, and seeing the multitudes filled when he was filled with compassion because of abusive shepherds really there's a few times he turns around in rage and anger at the pharisees it's a powerful moment when peter would say this about jesus for it is a gracious thing when mindful of god one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you've been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps, who committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. Here it is. But continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Jesus did that. And then it says, right following that, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree. God will have full, meted out justice and judgment. But the work of setting His people free is His. Hear me on that. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Abigail shows us, remarkably, the love of neighbor, foreshadowed here, foreshadowing the love of Christ. David sees this tonight and says to Abigail, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me. Blessed be your discretion. Blessed be you who have kept me this day from blood guilt and from working salvation with my own hand. There it is again, three times. For as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me truly by morning, there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male. David understood right then and there. To take matters into our own hands is to be an act as God and become judges, the law. James warns against that. I want to close with this thought, though. The Lord means it when he says, I will repay. There's a far more scary thing than we could ever imagine, that statement. And the text ends with that. Nabal is throwing a drunken party. And once he sobers up, Abigail comes in and says, I saved you last night from 400 warriors and David. Did you read what happens? For Nabal was too late. Read his heart seized up right then. Already the judgment of the Lord had fallen on him at the report. And his heart seizes up and he froze cold. And then within 10 days, God struck him dead. The text wants you to know who did that. God did that. When David hears it, he blesses the Lord for his just judgment. Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head. I want you to listen. This probably motivates Psalm 37. Just listen to these words and we'll close with this. But listen to this. Refrain from anger. Forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. For the evildoer shall be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at this place, he will not be here. But the meek shall inherit the earth. and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. But the Lord laughs at the wicked for he sees that his day is coming. Justice, judgment, vengeance is certain on the wicked. But in a strange twist tonight, Abigail being set free from this tyrant, tyrant, is now given to David as a wife. Seeing the providence of the Lord here, Saul had taken David's wife, who was really an ungodly woman. And in God's providence, a godly woman was given to David. It's really a beautiful ending for Abigail. A wife of godly character who knew the Lord and the Lord blessed her. What a passage tonight telling us to see Christ's mercy to us and calling us even to love our enemies and ultimately to entrust ourselves in whatever situations we find ourselves to the Lord who promises you he will make it right in the end. Trust in the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. Trust in him for the battle belongs to the Lord. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for encouraging us tonight with this great story of David and Abigail and Nabal. And let us, Lord, remember that you work salvation and deliver your people. And we pray, Lord, that we would demonstrate Christ's likeness in the way that we treat our enemies. How hard that is. We can't do it ourselves. But ask that we would show forth the kind of Christ-like spirit with humility that loves and wants even the best for our enemies that they would repent and believe for there is a terrible judgment coming. Thank you, Lord, for being our defender, our rock, our fortress, and that we are in the palms of your hand. Guide us as we go out through this week that we might take this with us and live before you in a just and righteous way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.