I want to talk some about women's Role Models, you know,
that's a topic of great interest right now among people who are
Christians and even who would not consider themselves
Christians lately, there's been a lot of talk from people in the
world about role models, for young women, and for young girls
and holding up these examples for them.
And, you know, proverbs 31 verses 30 and 31, says, charm is
deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord.
She shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her
hands and let her own works. Praise her, praise her.
In the gates. Here we have the wisdom of
Proverbs saying, hold up a Godly woman as an example and let her
works. Praise.
Or let people know about her praiseworthy attributes and
present her as an example to be emulated.
And so that's what I like to do tonight.
I'd like to share with you the story of one such godly woman
from the book of 1st Samuel. And to introduce our study, I
want to read 1st Samuel, chapter 25 verses 2 and verse 3 there.
The Bible says as now, there was a man in man whose business was
in Carmel and the man was very rich.
He had 3,000 sheep and a thousand goats and he was
sharing his sheep and Carmel. The name of the man was navel
and the name of his wife, Abigail.
And she was a woman of good, understanding and beautiful
appearance but the man was harsh and evil in all his Links
friends. This is an action-packed account
from the Bible in which disaster would have been sued.
And many people would have died on account of the stubbornness
of one, man, and Israel's future.
King would have been disgraced if it wasn't for the bravery and
for the actions and the wisdom of one godly woman named
Abigail. I hope this study will be
beneficial to you, this study, which I have chosen to entitle
Beauty and the Beast. Now, if you're familiar with the
history of the nation of Israel, you might remember that first
Samuel chapter, 25 was a troubling time in the Kingdom.
Remember that Saul was anointed as king of Israel, but because
of his He fell out of favor with God.
And so, David was anointed to be his successor, and this made
Saul Furious. He went crazy.
In fact, he tried to kill David. And so, David had to run for his
life and go hide out in the wilderness, and people knew
about these events that were going on.
And so pretty soon people were coming from all around to join
us. Up with David.
And the Bible says that these were rather CD individuals, they
were Outlaws, they were people who were in debt because of
Saul, there were people who were in trouble with the law.
So they made up a Motley Crew. In the Bible says, that they had
faces like lions. These were men who were
warriors, but they respected David.
And through his Charisma, David Is able to direct them and so he
became their captain. Now the Bible says there were
about 400 men who joined up with David David had almost like a
personal Army where he could have gone and fought back
against Saul but you know, he didn't want to do that because
he recognized Saul was God's anointed.
And so he said, I'm going to let God take care.
Are of removing Soul. When the, when the time comes,
if the time comes, it won't be up to me.
It'll be up to God. So, we get to First Samuel 25,
and the prophet. Samuel has just died.
Verse 1, says now, if you remember, Samuel was really the
last person who could on occasion talk, some sense into
Saul and now he is just died. And so King Or the anointed
David he relocated to a place called The Wilderness of Paran.
This is on the border of Southern Judah and the Sinai
Peninsula. It's an area that was relatively
uninhabited. No, big cities, mostly pasture
land for grazing. And while he was there, he
noticed these roving bands of people called the amalekites and
they Were Raiders and they would go and take crops and animals
and attack these Villages, the people who were tending to the
herds now maybe you remember that David grew up as a shepherd
and you can imagine that not only did he know about the
difficult and the dangerous circumstances of this kind of
job, but I imagine it. Pained him greatly to see These
people who were in need of help. And so he took his fighting men
and he intervened and he drove off these Raiders and protected
the Shepherds and the herds. Now, as we read in our reading,
there was a man living in this area named nabal.
Now, this name, nabal means fool and friends.
Let me tell you, there has never been someone more accurately
named the neighbor. All he was a rich man.
He owned vast amounts of land and flocks, but that's not what
made him a fool. It wasn't a fool because he was
a rich man. He was a fool because of his
attitude and his demeanor, the King James version calls him a
churlish man. And that's an Old English
expression, which means he acted like a dog, he was rude and
ill-tempered, and Holger and selfish.
Now Friends, when the Bible calls somebody a fool, we would
do very well to perk up and to pay attention and to take note
about why they're called a fool, so that we don't make the same
mistake. You know, one of the easiest
ways to spot a fool is to see how they treat other people.
And we see that in this story, the Bible says that it came time
for nabel to Shear his sheep and an Eastern culture.
This was supposed to be a time of great celebration and great
Hospitality often. The master of the estate would
throw a feast and he would invite his neighbors and his
workers to partake. And we He would be generous in
giving gifts now, you better believe nay ball was going to
feast, in fact, he feasted like a king and he gorged himself and
he got drunk. Now, David had been protecting
nabal's livestock from these radar Raiders.
And even though he and his men were starving, they didn't take
a single one of name all sheep to eat for themselves and this
entitled them To some of that Hospitality, some of that
compensation. And so David selected, some
young men and he sent them down there and he said, tell nabal
that you are Servants of David and he knows that we have
protected his property and ask if he'll give us something to
eat. So these young men come down And
here's nabal sitting there drunkenly on a stool and these
men come up and they say we are Servants of David and he has
protected your property, and we've come to see if you'll give
us some gifts. And I can just imagine nabal
Crossing his arms and leering at them.
Through his drunken, stupor and slurring.
Who is David except a scoundrel? And a rascal.
I don't know who David is. I'm not going to have anything
to do with David, he's not going to get anything that I have to
give. Well name, all knew who David
was, you know, David was God's anointed that's why he's out
hiding in the wilderness because he's on the run from Saul.
This wasn't a matter of neighbor, didn't know who David
was this was rebellion and rejection of God's anointed but
not only that David and his men deserved some charity, they
deserved some compensation, you know, usually rich.
If people are very meticulous about their assets often more so
than poor people are rich. People know exactly where their
money is, where it's going, who's responsible for it, nay
ball knew who was keeping his flock safe.
It wasn't a secret, he just didn't want to give David his do
well. These young men come back and
they tell David. And, you know, some people think
David might have had red hair and if that's the case, he had
red hair to match his temper, because when these young men
tell him, nay ball, wants to know who David is.
David says, we'll get your swords on boys.
We're going to go teach nabal Who David is and before the day
is over, they were determined to wipe out name all and his whole
family. It's at this point we are
introduced to the hero of this story.
Abigail you know Abigail was an exceptional woman who was
trapped in difficult circumstances.
You know most likely she was in this marriage by Arrangement.
That was the custom of the time. Her parents probably had an
estate comparable to Nee balls and so they arranged this
marriage for her. And let me tell you This
marriage was a total mismatch. The Bible says that this young
woman was beautiful on the inside and on the outside, but
her husband was ugly. In personality and I imagine an
appearance as well, Abigail was intelligent, but her husband was
a fool. She was prudent and skilled with
dealing with people and a ball certainly was not other people
respected Abigail, but nabal was a source of contempt.
Now isn't this the case? Oftentimes, we hear about this
where a woman finds herself in a mismatched marriage, this
happens all the time and you know, sometimes this woman
marries a man and maybe it turns out that he wasn't the kind of
person that she thought he was. He kept things hidden from her
and maybe she ends up in this situation through no fault of
her own. And friends.
That is heartbreaking. I mean, just imagine how you
would react being stuck in this marriage to nabal.
You know Abigail had to live with the shame of her husband's
reputation. She was unjustly affected by
nabal's misdeeds. And I am sure that she was the
subject of abuse from him. Friends.
That's a terrible situation and Abigail had every right to feel
sorry for herself. You know, she had been
transformed into a bitter Woman by her circumstances.
Nobody would have batted an eye. But that's not what happened.
Her response in this situation was to be strong and to make the
best of difficult circumstances. She didn't compromise her
morals. She didn't stoop down to nabal's
level, or allow his abuse to transform her into somebody who
was bitter but she continued to put the interests of other
people above herself. She trusted.
Added in the Lord. And as a result, she made a
reputation for herself. You seen a balls workers knew
that she was more trustworthy than her husband and so when
there was a problem, they were coming to Abigail for a
solution. They weren't going to nabal and
that's what happens here. One of these workers over here
is nabal's insult and come straight to Abigail and we read
here in verses 14 through 17. This man says look David sent
Messengers from the Wilderness to greet our master and he
reviled them, but the men were very good to us and we were not
hurt. Nor did we miss anything?
As long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields, they
were a wall to us both by night and day.
All the time we were with them, keeping the Sheep now.
Therefore, no, and consider what you will do.
Or harm is determined against our master and against all his
household for. He is such a scoundrel, that one
cannot speak to him. This worker says Abigail, you've
got to do something because they balls not going to listen and he
is bringing disaster on our house and on your family.
And Abigail agreed. She thought to herself.
I've got to act quickly or David's wrath is going to come
down on us and so she called for some of her maidens and she
said, quick get some food and some gifts together and they got
on their camels and they went out to meet David on the road.
Now, what a sight that must have been here comes David and his
fighting men with faces like Lions then got their weapons in
hand. And they've got blood in their
eyes. And then here comes from the
opposite direction. A group of women riding out to
meet them, what a sight that must have been.
And when David saw this woman Abigail and he saw her humility
and heard the wise words that she had to say to him.
It stopped him in his tracks friends.
I want to take a moment to read this speech that Abigail makes
to David. I think it's one of the most
poignant speeches in the Bible and there are some things here
for every one of us to learn. Let's read the wise words of
Abigail here in 1st Samuel 25. This is verses 24 through 31.
It says, so she fell at his feet and said on me, my Lord on me,
let this iniquity be and please let your maidservant speak in
your ears and hear the words of your maidservant.
Please let not my Lord regard. This scoundrel nabal for as his
name is so is he nay ball? Is his name and Folly is with
him. But I your maid servant did not
see the young men of my Lord whom you sent now.
Therefore, Oh, my Lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul
lives, since the Lord has held you back from coming to
Bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now
then let your enemies and those who seek harm.
From my Lord, be as nabal. And now this present which your
maidservant has brought to my Lord.
Let it be given to the young men who follow my Lord.
Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant for the Lord
will certainly make for Mi And enduring house because my Lord
fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you
throughout your days yet. A man has risen to pursue pursue
you and seek your life. But the life of my Lord shall be
bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God
and the lives of your enemies. He shall sling out as from the
pocket of his sling and it shall come to pass when the Lord has
done for my Lord. According to all the Oh good.
That he has spoken concerning you and has appointed.
You ruler over Israel. That this will be no grief to
you nor offensive heart to my Lord.
Either that you have shed blood without cause or that.
My Lord has Avenged himself. But when the Lord has dealt well
with my Lord, then remember your maidservant, you know, the Book
of Proverbs personify his wisdom as a woman.
And I think there's a lot of Truth In that often when men are
quick to anger, it's the cooler heads of women that Prevail in
those situations. And thankfully, there was a
Godly woman here, named Abigail to intervene and to cause David
to prevent David from doing something that he was going to
regret later. I want to take a minute to
unpack some of the wisdom. That Abigail presents in this
speech, there's something here for all of us to learn and to
apply to our own lives and to our interactions with other
people. The first thing, the Abigail
says is David stop and think and whatever you're about to do
today, ball, do it to me. Now think about that, here's
this beautiful woman down on the ground and she says, I know
you're mad at nabal and rightly so because he's a fool, he's
acted foolishly and you're on your way to kill him but do it
to me instead and you know that took the wind right out of
David's sales and it forced him to stop and to think about the
consequences of his actions. Nay ball was a Yes, but Abigail
and the servants and the children, they didn't deserve to
suffer death because of his foolishness.
You know, it's easy to take Vengeance on somebody that
you're angry with, but what about other people who would be
affected. Sometimes, we don't always think
about that. Do we jump to actions
rationally? But we don't think about who
else could be affected. You know, the guilt of sin is on
the person who commits it, that's what the Bible teaches,
but the consequences of sin are far-reaching and, you know, we
understand this. We are still experiencing the
effects of Adam and Eve's sin and the curse, the corruption
that they brought on the world, we don't inherit In from them
genetically but we experience pain and childbirth conflict in
the home. We have to work and sweat in
order to eat because the Earth is no longer the paradise that
it used to be in Eden. These things were consequences
of Adam and Eve sin and they affect us even today.
And so, we've got to think friends about how our actions
may have. Affect other people, especially
in these times of Temptation, you know.
It's easy to get Swept Away by emotion in these times.
Think about it, David in this situation, he was hungry, he was
tired. He was isolated.
He was on the run from someone who is frankly, crazy.
This is when the devil is looking to strike the devil's,
not looking for a fair fight friend, he is going to strike
you. When you are at your weak point,
isn't that when he came to tempt, Jesus, he came after
Jesus, when Jesus had been in the wilderness forty days and
forty nights in fasting, he's not looking for a fair, a fair
fight and so we've got to be on our guard.
As Jesus said, Watch and Pray, lest you enter into temptation
and so often these sins that occur, when we act rationally
would be avoided if we would just stop and think and pray.
Now, the second thing Abigail says to David is nabal is not
worth killing. She says, nabel lives up to his
name, he is a fool And because he's a fool, he is not worth the
time and the energy and friends. That's true.
Now, when we're talking about a fool, a fool is someone who is
characterized by a lack of fear of the Lord, they're not afraid
because they think they're perfect in their own eyes.
You can't reason with a fool because they think they're
perfect. As Proverbs 18 verse 2, says
fools, have no interest in understanding.
They only want to air their own opinions.
There's no correcting someone who's a fool and as Proverbs 26
verses 4 and 5 says, do not answer a fool according to his
foolishness, or you will also be like him answer a fool as his
foolishness deserves, so that he will not be wise.
His own eyes. You know what this is saying,
this is saying, don't get into an argument with a fool because
they will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with
experience, you're not going to get anywhere arguing with a
fool. One of my friends and a preacher
who I look up to brother Bob Loudermilk, he said some things
are better off ignored than attacked.
I think that's a great statement, you know, attention
is the oxygen of conflict and there are some conflicts that
you don't need to fight. You need to starve them of your
attention. Instead, you need to suffocate
them. By just ignoring them not giving
them your attention and your energy.
And such is the case when dealing with foolish people
Proverbs 6, verses 12 through 15 says the wicked.
Man's Calamity shall come suddenly.
Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy the way that a
foolish person chooses to live is going to bring Calamity down
on them. If they don't change and turn to
the Lord. So you're better off.
Ignoring those situations, third Abigail, advises David, let the
Lord of avenge you. If you are God's anointed if
you're God's chosen, let him take Vengeance on your behalf
friends that some fantastic advice and that is so hard to do
sometimes. You know, Abigail had lived
humbly with This man for a long time, she had put up with his
foolishness. If there's anyone in this
situation who had the right to be angry, it was Abigail, in
fact she could have said, David, I want you to come and get rid
of this man. For me, I'll take you right to
him. That's not what she did.
She didn't stoop to nabal's level, she took the high road
and she encouraged David to do the same and friends.
We need to learn how to do the same too.
Personal vengeance is the easy way out in reality.
It takes greater strength to trust that the Lord is going to
work. Things out on your behalf.
You know, later on, as he reflected on this difficult
period of his life, David penned these words over in Psalm 34 in
verse 15. He said the eyes of the Lord are
on the righteous and his ears. Ears are open to their cry and
then in verse 17 he said the righteous cry out and the Lord
hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves
such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all friends.
God's promise is not that because you live righteously,
you're going to have an easy life.
In fact more often than not living righteously, choosing the
high road. It invites more persecution on
you because there are wicked evil people who they don't like
how you make them feel when you live righteously and so they try
to attack you to Snuff you out, the promise is not that you're
going to have an easy life but the Assurance is The God hears,
your plight and he is watching over you.
And even if you aren't delivered physically, you have spiritual
Deliverance through him. The fourth thing Abigail says to
David. She says, you are innocent so
far David, but if you do this, you won't be innocent anymore.
Keep your innocence keep a clear conscience.
It's true. David had been unjustly treated
and defrauded in this situation but two wrongs don't make a
right to sins cannot cancel, each other out.
And so she advises David don't commit wrong to undo nabal's
wrong and friends. That's right.
We need to do the same. In fact, this is how Jesus.
Responded to Injustice in 1st Peter 2, verse 23.
It says that when Jesus was reviled he did not revile in
return when he suffered, he did. Not threaten but committed
himself to him, who judges righteously he trusted in the
Lord and were called to follow. After Jesus example, we do this
because we hope that through our actions This person who is
mistreating us. Will see the error of their ways
and will be turned to God as Romans 12 verses 19 through 21
describes. It says beloved do not avenge
yourselves but rather give place to wrath for.
It is written. Vengeance is mine?
I will repay says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is
hungry, feed him if he is thirsty.
Give him a drink for in so doing Doing you will Heap coals of
fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil but
overcome evil with good friends. We overcome evil with good.
We don't respond to attacks against us with Injustice with
vengeance because our hope is that through our peaceful
Lifestyle, the person who is attacking us.
Will have their conscience seared and they will get to
thinking about why we responded the way we did.
And it will bring them to God and will have saved another Soul
if they don't do that, if they don't turn and repent, then
they'll have to answer to God for that and for God's
long-suffering, fifth Abigail tells David.
If you do this you're going to regret it later.
Maybe you won't regret it. It immediately.
But sometime in the future, when you are King, you will look back
and regret this action. You see Abigail believed in
David. She believed.
If God has anointed you King, then you are going to be king.
Someday that is a fact and so she says, don't do something
that you're going to regret. When you look back and that's
good advice friends. Before you act before you I
think the word speak something in Anger, stop and think it's an
amazing thing to get to the end of your life and to be able to
look back and say, I don't regret anything that I did.
Now, of course, we are going to have some regrets because we're
human and we make mistakes and we can be forgiven of those
mistakes. But let's try our best to live a
life where we make as few mistakes.
It's as possible and we do that by stopping and thinking before
we act so we don't have to regret.
Finally Abigail tells day that you are a part of God's
treasure. She says you are bound up in a
bundle with the Living God. And what she's talking about is
when someone would go on a journey, they would roll all of
their possessions into a sort of pack or a bundle and what you
do. Is you take your most valuable
possessions and you put them in the middle so they don't get
misplaced or stolen. Really?
What she's saying is David? This is Unworthy of you.
Remember, who you are now. I know that's a cliche.
My mom told me that every time I was going out with friends and
maybe yours did too, she said Noah remember who you are but
sometimes we need to be reminded Who We Are?
It makes me think of First Corinthians chapter 6 when Paul
was talking to those Christians and he gave that long list of
ugly sins that they had been involved in.
But then in 1st Corinthians 6:11, he said and such were some
of you. But you were washed, you were
Sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And by the spirit of our God, he was saying don't turn back.
Back into those things because you've been washed, you've put
on a new clean set of clothes spiritually speaking.
Don't Sully those clothes or tarnish them, or dirty them with
those past sins that you were involved in?
Remember, who you are. Well, here's how David responded
to Abigail back in. First Samuel, 25 verses 32 and
33 he said Blessed is the Lord God of Israel who sent you this
day to meet me and blessed as your advice and blessed, are
you? Because you have kept me this
day from coming to Bloodshed and from avenging myself, with my
own hand in verse 35. He said go up in, peace to your
house. See, I have heated your voice
and respected your person David said.
Thank God that you came. Because if I hadn't met you
today, I would have carried on with this, bloody deed.
And Men, let's thank god, let's thank God for The Godly women
who have come into our lives and who have given us wise counsel
and who have led us back on the right track when we were going
off astray. Let's do his proverb says and
let's let their good works. Praise them in the gates and
that's what David did. Hear David and his men received
Abigail's gifts and sent her on her way in peace.
Now, the Bible says, she went back to her house and the next
day, she came into the living room and there's nabal sitting
on his stool this time with a hangover from the night's
drinking and she comes to him and says I want you to know
something nabal if it hadn't been for me, you'd be dead right
now. You and me in our whole family
because David was on his way to destroy us because of your
insults. Salt.
If it hadn't been for me, we wouldn't be alive today.
You know what the Bible says, Bible says that his heart turned
to stone and he fell over paralyzed from a stroke or a
heart attack or something like that and they put them in bed
and a few days later, the Lord struck him and he died.
And word got back to David and David prayed.
And he thanked, God for avenging, his anointed, but also
with holding his hand from avenging himself.
And then you got to thinking about that woman.
Abigail and not just her beauty, but her wisdom and her humility
and her Godly traits. And the Bible says, after a
period of mourning, David went and courted Abigail.
And he married her and friends. Let me tell you, if David had
kept Abigail as his one and only wife, it would have saved him
from a lot of trouble that he was going to have later in life.
But as of right now, the story ends happily ever after David
learned some great lessons from Abigail's wisdom and friends.
I hope that we can to later on when David was presented with
opportunities to take Saul's life.
He didn't do it. I imagine he reflected on the
words of Abigail and he restrained his hand and he
looked The Lord watch out for him so we can learn from
Abigail's wisdom. But friends, we need women,
like, Abigail in the church, we need women who will act with
wisdom, who will have the courage to do what is right?
No matter what. We need women, who won't allow
unspiritual and foolish men, to hold them back.
We need women who are patient and who are wise and use their
influence to dispel Wrath. We need women who instead of
gossiping Edify and correct, respectfully and gently we need.
Proverbs 31 women and friends. When you see those women in your
own life DUIs, proverbs 31 says let their works.
Praise them in the Gates friends.
Let's do our part to uphold Godly women as an example
friends. That brings our study to a close
this evening. I want To conclude by asking you
to consider your own life. And I want to think back to what
Abigail said about living a life with no regrets.
Can you say you have lived a life of No Regrets, you know, I
read the story about one Alfred Nobel the inventor of dynamite
who woke up one morning to find his own obituary in the
newspaper. And it said, Alfred Bell.
The inventor of dynamite died last night.
The man invented a new way to kill millions of people.
And as a result, he died a very rich man.
Well, there was a mistake, you see, it was Alfred nobel's
brother who had died, but that shocked him and it forced him to
think, you know, he didn't want to be known as the person who
had invented a new way to kill millions of people.
And so as a result, he took his large fortune and he founded the
Nobel Peace Prize. And that's how we know him
today. His foundation promotes peace
and and recognizes those people who have advanced us
scientifically and culturally. You see, you can change your
life, you can reverse Direction even if you're in the middle of
a path that you don't want to continue down on friends, I want
you to know the only way to live a life.
Truly with no regrets is to be a Christian and that's because
like we mentioned we make Steaks, try as we might we make
mistakes. We do things that we regret but
first, John 1 verse 7 says, if we are walking in the light, as
he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from
all sin, when you're living as a Christian, you have access to
the saving atoning blood of Christ, which can wash away
those mistakes and can Wash you clean before God and cleanse
your own conscience. How do you get into contact with
the blood of Christ? Romans 6, verses 3 and 4 says,
do you not know as many of us as were baptized into Christ were
baptized into his death. Therefore we were buried with
him, through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the father.
Even so we we also should walk in newness of Life, friends.
That's how you can experience the spiritual rebirth.
You can be washed by the blood of Christ through baptism, as
Jesus said in John 3, verse 5 assuredly, unless you are born
of water and the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven. And so friends, we want to
extend that invitation to you tonight.
If you have never believed and been baptized, as Jesus said in
Mark 16 verse 16, we want to invite you to obey the gospel.
Oil denying to come forward. Proclaiming your belief in Jesus
as the Christ and your Readiness to repent of your sin and to
turn and begin walking. In the light to become a
follower of the master. And we're ready to baptize you
right now for the remission of your sins.
And then as you as long as you walk in the light, you can say
you've lived a life of no regrets.
We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the
Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you
would like any additional information, or you would like
to receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.
Please email us at info at her Church of Christ
Bakersfield.com. Our service times are on Sundays
at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our
honored guest.