The World’s Rejection

Turn, if you would, in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 17. 1

Samuel 17. I'll be reading verses 19 through 30. We'll be preaching from verses 28 to 30.

And we're going to look at, this morning, the world's rejection of the godly.

And we're going to do this through the lens of the last three verses. I'm going to read verses 28 to 30. And we're going to see that rejection of the godly by the ungodly is nothing new under the sun.

And with the Spirit's help, we will see also the true source of rejection.

And by that, find ourselves better able to bear up when dearest friends depart, as we just sang in the hymn, when dearest friends depart from friendship, when families count us as outcasts, when we're banned, when we're shunned, when we're despised or exiled from once warm relations, when we're rejected, and all for the sake of the gospel.

And God willing, we will find guidance for that in 1 Samuel 17 and 28 to 30.

So if you please stand to read God's Word, 1 Samuel 17, 19 to 30.

Now Saul and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.

And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him.

And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry.

And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left the things in the charge of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers.

As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came out of the ranks of the

Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid.

And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches, and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.

And David said to the men who stood by him, What shall be done for the man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?

For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way,

So shall it be done to the man who kills him. Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men.

And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why have you come down, and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?

I know the presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. And David said,

What have I done now? Was it not but a word? And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way.

And the people answered him again as before. God bless the reading, and now the proclamation of his word.

Please be seated. Let us pray, and let us begin.

Heavenly Father, thanking you again for the word that you have given us, for this church that you have put us in, where we can gather together around your word.

And I pray now that you would bless preacher and hearer alike, that the words that I have prepared would find fertile ground, that we all may grow together into the image of Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray.

Amen. They say opposites attract.

You know, the way a negative pole of a magnet is attracted to the positive pole. And experience might seem to confirm this, as often very true, and especially in relations.

We see, oftentimes, a very happy, long -term couple. When we get to know them, we say,

How did these two ever meet? How did they ever come together? They're just opposites, and yet they attract. And we have beautiful marriages and relationships that come from opposites that attract.

Well, opposites do something else, which experience, if not science, can also affirm.

Opposites can bring out the nature of things, the way darkness is defined by the lack of its opposite, which is light.

In our passage in 1 Samuel 17, 20 -30, we're going to see how godly righteousness exposes worldly sin.

David's brother Eliab is unable to contain the overflow of his heart when his true nature is exposed by proximity to someone of opposite nature, which, in this case, is his youngest brother,

David. And the result of Eliab's overflow of his heart out of his mouth is to begin a cycle which many of us know firsthand, and one which our

Lord Jesus warns is part and parcel of the Christian life. And that's rejection.

Rejection by the world at large. Rejection by friends. Rejection by fathers. Rejection by mothers.

Rejection by brothers and sisters. Have you known rejection because of your faith?

Have you wept with a brother or sister who's going through rejection by those closest to him or her? Even if it's not me personally who's rejected, too often we see our

Lord Jesus Christ cast aside, rejected by those we love. The message this morning,

Lord willing, will show us the true source of rejection and give us the strength from the

Word of God to bear up under what Jesus Christ himself said is something we must expect.

Rejection. Division with those who come not to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we have here David, who in the previous chapter had been anointed king, and once he was anointed as king, we find him very quickly here in chapter 17, rejected by those closest to him, and soon to be rejected by King Saul, and chased until King Saul is finally killed in battle and David ascends to the throne.

That will take some many years. You know, we can notice that there's, in Scripture, nothing about his father

Jesse's thoughts about his youngest son's elevation, one might say pending elevation, nor anything from his six brothers ahead of him in age.

The only words we have from Jesse, for example, is in chapter 16 when he tells Samuel, there remains yet the youngest, meaning

David, but behold, he is keeping the sheep. And almost every other reference to Jesse is a title for David, and often from Saul's lips when he talks about the son of Jesse who he's chasing.

Now as for Eliab, who we're going to focus in on pretty quickly here, as for Eliab, David's oldest brother, there's only one quote, there's only one word we have from him in all of Scripture, and that's verse 28, which was just read to you.

And there Eliab speaks for the world as he rejects David, in the way the world rejects

Christ and we who follow him. You see, God's acceptance brings worldly rejection.

Your stand for Christ Jesus, your fealty to the Word of God, as the

Word of God, as the living Word of God, which is to be understood, which is to be obeyed, that righteousness brings worldly rejection.

Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said,

Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.

Is that not rejection? Are those words not severe and hurtful?

Now to understand Eliab, we need to first get a handle on David's question, when he was asking about what's going to be done to the man who kills this giant, this

Goliath, who is defying the armies of Israel, who's insulting the God, the living God, who goes ahead of these armies.

We need to understand David's question. You see, he wasn't asking a question to gain information that he didn't already have.

He knew, the whole army knew, and if we look at the end of chapter 16, he had been in Saul's service long enough, certainly we can presume he knew what that answer was.

No, what he was doing was reminding Israel's seasoned warriors of their duty to defend the king, and more importantly,

God's name, which was being blasphemed by this uncircumcised giant. So more than asking for information, say, hey, you know, what's in it for me if I go out there?

What's in it for you? Why aren't you doing this? Aren't there enough riches? He's not asking for information. He's more making a statement, as we all often do in conversations, where our questions are really more statements than queries.

I would put it something like this. He's saying, come on, fellows, go after him. Saul will reward you, and the name of the

Lord our God will be vindicated. It's your duty. That's why you've mustered out here. That's what you're doing in battle array.

Eliab and his brothers with the rest of the army, they follow General Saul, and they follow General Saul or King Saul's example in verse 24.

What does it say? They fled from Goliath and were very much afraid. Verse 11, prior to that, says they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

And so Eliab's anger was kindled. Eliab's anger was kindled.

The Hebrew says something like hot and indignant. His anger became inflamed. The word translated kindled is in the

Hebrew of, which means often nose. It's the idea of nostrils flaring in rage, maybe a bull snorting before it charges.

Of anger so hot it pours out the pores. He's not ticked off. He's furious with David.

And not at Goliath, not at his blasphemies, not at the Philistines who've lined up and invaded Israel, not at Saul's poor leadership.

He isn't furious at his commander of the thousand in which he served. He has anger pouring out his pores, snorting like an angry bull at his younger brother

David. Hot and indignant and inflamed with anger against him, his own flesh and blood.

So why? Why is he so mad? Well, nothing brings forth anger quite as effectively as having your faults exposed.

Of having the layers peeled off and your true motives, your true self, being put forth in a way that you can't get around anymore.

And where is it that that rage is often, if not usually directed, but against the one who peeled off the mask?

Eliab's cowardice is exposed here. It's exposed by contact with his opposite, his younger, his littler, his braver brother,

David. You know, David will later tell Saul, before he goes out to take on Goliath himself, and he speaks of his duties in shepherding the family's flock, the most valuable asset of the family, what he was entrusted with.

He said, when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from my father's flock, I went after him and struck him.

Later he speaks of grabbing the lion by the beard and killing him. So, when

David asked this question, what will be done? This question is more of a statement which is, you guys should go out there and defend your country, defend your king, more importantly, defend

God. Eliab knew that David wasn't just spouting off.

He wasn't being a little kid. His courage had been honed, his courage had been refined, his courage had been proven against lions and bears who he went and took the lamb back, said, no, this is my father's, much as the precursor to Jesus Christ, who snatches all of us from the clutches of Satan, and says, no, my father gave this one to me, and no one can snatch him out of my father's hands,

I will die for this one. And here's David as that early prototype of Jesus Christ.

David, whose name was one of Jesus' favorite titles, Son of David. Here's David proving his courage in the pastures where he kept vigilance over the family's goods.

So, when he asked this question, which is really more of a statement, telling the soldiers that they should be out there fighting, he's speaking from a point of experience where he himself, too great danger to his body, at great risk, went out and fought according to his duty.

And yet Eliab, with the others, couldn't go out. And Eliab in particular, furious with him.

How hard it is, is it not, to have our sin exposed? How easy it is to transform what should be shame and repentance into anger against he or she who destroys our protective shield.

To take the wounds of a friend as the malice of an enemy. So when somebody comes to us with the righteousness of God, and wants to help us grow in Christ by pointing out our fault, and what do we do so often, like Eliab?

We become angry at the bearer of the message, and don't see the good that it does, the hard work that it takes for someone to come and tell the truth.

How hard it is when sin is exposed. How hard it is for Eliab, when his cowardice, with all the others, is exposed by this question, by this statement, really, by David.

David, whose courage had been proven against wild animals. Eliab's shame moves like wildfire into anger.

And rather than mend his ways, what does he do? He rejects the one whose very presence exposed his error.

So it's a rejection. It's a rejection. This anger leads to a rejection.

There's a deep -rooted cause for this. I want us to see how far back this goes, because it goes back centuries and centuries.

It goes back to before Israel was a nation. It goes back before Abraham being called out of Ur of the

Chaldeans. It goes back further than even that. Eliab's anger, his jealousy, his hot, indignant, inflamed rage came from the jealousy of God's favor on David rather than on him.

Recall chapter 16, just before this, when all the sons of Jesse were lined up, all seven of them, except for David, and one by one, beginning with Eliab, were rejected.

And when Eliab was rejected, recall that's when God says, but God looks to the heart.

So I have not chosen this one. How far back does this go?

This jealousy that leads to anger, that leads to rejection, how far back does it go?

Well, turn in your Bibles, if you would, to chapter 4 of Genesis. Just by saying that,

I know many of you know where we're going to go with that. Chapter 4 of Genesis, beginning at verse 3. In the course of time,

Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.

And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.

So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen?

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.

Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. Well, what's happening here? You know, there's volumes written on the quality of the offerings, whether first fruits or something from the flock is better, and the fat portions made it a more qualitatively better sacrifice.

You know, we know from Christian experience, we know from New Testament revelation, it's a matter of the heart.

We have to know that these offerings were brought with a different heart. One, out of faith and out of love for God.

The other, out of duty. It's okay, God. This came out of the ground. I guess you did it.

It's all yours, so I'll give you a part of it. Thanks for letting me have some. As opposed to humble adoration and gratitude.

And thank you, Lord, that I have anything at all to give to you. It's a matter of faith that made the offerings different.

1 John 3, verse 12 says, We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one, and murdered his brother.

And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, and his brother's righteous. Because his own deeds were evil, and exposed how righteous his brothers were, or his brother's righteous deeds exposed his evil heart.

We should not be like Cain, who was of that evil one, and murdered his brother. And what does the Lord Jesus Christ say in the

Sermon on the Mount about murder? Oh, it comes so easily to all of us. Because it's not a matter of only what

Cain did to Abel, where he struck him somehow, and killed him. He murdered him. But Jesus Christ says, when you despise your brother in your heart, when you call him raka, which means fool, you're guilty of murder.

And we should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one. And why do we become like Cain? What is it that most makes us want to murder our brother in that way?

Even in the heart. Too often, dear ones, too often, is when our sin is exposed by them.

Perhaps by their very presence. And we know that they walk with God so consistently. So humbly.

And sometimes they're the one who tells us, my brother, I need to tell you your fault. Matthew 18, 15.

What does John say in 1 John 3 about Cain, and what led to his anger, and this rejection of his brother?

He was jealous. And we can trace this jealousy, this anger, through to Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, who according to Galatians 4, 29, persecuted the son of promise, which is

Isaac. We could trace the Cain seed, if you will, to Esau, who despised the promises, but was enraged when they landed on Jacob.

Joseph's brothers, who saw Jacob's favor in the coat, and God's favor in their youngest brother's uninterrupted successes, are all part of this heritage of hating and rejecting that begins with this jealousy.

In all these and more, jealousy of seeing God's favor on another leads to anger, rage even, snorting like a bull against them kind of rejection.

And how is it forced out, but by its opposite nature being so nearby?

Did not Cain reject Abel, his brother, and as co -image bearer, jealousy over God's favor?

Don't I deserve God's favor as much as, if not more than this one? I mean, I study my

Bible more than he does. I pray more often than she does. I'm a better Christian.

I'm more sanctified. I know more verses. Why don't I have God's favor the way this one does, in whatever way you're seeing

God's favor? The problem is, who deserves

God's favor? None of us. Jesus Christ, Him alone.

Truth be told, by grace you have been saved. By grace and by grace alone you have been saved.

Elsewhere, Christ died for the ungodly while we were yet sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.

Elsewhere, for you are dead in trespasses and sins. And then, but God who is rich in mercy and more.

Now the jealousy comes up because it's what I deserve. I'm seeing something in you that I believe should have been mine.

I deserve that. I should have gotten that. But nobody deserves good graces of God.

By grace and by grace alone. Now Eliab, in his anger, he rejects his own brother

David. He's following, he's upholding Cain's example and traditions. And notice what

Eliab's charge against David is. I know the presumption and the evil of your heart.

Well, just a chapter before, he said, I do not, God said of his choice,

I do not judge as man judges, but God looks to the heart. God saw something in David's heart different than Eliab and any of the other brother's hearts.

And here Eliab goes to the heart. His heart had been what was, why he was rejected earlier as possibly the next king after Saul.

He says to David, but I know something about you that God missed. I know the presumption and the evil of your heart.

He's jealous of David's successes. Jealous of his brother.

And what brought this out that led to the anger and to the murder. Well, God's favor with Cain and Abel nearness to the spirit of holiness in a believer brings out the jealousy of those nearby.

The opposite nature of one thing often brings out the true nature of another thing.

Brethren, Jesus Christ says that we together as a church are a light on a hill and light shines down onto his opposite, which is the darkness of this world.

Your life, your deeds, your whole way of thinking is opposite to the world that is out there.

It may lead to rejection and certainly rejection it is. But it's a rejection that goes two ways.

We reject what that stands for out there. Reject it not in a holy or a sanctimonious way where we think we're better than anybody.

By grace you've been saved. By grace alone while you're dead and trespassed in sin and so forth. No, we are to be that opposite.

We are to be light shining in darkness. Let your light shine in the darkness. What the apostle Paul says to the church but nearness to that spirit of holiness if indeed the spirit of holiness resides in you by faith in Christ Jesus, it does bring out the evils around.

It does expose them. Many of you know how much a fan

I am of Herman Melville. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about one of my favorite books by him.

But I would commend to your reading someday Billy Budd's Sailor. Billy Budd in the time of the

Napoleonic Wars between France, Napoleon and England. He was on a

British merchant ship. And a British man of war flags down that ship or whatever they did to stop a ship in the ocean.

And Billy Budd is pressed into military service on this other ship. Well Billy Budd is metaphorically he's kind of a

Christ -like figure. He's good. He's trusting. He's faithful to his service.

And the master -at -arms of that ship is a man named Claggart. Master -at -arms keeps discipline.

He's the one who can consign you to be flogged and punished in many very cruel ways.

Claggart is a mean, sadistic man who tries to get Billy Budd to speak ill of him.

Who tries to get Billy Budd to hate him. And the more he tries to get Billy Budd to be as he is, the more

Billy Budd shows forth his goodness. And the more he shows forth his goodness, the more it brings out the opposite in Claggart.

And he becomes crueler and meaner and more sadistic. Finally to the end of Billy Budd. The whole idea there is that sometimes it's just proximity to an opposite.

That the true nature of the thing that is near it is exposed. The spirit of God in chapter 16 had rushed upon David in front of all his family.

His father Jesse and all his brothers. They saw the royal anointing. Eliab especially heard the

Lord looks on the heart and it specifically rejected him. And so he with Cain, with Ishmael, with Esau rejected his brother.

And this is just what Jesus warned us of, is it not? That when the spirit of God comes upon you and you're converted to Christ Jesus our

Lord, you will be in great risk and danger of being rejected.

He warned us how our faith makes enemies of those closest to us. How it will force out their true nature by unavoidable confrontation with its opposite.

In Matthew chapter 10 verse 34 the Lord Jesus says, Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth.

I have not come to bring peace but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Now enemies is a strong word. It's an inner disposition from which hostility arises. Not always overt, not always violent.

Sometimes it's hidden and masked in good and eloquent words but it's there nonetheless. And Jesus makes it plain that the dividing line is himself.

Faith in Christ sets you apart. Paul writes to the Philippians, he says, Our citizenship is not here but it is in heaven.

Peter writes that we have become strangers to our old crowds. You see the favor which

God shows you is the fuel of the world's jealousy. And truth be told, rage and rejection.

This is why the church is marginalized. This is why the church is discounted. This is why the church is thought to be just a bunch of spiritual naivetes who come together because they have no grasp of reality and all the narrative that we have against it.

This rejection which behind it is really rage which behind it ultimately is Cain behind whom is the devil himself and that whole seed that goes forward.

Your alliance with Jesus is a bright line that brings enmity from the world. Once you pass from death to life in Christ you stepped out of the death of this world and leaped into eternal life in Christ.

You don't need to be some sanctimonious proverbial holy ruler for the world to reject you. I mean

Abel wasn't, Isaac wasn't, Jacob certainly was not. God's favor upon you when such favor is seen in transformed life, in renouncing ungodliness and worldly passions, living self -controlled upright and godly lives.

You know, nothing could be more opposite to the world's ways. Nothing could be more convicting, more enraging and few things more the cause of rejection.

Think of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was full of grace and truth as John 1 .14 yet John 1 .11

says he was rejected by his own. He fed his people with a few loaves and fish.

That's John 6 .11, yet they rejected him in droves in John 6 .66 where they stopped walking with him.

John 7 .5 says not even his own brothers believed in him. Think of Luke 4 .22

where the people who heard him marveled at the gracious words that were coming out of his mouth.

And what happened a moment later? They rejected him and tried to throw him off the brow of a cliff.

His deliverance to Pilate with their demand for his crucifixion, that's Matthew 27 .24, that was the ultimate rejection.

So when you're rejected, have you been rejected? Take heart, blessed are you when men persecute you for his sake, that's

Matthew 5 .9 -10, for so they treated the prophets who were before you, none more ill -treated than Jesus himself.

And many of us have been rejected at different levels. I think I can speak freely,

Pastor Brian has shared from this pulpit that according to Jehovah's Witness doctrine when he became a true

Christian, he was shunned, he was rejected by his family. When I from a

Jewish background came to faith in Christ and I told my mother and father, well they didn't reject me in that relational way,

I could still come over to the house and be part of things, but I was told, so you're finishing the work of Hitler by ruining the

Jewish people. It's rejection. Many of you have felt that sting in different ways, from family, from brothers, sisters, friends, coworkers, neighbors.

Some have not. Praise God for that because it's hard to go through. No, none was more ill -treated than Jesus, none rejected more than him because no one was more opposite to the world's ways than Jesus Christ.

No one more opposite, no one more opposed than God's Holy One. But dear ones, the very existence of us here in this place, this day, the existence of the church that Jesus Christ is building, imperfect as we are, it stands as direct opposite to the world's ways and so we are marginalized, and so we are spat upon, and so we are derided, so we're held as ridiculous and archaic and as on and on it goes.

It is that very oppositeness that brings out the Cain, the Ishmael, and the Esau, the Eliab, the whole serpent seed reaction of the unbelieving world.

Whether it's those closest to you, or just something you read in a paper and it's far distant from you.

As Jesus said, a prophet is not with honor except in his hometown and his own household. So what do we do?

And what does the world say? The world says, I don't get mad, I get even. The gospel leads to an opposite answer, a gentle answer, an answer that's meant to turn away wrath, an answer that's meant to build up, not to get more revenge, not to give kind for kind.

Godly righteousness answers gently. And David said, what have I done now?

Was it but a word? He rejects Eliab's ways. If Eliab has rejected him,

David does not give back in the same kind. He rejects that way of being. He's not going to be that way with his brother.

He gave a gentle answer. Now a gentle answer doesn't mean that we speak gently, and we make all kinds of concessions, and we're sort of soft and pudgy like the

Pillsbury Doughboy with that silly giggly he had. No, a gentle answer could be a firm answer.

A gentle answer could be a convicting answer. A gentle answer is a gospel answer to your sin, to your unrighteousness.

The wounds of a friend might not be easy to take, but they're also not easy to give.

When David said, what have I done now? Was it but a word? It's not the plaintive cry of a teenager saying, what have

I done now? I didn't make my brother mad again, did I? No. This is

David, who killed with his own bare hands bears and lions that tried to take from the father's flock.

David, who proved his mettle. He's saying, what have I done now? Was it but a word?

Was it but a true word? Was it but a word that you need to hear me and respond to and repent of allowing this creature, this

Goliath to insult your God? That's a gentle answer.

Because it's a true answer. It's really a gospel answer. Not the plaintive complaint of a moping teenager, but convicting truth from a young man of proven valor who now had the

Spirit of God upon him. And this is necessary to make such a reply as he did.

The Spirit of God has to dominate for you or me to deny the worldly, the fleshly, the prideful response of an

Eliab or an Esau or an Ishmael or Joseph's brothers. What strength it takes to give that gentle answer.

That true answer that leads to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Proverbs 16, 32

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Galatians 5, 22 includes self -control as a fruit of the Spirit, which doesn't mean be silent.

Speak in a self -controlled way. Speak the gospel. Jesus, as we would expect, was the supreme example here.

1 Peter 2, 23 reminds us that even on the cross, with tongues wagging against him, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. It takes the

Spirit of God to answer gently, firmly. To answer in a gospel way.

And then there's courage. There's a holy courage imparted to the faithful by the Spirit of God. A courage that trusts

God enough to withhold witty replies. A courage that restrains from crushing the detractor to whom sarcasm is a strange tongue.

An Iliabesh, a Cain -like answer might have been, You're right, big brave brother. That's all I came for, to see the battle.

Some battle, eh? I never knew anybody could run that fast with armor on his back. That'd be a worldly answer.

That'd put him in his place, wouldn't it? No, the gentle answer is different. It's still firm, but it's different than the world's answer.

David, by the power of the Spirit of God who had rushed upon him, had rule over his own spirit, and with a courage born of faith, trusted

God as he replied from the Spirit, rather from the flesh. Good example for us, brethren, when we have detractors in our face, be they brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or friends or co -workers or whatever the case, to remember that a gentle answer is, first of all, an answer.

And it could be an answer of firmness. It could be an answer of courage. It could be an answer that still convicts them of their sin and proclaims rightly the

Lord Jesus Christ. It's still a gentle answer, I would say. Our answers to attacks against our faith need to reflect the faith that we defend.

Do you trust Jesus Christ enough to love your enemy enough to withhold a sharp reply? Jesus told the disciples, soon to be apostles, that the

Holy Spirit would help them in their very hour of need and tell them what to say. I ask you, do you trust this?

Is the Spirit still working today? Will he tell you? Would he inform you?

Will he, by a miraculous working of his Spirit in your spirit, give you the words to speak?

Do you trust that enough to pray more than plan, enough to rule over your old man's spirit and respond by the new

Spirit, the new man created in Christ Jesus in true righteousness and holiness? Well, young David is, we must.

He tried to mend things with Eliab, but to no avail. As I said, Eliab's first and last words ever recorded in Scripture, right there in verse 28.

But there comes a time when we need not waste any more pearls, when we need not give the holy things to dogs any longer.

Your godly righteousness rejects worldly ways. So if Eliab rejected David, and David gave a gentle response, finally, godly righteousness rejects its opposite, worldly ways.

And he turned, verse 30, away from him, his brother Eliab, toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him as before.

So David rejects Eliab is what happened here. He had sought peace as a man of God must. His question was not to gain the data and see what's in it for himself, but with Joshua and Caleb, to strengthen weak knees and sagging hearts, to promote full trust and confidence in the word of Christ, who said,

I will never leave you or forsake you. And again he said, through Isaiah, when you pass through the waters,

I will be with you, and through the rivers, and they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. You know, where we read that David turned away,

I see that he rejected the rejecter, even his own brother, who he loved no less than you or I to our families and friends.

There comes a point where continued pleading weakens rather than strengthens our witness, a point where we tumble into disobedience ourselves.

Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 13, verse 51, shook the dust of the town that had rejected the gospel off their feet, so that even the dirt of the

Cain children's streets would not accompany them as they finally, as David did Eliab, rejected the rejecters.

You know, the instruction Jesus gave his disciples must have been no easier for them than it is for us.

What the Lord says is part and parcel with the pearls and the holy things he mentioned. Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you.

What's the meaning behind shaking the dust off your feet? I think it's from dust you came to dust you will return.

I've offered you life in Christ, the hope of the resurrection. You want to return to the dust as Adam returned to the dust.

From dust you came, we shake it off because to dust you're going to return. The world out there, it rejects us as they do.

Like Eliab rejecting his brother David. Born in trespasses and sins as were all of we.

By nature children of wrath as were all of we. Earthly, fleshly, world loving, flesh driven, haters of God and any who by opposite affections love him by faith in his son

Jesus. David turned away and spoke to others consigning Eliab to the dust.

The believer has no part in the dust from which our bodies sprang. These tents, these physical bodies, these physical confines in which we live may well and they probably will in one manner or another return to the dust but that's not the end of it.

That's not the end of it. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in his perfect life, in his sacrificial death, in his perfections credited against our sin, in a

God who exhausted the wrath that was once preserved from my sins and credited them against Jesus Christ who then as his son took it all in himself as he hung on that cruel cross able to suffer all that wrath with none of it due to him because he was without sin.

That Lamb of God who takes away the world, the sin of the world, who cried out, who bellowed the victory cry, it is finished.

For him and for those in him dust is not our end but a resurrection to eternal life in Christ.

May God be pleased to use us as Davids to expose the

Eliabs around us and may they by God's help repent and believe that they may with us be one even as God is one.