29th May 2026

29th May 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (1 Samuel 29 focus v9-11)


Message (Alan Burke)


Today I want to begin by taking you to 2 Timothy 2:13 where we are told: if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. That is what came to my mind as I’ve been working through this passage. David had been an eejit; his sin had led him to a place where he was facing the unintended consequences for his actions. If we were in charge, we’d have likely let him face them, but the LORD had sovereignly worked, giving David a ‘get out of jail free card’ so David was saved from himself; the LORD has worked in spite of David, and so he heads back to Ziklag, and the Philistine army went to Jezreel. The LORD was faithful even though David had been faithless. 


The LORD was at work in all that was unfolding; he was working out all that was unfolding in spite of David; he by his invisible hand is working all things and is always working, guiding and directing, for our good and his glory, and as people, we can be sure of that, for God by his providence is at work. The wonderful comfort as we come to this passage for all of us is that The LORD Works In spite Of Ourselves. He can bring good about even when we do that which is sinful; he can bring about good in circumstances of our own making. In 1 Samuel 30:6 we are told: David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD, his God. (1 Sa 30:6). 


We’ll get into the ins and outs of why his men were talking of stoning him next week, but for now, it is how David found strength in the LORD. David was a flawed sinner like you and I, but what was different between him and Saul was his faith. The LORD was at work in all that David faced. For David, no matter how weak that faith and flawed that faith was, he was still a man of faith. 


As Paul says in Philippians 1, it tells us that he who has begun a good work will bring it to completion (Phil 1:6). What God has started in us, he will finish; he will bring it to completion. Those who are saved cannot lose their salvation. And this is good news for us because just as David was a flawed sinner, we all are, and our eternal security is not dependent on us. It is dependent not on our strength, our commitment, our own perseverance, but it is dependent on God. God preserves us; he will keep all of the true sheep from eternally straying. Even when we are faithless, he is faithful. 


Believer, nothing can, nothing can separate you from the love of God. You will persevere because God will preserve you; nothing will be able to snatch you from the hand of the saviour. Our confidence, our assurance comes not because of us; it doesn’t rest on who we are or what we have done or can do. It rests on the Lord Jesus, what the Triune God has done for us. As we are reminded in the Westminster Confession of Faith when it says, “They, whom God has accepted in his Beloved (the beloved being Jesus Christ, His only Son), effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved” (17.1). David persevered; he was preserved even though he had fallen into sin; likewise, for the true believer, we will be preserved, for our God is faithful even when we are faithless.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q80 What is required in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his.
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