1 Samuel 25:14 – But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.

1 Samuel 25:15 – But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:

1 Samuel 25:16 – They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

1 Samuel 25:17 – Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.

Hello readers, today we are talking about Nabal. Nabal was a great man with heaps of sheep and goats and possessions. He was rich, he was well off. He had a big farm, he had lots of servants, he had lots of stuff. He had it made in life, he’d even managed to marry a good wife, a wife better than he deserved no doubt. Well at this time king David, although his promised kingdom hadn’t been established yet, he’d been on the run with his men, Saul had been after him and David dwelt out in the wilderness. David had an army of mouths to feed, but he never touched any of Nabal’s sheep or goats. In fact quite the opposite, he and his men helped Nabal’s servants… a lot. During all that time that David and his men were out in the countryside, David never touched his sheep, and in fact looked out for them. David did him right when he and his men could’ve easily taken sheep to feed and clothe themselves.

Well it came sheep shearing time and David sent a few of his men to Nabal to see if Nabal had any spare sheep or goats or clothing or anything to give him and his men to sustain them. Pretty reasonable request, especially from the king elect. But Nabal said who is David? He mocked the young soldiers that David sent to him. He sent em packing in no uncertain terms. David had been so good to Nabal, and Jesus Christ has been so good to us, we’ve been beneficiaries of his grace in our life. While we’ve been living for ourselves, doing our own thing, God’s been looking out for us. David had been looking out for Nabal’s servants and flocks all this time, and this is how Nabal responds. David’s goodness to him… was he asking too much? God gave you breath and life and has blessed your life and given you so much, all of which you don’t deserve, just like Nabal… and this is what you do with Jesus Christ. It’s the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. When you see how good God is and has been to you while you’ve been living a wicked selfish life.

Well the messengers came back to David and David got upset. He was going to come with his men to kill Nabal and all that he had. Nabal was having a feast that night, and didn’t realize the mortal danger he was in. Such is the way of a fool. They’re partying it up in this life, without even thinking about eternity, the hell that awaits them, just how temporal the life they’ve got now is. You’re so consumed with yourself, you have no understand at all. David and his men are putting their swords on while he’s pouring the wine and putting his feet up. People have rejected Christ, they have no humility or repentance in their life, and they think they’re fine. But it’s not. And everything can change so quickly, that neat little life you think you made yourself. Everything can change in your life in a heartbeat. You could die, your spouse could die, you could be told you’ve got cancer in your brain, life can change in a heartbeat, that life that you’ve spent all your energy on creating for yourself.

Well, Nabal had a wonderful and wise wife. And Nabal’s servants, who had seen it all go down between David’s men and Nabal, David’s men who they knew pretty well from working out in the field and knew the kind of men they were… they went and spoke to her. They went to his wife not Nabal. They knew Nabal you see. When you work under Nabal, you get to knowing when it’s a waste of time talking to him or even attempting to reason or plead your case to him. People know who they can go to and who they can’t and it’s not because you’re so great, maybe it’s because you’re a Nabal, you’re a foolish man, you’re impossible to reason and converse with, you’re impossible and insufferable, and it’s a waste of time talking to you. Nabal’s servants saw from the way Nabal treated David’s men and how they left that that trouble was coming.  See, someone else may see the evil coming to your life, but you don’t. You think you’re fine, don’t try telling me anything, I’m a Nabal, I’ve got it all figured out.

David’s soldiers weren’t mickey mouse soldiers. They got cussed out by Nabal. Nabal showed no respect, no reverence, no fear… to whom it was due. He railed on them, and belittled and scorned David and his men. David had been so good to him, and look what Nabal repaid him with. Isn’t that just like us. God’s been good to us, and we treat his Son like dirt. We tread that blood of Christ under foot, we set him and his ministers at naught. Out of all his abundance, was just a simple request of… Nabal we haven’t touched anything that’s yours, and we’ve looked after your flocks, if you can spare some sheep or food or water, could we have some? The very king of Israel asking you that. He didn’t even have space in his head to consider who he was dealing with. Even if he wasn’t king he was a complete idiot and evil man to say and act like he did… but David was king. When a king is asking you for something very small, that should humble you realizing his power and grace and majesty, not cause you to puff up and behave like a fool.

It’s mine and you can’t have it. You’ll realize one day nothing is really yours, it all belongs to God. And he can and will take it off you. What you have is what God has given you. And God doesn’t require that much of us, just to believe on him, he’s done everything for us, and we chuck it in his face and in the face of those who bear the message of the gospel. David showed him grace and mercy that he spurned, you know the pearls of grace and mercy and longsuffering are wasted on a fool like Nabal. He knew who David was but he said who’s David? People say, who is Jesus, what is his blood that I should repent and believe him? People have that attitude to the gospel of Jesus Christ today. What a fool Nabal was, what an incredibly foolish man he was.

Well, it was the intercession of his wife that spared his household, but it didn’t spare Nabal. Because God slew him. David didn’t have to. Abigail would go and take care of the situation, and then tell Nabal what she did. And his heart turned into a stone and he died days later. Is your heart a heart of stone, there’s no softening of your heart, you can’t even be spoken to, and people like even your own workers won’t even bother talking to you because you’re insufferable and impossible.

But today I want to talk about what Nabal’s own servants said to Abigail about Nabal. They said… he’s such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak unto him. Nabal’s own servants couldn’t speak to him. Are you a person that can’t be spoken to? You’ve got no humility, you’re a know it all, you’re better than everyone else, you’re headstrong, you’re proud, and you’re a fool. You puff up, you blow back, you’re full of it. There’s many people that can’t be spoken to.

What a state to be in. There’s no capacity there inside to reason or think or dialogue or converse. There’s no grace, no understanding, no wisdom. They just can’t be spoken to. They won’t hear they’re wrong, they won’t assent to truth, they’re impossible. Nabal’s own servants, good servants that he had, they’re like… this guy is just such a child of the devil, he can’t be reasoned with, he’s not approachable, we can’t speak to him because he’s so full of himself and his selfishness. Are you a person that can’t be spoken to? People can’t speak to you because you have no grace, no humility, no understanding, no ability to hear and consider and perceive and change your ways. He didn’t have a conscience, it didn’t even bother him what he’d done. Try talking to someone who’s conscience is so seared and defiled that there’s just nothing there. Complete spiritual deadness. This guy was dead inside. And that’s how he died, dead inside.

Nabal was a great man, but he was a child of Satan. Don’t measure people’s character and salvation by what they’ve got. You can have a lot of money, a good wife, a big business, big church, lots of friends, heaps of pleasure in life… and you’re going to hell. There are many great men, but it is often the poor nobody and not the worldly great man who is one that is saved, who you can have a conversation with, who is more real and on the level and has sense than the great man. It’s such a bad state to be in, when nobody can speak to you. Not even God can. That’s why all that was left was death. Imagine being so walled off to God and sense and wisdom that nothing can get in. The messengers of the gospel come to you, and you’re like Nabal. You rail on God’s word, the message of the gospel, you know better, you have no humility and grace to receive them. You’re totally gone. You have no conscience, you have no ability to take an honest look at yourself and consider your ways and your life and a capacity to repent and ask forgiveness, and see things the way they are and act upon them.

If he’d listened to his servants, he’d have learned that out in the wilderness, in the day and night, David’s soldiers were a wall unto them. They protected them from any harm. They were good to Nabal’s servants. The men were very good to us they said to Abigail.  You know what, Abigail couldn’t speak to Nabal either. His own wife. Because she went to king David and pleaded for mercy and acknowledged what her husband was like and gave him food and sheep. She showed him godly reverence, respect and honour, and because of that, the lives of Nabal’s household were spared. But she didn’t go to Nabal and discuss it with him, she just took care of it herself.

People today are such know it alls, they’re so confident in what they know and what they’re doing, they’re so full of themselves, they’re so full of the devil even with all their wealth and position… they can’t be told. And they have no real understanding at all. Nabal couldn’t see the sword coming. He couldn’t see that he was living by the grace and goodness of  David. If David wanted to, he could’ve taken everything he had without a worry. He didn’t see how fleeting his riches were and how stupid he was. He didn’t even think twice about it. He railed on David’s messengers and sent them packing. Maybe you’re the one that thinks you know everything, and in fact you’re the only one who doesn’t know anything. Nabal was the wealthiest man, he was the big dog, and he was the biggest idiot by a country mile. What a fool.

In this story of Nabal is a picture of the gospel. God has sent messengers to you, but you’re too proud, and you spurn the grace of God. God’s been good to you, far better than you deserve, and you treat God’s word with contempt. You don’t need repentance, you don’t need to be saved. You’re a person that can’t be spoken to. People don’t even bother anymore, you’re spiritually dead, you’re full of pride, and ultimately you’re full of Satan. People like Nabal don’t even understand who and what they are, did he even know that his servants couldn’t speak to him because he was such a child of Belial? Did he even realize that hey, people can’t talk to me… is something wrong with me? Maybe we should truly ask others what we are like. Can we be spoken to? Do we have a capacity to receive truth? You may have it made in life, you may think it’s all good, but it’s better to be poor and with the fear of God than rich with no conscience, no spiritual life and no godly fear or reverence and humility.

Imagine getting to that state when nothing anybody tells you will make a difference to you. When you have no capacity within yourself to receive truth, to come to a realization of who and what you are and how things are. When people don’t even talk to you or go to you when you need to be gone to because it’s a waste of time. You have no capacity to receive the gospel, to receive truth, to consider and change your ways. Imagine being that far down the road of a selfish life of sin. There’s many Christians out there like this, you could look at their life and it looks like they’re doing pretty well, but there’s nothing there. They’re spiritually dead inside. They won’t receive truth, they won’t hear God’s word, they have no humility and grace in the way they converse and operate. It’s a waste of time.

Nabal was a waste of time, he was impossible and insufferable. You can’t talk to him they told his wife, and she knew that too. Are you a person that can’t be spoken to? People are just wasting their time, and God is wasting his time. There is truly no hope for us when we can’t even be spoken to, the Holy Spirit can’t even speak to you. There’s always hope for someone who at least has an ear that can hear, someone that has the ability to listen and reason. But not for  Nabal. He couldn’t be spoken to. Such a child of Belial. Maybe you’re done for, you’re gone, even in all your possessions, wealth and pleasure… just as Nabal was. Don’t be a stony hearted foolish Nabal.

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