Before we pick up the story of David on the run from King Saul. He's hunting him down, trying to kill him.
And David is in the wilderness of Ageda. It says in verse 1,
It came to pass when Saul was returned from following the Philistines,
that it was told to him, saying, No, David is in the wilderness of Ageda.
And if you remember last week, Saul pretty much had David cornered. He was in a trap.
He was surrounded. He was ready to close in.
Then God interceded by allowing the Philistines to invade the land.
That caused Saul to have to forget about David and go do his real job of being the king of protecting his country.
And he went and did that. Well, as soon as he was done defeating those Philistines,
he comes right back to hunting down David.
And he finds out, it's told unto him, that David is in the wilderness of Ageda in verse 2.
Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel. Remember how many David had with him?
600, right? It says he took 3,000 chosen men.
So these are the best warriors, the best fighters out of all Israel.
And went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
And he came to the sheep cuts, by the way, where was a cave.
And Saul went in to cover his feet.
And David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
And the men of David said to him, Behold, the day of which the Lord said unto thee,
Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him, as it shall seem good unto thee.
Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, and crippled him.
And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed.
We'll get back to that.
But basically what's going on is, as Saul is hunting David, he knows the general area where he is.
Well, he comes to this area where there's a cave.
Well, it says that David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
Sounds like they're in the cave.
Now, a lot of times when you go into a cave, it's a network or a labyrinth of all kinds of caverns and corridors where David and his men could be hiding.
So Saul shows up right at the cave where they are.
Well, all of Saul's men stay outside.
Saul goes into the cave to cover his feet.
Now, covering his feet, and I'm going to explain that in a moment, is a euphemism for using the restroom.
Now, euphemism is a word that's basically giving a good sounding word or a clean sounding word to something that's maybe not the cleanest thing in the world.
And, you know, the Bible is pretty delicate about a lot of things.
You know, it doesn't go into graphic detail always about what's going on.
So the Bible just uses this euphemism, covering his feet, as a way of saying he's using the restroom.
Now, I'm not going to take the time to prove that to you tonight, but if we looked up, actually I am going to prove it to you in a moment,
but if we looked up every scripture on covering your feet or covering your feet, it's obvious that that's what it's referring to, using the restroom.
Just like the Bible says Adam knew his wifey and she can see.
It's just God doesn't go into graphic detail about things that are private.
You know, the restroom, the bedroom, these are things that are private that we don't need to go into just graphic detail about.
And so the Bible says that Saul went into the cave to cover his feet.
Obviously, as the leader, he wants to use the bathroom in privacy.
He's got 3,000 guys with him.
This cave is providing a place for him to go inside and use the restroom in peace and have his dignity about it.
So, he goes into the restroom.
Well, this is where David and his men are hiding.
600 guys are right there.
Saul goes in. He's not expecting anything.
David's men look at this and say, this is how God has led him to us.
I mean, this is the day that the Lord has prophesied about where all of your enemies are right here.
I mean, you can just, this guy's trying to kill you.
Of course you're justified in killing him.
Kill him right now. He's defenseless.
Of course, David doesn't do that. That wasn't the right thing to do.
First of all, you shouldn't just ambush somebody when they're in the restroom.
I mean, if you're going to fight or be a warrior, this is not an honorable way to carry out warfare.
Warfare is carried out in the open with a level playing field with weapons and armor,
not in a restroom where you just jump somebody in the bathroom.
That would have been a bad way to go about it.
And number two, this is his father-in-law.
This is his king. This is the Lord's anointed.
And so, he doesn't want to mess with this guy. We'll get to that a little bit later.
And so, instead, he wants to show Saul, hey, I could have killed you, but I didn't.
So what he does is he sneaks up, and it says that he cuts off the skirt of Saul's robe, privately.
Privately means secretly.
Without Saul being aware of it, he sneaks up and cuts off the skirt of his robe.
Later, he's going to pull that piece out and say, hey, check your robe. You're missing a piece?
I cut it off. I could have killed you when you were in that cave.
And he's going to show that to prove his own righteousness,
that he is not having any kind of animosity or adversarial attitude toward Saul.
Now, let me take this opportunity to explain something in the Bible.
First of all, the Bible has all the answers.
It's amazing. As you read the Bible, you can learn so much.
And I just learned something new even when I was just thinking about this sermon.
Because there's so much in the Bible.
And it's funny because I was out soloing today, and I gave this guy the Gospel,
and he didn't get saved. I gave him the hope of my salvation.
He didn't get saved, but he asked me, because we were talking about reading the Bible and so forth,
and he was interested in reading the Bible.
And he asked me, he said, you know, you've studied the Bible for a long time, right?
You've done a lot of reading, and you've read the Bible many, many times.
Do you still learn new things when you read it? Is it always something?
And I told him, I said, oh, yeah, I've always learned new things.
And I listen to other preachers and learn new things all the time.
Every time I read the Bible or memorize a passage, I'm constantly learning the Bible so deep.
Now, there's something really interesting that we can learn from this.
Because a lot of people today, instead of just letting the Bible interpret the Bible,
they try to use history to interpret the Bible.
We were talking about this a little bit before the service.
How they'll say, well, you know, the Jewish custom.
You know, like, for example, when it comes to the rapture and the tribulation,
they'll tell you about the Jewish wedding custom is like this and like this,
and you have to understand this in order to understand the rapture.
Well, here's the thing.
I don't need to go to a Christ-rejecting rabbi to understand the rapture.
Because that's what they're usually talking about, right?
When they tell you, oh, you've got to go to this Jewish custom.
They're not talking about the Jews of the Old Testament
who were actually worshiping the true God.
Because we can read about that in the Bible.
And they're not talking about saved people because those are called Christians.
They don't call themselves Jews.
They call themselves Christians.
Because in Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek.
When you're in Christ, you're in Christ.
And there's one fold and there's one shepherd.
There's neither Jew nor Gentile. There is no difference.
And so when they say understand Jewish customs,
they're talking about the Jesus Christ-rejecting branch of Jews.
Now, there are some Jews that are saved, of course,
just like there are some of all nations that will be in heaven.
The Bible says we get to heaven.
Every tongue, every nation, every tribe will be there.
There will be people from that tribe, from that language,
that will be in heaven, including the Jews.
Of course, there is a remnant of believing Jews.
But it is the vast minority.
And so we don't need to go to a rabbi or a history book
because if you've studied a lot of history,
and I have studied a lot of history because when I was younger,
I was very interested in ancient history.
I'm still very interested in history, but I study more modern history now.
But if you study a lot of ancient history,
the thing that will jump out at you is just how little we know
about what happened a few thousand years ago.
The Bible is unique for being a book that has survived thousands and thousands of years
because it's God's word. It's been preserved.
Because if you look up these really ancient books,
like people say, oh, the Epic of Gilgamesh, it's not even complete.
There are pieces missing because it's only coming from one, two manuscripts.
And in many cases, I'm just using that as an example,
all kinds of literature of that kind is usually just coming from one or two manuscripts.
It's missing pieces. It's missing parts.
There are whole sections.
I bought ancient historical books and read them,
the major historians of the day.
And you'll get to a chapter that will say this chapter is missing.
It's gone because it hasn't been preserved.
So they know very little.
And people, just to give you an example,
this is how little people know about what happened two thousand years ago even.
And this is going back even further than that.
This is way further than that.
But even just two thousand years ago,
people debate and theologians debate about what language
Jesus and his disciples were conversing in.
There are people that will say he was speaking Hebrew
and there are people that are saying that he's speaking Aramaic.
And I've heard people debate this.
Now, I'm very clear on what he and his disciples would be.
They're not speaking Hebrew as biblical Hebrew.
That's clear and that's a whole other sermon.
But there are people who think that he was
and there are all kinds of speculations about this and that.
So you can't just take as gospel what a history book
or a dictionary or an encyclopedia is telling you
because a lot of it is guesswork.
They don't know.
They find one scrap, one photo.
I mean, look, if you found a photo of me and my family
thousands of years from now and say,
well, this is what everybody dressed like in 2011.
This is what they were like.
Or you can find a family with a girl with a ring in her nose
and she's wearing short shorts and an altar top and say,
no, this is what they dressed like.
Different people are different.
You can't just go buy one picture, one piece of pottery
and just say this is what it was like.
It's ridiculous.
But we know that the Bible is God's word
and we know that everything in the Bible is right.
And so we should try to learn about the Bible
from reading the Bible.
We should compare spiritual things with spiritual,
not compare the spiritual Bible with our Bible encyclopedia
that's not spiritual, that's written by man,
that has errors, that's guesses,
and it's based upon conjecture.
Now, when it comes to clothing, people will say,
oh, yeah, this is what they wore in Jesus' day.
Oh, this is what they did.
And they'll just state it as fact.
And all different opinions.
And people will say, oh, pants haven't been invented yet.
I mean, that's the biggest nonsense.
It's not rocket science, folks.
The people who built the pyramids,
they figured out pants.
Piece of cloth on each leg, join it at the top.
You know?
They probably had the zipper.
You know what I mean?
But whether they had the zipper or not, that's not the point.
There's a lot of other ways to finish off the pants.
But the bottom line is this.
Bottom line is this.
I don't believe for one second this garbage
that says that men in the Bible did not wear pants.
First of all, there are several scriptures.
There are five scriptures, to be exact.
They use the word britches
and specifically talk about men wearing britches, men wearing pants.
Because you'll try to say, hey, men and women should dress differently.
Men should wear pants.
Ladies should wear skirts and dresses.
And this is what they'll say.
Well, in the Bible, everybody just wore a robe.
Do you really think that everybody's just wearing a bathrobe?
That's all they're wearing.
Just a robe.
That's it.
No.
A robe is an outer garment.
And the Bible uses the word robe synonymously
with words like coat and mantle, other words.
And I brought a demonstration here today to help you understand.
Because when the Bible talks about a coat or a robe or a garment,
this is pretty much what we're talking about.
So I'm just trying to help you to understand this
because it's not really that complicated.
But in the Bible, it talks about them wearing a robe, something like this.
Now, this is not out of the ordinary in 2011.
Now, in Phoenix, Arizona, it's out of the ordinary.
But because I used to live in a cold place, thank God I don't anymore,
and I live in paradise in Phoenix, I used to have a wool overcoat.
Now, if you notice my coat, look how far down it goes.
This is called the skirts of the garment or the skirt of the robe.
And you can call this a robe.
I mean, if you literally took this exact same garment
and just made it out of terrycloth and put a little band around it,
you'd call it a bathroom.
You'd fold it like this.
Or a king would wear something like this,
made out of a more richly designed material,
and it would be a royal robe.
And so when the Bible uses words like mantle or coat or cloak or robe,
this is what it's referring to.
But I've got news for you, folks.
This isn't the only thing that they were wearing.
If I was wearing just this, I'd probably be arrested.
Even if I had it tied up, it would be weird.
And so basically what people are trying to have you believe,
because they want you to believe, well, all men wore skirts of dresses.
And even, you know, I didn't plan on doing this,
but I think I just got this in the mail just this week or so.
You know, I get this catalog.
And this is from an independent, fundamental, King James Bible-only,
soul-winning Baptist church.
Look at that smile.
This guy would never leave you astray.
But look at this.
Children's ministries curriculum, and Jesus is wearing a dress in every picture.
Long hair?
No, he's got short hair.
These are Baptist.
Now, personally, I'd probably rather hang out with a guy in long hair and pants.
But anyway, this is short hair and a dress.
Okay, which one's worse?
But, you know, you see just every picture, he's wearing a dress.
I mean, that's what it is.
It's a dress.
Now, why in the world do we just assume, oh, Jesus wore a dress?
And here's the hypocrisy of it.
The same people who taught us that Jesus had long hair
are the same ones that put him in a dress.
So then modern-day Baptists, they reject the long hair
because the Bible is so clear about the fact that it's a shame for a man to have long hair.
But then they keep the dress.
Why?
Jesus did not wear a dress.
The Bible commanded the priests of the Old Testament to wear britches.
He talks about, throughout the Bible, men wearing britches.
And I'm going to prove to you right now that King Saul was wearing a pair of pants
beyond a shadow of a doubt.
And just like all the men in the Bible wore pants,
and you'll never find a mention of women in the Bible wearing pants,
because the Bible says that a man should not wear a woman's garment
and a woman should not wear that which pertaineth to a man.
Now, here's the thing.
The Bible does not say in this passage, and I want you to really think about this story.
The Bible does not say that David cut off the skirt of Saul's robe while he was wearing it.
It does not say that.
Now, it's possible, but it's very improbable
that a man who's using the bathroom would not notice
someone actually coming that close to him
where he actually cuts off the skirt of his robe while he's wearing it.
Now, this isn't my evidence yet.
This is saying, probably, like any normal man,
that, look, this is the garment that they wore.
The Bible talks about robes going down this far in the Bible.
So if this is what he's wearing, we know he's wearing a robe,
so I'm wearing that tonight to help demonstrate what I'm talking about.
Well, let's say I walk into a bathroom or a cave.
I walk into a bathroom.
You know what I'm going to do if I'm wearing this great pillow?
Take it off.
The first thing I'm going to do is take it off.
And that's why if you live in a cold place,
on the back of every bathroom door is a hook.
Now, in Phoenix, not so.
But you take it off.
The first thing you got to do,
nobody can use the bathroom while wearing this,
you know, without getting graphic.
So you take the coat, and the first thing you're going to do is hang it up.
Now, you're probably not going to hang it super far away.
So it might be close.
It might have been 5 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet.
So it was right there next to him,
far enough to where David could creep up and cut off a little piece of it,
close enough to where it proved, hey, I could have killed you
while you were in the restroom.
I could have jumped you.
Now, is it possible?
And let me say this.
It is possible maybe that he could have been wearing it,
but I find that highly improbable.
But my evidence that Saul was wearing a pair of pants
is the phrase, cover his feet.
Now, the reason that covering your feet is a euphemism
for using the restroom,
all euphemisms have something to do with the action performed.
Like, for example, when the Bible says Adam knew his wife,
obviously he's gaining knowledge of her in an intimate way.
That's why I use the word number.
Well, when the Bible says he covered his feet,
that's because in order to use the restroom
when you're wearing a pair of pants,
guess where your pants are going to end up in a moment.
They're going to end up at your feet.
And when the Bible talks about covering your feet,
he's basically saying, you know, you dropped your pants
in order to use the restroom, and you covered your feet.
Now, if he wasn't wearing pants, if he's wearing a dress,
it wouldn't cover his feet.
He'd lift it up, you know, to use the restroom.
Or if it was his coat, he'd take it off and hang it up.
He wouldn't wrap it around his feet.
That makes no sense.
The only garment that would cover your feet
when using the restroom, and I'm not trying to be gravity.
I'm trying to teach you the Bible.
Because I'm sick of these phony liberal photographs and pictures
where they depict every man wearing a dress.
It's all part of their gender-bending agenda.
And look, Leonardo da Vinci and these guys were known sodomites.
They're sodomites.
And so, of course, they're going to paint a long-haired sissy in a dress.
It's not biblical throughout history.
Men have, by and large, worn pants.
And this phrase is used throughout the Bible, not just here.
You remember E. Hud?
Hey, he covered his feet.
He wore extra biggie-sized pants.
He's a very fat man, the Bible says.
He went to Mr. Big and Taller, I don't know where you go,
to buy really big clothes.
But let me tell you something.
He had a big pair of pants that he covered his feet with.
And so the bottom line is that the phrase he covered his feet
proves that we're dealing with pants.
And so who are we going to believe?
The Bible or some so-called scholar who tells us,
oh, everybody, men and women, all wore gender-neutral clothing.
They all wore gender-neutral robes.
Well, that doesn't make any sense because the Bible says
that a man should not put on a woman's garment.
A woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man.
If everybody wore the same clothes, that statement would be meaningless.
There must have been a difference between men's and ladies' clothing.
And that difference is pants.
Look at the bathroom door.
I mean, it's not really that complicated.
And that flies so much in the face of our culture.
But the Bible doesn't change, and I'm not going to change.
And so I wear pants.
And I'm not going to change to some other garment besides pants.
I will wear pants until I die.
And when I die, I will be buried in pants.
And my wife will wear a dress, and she will not wear a skirt.
And obviously, a skirt is different than the skirts of a robe.
Skirt just means something that hangs down.
That's all it means.
And so you could have a tablecloth with skirting around the edge.
You know, people in that field would know that term.
So let me jump back into the chapter.
I just want to make that clear and just show you here
that we can learn about biblical clothing just by reading the Bible
and using our brain.
Okay, they're wearing britches.
Okay, when they use the restroom, they cover their feet.
Translation, the britches are at their ankles covering their feet.
That's where that came from.
And it's amazing, because I've read over this passage,
and I haven't really thought that through until recently.
And then it just made so much sense to me.
And living in a cold place with one of those coats
helps you to understand, too, for those who live in Phoenix,
to wear, you know, everything's a t-shirt 365 days a year.
So basically, he's got the skirt of the garment.
His friends are telling him, jump him.
You know, kill him.
God has delivered him into your hands.
But look what David says.
It says, first of all, in verse 5,
And it came to pass afterwards that David's heart smote him
because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
David even feels guilty just for damaging his clothing.
That made him feel bad.
That's how his heart is in the right place here.
And this is a guy who's trying to kill him.
It says in verse 6,
And he said unto his men,
The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master,
the Lord's anointed,
to stretch forth my hand against him,
seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.
Now, there's a very famous verse in the Bible.
It's repeated a few times.
It says, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
The Bible talks about how God, when Abraham was in trouble,
God rebuked kings for his sin,
saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,
because Abraham was the prophet of God.
Now, a lot of people will misuse this passage
and say that it's wrong to ever point out the error of a preacher.
Now, sometimes preachers are preaching heresy
and false doctrine and error
that needs to be pointed out and corrected.
When the Bible says, Touch not mine anointed,
and do my prophets no harm,
he's referring to physically assaulting them.
He says, Don't touch them, and don't harm them or hurt them.
Do not injure a prophet of God.
Now, this would not only apply to a pastor.
This could be anybody who is anointed by the Holy Spirit,
who is a prophet of God, who is preaching the word of God.
Now, the Bible does say, Rebuke not an elder,
but entreat him as a father.
So, if the pastor says something wrong or makes a mistake,
and I'm not talking about he goes out and kills people
or commits adultery or something.
I'm just saying, if he says something in error
or makes a mistake or does something wrong,
you know, you don't go to him and just chew him out.
You know, that isn't right.
You're supposed to be respectful to that position
of being the pastor.
The Bible says, Rebuke not an elder.
Like, somebody said to me, Well, I'm going to rebuke you.
And I said, Well, the Bible says, Rebuke not an elder.
He says, but entreat him as a father.
So, if an elder or pastor preaches something wrong
or does something wrong, there's nothing wrong with going
and telling him, Hey, you know, you're wrong on this.
You need to be corrected on this.
But it's not done in the form of a rebuke,
but as an entreaty, asking him to think it over,
asking him, Hey, you need to correct this.
All it is, you say, Well, that's the same thing.
Going to him and telling him he's wrong
and telling him what he needs to change,
is the attitude.
You know, and the difference is the spirit that it's done in.
You know, when you just, Oh, you don't know what you're talking about.
Versus just coming in and saying, Hey, you know,
let me show you something in the Bible.
And I've said things, you know, in my sermons,
maybe I said something a little bit off.
And people come to me and said, Well, you know, actually,
let me show you this.
Oh, okay, that's interesting.
You know, so nobody's perfect.
Nobody's going to preach.
I mean, I've preached since I started this church.
I'm coming up on 900 servants that are about an hour long each,
on average, that I preach here.
You know, you can't get up and preach for 900 hours
without making a mistake, unless you're Jesus.
You know, you're going to say things sometimes
and get things wrong.
You know, one time I got up and preached
and I said that it was Barney Frank that was the pedophile,
you know, and that he was arrested
and he'd been accused of all this being a pedophile.
You know, the United States Senator Barney Frank.
And, man, did people freak out,
because it turned out it was the other congressman
from Massachusetts who's also a sodomite
who was the pedophile in Congress.
So then I got up and said, Hey, you know, sorry about that.
I got that wrong.
I got the wrong sodomite.
They're both pro-pears.
They're both queers.
And I said, I'm sure that Barney Frank is a pedophile
because I believe that I personally,
and guess what?
This is America.
I can believe whatever I want.
Amen.
I believe that all homosexuals.
Amen.
That's been my experience with it.
That's the way it looks in the Bible to me.
They're not reproducers.
They're recruiters.
And so I said, but you know what?
I did have him mixed up with another guy named Jerry Studs
that was a different representative from Massachusetts.
I got those two mixed up.
Well, then people sent me a flood of information saying,
No, Barney Frank really is a pedophile.
And they showed me all these court documents
where he was accused of being a pedophile.
So it turned out, apparently, I was right the first time.
So the bottom line is, and that's just a silly example.
But the bottom line is, you're going to say things
and you're going to mix things.
Sometimes I get up here and I'm preaching.
And you try getting up in front of everybody and preaching.
You get up here and sometimes you've
got saved people going to hell.
Unsaved people go to heaven when they die.
One time I was preaching, I said, men need to have long hair.
Women need to have short hair.
You mix things up.
And sometimes you're just confused on something
or you just haven't learned something.
For example, I preached and said that the first command
that God gave to man in the Bible
was be fruitful and multiply.
I preached, hey, that's the first command
God gave in the Bible.
And your uncle came up to me, Brother Colby,
and he said, you know what?
Actually, that's not the first command
that God gave in the Bible chronologically.
And he showed me how God gave the command to Adam
not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
before Eve was created.
And he said unto them, be fruitful and multiply.
So that means he gave that.
So while it was true that the first command in the Bible
is to be fruitful and multiply, the first command
that God gave man on this earth was
not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
chronologically.
And I said, wow, thanks for showing me.
Thank you for correcting me on that.
If I were preached, I have not preached any heresy
since I passed through this church.
And I have not engaged in any wicked conduct.
Obviously, I'm a sinner like everyone else.
I'm not perfect.
But I haven't engaged in some kind of a wicked conduct
or preached heresy where I needed somebody
to come and correct me about something serious.
Those are just some minor things.
And I'm sure there are a million more just minor things
where somebody can come up to me and correct something
I said in my sermon and explain.
Or one time I said, the word gray is not a survival.
It's all black and white.
And somebody said, well, it does talk about people
with gray hair.
So that was my mistake.
I'm not perfect.
I make mistakes sometimes.
But they didn't come up to me and say, you idiot.
Do you even know the Bible?
Rise before the gray head.
Respect the gray-haired man.
So it's just a difference between a rebuke and an intrigue.
It's an attitude thing.
But when it comes to this, this is talking about actually
assaulting a preacher.
And God puts a serious curse on it.
And let me tell you something.
I have been assaulted physically many times
since I've been the pastor of this church.
I've had people push me, shove me.
I've had somebody literally throw me into a window
and the window shattered.
So I've been assaulted.
Now, here's the thing.
The Bible tells me I'm not supposed to be a striker.
I'm not supposed to be a brawler.
And honestly, if every time somebody shoved me,
I had done what the instinct of most men is,
when somebody pushes you and shoves you,
your instinct is to start swinging.
But if I had done that, I would have
been in a lot of fights by now.
But I decided a long time ago, I said, you know what?
The Bible commands me not to be a striker.
And I decided that if anybody pushes or shoves me
or just trying to provoke me in that way,
that I will not fight back.
I will turn the other cheek.
But I also decided if somebody throws a punch at me
or if somebody pulls any kind of a weapon on me,
at that point, it becomes self-defense.
Because when you're out in the streets and somebody just
unprovoked is throwing a punch at you,
you've got to defend yourself at that point.
And so I made that decision in advance.
And if somebody swings at me, then it's on.
And if somebody pulls a weapon on me, well, then you know what?
I'm ready to retaliate.
But just for my own safety, just because of the fact
and for whoever I'm with or my family or my friends
or whatever.
So the bottom line is that I've been assaulted.
And I promise you, God will curse those who have assaulted me.
So that's why I don't have to be a hothead.
Because like I said, the natural tendency when you're a man,
when somebody starts cursing you out and somebody shoves you,
your pride is hurt by that.
And you want to recover and save face, as it were.
And so when you were in school, before you were a pastor,
you could kind of do what you want.
Now I'm just kidding.
When you're in school and somebody shoves you,
man, if you let that go, then what?
Everybody's going to say he's a wimp.
And then you're going to get picked on.
And it's going to get worse.
So when somebody shoves you, you shove them back harder.
And then it escalates.
And then you start swinging.
And I'm not condoning that or saying that's the way it should be.
I'm saying that's the natural tendency of what people do
because of their pride.
But God commands us to be humble.
And sometimes, just like Jesus was spat upon,
just like Jesus was insulted, Jesus was smitten,
did he fight back?
Did he show everybody that he's a man, he's tough?
He didn't have anything to prove.
And here's the thing.
If somebody pushes or shoves me and assaults me in some other way,
God's going to punish them.
I've had people slash the tires of my car.
God's going to punish them for that because they have attacked me
and he's going to punish them more than if they attack somebody else
because they're attacking a preacher, God's word.
God's going to retire.
That's why I don't have to.
Do you understand that?
And it's the same thing in your life.
When somebody attacks you or shoves you or slaps you or whatever they do,
don't feel like you just have to pay them back.
I've got to tell you.
Because God said vengeance belongeth unto me, saith the Lord.
I will write your past.
And really, that's what this whole chapter's about.
This chapter's about David having the opportunity to retaliate
against somebody who's trying to kill him.
But because it's his father-in-law, because Saul was a prophet,
and because Saul was the king of Israel, he said,
I'm not going to do it.
I'm going to leave it in God's hands.
And when somebody attacks you, and maybe it's not a physical attack.
Maybe they just attack you by lying about you or cursing you
or spreading bad rumors about you.
You don't have to retaliate because God will repay.
He will recompense.
And God will look at that and punish them severely,
especially if you're a soul winner, especially if you're a preacher,
if you're a prophet.
God's going to punish that.
God's going to take care of it.
So I don't have to prove how tough I am by,
if somebody shows me I just have to get in a fight with them.
I will defend myself.
And if somebody breaks into my house,
I will not think twice to blow them away.
With my 12-gauge shotgun, it's loaded.
Where's that?
I'm not telling the person.
Hey, it's real close.
It's loaded up, you know, with buckshot.
Okay, it's ready.
And you know, the best way to load it?
Buckshot, slug.
Oh, buckshot, slug.
So here's the thing.
I'll use it.
I won't even think about it.
Because, you know, that's defending my family.
That's defending my property.
That's biblically right.
Now, when it comes to...
And that's only at night, you know,
like when the Bible says somebody's breaking in at night.
In the daytime, they'll get a warning.
And then I'll think about it, and then I'll fire.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway...
And look, like I said, if somebody starts swinging,
if somebody actually is trying to attack me and assault me
and do damage to me with their fist...
Let me just explain this to you guys.
When somebody shoves you,
they're not really trying to hurt you.
Because if they were really trying to hurt you,
they would throw a punch.
Because pushing and shoving never really hurt anybody, did it?
It's when you get a fist, you know, or a kick,
or a knee, or an elbow, that's what's gonna hurt.
So if somebody's really trying to hurt you,
that's what they're gonna do.
When somebody shoves you, they're trying to provoke you.
Because they want you to assault them.
Because they're trying to get you in trouble.
Or they're just a coward that's showing up,
that's trying to build up their own pride.
We as God's people, we don't have to go around
building up our own pride and our own ego how tough we are.
Be tough. I'm all for being tough.
Be as tough as you get,
but you don't have to go around proving that to everybody.
And so you've got to be calm.
And some people have...
Maybe you're sitting here thinking,
I don't have a problem with this area.
But there are some guys who do have a problem with this area
that are hotheads and that get in fights all the time
that are not necessary
because they just have to defend their pride.
I'll defend my body.
I'll defend my family.
I'll defend those that I love.
But I'm not going to defend my pride.
Because you know what?
Humility is what we're called to.
So I don't have to prove that.
So there's a difference between self-defense and pride defense.
You don't have to defend your pride.
And then also it helps when you realize,
hey, you know what, God's going to take care of this guy.
I don't need to beat this guy down.
God's going to take care of him.
God will do it.
And so that's a key thing to understand.
And the Bible teaches us also to love our enemies.
Now, clearly Saul is an enemy in this chapter.
He's hunting down David. He's trying to kill him.
But David's trying to overcome evil with good here
and not be overcome with evil.
And so when Saul comes to him,
he takes the skirt of his garment
because he wants to show his goodwill toward him.
And listen to the speech that David gives.
It says in verse number 7, of course,
that David stayed his servants with these words.
So he tells his servants, hey, guys, hands off.
We're not going to jump him in the restroom.
He's God's anointed.
Let God deal with it.
And he suffered them not to rise against Saul.
He did not allow them to attack Saul.
But Saul rose up out of the cave and went on his way.
David also arose afterward and went out of the cave
and cried after Saul. He's risking his life.
There's a force of 3,000 down there.
He's risking his life here.
It says he cried after Saul saying, my lord, the king.
And when Saul looked behind him,
David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself.
Is this a man filled with pride?
No, he's a humble man.
And he's a man for God's own heart.
Was it because David was a weakling or a sissy or a wimp?
No, because David was a very serious warrior.
And if you were to put him up against King Saul
in hand-to-hand combat or weapon combat,
I guarantee you or I believe that David would win that fight.
He was a mighty warrior.
And so this isn't a weakling. This isn't a wimp.
This is a guy who faced a light who was a lot taller
and bigger and badder than King Saul.
But it's just a man who's humble.
He's meek, not weak.
Turn the W upside down. He was meek.
And meekness is not weakness.
Meekness is when you keep yourself under control
and your humility is guarding you
from having to show all your power and strength.
By assaulting someone and, you know, hitting somebody.
And, you know, you got to think about it.
Is it really worth it to swing a punch at somebody
or to fire your gun on somebody?
You're going to have to live with consequences for that
because, you know what, sometimes the truth
doesn't always prevail.
Somebody might push you into a window
and then you start swinging
and then you beat the fire out of them
and then guess what it is?
Well, he threw me into the window
and then started beating me up for no reason.
You know, it was all because I was black or something,
you know, whatever.
They could make up any story and just say,
well, no, he attacked me. He assaulted me.
And how are you going to prove?
Is this your word against theirs
or other witnesses might lie and tell other stories?
So, and, you know, a lot of people are, you know,
they carry guns in Arizona
and they might be able to trigger happy, you know.
If somebody comes anywhere near me,
I'm just going to blow them away.
Now, if somebody comes to my house
in the middle of the night,
I'm going to blow them away.
But if somebody, you know, tries to just steal my wife first,
I'm not going to blow them away.
You know, because theft is not punishable by death.
Now, if they're menacing or threatening
or if they're, you know, making our safety in jeopardy,
then that's another story.
So we see here that David says to him in verse 9,
David said to Saul,
Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying,
Behold, David seeketh thy hurt.
Behold, this day thine eyes have seen
how that the Lord hath delivered thee today
into my hand and the cave.
Here's a force of 600.
There's a force of 3,000.
Saul walks in by himself to the 600
and then takes off his coat,
pulls out his pants, goes to use the bathroom.
I mean, talk about being vulnerable.
And he says, Some babe me kill thee.
He says, Look, people were telling me, Kill them.
But mine eyes spared thee.
And I said, I will not put forth my hand against my Lord,
for he is the Lord's anointed.
And by the way, David was the Lord's anointed too.
Saul shouldn't have been after David
because David had been anointed with oil by Samuel as well.
He said in 11, Moreover, my father, see,
yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand,
for that I cut out the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not.
Know thou and see that there is neither evil
nor transgression in my hand,
and I have not sinned against thee,
yet thou huntest my soul to take it.
You say, Well, why do you call him my father?
Well, it's his father-in-law.
And often the Bible calls father-in-law
just a father in many scriptures.
It says in verse 12, The Lord judge between me and thee,
and the Lord avenge me of thee.
He's even saying, Look, I hope God punishes you.
But he says, My hand's not going to be upon you.
I'm not going to do it.
I'm going to leave it in his hand.
You're wrong for hunting me down.
You ought to be punished for that.
Vengeance ought to be taken upon you for that.
But he said, I'm not going to do it.
He said, But my hand shall not be upon thee.
Verse 12, As said the proverb of the ancients,
Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked,
but my hand shall not be upon thee.
After whom does the king of Israel come out?
After whom does thou pursue?
After a dead dog?
After a flea?
Again, is this a man of great pride,
showing how cool he is and how tough he is?
No, he's saying, Look, I'm nobody.
I'm nothing.
I'm a dead dog.
I'm a flea.
The Lord, therefore, be judge,
and judge between me and thee,
and see and plead my cause,
and deliver me out of thine hand.
It came to pass when David had made an end
of speaking these words unto Saul,
that Saul said,
and look, here's where Saul has a moment of clarity.
Is this thy voice, my son David?
And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.
Saul realizes what a fool he's been.
Saul realizes that he's wrong,
and he begins to cry and weep about it
because he's sorry.
Now, here's the thing about this.
We see Saul make a lot of emotional decisions
in the first hand,
where he's hunting him down,
trying to kill him,
and then all of a sudden he's crying,
Oh, I'm so sorry about it.
It's okay.
And then he's just back at it again.
You know, Saul's emotional decisions don't last,
and that's why you got to be careful
that when we get right with God about something
that it's based on biblical truth,
and that when we repent of our sin,
and I know I'm not talking about salvation
because salvation is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ,
but you know, repenting of sin,
as some of the believers,
should be constantly doing.
On a daily basis,
we should be repenting of sin in our life.
Nothing to do with salvation.
It has to do with being right with God.
It has to do with serving God and keeping his commandments.
But as we repent of our sins throughout our Christian life,
we need to be careful that it's not just,
Oh, I'm sorry.
We need to get in the Bible
and realize why what we did is wrong,
understand scripturally why it's wrong,
and say, Hey, I'm not going to do this again
because the Bible says not to do it again.
And you know, we might be imperfect
or fall off the wagon with that,
but we've got to base our decisions
on Bible truth and reasoning,
not just an emotional, I feel bad and cry about it.
You know, and so sorrow can be a good thing.
Sometimes godly sorrow worketh repentance.
That can be, you know, we're sorry,
we're sad about what we've done,
and that leads us to a real change in our life,
a real repentance of sin.
But a lot of times, sorrow can just be emotional.
And that's why a lot of church services
coming down the aisle crying
doesn't really translate into a real changed life.
Unless it's associated with some biblical truth.
And the Bible says, Thy word have I hidden my heart
that I might not sin against thee.
When we get God's word in us
and understand it and internalize it,
that's what's going to produce real repentance in our life
where we're going to turn away from some of the sins
that are besetting us as believers.
And so we see here that Saul
is just making an emotional decision
because guess what?
He's going to keep hunting him down again.
After this chapter, he's right back at it.
After Samuel dies, he's right back to hunting David.
But at this point, he is sorry.
He feels bad.
He says, Is this thy voice, my son David?
And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.
And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I,
for thou hast rewarded me good,
whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
This shows a perfect example.
And turn to Romans 12, if you would.
Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter 12 is what this is a perfect example of.
Famous passage at the end of Romans 12
when the Bible says in verse number 18,
actually go to verse 17,
it says, Recompense to no man, evil for evil.
So just because someone does wrong to you
does not just give you the right to do wrong to them
and retaliates them.
He says, Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as live in you,
live peaceably with all men.
So should we avoid fighting?
If possible, you know, look,
it's not that we're never willing to fight.
There are some things that are worth fighting over.
But as much as is possible, we should avoid fighting.
We shouldn't just fight just because we love the pain.
We should avoid it and try to live at peace.
Our nation should try to be at peace with the world.
Amen.
If possible.
Now, not peace at all costs.
Not peace no matter what.
There is a time when fighting needs to take place in defense,
and there are times that are legitimate.
But most of the fighting that goes on in this world
is not legitimate.
And so we as a nation should strive, if at all possible,
to live peaceably with all the nations.
And we personally should try to be at peace
with those around us and not just be out spoiling
for a fight all the time.
And there are people like that.
I've had people come up to me, complete strangers
that I wasn't talking to, that I had nothing to do with,
and just walk up to me and just begin to insult me
and mouth out me.
And they didn't even know who I was.
Now, if they knew who I was, it would be more understandable.
And you know what's funny?
I've never, I've never had anybody in all these years,
whenever I go soul winning or out in public,
I've never had anybody walk up to me
and tell me off for who I am.
Never.
Now, I've had a lot of people walk up to me
and recognize me in a positive way.
Hey, Pastor, you're the pastor.
You know, I understand.
I saw you on the news or whatever.
But they were positive.
I've never had anybody.
Now, listen to me.
I guarantee you that there were just as many people or more
that recognized me in a negative way.
But they didn't say a word to me, and they never have.
Hopefully, they never will.
But I've never had anybody walk up.
I found out so late.
I said, hey, I remember you.
You were on the news, and they were happy about it.
But I've never had one say, you.
It's you.
Because a lot of times, people just
don't have the guts to just confront you in public
like that.
And they ought not.
Rebuke not another.
Maybe they learned that scripture well.
But I've had people, just complete strangers,
walk up to me just looking for a fight.
Because that's how they are.
They go to bars every weekend or every night,
and they literally seek fighting.
I mean, they go to a bar with a literal goal
of being in a fist fight.
And so they just go around just, hey, watch where you're going.
And just that kind of stuff.
And just take a bite.
Who's known people are seeing people like that?
Oh, yeah, of course.
It's true.
It's out there.
That is not a Christian behavior.
That's not a godly behavior.
I've known people, literally, who
go to the ghetto with a gun and just want to be mugged or attacked
so that they can blow somebody away.
I mean, that's pretty extreme.
But there are people like that.
They're out there.
And so we ought not be out looking for a fight.
We should try to live peaceably with all men.
David was trying to get along with Saul.
He was trying to be at peace with him.
Didn't always work out, but he did his best.
It says in verse 19, continuing the same thought.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself.
This is another great verse for David.
But rather give place under wrath.
Don't let anger control you and make
you have to take revenge and retaliate about everything.
For it is written, vengeance is mine.
I might repay.
Is that what it says?
No, he said, I will repay, sayeth the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him.
If he thirst, torture him.
Water border.
It says, if he thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Look, David in this chapter.
Yes, Saul's going to come after him later.
But in that instant, he overcame evil with good.
Saul came to do him evil.
And when David showed him love, when David showed him
humility and deference, Saul turned around and said,
you know what, my son?
I love you.
I'm sorry.
You're better than me.
You see how that works?
Don't you think the same thing could happen in your life?
When somebody tries to attack you or chew you out
and tell you off, and you turn around
and do something nice for them?
Ouch.
Think about this.
You've done wrong to people, like we all have.
If you did wrong to somebody, and then they turn around
and did something nice for you, how would you feel?
Bad.
Really bad.
It'd be like somebody does coals of fire on your head.
You'd feel bad.
And you'd feel guilty.
And you'd probably turn around and be nice to that person
and feel like you needed to make it up to them.
I mean, if you'd done somebody wrong,
and then they were just really nice to you
and did something above and beyond for you,
that's what God wants us to do with people who are enemies.
And look, there are people at your work
that have it in for you.
Be nice to them.
Do something nice for them.
And you can turn your enemies into friends.
You can overcome evil with good.
Now, a lot of people will twist this love your enemies
and just say love everybody.
Love pedophiles, love Hitler, love Stalin,
love evil dictators and torturers and weirdos.
That's not what the Bible is saying.
It's saying love your enemies as in those who do you wrong,
those who hate you,
those who despitefully use you and persecute you.
And even Jesus, the people who beat him and spit on him,
he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
And one of them turned around and was overcome
by the good of Jesus and said, truly, this was the Son of God.
Okay, so he was able to overcome with good
with the thief on the cross.
Because the Bible says in, I believe, the book of Mark,
they both reviled him.
But did Jesus, when he was reviled,
the Bible says he reviled not again.
He didn't turn around and say, will you shut up, you stupid,
you know, whatever.
Hey, he said, Father, forgive him.
He said nothing but good words.
And pretty soon that thief was turned around.
Pretty soon that centurion was turned around.
And so you can avoid a lot of them,
the fighting and strife in your life,
whether it be with relatives.
And look, people have a lot of fighting with their relatives.
On the job, in church, is when people do you wrong,
just be nice.
And how about this?
Just be nice even before they do you wrong.
Be nice to people.
Be generous to people.
You know, buy somebody lunch.
Give them a gift.
The Bible says people love you when you give gifts.
OK?
And so you can really diffuse a lot of conflict in your life
by just following this principle, OK,
of trying to overcome evil with good.
Now, obviously, somebody who's an evil, you know,
murderous reprobate, like a Jeffrey Dahmer did,
I'll be like, you know, baking him cookies
isn't going to do anything for him.
I don't understand how people don't understand
the difference between that.
I can't figure it out.
Because to me, it's so clear and so obvious
that the guy across the cubicle at work from you
that's trying to beat you to the promotion
and he's lying about you to the boss, you know, hey,
you know, bringing him a croissant in the morning
and an orange juice, you know, that might win him over.
You know, but it's probably not going
to help somebody who's a child molester.
You know, a croissant isn't going to fix that.
And it's not going to fix Hitler, you know,
to give him cupcakes.
And I don't understand.
But you know what?
Cupcakes and a croissant will fix a lot of people.
Amen.
It will straight be.
I mean, and literally, so few people in this world
will do nice things for people with nothing to gain by
that when you do stuff like that for people,
people will really appreciate it a lot of times.
I mean, people will be shocked sometimes
when you just go out and do something nice for somebody
that they didn't expect for no reason.
Just they're like, what's going on?
What's happening?
I don't know what to do.
So it makes a big, I mean, and literally, five bucks, two bucks
can go a really long way.
I mean, literally, just even just buying somebody
a cold drink, that can go a really long way with you.
You'd be surprised.
Just because this is a gesture of, hey, I'm thinking of you.
I'm thinking of others.
I remember giving just literally a bottle of soda
onto a fellow worker one time.
And it was just like, what?
He's like, this is for me?
And it was like two bucks.
And he said, you bought this for me?
And he wasn't one of my employees.
We were both coworkers.
We were both equal.
I said, you know, I gave myself something.
I thought you'd enjoy this.
Here you go.
Two bucks.
That guy's going to love you.
He's going to be there for you for years.
I'm not kidding.
It sounds funny, but it's so true what I'm saying right now.
People who do stuff for me, you know, I remember it.
And I'm going to be there for them.
And when I do something for other people, a lot of times,
you know, there'll be this.
Now, some people are ungrateful.
But, you know, some are, oh, thanks.
But honestly, a lot of people, you buy them a meal,
buy them a drink, you know, give them something,
give them a Christmas present.
They didn't expect it.
You just got a lifelong friend sometimes.
And so you can overcome a lot of evil in your life with good.
OK?
I don't think this is a hard concept to understand.
It makes perfect sense to me.
And it's biblical.
It's consistent with the whole Bible.
Because, see, we can't just go back.
We'll finish up real quick in 1 Samuel 24.
But you can't just take one part of the Bible
and throw out another part.
There are a lot of parts in the Bible that talk about hate
and talk about really bad, violent, evil people.
You can't just throw all that out
and just throw it out your window
and say, God loves everybody, good sin, good devil, cold hell.
You can't do that.
But you can't throw out the part about love your enemies either.
But it's really easy to understand what this means
if you just use common sense and study your Bible
and get the consistency.
Was Saul an evil, reprobate person?
No, he was saved.
And even people that are unsaved are not just evil reprobates.
I mean, there are a lot of nice, unsaved people.
And you can overcome evil with good.
And it's a good testimony better than,
I kicked his rear hand.
That's not, I mean, what's that doing for your testimony?
It'll do something for your ego and your pride.
But is that what, does God tell us to be proud
and boastful and egotistical?
No.
And so get that in your life.
Get this chapter and let it sink in.
This is a man who's trying to kill him.
It's his father-in-law.
And he is way going above and beyond
the call of duty here with righteousness.
Maybe that's why he's a man after God's own heart.
Maybe that's why he became the king of Israel.
Maybe that's why God protected David wherever he went
and he died of natural causes as a very old man.
Even though he fought in battle after battle,
why did God protect him?
Because Saul's blood in his life was precious in David's sight.
He reaped what he sowed,
and David's life was precious in God's sight.
He was protected everywhere he went.
Let's quickly finish the chapter here.
This is Saul saying, hey, I've rewarded you evil.
You've rewarded me good.
Overcome evil with good.
He says in verse 18,
And thou hast shewed this day,
how that thou hast dealt well with me.
Forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered me into thy hand,
thou killest me not.
For if a man findest enemy, will he let him go well away?
Wherefore the Lord reward thee good,
for that thou hast done unto me this day.
So he's blessing him in the name of the Lord.
And now behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king,
and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord,
that thou wilt not cut off my seed after thee,
and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house.
And David sware unto Saul, and Saul went home,
but David and his men gat them up into the hold.
Now, Saul swore unto David previously that he would not hunt him anymore.
Do you remember that?
A few weeks back.
Did he keep that oath?
No.
Is he keeping this covenant that they're making right here?
No.
But does that give David the right to break his end of the bargain here?
No.
David has sworn unto him,
I will not cut off your seed after you.
And later, he shows kindness under the seed of Saul.
He shows kindness unto Mephibosheth and others.
Just because someone breaks their word unto you,
does not give you the right to break your word to them.
God promises us eternal life.
If we promise something to God and we don't do it,
he still won't break his word to us.
And marriage, perhaps your wife or husband breaks their word unto you.
Does that give you the right to break your word out of them?
No.
And so, obviously there are contracts where if somebody doesn't pay the bill,
you don't have to do the work because it's called material breach of contract.
That's different.
When you promise something and you swear something,
you better do what you swore to do.
And even if the other person does you dirty
and another person breaks their word to you,
two wrongs don't make a right here.
And so David did the right thing.
He always kept his oath to Jonathan,
he always kept his oath to Saul,
even though Saul broke his word to David.
And so a great example here in chapter 24
of a saint of God who did everything right in this chapter.
And that was David, as far as that word occurred.
Father, we thank you so much for your word
and what we can learn from it
and for all the deep truths that are contained there.
And we can read these stories over and over and over, scores of times.
And again, learn new things every time.
And so thank you for this depth and treasure that is God's word.
And we love you and thank you for it.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.