Thank you.
Baptist Church if you would at this time take your hymnals and turn to him
number 208 grace greater than our sin him number 208
and sing praises unto you. Thank you for getting us here safely Lord. I pray that you would fill
us with your spirit at this time as we sing praises unto you and help us to pay attention to the
words that we are singing Lord. In Jesus' name I pray amen. For our next song if you would turn the
page to 228 I love to tell the story hymn number 228
Game number 228.
This time we'll go through our announcements.
If you need a bulletin, please raise your hand
unless you're one of my children.
Verse of the week is Galatians chapter 1 verse 6 for the Bible memory passage on the inside is our
service times listed Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m. and our Wednesday evening
Bible study of course at 7 o'clock our soul winning times are listed there do make note of our soul
winning rally on Saturdays at 10 a.m. We have our updated nursing home ministry schedule listed there
Also we have updated our year-to-date statistics. Those are some great numbers
especially considering how cold and just nasty the weather has been lately so
hopefully with our events coming up that goes away but we do have for a prayer
for our expecting ladies Miss Whitney Reed for her pregnancy. Please keep her
in prayer. Upcoming events really excited that this Friday is going to be our
first sweetheart banquet.
and we're really excited looking forward to this right after the service I'm
gonna have the men help me kind of set up tables for that to minimize the work
for the ladies but we're looking forward to that coming up this Friday also
March 15th
We added miss Whitney Reed's baby shower and if you look on the back of your bulletin
There is a little write up with more information about that
So please make note of that coming up soon. April 19th is our Easter soul-winning marathon
Hope we have a good turnout for that. It's a time of year and people are very receptive to the gospel
So we want to try to reach them that weekend May 16th through the 18th is the King James conference in Vancouver, Washington
And, you know, it's a good thing that this conference is happening because it seems like the attacks on the King James Bible never stop.
The videos that I see, guys like Mark Ward just making it his life's mission to attack the King James Bible.
So, I'm thankful that this conference is happening. I definitely will be tuning in even though I'm not going to be able to attend in person.
May 31st is the Durant, Oklahoma soul-winning marathon with steadfast Baptist Church
June 28th is the tinker air air show at the Air Force Base here in town
August 27th through the 31st the fire-breathing Baptist Fellowship in Cedar Hill and also our big missions trip that were
Pairing up with steadfast for that's the Bahamas missions trip really excited for that some giving
Information is listed there and on the back is our prayer list a couple additions for this week
Please make sure you're praying for everyone and as always if you ever have a prayer quest
Please let me know even if it's a private request you can just indicate that in the email
And I'll make sure to keep you in prayer for whatever you need
But at this time we'll go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer as a church family
Lord, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for the opportunity to be in church
Just pray for all those that couldn't make it this evening due to weather sickness that you just blessed them Lord and pray that you'd
Bring us all back together soon safely
Just pray for safety for all those that are gonna be traveling on the roads coming up
Tonight on our way home and just at other times this week Lord and pray that we'd have good weather for our upcoming
Sweetheart Banquet that would be a great time of fellowship for the people here Lord
I also pray for the requests of our church members that you just answer these according to your will
That you'd bless us and be with the needs of people Lord
We pray for Miss Jennifer Hall for her uncle's cancer that you would just heal his body that you just bless him Lord
And work in this situation and we also pray for brother Alex for his job situation
You know the needs that he has Lord. I just prayed that you would
Be faithful and provide for him and we trust that she will of course Lord and we pray also for Mrs.
Sean fur for her son Trevor and her granddaughter that she would just help in their family situation
That she would just help people to make spiritual decisions and to draw closer to you and that family Lord pray that you bless them and give them
Unity centered around the spiritual Lord
We also pray for Ms. Remy with her visa process that your will would be done in her situation
and that you would just keep her safe in her travels and that she would bless her tumor
that she'd be fully healed from it.
We pray for Brother Cameron, for his mother Barbara's salvation and healing from Cancer
Lord.
Also, those in our church whose family members are unsaved, we pray that you would soften
their heart, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would convict them and bear witness to the truth
of the gospel.
We pray that they would get many opportunities in their life to hear, Lord.
We do pray that you bless our church, that you would give us more laborers for the harvest,
that you bless our church spiritually, financially, numerically, that you give us unity and that
you would bless the remainder of the service.
We love you.
All right, that's gonna be it for announcements this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our third song
All right for our third song if you would actually take your white handouts and turn to Psalm 150
Psalm chapter 150 in the white handouts
go ahead and start there right at the beginning.
Praise ye the Lord.
Praise God in his saints, you and me.
Praise him the fervent of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts.
Praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him.
Bring instruments!
pass around. Turn your buttons to the first Samuel, which I can never place it, first Samuel...
Good evening, 1st Samuel, chapter 26, the Bible Reads.
And the Ziphites came unto Saul to give you a saying,
doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hechailah,
which is before Jechemon?
Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph,
having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him
to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph,
and Saul pitched in the hill of Hechailah,
which is before Jechemon, by the way.
But David abode in the wilderness,
and he saw that Saul
came after him into the wilderness. David, therefore, sent out spies and understood that Saul was come and very deed.
And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched, and David beheld the place where Saul lay,
and Abner, the son of Nair, the captain of his host, and Saul lay in the trench and the people pitched round about him.
Then answered David and said to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to
Abishai, the son of Zeruaya, brother to Joab, saying,
who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?
And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
So David and Abishai came to the people by night,
and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench,
and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster,
but Abner and the people lay around about him.
Then said Abishai to David God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day now therefore
Let me smite him. I pray thee with the spear even to the earth at once
And I will not smite him the second time and David said to Abishai destroy him not
for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless. David said
furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall
descend into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the
Take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruise of water, and let us go.
So David took the spear and the cruise of water from Saul's bolster, and they got them away,
and no man saw it, nor knew it. Neither awaked, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep
Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of an hill, a far off, a great space being between them.
And David cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Nair, saying,
Answerest thou not, Abner? And Abner answered and said, Who art thou that cryest to the king?
And David said to Abner,
Art not thou a valiant man, and who is like to thee in Israel, wherefore then
hast thou not kept thy Lord the King. For there came out, for there came one of the people,
in to destroy the King thy Lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done, as the Lord liveth,
ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed."
now see where the king's spear is and the cruise of water that was at his bolster
and Saul knew David's voice and said is this thy voice my son David and David
said it is my voice my Lord oh king and he said wherefore doth my Lord thus
pursue after his servant for what have I done or what evil is in my hand now
I pray thee, let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant, if the Lord have stirred
thee up against me.
Let him accept an offering, but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord,
for they have driven me out this day, from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying,
Go, serve other gods. Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the
Lord, for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flee, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the
Then said Saul, I have sinned, return, my son David, for I will no more do the harm.
Because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day, behold, I have played the full and
have aired exceedingly.
And David answered and said, behold, the king's spear.
And let one of the young men come over and fetch it, the Lord render to every man his
into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed.
And behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set
by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation."
Then Saul said to David, blessed be thou, my son David, thou shalt both do great things and also
shalt still prevail. So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place.
That's by our heads for prayer. Father God in heaven, we thank you for this day and helping us all make it here safely.
Amen. All right. Well, we are in 1 Samuel chapter 26 this evening.
And we'll jump right into it in verse one. The Bible says,
And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah saying,
doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hakkulah,
which is before Jehshamun? Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph,
having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him,
to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
And, you know, at this point in the story, it kind of seems like the Bible is just being repetitive.
And, of course, this is a true story. This is just what happened.
But it just seems like again and again and again, what do we see?
Saul just continues to seek David over and over and over again,
which is why I just continue to stress that when you...
identify someone like this in your life,
you need to remove yourself from that person.
Because oftentimes, yes, you could pray for them.
Yes, you could do good unto them,
but usually it's God that has to change these type of people.
Usually it's God that has to humble them.
There's not really much you can do for them.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 18, and why is that?
The reason why is that anyone who makes a change in their life and any change you've ever made in your life
It's come through this desire
You have to want to change people don't just you know accidentally serve God
people don't just
Accidentally go down the right path in life and stay on that path and remain steadfast
You know to do those things you have to want that in your own heart look at Proverbs 18 verse 1 the Bible says through
desire
a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermedaleth with all wisdom.
See, to understand wisdom, to learn what's right, you have to first want to know what's right.
You know, people in this world do not just accidentally get wise.
And this goes for carnally.
or spiritually you know people in this world that have a lot of education that are very well
read they're very educated people that did not just happen by osmosis that did not just happen
by accident that had to be a desire that was in their heart that they worked on and if you look
at someone who you think is just a great christian whatever role model you could think of as someone
that is a wonderful christian that person did not get there by accident
That person did not get that level of maturity.
By osmosis, it came through desire.
Look at verse number two, it says,
A fool hath no delight in understanding,
but that his heart may discover itself.
See, the reason people are foolish
is because they want to be foolish.
The reason people are stupid
is because they want to be stupid.
The reason people are unwise.
It's because they want to be that way.
Why?
The Bible says that a fool has no delight in understanding.
A fool does not care to know what's right.
A fool does not want to know what the Bible says.
And you know, this applies in many different areas.
Go to Matthew chapter number seven.
Matthew chapter number seven.
You know, think about it with salvation.
Who is it in this world that gets saved?
I'll tell you who it's those who want to get saved.
Now, you know, there's some people who before they have an interaction with the soul winner,
they're seeking God, they're praying, and of course there's other people who, you know,
we found those that ask not after us, right?
But even those people who weren't necessarily actively seeking, when we bring them to a
decision point to call upon the name of the Lord, they want to do that, right?
If they actually follow through on it and pray and ask for salvation, they are desiring
to get saved.
Ask, and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, for everyone that asketh, receiveeth, and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
Look, there's not a single human being who has ever lived.
who desired to know the truth, who desired to know God, but God's just like,
nah, I'm not going to let you have that knowledge.
That's not how it works.
The Bible says every single person that asks receives.
So you want to know why people go to hell?
Like in 2 Thessalonians, they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
That is why people go to hell.
because they reject the truth, they don't have the love of the truth,
and what is it that draws someone to the light of the gospel,
to the King James Bible, to an independent fundamental Baptist church?
It's not the shiny lights, it's not the programs, it's not the facilities, it's not the money,
it's the truth. And people who are wise love the truth. You know, it goes for the same thing in
your spiritual growth as a Christian. Go to Hebrews chapter number five, Hebrews five.
Hey, you gotta want to be saved.
You know, just accidentally get saved.
You have to want to call upon the name of the Lord.
But once you're saved, here's the thing.
If you're gonna grow as a Christian,
you have to want to grow.
You have to want to know what the Bible says.
You have to want to follow it.
No one can force you into maturity.
You know, someone can get dragged along into church,
but that's not gonna necessarily force someone
to actually grow and actually change in their heart.
Look at Hebrews 5, verse 12.
For when, for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which
be the first principles of the oracles of God.
and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat.
Remember the context here is that the Apostle Paul I believe is the author of Hebrews,
but whoever you think the author of Hebrews is,
he's saying, look, I want to teach you about Melchizedek,
which is not a milk doctrine, right?
That's more of a kind of dark saying of the Bible, Melchizedek.
He's saying, look, I want to teach you about this,
and quite honestly, you guys should be teachers by now.
You know, he's saying, like, you guys have been saved for a long time,
you guys should have been reading the Bible already, you guys should know these things,
but the problem is, is that you're actually the one that has need of milk and not of strong meat,
right? So he's saying, look, growing spiritually, it doesn't just automatically happen by a length
of time that you've been saved. You know, someone could be saved for 20, 30 years.
If they've never read their Bible cover to cover, they are going to be extremely immature in the faith.
And sometimes people can have this like self-delusion
where they think, oh, you know,
I've been going to church for this amount of years
or I've been saved for this amount of years.
That must mean I know something, not necessarily,
because these people have been saved for a while
but they actually still need milk.
Verse 13.
For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe
And you know we would expect a baby to use milk, right?
And we wouldn't look at a baby and judge and scoff at a baby being like wow, you know
You're still on mama's breast. You're still drinking the milk. What's wrong with you? It's a baby, right? We expect that
And you know, when someone just gets saved,
we expect them to be getting the milk of the word of God
and to just be learning these things for the first time.
But you notice how if you are on the milk,
you're unskillful in the word of righteousness.
So if all you know is salvation, baptism, things like that,
you're unskillful in the word of God.
It's gonna take more than those things to be skillful.
Verse 14, but strong meat.
Belongeth to them that are of full age,
then he explains what he means by that,
even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.
So, Belongeth, saying it's pertaining to,
someone actually can handle the meat
when they are using the word of God, right?
They're actually growing
Spiritually, they're using the Word of God.
That's what's giving them the ability to be exercised in their senses and to discern both good and evil.
Good of Proverbs chapter number one, Proverbs chapter number one.
But look, when someone goes to church and they hear the preaching and they're being told from the pulpit,
hey, read the Bible.
Read the Bible every day.
Hey, be three to thrive.
Be a soul winner, right?
Get baptized.
Give the Lord your tithe when they're being told these things.
And they're not doing those things.
Let me tell you why they're not doing them.
Because they don't want to.
That's why.
What keeps someone from being
the greatest Christian on this earth?
It's their own desire.
Because, through desire, a man separates himself and intermedals with all wisdom.
You have to want to grow in the Christian life.
And guess what?
You can't fake that.
That is not something that you could just put on a show and fake.
This has to be a real desire in your heart, and God knows if it's real.
Look at Proverbs chapter 1.
Verse 7, it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools, notice what fools do,
despise wisdom and instruction.
See, someone who is foolish spiritually or carnally, right, because we would look at a child,
foolishness is bound on the heart of a child, we expect a child to be uneducated,
we expect a child to say stupid things.
But then when an adult grows up and joins, you know, a flat earth group,
and goes and tells people they're a flat earther,
it's like that's a way different level of stupidity than a child.
Why? Because what is the difference between these two?
One is just natural foolishness by being a human being.
You're born, you're a child, you're foolish.
You know, the rod of correction drives that foolishness from them.
And kids need spanking, by the way.
But an adult, that is a fool.
Someone who should be a teacher.
Who is a fool? Why are they a fool? Because it says fools despise wisdom and instruction
This is why I don't like flat earthers.
This is why I don't like people that deny facts,
that deny reality because someone who's denying facts,
denying reality, denying education, not wanting to learn,
not wanting to grow, what does that say about them?
It says that they have a character issue
that they despise wisdom.
What kind of a person would despise learning?
What kind of a person would look at the word of God
From all generations until this day, the perfect Word of God but would just lightly esteem that
and not read it and not care what it says. I'll tell you who, a fool, an idiot, a stupid
person would do that. Go to Hosea chapter four, Hosea chapter four, but you got to realize it's
not that they're just born that way, right? Because here's the truth. Everyone's born that way
in the sense that we're all foolish as children.
But when you become an adult, when you become to the age where you should know some stuff, you should have wisdom,
but you don't, it's because you desired to reject wisdom and reject knowledge.
In our culture is when someone lacks knowledge, they say,
oh, well, they just probably didn't have the opportunity.
Oh, they probably, you know, were less privileged.
And sure, there are some people that are less privileged in this world than other people.
But you want to know why people have a lack of knowledge in 2025?
Look what the Bible says, because thou hast rejected knowledge.
Why don't you have knowledge?
Because you rejected it.
Because guess what?
If you would have asked, you would have gotten it from the Lord.
If you would have feared God, you would have had the beginning of wisdom.
But what did you do? You despised instruction, you despised wisdom, you despised knowledge.
And because of that, God says,
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me.
Seeing thou has forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
See, ignorance is not bliss.
You know that statement is a foolish statement saying what you don't know can't hurt you know what you don't know can hurt you very much.
And, you know, every day people are making decisions in their life that are going to
permanently affect their future.
And because they've rejected knowledge, they're not going to the word of God for those answers.
They are ruining and hurting their life.
And you know what?
It just makes me mad when people reject knowledge and reject truth.
It makes me mad when, you know, someone expects me to call a man dressed up like a woman,
Right? I mean, I just don't like playing those games. I don't like living in this fairy tale la la land
I want to live in reality. I want to deal with facts
I want to deal with knowledge and wisdom and let me say this I hate it when Christians say stupid things
It's like a stain on the name of Christ when we're supposed to fear God, have wisdom,
have knowledge, love the truth, but often times Christians live up to the stereotypes
that people make of them.
That's a shame when the world has a stereotype that fundamental Baptists are uneducated.
Fundamental Baptists are dumb.
Look, don't let that stereotype be true of you.
Love wisdom. Love truth.
Believe the truth whatever that truth is.
Real truth, believe it regardless of any of your preconceived notions.
Believe the truth. Go to Romans chapter number one.
Romans chapter number one.
And it'll make sense why I'm all saying this and why this ties in with Saul in a minute.
But Romans chapter one, you know, this idea of
Rejecting truth, despising truth, you know, it's something that Christians can do and that Christians do all the time.
But this is actually the root cause of why someone becomes a reprobate.
Now, of course, we know Christians can never become a reprobate. Once you're saved, you're always saved.
But this root cause of not loving truth is what leads someone down a reprobate road and why someone ends up becoming a reprobate.
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness.
So notice it says the wrath of God is what? Revealed. It's not hidden. It's not a mystery.
We don't have to guess or wonder. The wrath of God is revealed and it talks about men who hold
the truth and unrighteousness. So these men that we're talking about, these people we're talking
But verse 19 says because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, right?
So God has created every human being with a conscience.
And we by nature believe God exists.
That is the default setting for human beings.
You have to be brainwashed to become an atheist.
Saved right you have to realize that yes, there's a God
But I'm choosing to put my trust in the only true God the Lord Jesus Christ right that is salvation
But everyone's born with the knowledge that God is real
Why says for God hath showed it unto them. How did he show it unto them?
For, the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without
excuse.
So, notice, these people who hold the truth and unrighteousness, but end up rejecting
it, they're without excuse.
Why?
to where even just creation itself makes it clear and is a obvious truth that God exists, right?
I mean, and guess what? Someone who's an atheist, what do they do?
They reject the truth that's screaming all around them at all times, saying that God exists.
You know, I saw a funny clip of President Ronald Reagan saying,
you know, I've never understood atheists. I'd like to take the atheists over for dinner
and make them the most gourmet meal that they've ever had.
Do you believe there was a cook?
It's just like, duh, right?
I mean, it's just so simple and so obvious
that when you eat a meal, there had to have been a cook, right?
Imagine how much truth you would have to reject
to eat food and say, no one cooked this.
Okay, now multiply that stupidity by a billion
and you have an atheist.
You have someone that rejects God.
verse 21, because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened,
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
Why is it that their hearts were darkened?
Is because that they themselves thought they were wise, but all the time,
what they were actually doing was rejecting the truth.
Go back to 1 Samuel 26.
Now, why?
Did I go on that super long rabbit trail at the very beginning of the chapter?
Here's why, okay?
Saul is not being Saul because he didn't know what he was doing is wrong.
Saul is not ignorant of his actions.
Saul cannot say, well, I just didn't know that going after David was wrong.
I just didn't know that after constantly being corrected by God,
after constantly being shown that God's not on my side,
that I was doing the wrong thing.
The reason Saul is who he is, is because he's a wicked person.
Okay? It's because he does not want to do right.
He does not want to follow the truth.
And here's the thing, Saul is saved.
And so Christians can do this and we have to check our hearts realizing that, hey, we're human beings, we're sinful, we are carnal people, we have the ability to not reject all truth like reprobates do.
But you know what? You can resist your heart to truth, you could resist your heart or despise prophesies, or despise or belittle the word of God, and you could start to trust in your own understanding, in your own heart, go in your own path in your life.
And you could think that you're right all you want, but at the end of the day if you're not going with what God says
It's because you don't like the truth. You don't like knowledge
The reason why Saul's attacking David is because he does not want to do what's right
Not that he doesn't know what's right. It's that he does not want to do what is right verse 3
says, and Saul pitched in the hill of Hakulah,
which is before Jeshamon by the way.
We'll get through some of this way faster,
but David abode in the wilderness,
and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
David therefore sent out spies
and understood that Saul was come and varied deed.
And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched, and David beheld the place
where Saul lay, and Abner, the son of Nour, the captain of his host, and Saul lay in the
trench and the people pitched round about him.
Then answered David and said to a Himalek the Hittite, and to Abishai, the son of Zaryuaya,
brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?
And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench.
I think it's so interesting that all the time when the Bible is describing Saul doing something,
he's like, oh, he's just chilling out under a tree, standing in the shade, covering his feet, laying down sleeping.
It just seems like Saul's never doing anything.
And it's just interesting how, like, when I see people in my life and growing up having
seen different people that act like Saul, it's funny how they just live to attack.
They live to hate David, but you never really see them doing anything, you know?
They just love to attack and do nothing with their lives, and Saul lay sleeping within
the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster, but Abner and the people lay
So, get the picture here, David knows that Saul's coming to kill him, David has sent
some spies to go figure out where he's at, he finds out where he is, he goes to the
army and he sees that they're all just kind of laying down asleep.
And David is standing here saying, hey, who's going to go down to the people?
Then said Abishai verse 8, then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into
thine hand this day.
with the spear even to the earth at once,
and I will not smite him the second time.
It's kind of very similar to when David was in the cave
and his men were saying like,
hey, God's delivered him into your hand.
Why don't you just kill him right now?
And this time, this guy's taking ownership
and saying like, hey, I'll just go down there
and I'll kill him right now.
And he's really confident.
He's saying like, I'm not gonna have
to smite him a second time.
Like I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna get the job done
on the first try.
Now of course, you know, this wasn't the right thing to do.
as we'll see later in the chapter.
But I'm sure that David at least just appreciated his zeal
and appreciated someone that was actually faithful to him
and on his side.
You know, that's got to feel good as a leader to know,
like, hey, I'm here with Abishai.
We're in a stressful situation here,
but he's ready to go attack.
He's ready to fight.
You know, he kind of calms him down,
but that's got to still feel good for David to have someone
that has his back.
But verse nine, we see David having some really good leadership here,
says, and David said to Abishai,
For who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be
Guiltless, you know David here does what a good leader does which a good leader often has to do this say
No, this is what a leader has to do
You know, if being a leader was just saying yes,
that would not be leadership.
That would be just like whoever comes up with an idea,
it's just immediately implemented, right?
David here, he could have had a fleshly temptation
to want to kill Saul.
If I was David, I'd be so sick of this game.
I would be so sick of just being hunted
and chased all the time.
And I could definitely see myself being like,
man, that's tempting, Abishai.
Like, I want to get this over with.
I'm sick and tired of it.
But he knows.
what the right thing to do is and he knows that it would be wrong and sinful to go murder Saul it'd be dishonorable especially just to kill him in his sleep.
That's not something you know that a man would do. And so what does he say? He says no. And you know if you are a leader there's lots of leaders in this room.
You have to realize that one of your biggest jobs as a leader whether in the home husbands in the workplace if you're in management is to tell people no.
And people get this weird idea, I don't know if it's just because our society is very coddled
and very soft and not being used to hearing the word no, but I notice it in the workplace
that people just freak out at the word no and they're never expecting to hear no.
It's like, hey, can I set up my personal computer
to view these really secure cameras?
It's like, no, you can't.
Well, why would it just be so much easier?
It's just like, no, you can't do that.
That's the security risk, the answer is no.
And people are kind of shocked by that.
But it's like, we need to get back into realizing
what a leader does, which is say no oftentimes.
Now, it doesn't mean you have to say no at everything.
consider your followers' recommendations, or thoughts, or ideas, you absolutely should,
but at the end of the day, there has to be someone that makes the final decision.
Go to Ezekiel chapter 33.
While you're turning there, I'll read for you Proverbs 11 verse 14 the Bible says where no counsel is the people fall
But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety
So it is wise as a leader to get counsel to have other people giving you ideas and thoughts and feedbacks and
Possibly even criticism. Those are healthy things. Those are good things
But at the end of the day the leader still needs to actually make the decision and actually make the call of yes or no
Because here's the thing
David would have given the green light to Abishai to murder Saul you want to know whose fault that would have been
It would have been David's fault
That's the scary thing about leadership.
That's the very grave, serious responsibility of leadership is that while you're not necessarily
responsible for every action of your followers, you are responsible for what you allow them
to do and what you instruct them to do and the orders that you give, you are responsible
for that.
And just allowed Abishai to do that, it would have been on his hands.
Or if he would have said, just straight up, yes, that would have been on David's hands.
But because he said no, you know, David did the right thing.
If his, you know, servant just rebelled here and wouldn't kill them anyways,
that wouldn't have been David's fault.
He said no, okay?
Look at Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 1 says,
Son of man speak to the children of thy people and say unto them when I bring the sword upon a land if the people of the land
Take a man of their coasts and set him for their watchman if when he seeeth the sword come upon the land
He blow the trumpet and warn the people then whosoever hear at the sound of the trumpet and take it's not warning if the sword
Come and take him away his blood shall be upon his own head
So notice where the responsibility lies here
When the enemy's coming, when there's danger coming, who is responsible for warning the watchman?
Who is responsible for taking heed to that warning? The people, right?
So if the watchman warns saying like, hey, here comes the Viking hordes,
they're gonna come kill us all, but they don't listen to the watchman and they stay there and die, is that the watchman's fault?
Absolutely not. Now, here's the thing though, look at verse 4, it says,
Or, verse 5, he heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning, his blood shall be upon him,
but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Verse 6, but if the watchmen see the sword come, so he sees the danger, and blow not the trumpet,
he decides not to warn, and the people be not warned.
If the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity,
but his blood will I require at the watchmen's hand.
So, this mentality and this principle is very clear in Scripture.
If you're in a position of authority, which, hey, the Watchman is in authority here.
He's the one that has the right and the responsibility to warn if danger is coming.
If danger is coming and the Watchman is screaming and yelling and blowing the horn and warning
people, but then people are too stupid or lazy or whatever to not listen, then that's
the people's fault.
That's not the Watchman's fault.
And he decides, you know what, I'm not going to blow the horn, I'm not going to raise the alarm,
I'm not going to warn anyone. And then when people get devoured and destroyed,
then all their blood is on the leader's hand, is on the watchman's hand.
So like here in this story, David, if he would have said yes, if he would have allowed it with
his words, then he would have been responsible for that murder as well with Abishai. But if he
You know, theoretically, if Abishai were to just disobey and do it anyways, how would
that be David's fault?
It wouldn't, right?
Here's why I bring this up, and I've talked about this a little bit recently, is that
there's this mentality amongst a certain population of the world's leaders, and even amongst
some Baptists, that basically whenever followers do wrong, or whenever followers are wicked,
That if the followers do bad, that's the leader's fault.
If the followers sin, that's somehow the leader's fault.
Now here's the thing.
There's some truth to that in the sense that if the leader gets up and doesn't instruct
the right thing and then his followers sin, that's his fault, right?
But what if the leader gets up?
and warns about wickedness warns about the dangers and pitfalls that are out there,
gives his followers the right path to follow, but they just decide to rebel.
That's not the leader's fault, my friend. You know, I've heard this. I've heard,
you know, statements like this, you know, a woman would never leave a man that loves her
and provides for her. And I'm just thinking like, wow, you must not be a pastor.
You must not have heard the things that I've heard.
You must not have dealt with the situations that I've dealt with.
Or a man would never cheat on his wife if his wife is giving lots of due benevolence and
being respectful and being submissive.
And it's like, that's not how it works, man.
There are some piece of crap followers out there.
There are some bad husbands, even with good wives.
There are some great wives with bad husband, vice versa, right?
These things exist.
There's great followers with bad leaders.
Here's the thing.
What matters when it comes to the result of a leader
and when you look at his followers,
what matters is what did this leader instruct?
What did this leader warn about?
Was this leader preaching the whole counsel of God?
Not, well, were people rebellious.
Because you take this mentality like,
are we going to apply this to Jesus Christ now?
Are we going to apply this to our leader
that when we sin, it's somehow God's fault?
You know, that's a ridiculous attitude.
Like, God is a perfect leader.
He's a perfect leader.
And when we sin, it's our fault, right?
So here's the thing, like, some people will be like,
oh, this person had bad kids.
Their kids did wrong or something like that.
That means he's a bad father.
That means he's a bad leader.
Well, let me ask you this.
Did he tell his kids to follow the Lord?
Did he tell his children to do right?
Was he leading that example?
Was he himself doing right?
Was he warning about the wickedness of sin?
Was he warning against the pitfalls of living in the world?
Okay, sounds like that's not on him then.
You know, that's just a ridiculous mindset to have
and it's just not scriptural
because the watchman is responsible for what he does.
He's not responsible for what his followers do.
You know, if I get up and I preach,
you should be a soul winner.
Haven't I preached that lots?
If I get up preached, go soul winning.
Learn how to go soul winning.
Be a silent partner for crying out loud.
And then I just preach it, I preach it, I preach it,
and you just don't do it.
I guess that's somehow my fault.
What are you talking about?
Like if I say, go to church when the doors are open,
read the Bible, pray, tithe,
do all these things that the Bible says,
but then you just decide not to do it.
I guess that's my fault as a pastor.
What are you talking about? Like this is reality denial. This is ridiculous. It makes no sense
whatsoever. Go back to 1st Samuel 26.
You as a leader are responsible for things that you can control.
You cannot guarantee that your children will grow up and love the Lord. You know that?
That's scary, but here's what I can control.
I could be a good example for my children
and I could instruct them on what to do in this life
and what not to do.
And beyond that, that's on them.
It's 100% up to them.
Why? Because remember, to be separated,
you have to desire it.
You have to want it.
I cannot want serving God for my kids.
I cannot want serving God for you.
I can't make you serve God.
I can't make you love God.
That has to come from you 100%.
That's not my responsibility.
Look at verse 10.
David said furthermore as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him.
or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish."
He's saying, look, this is not our position of authority to judge.
This would not be right.
Let God judge him.
Let God make him die in war or something like that.
But you know what?
My hand's not going to be against the Lord's anointed.
That's not my job.
Verse 11,
The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed,
but I pray thee, take thou now the spear.
that is at his bolster in the cruise of water, and let us go.
So notice how David's mentality was
that as long as Saul is the king,
as long as Saul is in a position of leadership,
David's just gonna consider him as the Lord's anointed,
he's not gonna touch him.
Because you know, I've had some people ask me like,
well, why is he still calling him the Lord's anointed
when the Bible makes it very clear
like God's departed from him, God's rejected him?
But here's the thing, in practice, in just reality,
Saul is still at least in that position from an authority perspective.
Whether it's endorsed by God or not, he's in that position and you know we should respect
authority figures whether we agree with them or not, whether we agree that they should be in
that position or not. I mean here's an example like I do not agree that women should be police
officers. I think it's a terrible idea for society. I think it's hateful towards those women.
I think it's dangerous towards those women and there's probably a lot of dead women
that would not be dead right now if they didn't become cops, okay?
So this isn't coming from like a, oh, I hate women or anything like that.
I don't think women should be cops.
But if I get pulled over by a female officer, you know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to obey everything she tells me to do.
I'm not going to disobey a police officer just because I think she shouldn't be a police officer.
If she's a police officer, I'm going to do what she says.
You know, you should too.
Go to acts chapter 23.
Acts chapter number 23 and why though it's because people who love God I've
just noticed this people who love God love authority people who respect God
respect authority I've noticed people that hate God are despising dominion the
Bible talks about they hate authority. Acts 23 verse 1
In Paul, earnestly beholding the counsel said,
Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience
before God until this day.
And the high priest and anias commanded them
that they that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.
So Paul's just getting punched in the face here.
Verse three, then said Paul unto him,
God shall smite thee, thou whiteed wall,
for sit is thou to judge me after the law,
and command is me to be smitten contrary to the law.
Here's the thing.
Technically with the facts Paul is in the right here saying why are you hitting me?
Why are you smiting me right now? You know, I'm a citizen here. This is against the law. He's right
But verse 4 says and they that stood by said we're vile as thou God's high priest
Then said Paul, I wish not brethren that he was the high priest for it is written
Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people he's saying like
Paul's not necessarily saying like I was wrong in what I was saying
But he is saying I was wrong how I said it right and here's the thing when it comes to someone in a position of authority
Whether you agree with them whether you think they should be in that position or not whether they're making the right decisions or not
authority is authority right and so it's like
Could we sit here and argue that Saul isn't a legit king?
Of course we can make that argument because God rejected him,
because God no longer viewed him that way.
But from David's perspective, it's like, hey, he's still in authority though,
so I'm not going to put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed.
And so for me, whether I like or dislike someone,
if someone's a judge, I'm going to call them your honor.
If someone's a police officer, I'm gonna call them officer.
You know, if someone's a pastor, even if it's a pastor I don't like,
I'm gonna refer to them as pastor so-and-so.
And so funny, all the people that just immediately hated me.
You know, man, the haters came so fast.
And it's just immediately, it's like, dealing this, dealing that.
It's just like, you have a problem with authority.
You don't respect the office because you don't respect authority
because you don't respect God.
That's the root cause of your heart issue.
You know, when you refuse to obey authority, when you refuse to respect authority, it's
coming from a wicked heart.
I mean, Paul just got literally punched in the face illegally, and he's like apologizing
for how he spoke of a Roman politician, okay?
How much, or I'm sorry, not of a Roman politician, of the high priest.
It was Roman people with him, excuse me on that air.
First Timothy chapter five, but you know what? I guarantee you that he was not being you know mouthing off to the Roman centurions as well
Guarantee he was in subjection to them as well
verse number one says
Rebuke not an elder and that's referring to a pastor
But in treat him as a father and the younger men as brethren, you know the Bible teaches
There's a certain way you should and should not speak to a pastor
And this doesn't say, you know, this specific pastor that you like, or your specific pastor.
It just says, rebuke not an elder.
Now look, I of course make the exception here that if someone's a false prophet, yeah.
If you're guest preaching for me and you want to rebuke the fire out of false prophets,
you have my full endorsement of doing so because they're sending people to hell, right?
And here's the thing, I also believe that a pastor
who is at the same level of another pastor
can correct other pastors.
And I think that he should, okay?
But you know what, if you're not a pastor,
your default should be very high respect for any pastor.
And don't just mouth off about other pastors,
good or bad, never lie about another pastor.
You know, even pastors I do not like,
I will never ever tolerate someone in this church
lying about another pastor.
Railing against another pastor, you know,
that's wicked as hell.
I'm not even going to receive an accusation against another pastor without two or three witnesses and neither should you that is sin
Go to 1st. Samuel 26. Well, I read Romans 11 23 Paul said this for I speak to you Gentiles in as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I
Magnify mine office
And of course, Paul was not a pastor.
He was an apostle, but still he wasn't saying, I magnify myself.
I'm such a great guy.
I'm such a wonderful person.
No, you're saying I magnify my office.
And you know what?
You should respect deacons.
You should respect evangelists.
You should respect pastors.
You should respect any position of legitimate authority in this world.
are ordained of God. God has established authority. You should respect authority.
Verse number 12 of 1 Samuel 26 says,
So David took the spear and the crews of water from Saul's bolster,
and they got them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked,
for they were all asleep. So they're sneaking up, they're getting right up to their body
and taking items off their body. Why? Notice what it says,
Now, I think there's an interesting symbolism here.
If you go to Isaiah chapter 29, Isaiah chapter number 29, you know, the Bible could have
just said they were asleep, you know, they were tired, but it makes it clear that this
sleep, this deep sleep that they were in was actually from the Lord.
So it's not just like you and I when we're tired at night and we hit the sack and we're
asleep.
Like God is actively working in this situation to make these people in a deep sleep.
Now, what does that make me think of?
It makes me think of Isaiah 29, verse 10.
Notice what it says,
For the Lord hath poured out upon you
the spirit of deep sleep,
and hath closed your eyes,
the prophets and your rulers,
the seers hath he covered,
and the visions of all has become unto you
as the words of a book that is sealed.
Which men deliver to one that is learned saying read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is sealed
Here is what I think is
One of the applications of Saul and his men being put in a deep sleep from God
It's this is that when you are wicked when you're stiff-necked when you're hard-hearted
Especially as a leader and you refuse to accept correction from God you refuse to do what's right God will punish you with stupidity
God will punish you.
Notice how it's like you're opening the book of the law and it's like a book that's sealed.
You just can't understand it anymore.
You can't make sense of it anymore.
And sometimes you see leaders like this where they kind of become a soul.
They don't take any correction.
They go down the wrong path for so long.
God's long suffering, gracious, punishing them.
But finally, they just keep rejecting it.
God could literally punish that person with extreme stupidity.
And sometimes you just listen to the things that come out of their mouth and you're like this has to be like the punishment of God
I mean, I heard a pastor this week saying that slander can sometimes be true
It's like why do these people have such a hard time with words and it's like I literally think God is punishing them
I think God is just pouring upon them the spirit of deep sleep.
Like, God is just making you dumb as a punishment.
That's scary.
Like, how would you like to just get up and just sound like an idiot?
That's not fun, right?
And, you know, I heard another pastor talking about how,
you know, there's two groups of people.
There's Repent of Your Sin's Heretics.
And people that believe salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ and they think that repent of your sin salvation is a damnable heresy.
Guess which side we're on, right? We're over here. We believe repent of your sin salvation is a heresy, right?
We believe salvation is by faith alone.
And this pastor said, you know, I fellowshiped with both sides of this issue.
And the people that think salvation is by faith alone are way more carnal.
And it's just like, how stupid are you?
It's like, oh, okay, people who are saved are somehow more carnal than false prophets than people that believe a false gospel.
It's like, do you even realize how stupid the word's coming out of your mouth sound?
Now here, I'll grant you that we're carnal.
Yeah, you know what the Apostle Paul said, I am carnal, right?
We're all carnal in an extent as far as we're living in the flesh.
We have the old man, but we also have the new man and we also have the opportunity to walk in the spirit.
who is more carnal, a Christian who's defending the gospel
or someone preaching repent of your sin salvation.
And it's like, you hear statements like this
and it's like, there's a deep sleep from God
that's being put upon you.
You are being punished from God with stupidity.
It's sad to see, go back to 1 Samuel 26.
And as you're turning there, Saul 18 verse 29 says,
for by thee I have run through a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
So, you know, contrast these two things.
Saul and his men, they're rebellious, they're wicked, God is putting them in a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, God is helping David.
I mean, David is able to go into their camp, even if he's possibly outnumbered and able
to take things right from Saul's body, even with his bodyguards there, because God is
the one that's actually helping him.
Verse 13 says, Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of an hill
afar off, a great space being between them.
And David cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Nur, saying, Answer is thou not
Abner?
And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man?
And who is like to thee in Israel?
Wherefore then hast thou not kept the Lord thy king?
For there came one of the people in
to destroy the king thy Lord.
This thing is not good that thou has done.
As the Lord liveth, you are worthy to die
because you have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed.
And now see where the king's spear is
and the cruise of water that was at his bolster.
You know, this is like a secret service failure here where it's like he's like saying,
whoa, man, I thought you were a tough guy, I thought you're a man of war.
How did you let enemies breach the perimeter here?
They got all the way to the king and they took things from him.
Like you failed.
You messed up big time here.
Verse 17, and Saul knew David's voice and said, is this thy voice, my son David?
David said, it is my voice, my lord, O king.
For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand?
And again, it just seems like we're seeing this same story
play out over and over in First Samuel,
where Saul's going after David.
David is being helped by God, David survives,
and David's just like, why are you coming after me?
I haven't done anything wrong to you.
And then usually Saul gets a brief moment of clarity,
and he just keeps doing it over and over and over again.
And I think one of the things that God wants to show us,
and teach us from this story is that we are always going to have enemies in our lives.
We are always going to be persecuted as Christians.
We will always face persecution.
I'll read for you. You can stay there.
Second Timothy 3.12 says,
And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
That is just a reality of being a disciple of Christ,
of being someone that actually wants to live a godly life.
Hey, you have that desire to separate yourself?
You want to do what's right?
Okay, guess what you're signing up for?
Persecution.
Guess what you're signing up for?
Souls to hunt you.
Souls to come after you.
And here's the thing.
You could take comfort and saw us in the fact that if you're right with God,
if you're doing what's pleasing to the Lord, God can protect you like God was constantly protecting David.
And here's the thing, God is all-powerful.
He could protect us from any enemy, from any attack, for as long as God wants, right?
So it doesn't make sense for us to get fearful about persecution,
or to dread it, or to just, you know, try to, you know, soften the message that we don't have persecution.
No, just realize like, hey, through desire, I want to separate myself.
Through desire, I want to be a man after God's own heart.
I want to do what's right.
And guess what comes along with that?
It's just part of the game, it's just part of something you've got to get used to, and we just need to get used to it.
Verse 19 says,
If the Lord have stirred the up against me, let him accept an offering.
He's saying, look, if this is God that's been provoking you against me, obviously I'm not going to say God was in the wrong here,
so let's give God an offering to appease him, right?
But of course that's not the case.
He says,
If they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord.
For they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord,
saying, go serve other gods.
So notice the thought for King David.
The thought of wicked people stirring up Saul against David just pisses him off.
And he's saying, let those people be cursed.
Let those people be damned, someone that would try to sow division and cause discord between David
and his father-in-law and his king. You know, that just makes him mad. Now, here's the thing.
Of course, it's not really other men that are working up King Saul. It's his own wicked heart.
But I'm just pointing out to you how that, when David even has the thought of
if someone is causing division, if someone is sowing strife, it's an abomination to David.
He's saying, like, curse it be that person.
And you know what? The picture here is, is that this is exactly how God feels about a Christian that sows division
and sows discord. Go to Proverbs chapter 6.
Proverbs chapter 6.
He's saying, look, if God is the one that's made you all upset at me, let's appease him, let's give him an offering.
But if it's men that are doing this, let that person be cursed.
Proverbs 6, verse 14,
He soweth discord, therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, suddenly shall he be broken
without remedy.
These six things that the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination to him, a proud look,
a lying tongues, and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that devises wicked imaginations,
feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he
that soweth discord among brethren.
God says, this person is an abomination to me.
And Dave as well, when he said,
man, if someone is stirring you up against me,
if someone's causing this stripe unnecessarily,
what did I ever do to you, Saul?
What did I ever do to attack you?
What did I ever do to offend you?
If someone's stirring you up against me,
cursed be that person.
You know, it's the same way in church.
It's the same way in your family.
You know, it is an abomination to cause discord between brethren.
And you know what it is? It's, it's a lack of love for God. And think about this.
Saul and his men, they're in this deep sleep, right? They're in this darkness,
this deep sleep from God. Doesn't the Bible talk about in the New Testament,
how if you hate your brother, you walk it, you're walking in darkness?
You know, it's kind of like that sleep from God is being put on you.
You know, people that hate their brethren, that are just bad brothers in Christ,
people that are just sowing discord, attacking, railing, which means lying, by the way,
slandering, which means lying, by the way.
There's no such thing as a true slander.
Okay, use the dictionary.
Read the Bible.
Those people are walking in darkness those people are being punished by God and their actions are
Abominable to the Lord and it should be abominable to you as well. Go to 1st Samuel 26. Let's read verse 20
says
Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea
as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
So David's being very humble here,
and of course, that's always the position
that David takes being a man after God's own heart.
But I think it's really funny how he says like,
you coming after me, it's like you're coming after a flea.
Like, who would go chase around a flea?
You wouldn't really put that much, you know, effort and energy into that.
Maybe some of you will.
You guys are, you know, you're like, oh, I do that all the time.
I would not.
Okay.
I would just leave it alone, get away from it.
But I wouldn't sit here and like be a flea hunter or hunting a partridge in the mountains.
You know, this is funny because I grew up hunting and it's like you go to the mountains to hunt
an elk where you're going to get hundreds of pounds of meat.
You know, it wouldn't really make sense to like get all the hunting gear, get all the
food, drive up to the mountain, set up camp.
It's like, all right, what are we here for?
That would not make a lot of sense, right?
And it's funny because we actually kind of did do this
sometimes though, because there's these little birds
in Idaho, they're like wild chickens.
I don't know exactly what they're called,
but I'll tell you what me and my dad called them
is we called them rock chucks,
because we'd sit there and chuck rocks at them
until we hit them.
And they were just so stupid birds,
like it doesn't matter how many rocks you throw,
like you can miss 20, they're not going anywhere.
So we call them rock chucks.
So you just sit there and you just throw rocks,
throw rocks, throw rocks,
till finally you hit them and you kill it and you eat it.
But here's the thing,
like I would not make all that effort and energy
to go up to hunt some rock chucks.
To me, those are kind of just like,
a cherry on top, like, hey, we're having some rock chucks for lunch, but, like, I want the elk,
I want the antelope, I want the bear, I want the wolf, right? I want to, like, get the big game
that I'm actually coming up here for. And so, I just think that that illustration is funny.
You know, if you've never hunted before, maybe now you understand that illustration.
Verse 21 says, and then said Saul,
I have sinned, returned my son David, for I will no more do the harm, because my soul was
exceeding, or my soul was precious in thine eyes this day.
Behold, I have played the fool and have erred exceedingly."
So Saul here once again, you know, he's saying the right things like he always seems to when
he's confronted in these situations, but the question is, does he mean it?
You know, David's here calling himself a flea,
calling himself like a partridge in the mountains.
But you know, the truth is though,
is why is Saul going after David?
It's because he's not just a flea.
He's not just a partridge in the mountains, right?
David may have that view of himself,
may have that humility,
but the truth is when Saul is going after David,
it's because he's not actually flea.
He actually is a big deal.
Verse 22, David answered and said,
Behold the king's spear,
and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
the Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered thee into
mine hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. And behold,
as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the
Then Saul said to David, blessed be thou my son David, thou shalt both do great things
and also shalt still prevail.
So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place.
You know, the chapter kind of ends here with this really sobering thought where David's
basically saying like, hey, let's have everyone in this situation be judged according to their
righteousness.
And as your life was set by in my eyes, I want my life to be set by in God's eyes.
He's basically saying like, as I've treated you, as I've been righteous, as I've held
is how exactly how I want God to treat me.
Now, you know, depending where you and I are at this evening,
that would be a scary proposition to give to the Lord.
Hey God, how I treat other people,
how I am towards other people, how I judge in situations,
that's exactly how I want you to treat me.
You know, I'm sure there's some of us in this room that if you were to make that proposition,
you'd probably want to change some things in your life before you make that deal with
God, right?
Because the truth is, I think every single person in here could improve in the way that
we love our enemies, in the way that we treat other people.
But David here was the perfect example of it.
not doing anything wicked to Saul, not sending against Saul,
not even killing Saul when, quite frankly, there's reason to believe that he deserved it,
but just doing good unto him.
Go to Psalm chapter number 18.
We'll finish with a couple of Psalms here.
Psalm 18.
Psalm 18 verse 20 says the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanest of my hands,
hath he recompensed me.
You know, people like to say, oh, only God could judge me.
Hey, that's a scary thing to be judged by God.
And you have the Psalmist here, which I believe is King David,
has to be pretty confident in the way he's living his life to say like, hey,
reward me according to my righteousness.
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness
according to the cleaness of my hands.
Hath he recompensed me?
You know, he was standing fast in his integrity
as a man of God.
Verse 21, For I have kept the ways of the Lord.
And what does it take to keep the ways of the Lord?
Desire.
He wanted it.
And if not wickedly departed from my God, for all his judgments were before me, and
I did not put away his statutes from me, I was also upright before him, and I kept myself
from mine iniquity."
Obviously, the psalmist is not perfect, he's not sinless, and you and I are never going
to be sinless, right?
We have this flesh, we have this old man, we will sin until the day we die.
But here's what we can do.
If we actually desire truth, if we actually desire to do what's right, if we actually
love God and love the Word of God, you know what we can do is we could stand before God
Honestly say, like, hey, I am not departing from God's commandments.
I am wanting to keep God's commandments.
I am doing diligence in my life to do what is right.
I am treating other people the way I want to be treated.
And in fact, God, why don't you go ahead and treat me the way that I treat other people?
I mean, that's a high level of righteousness right there.
And I don't think anyone in this room including myself has arrived to that place where you could just say a hundred percent as I am
Right now God the way that I treat other people. It's exactly how I want you to treat me
But you know what we should strive towards that place in our lives
where we could just in integrity and purity in our heart know hey I'm doing
things for the right reasons. I have pure intentions. I'm not one of these people
that are preaching Christ of envy and strife. I'm not sitting here trying to
cause discord between brethren. I am through desire trying to separate
myself and intermetal with all wisdom. That's what I'm trying to do. And guess
what? It's like you know the application of this sermon is like desire to do
That has to be something from your own heart.
That has to be something that you want to do.
I could tell you what to do,
but it has to be from your own heart to actually do it,
to actually get to this place.
Psalm 24, we'll close reading Psalm 24.
Psalm 24, verse three says,
who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
or who shall stand in his holy place, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart,
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Let's pray, Lord, thank you for this chapter in your word.
Thank you for the great integrity that we see
from King David and his great leadership
as an example for us to follow.
Knowing that, of course, David was a sinner,
David committed a pretty big grievous sin in his life.
And so I just pray that we wouldn't have this attitude to think that we couldn't also attain a very high level of righteousness that we couldn't also have great integrity and purity of our hearts.
I pray that every single person in here that you would put it in their heart to want to do what's right, to want to know the truth, to want to serve you.
I cannot do that for anyone, God. I pray that you would change the hearts in here, that you would also strengthen my heart as well to want to do right as well.
And we love you and Jesus. Let me pray. Amen.
Now, I belong to Jesus in number 248.
In number 248, we'll go ahead and start there right on first.
You