(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good evening. If you would find a seat and grab a hymnal. Turn to our first hymn, number 206, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Hymn number 206, 206. Oh Say But I'm Glad, 206. We'll sing there starting on the first. There is a song in my heart today, something I never had. Jesus has taken my sins away, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad, I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad. Jesus says come and find God so overrun, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Wonderful marvelous body brings, Into a heart that's sad. Through darkest dawn holds the soul just sings, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad, I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad. Jesus says come and find God so overrun, Oh Say But I'm Glad. We have a fellowship rich and sweet, Tongues can never relate. Abiding in the soul's great dream, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad, I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad. Jesus says come and find God so overrun, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Won't you come to Him with all your care, Weary and worn and sad. You two will sing as His love you share, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad, I'm Glad. Oh Say But I'm Glad. Jesus says come and find God so overrun, Oh Say But I'm Glad. Amen. We'll open with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for another opportunity to just gather together freely, to sing praises in Your name. I pray, Lord, just as always that you would have everything for this service be done decently and in order and to just your magnification and glory. That you would open our ears to the message this evening and that you'd fill Pastor Oz with your spirit. These things we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, for our next hymn, turn if you would to 215, Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul. Hymn number 215, 215, 215 there on the first. Oh what a wonderful, wonderful day, day I will never forget. After I've wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Savior I lend. Oh what a tender, compassionate friend, He met the need of my heart. Shadows expelling with joy and light and telling, He made all the darkness depart. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior gave me hope. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Born of the Spirit with light from above, into God's family He find. Justified and fully through Calvary's love, oh what a standing is mine. And the transaction so willingly was paid when as a sinner I came. Third of the upper of praising in property, saving oh praise His dear name. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior gave me hope. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Now I have a hope that will surely endure after the passing of time. I have a future in heaven for sure, there in those mansions sublime. And it's because of that wonderful day, when at the cross I believe. Bridges eternal and glad seem supernal from His precious hand I receive. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior gave me hope. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Amen. Good evening everyone, welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. This time we'll go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week, Galatians chapter 1 verse 4. Keep working at memorizing this chapter. On the inside, on the left hand side there, you'll see our service times listed Sunday morning at 1030, Sunday evening at 430, and our Wednesday evening Bible study through 1 Samuel, of course here at 7 o'clock. Our soul winning times are all listed there and those meet here at the church building. I did see it's supposed to be 70 degrees this Saturday, so if you want to come to a Saturday soul winning time, this is definitely the Saturday time to come too. Nursing home ministry is scheduled there. Next up looks like brother Eric, after that brother John. Our year to date statistics are listed there. Great job soul winning so far in the month of January. Also please be in prayer for Miss Whitney Reed, our expecting lady of the church. One announcement that's not in the bulletin. I did get the financials completed with the help of Evangelist Fur and I sent everyone their end of year tithing statements. So if you gave to Anchor Baptist Church through check or tithely or anything like that, you should have received a statement today in your email, so check your email. And if you did not, please talk to me after the service and we'll make sure to get you yours. Our upcoming events this Friday, January 31st at 7 o'clock p.m. Pastor Steven Anderson is preaching for us from Faithful Word Baptist Church. Really excited to have him this weekend. And our friend Pastor Shelley is coming up and visiting us as well. Lots of people from Steadfast Baptist Church. So it's going to be a great weekend here at Anchor Baptist Church. Definitely hope you can join us on the 31st for that. Then Saturday, or Sunday evening at the evening service, we're having our men's preaching night. And following that is going to be a potluck, so please bring a dish to share for that. February 14th is our Sweethearts Banquet. That's a Friday at 7 o'clock p.m. April 19th, Easter Soul Winning Marathon here in Oklahoma City. May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington. May 31st, Steadfast is going to be joining us for a Soul Winning Marathon in Durant, Oklahoma. So mark your calendars for that for sure. June 28th, we're going to enjoy the day as a church family going to the Tinker Air Show. August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship in Texas. And the Bahamas Missions Trip, October 6th through the 11th. Make sure you're still working on getting your passports and tickets and all that for that trip. Online Giving is there at that QR code. And on the back is our prayer list. If you have any prayer requests, please do let me know by emailing that email address there. I'd be happy to add those for you. Let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer before we go to our third song. Lord, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for Anchor Baptist Church and the people that are here, for the King James Bible, for salvation, all the great blessings that you've given us, Lord. I pray that we wouldn't take these things for granted or this time together that we have for granted, Lord. I pray that you please bless the service tonight, preaching, fellowship, the singing. I also pray that you just answer our prayer requests this evening according to your will, Lord. We pray for Ms. Shawn Furr's son, Trevor, and granddaughter, Hadley. I just pray that you would just bless the family situation that they're going through. You know the needs there, Lord, and what needs to be done. I just pray that you bless in that situation. And we also pray for Ms. Desiree's daughter, Kendall, who was recovering from a hospital trip last week. I just pray that you just continue to bless her health, that she would continue to have a positive recovery, and that you just bless her, Lord. We also pray for Brother Theodore, for his great-uncle's health, that you would just bless his body, Lord, and help him to overcome his health challenges. We also pray for Ms. Remi, for her upcoming travel, that she'd be safe, Lord, and that you would just bless the needs that she has in this situation according to your will, Lord. I just pray that you'd help her with her family overseas. I also pray for Brother Cameron, for his mother, that she would be healed of her cancer, that her heart would be softened to the Gospel, Lord. Also, again, for Ms. Remi, Lord, we do pray for her body to be healed of the tumor that she has. And we also pray for all the members of our church who have family members that are unsaved. We pray that those people would have their hearts softened, they would desire truth, that they would get many opportunities to hear the Gospel, Lord. We also pray for this upcoming weekend at Anchor Baptist Church. We pray for travel safety for Pastor Anderson and for all those who are coming out of town. I pray that we'd all be blessed by the preaching of the Word of God and be strengthened in fellowship together in unity here at this church. And we ask all these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Alright, this time we'll go to our third psalm. Alright, for our third hymn this evening in the white handout, turn to Psalm 149. Psalm 149 in your white handout. We'll sing there right on the first. Praise be the Lord, sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in impact made Him, let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name in the dance, let them sing praises unto Him with a dimple and harm. The Lord in pleasure gives me hope, He will beautify the meekest I'll be shy. Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud of all their prayers. Let the praises of God be in their mouth, and the two edges torn in their hands. To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people. Till I'm there, kings and saints, and there who know holds fair, betters the buyer. To execute the fire, and the judgment written, this honor have all His name. Praise be the Lord. Men, as the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 24. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Good evening 1 Samuel chapter 24 the Bible reads, And David said unto 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 rose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily, 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, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed. So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. David also rose afterward, and went out of the cave, and 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. And 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 had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave, and some bade me kill thee. But mine eyes spared thee, and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not. Know thou, and see, that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it. The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee, but mine hand shall not be upon thee. As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon thee. After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog? After a flee? The Lord therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand. And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, 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. And thou hast shewed this day, how that thou hast dealt well with me, for as much as when the Lord had delivered me into thine hand, thou killest me not. For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go away? Wherefore the Lord reward thee good, for that thou hast done unto me this day. 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 me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house. And David swore unto Saul, and Saul went home, but David and his men gat them up unto the hold. Let us bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day. We thank you for our pastor and our church. And we just ask that you fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit, and that you can help us keep him benefited. Amen. We're picking up the story in verse number 1 of 1 Samuel 24. The Bible says, And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-Gedi. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. So even after God had sent the enemies, the Philistines, to get Saul to move on from David, you know, as soon as he's done with this distraction, his mind goes right back to David, because as we've just consistently seen with the character of Saul, that he's just obsessed with attacking David. And nothing else seems to matter to him. The well-being of his nation, his family, his son-in-law, nothing matters to him except for getting David, because he's an envious person, and he just continues to make the same mistakes over and over. It doesn't matter how God seems to punish him. I mean, you would think that when you get invaded, you'd start to like, question, are you right with the Lord? Am I doing things right as a leader? But he just continues making the same mistakes over and over. I'm going to read a verse for you in Proverbs 26, 11, the Bible says, As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. And that really is the character of Saul. That it doesn't matter what happens in his life, it doesn't matter how God punishes him, it doesn't matter how obvious it is that God is on David's side, that he's blessing David, Saul just goes right back to his vomit, if you will, right back to his sins. And of course, us as Christians, we should be people that learn from our mistakes. Right? We should be people that we make a mistake, we get punished by God, and we actually take the correction of God to heart, right? Now, this is something you should learn as a child, right? Children should be kids that when they get punished by their parents, they actually take that chastisement to heart and desire to change, right? You don't want to be some stiff neck child, while your parents are always spanking you for the same things over and over and over, because your life is going to be a little bit of a nightmare. Both for your parents and for your backside, right? Because your parents don't want to just constantly be spanking you for the same stuff over and over and over again. Now, here's the thing, a good parent will do it, though. A good parent will just stay consistent and keep getting you for the same mistakes that you make over and over. But, you know, if you want to make your life easier, change when your parents correct you. And, you know, a child that learns this at a young age grows up, and when they get corrected by God, when they hear preaching that corrects them, they actually take it to heart. When they read the Bible and something's in the Word of God that changes their mind about how they're living, they actually make the change. They actually take these things to heart. Not like Saul, who is a person that it doesn't matter what God does to him, it doesn't matter the circumstances of his life, he continues making the same mistakes till the bitter end. Which is why his life ended in such a horrible way, where he's surrounded by the enemies of God and eventually commits suicide, right? The Bible talks about, you know, he being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy, right? So, if you just continuously harden your neck against the Word of God, against chastisement in your life from authority, you know, eventually God's merciful for a while, you could get away with stuff for a while, but eventually there's a day of reckoning. Both carnally with leaders in your life and also with God. So, it's best for us just to change as soon as we know we're doing wrong. Go to verse 3, it says, And he came to the sheepcoats, that's kind of like a pen or an enclosure for sheep, says he came to the sheepcoats, 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. So, you know, you think about this, it seems kind of like a coincidence that here in this big desert, as David is fleeing away from Saul, Saul's men just happen to go exactly right where David is, but if you actually look up this area, this is how it is today, I assume it was like this, you know, back at this time as well, but this area is basically an oasis in the middle of a barren desert. There's water, it's like very beautiful, has lots of vegetation, and so you could see how both armies were kind of attracted to this area, right, because you need a place to rest, you need a place to get water. By the way, if you're ever being tracked by other people, don't go to the comfortable nice areas because this is just where they go, right? But that's kind of what happened here where they met up together and it talks about how Saul went in to cover his feet, which is just a euphemism for him going to use the bathroom, which also, it's kind of interesting how the Bible says that he covers his feet because some people like to pretend like pants were just invented in the 1800s or something like that or just in recent history, you know, pants didn't exist back then, yet the Bible says here that Saul covered his feet. You know, if he was wearing a dress, wouldn't he have to pick his dress up in this situation? You could just imagine this if you want, but no, he actually covered his feet. Why? Because he was wearing pants. Pants have always existed, okay? Men wear pants, they always have worn pants. Now, of course, especially this time, they wore other garments on top of that, right? Saul has a robe in this story and in the end of the story, David cuts off the skirt of his robe. He's not wearing a skirt. Skirt just means like the outer, you know, hanging portion of that garment, but he also is wearing pants. Why? Because he had to cover his feet. Verse 4 says, and the man of David said unto him, so David's warriors around him, they want to give him some advice in this situation. Notice what it says. 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 privately. So David's men, they're saying, hey, here it is. Here's your chance. Here's the day that God spoke to you about where you could just do whatever you want to your enemy. Here's the problem with that. God never said that. Where do we read in the Bible where God says, hey, I'm going to deliver Saul to you. I'm going to deliver your enemy and you're just going to be able to do whatever you want to him. Go ahead and just kill him. Go ahead and just take him prisoner. That never happened. Right. But yet these people are trying to egg David on and giving him this advice. And really what this teaches us is the importance of knowing the Bible for yourself, because in our lives, there's always going to be people that want to give us advice about things, that want to tell us how to live our lives, how to handle ourselves in certain situations. And really what we have to go to as our primary source is the word of God. Right. And we can't just trust someone that says, Lord, God, Bible, Jesus, you know, these spiritual terms, because these men here are saying, hey, God said that this was going to happen. Only one problem with that. That never was said by the Lord. Now go to Acts chapter 17, Acts chapter number 17. Acts chapter number 17. When you're there, look at verse 11. The Bible says these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. So notice here are these Bereans as we know them. They're kind of congratulated for being a noble people, more noble than those in Thessalonica. Why? Well, first of all, what they did is that they were ready to receive the word of God. Right. They received it with all readiness. They wanted to hear the truth. Right. And that's the right attitude that we should have at church when we're reading our Bibles, is that we should come to the word of God and the preaching of the word of God, wanting to hear it, wanting to learn from it, wanting to know what it says, but not just listening to a preacher. Also, it says and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. You know, I'm all for showing up to church with a receptive heart, with an attentive ear, ready to hear what the preacher has to say, ready to accept the truth of the word of God. But, you know, it's not just enough to listen to someone say something from the word of God or someone saying something spiritual. You actually have to search the scriptures daily, the Bible says. And, you know, you will not be a person that's safe from being manipulated or safe from false doctrine unless you read the Bible daily. Right. Here's the thing. If you've read the Bible through cover to cover once in your life. Praise the Lord. That's great. That's more than a lot of Christians. You know, that shouldn't be our standard is just better than the average Christian in this world. You know, to be honest, that's not really that high of a standard. Right. We got a bunch of lame churches out there, a bunch of liberal churches where pastors are getting up in skinny jeans and glass pulpits and smoke shows and girls dancing on the stage. Like, churches today aren't even real churches, half of them. So we're not going to just compare ourselves to the average life church Christian or something like that. What we have to do is read the Bible daily. Just because you've read it once does not mean that you're now safe from false doctrine. And especially if you've never read the Bible through cover to cover, boy, are you in danger of being manipulated. Boy, are you in danger of false prophets messing with your mind. Worldly philosophies entering your heart and messing with your mind. I mean, I know people that I know, I know, I know, I know are safe. And they're like, hey, watch this sermon by this Jewish rabbi. And I'm just like, I know this person saved. Like, I have checked this person, but here they are sending me stuff from Jewish rabbis. And I'm just like, this person doesn't read the Bible. This person does not read the Bible because, look, they're being deceived by an antichrist. Because what does the Bible say? That if you deny the son, you've denied the father, right? The Bible says that if you deny that Jesus is the Christ, you're a liar, you're an antichrist, right? The Bible says that the true Jews are those inwardly, not those who've just circumcised the flesh, not those that are going and banging their heads on the wall in Israel, not those with the curlicues coming down from their head. Those aren't God's chosen people, right? Those that believed in Jesus Christ, those are the true Jews. Those are God's chosen people. But again, how is someone going to know these things if they're not reading the Bible? And more so, reading the Bible daily. There's a lot of crazy ideas in this world. You know, how about the pre-trib rapture? I mean, this is a doctrine that is nowhere in the Bible. Like, you cannot just read the Bible and come away with the idea that Jesus could just come at any moment. I mean, constantly the Bible's just telling you, like, hey, don't let anyone deceive you by any means, as that the day of Christ is at hand. He's saying, look, there's got to be a great falling away first. The man of sin has to be revealed first. Here's all the signs that have to happen before that, right? So there's all this scripture on it, yet people just hear something spiritual from a preacher. They just hear some, you know, preacher tell them that it's pre-trib, and they don't actually read the Bible for themselves, and so they have the wrong doctrine. And you ought not to just, you know, take for granted, like, hey, I'm in a Baptist church, I'm in a new IFB church, you know, I'm sure everything that's ever said is going to be 100% accurate. Look, I hope you come here receptive, but I also hope that you check with what the Bible actually says. And you know what? I want to be corrected by the Bible if I'm wrong. I want to change if I am preaching something wrong or believing something wrong. I want to know what the Bible says. And you know, there's been things in my life that I've believed one way on, and over time, reading the scripture, I've changed my mind on. And look, I believe I'm right on those things now, otherwise I wouldn't believe them, but I'm sure all of us have done that, and you know what it comes from? Reading the Word of God. Go to 2 Timothy, chapter 2. 2 Timothy, chapter number 2. 2 Timothy 2, look at verse 15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We need to be studying, we need to be working at understanding and rightly dividing the word of truth. You know, comparing spiritual with spiritual, putting things in the right context, actually understanding the context of the stories that you're reading and how that fits in with major doctrines of the Bible, not just taking things randomly out of context and just saying like, oh, you know, just let's ignore Matthew 24 because that's to the Jews, right? That's like wrong division of scripture, dispensationalism, saying like, oh, in the Old Testament, people were saved different ways than in the New Testament. No, that's not the right way to divide scripture. The right way to divide scripture is called Old Testament and New Testament, right? Law and New Testament. That's really the way to divide scripture. But keep reading, it says in verse 16, it says, but shun profane and vain babblings. Why? For they will increase unto more ungodliness. It is important that we as a church believe the right doctrines. Why? Because there's actual consequences for believing lies. Profane and vain babblings. Notice what happens. It increases unto more ungodliness. Bad doctrine leads to wickedness. Bad doctrine leads to wickedness. And here we kind of see this with David's men where they're saying, oh, yeah, God's delivering him to you. God wants you to do whatever you want to do to him. Except that would have been wicked for David to murder the Lord's anointed. But yet these men, they would have been for that. They were ready to cheer David on as he killed Saul. That's what they wanted him to do. Right. And that just shows that bad doctrine leads to wickedness. Right. Just the doctrine that, oh, yeah. You know, as long as you love each other, you could sleep together. Guess what that's going to lead to? A bunch of fornication. Hey, just saying, oh, yeah, you know, divorce. If you've been abused, if you've been, you know, forsaken. If there's all these bad things in your marriage, you're allowed to get divorced. You know that's going to lead to adultery. So the doctrine that we preach is very, very important. You know, church, it's great that we have events. It's great that we have friends. You know, it's great when churches grow and have nice facilities. But you know what? All of that is worthless if they don't have the right doctrine. I would never want to go to a church that was wishy-washy on the doctrine of salvation. I'll take a strip mall church that believes in faith alone, salvation from the King James Bible, eternal security any day than go into some stained glass building where they don't know what they believe on salvation. Why? Because that's going to lead to wickedness. It's going to lead to people believing repenting your sins, preaching false doctrine and people actually going to hell. That's what that false gospel does. It sends people to hell. Notice verse 18. It says who concern or I'm sorry verse 17 in their word will eat as doth a canker of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus. So notice false doctrine. It spreads false doctrine spreads, which is why he called out a couple of names here of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus. This is why it's so important to keep preachers accountable for men of God to call out the charlatans, the liars, the false prophets of this world because their word eats as a canker. And you could even see saved people get led away with the error of the wicked. Second Peter talks about people falling from their own steadfastness. They were steadfast. They were good. They were on the right path, but they're led away by the error of the wicked. This is why preachers must call out bad pastors, wicked people, false prophets, because real souls are hurt by them. And look, people don't like that. There's a lot of people that are offended when a pastor calls someone out. But you know what? That's a loving thing to do for the people that listen to those liars. And, you know, if you don't want to get called out, well, don't go into the ministry if you're scumbag. Don't get behind the pulpit if you're going to be a liar. Don't preach if you're going to preach lies. Otherwise, expect to get called out. Expect to be here like Hymenaeus and Philetus and get called out and have people warned about you because your word is going to eat like a canker. We cannot allow that. Verse 18, notice what it says, who concerning the truth have erred. We have to make sure that Christians are not turning from the truth, that we're not listening to pastors that turn people from the truth. Notice they had this specific false doctrine saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of some. So, they were teaching this false doctrine that there is no resurrection. We're not going to be raised again, you know, at the end times. We're not going to get a new body. And it was overthrowing the faith of some. And, you know, the Bible talks about in 2 Peter chapter 2 that it's really the wicked false prophets that cause the word of God and Christianity to be despised and blasphemed. It's not people preaching the truth, right? Yeah, the wicked reprobates hate the truth, but you know what? It's the false prophets that make Christianity look bad. Go back to 1 Samuel 24, 1 Samuel 24. So, you know, just remember as you're reading this that it's important to make sure that if someone's giving you advice, if someone's saying, oh, you know, didn't God say this? Make sure that God actually said it. Make sure that it's actually in the Bible. And guess what? If you get uncomfortable truth, if you get, you know, hard rebuke from someone or advice that hurts your feelings, but it matches up with the Bible, then believe that, right? Look at verse number 4. It says, So, you know, Saul is going to the bathroom here. I assume he probably just, you know, hung up his robe somewhere, kind of toss it aside or something like that. I can't really imagine that he's wearing it in this situation. You know, I've never seen this cave. I don't know how David's hiding if he's in some little, you know, hole or something like that. But however he did it, I believe that he did it. You know, he cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. In verse 5, it says, And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt. So notice David was such a loyal person that even though we could look at this and just from our own human reasoning, we could say, like, Saul deserves this. Saul deserves a lot more than this. Yet David knew that it was wrong for him to rebel against the king, to attack him in any way. And even though he didn't hurt his body, just him cutting off his robe, it smote his heart, right? He had a tender heart towards this situation. His heart was smitten. Verse six says, 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 mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. You know, he just comes to this understanding where he just says, look, it doesn't matter what Saul has done. It doesn't matter if he's right with God or wrong with God. He is still the Lord's anointed. He's still the king. He's still my master. He's still in authority. And so I should not raise my hand against him. I should not be the one to rebel against him. No, this actually has to be left to God. Right. And there are certain things where the responsibility to correct an action is God or a proper authority that God has ordained. Right. But David is not in a position. He's not an authority here to sit and judge Saul, to bring vengeance upon Saul, to put Saul to death. That is not his area of leadership or authority. And that would have been wicked for him to do. And, you know, for us in our lives, we have to remember that we should not take vengeance upon ourselves. Right. We should not go recompense evil for evil. We should not step out of our realm of authority and try to correct issues with other authorities that we're under. Right. I mean, some people get this idea that, oh, if you don't like your pastor anymore, then you should, you know, gather together and rebel against him and kick your pastor out, stuff like that. You know, that's not something that you see in the Bible. That's not a mentality that you get from the Bible. Right. The Bible teaches submission to authority. Right. And even when your authority is wicked, like Saul, David, when he actually started going against him, his heart was smitten because he was a righteous man. Right. But those that are rebellious, the Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Right. It's a wicked person that wants to rebel. It's a wicked person that has no problem rebelling against their boss, against the government, a wife against her husband, you know, church members against their pastor. It's a wicked person that wants to do something like that. Did I have you go to Proverbs 20? Go to Proverbs chapter 20, if you haven't turned there. Proverbs chapter 20, look at verse 22. Say not thou, I will recompense evil, but wait on the Lord and he shall save thee. Do not recompense evil in your life. This is how human nature is. Right. You say something mean to me. I say something mean to you. Right. You hit me. I hit you. You flip me off in traffic. I flip you off in traffic. Right. This is what people do. This is what human nature is. But the Bible is saying, look, don't recompense evil. Don't stoop down to that level. Don't try to put yourself in some sort of position where you have to feel like you have to right every wrong. Right. You don't have to correct every dumb thing you hear. You don't have to correct every mistake someone makes. You don't have to correct every sin that someone sins against you. You know, you could just choose to take the higher road, like David, and just suffer yourself to be defrauded and just not recompense that evil. Notice what it says, but wait on the Lord and he shall save thee. Whose job was it to judge King Saul? It was God's job. And God has done this in the past. Right. Where he sends the preacher to go rebuke Saul. Now, who has the authority to rebuke Saul? How about the one that God told him to do that? Because here's the thing, people will read this chapter and then they'll get this weird idea that you can never correct issues. Right. You can never call out sin. You can never preach against wickedness because David didn't go after Saul. David didn't put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed. But look, a proper authority can recompense evil and should recompense evil. You see, who's going to recompense evil on Saul is God. And God's going to make sure that it's done right. And God's going to pay him exactly what he deserves. And he died a horrific death. I mean, how would you like to be surrounded about about by a bunch of barbaric Philistines that are probably getting ready to abuse you and torture you and mock you? And then your life is ended by committing suicide. I mean, that's a pretty sad way to go. Right. But you know what it was? It was the judgment of God against Saul because Saul just he blew up his life. He started good. He was humble. He loved God. He became prideful and rebellious and self-willed and he became a wicked person. Now, here's the thing. He didn't lose his salvation. He went to heaven, but he was punished greatly. God wants wrath. God wants justice. God wants vengeance done through proper channels. Now, go to Romans Chapter 12. Romans Chapter number 12. David here was not the proper channel. David here was not an authority to judge Saul, so it would have been wrong for him to kill him. Now, here's the thing. There are times where it is proper to execute wrath, to have vengeance. And one of the ways that God does this is through God himself acting supernaturally. Look at Romans 12. It says this in verse 19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. 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. So, look, if it's someone that you really have no authority to correct, you have no authority to, you know, deal with them in any type of way, the Bible says, look, just give place unto wrath. Don't recompense evil for evil. Don't avenge yourself. That's God's job. You go ahead and just love your enemies, right? You go ahead and feed your enemies, bless them, take care of them. And notice how it says that it gives place unto wrath. It makes me think of stories like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, where imagine if Moses had just taken it upon himself to avenge himself for them talking bad about him and them questioning him as a leader and his authority. I mean, what could Moses have done really to him? Punch him in the face, kill him with a sword, right? But when God executed wrath, what did he do? He opened up the earth and dropped them alive into hell, right? So, when it's God's job to judge, when he's going to take care of it, he's going to do a much better job than any of us can, right? You know, David here, what would he have done? Killed Saul real quick. Honestly, he got a worse punishment from God than if he would have just been put out of his misery right there. And look, it's not that I'm rejoicing that he had a worse punishment, but it's just the truth. He did have a worse punishment. You know, how about the Egyptians? How about Pharaoh? You know, the Red Sea opening up and just enclosing Pharaoh and his armies and drowning them in the depths of the Red Sea. There's no man that could exact that kind of vengeance. There's none of us that could, you know, pour out that much wrath on a human being. I mean, God, when he avenges, it's nasty, it's gnarly. He's going to make sure that it's a brutal judgment. The plagues of Egypt, right? No man could do that. The wrath of God? How about in the end times? The wrath of God that God pours out in this world? Look, when he takes vengeance, he's going to make sure that he does it the way he sees fit, and it's going to be better than any way that we want to. And look, you know, this is just preaching right now. But look, I've been in situations in my life where I wanted to take vengeance. I don't know if any one of you had, but look, when I have sodomites coming to my house for a year, plus talking about my children, talking about my wife and the things they want to do to my wife and kids, coming to my house at all hours of the night, you better believe that the human flesh inside of me wanted to take vengeance. But you know what? Anything that I would have done to them is nothing in comparison to the eternity that they will spend in hell. And all the disgusting ways that God punishes them in this earth, too, with their AIDS and STDs and suicide rates. I mean, these sodomites have a disgusting, pathetic, horrible life anyways. I mean, I remember they posted something on Thanksgiving where they had an un-Thanksgiving party. And it's like here we are, Christians, like thankful to God, spending time with friends and family, eating great food. They were sitting there lamenting over the fact that the Indians still don't have the land. Eating Native American food. And they went around talking about how unthankful they are for everything. It's like, it's interesting how the Bible says in Romans 1 that you're not thankful. And here you are on Thanksgiving literally posting about your un-Thanksgiving party. You're being punished by God. You can't even enjoy a nice meal. Your life sucks so bad, right? So look, I'm not even going to take vengeance because your life is a punishment. Every day you wake up, you look in the mirror and hate yourself for the disgusting beast that you are. You have to live every day with your disgusting STDs. You have to experience every Thanksgiving eating the worst food ever just complaining about how terrible your life is. I enjoy Thanksgiving with God's people. I mean, we're at Brother John's house eating great food. Ladies just, you know, killing it in the kitchen. Praise the Lord. I'm enjoying life, right? I'm not going to take vengeance on them because their whole life is a punishment and then hell's coming for them. And so that's a lot worse than anything I can do to them. Go to Romans 13. So one way that vengeance is taken is through God, right? We're not supposed to take vengeance. God can take vengeance. Now who is another rightful group that can take vengeance in this world? It's the government. It is the government. Look at Romans 13 verse 3. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the, notice, minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. I remember one time when I was living in Idaho, there was this big protest by a bunch of leftists at the Capitol building. And they were protesting the death penalty. And they had signs saying like, you know, don't render evil for evil, don't take vengeance, love your enemies, right? Jesus would love, never kill anyone, never put anyone to death, right? But here's the thing. You're right in the sense that it would be wrong for us to just go find a murderer and kill him, right? Find a rapist, kill him. Find a sodomite, kill him. That would be wicked. That would be a sin. We're not supposed to take vengeance upon ourselves. But here's the thing. God wants vengeance taken on them in the proper way. So what has he done? He instituted government. And one of the roles of government, one of the most important roles of government is the punishment of evil doers. And the Bible says that those people are the ministers of God, meaning that they are doing God's work. They are doing the service of God when they use the sword, when they execute. Notice it says that they execute rap. Right. So when we live in a society, we can't just live in a society where murderers, rapists, just all these horrific, terrible crimes go unpunished because we can't put forth our hands against anyone. We can't take vengeance. We have to let God do it. No, God said, OK, you don't take vengeance, but here's how you're going to do it. It's called the proper channels of government. And so, look, none of those signs hold any water because this is something that God ordained, that God wants to be done. Now, stay there. I'll read for you Ecclesiastes 811. The Bible says, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. The Bible teaches that when wickedness is committed, it must be punished quickly. Otherwise, you're going to embolden people to be more wicked. Right. And this is why this argument from leftists and even from some Christians that, oh, the death penalty isn't effective is such a stupid argument. Because, you know, we need to do, according to the Bible, is execute judgment against wickedness in a speedy manner. And that's going to prevent people from being lifted up in their sin and being emboldened in their sin to do more and more wicked things. This is why we need the death penalty. The death penalty is a good biblical thing that Christians should be supporting. And in common, in general, Christians support the death penalty on a much higher level than other people. And America still has the death penalty. Praise the Lord. But recently, a couple of years ago, I believe there was some executive order or something like that that completely freeze the death penalty on a federal level. But I want to read this for you. President Donald Trump, his first day in office, signed this executive order. It's great. Restoring the death penalty and protecting public safety. That's a great executive order. Let me read some of this for you. He says, by the authority vested in me as president, by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered, section one, purpose, capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens. Before, during and after the founding of the United States, our cities, states and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes. I like his opinion here. He's saying like, hey, these vile crimes, not only is it the best punishment, it's the only fitting punishment. Look, the only fitting punishment for capital crimes is the death penalty. Murderers, rapists, child traffickers, kidnappers, homosexuals. The only proper punishment is the death penalty. He said, our founders knew well that only capital punishment can bring justice and restore order in response to such evil. For this and other reasons, capital punishment continues to enjoy broad, popular support. And I think people do support capital punishment. I mean, everywhere I go, I see, you know, signs that says, like, kill your local pedophile, which that's too far, right? We're not taking vengeance on our own in our own hands. We're not going to be the ones killing them. But we want the government to kill them lawfully. We want the government to give them a trial. And if they're found guilty, to give them the punishment that they deserve to put them to death. It says at every turn they seek to thwart the execution of lawfully imposed capital. Or I'm sorry, I skipped a part here. He said, yet for too long, politicians and judges who oppose capital punishment have defied and subverted the laws of our country. At every turn, they seek to thwart the execution of lawfully imposed capital sentences and choose to enforce their personal beliefs rather than the law. Hey, wouldn't it be nice if in America people stopped legislating their personal beliefs and just legislated what the law of God said and the law of the Constitution? That's what we need to get back to in America. He said when President Biden took office in 2021, he allowed his Department of Justice to issue a moratorium on federal executions in defiance of his duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States that provide for capital punishment. And on December 23rd, 2024, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 most vile and sadistic rapists, child molesters and murderers on federal death row. Remorseless criminals who brutalized young children, strangled and drowned their victims and hunted strangers for sport. What was President Biden's one of his last acts in office was to take pedophiles, murderers, child kidnappers and say, oh, we're going to commute your sentence. We're not going to put you put you to death. I mean, what a legacy for a piece of crap president. Your last act is to support the most disgusting criminals in our country. That's disgusting. Anyone who likes Joe Biden is an absolute piece of crap. And Trump here, who is not a perfect man, no one saying like Trump's a Baptist, Trump's a preacher. Trump is just a worldly dude. OK. And he's saying like, look, these are the most vile, disgusting crimes imaginable. And the only answer is death. Look, our country needs to stop being so squeamish and weak and soft and take the pedophiles, the rapists, the murderers and kill them. These people do not deserve to live. And we cannot live in a country that allows these disgusting freaks to walk our streets. He says he commuted their sentences, even though the laws of our nation have always protected victims by applying capital punishment to barbaric acts like theirs. See, people who actually love victims, people who actually love children that are abused by these people, they want the pedophiles put to death. They want the rapists put to death. But only sick, depraved, God hating people like many of the politicians in our country on the left. You know, they want to support this stuff because they're guilty of this stuff themselves oftentimes. You know, don't think that politicians are squeaky clean. I mean, have you ever heard of Epstein Island? Right. I mean, these people are a lot of sodomites themselves. Judges who oppose capital punishment have likewise disregarded the law by falsely claiming that capital punishment is unconstitutional, even though the Constitution explicitly acknowledges the legality of capital punishment. I almost laugh reading that sentence, because if you actually read about the Revolutionary War and the mentality that our founding fathers had, guys like General George Washington, where he just gave a straight up order that if anyone was fleeing in battle, they should be shot in the back on the spot. I mean, don't tell me that George Washington didn't think that some people were worthy of death. He's saying like, look, if you're even fleeing the battle, we're just going to kill you running away. But George Washington would like pedophiles. OK, George Washington would like rapists, but he didn't even like cowards. We're supposed to believe that the founders of the Constitution would not support the death penalty. What a joke. These efforts to subvert and undermine capital punishment defy the laws of our nation, make a mockery of justice and insult the victims of these horrible crimes. The government's most solemn responsibility is to protect its citizens from abhorrent acts. And my administration will not tolerate efforts to stymie and eviscerate the laws that authorize capital punishment against those who commit horrible acts of violence against American citizens. It goes on and on. But you know what? This is the type of leadership we need. And look, I'm not saying Donald Trump is a great guy. I'm not someone that just, you know, out and just supports everything that he does. But this is a good thing. Amen to this right here. We need more death penalty in America, not less. We need a righteous king to bring the wheel over the wicket of our nation. You know what? We need the pedophiles and rapists and murderers running scared out of our country instead of fleeing into our country from Mexico and all these hell holes in this world. Disgusting, violent criminals coming here because someone like Joe Biden is inviting them and letting them know, hey, your sentence will be commuted. You're safe here. You're welcome here. I hope they're scared to come here, scared that they'll be put to death. Now go to, if you would, Galatians chapter number two, Galatians chapter two. So vengeance. We don't take vengeance ourselves. Who takes vengeance? God takes vengeance. We don't take vengeance ourselves. Who takes vengeance? The government takes vengeance, right? Now, when it comes to more of a metaphorical sense of attacking someone, putting forth your hand against someone, being against someone, taking vengeance. Here's another group that's authorized to do this. It's called preachers. It's called preachers. Let me show you that in Galatians two, because some people get this idea. Hey, you look at look at David and Saul. See, this means that you should never call out another preacher. You should never attack another preacher, especially someone that's saved. Right. You can never call out a saved preacher. Let's see if that's true in the Bible. Galatians 2 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came of James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. Hey, if Peter starts acting like an idiot, he might get called out. If he start dissembling, if he starts saying, you know, before he was eaten with the Gentiles, he was on the New Testament program. But then he gets all scared of the Jews and repents of that and goes the wrong direction. Yeah, the apostle Paul might scream in your face and tell you that you're to be blamed. And that's not Paul, you know, taking vengeance or speaking out of turn or doing something that's outside of the realm of his authority. Look, a preacher of the word of God must correct sin. A preacher of the word of God must call out bad pastors, false prophets, wicked men, and even saved pastors that are wicked. That is the job of a pastor. That is not taking vengeance. That is a proper thing to do. Go to First Timothy chapter one, First Timothy chapter one. Because, you know, I've heard this mentality and I've even heard this mentality in the New IFB where someone will take a quote from Pastor Jack Hiles, where Jack Hiles is teaching something good, where he talks about like, hey, you shouldn't use your pulpit as a whipping post. And what he means by that is that you shouldn't use your pulpit like settle personal scores with people in the church or someone you don't like in the church. And so you just start picking on them. You start preaching things that are extra biblical. And then some people will take that quote and be like, oh, this pastor preached against the situation I know of. So he's using his pulpit as a whipping post or this pastor preached against another pastor. He's got a bad spirit. He's using his pulpit as a whipping post. That's not what Jack Hiles was saying. And that's not what the Bible teaches. OK, even if Jack Hiles was saying that, the question is, what does the Bible say? Does the Bible say preachers can never call out other preachers? Does the Bible say preachers could never preach sermons where maybe some of you in the room know what I'm talking about? You know, if if we had an issue in our church where people kept getting in fistfights in the parking lot. And I use that silly example because it's not going to happen. Right. You know, brother Dan and brother Cameron, they're just fist fighting for every service. And it's just getting out of hand. I mean, it's been weeks and weeks and it's not stopping. You know, I might preach a sermon about fighting with your brethren. And even if I didn't preach and say names, you might know who I'm talking about. Oh, you're using your pulpit as a whipping post. No, it's called being a pastor. It's called setting the tone for the church. It's say, hey, we're going to correct issues. We're going to correct problems. We're going to correct bad attitudes. We're going to correct bad doctrines. This is what a preacher is supposed to do. OK, so don't look at this story and say like, oh, this must mean preachers can't preach against anyone else. That's a stupid take. It's a bad take. First Timothy 1 18. This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. I mean, these people were being called out by name, saying that they were blaspheming God, saying that he's delivering those people unto Satan. Sounds like it was pretty nasty of a situation. Sounds like there's some drama there. Sounds like Paul is calling someone out. But guess what? That's the job. And guess what? It's within a pastor's right and authority to do that. It's not like he's taking vengeance because he's in a rightful authority to do that. See, David couldn't judge Saul because David was not in authority to do so. Saul was David's master. Saul was the top dog in that situation. Right. But later on, didn't David, you know, kick some butt? Didn't David execute some judgment on people? Yeah, because it was actually his authority to do that. And so, look, you know, I don't think that laymen should be getting up and preaching against safe pastors. Right. I mean, that's that's inappropriate. Now, please call out false prophets all you want that you have the green light for that. You know, it would be kind of inappropriate for a layman to go to war against some safe pastor. And the Bible talks about not rebuking an elder. For sure. Those are good attitudes to keep. You know, it's totally within a pastor's right to go to war with a pastor that's being wicked. To go to war with a pastor that's preaching false doctrine. That is one of the charges that we're supposed to do. Go to Third John. Third John. So Paul goes after Peter. We know Peter saved. OK. Here's another situation where I think this guy probably is saved, but yet still gets called out. Third John one, verse nine says, I wrote unto the church, but the atrophy is there. He's calling him out by name, who loveth to have the preeminence among them receive with us not. So notice he's calling out this probably saved persons since and he's some sort of leader. Right. He seems to be the leader of the church. We don't know if he's a pastor or just leading it at all. But look at verse 10. He says, Wherefore, if I come notice this, I will remember. His deeds, which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren and forbid it them that would and cast it them out of the church. Look, if I know of a person who's causing division, who's being envious, who's causing people to hate their brothers in Christ. I will remember their words. Oh, if someone apologizes. Sure. There's forgiveness. There's no doubt about that. But there's a difference between forgiving someone and ever trusting someone ever again. We're ever being close to someone ever again or ever liking someone ever again. Why? Because I will remember their words. And you should remember their words to go back to First Samuel, Chapter 24, First Samuel 24. You know, I say all that just to say this. Don't look at First Samuel 24 and say like, OK, never deal with any issues. Never deal with any sin. Never pick any fights. Right. This is a situation where David is subordinate to his leader, Saul. And even though Saul is wicked, even though Saul is prideful, David should not put forth his hand against the Lord's anointed. Verse seven. So David stayed his servants with these words. He held them back and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave and went on his way. Now, that's good leadership right there where David, he's the one that's been wronged countless times. He's the one that probably, you know, wanted to take care of Saul. Yet he was withholding his followers from doing wrong because he knew what was right. He knew that it would have been wrong to go against him. Verse eight. David also rose afterward and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, My Lord, the king. And when Saul looked behind him, notice David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself. Notice how David was extremely respectful, humble, obedient to Saul, even though Saul did not deserve it. You know, that is a great example of humility here. You know, we ought to be able to respect and honor and be humble to the leaders in our lives, because let's be honest. I don't think any leaders in our life have literally tried to kill us, not only try to kill us, but try to kill us over and over and over and over and over again. Yet even though Saul constantly was trying to kill David, he bows himself. He humbles himself. He makes himself vulnerable to Saul, where Saul could have even possibly killed him in this situation. He was being obedient and respectful. But it's so funny how David, a man after God's own heart, David, a man who's been wronged in so many ways, he could submit to his bad leader, but then Christian wives can't submit to their husbands. Men at work can't submit to a bad boss at work. It's like, I'm pretty sure your husband hasn't tried to kill you multiple times and your boss hasn't tried to kill you multiple times. You know, can you at least respect your husband? Can you at least respect your boss? Can you at least respect the leaders that you have in your life and be humble to them? Because quite honestly, they're probably a lot more worthy of the respect than Saul was. Yet David still gave that reverence. You know, I appreciate it as a husband when my wife is respectful to me. When my wife asks me, hey, honey, do you mind if I ask if you help with this? Not like, come do this. I need help. Why aren't you doing anything? It's like, hey, honey, do you mind if I ask if you would help me in this area? I just immediately want to say yes because of how nice she is and how reverent she's being. It's just like I immediately just want to do what she's asking me to do because she's asking me in such a nice way. Right. But it's like, you know, you'll be a better idea, ladies, if you're upset with your husband is be like, hey, honey, would it be OK with you if we talked about some things that are bothering me rather than like you did this. And now you're going to fix this. We're going to talk about this issue right now. It's like that guy wants to run away in the wilderness. That guy wants to go face the bears and the cougars. It's like. But I guarantee wise, if you approach your husband and said like, hey, honey, is it OK if we talked about a couple of things been bothering me? You came in humility. And if you came being reverent to him, he probably would have your you would probably have his attention very quickly. You probably have his ear hearken to you. And when you ask something from him and again, this goes the same thing with guys at work. You know, being polite to your boss, being respectful to him, calling him sir, you know, giving him that honor that he deserves. You're going to go better places in your work career than being like the rest of the world that just disrespects their boss. And boy, that common. And it's crazy to me. It is crazy to hear how men will talk about their bosses. But, you know, women do the same thing. Women will trash their husbands online. Women will talk crap about their husbands to their girlfriends. You know what? That is shameful behavior. You should respect and honor your husband. You know, here, David respected and honored the king, even though the king was a complete piece of crap. All right. So you know what? Honor your husband, because he's not that way. Honor your boss. Because chances are, he's just an average normal dude. And even if your boss is a piece of crap, even if he is froward, the Bible says obey him anyways. Right. Oh, the police officer was a jerk to you. Just do what he says. Just obey him. Just call him, sir. Don't mouth off to him. It's a good way to get yourself in trouble or shot. You know, don't be a jerk to authority. Be humble. Go to Proverbs chapter 17, Proverbs 17. I'm skipping some of this for sake of time, but as you're turning there, 1 Samuel 24 9 says, And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh I hurt. I love the emotional intelligence of David here, where, come on, David knows that this is Saul. David knows that it's been Saul that's been intent on killing him. David knows that Saul has been the one losing his mind. But notice how he kind of gives Saul an out to save face and not look like a fool and not look like a jerk. He's David saying, like, hey, why do you keep listening to all these wicked people that want you to come hurt me? Why do you hear these men's words? Now, let's be honest. That wasn't the case. Right. The evil spirit from the Lord was troubling Saul. Saul was being wicked. Saul was going after David. But even though that was true, David didn't stand there and say, you did this. You did that. Why are you coming after me? He's saying, like, hey, man, why are you listening to people perverting your mind on this issue? Why are you listening to wicked people trying to trick you? You know, that is a good attitude to have. And even when your leader is doing wrong, even when your leader is wrong about something or made a mistake about something, you know, the right thing to do is to try to help them save face. You know, if your boss makes a mistake at work, bosses are human. I've seen bosses make mistakes. Right. The proper thing to do is not sit there and make fun of them or draw it to their attention or try to blast it to the whole crew in a meeting or something like that. Right. You want to try to allow the boss to save face. That's just the respectful thing to do. That's the intelligent thing to do. And if you want to be in good fellowship with your boss, which I think you do, if you want time off, you want to raise, if you want these things, you know, you want to be making him look like an idiot. And that's what David did here. He made him, he gave him an out. Verse 9 of Proverbs 17 says, He that covereth a transgression seeketh love. You know, it's a loving thing to do to cover transgression, realize that we're all going to sin. We're all going to do stupid things. And it's not right just to bring to everyone's attention every mistake that someone makes. It's not a Christian attitude. It's not a godly attitude. Notice what it says. Notice what it says, but he that repeateth a matter separateeth very friends. What do people do? They go and talk crap about their leader, right? They go and gossip about their husband or their boss or their pastor or whatever. And that is something that separates friends. Go to verse 27 of Proverbs 19. Flip the page. Proverbs 19. Now, here's the thing. Even though it wasn't really true that other men were perverting Saul's mind and trying to get Saul to attack David, what David said is still true, though. And that's this, that you have to be careful who you're listening to, because that is a true statement that people can corrupt you, corrupt your mind, influence you to do wicked things. And so it is true that we shouldn't be listening to those individuals. Look at Proverbs 19, verse 27. It says, Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. Right. So we should not be letting ourselves be influenced by people that aren't teaching the truth. Right. And that's not to say that we can't learn things from people who are unsaved. You absolutely can. It's not to say that, you know, you can't read a book unless it's written by a saved author or anything like that. But look, you should not allow people to teach you things contrary to the doctrine of the Bible and get led away with those things. Start listening to those things. You know, I'll give you an example. A good author that I like, his name is Jocko Willink. He wrote a couple of leadership books. He's an ex-Navy SEAL. He has like a leadership business and his books are great and he doesn't even know it. But a lot of his books is just Bible. And it's funny how a lot of times when the world has figured something out and they're really successful and they have a lot of knowledge in an area, how it just matches with what the Bible says. But there's one thing that this leadership coach says that is just so wrong and how I know it's wrong is from reading the Bible. And he teaches, he says this, that it's always wrong to yell at people. You should, as a leader, you should never, ever, ever yell. And I'm just thinking of all the verses of Jesus yelling at people. Of the Lord Jesus Christ yelling and rebuking the Pharisees. And like, I get how there's some wisdom to that, right? Obviously, you want to, you know, have a soft answer, turns away wrath. There's some situations where that's true, OK? But just to make a blanket statement to say like, oh, it's never right to yell at anyone, you know, that's why you should read the Bible. Because I'm just thinking of all the great men of God that yelled at people and I'm thinking like, hey, they were pretty good leaders. Pretty sure Jesus is the greatest leader who's ever lived and he's constantly yelling and he's constantly preaching against people. But that's just a small example. You know, there's plenty of things like that, there's plenty of people in this world that want to turn you from the truth. Whether it's something very minor like that or whether it's something major like counseling you to get a divorce. Whether it's something major, you know, trying to get you in the modern perversions of the Bible. Trying to get you to believe repent of your sins, salvation, right? We need to make sure that we're listening to sources that match the Bible. Go to verse number 10 of First Samuel, chapter 24, verse 10 of First Samuel 24. Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord have delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave, and some bade me kill thee. 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. Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not. Now know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it. You know, he's saying, look Saul, I could have killed you right here, I could have ended this feud, but you know what, I didn't do that, why? Because I'm innocent here, I'm righteous, I don't want you dead, I don't know why you're fighting this battle, right? And sometimes it's sad when people are just picking stupid fights and it's just like, what are you doing? Why are you blowing your life up? Why are you destroying yourself? That's what Saul is doing here. Verse number 12, we see why David was able to restrain himself like this. It says, the Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee, but mine hand shall not be upon thee. See, it's not like there shouldn't be any judgment done in this situation, it's not like there shouldn't be any vengeance taking place in this story. Oh, there should be, but notice David's attitude, he's saying, God's going to have to do that. I'm not going to put forth my hand against you, that is God's job. Verse 13, as saith the proverb of the ancients, wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon thee. You know, that proverb is kind of saying like, hey, two wrongs don't make a right. Wicked people are going to be wicked, right? We're expecting wickedness from wicked people, but you know what? That doesn't mean that I myself am going to be wicked. Saul, you want to attack me, you want to come against me and try to kill me, or just apply this to your life. Whatever people have done to you, people lying about you, people attacking you, slandering you, stealing from you, whatever sins have been done against you, hey, that doesn't mean that you now need to be wicked back. That doesn't mean you steal from them, that you rail against them, right? Don't render railing for railing, evil for evil. No, realize that, hey, all right, you're going to be wicked, you're going to be that way to me. Well, you know what? I'm not going to sin against you. I'm going to say the truth. If I'm in a position of authority to take care of it, I'm going to take care of it. You know what? I'm not going to sin against you. Verse 16 says, And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept, and he said to David, Notice, thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dwelt with me, for thou hast dwelt with me, for as much as when the Lord hath delivered me into thine hand, thou killest me not. For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? Wherefore the Lord reward thee good, for that thou hast done unto me this day. 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 me, 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 got them up unto the whole. We're going to go to two more places and then we'll close. Go to 1 Peter 2 and Matthew chapter 5. 1 Peter 2 and Matthew chapter 5. You know, I don't think that Saul is just being a flatterer here. I don't think that Saul is just saying this to save his skin, though we've seen obviously in times past that Saul's been crazy and not being, you know, rational in his thinking. I actually think that Saul is just having a moment of clarity here for a brief moment. It doesn't last like nothing lasts with King Saul. But he kind of has just like this brief moment of clarity where he realizes, I've been attacking you. I've been trying to kill you. I've been coming after you. Yet you had the opportunity to kill me and you didn't. And you know what that made? Saul realizes that thou art more righteous than I. Right. So you could see righteousness from someone. Your light shines in this world and amongst brethren when evil is done to you, when harm is done to you, when sin is done to you and you don't recompense that, when you take care of things the right way, when you let the proper authorities take care of that, when you let God take care of those issues and you don't have to answer again and fight every battle. You could be like the Lord Jesus Christ who answered not at his accusations. Right. You know what that shows? That shows a righteous person. And people can see that when you're going through all the attacks, all the lies and you don't defend yourself in that way, you let God defend you. You let the rightful authorities defend you. You know what? That is a righteous person. Go to First Peter chapter two. And of course, who is David acting like here? The most righteous man who's ever lived. The Lord Jesus Christ. Verse twenty three, who when he was reviled, that's Jesus reviled, not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. God in the flesh was spit upon, was mocked, had his beard ripped out, was buffeted by a bunch of sinners. And when he had those things done to him, he could have done it back to them, but he never did. Right. He could have cursed them. He could have killed them. But notice what he did. He committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. He came to be the sacrificial lamb. And he said, you know what? God's going to judge this situation. Verse twenty four, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. Right. So Jesus had the attitude of not taking vengeance when he was on the cross, not answering again, not defending himself. Right. He was allowing himself to be defrauded, so much so that when he was being killed, he even said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Right. I mean, that's an extreme level of humility and forgiveness and grace that he showed to those men. And that's kind of like what David's doing here, where he could have killed them. We all would have read the story of men like, yeah, totally makes sense to totally see why he did that. But he spared him. He had mercy on him. Matthew Chapter five will close in Matthew Chapter five. And of course, not only did the Lord Jesus Christ model this in his life, but he also explicitly taught us to be this way as Christians. Matthew five, verse forty three. You have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye might be the children, that you may be the children of your father, which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans. So be ye therefore perfect, even as your father, which is in heaven, is perfect. So notice when Saul saw David loving him, even though he was an enemy, you know what he said? That's a righteous person, right? And us in our lives, when we are wronged, when we are sinned against, when people come against us, and we decide to love our enemies, when we decide not to avenge ourselves, you know what? People are going to see that and realize like, hey, that is a righteous person right there. That is the attitude that we should have as ambassadors of Christ is not just believing his words, but actually acting like him as well and loving our enemies. You know, you're going to have, I guarantee you, you know, there's some sermons that may not be applicable to you. At least you don't feel like it. I guarantee you in your life, you will have the opportunity to take vengeance because we're sinners. We're going to sin against each other. People in this room are going to do wrong to each other. And you're going to have the opportunity to hate your enemy, to revile, to speak badly back, to get them back or whatever, or you're going to have the opportunity to love your enemies. And only you get to decide what you do in that. But of course, I would implore you, Jesus would implore you to love your enemies. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this story in the word of God. Thank you for just the vengeance that you pour out, Lord. I pray that we would trust in your vengeance and the vengeance of proper authorities, that we wouldn't take things into our own hands, that we'd have trust in you, Lord. I pray that you would just help us to have the maturity to love our enemies when people come against us personally, that we would pray for them, that we'd want good for them, that we would do good for them, and that we would just let you look upon it and judge. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we'll turn to our last hymn for the evening. If you'll grab your hymnals, turn to 224. There shall be showers of blessing. Hymn 224. 2-2-4. There shall be showers of blessing. We'll sing there starting on the first. There shall be showers of blessing. This is the promise of love. There shall be seasons refreshing sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. The mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we clean. There shall be showers of blessing, precious, reviving again. Over the hills and the valleys, sound of abundance of rain. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we clean. There shall be showers of blessing, sent them upon us oh Lord. Grant to us now a refreshing, coming now on earth I burn. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we clean. There shall be showers of blessing, so that today they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing, now as on Jesus we call. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we clean.