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First number one of chapter 19, the Bible reads, And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee. Now therefore I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in the secret place, and hide thyself. Now to bring you up to speed, if you remember, in chapter number 18, Saul is wanting David dead. And it all started out because of his envy over the women singing the song about how Saul had slain his thousands, and David had slain his ten thousands. Saul starts to see David as a threat to his kingdom, that David is getting too much popularity and taking away the attention from himself. And he even said, what can any more have but the kingdom also? He's afraid that he's going to become king, which of course eventually will become king. So that's what Saul is upset about. So Saul wants him dead, and if you remember, Saul keeps sending him to these battles where he thinks he's going to be killed, and he sends him on this mission to kill a bunch of Philistines. And if you remember, David's doing it all, and he's just coming back safe and sound because God's blessing him everywhere he goes. The Lord's with him. He behaves himself wisely. All the men of war respect him. He's prospering. And then if you remember, he has now married Saul's second daughter. And so now he's the king's son-in-law. I mean, this is Saul's son-in-law. And Saul tells Jonathan his son and to all his servants, he says that they should kill David. So he's giving them the order to kill his own son-in-law, to kill David. David hasn't done anything wrong. David hasn't committed any crime here. And of course, Jonathan, because Jonathan was David's close and loyal friend, he's not going to do it. So Jonathan delighted much in David. It says in verse 2, And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul, my father, seeketh to kill thee. Now therefore I crave you. Take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in the secret place, and hide thyself. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee. And what I see, that I will tell thee. And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto them, Let not the king to sin against his servant against David, because he had not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee worth very good. For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the felicity, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel. Thou sawest it, and didst rejoice. Wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause? And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan, and Saul sware, as the Lord liveth he shall not be slain. Of course a few verses later, he's trying to kill him again. Now remember, Saul here has a problem with making these oaths, and swearing things that he shouldn't be swearing. Remember a few chapters back in chapter 14, he swears that whoever tasted that honey, when I said not to, is going to be killed as the Lord liveth, and so forth. And it turned out it was his own son. And he says, Okay Jonathan, you're going to have to be killed. He didn't want to break his word. He didn't want to break his vow. We need to be careful about swearing or making a vow, because God looks very, very badly upon people who break a vow. And the Bible even says it's better not to swear at all, better not to vow at all, than to make a vow and to break it. And the Bible even tells us in the New Testament, it says, Swear not at all, but let your gay be ye and your nay nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. He's saying, Look, just say you're going to do something and do it, or say you're not going to do it and don't do it, but don't make all these oaths, swearing by your life, swearing by God, swearing by Heaven, swearing by the King. But Saul just makes this oath, and he swears, because the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain. And then he's trying to kill him a few verses later. This is the depths that Saul has sunk to, where his word means nothing, his oaths mean nothing. And he's promising and swearing by God himself. And by the way, don't ever say this, I swear to God. You know, have you ever heard people say that? It's like a slang that young people will use. The Bible says, Swear not at all. And he's talking about making those kind of oaths, where you're swearing by God that what you're saying is true. That's why you'll notice that when you go to court or when you sign documents, it'll say by oath or affirmation. Affirmation means you're saying yea. Oath means you're swearing to it. Well, when this country was founded, obviously a lot of people have read the Bible, and they didn't feel right about swearing all these oaths when the Bible says swear not at all. And so therefore, they would change it to an oath or affirmation. Or you're just saying that that's what you're going to do. Because the Bible tells us not to swear. A lot of people think swearing is like blank, blank, blank, blank. But swearing is when you say, you know, as the Lord liveth, I'm going to do a so and so. I remember I heard a pastor before say this, you know, about a building project. We were going to get into a certain building. And he said, I know just as much as I know that I'm saved that God wants us to have that building. Of course, the building fell through. And I wanted to walk up to the pastor and say to him, you know, are you sure you're saved? But, you know, I wasn't being a smart mouth. I didn't say a word to him. But that's what I was thinking on the inside. Because we shouldn't just blow off our mouth like that. Because look, I know I'm saved based on the authority of the Bible. Okay, so I'm not going to put some feeling that I have. I know I was supposed to come to Tempe as much as I know I'm saved. No, I don't because that wasn't written in the Bible. The fact that I'm saved is written in the Bible, okay. And the fact that the Lord liveth is much more certain than the fact that Saul wasn't going to kill David. So he shouldn't be saying, well, as the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain. He's saying, just as sure as God is alive, that's how sure it is that I'm not going to kill David. And then he's going to kill him in the next few verses. You see, that's blasphemous. And that isn't right for us to invoke those type of oaths and make those kind of squarings. Now, there's nothing wrong with making vows. There are times when it's okay to make vows, but that's different than swearing an oath as the Lord liveth or swearing by heaven or swearing to God or swearing by Jerusalem or swearing by your life or the Lord do so to me and more also, all these different oaths and curses that people say in different places throughout the Bible. And even in our modern day, people will say things like that. Yeah, it's not wrong to make any kind of a vow because, of course, when you get married, you're making a vow. You're promising. But that's an affirmation. You're saying, I do. You're just saying yea to that. And he says, hey, let your yea be yea. Don't break that vow. Don't break that word that you've put down there when you get married. And so we see here that Saul is swearing this oath, and, of course, he's going to break it. It's just an emotional decision where Jonathan talks to him and Jonathan praises to him. And, yeah, I've noticed this when you talk to people because you're going to see this over and over with Saul. Here it's Jonathan talking sense into him, right? And then, of course, once Jonathan talks sense into him, reminds him about him, slaying Goliath and all the good things, then he becomes reasonable and says, okay, you're right, I'm not going to do it. Okay, later on it's going to be David talking sense into him. And you see this pattern over and over with Saul. And I've seen this happen when I talk to people. Sometimes you can talk to people that are wrong on something and you can convince them of the truth and you can have the Bible in your hand and prove them something out of the Bible, and they'll agree with you. And then the next day they'll go back to their false doctrine. They'll go back to whatever fallacy that they're doing in their life. You know, I've seen it with people who are about to make a really stupid decision. And you warn them. You tell them, don't make that decision. You know, here's what the Bible says. Let me give you some... Oh, you're right. You know, I was wrong. I made a mistake. And then boom. The next day. The day they go out and make that stupid decision. You know, or whatever it is. And I can think of a lot of different examples in my mind right now of all different manner of decisions that people make like that. And then you talk sense into them. But the thing is, when it doesn't come from someone's heart, when something doesn't really enter into their heart, you can convince people of things that they don't really believe. You know what I mean? Like, you can go to somebody, and this is why you have to be careful about soul-willing, too. Because sometimes you'll be out soul-willing, and you'll be talking to somebody, and you'll show them everything in the Bible, and you'll be convincing them. And it's hard to argue with something when it's just right in front of their face. I mean, what are they going to say? No, it's right there. And you'll show them, and you'll show them, and you'll show them. And a lot of times people will just agree with you and just go along with what you're saying, but it hasn't really entered into their heart. That's why I like to be careful. At the end of explaining it to someone, I like to ask them, you know, so what do you, do you believe this? You know, is this really what you believe? You know, be honest with me. And I like to ask them a few questions just to see if they really understand and to see if they really believe it. Because I've seen people go along with everything that I'm saying, but then you start talking about another subject, and boom, they just revert back to their Mormonism or their Catholicism or whatever it was that they were mixed up in. Because a lot of times people are just going along with you because you're so convincing, but it hasn't really entered into their heart and become their personal belief. You know, in order to be saved, they have to believe the gospel, not just, okay, I agree with you. Yeah, I can't argue with that. There it is. They have to say, you know what? I believe that. I'm trusting that. I'm putting my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So you want to be careful that you're not just talking to somebody who's just going along with you. Now, look, are there going to be people who lie to you and say that they believe it and don't? Of course. You know, we can't see the heart. But if you do a good job of explaining it clearly and then you ask them to make sure, hey, is this what you believe, and check them, you know, you should be doing the best you can with that. Because I've seen a lot of people that'll agree to a lot of things, and then they turn around and go back and say, I remember I was talking to a guy, and this guy was saved. And, you know, I was on a long drive with this guy. And, you know, when I say a long drive, I mean a long drive. You know, it was about an eight-hour drive where I'm driving with this guy. And, you know, so I've got my captive audience, and I preach to this guy for eight hours straight. And, yes, I can preach for eight hours straight easily. I can all do it right now. I can do it. And so, I mean, I just preach this guy. I mean, I'm preaching him everything about why I'm King James only. I'm preaching him soul-winning. I'm preaching him door-to-door soul-winning. I'm preaching him all kinds of doctrines from the Bible. I'm preaching him about eternal security of the believer. I mean, he already believed that, but I was just preaching to do him more about it, just how we need to preach it to others and how we need to, when we go soul-winning, we need to make that an emphasis with people. And I went on and on and on about, I mean, I gave him just scores of things in the new versions that are wrong. And I just went on and on and on for about, and he's just, wow, and he's just saying, you know, this is, we gotta tell this, we gotta get this out to everybody. You know, we gotta tell everybody this stuff. I can't believe this, how many people are being lied to. You know, all these doctors, he was fired up about it. You know, because I was fired up, you know, and I might get him all worked up about it and preach this job, you know. And he's saying how, you know, he was gonna go to this Bible college, but he's not gonna go there anymore because they preached the NIV there and they don't have any soul-winning and it's everything that's wrong. And so, you know, the next day, you know, I brought him to my church with me, you know, and this is when I was in the pew, not in the pulpit. And I brought him to my church with me and, you know, took him there and he went to church with me and everything was kind of his first time at that type of church in a long time. And, you know, just a few weeks went by though and, you know, he went back to his liberal church and after a few weeks of being in that liberal church and just being around all the same old people, it's just he pretty much went back to all of his same, you know, lifestyle and his same belief. I mean, he did stay with the King James, you know. He got rid of the other versions, but he was going to a church that preached the NIV so he just wasn't that fired up about it anymore. Because it just hadn't really, it wasn't really his, it just didn't really become his personal belief. It was more me just getting him all fired up and worked up and, you know, that basically was, you know, something rubbed off to him and we were both just fired up about it. And we were fired up about getting people saved and people are going to hell. We've got to go out and give them the gospel. We've got to preach to them and everything. And it all made sense to them at the time, but then it started to fade. And that's how emotional decisions are and emotional things like that. You just can't change somebody's life in one drive, even if it's an eight-hour drive. And I believe that. You know, these things have to enter into someone and become their personal beliefs. You know, the things that I believe, they're my own personal beliefs in the Bible. I know why I believe them. I believe them between me and God. And if nobody else around me believes them, I'm still going to stick with it because it's my belief that I got from the Bible, from the Holy Spirit. I've embraced it as my own. It's not just someone getting me worked up about something or emotional about something. Now, I've seen a lot of people go to a service and become emotional. Teenagers will go to a youth service or a youth conference, and man, they're giving up everything and they're going to serve God with their life and they're going to be a missionary to the dark tunnels of Africa and they're going to sell everything they have. And then a few days later, they're completely back. Who's ever seen something like that? Oh, yeah. They come down the altar, they're crying and their whole life is turned around and it's never going to be the same. And a few days later, it wears off, okay? My life was never changed in one service or even in one week of services or a camping trip or anything like that. It's a progression of growth. It's not like your children stay babies and then all of a sudden they just one day go, whoa, son, you're huge. It's a gradual growth and it's the same way when you're a Christian. It's a slow growth. And that's why it's so important that you come to church week after week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and learn the Bible. And even more important than that, getting up every morning and reading the Bible so you can grow a little bit every day, so you can grow a little bit every week because I don't care who the preacher is. You can bring in a preacher that is the greatest preacher in the world and he can preach that sermon on soul winning where people are just in tears or they're just fired up and they want to win souls and they're going to do anything and they're ready to go. But those same people, after a few days or a few weeks, that emotion will wear off. And it's the people who believe in soul winning from the Bible. They know what they believe. They're dedicated to it. They're going to a church that has an emphasis on that. They're the ones that are going to do it because I've seen a lot of people get emotional and even sermons that I've preached. I've seen people get emotional, make decisions, and the decisions don't last. It's true. And that's why I'm not an overly emotional preacher. You know, I don't tell... I mean, I'm fired up. I'm excited and I hope that that gets across when I'm preaching. But I'll say this to them. I'm not one that just tells all these tear-jerking stories just for the sake of getting an emotional reaction because I know that an emotional reaction doesn't last. It doesn't last. You know, you need to fix the problems in your life. You need to obey the Bible every day. It's not some overnight fix where you come to one service or make one decision or come down one aisle and all of a sudden you're just never the same. And people tell stories like that but it's just not reality. It's not true. The Bible says they must teach doctrine and line must be upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. It's not overnight. It's a weekly and a daily growth process and people will get emotional in one service. But it's learning the Bible and believing the Bible and keeping God's Word and having your senses exercised by use where you learn to discern between good and evil over time that really enters into your hearts and when God's Word sinks down into your ears and you become the person that God wants you to be. That is different than just one conversation with Jonathan where he strains you out. You know what I mean? And look, people get saved in a moment but they don't become a mature, godly, righteous Christian in a moment. It just doesn't happen. It happens over time. It happens over a consistent and that's why people that don't go to church, you're not going to see it grow. You're not going to see growth there if they just get a sermon every once in a while or if you just talk to them every once in a while. They need that consistency of being taught and preached at and how many times do we begin to fade and then we come to church and we get back on track and we learn something new that can keep us going and that will enter into us and become a part of our being and that we believe and embrace that. That's not what happened here with Saul. He didn't really have a change of heart here. What he had was just a conversation where somebody talked him into something but nothing really changed about who he was or what he was going to do because he goes right back to it. And so keep that in mind when you're soul winning and look, don't be, and by the way, just don't be one of these jerks who say, Oh, Saul doesn't work. These people aren't really getting saved. Get out of this church if that's what you believe. And don't let the door hit you on the way out because I'm sick of people like you and I don't want you to come back, you phony, putting a wet blanket on the truth of God's word of preaching the gospel to every creature. If you don't believe people get saved, when a bunch of spirit-filled Bible-carrying soul leaders go out and spend four hours out knocking doors or as we did on the marathon, eight hours out knocking doors preaching God's word to the lost, you don't think that anybody got saved? Well, what do you think? God's word has no power? Do you think that God's spirit is not real? Do you think that the gospel that we preach is not the gospel of Jesus Christ? Just because you came from some dead church where nobody ever got saved and nobody ever got baptized and nothing ever happened, that doesn't mean that everybody in the world is dead spiritually like your dead church was. So get over it. But at the same time, I want people to know as they go out soul winning that you need to be careful that you don't just pray a prayer with people who don't really believe what you're showing them from God's word, but they're just rather just going along with you. For example, I was out soul winning and I gave this lady the gospel and she was understanding everything. She's answering all the questions right and just was right there with it. And I was thinking, wow, great, because we were in a really unreceptive neighborhood. I was thinking, wow, this is great. This lady's giving it. She believes it. And at the end of the day, I just said, do you believe this? She said, no. I'm like, what? See, her nodding of her head and saying yes, she's just saying that she understands what I'm saying. It makes sense to her. It doesn't mean that that's what she believes, okay? And there's a difference there between just I see what you're saying. Yeah, that's what the Bible says. Yep, there it is. Plain as day. But is that what you believe? Do you believe that this is real that people believe I'm Jesus Christ? Well, no, I personally don't. I think there's other ways to heaven. I've had people say that after you've gone through with them for 20 minutes. You've got to make sure it's what they believe. And then, of course, a lot of the time, they'll say, yes, I do believe that. And then they trust Jesus Christ right there for salvation. But some people, you just have to be careful that they're not disagreeing with you but that they don't really believe it because they have to believe it themselves. It has to enter into their heart and become their personal belief, not just them nodding their head to what you believe and what you're saying. So, of course, you know, Saul makes this emotional decision, blows off his mouth with another oath that as the Lord liveth, he'll not be slain. And Jonathan called David, verse 7, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul as he was in his presence as the time passed, and there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and slew them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him. So this is what spurs Saul, again, to be worried about David because he goes out and has another great victory. So now Saul's mad again. Of course, Saul should be happy. If he cares about his nation, his nation's winning the war. But he just doesn't like the fact that David's getting the glory. Of course, he could have been the one who went out and led the troops, right? He could have been the one that slew Goliath. I mean, it makes sense. He's the one that had all the armor. He's the one who was probably seven and a half feet tall. But alas, you know, David went and he did the fighting, and he got the glory. Same thing here. David's doing all the fighting. It says in verse 9, the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand. Of course, a javelin's like a spear. And David played with his hand. He's playing a harp. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin. He basically wants the javelin to go through him and stick to the wall and that David will be pinned to the wall by the javelin. He's trying to kill him. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence and he smote the javelin into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night. Saul also sent messengers unto David's house to watch him. So now you've got him under surveillance and to slay him in the morning. And Michael, David's wife, told him, saying, If thou save not thy life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slain. So Michael let David down through a window. He's escaping from his own home here. He's going out the window. And he went and fled and escaped. And Michael took an image and laid it in the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair for his bolster and covered it with cloth. You know, this is what you do when you're a kid. You know, you want your parents to think you're in bed. You basically, you know, you build a little... Who's never done that before? You know, you kind of build something in the bed. Or I remember at summer camp doing this. You know, you're going out, so you basically, you build this shape of a person under the covers, you know, and lay it all out there. So that's what his wife does to make it look like he's in bed. She puts an image. Now, you know, why did David have a grave image in his house? He shouldn't have had it. But he had this statue or whatever it was, so they put it in the bed, put the blanket over it, put some goat's hair. I guess that's supposed to be where his hair would be, you know, make it look believable. And basically, they come to get him, and basically, she tells him he's sick in verse 14. Verse 15, and Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, bring him up to me in the bed that I may slay him. So Saul was just obsessed with just killing him. I don't care if he's sick. Carry the bed down here so I can kill him. And it says that... Let me find my place here. And when the messengers were coming, verse 16, Saul, there was an image in the bed with a pillow of goat's hair for his bolster. So at this point, they figure out that it's fake. And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy? Then he is escaped. And Michal answered Saul, He said, done to me, let me go. Why should I kill thee? So basically, she's claiming that he threatened to kill her. And that's why she did it. Now, is that true? No. Now, let me... And don't jump to conclusions here. Hear me out here. Was she right or wrong here with what she did? Now, a lot of people say, Well, she's wrong because she lied. It's always wrong to lie. Well, okay, let's see what the Bible says. Because, wait a minute. At the beginning of the chapter, we saw King Saul command Jonathan and command his troops, go kill David. Now, a lot of military personnel throughout history would have just said, Yes, sir, and just killed whoever they're told to kill. Is that right? No, it's not right to kill innocent people. It's not right for soldiers to kill innocent people just because they're told to do so. You know, they're ordered to kill somebody, or the police, for that matter. They're ordered to kill an innocent person or to violate someone. When they... And talk about swearing of oaths. You know, when they've sworn an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States, and then they violate people's rights or violate their Fourth Amendment rights, you know, that's not upholding the Bill of Rights, which is part of the Constitution. They're basically breaking a vow there. They're breaking an oath. And a lot of people will just say, Well, I was just following orders. You know, that's what the Nazis said. That's what the Soviets said, you know, when they're running these concentration camps and everything. For example, let's say World War II is... or before World War II, let's say when Adolf Hitler is exterminating the Jews. And I'm going to back all this up with Scripture, by the way. I don't just blow off my mouth here in the pulpit with my opinion. I'm going to show you the Bible, prove to you that I'm right, because I get what I believe here from God's Word. You know, let's say... But first I'm just explaining to you. Let's say, for example, Adolf Hitler is out killing the Jews, right? And let's say there was some Jew and you hit him in your house, right? And they came and knocked on the door and said, Hey, are there any Jews here? And you said, No. Right? Are you sin... sitting there? Or are you doing right in the sight of God? When they're going out to just kill innocent people just because they're exterminating all Jews or doing whatever. Is it right or wrong? Well, let's look at two Bible examples here where God gives his opinion. Because here we see Michael lie and say, Well, he's sick. Right? Because he's trying to protect him. And then later you see her lie again and say, Well, he said unto me, Let me go, why should I kill thee? Okay. Well, God does not put in his two cents here and tell us, Hey, that was right of her. Or, Hey, that was wrong of her. But I'm going to show you two examples where God actually does put in his opinion and put in the truth about whether what they did was right or wrong. Go to Exodus chapter 1. The first example I want to show you. Exodus chapter 1. And don't just sit there and say, Well, I think... It doesn't matter what you think. Okay? It matters what the Bible says. And it doesn't matter what I think. We can all sit around and give our opinion. And then, like, before I went into the Bible and showed people, I could have taken a poll and said, Well, how many of you think that, you know, you should never lie even if you're hiding an innocent person who's about to be slaughtered for no reason? You know? How many people... I mean, some people would have that opinion. And I'd say, Well, how many of you think it was okay to deceive and to hide an innocent person who's about to be slain without a cause? And then probably, you know, there'd be some people who believe it. Everybody's got their opinion. But it doesn't matter what people's opinions are. It matters what the Bible says. God is the authority here. And I'm going to show you some scriptures here. And if you disagree after you've seen the scriptures, well, that's your prerogative. But I've got the Bible on my side here. It says in Exodus chapter number 1, verse number 15, Exodus 1.15, the Bible reads, And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shipra, and the name of the other Pua. And he said, When you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. So you could say, Well, you know, you've got to follow orders. You've got to obey. No, you can't hide behind that. And a lot of people will hide behind that and say, Well, I was just doing what I was told, so it's not my fault. No, if you kill an innocent person, it's your fault. You're a murderer. You can't say, Well, I was just obeying my parents, or I was obeying the government, or I was obeying my sergeant or my commanding officer. No, if you kill an innocent person, God's going to hold you accountable for that. And so here they're being asked to basically kill infants. And verse 17, But the midwives feared God, and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men's children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives instead of them. Why have ye done this thing and have saved the men's children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Now tell me if this is true or not, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Now is that true? No. They were just disobeying orders because it's not right to kill an innocent person. And so they're basically not telling the truth here when they say, Well, you know, these women are not as the Egyptian women. They just give birth really fast. Now this might come as a shock to some of you who think that childbirth is impossible without a bunch of machines being hooked up to you and a bunch of doctors and nurses hovering over you. But believe it or not, people have been giving birth for thousands of years, and some of them didn't even need any assistance or just a midwife. But look at the next words that come in the Bible. They tell this tale about how, Well, you know, there's just a difference here between the Hebrew women and the Egyptian women. Okay, they tell this story, and look at verse 20. Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives. So God doesn't condemn them here for this. They're doing the right thing, and God dealt well with them because of what they did and said right there in the Bible. Look, if you would, at Joshua, chapter number 2 for an even more compelling example. Joshua chapter 2. And this is actually really similar to the example of 1 Samuel 9. In Joshua chapter 2, now this is Rahab the harlot. If you remember, the children of Israel are invading the Promised Land, and they are going to come to Jericho and spy it out. They send in two guys to be spies, and these spies, they're hiding out at the house of Rahab the harlot. And it says in verse number 3, the king of Jericho, this is Joshua 2-3, the king of Jericho said unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thy house, for they become to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men and hid them, and said, Thus, there came men unto me, but I wish not whence they were. And it came to pass about the time of the shedding of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out, whither the men went, I want not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. Now is that true? No. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan, unto the fords, and as soon as they, which pursued after them, were brought out, they shut the gate. Now Rahab here has got these guys at her house. Look what they say in verse 3. And the king of Jericho said unto Rahab, saying, What did the guys say? The messengers that show up at the door, they knock on the door, and they don't say, Is there anybody home? Are these guys here? They know that they're there. And they say, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thy house. They're spies, for they become the search out of the country. Bring them out right now. So put yourself in her shoes. You just hid these guys up in the roof. You know that they're God's people. You know that they're good guys. You know that they're going to be slain without a cause. You know that you're on the losing team here, and that God's going to destroy your whole city. That's what she explains a little bit later in the chapter. Hey, we heard about how you came out of Egypt. We heard about the plagues. We heard about you crossing the Jordan River on dry land. And she says, Just spare me, because I know you're going to win. So you're in her position. What are your choices here? Bring out these guys! Well, you know, then the guys are going to be found. But she sells, Oh, no, no, no. They went out. They snuck out, and they went that way. They went that way. Go get them. Go catch them. Now you say, Well, how do you know that what she did was right? Well, go to the book of James, chapter number 2. James, chapter 2. While you're turning to James, chapter 2, I'll read for you from Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11, the Bible reads, By faith the harlot... This is from Hebrews 11, 31. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. So she did what she did because of her faith, the Bible tells. Well, in James, chapter 2, it says in verse 25, Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way. Another way to what? Another way to what? What was the original way? The way that she said, That's the way they went, and this is the way that she sent them. Another way. Okay, so we see here that God is telling us that she did the right thing by hiding them. By receiving them, sending them out another way, rather than the way that she told the guys to go. Now, what is the them referring to in verse 25? Sometimes with pronouns, you wonder, you know, what is the pronoun them referring to? Is it saying she sent the messengers out another way? Or is it saying that she sent the spies out another way? You know, when I say messengers, I meant the messengers from the king of Jericho. The officers, did she send the officers that the king of Jericho sent them the other way? Or did she send the spies or the messengers from Joshua the other way? It doesn't matter because the other way is the other way. Either it's saying, well, she sent the officers out the other way, or it's saying she sent the spies out the other way. Either way, she didn't send them the way that she said that they went. She said they went... Does anybody have a sandwich? They said that she... Now, she said, hey, they went that way. Go that way and get them. And then she says to her guys, go this way. That's what God's referring to. Whoever the them is, it doesn't change the fact that she did not tell the truth to the arresting officers that were coming to get these guys. Now, you say, well, I just can't believe that. Well, but that's what God has told us in the Bible. And you say, well, I don't understand that. Are you saying it's okay to lie sometimes? No. Think about this for a second. Because I'm not saying, you know, you get in situations, you lie to get out of them. That's not what I'm saying. Here's what I am saying. Is it right to kill somebody who is an innocent person? And when I say innocent, I mean they have not committed one of the crimes, you know, that God has given. Because obviously I believe in the death penalty. I believe in the government's right to execute criminals who are murderers or rapists or whatever else that God lists, okay? But someone who has not done those things. Is it right to kill an innocent person? No. But is it right to kill an innocent person who's trying to kill you? Yes. See what I mean? So that's what you see here. This is self-defense here. Or defense of someone else. You see, if someone is stealing from me, that is not something that I should punish with death. Let's say there's somebody out in my driveway and they're breaking into my car and they're taking stuff out of my car. I'm going to point my gun out the window and just blow them away. Would that be right? No. You can't just kill somebody for stealing. You know, if somebody's in my backyard and they're taking my bicycle out of my backyard, I'm not just going to just, see ya. You can't just kill somebody just because they're stealing. Does everybody... I understand what I'm saying. Somebody's, you know, taking a little chrome cap off the inner tube of my tires of my car, you know. Boom! He's stealing from me. I killed him. That isn't right. Okay? Robbery or stealing is not something that should be punished by death, according to the Bible. But what if somebody comes in my house at night to steal from me? Right? The Bible says that if somebody comes into my house at night to steal from me, that I can kill him and that there's no consequences for me because I was defending myself. Because somebody coming into my house at night has, you know, they have bad intentions. They could kill me. They're a threat to my life. If my life's being threatened, and not even my life, or if the life of someone else is being threatened, or if the life of my family or my loved ones, or even a stranger, you know, if there's somebody pointing a gun around and firing at people, you know, then I can blow them away. Okay? Because, or if they're threatening to kill people or if they're a danger to someone's life. Self-defense or defense of other people, and even our law recognizes that, as corrupt as it is, it still usually recognizes people's life to defend life, to defend my life or to defend someone else's life. So normally, do we take thieves out and kill them? No. But if it's for defense of someone's life, then yes. That's the same thing we see here. We don't just see here just lying to get out of a jail. We see protecting innocent life by whatever necessary, whether it be, you know, to kill or to lie or whatever the case, because of the fact that you're defending life. You know, it'd be like, let's say you're on a battlefield, you're fighting a war, and you give some kind of a false intelligence to the enemy, the same people that you're, you know, lobbing bombs at and shooting. You know, but don't tell them the truth, though. You know? Tell them all about the mission. Tell them all about the plans. You know, obviously, if they capture you and tell us the truth, and you tell them, hey, they went that way, you know, and you tell them the wrong way, that's not wrong. And, you know, hopefully you understand the distinction there. And you say, well, why do you just get that distinction? Well, I'm getting it from the Bible, because I'm looking at the Bible when people's lives are in danger, innocent lives, and when a corrupt, evil government or an enemy or a combating army is coming to kill people, it's okay to tell them a bogus story about where they went. And you don't have to just, oh, I just told them the truth. They're up laying in stalks of flax on my roof, okay? You know, that's what Rahab could have said. Or she said they went that way. If you hurry up, you'll go get them. Okay, so I just wanted to clear that up for you. So, 1 Samuel 19, I believe that what David's wife did was right. You know, I hope that my wife will do the same thing, you know, if they come for me, you know? He's sick. He's in bed. See the big lump under the pillow? Okay, so, you know, she did everything right here. Jonathan did right, too, by not participating in this and pleading with his dad. Later on, and keep in mind, later on, King Saul is going to order his troops to kill a whole town of innocent people later on because they helped David. He says, fall on the priests of the Lord and slay them. Kill these priests. Actually, I take that back. He didn't tell them to kill everybody in the town, but that's what his guy did, though. He told them, you know, kill the priests of the Lord because they helped David. And you know what Saul's troops did? They refused to obey that order. They said, no, we're not going to do it. We will not kill these innocent people. So then he finds a foreign troop. You know, Doleg the Edomite, and he brings in the foreign troops to do the dirty work, as, you know, governments have done throughout history. You know, oh, since you guys won't kill your own brethren and your own countrymen, well, here, foreign troop Doleg the Edomite, you kill them, and then Doleg kills them and kills their families and burns the whole town down. Okay? And so were those guys right to disobey that order? Of course they were. They shouldn't just be killing innocent people just because the king told them to. Remember when the king told them to kill Jonathan? They wouldn't do it. They refused to do it. Okay? So I just wanted to explain that, but let's jump back into the story here. So Michal tells them, you know, well, he threatened to kill me, basically. Verse 18. So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel to Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Nihoth, and it was told Saul, saying, behold, David is at Nihoth and Ramah. And Saul sent messengers to take David and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied. Keep your finger there and go to Acts chapter 4. Just quickly, keep your finger in 1 Samuel 19. We'll just quickly look at something in Acts chapter 4 that ties in with this. And of course we could look at Acts chapter 2 and we could look at other places, but let's just look at Acts chapter 4. It says in Acts chapter 4 verse 31, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were what? What's the next word? And they were all. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness. Now, the apostles are praying, right? And they're praying that God would fill them with His Spirit and that He would give them boldness. And all the people are filled with the Holy Ghost as a result. And they all speak the word of God with boldness. Why were they filled with the Holy Ghost? Because they were there. That's why. Because they were there. Now, every single one of them was filled with the Holy Ghost. Same thing with the 120 believers that were in Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they prophesied as a result. That was the evidence of them being filled with the Holy Ghost that they preached the word of God with boldness. By the way, anyone who doesn't preach with boldness, they're not filled with the Holy Spirit. They're not. Anybody who's a wimpy preacher behind a pulpit or maybe starts to say something that's biblical and then holds back because he's afraid, you know, I don't know where I was going to go, he's not filled with the Holy Ghost because the evidence of that is he's speaking the word of God with boldness. And here, these guys, basically, Saul sends his messengers. He sends his officers or his troops and he says, go get David and arrest him and bring him back to me. Well, when they get there, there's a preaching service going on. So Samuel is standing as appointed over them. He's basically presiding over this service that they're having and the prophets are prophesying. You know, this always makes me think of our preaching service or I'm sorry, what is it? Our preaching class. That's what makes me think of it. You know, where basically I kind of preside over it but all the men of the church and the young guys, they get a chance to preach and they take turns preaching, okay? That's what I kind of picture here. Samuel's presiding but all these other prophets are preaching one after the other, okay? Well, when the messengers show up and they hear the preaching, they see the preachers, they see Samuel, they prophesy also. They are filled with the Holy Ghost being there and they prophesy also. Why were these messengers filled with the Holy Ghost? Because they were there, because they were at that place, because they heard that preaching, because they were in that group. Because look, it's not just a coincidence that the next group, the same thing takes place and the next group, the same thing takes place and then King Saul himself, when he shows up, is filled with the Spirit of God and begins to preach because the word prophesy just means preach and if you dispute that, just look it up in the Bible. It's used many times just talking about preaching. It doesn't mean predicting the future, although preaching could predict the future if you're preaching about end times, prophecies and things that the Bible talks about and the Bible does predict future events but prophesy is just a generic word for preaching. There are many places in the Bible where it talks about prophecy like Proverbs chapter 31, for example. It doesn't contain any predictions. It's just preaching, Bible preaching. So imagine, if you would, this preaching class that's going on. I'm just calling it that because that's what it reminds me of and these guys show up and just like in our preaching class, let's say we're having 10-minute sermons and it's opened up to the guys. These guys, they take a turn. Okay, it's my turn and they get up and start to preach. Now, this shows to me the importance of being in the right church. If you're in a dead church, do you think the Spirit of God is not upon the pastor and it's not upon that assembly? Is he going to be upon you and you're going to be this bold preacher while you're going to a watered-down church? No, you're not because you're not in the right group. You're not in the right crowd. These people were in the right group and it reminds me of... Who was it? I remember the first time that Kevin was here and Kevin brought his family and it was the first time that Kevin's mom had been here because at that time they lived out in Southern California and he came and he brought his family for the first time and that afternoon, Evelyn was out soul-willing with my sister Ronnie that afternoon. Now, when she came and visited our church on Sunday morning, she didn't have a plan. Hey, I'm going to go to the church on Sunday morning. I'm going to be out soul-willing. I'm going to go out knocking doors and everything but it was like she got that faithful word Baptist and next thing you know, she's out soul-willing that afternoon because we talked to her. We got her all fired up about it. Yeah, let's do it. And I used that illustration because she went soul-willing because she was in a soul-willing place and she still does soul-willing but my point being there that she didn't expect to go soul-willing. These guys didn't expect to be doing any preaching either but you show up at the right place. You get under the preaching of God's word in the right room. I mean, I guarantee you there are a lot of people here who have gone out and knocked a lot of doors and given a lot of people the gospel. Who would have thought at some point in your life like, I'll never do that? And yeah, you do. You know, of course, every hand pretty much goes up. You think like, I'm never going to be the guy that's out there knocking doors. Are you serious? Or how about this? How many of you ever, and you don't have to raise your hand but how many of you have ever thought like, I'm never going to stand behind the pulpit and preach. I'll go soul-willing. I'll knock doors but I'll never be up there behind that pulpit. And yet, they end up behind the pulpit preaching. Why? Because they're in a preaching place. Because they're in a soul-willing place. Because they're in a spirit-filled place. But the opposite is true too. The deadness will also infect you if you're in a dead place. Just as these people were in an exciting spirit-filled atmosphere of great preaching, they got fired up. Don't preach. Same thing will be true when you get some dead, watered-down, boring, lame, liberal church. It's going to affect you as well, being in that group. It'll pour a wet blanket on your spirit too. Just as you can get fired up by a good church, you can become dead and liberal if you're at that type of church. It matters what kind of church you go to. It matters what church you go to. And don't settle for second best. I thank God that my parents would drive sometimes a little further, and they would drive us a half hour, 40 minutes, or even longer sometimes to get us to the best church in our area. Because they cared about going to the best church, not just the closest church or whatever. And you say, yeah, but the gas prices are up. You know what? You spend money on everything else. You're not starving to death. You spend money on everything else. Put aside a little money. Put aside a little gas money and get down to Faithful Word Baptist Church. You know what I mean? Don't sit there and, well, there's this one right down in the street from me. Of course, they don't have any soul winning. Of course, the pastor won't preach on sin. Of course, it's dead as a doormail. But, come on, it's $3.50 a gallon. And maybe I can turn it around. They'll turn you around. And here's some advice for you. Just for your future life. Because you may end up living in other places in your life. And I don't know where you're going to end up doing it. Let me just give you some advice. If the pastor is not on board with the truth, you will not turn that church around. Period. If the pastor is not backing you up on that. It's true. I mean, you can go in there and, yeah, let's go soul winning. Let's do it. You know what? If you're not getting supported from the pulpit, yeah, good luck with that. And I've seen a lot of people trying to turn churches around. Usually the church turns them around. Because that pastor, if he needs you to turn him around, why are you listening to him? Okay? If he needs you to turn him around. That doesn't make any sense. You should go to a church, and look, you should go to a church where he's teaching you. And he's motivating you. And he's building you up and teaching you things from the Word of God and encouraging you. Not where you have to go and straighten him out. You're not his pastor. He's your pastor. But a lot of people think they can go to a church with a pastor that doesn't know the Bible or that doesn't believe in soul winning and that they're gonna turn it around. You're not gonna turn it around. And so we see here that these people, they showed up, they prophesied. It says in verse 21, when it was told to Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. I've always loved this story. It cracks me up. And then when he also had a rainbow, finally he just has to go himself. He keeps sending messengers, and they're just not coming back. They're just defecting onto David and Samuel. You know, because they get there, and they realize, they hear the preaching, and they're like, you know, we shouldn't be doing this. We shouldn't just be arresting Saul, David, for no reason. And, you know, I mean, Samuel is somebody that they've been listening to their whole life. Think about it. These troops, these messengers, that Saul's saying, they've heard Samuel's preaching their whole life. They know he's a man of God. And when they see the man of God standing next to David, who they've also known to be a man filled with the Spirit of God, and they hear the preaching of God's Word, they just can't bring themselves to say, oh, you're under arrest. So they don't do it. And so he has to send another group. He has to send another group. They won't do it. They became filled with the Spirit. They preached God's Word also. Because the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon them. And it says, then when he also to Rehman, Saul himself that is, and came to a great well that is in Sekhu, and he asked it, say, where is Samuel and David? And one said, behold, they be at Nihon in Rehman. And he went then to the Nihon in Rehman, and the Spirit of God was upon him also. And he went on and prophesied until he came to Nihon in Rehman. Now this is interesting because the Spirit of the Lord comes upon Saul before he even gets there. Just while he's on the way there. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him and he begins to prophesy until he came to Nihon in Rehman in verse 23. And it says in verse 24, and he stripped off his clothes also and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore, they say, is Saul also among the prophets? Now, who believes that naked means naked in that verse? Rehman, do you believe that? Yeah, I do. You're not going to believe this. That's what I believe too. Okay, but a lot of people, when they don't understand something in the Bible, they just choose not to believe it or to twist it or to change it into something else. I heard a preacher one time, he was preaching on this passage, and he said, you know, he said, when it says naked, if you go back to the Hebrew, okay, if you go back to the Hebrew, it just means partially clothed there. Okay. Well, but here's the thing. I'm not reading a Hebrew Bible. Yeah. Okay, I'm reading an English Bible. So basically, if he was partially clothed, then that means that this Bible is wrong or that this translation is wrong. Because if it really meant that, then shouldn't it say he was partially naked or he was a little bit less clothed than he was a minute before? Now, if he was just a little bit less clothed, would that really be worthy of even mentioning? I heard a preacher say, you know, if someone's a preacher, he'll really be preaching hard, he'll take off his coat, you know, because he's so fired up, you know, that he's got to take off his coat. That's how it was with Saul. Okay. Well, that wouldn't even be worth mentioning. I mean, what is this, like, Elvis has left the building? You know, like, Saul has taken off his coat. Oh, he just put his coat back on. He has left the building. I mean, why would we even get that fact? Obviously, it's noteworthy, which is why we're even hearing about it. And no, he didn't take off his jacket. I believe that the King James Bible is the word of God. I don't believe it's filled with mistakes. I don't listen to Dr. Scott tell me that it's filled with mistakes and that, you know, Saul just took off his jacket. No, he didn't take off his jacket. It said he stripped off his clothes. Now, when I hear somebody, hey, this guy stripped off his clothes, that doesn't sound like he removed his coat. I mean, look, if I go to a restaurant, first thing I do when I get to a restaurant is I strip off my clothes. And I hand my coat only. I strip off my clothes when I sit down naked, which, translation, that means I took off my coat and hung it at the coat rack at the front door of Olive Garden. But see, you know that's not what this says. But see how people twist the Bible, though? If I said I walked into Olive Garden and hung my coat on the rack and sat down for dinner, that makes sense. If I said I walked into Olive Garden, I stripped off my clothes and sat down to dinner naked, you wouldn't think, oh, he just, wait a minute, he just means he hung up his coat. He was partially naked because his forearms were exposed. Get real, folks, okay? So don't twist the Bible. Why was he naked? Well, first of all, there aren't any ladies present. So he's not being a pervert or something here, just stripping down in front of a bunch of men, women, and children. He's in a group of the prophets. And by the way, the prophets are men because the Bible ordains men to preach. You say, oh, but there was the prophetess in the Bible. Sorry, not God's will for women to be standing in the assembly in church and preaching. The Bible says women should keep silence in the church. It's not permitted unto them to speak. Now, women can preach one-on-one or to people outside of the church. They can give the gospel and go sowing it or preach to their friends, but not in the assembly. This is the assembly of God's people here. These are young men that are being trained by Samuel the prophet to be preachers. These aren't prophetesses. These are prophets. These are men. And so Saul is not committing sin. Saul is not committing sin here because the Spirit of God was upon him. The Spirit of God is not leading him to sin here. He stripped off his clothes. He's not in front of women. Therefore, he's not in sin. But you say, why in the world would he strip off his clothes? I remember I won a guy to Christ at my job, and we were driving down the road because we were listening to the Bible on tape, and we listened to like 100 chapters together because I was trying to disciple him and help him grow because he'd just been saved a few weeks earlier. And we were listening to 1 Samuel on CD, and we got to this part, and he looked at me. This guy just got saved two weeks ago. Never really been in church much or anything. He looked at me and said, what in the world? Like what? He said, what just happened? And I just said to him, I said, don't ask me, man. Let's just listen to the next chapter. You know what I mean? I said, hey, I don't know everything about the Bible or else I'd be God. I don't have all the answers. But now I'm a pastor. I do have all the answers. No, I'm just kidding. I still have all the answers, but I do have the answer in this passage because if you study the Bible, this is very common, that people would strip off their clothes or rank their garments as a sign of mourning, as a sign of sadness. They would tear off their clothing and rank their clothing. Who remembers reading that in the Bible many, many times? Oh yeah, it's over and over in the Bible that they would rank their clothes and strip off their clothes. And we see it written about in several places. This is a mourning gesture. And Saul has been living in sin. He's been having problems with God. He's been disobedient to God. God's Spirit has departed from him. He's being troubled by an evil spirit from the Lord. And so, when he is filled with the Spirit of God and when he begins to hear the preaching of God's Word, he feels so bad and so upset about the stuff he's been doing. I mean, he's basically showing his wretchedness. It's like when they would put, I mean look, the Bible says other places where they would rent their clothes and put dirt on their head. I mean, have you ever put dirt on your head since you've been an adult? You know, probably not. But in the Bible, I mean, this is just, they're so upset and they're trying to show God their mourning, they would wear sackcloth, right? They would strip off their clothes and put on sackcloth, which is mourning because it's just messed up, uncomfortable clothing. Or they would put dirt on their head, or they would put ashes on their head as a sign of sadness and sorrow and being upset. That's what Saul's doing here. He's so upset because not only did he strip off his clothes, look at the next words, it says, he took off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel, and laid down naked all that day and all that night. So he actually sleeps outside. Laying on the earth outside. So that's his sign of mourning, okay? He's not going to a bed, he's not going in a tent. He's just laying on the ground in the dirt naked just as a sign of his utter just wretchedness and just how bad he feels about what he's become. He's just upset about it. Now, sometimes being upset doesn't always translate into a changed life though. Again, another emotional response from Saul. Strips off his clothes, falls down, you know, and lays on the earth all day and all night, which other people laid on the earth also overnight in the Bible as a sign of mourning. So you got to cross-reference this stuff with other places in the Bible where things like this happen. And, you know, it resulted in him doing right for a little while, right? He turned around for a little while, sort of like the emotional sermon, you know, to come down the aisle crying. It'll get him on track for a little while. But it's not resulting in a permanently changed life here. Okay. So again, emotional preaching and emotional services aren't the answer to our problems. And so he lays down there, and then it says, all day and all night, wherefore or because of this, they say, is Saul also among the prophets? Because they clearly saw an example here of him preaching mightily with the Spirit of God upon him. They saw it earlier in chapter 11, and they said the same thing. Is Saul also among the prophets? Wow. Saul is preaching. Saul has the Spirit of God upon him. And so the biggest thing that I want you to see from this chapter, aside from the fact that if they ever come and ask where I'm at, you know, be sure to tell them, you know, that I'm somewhere else, okay? That's the first point of the sermon. The second point of the sermon is this. You know, be in the right place. Be around the right people. Because when you're around the right people, if they're filled with the Spirit, you're going to be filled with the Spirit. And you hang around with a bunch of dead Christians and people who do not do any kind of soul winning, who are not excited about the Bible, they're not excited about memorizing the Bible or reading the Bible or preaching the Bible. You know, you get around people like that, you're not going to be either. And a lot of people who are pretty mellow people and pretty mild-mannered believers and saints, if they came to our church, we'd have them fired up. We'd have them behind the pulpit preaching. We'd have them out knocking doors. But the problem is they're in some church that's not equipping them to do that. And he's not sending them out to do that. So I want you to see the importance of being in the right assembly, in the right congregation, around the right kind of preaching. That you might be filled with the Spirit as well. As Byron's in that board of prayer. Bob, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the chance to be here with your people in a place where your Spirit is evident. Dear God, please help us all to be filled with the Spirit and to grow in grace and then the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Not just to come to church to have emotional experiences, but rather to come to church to gain knowledge and to grow permanently. Not just a quick, emotional turnaround, but rather that we might grow and have permanent changes in our life. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.