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Holy Spirit tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay. We continue this evening with the Book of First Samuel. Of course, we took a little bit of a break last week because of the conference. And so let me just go ahead and give you a little bit of a review from Chapter 23 just to kind of get us caught up on the story here. Of course, we know that Saul is still persecuting David. He's seeking to take his life. And in Chapter 23, you have the matter of Keilah and David and his men essentially rescue Keilah from the hand of the enemy. And during this time, instead of Saul fighting the Lord's battles and protecting Israel, protecting Keilah from the Philistines, David is kind of stepping up to the plate to do this, while Saul himself is fighting against David. So really, this is Saul's responsibility to fight against the Philistines. But he's so enamored or not enamored, but he's so focused on trying to take David out that, you know, he's not taking care of his own kingly responsibilities of protecting the nation. And so he's seeking to kill him. And then what you have is God performing a great miracle in the life of David and his men because of the fact that at the latter end of Chapter 23, you have Saul and his men essentially trapping them or encompassing them about and not necessarily knowing that David was on the other side. And then a messenger comes to Saul at the very last moment and notifies him that there's an invasion of the Philistines taking place back home, at which point they cease pursuing after David and they go back to fight against the Philistines. And, you know, through that, obviously, we know that God was working in the background protecting David from that. And so that's where we leave off on Chapter 23. Now, Chapter 24, we have the tables turning, okay? Because up until this point, you really have Saul pursuing David and trying to kill David and David being found in these precarious situations where it's likely that Saul's going to find him, he's going to take his life. But in this particular chapter, Saul is the one who's actually being placed in a precarious situation where he's kind of vulnerable and, you know, he's at the mercy of David. And so we really see a great contrast here between David and Saul as far as their mercy is concerned. We know that Saul has no mercy. He's filled with wrath. His wrath has no boundaries. He's murdering people just to take David out. But David is given this opportunity to take Saul out, which is his enemy, okay? And, of course, he doesn't. And so David spares his life. We're going to look at a couple verses here. We see David extending mercy towards Saul. And the first part we're going to look at is Saul continuing his pursuit against David. Look at Verse 1. It says here, 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 Enjedi. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to see David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcoats, by the way, where was the cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet, and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. So he continues his pursuit. He's still trying to kill David. And then we see that as he's pursuing David, he kind of takes a break, and he goes into this cave here in Verse 3. And it says specifically that he goes in to cover his feet. Now, why is this significant? Well, because of the fact that, you know, a lot of times people will look at a passage like this and think, well, he's taking a nap or something, right? And you can kind of see where they're getting that from, because when you sleep, you cover your body. But here's the thing, it's just like to say that you're just covering your feet. It's kind of weird. It's kind of a weird way to sleep. What this is actually referring to is the fact that he's using the restroom. Okay? He said, Why is that even important? You know, why is it important to even note that? Well, because of the fact that we know that he puts off his robe from off of him. Okay? And so if he's putting his robe from off of him, but he's covering his feet when he's using the restroom, what does that indicate? It indicates that he's wearing pants. Okay? Because a lot of times in these, you know, commentaries and these scholars, you know, they'll say that men in the Old Testament, men in the Bible didn't wear pants. Everyone wore a dress or they just wore a robe and they're just completely naked under something like that. But here's proof that that did not take place because of the fact that we know that he put off his robe from off of him. And then we also see that he's covering his feet, indicating that he had pants on. Okay? And I'm not trying to get graphic here, but essentially, you know, when he's going number two, okay, let's put it that way. All right. I think that's a PG-13 way of saying it. All right. You know, he's dropping his trousers and they're covering his feet. Okay. And you say, wow, man, why you got to get into all that? Because it's just more proof that people wore pants in those days, that men wore pants in those days. And on top of that, of course, he had his robe, which is proven by the fact that David, when he's in the cave, he cuts the skirt of the robe, referring to the borderline of his robe to kind of use that to show him that he showed him mercy. And so he's in the cave using the restroom. He's taking a break there. And obviously, this is a very vulnerable position to be in, is it not? I mean, this is the worst place you want to be if your enemy's after you. Okay? And so we see that there that he's in the cave, he's covering his feet. And by the way, you know, here's other proof that this is not referring to him taking a nap or a siesta or something like that, is that in chapter 26, Saul finds himself in a similar situation again. And I don't mean by the fact that he's asleep or something, or the excuse me, that he's covering his feet, but that he's vulnerable again, because in chapter 26, we actually have him going to sleep. And if he was sleeping, the Bible would simply say what? He's sleeping, which is exactly what it says in chapter 26, when he's in the trench, he's fallen asleep, and that's when David comes with his men, and they take his spear out of his bolster, and and, you know, to kind of show him that they could have killed them. So in chapter 26, it actually says, the Bible actually says that he's asleep, whereas in chapter 24 says that he's covering his feet, because it's talking about something completely different. But the similarities between the two is the fact that he's vulnerable in both instances. Okay? He's vulnerable when he's used in the restroom, and he's also vulnerable if he's fast asleep. Okay? And so, look at verse number four here. We're going to see that David cuts off a piece of his robe. He says in verse four, And the men of 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 arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, privily. So he's there with his men, and he's just like, I mean, he's just throwing your enemy in your lap right here. Okay? Now, these are good men. I believe these are righteous men. But obviously, you know, they're not necessarily in tune with the Spirit of God very well, because God doesn't want David to take Saul's life. Okay? Now, it is true that God, you know, told David that he would deliver his enemy into his hand. The difference is this, is that it's not referring to Saul. And the reason we know that it's true is because throughout the Psalms, which is, you know, the songs that David wrote throughout the history of 1st and 2nd Samuel, he's constantly reiterating the fact that God is going to deliver his enemies into his hand. But here's the thing is that David was able to distinguish between his own personal enemies, such as Saul, and then his own enemies that were also the enemies of the Lord. Okay? They were the heathen, wicked individuals, the workers of iniquity, so to speak. Whereas these young men were not able to discern what that was. You understand? They see it as a chance like, hey, we don't have to run anymore. We don't have to hide anymore. I mean, this guy's just using the restroom. This is the perfect place to get him. You know, God has delivered him into your hands. Now it's time to do so. Now look, David is flesh just like us. And so even though he's not taking his life, what is he doing? He's going to cut off a little piece of a skirt referring to his robe. You say, well, what does that mean? Well, it means that he wants to kind of show Saul, I could have killed you, or I was this close to killing you. Okay? And obviously he kind of turns that around later because he's convicted about that. And he kind of turns it around as saying, you know, I showed you mercy. I could have, but I didn't. Whereas here, I think he was more vindictive. I think he was kind of doing that because his men were encouraging him to take Saul's life. So instead, he kind of degrades into just removing the skirt, the piece of a skirt instead, to kind of appease the man, maybe appease his own vengeful desire. You know, because he's in there and he's just like, this is the perfect opportunity to do something. And then this nightmare could be over, but he chose not to. And instead he cuts off the skirt of his robe privately, the Bible says, and then it says in verse number five, and it came to pass that 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 anointed of the Lord. Now, a couple of things I want to point out in these particular passages right here that we just read. Number one, I want you to notice that David's heart is very tender. He's a tender-hearted man. And you know what? This is a virtue that we as Christians need to strive to obtain. What do you mean? To have a tender heart. You see, God doesn't want us to be hard-hearted Christians, right? What does that mean? You're just kind of an unmerciful Christian. You can't necessarily, you don't have empathy, or you don't empathize with other individuals, or you're not sensitive to the Word of God, to the preaching of God's Word. You're not convicted. And here's the thing, obviously the old IFB kind of runs with that word conviction and just takes it to an extreme, especially when it comes to salvation. But you know, conviction is a legitimate thing in the life of a Christian who's reading the Word of God, they have the Spirit of God dwelling within them, and they're bothered by certain things. And we should always strive to keep our hearts tender, not harden our hearts. And sometimes people, Christians, can often get this kind of mixed up and think, well, you know, as a Christian, we just got to be hard people and just be, you know, just stout and just completely, you know, just having a tender heart is not manly enough or something like that. But here's the thing, folks, is that God wants us to have a tender heart. And in fact, Ephesians chapter 4 specifically commands us to have a tender heart. And in fact, sometimes people have a hard time forgiving others because they don't have a tender heart. You understand? And so it's important, you say, well, how do you keep your heart tender? Well, one of the ways you keep your heart tender is obviously keeping short accounts with God. But reading God's Word will actually tenderize your heart or keep your heart tender throughout your Christian life. Because here's the thing, if you're not careful, you know, you can get away from God's Word and your heart can become hardened towards lost souls, your heart can become hardened towards your brethren in Christ, your heart can be hardened towards just serving the Lord. You understand? Where it doesn't really bother you as much. Things that used to bother you before don't bother you now or, you know, you're not necessarily sensitive to the message of God's Word anymore. You're just kind of apathetic towards the things of God. You understand? And so what you need is preaching, but you also need to read God's Word on a daily basis because the Bible tells us that the Word of God operates like a hammer that breaketh the heart in pieces, the Bible says. Okay? We need to break up the fallow ground in our hearts. And the reason that's so important is because of the fact that folks, you know, when we show up to church on a Sunday morning, Sunday night, or on a Thursday evening, you know, we should never see that just, well, it's just a chore. We're going to go over 1 Samuel 24. You know, God has something for you in every single sermon. God has something specific for you in every single sermon. The Bible says that the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It's a very active book that speaks to us on a daily basis if we allow it to. Now, don't get that twisted. I don't mean like speaks to us like the Charismatics talk about, right? Charismatics are just like, they feel like they hear an audible voice or something like that when they read God's Word. When I say it speaks to us, we make direct application. We look into the perfect law of liberty and we see our flaws. We see the areas that we're lacking in. And what does it do? It smites us in our hearts. You understand? And so, you know, we need to not lose this type of heart that David had where it smites him when he does wrong. See, you notice that David's not perfect, right? He's not a perfect man. He cuts off the skirt. It's not the right thing to do. But here's the difference between David and the other men is that his heart smote him. Maybe the other guys are like, yeah, let me see that skirt. We got him. They're coming. They might be gloating. I don't know. Whereas David, it actually bothered him that he did that. Okay? And God doesn't expect perfect Christians, but he does expect for us to respond the right way when we do wrong. You understand? And when we sin, when we defraud a brother, when we do wrong, you know, he wants our hearts to be bothered. And look, folks, if your heart's not bothered, it doesn't mean you're not saved. It doesn't mean that you're just a complete wicked individual. It just means you have a hard heart and you need to work on tenderizing your heart once again so that those things do bother you. Understand? You know, it should be that, you know, and by the way, when I say a tender heart, I'm not saying that you're going to be crying every time you sin or something. You know? But you know, sometimes that does happen. Right? And when I say, you know, have a tender heart, I'm not saying that you're going to be, it's just a constant sense of remorse every time you do wrong. Tender heart can just simply mean that when you hear hymns being sung, for example, it touches your heart. You're not like thinking about what am I going to eat after service or something. Or, you know, you're thinking about how your Bitcoin's doing. Obviously you don't want to think about that right now because obviously that's, you know, not doing very well. Okay? What does it cause you to do? A tender heart causes you to think upon the words of the song. And you know what can bring a tear to your eye too. Okay? And not just in church. Maybe when you're singing hymns in your car, at home, you think upon the words and you allow that swelling joy to just swell up within you and you weep, not out of sadness, but just out of joy, out of thankfulness, out of gratitude. That's what it means to have a tender heart. You know? Not this attitude like, oh, we're singing this hymn again. Oh man, these hymns are so boring. Why can't we get like the drums in here? Why can't we get those, the smoke and mirrors and, you know, the repeating the same line over and over again. That's way more lively. You know, yeah, that's fleshly is what that is, but it doesn't speak to the spirit. You understand? You know, the spirit needs hymns, right? Because hymns are essentially preaching in song. Okay? And they teach us doctrine, they remind us of the goodness of God, of salvation. But what I'm trying to say here is that, you know, David is obviously a man after God's own heart because of the fact that it's tender and it smites him at his heart when he does wrong. Even something as small as cutting off the skirt of his enemy. And, you know, he didn't cut off his head, but he cut off his skirt and he still felt bad about it. Okay? And so, you know, this is a virtue that we all need to strive to continue to have. And if you ever find yourself having a hard heart and not being willing to forgive, you say, well, how do I know if I have a hard heart? Well, if you're not willing to forgive someone, okay? Or if you're bored with biblical preaching, if you're bored with hymns, if you find yourself, your love waning for the lost, you know, these are different factors that we can take into account that can determine whether we have a hardened heart or not. And we can fix that by just reading the Word of God consistently, listening to preaching, and asking the Lord, Lord, tenderize my heart, help me not to have a hard heart. You know, the closer we get to the end times, folks, the more the love of people shall wax worse. You know what I mean? Evil men shall wax worse and worse and people won't love as much. We need to make sure that we keep a tender heart in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. And so we see here that he's convicted over this because of the fact that in David's heart, prior to his heart smiting him, he really just wanted to kill Saul. And we can, you know, kind of feel with that, right? I mean, the guy's running. He's the next up to be king. Saul's persecuting him. He can just really just fix this really quick by just killing Saul right there on the spot. And, you know, there might be some bitterness in David's heart, right? It's just like I've done this guy no wrong. He's wronged me this whole time. He's been trying to kill me. He's been doing so much damage in my personal life. I mean, I'm a fugitive right now. I'm not even home in my own inheritance because this guy's trying to kill me. I can just take care of the situation right now. So out of that, he cuts off the skirt and, of course, he is convicted because of it. Now, here's another thing, an application that we can make from this, okay? Because, you know, Saul, even though he's not right with God, even though he's just behaving wickedly, he's still like the authority. I mean, David even recognizes him as the Lord's anointed. And what we see here is that David's taken a shot at his authority. He's not killing him, but what is he doing? He's kind of just removing his skirt just a little bit, right? And you know what? This is a perfect application to us and our leaders, whether it's your mom or your dad, it's your boss, it's your pastor, it's someone who has an authority over you. You know, you might not be bitter towards them to the point where you'd want to kill them, but you could cut off the skirt a little bit and criticize them every once in a while, right? You might be guilty of criticizing your boss, criticizing your husband, criticizing your mom and dad, criticizing the pastor, criticizing someone in your life. You're not going to create a lot of damage, you're not going to try to take his head off or whatever, but what you might do is actually just cut off the skirt just a little bit. You know, because cutting off the skirt a little bit is not as bad as taking his life or something, you understand? Or doing something that can damage them even more, you're just kind of removing the skirt a little bit. But you know what? It's still wrong to do. So criticizing your boss just a little, just like a little skirt, still wrong. Criticizing your husband just a little bit, still wrong. Criticizing your pastor, criticizing a spiritual leader, criticizing mom and dad just a little bit, it's still wrong to do. It might not be at the same level as taking their life or doing something, I shouldn't use taking your life, you're not going to take your parents' life or anything. But I'm saying it might not be something as bad as, you know, I don't know, you think of something worse than just cutting off the skirt, whatever, getting into an argument with them or fighting them or smiting them, but you know what? It's still bad to do because it shows your heart's not right towards your parents, your heart's not right towards your husband, your heart's not right towards a brother, sister in Christ in the church. Okay? And so you think to yourself, well, you know, there's a particular person in this church that I just don't like. Okay? And you have every right to not like everyone in our church. You know, everyone has the right to like whoever they want. Okay? No one's going to force you here to just like everyone. You have to be diplomatic in church for sure. No one's going to force you to like anybody, but hold on a second, don't go around cutting off skirts either though. You understand? Don't go around trying to recruit people to not liking that person and viewing that individual the way you would view them just because you have ought against that individual for whatever reason. Okay? You have no right to cut off that person's skirt per se, you know, just because you have ought against that individual. And so that's an application we can make to this. But here's another application is that Saul is the Lord's anointed because he's the king. But in the New Testament, all believers are anointed. For example, we are the Lord's anointed. Okay? And it doesn't mean that we're literal kings. Now the Bible talks about us being like kings and priests in the eyes of God if we're saved. However, more important than that is the fact that we have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us. And for that reason, we are the Lord's anointed. And an application that we can make to this is that, you know, the enemies of God need to be careful messing with the Lord's anointed. Because God will take vengeance upon those who try to harm or disrupt or go against the Lord's anointed. You say, oh, who do you think you are calling yourself the Lord's anointed? I'm saved. That's what I am. You know, me and my church and churches like ours that believe in the right salvation, even if they don't agree with us on secondary doctrines, if they're saved by grace through faith, they are the Lord's anointed, my friends. Okay? And I'm not going to get into all the examples that I can give personally of people who try to mess with the Lord's anointed and God smote them. But I'll give you examples of my wife's family, for example. You know, there's a story with my mom, my wife's mother, who some guy came and basically took her bike, stole her bike, and stole her bike. And I don't know how long it was after that. It was like shortly, shortly thereafter, the same day, the police just shot him down. I'm not saying it was just for him to do that. You know what I mean? I don't know exactly how that went down. I just know this, don't touch the Lord's anointed. That's just all I know. You know, and she wasn't taking vengeance upon, she wasn't like, yeah, let's get that guy and cut off, forget cutting off his skirt, you know, cut off his head or whatever. You know, but God took vengeance, and who knows, you know, that person might have been a very wicked individual, we don't know. What I'm saying is that, you know, this isn't necessarily a warning to the wicked because they're going to try to mess with us no matter what. This is a reminder to us how God views, you know, people who want to touch the Lord's anointed. Who want to touch Christians and hinder them and stop them from doing God's work and stop them from preaching God's word and try to hinder the work of God. We're talking about wicked and unreasonable men that have not faith, the Bible says. These are individuals who hate the Lord and they hate God's work and they just want to infiltrate churches or they want to stop churches from doing the work of God. You know, these individuals are trying to touch the Lord's anointed and there is a specific punishment that God sets forth for individuals like that, okay. And so may that be a security to you that, you know, you're under God's protection. Our church is under God's protection, okay. And by the way, that's one of the reasons why I don't wish harm upon any other Christian, even if they're a pastor, okay, who's saved, who hates us, and there's quite a bit of pastors out there who are saved pastors who just do not like us at all, you understand. They criticize us and, you know, they don't like our language or whatever, you know, they criticize our ministry or whatever it may be and they don't like us. But you know what, I wouldn't wish any physical harm on any of them. You say, what if they're a false prophet? Well, you know, they're innocent until proven guilty at that point. I'm not just going to assume that someone's a false prophet unless I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, you understand. You say, why? Well, because of the fact that calling someone a false prophet is a grievous thing to do, okay. And there's plenty of examples in the Bible of people who committed worse things and they were saved, you understand. I mean, like who? Saul, that's a great example right there. I mean, he's trying to kill David who was the Old Testament picture of Jesus and yet he was a saved man. And so, you know, I don't wish any physical harm upon any Christian, any pastor, you know. Obviously, and by the way, we need to distinguish and what I mean here is that I don't wish any physical harm, but if they are preaching heresy or they're railing or they're doing things that are not becoming to a pastor or a church, then they need to be corrected. But correcting them is not touching the Lord's anointed, okay. And if they think that that's considered touching the Lord's anointed, they're weaklings and weenies and they need to man up and be able to take correction, okay. Oh, you're touching the Lord's anointed. I preach the sermon. That's not touching the Lord's anointed, okay. And it's sad that some pastors out there, you know, they take it as though, you know, you're physically harming them or something like that. It's like, you grow up, you're just being corrected for what you did, okay. And correct it. People did it in the Bible. There's nothing new under the sun. And so we see here that even David knows as backslidden as Saul is, I can't, I'm not going to take his life because he's still the Lord's anointed, okay. He's still protected by God and not only that, or not necessarily protected by God, but he's still placed in this position of authority by God. And, you know, David could easily reason this away and say, well, I'm the next one, so I'm just going to speed up the process here. You know, I'm just going to streamline the process and just get him out of the way because he's unrighteous. But you know what, he's leaving that up to God, right. He's leaving it up to the Lord and just allowing Saul to dig his own grave and just saying, well, the Lord's going to take care of him. And so, you know, obviously David's extending mercy to Saul, but he's not extending mercy to the workers of iniquity, okay. So let's have a balanced view of David here, okay. Because for every person he extends mercy to that's a believer, he's slain a bunch of Philistines as well. You guys know that, right? I mean, remember the story of the foreskins, okay. All those guys died, okay. And I don't see David being remorseful over that. And by the way, I'm not saying that that's what we're going to do, that we're going to take someone's life. I'm saying the amount of mercy that he had towards the workers of iniquity or individuals that were the enemies of God, okay. And look, you say, well, how do we apply that then? Are you saying you're going to be unmerciful towards the workers of iniquity? Well, obviously the Bible teaches us in the New Testament that we are not to take vengeance. We're not to get into a physical altercation with anybody. This is not a call for us to be vigilantes in this world. But you know what? I'm going to be unmerciful in my prayers against them. You know, there's people who want to pray for them in the positive way. And then you have the imprecatory prayers that we pray, okay, because the Bible permits that. And you know what? I'm not going to pray for them to get back on the path which is a path that they hate. Let them stray away even further from the path, Lord. You know, let the earth open up and let them be swallowed up. Let the worst possible thing happen to these individuals. Let them die a miserable death. You know, oh, you're being violent. No, I'm not because I'm not carrying anything out. Okay, and so that's what we need to do, okay. And you know, when it comes to other Christians who are just, you know, just being carnal or they don't like us or they've counted us an enemy, we need to be merciful unto them. And in fact, we need to do good unto them, the Bible says. Right, we need to be kind to them. We not only need to extend forgiveness, but the Bible even teaches us that we need to confirm our love towards that individual as well. Okay, you know, the Bible tells us be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And so the Bible specifically teaches us that God commands us and He expects us to forgive one another and He kind of reminds us, by the way, you know how like I forgave you for Christ's sake? That's what you need to do to that individual that has wronged you as well, okay. And you know, let's just be honest, we've offended God way more in our personal lives throughout our Christian life or whatever, and yet He's forgiven us and so we need to extend that same gratitude and mercy towards other people. And in fact, you know, there is a parable in the Bible about that and in the Gospels about that, okay. And so we need to make sure that we keep a tender heart, that we don't seek to touch the Lord's anointed and you know, it doesn't matter how backslidden they are or how bad they get, we need to make sure that we are merciful towards them, okay. Look at verse number six, it 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. 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. So it was just like, that was a nice cave, you know, he kind of like walks out and he was like, you know, just doesn't even know that David could have just taken his life right there. Verse eight says, David also rose afterward and went out 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. So what do we see with David? Well, we see a physical expression of the tender heart that he has. Because what does he mean that he's bowing his head to the floor? He's showing an expression of humility, right? He's basically showing an expression of surrender, of humility, of just like, you know, I'm not your enemy, I'm not trying to go after you. He's showing them respect is what he's doing. It says in verse nine, And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt. Now that is a very powerful statement, okay? Because what is this basically implying? It's implying that the reason Saul has this vitriol towards David is because of men's words, right? There's people that are basically talking in Saul's ear, basically saying David's trying to kill you, but nothing can be further from the truth. David's not seeking after Saul's life. He's not trying to kill him. The exact opposite is the truth. And David over here is saying, Why are you listening to people? And man, this is a great principle for us to learn today. Okay, that, you know, we need to be careful who we're listening to or allowing to influence us, right? And not just believe every single word that we hear and not just believe it at face value. We need to, you know, take the biblical principle of under the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. And when that word is established on the two or three witnesses, that we make diligent inquiry to see if those things are so. And not just believe everything, you know, because people can get us mad really quick. Someone said this about you. And it's just like, What? I can't believe that person. You know, and it's just like one person said it, but, you know, is there any witnesses? You know, and we're so quick to just jump on that emotional train of just getting mad at someone or becoming bitter towards an individual, just because of the words of man speaking in our ear and getting us all riled up. We need to make sure that under the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word is established. And when it's established that we make diligent inquiry to see if those things are so and not just believe every single word. The Bible tells us that in the book of Proverbs that he that answereth the matter before he heareth it, it is foolishness and folly unto him. When you just make a judgment call based off of what one person said and you just believe it, you know, at face value, you know, Bible calls that foolishness and folly. And let's just be honest, all of us have done that at one point in our lives. Or maybe someone of credibility in our personal life told us something and it's just like we believe it because why would so and so lie? But you know, so and so maybe not be lying. Maybe they believe what they believe they heard, but it's just inaccurate. Okay. Doesn't mean they have, you know, some sort of vendetta against the individual that they're telling you about. But maybe they just misheard, they misunderstood, whatever it may be. But I want you to notice that he's like, you know, he's basically telling I'm not seeking your hurt. I'm not trying to take your life. Okay. Now look, folks, if many people are saying this and he and then he diligently inquires of it and it's true, then, you know, there's room to talk there. Okay. But that's not the case here because obviously Saul is the only one who's been pursuing David and David's been the only one who's been running from Saul. There's no evidence of David trying to kill Saul and yet Saul just believes this blindly. We should not be those types of Christians. Okay. When we hear something, we need to make sure that we confirm it and not just believe every idle word. Okay. And look, you know, you guys remember that game back in elementary school? I think it's called phone tag or something. Is it phone tag? Is that what it's called? Where, you know, this is so old, I know. You guys have tablets now and everything. We didn't have tablets. The only tablets we had were like chalkboard tablets. Okay. But I remember there was a game where everyone would sit around in a circle and one person would give a word to the individual to the left. And by the time it got all the way around, it was just something completely different. You know, because in the midst of them going around, someone misheard or someone who's just devious just decided to just change what was being said. I'll be honest with you. There were times when I was that devious child. Okay. Well, let's make things exciting here. Okay. Let's just say something completely opposite because it's just fun to do. And what good is it to just have the same word come back around? Okay. But here's the thing is that, you know, people still do that today, though. You hear one thing and by the time it gets around, you're getting it third, fourth, fifth hand. You know, this person's a murderer or something like that. And so it's important that we get the information, that we know what's going on. But look, folks, once we get the information and we know what's going on, it's like, okay, then it's settled. Okay, we know what's going on. And so verse nine, he says to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt. Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord hath delivered thee today into 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. He's like, you are witnessing firsthand that I'm not trying to kill you because when you were vulnerable, you're using the restroom. And I could have just taken your life right then and there. I didn't do it. And here's the proof. Here's the skirt of your robe. Just to kind of show you that I had the opportunity to do it, but I didn't do it, which shows that I'm not trying to take your life. I'm not going after you. I'm actually running away from you is what he's telling him. So he's extending, he extends his mercy. Now he's extending an appeal. He says in verse number 11, Moreover, my father, see ye, 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 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. Verse 13, As saith the proverb of the ancients, wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon thee. Now this isn't a proverb, one of Solomon's proverbs. It's just the proverb of the ancients, but it teaches a biblical principle. He's essentially saying, wicked people will do wicked things. And you know, the wicked, let the wicked do the wicked things, but mine hand is not going to touch you. I'm not going to do anything to you. So the wicked will definitely take vengeance. The wicked will avenge themselves, they will be unmerciful, because that's how they operate, but I'm not going to do anything about that. Other people can be vigilantes, but I'm not going to be a vigilante. Verse 14 says, After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flee? So over and over again we see David's godly disposition. Because when he says he's a dead dog, he's a flee, he's essentially abasing himself, right? He's trying to present himself as being nobody, because that's how he sees himself, as a nobody. You know, even when Saul considered him to be a son-in-law, he's like, who am I? Who's my father's house? Who are we? Which is one of the reasons why God is exalting him, which is one of the reasons God was using him, is because he was very little in his own sight, just like Saul was at one point. So he's basically telling him, you're hunting after someone who doesn't even matter, I'm not important, I'm like a dead dog, I'm like a flee. Verse 15, The Lord therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand. Now that's a powerful statement. He's like, at the end of the day, let the Lord judge between me and thee. Now, people can't take this too far in the New Testament, because although this is true that the Lord shall judge between people, God has set forth certain people to judge, even here on this earth, right? So it's not like, well, you know, this wickedness is taking place in church, but the Lord judge between me and that person. You know, oh, they're committing fornication in the church, oh, they're committing drunkenness in the church, oh, this person's a pedophile in the church or something like that, well, the Lord judge between that. God will take care of that individual. Yeah, God will take care of that individual, but you need to take care of it now, too. And in fact, part of God's judgment, you're an arm of his judgment, if like you're a pastor of the church or something like that. You know, God expects us to judge here on this earth as well. It's like if I went into my house or something to my kids, you know, they're older, they're adults or something like that, and they're doing some wickedness, I can't just be like, well, the Lord judge between me and my son or whatever. God expects me to do something about it, because he set me forth in that household to judge my family. He set me forth in this church to judge the church, okay, and he set us forth to judge certain matters, and so we can't just say, well, you know, God will take care of them one day. That's absolutely true, you're absolutely right, but not at the exclusion of judging them here, okay. You know, if, for example, if a murderer is found in our church or something like that, it's like, well, God will take care of that guy. God will take care of that person. We can't judge everyone, you know, everyone needs a second chance. I get what you're saying, and if you want to have that disposition, that's fine and dandy, but we're throwing them out and we're also giving them over to the police. That's not right, though, like that's not for you to judge. Yes, it is. What are you talking about? You know, if some pedophile is found in our church, well, you know, yeah, the Lord's going to judge that individual, and in fact, that person is already twice dead, plucked up by the roots, because no pedophile in this world is saved, by the way. Just want to let you know that. There's not a single pedophile in this world that has salvation or will ever have salvation or can ever be reformed, and in fact, you know, the Bible specifically says that that person, that individual is a reprobate, and the reason they even became a pedophile is because they rejected the truth long ago. They turned the truth of God into a lie, and they became, their hearts became darkened, they rejected the gospel, therefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. They're unmerciful individuals. You know, if a person is found to be a pedophile in our church, we're not just going to say, well, you know, the Lord loves everyone, and the Lord will judge that person. You stay in your lane, you know, and you just keep preaching the Bible, pastor, and God will take care of that individual. We need to pray for that individual. It's like, dude, go to like Calvary Chapel with that or something. This person needs, the authorities need to be called. This person needs to be kicked out and made a public spectacle in the church. Plain and simple. Why would you make that public? Because the church needs to know about it. That's why. And that's how church discipline works. You understand? And look, folks, you know, as our church, you know, we're going into five years in September. Time flies. We're going, five years, we're going to celebrate our five-year anniversary as a church here in September, but as the years go by, we're going to have situations like that in our church. And I want to prepare you for that because, you know, when that happens, I don't want you to be like, not in our church, not a new IFB church. It's like, folks, this happens in all churches. What doesn't happen in every church is the judgment of that individual. You understand? You know, we can't read everyone's heart. We don't know what's going on all the time in someone's heart. All we can do is actually take care of the issue when it actually arises. And, you know, there's a pastor out there who, you know, he's cracking down on his church right now because they've had issues like that and he's been cracking down on the people who might be involved and another guy just got involved in pedophilia or whatever and he got taken care of and they removed him from the congregation. Amen to that. Amen to that. Because you know what? Not every Baptist pastor actually does that, believe it or not. You say, what do they do? They pick up the rug and they sweep it under. That's what they do. Okay. Or they go to bat for the pedophile or something like that. Like, people actually do that? Yeah, there's a guy named Bruce Goddard who does that. Over in Menifee, which I think you have a hat on right now that says Menifee Car Wash there for the geo. You shouldn't have sat in the front. No, I'm just kidding. Not Menifee, what was that? Waldemar. And for years, they have a history of this, my friends. They have a history of pedophilia. But here's the thing, it's one thing to have like a history of pedophilia, you know, because obviously pedophiles are going to target churches. That's why you shouldn't be surprised when that happens. Because pedophiles target churches, right? But they have a history of defending the pedophiles and attacking the victims and then trying to sweep it under the carpet and all this nonsense. You know, that happens a lot, unfortunately. North Valley Baptist Church is guilty of that and many other churches where these pedophiles are found, these predators are discovered and like nothing is done about it. Okay. Folks, I tip my hat off to that pastor who, you know, once he found out that person that kicked him out, he's out of there, he's done, you know, case closed or whatever. And obviously I'm sure the authorities got involved as well. And in fact, I remember my father-in-law, he, you know, some person came to him one time and look, I didn't even know if my father-in-law's theology in regards to pedophiles was all there either. He might have believed that they can get saved, I don't know. I never asked him. However, when someone came to him and said, you know, I struggle with pedophilia, he's like, well, sit there one second, I'll be right back. I'm going to go call the police right now. It was supposed to be like a counseling session and he's just like, I'm calling the police, you're out of here. I'm like, I don't want nothing to do with you. Amen. It's not like, well, just don't tell anybody about it. We'll counsel and we'll help you overcome this common sin, which if any pastor says that, they're involved in it too. Okay. But, you know, we need to make sure that, yeah, the Lord judge between me and thee, but also recognize that we are responsible for judging in the church as well. Okay. And so we don't need any bleeding hearts in our church for heretics, false prophets, reprobates, pedophiles, no bleeding hearts for that. Raylor, or by the way, even if someone is a Christian, let me just put this out there. It's not taking place now, but just to prepare you in case it ever does. If a Bible, if a person who is saved in our church gets kicked out for like railing or just disorderly conduct or whatever, you know, we don't need bleeding hearts in our church. Oh, pastor, why did you do that? Because you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to say, would you like to join them? How are you going to grow a church like that? I don't know. That's not what I'm thinking of when I'm throwing people out. I'm not thinking of church growth, obviously, when I'm kicking people out of the church. I'm not like, oh man, how's this going to affect the tides? That's not on my mind. I rarely, if ever, think about the tides of the church or how that's going to affect our church because the most important thing to me is justice in the church, my friends, and carrying out the office of a pastor that if that takes place, they need to go. But let me just tell you that if that ever happens in our church and it has and it will, do not be a bleeding heart towards those individuals. You said, what is a bleeding heart? It's a person who's just so sympathetic towards them where it's just like you throw someone out and it's just like, well, can I at least call them, though? If the Bible says that they're supposed to be like a heathen and a publican to you and they've been excommunicated from the church, that means we should have no contact with them. Well, can I at least encourage them or something? If a person has been kicked out of our church and they're supposed to be a heathen and a publican to us, that means no contact. Well, but I really like that person. I can't just let us say goodbye. If a person has been excommunicated from our church and they're supposed to be a heathen and a publican unto us, that means no contact. It's going to be the same answer over and over again. Can you get the hint here? And folks, don't force me in that position where I just have to repeat myself over and over again because then after the fifth time, I'm not going to say that. I'm just going to call you an idiot or something or I'm going to say, are you as bad as this individual then? Because you seem to want that individual to be in our church really bad. You understand? And look, if you become a bleeding heart towards someone who gets kicked out of our church, look, you can feel however you want. This is not the emotional police here tell you how to feel. I'm just telling you, if you have a bleeding heart, keep your mouth shut about it. How dare you? Well, look folks, no one's forced to stay in our church. Did you know that? You guys run that thing like a cult. No, it'd be run like a cult if I said, keep your mouth shut and you stay here and you ain't going nowhere. Folks, everyone has the right. If you don't like how I lead the church, if you don't like the policies of our church, the doctrines of our church, there's so many doors, there's so many of them. There's so many doors you can use. I'll even let you use my office door. This parking lot has like three exits you can leave. You're welcome to leave anytime you want if you don't like that. That's like a cult. How is that like a cult when people choose to be here? I don't force anybody to be here. How can anybody be in this church where you're preaching like that? Well, probably because they agree with what I'm saying. And people who don't agree with it, they're probably going to be gone soon. And you know what? We're not going to be a bleeding heart over wicked individuals, especially over pedophiles and reprobates and heretics and railers and people who hate the Lord. And so we need to make sure that, yes, the Lord judge between me and thee on an eternal level. That person is going to get what's coming to them. However, God has set forth, I mean, 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 say it plainly, folks. And I preached about it already a couple of weeks ago that we're going to judge, oh no, I preached that at the Red Hot, excuse me, that we're going to judge this world one day and we should be able to judge the smallest of matters in the church even though the Lord will judge between me and thee. Well, I don't like that. People might hear this on the internet and be like, I don't like that, I don't like how you run your church, then don't come. Don't ever step foot here then. That's plain and simple. People are weird sometimes. I don't like what you preach on that, then turn off your computer, what do you want? You just click out. Who's making you listen to my sermon? I don't like what you said in this clip, then why are you watching it? Then stop watching. I don't like what you said here, then why are you subscribed? I don't like what you said here, then why do you comment? It's like, I can't believe I'm wasting my time watching this entire video, but when he said this, it's like... But yeah, you want to type that out. You know, folks, it's like, if I see a video that I don't like, what do I do? I just swipe up, swipe. People are like... And you know, nowadays, because of shorts or whatever, the video is like playing in the background as you're typing, so they're listening to me like on a continuous loop. And so, you know, verse 15, The Lord therefore judge, and judge between me and thee and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand. And let me just say one last thing, is that if that ever happens in our church, the reason I'm even bringing this up is because that happened recently at another church, at an independent fundamental Baptist church. And they handled it. Obviously, you know, they might not have handled it the way Pastor Mahiel would have handled it. I would have been a lot more upset and preached like five sermons on them. But the job got done, my friends. Amen? But what I'm saying is, you know, if this ever happens, we need to make sure that we have the right attitude about it. And you're like, oh man, but I'm going to miss that person. Here's the thing, you're going to miss who you thought that person was. Just remember that. When your best friend gets thrown out of the church or something, just remember you thought they were your best friend. Most people just miss who they think that person was. It's not who they really are. And if people could understand that there wouldn't be such bleeding hearts over these wicked individuals who get thrown out of churches, they would understand, oh, I thought this person was like this, and I only am fond of who I thought that person was. That was like the huge issue when Donny Romero got found out. People were so mad about Donny Romero getting found out or whatever and getting kicked out, and people thought that people were just being so unjust because they missed Donny Romero for who they thought he was, which is like a righteous person, which he's not a righteous person. He's a wicked individual who does drugs and sleeps with hookers. That's who he really is. And so we need to make sure we have that in our minds, that sometimes people miss the individuals who we think they are, that that's not their individual, and you have to be able to separate that. You have to have the mental maturity to say, okay, I'm disattaching my emotions from who I thought they were, because that's not who they really are. The mask has come off, and this is who they really are. Look at verse 16. 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? No. He's right there. And Saul lifted up his voice and wept, and he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou has rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. Now, I personally believe that Saul is actually being sincere here. Now, in a couple chapters, we're going to see that he's going to keep pursuing after David, though. But I personally believe that this passage here is actually a moment where Saul kind of comes to his senses because he's still saved. He's just a really carnal Christian. You know, you talk to carnal Christians sometimes, and they're just living a really carnal life, but then they slip up and actually say something right? Or they make a righteous call, or a righteous sentence comes out of their mouth? Because they still have the Spirit of God dwelling within them, they have the new man dwelling within them. You understand? And so this is quite possibly what's going on with Saul here. He's demonstrating remorse. He says in verse 17, And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou has 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 hath delivered me into thine hand, thou killest me not. Now, I want you to really pay attention to verse 19, okay? Because we could read over that and just, you know, take it at face value what he's saying, but when you read this verse, it's basically showing you what he would have done. Because look what it says in verse 19, 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. What is he saying? If I would have found you using the restroom, I would have killed you. I would have not let you get away. Whereas the Bible teaches not to do this to your enemies. You understand what I'm saying? So he's basically talking about what he would have done to David if the tables were turned. But, you know, he's also recognizing the fact that David is a more righteous person than him, because he's essentially saying, if I would have found you in that spot, I probably would have taken your life, okay? I mean, the guy is bad, man. Verse 20, he's very backslidden. Look at verse 20, And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. You know, he's preaching the truth. And it's almost as if Saul's coming to the recognition, you know, for him to make this statement, he's like, I know, he's basically saying, I know that God's against me, I know God's for you, and I know you're going to be the next king. He's like, come into terms with that. Now, he reverts back to his old way of thinking later on, because then he's going to pursue him again, okay? But the second time he pursues him would actually be the last time he pursues him. And when he resolves, you know, the decision to say, I'm not going to pursue after you anymore, he actually ceases from pursuing after David, and then later on, of course, he dies. But he's recognizing the fact that David is going to be king, and obviously, how is he going to refute that when God has performed so many miracles for David? To this point, he's seeing like God's hand is obviously on you, okay? Verse 21, Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my Father's house. Now, what is he asking? Well, typically, when a new king would take over, they would essentially just remove all of the seed, you know, just remove any possibility of threat to his own kingdom by killing off all the seed. And you actually see this a couple times in the Bible. And obviously, I don't think, you know, David would have done this. In fact, we see, obviously, he's going to swear here, but I think even if he didn't swear to do it, he would have still saved Saul's lineage alive because he loved Jonathan, he loved the house of Saul. He didn't want any ill towards him. He doesn't have those type of intentions. But Saul wants to solidify the fact that like, you know, when you take over, please make sure you don't kill off my family, okay? And then he says in verse 22, And David sware unto Saul, and Saul went home, but David and his men got them up unto the hold. Now, verse 22, you would think, well, you know, you guys made peace. They reconciled. Why doesn't David just go back home? Well, because even though Saul said this, David knows how fickle Saul is. You could just turn on a dime or something, like on their way home. It's like, you know, I'm going to kill you, actually. Just like throw a javelin at him or something like that, you know? So in David's mind, he's just like, I think I'm going to stay here until I make sure that you're not going to kill me kind of thing, you know? Like, I believe you, but, you know. Which, by the way, is a great principle, you know what I mean? And let me just give like a really raw, you know, application to this. You know, sometimes, let's say you have a person who wrongs you in a church or something, right? And that person comes to you remorseful, and they're sorry. Let's say what they did to you was just very grievous, cause you a lot of emotion or hurt or something like that. You know, they just wronged you for whatever reason. You know, if you're a good Christian, obviously, right, you would forgive that individual. But, you know, you probably stay in the hold, though, for a while and not be as buddy buddies with that person as you once were because of the possibility of it happening again or something like that, right? You know, it's just like, you know, let's just give an example. Let's say, you know, you let someone in our church borrow a bunch of money or something, and they never paid you back or whatever, and you're like, man, this person said they were going to pay me back, and they go to the end and say, I'm so sorry, you know, I was irresponsible, and all these things, you know. And let's say you just forgive that person. You say, you know what, that hurt my pocketbook quite a bit, but you're my brother in Christ, so I forgive you, and, you know, it's all good. But here's the thing, do you think you're ever going to, like, lend that person money again? No, that money's going to remain in the hold. It's just like, hey, I love you, I forgive you, it's all good between you and I, we can go out to eat, but we're paying separate checks here. You know, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, this kind of thing. So David is being, you know, he's a wise person that even though he swore to Saul that he's not going to kill him, Saul even said, I know you're the next king, and you're more righteous than I, it was just a great conversation. You know, David goes back to his man, he's like, we're going to stay here a little longer, though, just in case. Because, you know, Saul's character is that, you know, he just, he's kind of double-minded, and he might just change his mind about me on the way home or something like that. That's a great principle for us to learn, that we can forgive, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we just are going to make the same mistake again, right? And so, great chapter here, a lot of practical things, but I think the best thing that we can learn from this is the fact that David was very merciful towards Saul. He extended that mercy towards him, even though Saul wasn't extending mercy to him. And let there be a lesson to us that, you know, we need to extend mercy to others, even though they haven't necessarily reciprocated that same mercy towards us. Talk about Christians, etc. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and Lord, thank you for your mercy. We're so thankful for your grace that you've been so good to us, Lord, and you forgave us. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to do the same for others, Lord, and help us to be like David, to have a tender heart, and that our heart might smite us when we do wrong, Lord, and help us to continue to delve into the Word of God and to love preaching and to keep a tender heart, Lord. Break up the fallow ground when needed so that we can be sensitive to those things, Lord. And I pray that, Lord, you bless us as we go home. Bless our weekend. May many souls be saved this weekend, Lord. Bless the preaching, the fellowship, and all there is, Lord. We love you.