1
00:00:02,730 --> 00:00:06,730
Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

2
00:00:06,790 --> 00:00:12,940
Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. Well, today

3
00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,900
Speaker 1: we're continuing our look at the book of 1 Samuel,

4
00:00:16,500 --> 00:00:19,980
Speaker 1: and today we're going to be looking at three chapters

5
00:00:20,180 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 1: of 1 Samuel, and some we'll look at in great detail,

6
00:00:23,290 --> 00:00:27,210
Speaker 1: others we'll give a thorough summary of, but we're going

7
00:00:27,230 --> 00:00:30,930
Speaker 1: to be in 1 Samuel 18 for starters. And in

8
00:00:30,970 --> 00:00:33,470
Speaker 1: this portion of Scripture, what you're going to notice is

9
00:00:33,550 --> 00:00:38,880
Speaker 1: that King Saul is going to repeatedly attempt to kill David.

10
00:00:39,580 --> 00:00:41,920
Speaker 1: And we're going to see some things that are behind that.

11
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:44,060
Speaker 1: So if you would take your Bibles, open with me

12
00:00:44,100 --> 00:00:47,589
Speaker 1: to 1 Samuel 18, and I'm going to pick up

13
00:00:47,780 --> 00:00:50,930
Speaker 1: at verse 6 and then read for a little bit here,

14
00:00:50,950 --> 00:00:52,430
Speaker 1: and then we're going to take a look at other

15
00:00:52,510 --> 00:00:54,830
Speaker 1: sections of 1 Samuel 18, 19, and 20 together today.

16
00:00:57,410 --> 00:00:59,529
Speaker 1: So we'll start with 1 Samuel 18, and we're going

17
00:00:59,570 --> 00:01:02,900
Speaker 1: to pick up at verse 6. And this is what

18
00:01:02,940 --> 00:01:09,100
Speaker 1: it says. As they were coming home, when David returned

19
00:01:09,180 --> 00:01:12,420
Speaker 1: from striking down the Philistine, that's a reference to Goliath,

20
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,100
Speaker 1: the women came out of the cities of Israel, singing

21
00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:21,250
Speaker 1: and dancing, to meet King Saul with tambourines, with songs

22
00:01:21,310 --> 00:01:25,220
Speaker 1: of joy, and with musical instruments. The women sang to

23
00:01:25,300 --> 00:01:29,280
Speaker 1: one another as they celebrated. Saul has struck down his thousands,

24
00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:35,780
Speaker 1: and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very angry,

25
00:01:36,740 --> 00:01:39,620
Speaker 1: and this saying displeased him. He said, they have ascribed

26
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,919
Speaker 1: to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands.

27
00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,180
Speaker 1: And what more can he have but the kingdom? And

28
00:01:48,300 --> 00:01:54,290
Speaker 1: Saul eyed David from that day on. Let's pray. Father,

29
00:01:54,330 --> 00:01:56,180
Speaker 1: thank you so much for the opportunity to be able

30
00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,140
Speaker 1: to look at your word together. Lord, we're grateful for

31
00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,900
Speaker 1: this portion of scripture that reveals to us a variety

32
00:02:03,940 --> 00:02:06,520
Speaker 1: of things about your actions and your heart and the

33
00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,310
Speaker 1: way in which you work in people's lives, the directions

34
00:02:09,380 --> 00:02:12,549
Speaker 1: that you give, the protection that you supply. It's a

35
00:02:12,570 --> 00:02:15,210
Speaker 1: beautiful thing to be able to witness, but we also know, Lord,

36
00:02:15,250 --> 00:02:18,270
Speaker 1: that as we look at this section of scripture in

37
00:02:18,650 --> 00:02:21,230
Speaker 1: chapter 18, 19, and 20 of 1 Samuel, that we're

38
00:02:21,250 --> 00:02:25,079
Speaker 1: looking at things that were very difficult for David to

39
00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,919
Speaker 1: live through as Saul was attempting to take his life

40
00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,340
Speaker 1: and was causing him to live under great threat day

41
00:02:31,419 --> 00:02:37,320
Speaker 1: in and day out, pursuing him, aiming to ultimately end

42
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,400
Speaker 1: his natural life because of insecurity and jealousy. So Father,

43
00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:43,160
Speaker 1: I pray that you prepare our minds and our hearts

44
00:02:43,210 --> 00:02:46,330
Speaker 1: to understand what we're reading. And most importantly, Lord, we

45
00:02:46,389 --> 00:02:48,610
Speaker 1: pray that you would point us in the direction of

46
00:02:48,669 --> 00:02:51,850
Speaker 1: your son, Jesus Christ, as we apply the truths that

47
00:02:51,930 --> 00:02:55,750
Speaker 1: are taught to us in these passages to our day-to-day lives.

48
00:02:55,830 --> 00:02:57,690
Speaker 1: We commit this time to you now, Lord, and we

49
00:02:57,730 --> 00:03:00,829
Speaker 1: thank you that through your spirit, you teach your word

50
00:03:00,910 --> 00:03:05,240
Speaker 1: to us. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.

51
00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,100
Speaker 1: So this is an interesting portion of scripture that we're

52
00:03:10,300 --> 00:03:13,299
Speaker 1: at in our study here in 1 Samuel. As we're

53
00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,010
Speaker 1: basically working our way through the book and thinking about

54
00:03:16,030 --> 00:03:18,220
Speaker 1: the different things that are referenced here, And one of

55
00:03:18,260 --> 00:03:20,820
Speaker 1: the things that you'll notice in these chapters is that

56
00:03:20,940 --> 00:03:25,250
Speaker 1: God divinely protects David, even though Saul is aiming to

57
00:03:25,430 --> 00:03:28,630
Speaker 1: take his life. Now, yesterday, again, many of you have

58
00:03:28,669 --> 00:03:31,910
Speaker 1: heard that a team from our church went and ministered

59
00:03:31,950 --> 00:03:34,850
Speaker 1: in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Some of you are

60
00:03:34,930 --> 00:03:38,270
Speaker 1: very much familiar with Kensington and some of the struggles

61
00:03:38,290 --> 00:03:41,410
Speaker 1: that are present there. It's an area where there is

62
00:03:41,510 --> 00:03:44,900
Speaker 1: so much drug addiction that basically you're surprised when you

63
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,740
Speaker 1: encounter someone who is not addicted. And that is not

64
00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,300
Speaker 1: an exaggerated statement. As many of us stood on the

65
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,220
Speaker 1: sidewalk ministering to people, praying with people, most of the

66
00:03:57,260 --> 00:04:00,500
Speaker 1: people that walked by us seemed like they were on something.

67
00:04:00,980 --> 00:04:03,100
Speaker 1: And so I don't think that's an exaggeration. And someone

68
00:04:03,180 --> 00:04:05,940
Speaker 1: asked me, how many people, percentage-wise, of the people that

69
00:04:05,970 --> 00:04:08,070
Speaker 1: walked past you do you think were on something? I said,

70
00:04:08,090 --> 00:04:10,050
Speaker 1: I don't truly know, but I bet you it's close

71
00:04:10,070 --> 00:04:13,030
Speaker 1: to 80%. I would imagine about 80% of the people

72
00:04:13,070 --> 00:04:15,870
Speaker 1: that walked by us were on something. And so we

73
00:04:15,910 --> 00:04:18,349
Speaker 1: were offering to pray with them, offering to minister to

74
00:04:18,390 --> 00:04:20,370
Speaker 1: them in a variety of ways. And when you're doing

75
00:04:20,410 --> 00:04:23,450
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, you're trying to be social. You're

76
00:04:23,470 --> 00:04:25,730
Speaker 1: trying to be respectful as well. And we were trying

77
00:04:25,750 --> 00:04:29,210
Speaker 1: to be very intentional just to be kind and hospitable

78
00:04:29,290 --> 00:04:31,370
Speaker 1: and to talk to people. And hopefully the Lord would

79
00:04:31,430 --> 00:04:34,589
Speaker 1: open up that as an opportunity to pray. It's interesting,

80
00:04:34,670 --> 00:04:37,390
Speaker 1: one particular man, I would say he was probably in

81
00:04:37,430 --> 00:04:40,630
Speaker 1: his upper 50s. He said his name was Daniel. I

82
00:04:40,670 --> 00:04:42,089
Speaker 1: was talking to him for a moment. And then he

83
00:04:42,210 --> 00:04:44,480
Speaker 1: asked us, he said, are you guys church people? That

84
00:04:44,500 --> 00:04:47,620
Speaker 1: was his question. Are you guys church people? And I said, yeah,

85
00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,580
Speaker 1: you know, we're church people. And he said, well, can

86
00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,920
Speaker 1: you just pray for me that, um, and, and his

87
00:04:53,980 --> 00:04:56,700
Speaker 1: prayer request was, wasn't very complicated. He just simply asked

88
00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,350
Speaker 1: us that we would pray that he would survive. That

89
00:05:00,390 --> 00:05:03,590
Speaker 1: was his, he just was praying for survival that, that, uh,

90
00:05:03,630 --> 00:05:05,630
Speaker 1: that the Lord would protect me, that I would survive.

91
00:05:06,010 --> 00:05:08,180
Speaker 1: And so several of us gathered around him and we

92
00:05:08,210 --> 00:05:12,810
Speaker 1: prayed for Daniel and And then our men's ministry director, Mike,

93
00:05:12,850 --> 00:05:15,420
Speaker 1: who's going to be down there with his family on Thanksgiving,

94
00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:18,520
Speaker 1: volunteering there, also said, hey, make sure you come back

95
00:05:19,140 --> 00:05:22,219
Speaker 1: for Thanksgiving, like come back for dinner on Thanksgiving. And

96
00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:24,500
Speaker 1: so hopefully he follows through on that. He said that

97
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,640
Speaker 1: he would. But one of the more interesting experiences happened

98
00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,620
Speaker 1: as I was standing right by the entryway of the

99
00:05:32,820 --> 00:05:34,919
Speaker 1: coffee shop there that we were trying to minister to

100
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,650
Speaker 1: the people through. And one guy came out and he

101
00:05:38,670 --> 00:05:41,050
Speaker 1: stood with our group. Now, typically, if someone stands with

102
00:05:41,070 --> 00:05:43,430
Speaker 1: your group, you would assume that he wants to be

103
00:05:43,470 --> 00:05:46,349
Speaker 1: a bit social. He's not avoiding us or anything like that.

104
00:05:46,410 --> 00:05:50,530
Speaker 1: I'm standing there. Where is, where's Elena? Elena, where are

105
00:05:50,550 --> 00:05:52,050
Speaker 1: you at? Where are you at? All right, there you are.

106
00:05:52,070 --> 00:05:54,110
Speaker 1: Elena was standing to my right. She knows where I'm

107
00:05:54,130 --> 00:05:57,500
Speaker 1: going with this story. So Elena's here. I'm standing here.

108
00:05:57,540 --> 00:06:00,000
Speaker 1: And this guy comes and he stands basically like right

109
00:06:00,020 --> 00:06:03,180
Speaker 1: behind me and Elena. And so I see him standing there.

110
00:06:03,220 --> 00:06:04,700
Speaker 1: And again, I'm trying to be social. And so I

111
00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,500
Speaker 1: look back And I said, oh, hey, how are you?

112
00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:09,780
Speaker 1: I said, what's your name? And he just kind of

113
00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:11,640
Speaker 1: gives me a glare. And it was kind of like this.

114
00:06:13,980 --> 00:06:15,520
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, maybe he didn't hear because

115
00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,650
Speaker 1: it's a very noisy area. I'll just ask him again

116
00:06:18,710 --> 00:06:21,270
Speaker 1: because people that don't answer you the first time obviously

117
00:06:21,330 --> 00:06:23,830
Speaker 1: want you to ask them a second time the same question.

118
00:06:24,930 --> 00:06:28,010
Speaker 1: So I said, hey, what's your name? And then he

119
00:06:28,050 --> 00:06:30,150
Speaker 1: looks at me and he goes, no joke. And I

120
00:06:30,170 --> 00:06:35,120
Speaker 1: think I'll give you the right tone, too. He goes, Lucifer.

121
00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,300
Speaker 1: So I don't know what you think I did when

122
00:06:42,339 --> 00:06:44,320
Speaker 1: he said that, but I looked and I was like, oh,

123
00:06:44,580 --> 00:06:48,430
Speaker 1: I'm John. It's nice to meet you. And I was like,

124
00:06:48,450 --> 00:06:51,230
Speaker 1: thanks for hanging out with us. And he goes, and

125
00:06:51,250 --> 00:06:53,010
Speaker 1: then he kind of walked away. And then I looked

126
00:06:53,029 --> 00:06:55,670
Speaker 1: at Elena and I said, you heard that, right? She's like,

127
00:06:56,010 --> 00:06:59,420
Speaker 1: I very much heard that. Yes. Okay. Okay. But in

128
00:06:59,460 --> 00:07:02,040
Speaker 1: the midst of all of that, that was a more

129
00:07:02,140 --> 00:07:04,560
Speaker 1: unique moment. And I think everyone on the team probably

130
00:07:04,610 --> 00:07:07,350
Speaker 1: has some moments that touched their heart and moments that

131
00:07:07,830 --> 00:07:10,530
Speaker 1: were very cautionary. And the things that we saw, it's

132
00:07:10,690 --> 00:07:13,670
Speaker 1: obviously an area where there's severe drug addiction and there's

133
00:07:13,710 --> 00:07:16,310
Speaker 1: severe crime and there's just all sorts of things. I

134
00:07:16,330 --> 00:07:18,170
Speaker 1: even had one of my students tell me on Friday,

135
00:07:18,210 --> 00:07:19,869
Speaker 1: she said, you're going to be ministering with your church

136
00:07:19,910 --> 00:07:23,030
Speaker 1: in Kensington on Saturday? I said, yeah. She said, you

137
00:07:23,070 --> 00:07:25,270
Speaker 1: know that it could be a little dangerous there, that

138
00:07:25,310 --> 00:07:29,130
Speaker 1: sometimes people are just unstable. And I said, yeah, I

139
00:07:29,170 --> 00:07:32,560
Speaker 1: know that. And I said, so pray for us as

140
00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:34,840
Speaker 1: we go down there. But one thing I also noticed,

141
00:07:35,300 --> 00:07:38,200
Speaker 1: while we were standing there outside, there was a police

142
00:07:38,300 --> 00:07:40,920
Speaker 1: officer in a car right across the road. Did anyone

143
00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,680
Speaker 1: else notice that? You guys notice that? Okay. So I

144
00:07:43,700 --> 00:07:45,620
Speaker 1: was noticing that, and he stayed there for a good

145
00:07:45,670 --> 00:07:49,650
Speaker 1: long time. After I got back home, I noticed my text,

146
00:07:49,690 --> 00:07:52,590
Speaker 1: and I discovered someone affiliated with our church, who also

147
00:07:52,630 --> 00:07:55,370
Speaker 1: serves as a police officer down there, was telling his friends,

148
00:07:55,450 --> 00:07:58,850
Speaker 1: look out for them. And I was like, well, because

149
00:07:59,030 --> 00:08:00,950
Speaker 1: we were talking as we were driving back. We're like,

150
00:08:01,010 --> 00:08:03,230
Speaker 1: I didn't really feel unsafe today other than that weird

151
00:08:03,290 --> 00:08:06,440
Speaker 1: Lucifer comment thing. I said, other than that, we're all talking.

152
00:08:06,450 --> 00:08:08,230
Speaker 1: We're like, I didn't really feel unsafe. Did you feel it?

153
00:08:08,340 --> 00:08:10,480
Speaker 1: I didn't feel unsafe. It seemed good. And then you

154
00:08:10,500 --> 00:08:13,880
Speaker 1: discover afterward, the Lord sends his agents and he's just

155
00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,840
Speaker 1: watching you and he's protecting you. And I was like, wow,

156
00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,420
Speaker 1: that's fascinating, especially in light of what we're looking at

157
00:08:20,460 --> 00:08:23,320
Speaker 1: in this scripture here, because you'll notice that David is

158
00:08:23,380 --> 00:08:26,770
Speaker 1: going about the Lord's business. He's doing what God has

159
00:08:26,830 --> 00:08:30,410
Speaker 1: called him to do, but his life is very different

160
00:08:30,470 --> 00:08:32,910
Speaker 1: because there are threats and yet the Lord keeps protecting

161
00:08:32,950 --> 00:08:35,530
Speaker 1: him in the midst of those threats. So in the

162
00:08:35,570 --> 00:08:39,460
Speaker 1: previous chapter, David defeated Goliath. That's a portion of scripture

163
00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:41,440
Speaker 1: that most people know, even if they don't know the Bible,

164
00:08:41,740 --> 00:08:44,560
Speaker 1: they seem to know something about David and Goliath. You

165
00:08:44,580 --> 00:08:47,000
Speaker 1: hear that all the time. Whenever I'm watching football, there'll

166
00:08:47,020 --> 00:08:48,900
Speaker 1: be an underdog team and someone say, oh, it's like

167
00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,170
Speaker 1: a David and Goliath story. Everybody talks about it. But

168
00:08:52,210 --> 00:08:57,070
Speaker 1: when David experienced victory over Goliath, That changed his position

169
00:08:57,130 --> 00:09:00,770
Speaker 1: in Israel almost overnight. The way people saw him, the

170
00:09:00,809 --> 00:09:04,190
Speaker 1: fact that everybody knew his name. He basically entered the

171
00:09:04,230 --> 00:09:08,219
Speaker 1: Valley of Elah as an unknown shepherd, carrying his staff,

172
00:09:08,270 --> 00:09:10,800
Speaker 1: carrying the sling. He's got five smooth stones. He goes

173
00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,579
Speaker 1: and then he just is obedient to the Lord. He

174
00:09:15,540 --> 00:09:18,700
Speaker 1: kills Goliath and then he leaves that battlefield as the

175
00:09:18,740 --> 00:09:22,300
Speaker 1: young man that everybody wanted to know. And everybody's singing

176
00:09:22,340 --> 00:09:26,290
Speaker 1: his praises and everybody's interested in his name. and Israel's

177
00:09:26,390 --> 00:09:30,410
Speaker 1: soldiers are celebrating him, and Saul brought him into royal service,

178
00:09:30,730 --> 00:09:33,750
Speaker 1: and everything looked good at that point. Jonathan, who is

179
00:09:33,809 --> 00:09:38,570
Speaker 1: Saul's son, also develops a loyal friendship with David. But

180
00:09:38,610 --> 00:09:40,729
Speaker 1: at the same time, what you start to notice in

181
00:09:40,770 --> 00:09:44,860
Speaker 1: these chapters here that we're at today is that David's success,

182
00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:49,100
Speaker 1: it awakens a fierce jealousy in Saul that shapes the

183
00:09:49,140 --> 00:09:53,380
Speaker 1: next section of the book of 1 Samuel. So 1

184
00:09:53,380 --> 00:09:56,470
Speaker 1: Samuel 18, where we're at for starters here, begins with

185
00:09:56,530 --> 00:10:00,700
Speaker 1: Jonathan responding to David's faith and his courage. And scripture

186
00:10:00,740 --> 00:10:04,140
Speaker 1: says this in verse one, Jonathan makes a statement to David,

187
00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,160
Speaker 1: or it says of David, excuse me, of Jonathan. It says,

188
00:10:07,220 --> 00:10:09,880
Speaker 1: the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of

189
00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,709
Speaker 1: David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. So

190
00:10:15,530 --> 00:10:19,390
Speaker 1: that's how this chapter started. Now again, Jonathan was Saul's son.

191
00:10:20,179 --> 00:10:22,600
Speaker 1: And so since he's Saul's son, that means he's the

192
00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:27,059
Speaker 1: natural heir to Saul's throne. But he doesn't look at

193
00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,520
Speaker 1: David as a rival. Doesn't that fascinate you when you

194
00:10:29,540 --> 00:10:31,989
Speaker 1: look at some of these things? Most people throughout the

195
00:10:32,030 --> 00:10:34,850
Speaker 1: course of history, if they were in Jonathan's position, they

196
00:10:34,870 --> 00:10:37,610
Speaker 1: would look at David as a rival. They would want

197
00:10:37,670 --> 00:10:40,010
Speaker 1: him eliminated. But he doesn't look at him that way.

198
00:10:40,410 --> 00:10:44,229
Speaker 1: He recognized something honorable in David. And he enters into

199
00:10:44,270 --> 00:10:46,150
Speaker 1: a covenant with him. I actually believe that the Lord

200
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:51,590
Speaker 1: was directing Jonathan's thinking and Jonathan's heart And Jonathan confirmed

201
00:10:51,630 --> 00:10:54,110
Speaker 1: the covenant that he makes with David by giving David

202
00:10:54,330 --> 00:10:58,010
Speaker 1: several things. He gives him his robe, he gives him armor,

203
00:10:58,080 --> 00:10:59,860
Speaker 1: he gives him a sword, he gives him a bow,

204
00:11:00,140 --> 00:11:01,820
Speaker 1: and he gives him a belt. So he gives him

205
00:11:01,860 --> 00:11:05,540
Speaker 1: a whole variety of things. And these weren't just expressions

206
00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,500
Speaker 1: of generosity. Yes, it was generous of him to do that,

207
00:11:08,820 --> 00:11:11,939
Speaker 1: but it wasn't just expressions of generosity. These were signs

208
00:11:12,059 --> 00:11:15,780
Speaker 1: of Jonathan's loyalty. And also, you could very well argue

209
00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,589
Speaker 1: that it may have actually demonstrated that he had a

210
00:11:18,630 --> 00:11:22,230
Speaker 1: willingness to recognize David's God-given calling, that he was very

211
00:11:22,270 --> 00:11:25,790
Speaker 1: much ready to support David as king. Because at this point,

212
00:11:25,809 --> 00:11:28,370
Speaker 1: David's already been anointed to be the next king. It's

213
00:11:28,410 --> 00:11:33,050
Speaker 1: just that those aspects of his reign haven't been inaugurated yet.

214
00:11:34,150 --> 00:11:37,670
Speaker 1: Jonathan could have protected his own position. He did not

215
00:11:37,809 --> 00:11:40,770
Speaker 1: need to support David, but he chose to support David.

216
00:11:41,230 --> 00:11:43,310
Speaker 1: He basically was saying, if this is the man that

217
00:11:43,330 --> 00:11:45,610
Speaker 1: God is raising up, I'm going to stand beside him.

218
00:11:45,650 --> 00:11:48,610
Speaker 1: Because to stand beside him is to honor God who

219
00:11:48,650 --> 00:11:51,809
Speaker 1: has designated him for that role. But you look at Saul,

220
00:11:52,010 --> 00:11:57,390
Speaker 1: Jonathan's father, the current king, Saul, he responds very, very differently.

221
00:11:58,150 --> 00:12:00,990
Speaker 1: At first, it looks like David's success is pleasing him,

222
00:12:01,170 --> 00:12:03,480
Speaker 1: and it does seem like he's pleased, at least temporarily.

223
00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,839
Speaker 1: And then he starts using David in a variety of ways.

224
00:12:07,900 --> 00:12:12,020
Speaker 1: David goes wherever Saul sends him. You see David behaving wisely.

225
00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,620
Speaker 1: He earns the respect of Israel's soldiers. He earns the

226
00:12:15,660 --> 00:12:19,560
Speaker 1: respect of of Israel's citizens, everything seems to go well.

227
00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,260
Speaker 1: Everything seems to be going well until something happened. And

228
00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:24,860
Speaker 1: that's a portion of scripture I read for us just

229
00:12:24,900 --> 00:12:28,620
Speaker 1: a few moments ago, starting with verse six. Everything seemed

230
00:12:28,660 --> 00:12:30,780
Speaker 1: to go well until the women of Israel came to

231
00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:35,479
Speaker 1: celebrate the victory that David had over the Philistines. And

232
00:12:35,500 --> 00:12:39,570
Speaker 1: they start singing. And there's lyrics to this song. And

233
00:12:39,590 --> 00:12:42,130
Speaker 1: look at what it says in verse seven of 1

234
00:12:42,130 --> 00:12:46,170
Speaker 1: Samuel 18. Saul has struck down his thousands. Now, I'm

235
00:12:46,210 --> 00:12:50,050
Speaker 1: sure Saul liked that line. But then the second part is,

236
00:12:50,130 --> 00:12:53,890
Speaker 1: and David his ten thousands. Saul has struck down his thousands,

237
00:12:54,370 --> 00:13:00,150
Speaker 1: and David his ten thousands. Now, here's the thing. Their song,

238
00:13:00,290 --> 00:13:03,540
Speaker 1: as they're singing this, this wasn't intended to be an

239
00:13:03,700 --> 00:13:06,719
Speaker 1: insult to Saul. That wasn't their motive in saying this.

240
00:13:07,460 --> 00:13:10,840
Speaker 1: They were just building with some repetition saying, you know,

241
00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,180
Speaker 1: things went well here, but now they're going great. So

242
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,880
Speaker 1: it's like things went good, now they're going great. It

243
00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,360
Speaker 1: was basically a poetic celebration of Israel's victory, but Saul

244
00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,610
Speaker 1: heard it differently. He hears it as a threat. This

245
00:13:22,670 --> 00:13:25,210
Speaker 1: is a threat. And in verses 8 and 9, it

246
00:13:25,270 --> 00:13:30,050
Speaker 1: explains why this made him so angry. In verses 8

247
00:13:30,050 --> 00:13:32,429
Speaker 1: and 9, it says, they have ascribed, Saul is saying this,

248
00:13:32,450 --> 00:13:35,250
Speaker 1: he says, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, and

249
00:13:35,290 --> 00:13:38,760
Speaker 1: to me they have ascribed thousands. And what more can

250
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,700
Speaker 1: he have but the kingdom? And it says, and Saul

251
00:13:41,940 --> 00:13:46,000
Speaker 1: eyed David from that day on. Saul eyed David from

252
00:13:46,020 --> 00:13:49,720
Speaker 1: that day on. Jealousy changed the way Saul saw David.

253
00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,580
Speaker 1: He saw him completely differently. And it's interesting because when

254
00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:57,550
Speaker 1: you look at David's behavior, David hadn't betrayed Saul. He

255
00:13:57,570 --> 00:14:00,970
Speaker 1: was completely faithful to him. He hadn't attacked Saul. And

256
00:14:01,010 --> 00:14:03,229
Speaker 1: there's going to be opportunities that he's given coming up

257
00:14:03,850 --> 00:14:05,850
Speaker 1: where he could have attacked Saul, and he still chooses

258
00:14:05,910 --> 00:14:09,050
Speaker 1: not to attack Saul. David never even attempts to take

259
00:14:09,100 --> 00:14:11,660
Speaker 1: the throne by force, even though he's been anointed to

260
00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,360
Speaker 1: be the next king of Israel. He just keeps serving

261
00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,460
Speaker 1: Saul faithfully. And he keeps fighting Israel's enemies. And yet

262
00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,440
Speaker 1: Saul looks at everything David did and he starts interpreting

263
00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 1: it through the suspicion that was in his own mind

264
00:14:26,700 --> 00:14:29,940
Speaker 1: that David wanted his kingdom. He's thinking, nah, he's just succeeding.

265
00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:32,180
Speaker 1: He's just doing different things that he's doing because he

266
00:14:32,220 --> 00:14:35,370
Speaker 1: wants to take this from me. He's selfish. He's jealous.

267
00:14:35,650 --> 00:14:38,210
Speaker 1: Instead of thinking about how he could be focused on

268
00:14:38,350 --> 00:14:40,510
Speaker 1: serving the people of Israel, all he's trying to do

269
00:14:40,590 --> 00:14:43,800
Speaker 1: is protect his power and as Israel's first king, and

270
00:14:43,830 --> 00:14:46,450
Speaker 1: he gets so jealous of David. I'll tell you what,

271
00:14:46,550 --> 00:14:49,490
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever dealt with jealousy to

272
00:14:50,250 --> 00:14:53,310
Speaker 1: a severe aspect, or if you've ever dealt with it

273
00:14:53,350 --> 00:14:55,270
Speaker 1: just in a minor way. I think we've all probably

274
00:14:55,790 --> 00:14:58,630
Speaker 1: experienced what it feels like to be jealous about something,

275
00:14:58,650 --> 00:15:01,470
Speaker 1: but I hope as you look and assess your own

276
00:15:01,510 --> 00:15:05,170
Speaker 1: life that you don't think of yourself as a jealous person,

277
00:15:05,670 --> 00:15:07,830
Speaker 1: because if that's the case, it's certainly something that we

278
00:15:07,850 --> 00:15:11,290
Speaker 1: should repent of. It's kind of interesting to Scripture describes

279
00:15:11,350 --> 00:15:15,190
Speaker 1: God as a jealous God. And you're like, that's interesting.

280
00:15:15,210 --> 00:15:17,030
Speaker 1: Do you ever come across that and wonder, wait a second,

281
00:15:17,070 --> 00:15:18,950
Speaker 1: if jealousy isn't good for me, why is it good

282
00:15:18,990 --> 00:15:23,450
Speaker 1: for him? Is that a double standard, God? Jealousy, when

283
00:15:23,510 --> 00:15:26,490
Speaker 1: Scripture speaks of God's jealousy, is talking about the fact

284
00:15:26,530 --> 00:15:29,550
Speaker 1: that he loves his children and he is possessive of

285
00:15:29,590 --> 00:15:31,360
Speaker 1: them in the sense that he doesn't want to share

286
00:15:31,410 --> 00:15:34,380
Speaker 1: them with Satan. He doesn't want to share his children

287
00:15:34,420 --> 00:15:36,900
Speaker 1: with idols that are trying to destroy them. So it's

288
00:15:36,940 --> 00:15:40,580
Speaker 1: a loving possessiveness where God protectively says, I want to

289
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:45,300
Speaker 1: guard your life. But human jealousy doesn't operate that way,

290
00:15:45,940 --> 00:15:49,520
Speaker 1: at least not always. Oftentimes what happens with us is

291
00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:53,180
Speaker 1: our jealousy tends to have a selfish component, where we're saying,

292
00:15:53,260 --> 00:15:55,840
Speaker 1: for my benefit, I want to hold on to something.

293
00:15:56,100 --> 00:15:58,120
Speaker 1: For my benefit, I want to make sure somebody else

294
00:15:58,180 --> 00:16:01,530
Speaker 1: doesn't get the benefit of this thing that's currently mine

295
00:16:01,650 --> 00:16:04,230
Speaker 1: to steward. That was the kind of jealousy that Saul

296
00:16:04,250 --> 00:16:06,830
Speaker 1: was experiencing and demonstrating. And here's the thing, if you

297
00:16:06,870 --> 00:16:09,860
Speaker 1: ever wrestle with that, Know this, jealousy can distort your

298
00:16:09,900 --> 00:16:13,240
Speaker 1: perception of other people. You won't love them, you will

299
00:16:13,300 --> 00:16:15,940
Speaker 1: hate them. You will root against them instead of rooting

300
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,580
Speaker 1: for them. Their success will start to feel like your failure,

301
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:26,350
Speaker 1: even though it's not your failure. Celebrate somebody else's success.

302
00:16:26,370 --> 00:16:30,450
Speaker 1: If you're wrestling with jealousy, their opportunities, the opportunities of

303
00:16:30,490 --> 00:16:32,870
Speaker 1: the people that you're jealous of, will start to feel

304
00:16:32,910 --> 00:16:37,570
Speaker 1: like threats to your own security. And what ends up

305
00:16:37,610 --> 00:16:40,670
Speaker 1: happening is if we welcome jealousy into our mind, if

306
00:16:40,730 --> 00:16:42,730
Speaker 1: we welcome it into our life, if it becomes a

307
00:16:42,790 --> 00:16:46,300
Speaker 1: pattern of thinking and living that we adopt, what happens

308
00:16:46,380 --> 00:16:48,720
Speaker 1: is instead of thanking God for how he's working through

309
00:16:48,820 --> 00:16:53,360
Speaker 1: other people, we start looking for reasons to do things

310
00:16:53,380 --> 00:16:59,880
Speaker 1: like criticize them or diminish them or keep them from advancing.

311
00:17:01,090 --> 00:17:03,030
Speaker 1: And these are things you're going to see Saul do

312
00:17:03,150 --> 00:17:05,850
Speaker 1: to David in a variety of ways. But you've seen

313
00:17:05,910 --> 00:17:08,810
Speaker 1: other people do that as well. You've seen people do

314
00:17:08,850 --> 00:17:11,359
Speaker 1: that in your day-to-day life. And maybe at different seasons

315
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,760
Speaker 1: of our own lives, we've struggled with those same emotions. Well,

316
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,740
Speaker 1: in Saul's case here, his jealousy started to become violent.

317
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:21,480
Speaker 1: That was something that he had the authority to do,

318
00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:24,300
Speaker 1: to be violent, to be somebody who carried out justice

319
00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,830
Speaker 1: however he saw fit in certain contexts. And his jealousy...

320
00:17:27,980 --> 00:17:30,939
Speaker 1: started to become violent. So you have David, who would

321
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,110
Speaker 1: oftentimes play music for Saul to soothe Saul while Saul

322
00:17:34,140 --> 00:17:38,149
Speaker 1: was feeling emotionally and spiritually disturbed. While David was playing

323
00:17:38,190 --> 00:17:40,990
Speaker 1: the lyre for him, while he was just strumming at

324
00:17:41,030 --> 00:17:44,350
Speaker 1: that thing, Saul's listening to him, but he's also holding

325
00:17:44,410 --> 00:17:47,419
Speaker 1: a spear in his hand. And at one point, he

326
00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:51,960
Speaker 1: gets so testy about David, he starts thinking about, I

327
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,840
Speaker 1: think David wants my throne. I think he wants to

328
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,250
Speaker 1: be king. And he takes that spear and And he

329
00:17:58,310 --> 00:18:02,440
Speaker 1: thinks to himself, in verse 11 of 1 Samuel 18,

330
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:04,600
Speaker 1: I will pin David to the wall. And it tells

331
00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,940
Speaker 1: us Saul hurled the spear. He throws it at David.

332
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:09,480
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm going to pin him to the wall.

333
00:18:10,300 --> 00:18:12,899
Speaker 1: But it says David evaded him. And it's interesting, it

334
00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:16,590
Speaker 1: says twice. David evaded him twice. Now, I don't know,

335
00:18:16,609 --> 00:18:19,130
Speaker 1: if someone threw a spear at you, do you think

336
00:18:19,390 --> 00:18:22,889
Speaker 1: you'd give them a second opportunity? You're like, maybe he

337
00:18:22,910 --> 00:18:25,689
Speaker 1: didn't mean it. Maybe that was an accident. He meant it, David.

338
00:18:26,369 --> 00:18:29,450
Speaker 1: Gave him a second opportunity. Just fascinating. He's like, David

339
00:18:29,510 --> 00:18:35,570
Speaker 1: evaded him twice. David evaded him twice. Now again, the

340
00:18:35,630 --> 00:18:39,190
Speaker 1: real source of Saul's fear gets explained in the next verse.

341
00:18:39,450 --> 00:18:41,680
Speaker 1: When you look at verse 12, it says this, Saul

342
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,500
Speaker 1: was afraid of David because the Lord was with him,

343
00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,439
Speaker 1: but had departed from Saul. That's why he was afraid.

344
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,800
Speaker 1: That's why he was jealous. Saul could see God's blessing

345
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,100
Speaker 1: on David. David's faithfulness reminded Saul of what he had

346
00:18:57,140 --> 00:19:00,920
Speaker 1: lost because of his own repeated disobedience. And Saul could

347
00:19:00,940 --> 00:19:03,340
Speaker 1: see God's blessing on David. Can I just encourage us

348
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,260
Speaker 1: right now, very specifically, if you ever see God blessing somebody,

349
00:19:09,260 --> 00:19:13,900
Speaker 1: don't disparage the blessing that person's receiving. Join in celebrating

350
00:19:14,020 --> 00:19:17,889
Speaker 1: with them. This world tries to tear other people down.

351
00:19:18,030 --> 00:19:20,590
Speaker 1: Don't be like that. Be the type of Christian who

352
00:19:20,670 --> 00:19:25,430
Speaker 1: celebrates God's blessings in other people, even if they're being

353
00:19:25,470 --> 00:19:27,810
Speaker 1: blessed in ways that you wish you were being blessed,

354
00:19:29,630 --> 00:19:33,280
Speaker 1: but have an eternal outlook in mind. You know, there

355
00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:35,000
Speaker 1: are things that you've been blessed with that other people

356
00:19:35,020 --> 00:19:36,520
Speaker 1: could easily look at and say, boy, I wish I

357
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,660
Speaker 1: had that blessing. I'll tell you what, the heart posture

358
00:19:39,700 --> 00:19:42,440
Speaker 1: of the church should not be coveting other people's blessings.

359
00:19:43,510 --> 00:19:45,480
Speaker 1: So if you see the Lord blessing somebody else, just

360
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,730
Speaker 1: celebrate that blessing and praise God that he chose to

361
00:19:48,790 --> 00:19:52,060
Speaker 1: bless your friend or your family member in a particular way.

362
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,200
Speaker 1: Don't adopt the mindset or heart that we see Saul

363
00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,460
Speaker 1: demonstrating in a passage of scripture like this. But now

364
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:05,230
Speaker 1: you find David being removed from Saul's immediate presence. And

365
00:20:05,369 --> 00:20:08,570
Speaker 1: what Saul ends up doing, he decides to appoint David

366
00:20:08,710 --> 00:20:12,090
Speaker 1: as a commander. Now, I'm going to summarize sections of

367
00:20:12,150 --> 00:20:14,409
Speaker 1: the next chapters here, but I'm going to give us

368
00:20:14,470 --> 00:20:16,750
Speaker 1: a thorough summary of it. And I'm going to share

369
00:20:16,790 --> 00:20:21,060
Speaker 1: this with you effectively like a story. So Saul removed

370
00:20:21,100 --> 00:20:24,260
Speaker 1: David from his immediate presence. He appoints him as commander.

371
00:20:24,900 --> 00:20:28,140
Speaker 1: I imagine that he probably was hoping that combat would

372
00:20:28,180 --> 00:20:32,100
Speaker 1: basically accomplish what his spear failed to do. You know,

373
00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:34,400
Speaker 1: he's thinking, if I put him in combat, maybe he'll

374
00:20:34,420 --> 00:20:36,740
Speaker 1: get hurt, maybe he'll get wounded, maybe he'll be killed.

375
00:20:37,460 --> 00:20:42,340
Speaker 1: But instead, David continues to succeed. Everywhere he goes, he succeeds. Why?

376
00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,840
Speaker 1: Because God's hand of blessing is upon his life. And

377
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 1: scripture repeatedly emphasizes that David behaved wisely because God was

378
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,520
Speaker 1: with him. Again, when you look at verses 15 and 16,

379
00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,550
Speaker 1: it says, when Saul saw that he had great success,

380
00:20:56,150 --> 00:20:59,629
Speaker 1: he stood in fearful awe of him. But all Israel

381
00:20:59,690 --> 00:21:02,649
Speaker 1: and Judah loved David, for he went out and he

382
00:21:02,690 --> 00:21:05,409
Speaker 1: came in before them. He goes out to battle, he's successful,

383
00:21:05,690 --> 00:21:07,980
Speaker 1: he comes right back in. They see this over and

384
00:21:08,060 --> 00:21:10,160
Speaker 1: over and over again. So then Saul has another plan.

385
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,879
Speaker 1: He offers his daughter Merib to David in marriage if

386
00:21:14,980 --> 00:21:17,330
Speaker 1: David would continue fighting the Philistines. He's like, you can

387
00:21:17,350 --> 00:21:20,669
Speaker 1: have my daughter Merib in marriage. Just keep fighting the Philistines.

388
00:21:21,210 --> 00:21:23,810
Speaker 1: And I think his words probably sounded very generous, very

389
00:21:23,850 --> 00:21:27,850
Speaker 1: thoughtful initially, but his motives were deadly. Because in verse 17,

390
00:21:27,850 --> 00:21:29,670
Speaker 1: we find out what Saul was actually thinking. He says,

391
00:21:29,730 --> 00:21:31,600
Speaker 1: let not my hand be against him, but let the

392
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:36,169
Speaker 1: hand of the Philistines be against him. I'll offer my

393
00:21:36,210 --> 00:21:38,440
Speaker 1: daughter in marriage to him. But, you know, David, you

394
00:21:38,460 --> 00:21:40,879
Speaker 1: keep fighting the Philistines. You keep doing that. And when

395
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,920
Speaker 1: that plan failed, Saul learned that his other daughter, Michael,

396
00:21:45,740 --> 00:21:48,740
Speaker 1: loved David. He's like, oh, wait a second. Maybe we

397
00:21:48,780 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 1: have a better option here. Someone within my own household.

398
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,119
Speaker 1: How about we try this? And so he offers Michael

399
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:59,369
Speaker 1: to David, and he requires a very dangerous bride price. Now,

400
00:21:59,390 --> 00:22:02,560
Speaker 1: I'm not going to enunciate what the bride price was.

401
00:22:02,780 --> 00:22:04,660
Speaker 1: You could look in the scripture and see for yourself

402
00:22:04,700 --> 00:22:06,199
Speaker 1: what it was, but I'll just tell you the end

403
00:22:06,260 --> 00:22:09,359
Speaker 1: result meant he had to kill 100 Philistines to be

404
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,940
Speaker 1: able to satisfy the bride price. And David thought, wow,

405
00:22:13,100 --> 00:22:14,610
Speaker 1: what an honor. So he goes out and he kills

406
00:22:14,609 --> 00:22:18,590
Speaker 1: 200 Philistines to meet the bride price, and he returns

407
00:22:18,650 --> 00:22:22,850
Speaker 1: victorious to Saul, and Michael becomes his wife. But basically

408
00:22:22,910 --> 00:22:25,750
Speaker 1: what we see is that every plan that Saul designs

409
00:22:26,070 --> 00:22:29,770
Speaker 1: against David only gives David another opportunity to succeed because

410
00:22:29,869 --> 00:22:33,310
Speaker 1: God is behind everything he's doing here. And what we

411
00:22:33,350 --> 00:22:35,470
Speaker 1: see is that Saul's schemes, as much as he tries

412
00:22:35,510 --> 00:22:37,389
Speaker 1: to scheme, as much as he tries to be jealous,

413
00:22:37,650 --> 00:22:40,670
Speaker 1: as much as he tries to deceive David, it doesn't work.

414
00:22:41,250 --> 00:22:45,540
Speaker 1: Saul's schemes can't overturn God's purpose. And so chapter 18

415
00:22:45,540 --> 00:22:48,340
Speaker 1: of 1 Samuel concludes this way. You look at verses

416
00:22:48,340 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 1: 28 and 29. It says, when Saul saw and knew

417
00:22:51,420 --> 00:22:55,169
Speaker 1: that the Lord was with David, and that Michael, Saul's daughter,

418
00:22:55,310 --> 00:22:59,190
Speaker 1: loved him, Saul was even more afraid of David. So

419
00:22:59,250 --> 00:23:03,770
Speaker 1: Saul was David's enemy continually. And then you get to

420
00:23:03,790 --> 00:23:06,190
Speaker 1: chapter 19 of the book of 1 Samuel, and by

421
00:23:06,260 --> 00:23:10,280
Speaker 1: then Saul no longer hides his intentions. He makes it very,

422
00:23:10,380 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 1: very clear that he wants David dead. And he actually

423
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 1: orders his son Jonathan and some of his other servants,

424
00:23:16,820 --> 00:23:19,580
Speaker 1: he's like, look, kill David. Just straight up kill him.

425
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:24,350
Speaker 1: Kill David. Jonathan warns David about this. And then he

426
00:23:24,390 --> 00:23:26,990
Speaker 1: speaks to his father. He speaks to Saul on David's behalf.

427
00:23:27,010 --> 00:23:29,669
Speaker 1: And he reminds Saul, look, David has served you faithfully.

428
00:23:29,730 --> 00:23:32,120
Speaker 1: Why do you want him dead? He served you faithfully

429
00:23:32,220 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 1: over and over again. He's risked his life against Goliath.

430
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,940
Speaker 1: He's fought the Philistines. He's done so many other things.

431
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,120
Speaker 1: He's brought great victory to Israel. And Jonathan says this

432
00:23:40,180 --> 00:23:42,790
Speaker 1: in verse 5. He asks as a question to Saul.

433
00:23:42,830 --> 00:23:45,590
Speaker 1: He says, why then will you sin against innocent blood

434
00:23:45,869 --> 00:23:50,189
Speaker 1: by killing David without cause? Now, Saul's not somebody who

435
00:23:50,230 --> 00:23:54,469
Speaker 1: takes correction very well. And you can tell the posture

436
00:23:54,510 --> 00:23:57,190
Speaker 1: of someone's heart. They're walking in humility with the Lord.

437
00:23:57,450 --> 00:24:00,080
Speaker 1: They'll be a bit more receptive to correction when it

438
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 1: comes from a loving source that means well. Then they'll

439
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,880
Speaker 1: be if they're living in opposition against the Lord. And

440
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 1: at first, Saul gives Jonathan the impression that he's going

441
00:24:13,859 --> 00:24:17,179
Speaker 1: to take his counsel. He's like, you know what? You're

442
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,020
Speaker 1: actually right. And for a moment, you're like, okay, I

443
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,070
Speaker 1: guess everything's good. And Saul listens to Jonathan and he

444
00:24:23,130 --> 00:24:26,510
Speaker 1: swears that David won't be killed. And for a brief time,

445
00:24:26,590 --> 00:24:28,830
Speaker 1: David returns to his former position. And it looks like

446
00:24:29,170 --> 00:24:33,820
Speaker 1: maybe he took good counsel. But Saul's promise doesn't last.

447
00:24:34,859 --> 00:24:37,980
Speaker 1: After David wins another victory against the Philistines, Saul then

448
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,140
Speaker 1: attempts to pin him to the wall again with the spear.

449
00:24:41,780 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 1: David escapes and he returns home. But then Saul sends

450
00:24:45,300 --> 00:24:49,010
Speaker 1: men to watch David's house and kill him in the morning.

451
00:24:49,590 --> 00:24:52,439
Speaker 1: It's like, just watch. Just watch. And when you get

452
00:24:52,460 --> 00:24:54,740
Speaker 1: the opportunity, when he emerges from that house, when he

453
00:24:54,780 --> 00:24:59,580
Speaker 1: does something, you get whatever opportunity you get. Kill him. Michael,

454
00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 1: David's wife, Saul's daughter, also happens to live in that house.

455
00:25:05,020 --> 00:25:09,010
Speaker 1: She loves David. And she's like, I think my dad's

456
00:25:09,050 --> 00:25:12,550
Speaker 1: trying to kill you. And she helps David escape through

457
00:25:12,590 --> 00:25:15,669
Speaker 1: a window. And then she takes an idol and she

458
00:25:15,730 --> 00:25:17,990
Speaker 1: places it in the bed. You've seen this in a

459
00:25:17,990 --> 00:25:20,810
Speaker 1: lot of prison movies, right? where they take like a fake,

460
00:25:21,330 --> 00:25:24,169
Speaker 1: like a dummy or something or sheets that are rolled up.

461
00:25:24,210 --> 00:25:26,190
Speaker 1: And this is like an ancient trick. It comes right

462
00:25:26,230 --> 00:25:28,580
Speaker 1: out of the Old Testament. She takes an idol. She

463
00:25:28,619 --> 00:25:31,179
Speaker 1: puts it in the bed. She makes it appear that

464
00:25:31,220 --> 00:25:36,340
Speaker 1: David's lying in bed there sick. Meanwhile, David escapes and

465
00:25:36,460 --> 00:25:40,720
Speaker 1: he flees to Samuel at Ramah. And he heads there.

466
00:25:41,410 --> 00:25:47,090
Speaker 1: And when Saul sent men to arrest him, God's spirit

467
00:25:47,130 --> 00:25:50,930
Speaker 1: came upon them. and prevented them from completing their mission.

468
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:54,060
Speaker 1: They weren't able to do it. So then Saul sends

469
00:25:54,140 --> 00:25:57,220
Speaker 1: other groups, and the same thing happens. The Spirit of

470
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 1: God comes upon the men, and they're unable to take

471
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:04,719
Speaker 1: him captive. And so Saul's like, finally, I'm just going

472
00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:06,830
Speaker 1: to go myself. So he goes himself, and the same

473
00:26:06,869 --> 00:26:10,250
Speaker 1: thing happens. God's Spirit overpowers Saul as well. You see

474
00:26:10,270 --> 00:26:16,780
Speaker 1: what the Lord's doing for David? He's protecting him. And

475
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,619
Speaker 1: I look at this scene, and I think this demonstrates

476
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,070
Speaker 1: that in the end, David's safety did not depend on

477
00:26:21,140 --> 00:26:24,250
Speaker 1: his cleverness or the cleverness of those around him. And

478
00:26:24,270 --> 00:26:26,170
Speaker 1: people were trying to be clever, but at the same time,

479
00:26:26,210 --> 00:26:29,770
Speaker 1: his safety really didn't depend on that cleverness. Jonathan warned him.

480
00:26:30,490 --> 00:26:34,659
Speaker 1: Michael helps him. Samuel receives him. You know, all these

481
00:26:34,700 --> 00:26:36,899
Speaker 1: people are trying to support David, and that was wonderful

482
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,139
Speaker 1: that they did that. But really, in the end, it

483
00:26:39,180 --> 00:26:44,530
Speaker 1: was God who was his ultimate protector. And you look

484
00:26:44,550 --> 00:26:48,070
Speaker 1: at that, And there's a variety of things you can

485
00:26:48,109 --> 00:26:51,169
Speaker 1: take from that reality as it's explained here in Scripture.

486
00:26:51,210 --> 00:26:55,179
Speaker 1: But do you understand that, yeah, you know, there are

487
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,580
Speaker 1: dangerous things that you and I might face in this world.

488
00:26:57,619 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 1: There may be things that are dangerous related to something

489
00:26:59,780 --> 00:27:02,879
Speaker 1: that God asks us to do. But you do realize

490
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,460
Speaker 1: that you're never going to leave this world one minute early, right?

491
00:27:07,900 --> 00:27:11,050
Speaker 1: In fact, in Psalm 139, it says, All the days

492
00:27:11,230 --> 00:27:14,490
Speaker 1: ordained for you were written in God's book before one

493
00:27:14,510 --> 00:27:17,460
Speaker 1: of them came to be. So if today is the

494
00:27:17,500 --> 00:27:22,290
Speaker 1: last day, that's the last day. But if it's not,

495
00:27:22,690 --> 00:27:26,990
Speaker 1: you're not going out early. And I think a lot

496
00:27:27,010 --> 00:27:30,290
Speaker 1: of people spend their lives fearful about what today could

497
00:27:30,310 --> 00:27:32,550
Speaker 1: bring or what tomorrow can bring. And you look at

498
00:27:32,590 --> 00:27:34,369
Speaker 1: David here and he's trying to do a variety of

499
00:27:34,410 --> 00:27:38,030
Speaker 1: things here. And he's being pursued and you've got Saul

500
00:27:38,070 --> 00:27:40,130
Speaker 1: threatening his life and there are people that are surrounding

501
00:27:40,170 --> 00:27:42,119
Speaker 1: him and trying to help him. But in the end,

502
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:45,290
Speaker 1: what does the Lord keep doing? These soldiers keep coming

503
00:27:45,350 --> 00:27:47,950
Speaker 1: and trying to attack David. And what happens? The Spirit

504
00:27:47,970 --> 00:27:51,630
Speaker 1: of God comes upon them. And they're prevented from doing so.

505
00:27:51,650 --> 00:27:53,669
Speaker 1: And then Saul thinks, I've got to do this myself.

506
00:27:53,710 --> 00:27:55,530
Speaker 1: And what happens to Saul? The Spirit of God comes

507
00:27:55,609 --> 00:27:59,090
Speaker 1: upon him. And he's unable to do so. When you

508
00:27:59,109 --> 00:28:03,350
Speaker 1: look at verse 3 of chapter 20, you have David saying,

509
00:28:03,410 --> 00:28:05,629
Speaker 1: truly as the Lord lives and as your soul lives,

510
00:28:05,670 --> 00:28:09,030
Speaker 1: there is but a step between me and death. And

511
00:28:09,050 --> 00:28:13,810
Speaker 1: yet what ends up happening is the Lord keeps protecting David.

512
00:28:14,450 --> 00:28:16,300
Speaker 1: It was like right on the razor's edge, but the

513
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,160
Speaker 1: Lord kept protecting him. David had been anointed by Samuel,

514
00:28:19,700 --> 00:28:21,360
Speaker 1: but at this point, he's not living in a palace.

515
00:28:21,380 --> 00:28:24,500
Speaker 1: He's not living a cushy life. He's running for his life,

516
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,400
Speaker 1: but God's promises remain certain. And yet the path toward

517
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,609
Speaker 1: their fulfillment involved dangerous things and rejection and sorrow. And

518
00:28:32,630 --> 00:28:35,229
Speaker 1: you're like, why would you make David's life so difficult? Well,

519
00:28:35,250 --> 00:28:40,630
Speaker 1: there's reasons for this. At this point now, it's very

520
00:28:40,670 --> 00:28:43,980
Speaker 1: clear to Jonathan that nothing's going to change Saul's mind.

521
00:28:44,610 --> 00:28:48,530
Speaker 1: Saul wants David dead. He's still probably a little bit

522
00:28:48,550 --> 00:28:52,150
Speaker 1: hopeful that maybe, you know, maybe Saul will think differently,

523
00:28:52,210 --> 00:28:55,630
Speaker 1: but he knows and David knows. And so Jonathan and David,

524
00:28:56,010 --> 00:28:58,170
Speaker 1: they decide, let's do this once and for all. Let's

525
00:28:58,190 --> 00:29:01,650
Speaker 1: just arrange a test. David was supposed to be at

526
00:29:01,710 --> 00:29:04,970
Speaker 1: Saul's table for a meal. It was during the new

527
00:29:05,010 --> 00:29:07,750
Speaker 1: moon feast and he was supposed to be there. David

528
00:29:07,770 --> 00:29:10,470
Speaker 1: was supposed to be eating with Saul and Jonathan and

529
00:29:10,490 --> 00:29:14,390
Speaker 1: the others and And David would be absent from the meal.

530
00:29:14,660 --> 00:29:17,860
Speaker 1: He's like, I'll be absent from the meal. And Jonathan

531
00:29:17,900 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 1: would observe Saul's response and then learn whether or not

532
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 1: his father still intended to kill David. And if Saul

533
00:29:24,660 --> 00:29:28,680
Speaker 1: responded peacefully, David might return. But if Saul became angry,

534
00:29:28,740 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 1: Jonathan would know with absolute 100% certainty that David remained

535
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 1: in danger. And before carrying out their plan, Jonathan renewed

536
00:29:37,060 --> 00:29:39,910
Speaker 1: his covenant with David. He asked David, he said, look,

537
00:29:40,070 --> 00:29:41,930
Speaker 1: just looking into the future, I know you're going to

538
00:29:41,970 --> 00:29:44,590
Speaker 1: be king. I know the Lord's going to raise you

539
00:29:44,650 --> 00:29:48,380
Speaker 1: up to that position. Please show steadfast love and loyalty

540
00:29:48,420 --> 00:29:50,940
Speaker 1: to my family. As I'm showing steadfast love and loyalty

541
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 1: to you right now, show steadfast love and loyalty to

542
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 1: my family in the years to come. And David makes

543
00:29:56,620 --> 00:29:59,870
Speaker 1: the pledge that he will indeed do so. Because again,

544
00:29:59,910 --> 00:30:02,430
Speaker 1: Jonathan understands there's going to be a day when David's king.

545
00:30:03,890 --> 00:30:05,850
Speaker 1: And Jonathan's thinking, I'm not going to attempt to stop

546
00:30:05,890 --> 00:30:09,330
Speaker 1: God's plan. I'm going to cooperate with God's plan. He

547
00:30:09,370 --> 00:30:11,810
Speaker 1: wanted to remain faithful to David. And he asked that

548
00:30:11,850 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 1: David remain faithful to his household. Now, when David's not

549
00:30:15,380 --> 00:30:17,340
Speaker 1: at this meal, Saul looks at this whole thing and

550
00:30:17,380 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 1: he says nothing initially when David's place remains empty. But

551
00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:23,940
Speaker 1: then on the second day, when David continues to not

552
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: be there, he demands an explanation. And so Jonathan says,

553
00:30:27,140 --> 00:30:30,610
Speaker 1: David has asked permission to to attend a family sacrifice

554
00:30:30,750 --> 00:30:36,150
Speaker 1: in Bethlehem, and Saul becomes furious. And he looks at Jonathan,

555
00:30:36,790 --> 00:30:40,980
Speaker 1: and he insults him, and he says this in chapter 20,

556
00:30:40,980 --> 00:30:42,900
Speaker 1: verse 31. He says, For as long as the son

557
00:30:42,940 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 1: of Jesse lives on the earth, so for as long

558
00:30:45,300 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 1: as David lives on the earth, neither you nor your

559
00:30:48,740 --> 00:30:53,870
Speaker 1: kingdom shall be established. Saul believed that David's death was

560
00:30:54,030 --> 00:30:57,510
Speaker 1: necessary for a variety of reasons. One, because he was

561
00:30:57,570 --> 00:31:00,230
Speaker 1: so insecure in his leadership role, he was so jealous

562
00:31:00,270 --> 00:31:02,390
Speaker 1: of David that he wanted David removed because he thought

563
00:31:02,430 --> 00:31:04,590
Speaker 1: he was a threat, but also because he was thinking,

564
00:31:04,830 --> 00:31:07,540
Speaker 1: I guess it's my job to protect Jonathan's future reign

565
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 1: if Jonathan himself won't protect it. But Jonathan understood this

566
00:31:11,260 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 1: all differently. He understood that obedience to God was more

567
00:31:14,660 --> 00:31:17,100
Speaker 1: important than preserving his own claim to the throne. He

568
00:31:18,300 --> 00:31:21,300
Speaker 1: said the best things in this world, basically Jonathan's illustrating

569
00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,420
Speaker 1: for us, the best things in this world are not

570
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,690
Speaker 1: better than obedience to God. And that is a hard

571
00:31:26,750 --> 00:31:29,170
Speaker 1: lesson to learn. But you can see that he's learning

572
00:31:29,210 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: it here. So again, Jonathan asked, what's David done to

573
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 1: deserve death? And Saul doesn't like being confronted. So Saul

574
00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: responds just like you would expect him to respond. He

575
00:31:37,580 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: throws his spear at Jonathan. Someone take that thing away

576
00:31:41,460 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 1: from him. But at that moment, Jonathan was convinced. I

577
00:31:46,820 --> 00:31:48,460
Speaker 1: don't know why it took so much. I mean, they're

578
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,630
Speaker 1: giving Saul all the benefit of the doubt, but he

579
00:31:50,670 --> 00:31:54,310
Speaker 1: becomes fully convinced. Saul is absolutely like never going to

580
00:31:54,350 --> 00:31:57,350
Speaker 1: change his mind. He wants to kill David. So he's

581
00:31:57,390 --> 00:31:59,770
Speaker 1: got a signal set up where he's going to shoot

582
00:31:59,790 --> 00:32:02,660
Speaker 1: an arrow a certain way and all sorts of things

583
00:32:02,700 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 1: are going to be done where David would be given

584
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 1: an indicator of what took place at the meal. Jonathan

585
00:32:08,220 --> 00:32:11,920
Speaker 1: and David meet up. They weep together because it becomes

586
00:32:12,020 --> 00:32:14,060
Speaker 1: clear that life is going to be very, very different

587
00:32:14,100 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 1: from this day forward. Their lives are going to go

588
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:21,200
Speaker 1: in different directions. But they weep. They embrace. They remind

589
00:32:21,270 --> 00:32:23,570
Speaker 1: each other of the love of God and their love

590
00:32:23,610 --> 00:32:26,730
Speaker 1: for each other. And Jonathan says this to David. In

591
00:32:26,770 --> 00:32:29,830
Speaker 1: verse 42, he says, go in peace because we have

592
00:32:29,870 --> 00:32:31,890
Speaker 1: sworn both of us in the name of the Lord,

593
00:32:31,950 --> 00:32:34,490
Speaker 1: saying the Lord shall be between me and you and

594
00:32:34,540 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 1: between my offspring and your offspring forever. And then David

595
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,680
Speaker 1: departs and Jonathan returns to the city. And I love

596
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,790
Speaker 1: looking at this because their friendship is a beautiful thing

597
00:32:46,830 --> 00:32:49,730
Speaker 1: that offers a powerful contrast to the jealousy that we

598
00:32:49,790 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 1: see demonstrated from Saul. Saul sees David and And he

599
00:32:55,460 --> 00:32:57,960
Speaker 1: sees the calling of God and the blessing of God

600
00:32:58,020 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 1: upon his life and he tries to destroy him anyway.

601
00:33:02,340 --> 00:33:05,460
Speaker 1: Jonathan looks at David and he sees his calling and

602
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,200
Speaker 1: he says, I can see the hand of God on

603
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:12,920
Speaker 1: this man, so I should support him. Very drastically different perspectives.

604
00:33:13,790 --> 00:33:16,790
Speaker 1: You have Saul holding tightly to the power that God

605
00:33:16,950 --> 00:33:20,150
Speaker 1: already declared he was about to lose. And you have

606
00:33:20,210 --> 00:33:23,270
Speaker 1: Jonathan opening his hands and trusting God with his future.

607
00:33:24,410 --> 00:33:27,430
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful story. But like all portions of Scripture,

608
00:33:27,450 --> 00:33:30,170
Speaker 1: we should always be asking the question, not just how

609
00:33:30,210 --> 00:33:33,230
Speaker 1: does this apply to my life, but how is this

610
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 1: trying to point me to Jesus Christ, who is the

611
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:38,500
Speaker 1: ultimate solution? Let me give you a few examples here

612
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: and some things that I hope will stand out to us.

613
00:33:41,780 --> 00:33:45,620
Speaker 1: First of all, let's look at Jonathan's example. Jonathan's example

614
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:50,170
Speaker 1: points us toward the humility of Jesus Christ. Keep in

615
00:33:50,190 --> 00:33:54,880
Speaker 1: mind Jonathan's role. Jonathan was a prince. And he laid

616
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,480
Speaker 1: aside the symbols of his position so that he could

617
00:33:57,590 --> 00:34:04,730
Speaker 1: honor David. Jesus, the eternal son of God, did what?

618
00:34:05,670 --> 00:34:12,550
Speaker 1: He willingly humbled himself for our salvation. And unlike Jonathan,

619
00:34:12,590 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 1: he wasn't just risking, you would say, like the loss

620
00:34:16,060 --> 00:34:18,140
Speaker 1: of a throne or something like that. What he did

621
00:34:18,180 --> 00:34:21,580
Speaker 1: was he actually left his glory in heaven. And he

622
00:34:21,620 --> 00:34:24,469
Speaker 1: took the form of a servant. the book of Philippians

623
00:34:24,510 --> 00:34:28,630
Speaker 1: tells us. And he gave his life for sinners. That's

624
00:34:28,670 --> 00:34:32,210
Speaker 1: what Christ did for us. Then you look at David's

625
00:34:32,290 --> 00:34:34,920
Speaker 1: experience and you realize that his experience also points us

626
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,940
Speaker 1: toward Jesus by giving us a foretaste of something we

627
00:34:37,980 --> 00:34:41,719
Speaker 1: see ultimately fulfilled in Christ. David was God's anointed king.

628
00:34:41,940 --> 00:34:44,899
Speaker 1: He's already been anointed to be king, but he's being

629
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,799
Speaker 1: rejected by the king then occupying the throne. He's being

630
00:34:47,890 --> 00:34:51,590
Speaker 1: rejected by Saul. And yet he continues to serve faithfully.

631
00:34:52,270 --> 00:34:56,050
Speaker 1: And he defeats Israel's enemy, and he commits no crime

632
00:34:56,110 --> 00:34:59,710
Speaker 1: against Saul. And yet, even so, Saul treats him as

633
00:34:59,750 --> 00:35:02,149
Speaker 1: an enemy, and he seeks his death. Well, Jesus came

634
00:35:02,210 --> 00:35:05,710
Speaker 1: as God's promised anointed one, the Messiah, the one anointed

635
00:35:06,130 --> 00:35:07,950
Speaker 1: to be king. And what does he do during the

636
00:35:07,989 --> 00:35:10,950
Speaker 1: course of his earthly ministry? Scripture gives us examples of

637
00:35:10,989 --> 00:35:16,620
Speaker 1: him healing the sick, feeding the hungry, welcoming sinners, teaching

638
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:22,100
Speaker 1: divine truth, living in perfect obedience to the Father. And

639
00:35:22,140 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: how did the religious leaders respond to all of that

640
00:35:24,820 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 1: being done right in front of their face? They envied

641
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,500
Speaker 1: him and they plotted to kill him, just like Saul

642
00:35:31,540 --> 00:35:34,360
Speaker 1: was attempting to do to David. What Saul was attempting

643
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,420
Speaker 1: to do to David was a foreshadowing of how Christ

644
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,900
Speaker 1: would be treated during the course of his earthly ministry.

645
00:35:42,219 --> 00:35:44,950
Speaker 1: Even have Pilate, when Jesus is brought before Pilate, Pilate

646
00:35:44,969 --> 00:35:48,050
Speaker 1: recognized that Jesus had been handed over because of envy.

647
00:35:48,070 --> 00:35:51,250
Speaker 1: It's like they're just jealous of you. They're handing you

648
00:35:51,330 --> 00:35:53,609
Speaker 1: over to me because of envy. You have done nothing wrong.

649
00:35:53,630 --> 00:35:57,839
Speaker 1: You've done nothing that deserves death. And here he sees

650
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:02,900
Speaker 1: an innocent man condemned. Why? Because of envy. And so

651
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,960
Speaker 1: like David, Jesus was rejected before he was enthroned. It's

652
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 1: exactly what David experiences throughout the course of his life.

653
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,779
Speaker 1: He's rejected before he assumes the throne. David's path to

654
00:36:14,820 --> 00:36:16,799
Speaker 1: the throne, you wonder like, why did the Lord allow

655
00:36:16,820 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 1: him to go through all of this? Well, it was

656
00:36:18,380 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 1: to give us a picture of what Christ would endure

657
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:24,790
Speaker 1: on our behalf, a foretaste of it. David's path to

658
00:36:24,830 --> 00:36:28,629
Speaker 1: the throne led through things like exile and a whole

659
00:36:28,670 --> 00:36:33,850
Speaker 1: variety of suffering. Well, Jesus' path to glory, you would say,

660
00:36:34,410 --> 00:36:40,900
Speaker 1: led through things like what? Betrayal, crucifixion, the grave itself.

661
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:45,219
Speaker 1: All of these things Jesus endured, and he did so

662
00:36:45,300 --> 00:36:48,750
Speaker 1: for us. Jesus' enemies believed that his death would protect

663
00:36:48,790 --> 00:36:52,790
Speaker 1: their positions. They thought that that would end his influence,

664
00:36:53,410 --> 00:36:56,279
Speaker 1: and it did the opposite. God was actually using their

665
00:36:56,420 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 1: actions and their envy to accomplish his saving plan, and

666
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 1: that's a beautiful thing. I think there's also an important difference, though,

667
00:37:03,060 --> 00:37:07,000
Speaker 1: that we could highlight between David and Jesus. David repeatedly

668
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,090
Speaker 1: escaped death because his appointed hour had not yet arrived.

669
00:37:11,630 --> 00:37:15,489
Speaker 1: Jesus could have escaped his enemies, but But when his

670
00:37:15,530 --> 00:37:19,300
Speaker 1: hour came, what did he do? He willingly surrendered himself.

671
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:22,219
Speaker 1: He didn't fight them. He didn't put up a fight.

672
00:37:22,300 --> 00:37:25,100
Speaker 1: Even when you have Peter cutting off Malchus's ear, he says, Peter,

673
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,660
Speaker 1: put that away. And then he heals the ear and

674
00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,910
Speaker 1: he lets the soldiers take him. No one took Christ's

675
00:37:32,010 --> 00:37:35,930
Speaker 1: life from him against his will. Christ's life wasn't taken

676
00:37:35,989 --> 00:37:38,890
Speaker 1: from him against his will. He laid it down. That's

677
00:37:38,930 --> 00:37:42,489
Speaker 1: what scripture teaches. He laid it down. so that everyone

678
00:37:42,510 --> 00:37:45,520
Speaker 1: who trusts in him could receive forgiveness and eternal life.

679
00:37:46,020 --> 00:37:48,739
Speaker 1: That's why he laid it down. Something else that we

680
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 1: could point to related to Jesus that we see illustrated

681
00:37:52,820 --> 00:37:56,440
Speaker 1: in 1 Samuel 18, 19, and 20. Jesus is the

682
00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 1: faithful friend that these passages teach us to desire. See,

683
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,610
Speaker 1: Jonathan serving as a faithful friend. Well, Jesus is the

684
00:38:03,650 --> 00:38:06,910
Speaker 1: faithful friend that these passages in scripture are actually teaching

685
00:38:06,950 --> 00:38:10,870
Speaker 1: us to value. Jonathan loved David and he defended his innocence.

686
00:38:12,380 --> 00:38:15,140
Speaker 1: And he warned him of danger and he bound himself

687
00:38:15,180 --> 00:38:17,540
Speaker 1: to him in covenant loyalty. He said, I'm bound to you.

688
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 1: I'm going to do everything that I can to protect you.

689
00:38:20,050 --> 00:38:21,489
Speaker 1: I'm going to be a true friend even though my

690
00:38:21,550 --> 00:38:25,290
Speaker 1: father is attempting to take your life. Well, look at

691
00:38:25,310 --> 00:38:27,690
Speaker 1: what Jesus has done in your life. I don't know

692
00:38:27,730 --> 00:38:29,610
Speaker 1: if you followed him for a month or a year

693
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,540
Speaker 1: or a decade or many decades, but look at what

694
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:33,459
Speaker 1: he's done in your life. Do you have a better

695
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:37,020
Speaker 1: friend than Jesus Christ? Do you have a better friend

696
00:38:37,060 --> 00:38:42,250
Speaker 1: than Jesus? Jesus has shown us Greater love than any

697
00:38:42,590 --> 00:38:48,160
Speaker 1: mere mortal, any mere human can show us. And in

698
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 1: many respects, one of the, I mean, you could look

699
00:38:49,980 --> 00:38:51,600
Speaker 1: at this, you know, greater love has no one than

700
00:38:51,620 --> 00:38:53,620
Speaker 1: he lay down his life for his friends, right? So

701
00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 1: what did Jesus do? He didn't protect himself at our expense.

702
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:02,149
Speaker 1: He gave himself in our place. That's a friend. Someone

703
00:39:02,170 --> 00:39:05,650
Speaker 1: who sacrificially loves you. Someone who sacrificially serves you. A

704
00:39:07,230 --> 00:39:09,719
Speaker 1: couple thoughts as we finish up. And just think of

705
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,100
Speaker 1: this through the contrasts that are presented to us here.

706
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 1: Saul's jealousy reveals the destructive power of a heart that

707
00:39:16,020 --> 00:39:19,240
Speaker 1: refuses to submit to God. He wouldn't submit to God.

708
00:39:20,739 --> 00:39:22,819
Speaker 1: Then you look at Jonathan. Well, what does Jonathan teach

709
00:39:22,890 --> 00:39:25,750
Speaker 1: us in these passages? Well, Jonathan's friendship reveals the freedom

710
00:39:26,230 --> 00:39:30,609
Speaker 1: that trusting God's purposes provides even when they alter your

711
00:39:30,630 --> 00:39:36,290
Speaker 1: personal plans or other people's ambitions for your life. David's preservation,

712
00:39:37,090 --> 00:39:39,230
Speaker 1: as he's being protected and preserved in the midst of

713
00:39:39,290 --> 00:39:42,290
Speaker 1: all of these things, reveals that human opposition can't overturn

714
00:39:42,330 --> 00:39:45,580
Speaker 1: the things that God has determined. Meaning, You know, we

715
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:47,920
Speaker 1: can even apply this personally. God's got a plan for

716
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:49,940
Speaker 1: your life and human opposition is not going to be

717
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 1: able to overturn that plan. Even when you face those things,

718
00:39:55,060 --> 00:39:57,610
Speaker 1: you don't have to face those things with fear. You

719
00:39:57,620 --> 00:40:00,069
Speaker 1: don't have to fear any threat that comes before you.

720
00:40:00,270 --> 00:40:02,910
Speaker 1: You will be here exactly as long as the Lord

721
00:40:02,950 --> 00:40:05,890
Speaker 1: determines for you to be here. He will protect you

722
00:40:06,210 --> 00:40:08,730
Speaker 1: every single one of those days. He will call you

723
00:40:08,910 --> 00:40:12,930
Speaker 1: unto himself when the time comes. And in the meantime,

724
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,590
Speaker 1: he will bless your obedience to him. He will bless

725
00:40:16,610 --> 00:40:19,339
Speaker 1: your obedience to him in ways that will surprise you

726
00:40:19,380 --> 00:40:22,779
Speaker 1: at times. When we look at Christ, when we look

727
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,799
Speaker 1: at what Christ did on our behalf, his death and

728
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:30,279
Speaker 1: his resurrection reveal the fullest expression of that truth. He

729
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,279
Speaker 1: died in our place to atone for our sin. He

730
00:40:33,410 --> 00:40:35,830
Speaker 1: rose from the grave to show us that sin, Satan,

731
00:40:35,850 --> 00:40:38,570
Speaker 1: and death are defeated, and the victory that he secured

732
00:40:38,610 --> 00:40:40,810
Speaker 1: is a victory he shares with you and with me.

733
00:40:42,370 --> 00:40:48,850
Speaker 1: Humanity as a whole has rejected God's chosen king. But again,

734
00:40:48,930 --> 00:40:52,670
Speaker 1: rejection didn't defeat Christ. The cross led to the resurrection,

735
00:40:53,050 --> 00:40:56,950
Speaker 1: suffering led to glory, and our crucified Savior now reigns.

736
00:40:57,190 --> 00:41:00,110
Speaker 1: And Jesus is the king that no jealous ruler and

737
00:41:00,150 --> 00:41:04,640
Speaker 1: no hostile authority and no spiritual enemy can remove. Satan

738
00:41:04,660 --> 00:41:06,980
Speaker 1: has tried to oppose all the different things that Christ

739
00:41:07,020 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 1: has done in your life and in my life and

740
00:41:08,700 --> 00:41:12,220
Speaker 1: in the history of humanity, and he loses every time.

741
00:41:13,830 --> 00:41:19,690
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ reigns victorious. And here's the beautiful reality. As

742
00:41:19,790 --> 00:41:22,779
Speaker 1: we know Jesus, not just about him, but as we

743
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:26,379
Speaker 1: know him personally, as we enter into a covenant with

744
00:41:26,420 --> 00:41:28,860
Speaker 1: him where he becomes our friend and our protector and

745
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:32,819
Speaker 1: our Lord and our Savior, recognize that you can live

746
00:41:32,860 --> 00:41:37,969
Speaker 1: in confidence in the nature of that relationship. Because that

747
00:41:38,010 --> 00:41:41,910
Speaker 1: means that your life and your future rests securely in

748
00:41:42,010 --> 00:41:44,660
Speaker 1: his hands. And if you look at what Jesus says

749
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,069
Speaker 1: in the gospels, he says, nobody can take you out

750
00:41:48,090 --> 00:41:51,570
Speaker 1: of my hands. Nobody can take you out of my hands.

751
00:41:51,870 --> 00:41:55,370
Speaker 1: Your life is in my hand. Your life is in

752
00:41:55,430 --> 00:41:58,609
Speaker 1: my hand. One of the great blessings that the Lord

753
00:41:58,630 --> 00:42:01,140
Speaker 1: has blessed our family with over the course of this

754
00:42:01,219 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 1: year is the fact that the Lord is, I mean,

755
00:42:04,660 --> 00:42:06,680
Speaker 1: I get to be a grandfather. I have a grandson.

756
00:42:07,420 --> 00:42:10,020
Speaker 1: And he turned four months old the other day. And

757
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,210
Speaker 1: you know what happens when you're four months old? you

758
00:42:13,230 --> 00:42:17,469
Speaker 1: learn to giggle. And he's been doing that. And it's really,

759
00:42:17,510 --> 00:42:20,070
Speaker 1: really cute. And I love watching Noah giggle. And I

760
00:42:20,110 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 1: love watching him do stuff like that. And anytime I

761
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:25,960
Speaker 1: see him do stuff, it reminds me of when my

762
00:42:26,020 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 1: kids were at that season of life and just how

763
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:30,620
Speaker 1: much I loved it. I'm like, oh, thank you, Lord.

764
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:32,660
Speaker 1: I get to see it again. I get to see

765
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:35,400
Speaker 1: it again. And I think about that stuff a lot.

766
00:42:35,420 --> 00:42:39,620
Speaker 1: But you know what I remember? Early on as a father,

767
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,259
Speaker 1: I don't remember who the lady was that said this

768
00:42:42,300 --> 00:42:45,340
Speaker 1: to me. Some random lady, we were out someplace, maybe

769
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,020
Speaker 1: it was an angel or something, I don't know. But

770
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:49,879
Speaker 1: some lady came up to me and she said to me,

771
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 1: she said, you know, when you're with your kids, when

772
00:42:54,219 --> 00:42:57,339
Speaker 1: you're with your kids out in public, especially when they're little,

773
00:42:57,360 --> 00:42:59,790
Speaker 1: they're really slippery. They can get out, you know, they

774
00:42:59,810 --> 00:43:02,910
Speaker 1: can go all different places. She said, we're tempted to

775
00:43:03,250 --> 00:43:07,069
Speaker 1: hold their hands, but they're slimy little hands that, you know,

776
00:43:07,469 --> 00:43:09,109
Speaker 1: they can get out of your hands real quick. She said,

777
00:43:09,410 --> 00:43:12,540
Speaker 1: hold them right here. She's like, hold them right here.

778
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,000
Speaker 1: And that way, if they try and pull, you've got

779
00:43:16,060 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 1: something that, you know, is wider than what you're initially

780
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:19,950
Speaker 1: holding and they're not going to be able to get away.

781
00:43:19,969 --> 00:43:22,110
Speaker 1: I was like, noted. And I would always do that

782
00:43:22,150 --> 00:43:23,870
Speaker 1: with my kids. And when we'd go out places, I'd

783
00:43:23,890 --> 00:43:29,550
Speaker 1: always hold them right here. And as much as they tried,

784
00:43:29,590 --> 00:43:33,239
Speaker 1: they could never get out of that grip. And congratulations,

785
00:43:33,260 --> 00:43:35,620
Speaker 1: they get to be adults because their parents protected them

786
00:43:35,700 --> 00:43:37,880
Speaker 1: during their childhood. And when you look at what the

787
00:43:37,940 --> 00:43:40,259
Speaker 1: Lord's doing for you and for me, he's holding you.

788
00:43:41,190 --> 00:43:42,950
Speaker 1: And he's saying, I mean, you could try and even

789
00:43:43,050 --> 00:43:45,470
Speaker 1: budge yourself. Some people think that they're stronger than God

790
00:43:45,489 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 1: and that they can yank their hand out of God's hands.

791
00:43:48,380 --> 00:43:51,600
Speaker 1: And what's Christ saying? He's like, nobody, not even yourself,

792
00:43:52,340 --> 00:43:55,580
Speaker 1: can yank you out of my hand. Nobody can do that.

793
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:58,850
Speaker 1: What does that mean? That means he loves you enough

794
00:43:58,890 --> 00:44:01,370
Speaker 1: to guide, direct, and protect the course of your life.

795
00:44:02,590 --> 00:44:05,109
Speaker 1: Do not go through life afraid of all the things

796
00:44:05,150 --> 00:44:08,049
Speaker 1: that everybody else is afraid of. You don't have to

797
00:44:08,090 --> 00:44:11,190
Speaker 1: be afraid of what everybody else is afraid of. The

798
00:44:11,210 --> 00:44:14,089
Speaker 1: Lord has you in his hands. And as he protected David,

799
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,279
Speaker 1: and as he accomplished his purposes when he walked among us,

800
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:21,480
Speaker 1: he's still accomplishing his purposes through his children. You are

801
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 1: secure in Jesus Christ. Face today with the knowledge of

802
00:44:25,020 --> 00:44:29,100
Speaker 1: that security. But face every day with that same knowledge

803
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:34,320
Speaker 1: because he loves you that much. Let's pray. Father, thank

804
00:44:34,340 --> 00:44:37,609
Speaker 1: you so much for the fact that you love us

805
00:44:37,690 --> 00:44:41,129
Speaker 1: like this. Again, we look at David's life. We see

806
00:44:41,150 --> 00:44:43,299
Speaker 1: the different things that were taking place. We tried to

807
00:44:43,340 --> 00:44:45,620
Speaker 1: cover a lot of ground in looking at three different

808
00:44:46,060 --> 00:44:49,380
Speaker 1: chapters of Scripture this morning, and we see a pattern

809
00:44:49,420 --> 00:44:52,720
Speaker 1: emerging as we look at them. We see David seeking

810
00:44:52,739 --> 00:44:56,580
Speaker 1: to glorify your name and serve other people. We see

811
00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: Saul threatened by that because he's possessive and jealous. And

812
00:45:01,180 --> 00:45:03,440
Speaker 1: we see people trying to surround David and help him.

813
00:45:05,530 --> 00:45:07,229
Speaker 1: But we also know that at the end of the day,

814
00:45:08,370 --> 00:45:12,069
Speaker 1: You were the one who was shielding him and protecting him.

815
00:45:12,830 --> 00:45:14,569
Speaker 1: So Lord, we're grateful for the fact that we get

816
00:45:14,610 --> 00:45:16,880
Speaker 1: to see that, but we also know that as your children,

817
00:45:16,940 --> 00:45:20,279
Speaker 1: that's what we get to experience as well. You're shielding us.

818
00:45:20,980 --> 00:45:24,359
Speaker 1: You're protecting us. That also means that if something comes

819
00:45:24,420 --> 00:45:27,580
Speaker 1: into our path, if we experience something, that it's part

820
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:31,259
Speaker 1: of your sovereign providential will that we experience whatever difficulty

821
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:34,109
Speaker 1: or challenge it is, but that you will be with

822
00:45:34,230 --> 00:45:36,820
Speaker 1: us in the midst of it. You're probably going to

823
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:39,940
Speaker 1: teach us lessons about humility through whatever trial comes our way.

824
00:45:40,180 --> 00:45:42,779
Speaker 1: That's fine. Help us to learn it. You're probably going

825
00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:44,540
Speaker 1: to teach us as well that we could trust you

826
00:45:44,580 --> 00:45:47,440
Speaker 1: in the midst of circumstances that are clearly outside of

827
00:45:47,500 --> 00:45:50,870
Speaker 1: our control because you're protecting us. That's fine, Lord. Stretch

828
00:45:50,910 --> 00:45:53,830
Speaker 1: our faith and help us to learn those things. Father,

829
00:45:53,870 --> 00:45:56,070
Speaker 1: we're grateful for the many different ways that you've chosen

830
00:45:56,090 --> 00:45:57,610
Speaker 1: to bless us. We know that as we look at

831
00:45:57,650 --> 00:46:01,399
Speaker 1: these things, we don't deserve any of them. But we're

832
00:46:01,420 --> 00:46:04,300
Speaker 1: also shown in your word that there's a just a

833
00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:07,420
Speaker 1: greater blessing in living in obedience to you. There are

834
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 1: so many people that live in obstinance to you and

835
00:46:11,500 --> 00:46:14,100
Speaker 1: think that somehow that's going to solve something or fix

836
00:46:14,140 --> 00:46:17,800
Speaker 1: something or offer them something that they don't have. Father,

837
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:19,620
Speaker 1: we pray that our hearts would be such that we

838
00:46:19,660 --> 00:46:23,319
Speaker 1: would be humbly submissive to you, not obstinate to you,

839
00:46:24,010 --> 00:46:26,410
Speaker 1: living in the midst of your sovereign will and your

840
00:46:26,469 --> 00:46:29,510
Speaker 1: moral will so that you receive the honor and glory

841
00:46:29,750 --> 00:46:32,690
Speaker 1: in our lives. Father, we commit ourselves to you today.

842
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:35,410
Speaker 1: We thank you for this reminder from your word. We

843
00:46:35,450 --> 00:46:37,790
Speaker 1: thank you that all your word points us to your son,

844
00:46:37,870 --> 00:46:41,110
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, in whom we find salvation, in whom we

845
00:46:41,170 --> 00:46:47,089
Speaker 1: find redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, eternal life. Your son,

846
00:46:47,190 --> 00:46:50,279
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. Father,

847
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:52,799
Speaker 1: I pray that you'd help each of us to know

848
00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:55,980
Speaker 1: you through your son, that your spirit would open up

849
00:46:56,060 --> 00:46:59,299
Speaker 1: our eyes and our hearts to realize these truths, and

850
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:01,319
Speaker 1: that we would walk with you daily. Thank you, Lord,

851
00:47:01,340 --> 00:47:04,310
Speaker 1: for holding us in your hand. and for choosing not

852
00:47:04,350 --> 00:47:06,879
Speaker 1: to let go. We're truly grateful, and we pray this

853
00:47:06,989 --> 00:47:09,719
Speaker 1: all in Jesus' name. Amen.