Two Kings of Israel

Let us begin with a word of prayer. Lord Jesus, again, as we open up Your Word, we ask that You would open our hearts and minds, and Your Spirit, so that we may rightly understand it.

Teach us from Your Word what it is that we are to believe in faith, to hope for in Your return, and to do in love towards neighbor.

We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Now, those of you visiting, last week you missed a rip -roar of a story.

We talked about the story of David and Goliath, and how you are to take your five smooth stones and go slay the giants in your life.

No, I... Don't stone me. Don't stone me. It was a joke. It was a joke. All right, let's take a look at 1

Samuel. And let me come to the tail end of 1 Samuel 18.

A little bit of a reminder, if you weren't here, you know, this will help kind of catch you up. We noted in 1

Samuel 18 this wonderful motif, how the one who slays the evil villain gets to marry the princess.

Fascinating, you know, where this all comes from. These sound vaguely familiar, you know. Familiar with, like, Cinderella and, you know,

Sleeping Beauty. Although the Maleficent movie was... Yeah, wow, I'm still kind of pondering that.

Have any of you seen the Maleficent movie? Yeah, it totally turns everything upside down and inside out.

Very bizarre. But we noted that. And again, keep in mind, this phase of 1

Samuel, David is the anointed but not yet coronated king of Israel.

So he's Messiah, not king. Kind of get what's going on there? A little bit of type and shadow of Christ.

And how many anointed kings are there? Two. Two. First guy reminds me of a boss

I had. No, not a boss. Have you ever had a crazy boss?

It's not that bad. So we're going to see this real story kind of develop that the anointed but not yet coronated king of Israel is going to be persecuted, sought after, want to be murdered by the reigning king.

So Saul becomes kind of a stand -in for the devil, typologically, whereas David is a stand -in for Christ.

And of course, up to this point, the bloodline of the Messiah has come to David and no further. So it's kind of fascinating.

So you can say the Messiah is in the story. So in type and shadow, we're looking at that. So verse 29 of 18 for our context,

Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy continually. Wonderful.

That's going to make life real fun. So then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out,

David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.

Chapter 19. Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants that they should kill

David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David, and Jonathan told

David, Saul, my father seeks to kill you, therefore be on your guard in the morning.

Stay in a secret place and hide yourself, and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are.

I will speak to my father about you, and if I learn anything, I will tell you. Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him,

Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you.

For he took his life in his hand and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all of Israel.

You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing

David without cause? Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore,

As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death. And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things.

And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before. You have to sit there and go,

How long is that going to last? Jonathan speaks sense to him. And notice, this is why would you sin.

This is sin preventative kind of preaching going on here. Calling forth good works and love towards neighbor.

Generally, killing your neighbor is a bad thing. I'm just saying, this is not how we display love for neighbor.

However, the commandment, by the way, is thou shall not murder. That's really the gist of the Hebrew thing here.

So he's actually having murderous thoughts in his heart, and he wants David murdered.

This is true murder. Notice where it begins. Deep in the heart of Saul. This is where all of our sin comes from.

From within us. Sin is not something that's out there. Sin is something that is in here.

The reason we sin is because we are sinners. That's the reason why. So sin is a condition first, and it manifests then in behavior, and words, and deeds, and things like that.

I used this with somebody at the conference yesterday when we were at dinner. You think of sin like somebody who's tested positive for a terrible disease, like maybe

AIDS or herpes or something like that. Once you're exposed, you always have it. Now, it doesn't always manifest itself.

You're not always symptomatic in that sense. We, as Christians, we still struggle with our sin.

But the idea here is that we're seeing here Saul symptomatically beginning to show symptoms of true murder, and it begins in his heart.

And his son is speaking sense to him and invoking God and saying, No, this would be a great sin.

Why should you kill innocent blood? This is not for you to do. And for the moment, he's listening.

For the moment. So there was war again, and David went out and fought with the

Philistines, struck them with a great blow so that they fled before him. Then a harmful spirit from the

Lord came upon Saul. He sat in his house with a spear in his hand, and David was playing the lyre.

And we noted that when this theme kind of first came up, it's not just that he's playing music.

David is the psalmist, so along with the playing of the lyre comes literally kind of first draft, first appearance of some of the psalms.

And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with a spear, but he eluded Saul, so he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night.

These are terrible working conditions, by the way. And you'll note this, that as Christians, this shows kind of the same type of persecution that we suffer.

Have you ever noticed that if you preach Christ, if you tell the truth about who Jesus is, if you call somebody to repent, or you speak the truth about what

God's law says regarding the evil in our society, that people will come flying out of the woodwork, and they won't just rebuke you once.

They become like flies that continue to circle your head. Have you ever noticed that?

Or is it just me? So you'll note here kind of the obsession of sin. So Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning.

We're back to that. But Michal, David's wife, told him, if you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.

So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled and escaped. Isn't that interesting?

You think of maybe some similar kind of theme here. The apostle Paul, after he is brought to penitent faith in Christ, and he's now a believer, he's in Damascus, and he immediately begins proclaiming

Jesus, which gets him in a lot of trouble. And you'll notice he had to slink out of Damascus by being lowered out of a window while he was in a basket.

So kind of a similar theme going on here. So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.

Michal took an image. Yeah, a teraphim. You could say it's an idol, a household god.

That's kind of weird. What's that doing there? And laid it on the bed, put a pillow of goat's hair on its head, and covered it with clothes.

So you're going to note here she's engaging in deception. She's lying through her actions.

And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, Oh, he's sick. And then Saul sent the messengers to see

David saying, Bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him. And when the messengers came, and behold, the image was in the bed, and the pillow of goat's hair was on its head,

Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go? So that he has escaped.

And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I kill you? Now this leads to kind of a conundrum, and you're going to see this in the story of David in several instances, and this is kind of its first appearance here, is that sometimes as Christians we find ourselves in situations where we have to make a decision between two evils.

Is deception and lying not a sin? Yes, it is. Being that it's a sin, can we say that Michal here sinned?

Yeah, actually we can. We should. She flat out engaged in deception. Not only did she engage in deception, she broke the fourth commandment,

Honor your father and mother. Now, of course, I'm sitting there wondering about what's this household deity, this image doing there, because this is a forbidden thing as well.

So there's all kinds of sin all up in this story at this point. And so sometimes as Christians, we are called upon to love our neighbor, and the only way to do so is to engage in deception.

Terrible. And over and again I point out, the quintessential example in the 20th century would be if you were living in Europe under Nazi occupation, and you are

European, and your neighbors are Jews. What do you do in a situation like that?

Because you know they're rounding these people up and sending them to camps, and you know nobody's coming back alive from those things. So what do you do?

I recently watched a documentary on World War II, because I'm a World War II junkie, and I like everything that comes out on that.

And they told the story of this family in the Netherlands that when the

Germans came in and were occupying the Netherlands, they literally adopted their children.

Their children. And just put them in with their children, and said, oh, these are our kids. And both parents died at Auschwitz, but the kids lived.

And so they were engaging in full -blown deception, basically saying, yes, these are our biological kids, giving them a genealogy that they did not have in order to save their lives.

Did they sin in doing so? Yes, of course. There's no way around it. They engaged in deception, and they broke the law.

But sometimes we have to do that in true love for neighbor. So if your neighbor's body is in harm, and it requires you to lie to the government and say, no, no, no,

I don't have any Jews here, we're not hiding anybody. Come, take a look. Lie through your teeth, and then go see your pastor and receive an absolution.

This is a terrible circumstance that we find ourselves in as a result of the curse that we've brought on ourselves.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh -huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, kind of things that are a little bit higher.

And then ultimately, the higher thing is that we must obey God rather than men. So when the government makes laws contrary to their charter, governments are chartered by God, they are instituted by God for the purposes of punishing and suppressing.

That's their main job. I mean, all around the world, what do governments really focus their time and effort on?

Writing laws, punishing those who break them, putting them in prison or executing them accordingly.

That's the big gist of what the government does. Plus, they have armies that are designed to destroy and break things.

That's kind of the idea. So, you know, the left -hand kingdom is really the sword of God to kind of keep peace in a chaotic world because of our sin, which gives a free hand to the gospel for the church to do its part, which is to preach the gospel, proclaim repentance, and the forgiveness of sins in Christ, and call people to penitent faith in Christ and bearing fruit then in keeping with that repentance.

In a situation like this where, you know, the head of the government has gone rogue and is acting contrary to God's laws and is using his office for the purpose of murder, yeah, he's got to be resisted.

And there's no way to get out of this without guilt on your hands, one way or another.

And that is part of the awfulness of the curse that we find ourselves in.

So do good to your neighbor, even if it means defying the government. But do so with a good understanding of the commandments and what comes in priority.

David fled and escaped. He came to Samuel at Ramah, told him all that Saul had done to him.

And he and Samuel went and lived at Nahioth. And it was told to Saul, Behold, David is at Nahioth in Ramah.

And then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying,

Samuel standing as head over them, there's flies in here, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

This is hilarious. This is just one of those, like, out of the blue, bizarre, strange events that takes place.

So here he's sent a contingent. We're going to arrest David so that he can be killed. And the place where they end up, and you'll notice this is where the company of the prophets has made an appearance.

Samuel being a part of this group. This is that group that is also, that is constructing and putting together a big part of the

Old Testament that we are familiar with. And this is the Lahaka, the company of the prophets.

It's not a school. And so God, at this point, literally directly intervenes and does so in a way where these guys who have come to issue the arrest warrant to have

David killed, all of a sudden the Spirit falls on them, and they begin prophesying, and kind of forgot what they were up to.

The Spirit of God came upon the messengers. They also prophesied. And when it was told

Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Yeah, so this doesn't seem to be working.

Saul sent messengers again a third time. They also prophesied. Hmm, three times. Father, Son, never mind.

And then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Sekou, and he asked,

Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they are at Nahioth in Ramah. And he went there to Nahioth in Ramah, and the

Spirit of God came upon him also. And he went and prophesied until he came to Nahioth in Ramah, and he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, lay naked all that day and all that night.

And thus it is said, Is Saul also among prophets? Well, that just comes right out of left field.

I'm sure that was quite the sight to see. I'm glad they didn't have Instagram back then. So, you can see now that God is directly intervening.

And I would point out that, for instance, a fellow like Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is a fellow who was full of himself and was opposing

God and exalting himself above God and not giving credit where credit was due. And God, in order to punish him, gave him the mind of a beast for a small period of time and then restored his mind at a later time.

And so you can see that God does intervene in very unexpected ways.

And here, filled with the Spirit, that almost sounds like carpet time.

Charismatic carpet time. Except for his naked charismatic carpet time. So, to where he's really, now his spirit is focused on the things of God where he's not even paying attention to his own wardrobe.

And all of this is because his intent is to murder David. God directly intervenes.

And so, God does not prevent the anointed but not yet coronated king of Israel to be murdered.

And so, you think of Jesus when he goes and preaches in Nazareth, the town that he grew up in.

How does that go for Jesus? It doesn't go very well. Jesus literally opens up the

Scriptures, opens up the prophet Isaiah, and says, this is fulfilled in your hearing. And they're scandalized.

They are utterly scandalized that Jesus would be speaking in this way. And so, isn't this the son of the carpenter?

And Jesus says, in his own town, the prophet is without honor. And then, he kind of twists the knife a little bit.

He says that, surely you will say to me, physician, heal yourself. It's kind of like this. And they are enraged.

And if you know where Nazareth is, Nazareth is kind of up in the hills. And at the time of Jesus, when he was alive, maybe 50 families, so it's a very small village up in the hills.

And they grab him, and they're going to rush him and throw him over a cliff because they thought he's blaspheming.

Because he was basically taking a text that was about the Lord, about the Messiah, and making it about him.

And they knew him from when he was knee -high to a grasshopper. And so, enraged, they're going to go throw him off the cliff.

And the text literally says, it's just Jesus kind of walked between them all and just escaped. Similar miraculous instances here.

So, David fled from Nahioth in Ramah, came and said before Jonathan, what have

I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin before your father that he seeks my life?

And he said to him, far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing, either great or small, without disclosing it to me.

You'll note, Jonathan's a little bit out of the loop at this point. Because the last time he and Dad had a conversation about David, Dad said, all right,

I'm not going to kill him. He gave an oath. As the Lord lives, I'm not going to harm him. But now he's totally reneged.

He's off on some murderous tirade. And now David is talking to Jonathan about it, and Jonathan's not necessarily believing the report.

So he said to him, far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing, either great or small, without disclosing it to me.

Why should my father hide this from me? It is not so. But David vowed again, saying, your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, do not let

Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.

Then Jonathan said to David, whatever you say, I will do for you. Chapter 20.

So then David fled from Nahyoth and Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, what have

I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? And he said to him, far from it, you shall not die.

Behold, my father does nothing. We talked about this. Okay. Keep going. I see what I did here. I gave myself a little bit of context.

There we go. Take the context out. Whatever you say, I will do for you. David said to Jonathan, behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit at the table with the king, but let me go that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening.

Hmm, third day stuff. Hmm. Every time these things, isn't it weird how many third days show up?

So if your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem the city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the clan.

If he says good, it will be well with your servant, but if he is angry, then know that harm is determined by him.

Therefore, deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the

Lord with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?

So you notice this part of the theme here is that David is basically confessing his innocence, saying that he's done nothing deserving of death, and has even put himself before Jonathan and said, listen, if I'm lying to you, if I really have done something deserving of death, then

I submit to you and you can kill me yourself. Notice the humbleness that he's operating from.

So if there's guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father? Jonathan said, far be it from you.

If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would

I not tell you? So then David said to Jonathan, who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?

And Jonathan said to David, come, let us go out into the field. So they went out into the field. Jonathan said to David, Yahweh, the

God of Israel, be witness. When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall

I not send and disclose it to you? But should it please my father to do you harm? Yahweh, do so to Jonathan, and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety.

May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of Yahweh that I may not die.

And do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.

And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, May the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies.

And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

So then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

On the third day, go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself when the matter was in hand and remained beside the stone heap.

I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a mark. And, behold,

I will send the boy, saying, Go and find the arrows. If I say to the boy, Look, the arrows are on this side of you.

Take them. Then you are to come, for as the Lord lives, it is safe for you, and there is no danger.

But if I say to the youth, Look, the arrows are beyond you. Then go, for the Lord has sent you away.

And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.

So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food.

The king sat on his own seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul's side.

But David's place was empty. Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought something had happened to him.

He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. He is clean, and stop calling him surely. But on the second day, the day after the new moon,

David's place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?

Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said,

Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there.

So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers. For this reason, he has not come to the king's table.

Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of a perverse and rebellious woman, that's a great way to talk about your wife.

Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

Wow, he's really throwing down here. For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established.

Pause right there. This is where we begin to see really kind of theologically the theme of what this story is about.

Consider the characters involved. Saul, who's kind of a stand -in for the devil. Jonathan, who is the next in line to be king.

And what does Jonathan do? In love for the son of Jesse, he has already given his royal robes to David.

He has blessed him and has already abdicated any claim to the kingdom of Israel.

In love for the son of Jesse. Ah, okay.

So the idea here is that he's not going to exalt himself to a place he hasn't been given and he's going to recognize what

God has already done in Jesse in anointing him king. Even to his own detriment.

But this is not how people behave. This is not how people behave.

Now in our world, there are not a lot of kings out there. In the United States, I don't think we have any for real.

But, you know, put this kind of in the corporate world. Put this in the corporate world. You're next in line for the promotion.

And there's this fellow who really should be the guy who should get that promotion.

And the guy who's above you, he wants you to have that promotion.

And you say, no, listen, I'm not the guy. It's this guy. He's the right one. And in love, and in loyalty, and in humility, you deny yourself for the one who should really be the one to have that spot.

That's really what he's doing. This is showing great faith on Jonathan's part and also is reflecting that wonderful, wonderful way

Christ operates where even though he was by nature, God himself, he did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.

But he humbled himself, found in the form of a servant, became obedient, even obedient to death on the cross. Here, Jonathan, the rightful heir to the throne, none of it.

Doesn't want any of it. He knows that David is God's guy. And he literally vacates himself of any ambition for this throne in love towards God and in love for David, whom he recognizes as God's anointed.

And it's a beautiful picture of faith and it's a beautiful picture not just of faith, but the obedience that comes by faith to where you can say,

I, even to my own loss, am going to do the right thing because that's the right thing.

It's just a beautiful picture of the Christian life. We Christians should see ourselves in Jonathan.

That's the best way I could put it. Pure humility. Pure exalting of neighbor.

True faith in God and what He has done. It's just so amazing. Whereas Saul, on the other hand, not so much.

He's going to hang on tight -fistedly and murderously to that which really no longer belongs to him because he's been rejected by God for his lack of faith and his lack of obedience to the

Word. So it's a wonderful contrast. And each of us being born dead and trespasses in sins, we should behave like Saul.

We should behave like the devil. But by the mercy of God, we have been washed. We have had our sins washed away.

We have been forgiven, made new in Christ, and that new man comes forward and does good works in humility and love for neighbor.

It's just a beautiful, beautiful picture of Christian life in Jonathan here. One that really, you look at it and go, oh, man, that kind of makes me look bad.

Yeah, I know. And that's kind of the idea. So we use pictures like this as encouragement for the new man in us to put to death the old

Adam in us so that good works in love and service towards neighbor can be done in humility, done truly for the benefit of neighbor.

I mean, this is a loyalty that is just amazing. And then you see this again also then.

Look at the holy apostles. We noted the last time that when Jonathan and David first really come up, that here they have this real, true love for each other.

And it's not as the liberals would say, this has nothing to do with erotic love. This is true brotherly, agape love here.

And that the disciple whom Jesus loves, John, in type and shadow, the two kind of work a wonderful parallel.

But then watch how the apostles, these are the men who were with the real king, Christ, the one that all of this points to.

And they in obedience and worship of the true king, they are also now servants, persecuted, hunted down, facing death and all kinds of persecutions at the hands of whoever the stand -in for the devil is in their time.

And they are not setting up for themselves an earthly kingdom. They are not trying to flex political muscle in Jerusalem.

Instead, in a true love for neighbor and obedience to Christ, they go and tell everyone about King Jesus.

You can see these parallels when you put it together. And we as Lutherans should never, never shy away from embracing these types of stories that would inspire in us to put our sinful flesh to death and bring forth good works for our neighbor in humility and love for them.

Never should we shy away from these things. So there's our picture. So to the shame of your mother's nakedness, you, for as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established.

Jonathan is not looking for a kingdom. He's found a king. Therefore send and bring him to me, for surely he shall surely die.

Jonathan answered Saul, his father, why should he be put to death? What has he done? Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him.

Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death, and Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger, ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David because his father had disgraced him.

In the morning, Jonathan went out in the field to the appointment with David and with him a little boy.

And he said to his boy, Run, find the arrows that I shot. As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

And when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said,

Is not the arrow beyond you? Jonathan called after the boy, Hurry, be quick, do not stay.

So Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master, but the boy knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, Go and carry them to the city. And as soon as the boy had gone,

David rose from beside the stone heap, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times.

And they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most.

And then Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn, both of us, in the name of Yahweh, saying,

Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring. And he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

Terrible so far. Any questions about the story at this point? Any questions?

No? Okay. A little bit of a note. In 2 Corinthians, you can see the

Apostle Paul riding against the so -called super apostles.

These are terrible people. They are ones establishing their own kingdoms, if you would, within the kingdom of God.

They are good orators, and they are in it for the money. And you see this wonderful contrast between the super apostles and between a true apostle, what it means.

And the contrast parallels, in some senses, what we're seeing in the story of David and even in Jonathan here.

2 Corinthians 11. The Apostle Paul, riding to the church in Corinth, says to them,

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me. I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

But I'm afraid, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

If someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaim, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

And he's not saying this to their honor. He's saying this to their shame. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles.

Now, these are a group of fellows who learned something about Jesus and Christianity, but they were really, really special.

They were really good at communicating. And they could command a high price for speaking engagements.

He says, even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not in knowledge. Indeed, in every way, we have made this plain to you in all things.

And he says, or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted? Because I preached

God's gospel to you free of charge. I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

Whereas the super apostles, they'd come in and they would command the highest price. Paul comes in and doesn't charge anything for his preaching.

In fact, it was other churches that supported him so that he can bring the gospel to the church at Corinth for free. And when

I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia, they supplied my need.

So I refrained, and I will refrain from burdening you in any way as the truth of Christ is in me.

This boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you?

Well, God knows that I do love you. And what am I doing? And what I am doing, I will continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms we do.

So you'll note here a little bit of something. You'll see this theme. In Matt Garnett's lectures, he talked about how in post -modernity, everything is about subverting.

This is an important thing, that there is a sense in which we

Christians are called to subvert subversion, to undermine it.

But we do it in love and truth. We do it in excellence, not in underhanded ways.

We do it in the open, not hiding under a rock in the shadows.

So you'll note there that he's undermining them, and now he's undermining them quite powerfully.

For such men, he says, they're false apostles, they're deceitful workmen. They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ.

No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

Their end will correspond to their deeds. I repeat, let no one think me foolish, but even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

For what I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would, but now

I'm going to talk as a fool. So Paul's going to brag here as a fool. Many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast, for you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves.

For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.

And this list is talking about how they were being treated by the so -called super apostles. They sound so Christ -like, don't they?

They make slaves of you, devour you, that means basically take all your money, take advantage of you, put on airs, strike you in the face, because they're so superior.

To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool,

I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? Well, so am I. Are they Israelites? So am

I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? Well, so am I. Are they servants of Christ?

And now he turns. I'm a better one. He makes it clear. I'm now talking like a madman.

With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, often near death.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes lest one. Three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned.

Three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

And apart from the other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to fall and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weaknesses.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

At Damascus, the governor, King Aratas, was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands."

Huh. It sounds like the saints of the

Old Testament had similar troubles. If David had these troubles, if Paul had these troubles, what should we expect?

Trouble. We should not expect our best life now. Far from it.

But you're going to note here that what is it that makes it possible for somebody to bear up in a situation like this?

How can somebody do that? Because I don't know about you. It's awful when

I'm having the snot kicked out of me because I'm doing good.

Or somebody who I have no beef with has decided that they're going to be my enemy. It's awful.

But this is what we as Christians together, not me, not David alone, not

Paul alone, but we as Christians are led to expect this. Christ says, they hated me, they're going to hate you.

They're going to hate you because of Christ. You see, this cosmic conflict between God and the devil, this is not some fairy tale.

This is not some abstract thing. It actually gets played out in real life.

And if you don't believe me, look at Christ on the cross. What sin did He commit? Not one.

And yet, people hated Him murderously so.

And when they finally were able to hatch the plot that had been forming inside of their stinking carcass hearts, they murdered the only sinless person on the planet.

And they still hate Him to this day. And because you have been united with Christ in the waters of your baptism, your sins have been washed away.

And because your lips praise Him, and your thoughts exalt

Him in your mind, and you bend the knee to Him, and you tell others about Him, the devil who is really real, and his demons who are really actually there, they're going to come at you hard.

And they're going to make your life, at times, living hells. Scripture teaches this so plainly.

And you know what? When you're in the midst of it, it's awful. It's like all -consuming.

You feel like the world has gone crazy, and they're coming at you. And you can't figure out why on earth they are doing this.

You see it? This is not a New Testament theme. This is a saint theme.

And this is why faith is so vital, because what is it that brings about this type of persecution?

Is it just the person who's merely committed to keeping the commandments as a pietist? Or is it the one who has faith in Christ, who then bears fruit in keeping with repentance, and wants to do

God's law in true holy piety, because they are forgiven and set free from slavery to sin, death, and the devil?

You see the difference between the two, right? What does Hebrews say? This is where Hebrews 11 is very helpful.

Hebrews 11. Faith is the assurance of things that are hoped for. The conviction of things that are not seen.

For by faith the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the

Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of the things that are visible. By faith

Abel offered to God not a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous.

God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith

Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him.

Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please

God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who seek

Him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for saving his household.

By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Look at poor

Noah, man. Preacher of righteousness. Preached for a hundred years. His preaching did nothing.

No one outside of his family believed. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.

He went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac, and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is

God. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Three main pillars the Christian faith is built on. Faith, hope, love.

Faith in Christ for a right standing before God. Hope of eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, world without end.

Love towards neighbor and good works. Faith, hope, love. That all three have to go together.

And you'll note over and again when Christians are suffering, when Christians are being persecuted, when they're being lied about, when they are literally having their lives threatened, what are they to look to?

Well, their faith is already in Christ. And in the midst of that we are, like the patriarchs, instructed in Scripture, read the

Psalms, to always keep our eyes beyond here and now to then.

Our eyes fixed on eternity. Look to the heavenly Jerusalem that is coming. Keep looking to that day when you will see the

King face to face with your own eyes, as Job has said. And that is the thing that keeps us going in the midst of all of this.

And without faith you don't have that hope. But with faith you do. And so you hang on to it.

But you don't have it to see and to hold right now. You have it grasped by faith.

So he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered

Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man and Him as good as dead were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

It's an important thing for us Christians to embrace. Note Saul. He doesn't consider himself a stranger or an exile on the earth.

It's all about his kingdom here and now and protecting that turf. Jonathan? No. He's no king.

And he knows it. And he's a stranger and an exile. He bends the knee to the true king. People who speak thus make it clear they're seeking a homeland.

If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their

God, for He has prepared for them a city. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.

And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said,

Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead from which, figuratively speaking,

He did receive him back. And by faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.

By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.

By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Look at that. Moses and Jonathan have something in common, do they not? Which tells us

Jonathan did what he did by faith. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.

You can say the same about Jonathan. And look at how he was made to suffer because of that.

He was looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith, he kept the Passover, sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn may not touch them.

By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish. With those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David, Samuel, and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. And just so you know, this is kind of an important turn right here.

Women received back their dead by resurrection, but watch this. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life.

Others suffered mocking, flogging, even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.

That's an important part of the list. Because as the days get closer to the return of Christ and the birth pangs become more intense and the earth goes into hard labor, we are called to endure to the end, even in the face of our own deaths.

And so you'll note here, faith doesn't always conquer by conquering armies.

Faith conquers by dying. This is an important theme in Scripture.

It's an important discipline as Christians. It's a necessary component of our catechism that we have hope, hope that will sustain us in the midst of victory as well as defeat, in the midst of praise for a job well done, and in the midst of scorn and mocking because of your confession for Christ.

It takes a lot of patience. All of these, though commended through their faith, they did not receive what was promised since God had provided something better for us so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

And this is such a beautiful text. Have you ever considered this fact?

You will be made perfect on the day of the resurrection, the same day that King David will be made perfect, the same day that Abraham will be made perfect, the same day that Noah will be made perfect,

Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Solomon.

Think about it. Peter, James, John. Each and every one of us will have the same birthday in the new creation.

And it's a beautiful picture. And here's the reason why. Because we have the same faith as they do.

Your faith is of no lesser quality than David's. Your faith is in the same

Jesus as David's. Your faith is in the same merciful and forgiving

God as Peter, James, John. And it's on an equal standing with all of them.

So if you're tempted to say, who am I? That's a humble way of putting it. It's not about you.

It's about the one you have faith in. And He will sustain you to the end.

Keep looking to the reward. Keep looking to what's coming. Keep looking to our hope. Because it's that hope that will make us be able to somehow get through even those times in our lives where, like David, we are hunted like dogs because of our faith, which is what we're going to see next.