1 Samuel 18 Love, Jealousy, & Success

We can look at this text and read it and it just looks like basically a patchwork of loose knit relationships that developed in the life of David and if you're not careful sometimes if you're like me you read a big epic story like David and Goliath and the next time you you just kind of skim over the next chapter or something like that and there's some really powerful themes weaving their way through this chapter that if we just were to skim this chapter we wouldn't catch the themes.

You have to pause over it, you have to meditate on it, you have to figure out how the pieces fit together to get down to what is the common ground between all of these and I want to point out these two themes for you to be looking for as we're going to read this text together here in just a moment.

The first is I think a cultural thing that we understand probably before you walked in the door you could have stated what

I'm about to say but you're going to see it illustrated here in the text and that is that a heart of jealousy is destructive.

That's a major theme of the text that we're looking at, talking about a jealous heart. The second theme that we're going to see in this text is that nothing can thwart the blessings of God when he chooses to bless.

When God chooses to bless an individual nothing can stop his blessings from coming to that person no matter how much anyone in your life might choose to seek to push that aside or push you aside.

As a matter of fact the second theme comes across so strong in chapter 18 over particularly the life of David that it might be better to say that even curses toward one who

God decides to bless are turned to blessings. Even one who would seek to curse the one who

God chooses to bless, those curses turn to blessings. So we're going to see in our text that Saul has it out for David.

We're going to see a theme of that throughout the remainder of this book. Many of you who grew up in the church and grew up going to Sunday school or something, you have some notion of Saul and David in this conflict that we're going to see at the second half of this book.

But it's going to have an impact hopefully on our lives as we pay attention and listen to the spirit. Everyone around David in our text, there's going to be these two competing thoughts, everybody around David loves him to pieces but Saul just wants

David in literal pieces. So I want to give a kind of a PG disclaimer here,

I'm not going to be intentionally provocative in this message at all but because we have everybody in here from kindergarten up, we don't have a children's program this morning, we're actually going to offer something for you during the connection time if you have children in here and you're not ready to face questions on the way home about some of the subjects as we read it.

We're going to all read it together here but there's going to be some things that are mentioned in here that may produce questions on the way home as I explain it.

And so you can, I don't know if Ginger's in here yet but during connection time,

I think Ginger's going to be in the back, is that right Linda? Ginger will be in the back and they're going to have a video for the kids, not necessarily a big teaching time but any of your kids,

K through fifth grade that you kind of just say, I want to be in charge of when I talk about some certain subjects with my kids, you can do that.

I do that occasionally, you'll see in the text and there's a couple of different thoughts that are there that we'll be addressing.

Again not intentionally provocative. So let's open our Bibles now, you're like what? And when you read it, you'll go, what is he even talking about?

But we'll get it figured out. First Samuel 18, if you have questions about that by the way, come up and talk with me because some of the stuff isn't explicit in the text that I'm going to be talking about.

So if you're just like, hey, I'm an informed parent who wants to know what you're going to talk about, come and see me and I'll address it and then you can determine on your own during connection time.

But yeah, first Samuel chapter 18, let's read it together in its entirety. You find that on page 138 if you take the

Bible under the seat in front of you and that's page 138 there. Otherwise navigate in your device and recast.

We're going to have an opportunity to see the dire effects of jealousy contrasted with the power of God's blessings here in this text.

So follow along, recast God's very, very word to us this morning.

As soon as he had finished speaking, that's David, as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul.

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him so that Saul sent him over the men of war.

And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. As they were coming home when

David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet

King Saul with tambourines, with songs of joy and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,

Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very angry and the saying displeased him.

He said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed thousands. And what more can he have but the kingdom?

And Saul eyed David from that day on. The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he raved within his house while David was playing the liar as he did day by day.

Saul had his spear in his hand and Saul hurled the spear for he thought, I will pin David to the wall but David evaded him twice.

Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand and he went out and came in before the people.

And David had success in all his undertakings for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him.

But all Israel and Judah loved David for he went out and came in before them.

Then Saul said to David, here is my daughter, my elder daughter Merib, I will give her to you for a wife.

Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul thought, let not my hand be against him but let the hand of the

Philistines be against him. And David said to Saul, who am I and who are my relatives, my father's clan in Israel, that I should be son -in -law to the king.

But at the time when Merib, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel, the

Maholothite, for a wife. Now Saul's daughter, Michael, loved David and they told

Saul the thing pleased him. Saul thought, let me give her to him that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the

Philistines may be against him. Therefore, Saul said to David a second time, you shall now be my son -in -law.

And Saul commanded his servants, speak to David in private and say, behold, the king is delighted in you and all his servants love you.

Now then become the king's son -in -law. And Saul's servants spoke these words in the ears of David and David said, does it seem to you a little thing to become the king's son -in -law, since I'm a poor man and have no reputation?

And the servants of Saul said to him, thus and so did David speak. Then Saul said, thus shall you say to David, the king desires no bride price except 104 skins of the

Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the

Philistines and when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son -in -law before the time had expired.

David rose and went along with his men and killed 200 of the Philistines.

And David brought their four skins, which were given in full number to the king that he might become the king's son -in -law. And Saul gave him his daughter,

Michael, for a wife. But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael, Saul's daughter loved him,

Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy continually. Then the commanders of the

Philistines came out to battle and so as they came out, David had more success than all the servants of Saul so that his name was highly esteemed.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for your graciousness in showing us yourself as well as in showing us our own selves.

And Father, I believe that to a person in this room, we have felt the feelings of jealousy that move

Saul throughout this text. Father, that to a person, we know what it's like to have animosity towards another individual.

And that's just not reflective of you. That's not reflective of Christ and the way that he would seek for us to love one another and to be humble before one another and most importantly, to be humble before you.

And so Father, I pray that you would be moving in our hearts to not just give us a rule, thou shalt not be jealous, but that you would be giving us new hearts through your spirit that love one another.

Love all around us and Father, just that that would impact our lives in deep and radical ways and the way that we respond within the church,

Father, to each other. And Father, the way that we demonstrate your love to everybody around us.

Father, I thank you for the love that was first initiated toward us at the cross, the place where hope was born, the place where freedom was born, the place where forgiveness of our sins was finally taken care of and where we have now hope and the ability to go out and love others and to live not in competition with each other, but in delight and joy over the victories that we all experience together because of Christ.

And so Father, I pray that it's from that platform of recognizing the great gift that's been given to us and freedom in Christ that we would worship you.

Father, that we would be not unmoved in our spirit as we gather together and sing these songs, but Father, that you would move us deeply in our hearts with gratitude and thankfulness, that we would see the great victory that has been won for us at the cross and that from that place we would worship you in spirit and in truth this morning, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Big thanks to Dave and the band for leading us. I'm grateful for the time and energy that they put in each week.

And I would encourage you to get comfortable and keep your Bibles open to 1 Samuel chapter 18.

Again, that's going to be the flow, that text is what we're going to walk through. And so I want you to have that in front of you.

And then remember at any time if you need to get up and get more coffee or juice or donuts while supplies last back there, you're not going to distract me, but whatever it takes to keep your focus on God's word here over the next half an hour or so.

Our text appears, as you read it, as we read it earlier, it appears to be a patchwork quilt of various stories that followed quickly after David made

Goliath dead. Remember he did that last week. But again, there's a theme, there are themes that run through this.

Each account in this chapter ends with a declaration of David's success. So the success of David is part of the theme of this text.

The rise of David is going to be over the course of several chapters in 1 Samuel.

Also we're seeing in tandem the decline of King Saul. And we've already been told that God was with David and that he had departed from Saul, the spirit had left

Saul, the spirit had come upon David. He had been anointed years before these things are going on and he's still not king.

I mean, an anointing was a declaration of God that this was going to happen, but it's not happening. And we're going to see over the course of David's life, it takes him a while to actually realize the thing that God has called him to.

Now, how many of you have ever been in that scenario? Like where you felt like God had called you to something, but it took you a while to get there.

That's where we're at in the life of David. And so we've been told that God was with David and it's going to be stated three more times in chapter 18.

God was with David, God was with David, God was with David. Like a drumbeat going through this text,

God was with David. He was successful. God was with David. The people loved him. God was with David and Saul hated it.

The opening account though ought to be surprising. It might not be so surprising until you understand the cultural context of the way that things normally went during this time.

So we're going to see a relationship forged between Jonathan and David. And we see that right off the bat in verse one, and that's kind of the opening patch on this quilt of relationship talk after David killed

Goliath. Jonathan, remember, was the son of King Saul. Jonathan, who would be the rightful heir to the throne of his father, according to secession, he became a fast friend of the much younger

David. Now, this was a strong commitment. The text says that their souls were knit together.

Strong terminology. Jonathan loved David as he loved his own soul. In other words,

I will die for you, brother, is what he's saying here. There's a connection between Jonathan and Saul, and it says, as Jonathan heard

David speak. Well, what's he speaking? He's talking to the king. He's holding the head of the dead giant as he comes into the king's room.

And the king is questioning him about these things, and he sees the faith of David and Jonathan in his heart is moved, and he's like, bro, we are like one.

This is amazing. Now, the love in this, the words that are used for love in this text is a deep and abiding commitment, but it's a word far beyond the meaning of personal affection and feelings of like, yeah, just that comes upon you and you can't control it.

The Hebrew word for love here is a commitment of loyalty that has political overtones. The Hebrew language has multiple words for love, and this is one that has loyalty.

And throughout the Old Testament as it's used, there's a flavor, a feeling, a taste of political loyalty to another.

So loving in a way that is like, I'm committed to your betterment, and I'm with you where God guides you and directs you.

Now, the modern suggestion, and by the way, if you were to Google this passage and look it up, you would find all kinds of references to homosexuality.

The homosexual agenda among Christians has grabbed this text and run with it as probably the most core passage that would be an expression of homosexual theology, if you will, and that's a big movement right now.

And you're going to be seeing more of it. If this is the first you've heard of it, it's not going to be the last you're going to hear of it, because it's an increasing discussion in our culture, and especially among Christians who would say there is such a thing as a practicing

Christian homosexual. And so as we look through that and we figure that out, one thing that I just want to declare over this text is that there is no evidence from the choice of words in the

Hebrew language here that Jonathan and David had any kind of homosexual relationship. Further, I would suggest to you that the notion that we look for that here betrays,

I would say, an obnoxious cultural expectation that guys have platonic relationships with other guys.

Do you see that in our culture, that there's this notion that you ought not to be too good of friends? Like, you could get too close to another guy or something like that, and we have this idea that guys are tough, guys are islands, guys don't need one another.

I can stand alone and I don't need somebody else around me, and let alone use the word love for another guy, right?

But what does this say about us as a culture, that there's an immediate assumption that when two guys love one another, there's an immediate assumption of homosexual tendencies there.

There is no sex here in our text, but there is a deep commitment that is born out of a common faith in the living

God, and bravery in battle. That's what cements these guys together, is this idea of, you trust

God that much, and I trust God that much, and I've got your back, and you've got my back, and we're gonna take care of one another, and we are going to go to battle together, and we're gonna fight

God's enemies together. Remember that Jonathan was used by God as the bold and brave victor over the

Philistines back in chapter 14. He and just his armor bearer initiated a battle against the entire force of the

Philistines, and the defeat came through the faith of Jonathan in that case, and now we actually see a situation.

Remember that as Goliath comes out morning and evening, there is no mention of Jonathan, but he's there.

You've gotta assume that he's there with his father over the armies. Now, whether or not he wanted to go and take care of the giant, and his father wouldn't let him because he's the next in line for the kingship, we don't know all the details, but we do know that Jonathan didn't kill

Goliath. Who killed Goliath? David. So, I believe that in this text, we see in this conversation between the king and David, and Jonathan is there watching.

He has a deep, deep abiding respect for the one who has shown even more bravery than himself in battle against this

Philistine giant, laying it all on the line. And verses three through four show a covenant that was forged between the crown prince and David.

Jonathan pledges his own service to David by giving him his robe. This would be a somewhat formalized ceremony.

A symbol of his authority was his robe, and he gives that over to David, which is his authority and his status.

And then he also gives him his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt, all showing that Jonathan is giving his loyalty to David and not the other way around.

What we might assume is that David would be giving his loyalty to Jonathan, the crown prince, but instead the crown prince is giving his loyalty to David.

And I think in this, we find our first application. It comes straight from this response of Jonathan to the faith of David, because Jonathan is going to serve as a contrast to the theme of Saul's rising jealousy in the text.

You see, I believe fully in everything that's indicated in the text is that Jonathan is a man of faith in God, just like David.

He's got a faith and a trust in God with eyes to see the way that God sees things that are going on around him. And I believe that nothing but a relationship with God could move a man in line for the entire kingdom to give that up for a man that he sees as better than himself.

When Jonathan encounters one that is better than himself, that has more faith than himself, that has more bravery than himself, he acknowledges it.

And ask yourself this question in application. How do you respond to others in your life who are better than you?

Everybody knows someone. Maybe you've got, maybe there's only one person, but you know that there's someone who is better than you, right?

Or those that are just further along than you. Is there a proper respect for those who God is using around you?

Richard Phillips, in his commentary on this passage, very simply and succinctly stated what

I think is a way to tease out this application in our lives. Think about this. Where sin, speaking of Jonathan and David, where sin would have made enemies, where Jonathan to respond in the natural sinful fleshly temptations,

I'm going to get back to the quote, quote, where sin would have made enemies, faith made brothers, end quote.

Where sin would have made enemies, faith made brothers. You see, the difference was really ultimately

Jonathan's viewpoint and his connection with God, and at the end of the day, the way that he responds with eyes of faith versus eyes of flesh.

Many of you know that in your flesh, in yourself, in your sinful nature, you want to grab authority.

You want to grasp at honor. You want others to see you as the best, but Jonathan here, anybody impressed with a man like that who would step aside?

Is that even American? Really? Really? You guys are not, I'm not impressed, man.

He didn't even have the guts to like go for it here, like what in the world? This passage here in our text, this ought to push our buttons because I believe, as I even alluded to in my prayer earlier,

I believe that to a person in this room, every single one of us knows what jealousy feels like.

We know it. Every one of us has experienced that feeling that someone was taking from us our rightful honor, what we deserved, they received.

How dare they? They received what we deserved or that they get all the breaks and we keep being ignored or they got all the good looks and we got left behind.

Whatever the subject is, and you can think of it in your own life, there are areas, it could be athletic performance, it could be job performance, it could be all different kinds of areas that jealousy surrounds, but whatever the subject, the feeling is a common temptation to all men, women, young, old, jealousy has a long history in the human race.

And I would even suggest to you that the very first murder that the scriptures record for us was fueled by jealousy.

You see, Abel's sacrifice was accepted by God, but Cain's offering was rejected.

And so you know how that story goes. Ask yourself this, can you celebrate the victory of another?

Have you celebrated the victory of another? Jonathan doesn't just celebrate the victory of David, he commits himself in political loyalty to the one that he sees

God blessing. Do you hear the difference? Celebrating with him versus getting behind him and saying,

I've got you. Consider who you attach yourself to. You see, I think Jonathan here in the text is a model for us.

Even in that, he chooses wisely. He chooses to follow someone of faith. And rather than allowing jealousy to blind him to reality, with eyes of faith,

Jonathan identifies a man of bravery and faith and commits to the betterment of that man. And verse 5 is the first of several declarations of success over the life of David.

Jonathan pledges his loyalty and love to David. And now

David has further the love of the masses, the text tells us. The heart of the crown prince, he has the love of the masses.

He is blessed with military success. Verse 5 goes on, wherever Saul sends him. If we were going to make a

TV show of chapter 18, it would be everybody loves David. Everybody loves

David except for one foolish person. And we're going to see the entire nation offsetting this one individual.

It all began to turn south with a simple little ditty. It sometimes begins with music in our lives, right?

How many of you know music has power? Has power to change us, has power to impact us, has power to make us feel deep feels.

But it began with this story that they were singing out. They'd been out at the battlefield. Remember the

Philistines after Goliath died? They all ran home and so the troops chased them for a while.

They went back and plundered their camp. And now they're coming back into the city, probably Gibeah of Saul, the main headquarters there.

And they're marching back in a ticker tape parade of sorts. And the women are out singing these songs and celebrating the victory over the

Philistines. It was a short song it started with. Saul has struck down his thousands, however that goes.

We could sing it all together or something. David, maybe you could set that to music for us or something. Maybe for communion later, if you could just write a quick song here for us that would be great.

Saul has struck down his thousands. Just think about the start of that song with me for just a moment before we finish the song.

If it ends there, I don't think we have a problem at all. I don't think there's any problem with Saul if the song ends there.

Consider what a complimentary song this would be to Saul. It's already a song of exaggeration.

It's already got hyperbole in it. I don't believe for a second that Saul has literally slain thousands of Philistines on the battlefield.

His sword did not take off the heads of a thousand Philistines in this battle. It's not likely that that literally happened.

So from the standpoint of honor, these women are heaping already undeserved honor on Saul.

He doesn't even deserve what they are heaping on him. Do you get what I'm saying on this? He doesn't deserve the accolades he's receiving.

And he's going to get all jealous. He should feel great, right?

He's loved. These women are honoring him in song as he comes in. They're even exaggerating his exploits on the battlefield.

But the second line came in like a hammer, breaking up all the joy and peace, peace within Saul.

And David, his tens of thousands. His tens of thousands. David, his tens of thousands.

Again, exaggerated numbers, but clearly more honor than Saul.

Now how many of you know that at the end of a great meal, you don't deserve a piece of chocolate cake?

Did you know you don't deserve that? So when I set out with my kids, and I get that piece of cake, and we pass it out or whatever, and we get a dessert.

It's like, I mean, think about yourself. And you get that food, and you get a dessert, something that you don't deserve.

But then you look over to the person next to you, and they've got like a half a cake, right? You didn't deserve the quarter of a cake that you have.

But the minute that you see somebody with a half a cake, you're like, unfair, right? I mean, we know this in our core.

Everybody in this room has experienced this. Everybody knows what this feels like.

It's a comparison game, isn't it? And I would tell you this. I think that this is kind of a key thought in this passage and in this message this morning.

Think about this. I believe that jealousy thrives in the soil of comparison.

Jealousy thrives and grows in the soil of comparison. When you go down the road of putting comparisons in your life, you are asking for jealousy to grow in you.

You're saying, yes, let's go down this road, and let's see what grows in the soil of comparing myself to others.

Their performance, their job, their possessions, their wealth, their income, their looks, their family, the way that their kids speak

French and they're only 18 months old, and the way that they're batting .333

in Little League right now. It's t -ball, but I mean, hey, you know. I mean, you can kind of compare, right?

How many of you would just be honest with me here? I'm asking you to raise your hand. How many of you would say that maybe at a season of your life, probably not right now, but at some season in your life you've struggled with comparison?

How many of you would raise your hand and say, yeah. It's a common problem for all of us. And listen to me carefully.

I think that these three adjectives describe what grows there. It's illogical, it's false, and it's destructive.

Jealousy is illogical, it is false, and it is destructive. You see, logic and truth say, in this text,

Saul didn't deserve these accolades at all. We didn't deserve the piece of chocolate cake.

That's logic. That flows from the reality of us being broken and sinful humans who know that we mess up.

How many of you know the illogic of thinking you deserve great things and at the same time you feel pretty bad about your job performance? Deep down in your heart, you know, and you struggle with this and you wrestle with this, but hey, you know, how come

I didn't get the promotion? How come I didn't get the big break? Logic and truth say,

Saul didn't deserve these accolades at all. And the fact that these women are not merely singing about David, by the way, is impressive if you think about it.

He's the one who killed Goliath. You know, Saul should be surprised that it's not all about David, that Saul even made the honorable mention.

He was cowering in fear two times a day for 40 days. Eighty times that giant came out and shouted down Saul and he hid in his cave.

But now he thinks he deserves better. And what

I want to suggest to you that's even more telling about this song, something that reflects that I missed and I've read this story probably dozens of times, heard it told, heard it preached out.

I've never thought about this before. To my shame, and ultimately to Saul's shame as well, what should be the most discouraging thing about this song is the fact that the

Lord God Almighty who delivered his people doesn't even get an honorable mention in the song.

Do you hear that? Do you hear what this culture is like? Do you hear the times and the era of King Saul and under his leadership, what the nation was like?

Let's sing the praises of Saul. Let's sing the praises of David. Oh, where's God in this song? Saul should be upset by this song.

He should be upset by the absence of credit given to God for this victory. But Saul was a self -absorbed monarch just like the kings of all the nations.

Israel has indeed got the king that they asked for. Give us a king just like the nations.

Here's Saul. And from that day on, it says, from the time of that singing, from the time that they came in victorious, from the time that David wrought victory or God used

David to bring victory to the nation of Israel, from that day forward, Saul was suspicious and eyed

David. And it's interesting to note that Saul's suspicions are actually accurate.

They're well -founded. He doesn't know it, but this kid that just killed the giant is actually anointed as his predecessor, the one who's going to follow him, the one who is ultimately going to take his throne.

But his suspicions are accurate, but they're still ungodly. David is the man that God has chosen to replace

Saul, but that does not justify Saul's jealousy. And in verses 10 through 11, we see how quickly things can escalate in a heart given over to jealous rage.

Saul was more than just a little unsteady here in the text. He was spiritually tormented by a spirit from the

Lord. We dealt with that back in the sermon on chapter 16. If that phrase, an evil spirit from the Lord, in some translations, harmful spirit, distressing spirit, if the idea of that kind of spirit coming from the

Lord, you can go back and listen to that online. It's available on the website and podcast on iTunes, and you can check that out.

But in one of his fits of rage, when the spirit came upon him, remember David was his music therapist, would play the lyre, and that's still going on.

It's still going to go on even in the next passage. But in one of those fits of rage, he tried to kill

David by pinning him to the wall with his spear. He said, I'm going to be done with this, and he wanted

David out. Remember David, the one who is giving victory on the field of battle, the one who God is using, the one who

God is with. I just think about this. As I was reading this,

I was thinking, okay, here you've got this raging Saul. He's in some kind of a fit of this spiritual oppression that's on him, and somebody didn't think to take the spear out of his hand.

So he's raging. Do you picture this Saul brooding, stalking the halls of his palace, just angry and beside himself, carrying a spear?

How many of you think that serving this king would be a delightful calling, wouldn't it? I mean, really high calling. Nobody wanted to be in the court of Saul.

I mean, come on. I would believe that no matter how hard your workplace is, my hunch is that you haven't dodged any literal spears this week.

Maybe some verbal spears. Some of you are kind of going, Don, you don't know where I work. Not in the office so much here, just occasionally.

According to verse 12, Saul was afraid of David because, hear me carefully, he was afraid of David because the

Lord was with him. By the way, a big motivation in jealousy is fear. Do you know that that's a big compartment, a big component, one of the things that makes up jealousy is fear, fear of not being enough, fear of somebody getting ahead of you, fear of not being recognized, fear, fear, fear.

And so Saul is being motivated by jealousy, anger, fear, rage. Sometimes those without the spirit are actually afraid of those who are close to the

Lord. I don't know if you've experienced this in your workplace or in your neighborhood or maybe in family reunions and gatherings, but sometimes there's a literal fear of those who are close to God.

I think that sometimes, for some, we're a reminder of judgment. You don't have to speak judgment.

You don't have to say, You sinners, there's condemnation and there's hell. But just the sense of our presence sometimes exudes that.

Maybe we have a confidence that's disconcerting to those who lack that same calm confidence and it rattles them, it shakes them.

But think about what it says about Saul's state of mind, where he has descended to in the text. He is trying to kill someone because he knows the

Lord is with him. He's trying to kill him because he knows that the

Lord is with him. So Saul removed David from his presence. By the way, part of the preservation on David's life is the fact that all the people loved him.

I think Saul had a hard time getting to him because all of the people loved him. I think it was a little bit more of a challenge.

And so Saul is going to use all kinds of back channels to try to dispatch David. So he removes

David from his presence. David, it says according to verse 5, was actually like a war commander. So he would have been more like minister of war.

He would have been there in the king's presence. He's still playing the harp for him from time to time. But he is kind of directing all of the armies.

And then there comes a point where Saul removed David from his presence. He's no longer in that role. He's demoted to commander of a thousand.

That's going to require him no longer to be in the court of the presence of the king. But now he's got to go out and actually fight battles.

Saul's logic is hopefully the Philistines take care of him and we can be done with him. And so it's interesting because he still has this great success as he goes out.

And every attempt that Saul makes to get David away from him comes to nothing.

As a matter of fact, Saul's bumbling attempts to put David down only ever seems to elevate him.

The guy is like a rubber ball. He just keeps bouncing up higher every time you throw him down.

So David is in a position now that marches out before the people to battle. Comes back victorious every time he goes out.

He's now leading a thousand, a force of a thousand in the military. He takes his thousand out.

They defeat the Philistines. They come back and there's a ticker tape parade. And it's only increasing the love of the people for David.

It's backfiring. Every attempt seems to be backfiring for Saul. God blesses him with success in all his undertakings.

The people love him. And again, everybody loved David, but Saul was afraid of him. The text continues to go on in these cycles of explaining that, so I keep kind of repeating it.

But Saul was angry about his success and he stood in fearful awe of him. The word and the phrase fearful awe, he's like, how in the world does this guy keep surviving?

I put him in the thick of battle and he comes out unscathed every time. And he's holding his troops together.

I can put him in the front lines of the battle and no matter what I try to do to get this guy dead, he just refuses to die.

And King Saul wanted to be done with this potential threat to his throne. Whatever he does to try to stop

David only seems to result in David's advancement. And that theme of success here in the text needs to be tackled head on because it's something that I think is very close to all of our hearts.

How many of you like to succeed? Five of us? The rest of you really like failure? I mean, let's be honest.

The rest of you are tired and you're like, I wasn't tracking with you, what did you say? Because if I said to you one more time, how many of you like to succeed?

Go ahead and raise your hand if you like to succeed. That's all of us. We like success. And that's something that we've got to consider from this text.

Is that a promise? Does this passage promise success to those? I mean, is there a magical formula in here? If you have a heart for God and you love him by faith, then thou shalt succeed.

Does it promise success to those who have a heart after God? Let me be clear that I believe that your life will encounter exactly the amount of success that the

Lord desires over you. Scripture doesn't come with a flow chart towards success, do

A, B, and C, and then you'll get success. You see, I think that we read about the success of David and we can glorify that and we can magnify that and we can zoom in on that and we can be like, oh,

I want to be like David, success, success, people love me, people think I'm awesome. But the story of the life of David and his rise to power includes dark times like having spears chucked at his head.

It includes times of hiding in a cave and running for his life. It includes times of feigning insanity as we're going to see here later in 1

Samuel before the king of the Philistines and literally living among the Philistines, among his enemies for fear of his friends, those who seek his life.

The one who he has sworn to serve is the one who's going to be chasing him all across the countryside in a mad, insane rage to try to kill

David. We're even going to see, for a season of David's life, that he is going to even doubt whether God is ever going to make him king, which is kind of surprising considering his intense faith that we see.

You see, we can glorify the success, but I'm convinced that David's life was honestly not super fun.

It wasn't super fun. What I want to point out is that the safest place for a finite human to be is a place of humility before our

God, a place of humbling ourselves, of literally, at times,

I don't know when's the last time you literally got down on your knees before God, but I would encourage that. I would encourage a physical posture of humility before him and recognizing that he's in charge, he is the king, and no matter what dark times you go through or good times you go through,

I'd encourage you to kneel before him during the good times and thanks, kneel before him in the dark times and say, you know, you know what needs to happen in my life, you are the only one.

Sometimes we don't even know why we're going through what we're going through, but he does. Submit to him and get down before him in humility.

The lesson here from all of the success of David is not about what you deserve. You see,

I'm convinced that if you want to slide towards Saul -like living, then camp on the notion of success and make sure you always try to make that happen for yourself.

Always try to make sure that you succeed in everything that you do and make success your goal.

Now, certainly we try to succeed at everything we do, we don't enter into it to fail, but make that the end all of your existence and you will live like Saul.

You see, there is one man in our text that is shooting for success and it looks like jealous, angry, and fearful living.

But there is one guy in our text who is trying to honor God in humility. His end is not his own success.

David's end is not his own success. David's end is the glory of the Almighty God. That's what he wants to see happen.

God be glorified in me, through me, and in all the interactions that I have around me. And God, by his sovereign grace, blesses him with success.

You see, God doesn't give David success because he earned it with his humility. Now, you might be writing in your notes, okay, if I'm humble, then

God will give me success. You see, success is still the end of that, right? You're still making success the point.

And that's not the point. The end is the glory of God. Come success or come failure, right?

And so, God gave David success because God delights to give good things to those who love him and run to him as their shield and fortress.

And David serves as a model for us of one who ran to God for deliverance.

Saul had promised to give the one who killed Goliath his daughter in marriage, but Saul even uses that silly thing as an attempt to express his jealous animosity toward David.

And in verse 17, we see Saul's plan moving forward was to attempt to use the Philistines to dispatch

David. And so, he offers his eldest daughter, Merib, to David, hoping that this is going to give him greater leverage and asking more of David on the battlefield.

But David responded in humility. He said, how can I be the king's son -in -law? Like, how in the world does that work? And before the agreement is even fully resolved, before Saul even counters offers, he gives his daughter to a man named

Adriel, a woman that he should have, the text says, should have given to David. Why?

Because he promised. But he pulls back from that plan. But since everybody loved

David, even Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David. And interestingly, this is the only time outside of the

Song of Songs that the Bible records the name of a woman who loves a man.

Most marriages were arranged during this time, and that would have just been the routine. But we actually see expressed a woman's admiration and love for a man before they're married.

And so, a second time, Merib, deal fell through. Saul decided to try to use one of his daughters to his advantage to try to get

David dead. Which, by the way, you just think about that, and I mean, there's a whole rabbit trail of the way that Merib and Michael must have felt towards their father in this.

There's a deep, deep thing going on there, too. We don't have time to pursue. But in verses 23 through 25, we see an interaction between David and Saul's servants that seems to be unnecessarily detailed for what it is.

But I believe that there's a purpose behind this. There's an interesting thing going on. David and the servants of Saul have a private conversation in which

David could have spoke his mind. You see, I think there's an intention between saying, behind this whole thing,

Saul has his servants go to David in private. There's a private conversation.

And he could speak what is going on. We actually find out through this interaction that the humility of David was not just a public show, but it was a private reality.

Even in his private conversations, we see him expressing genuine humility. Not to the servant.

I deserve my reward. Saul promised me his daughter in marriage because I killed

Goliath. I killed Goliath, didn't I? The jerk, you know, you could have just said, the jerk jilted me once already by withholding my rightful wife.

How in the world could I trust him again? But he responds with, what

I believe is a genuine, heartfelt, who am I to actually be brought into the king's family?

Who am I that I should be considered to marry into royalty? Saul's jealousy here in the text is set over and against David's genuine humility that we see as these two themes.

But I truly believe that we're observing in David a supernatural humility that was developed from years spent with the

Almighty in humble circumstances. David was in the field for years. He was the little brother given the work that nobody else wanted to do.

And those nights in those fields with those sheep turned into the strong and bold faith that let

David see the living God as first and himself as lowly.

He honestly and truly didn't believe that he deserved to be married into the royal family and he expresses that. And further we find out that he is poor in verse 23, which he shouldn't be.

If you follow the logic of the text, if you were here last week and you read chapter 17 and you go on to chapter 18, you should acknowledge that David should not be poor by the time we get to this text, but he says,

I'm poor. And if Saul had made good on his promise to give great riches to the one who killed

Goliath, then David could easily have paid the bride price for Michael. But the text tells us one more failure on Saul's part, kind of off to the side.

Yeah, by the way, David is still poor. Why is David poor? Saul hasn't given him the great riches that he promised to the one who kills

Goliath. Saul proves himself time and time again to not be a trustworthy man.

You see, Saul's looking for creative ways to make sure that David died in battle and so he requests a gruesome bride price here in our text by asking for 100

Philistine foreskins. Now, in this is, you know, this is gruesome. Obviously, all of a sudden you're like, this culture is different than ours.

Like, I'm gonna be just showing you. You read that, you're like, okay, wait a minute. We're not just talking about routine jealousy and stuff. Like, I was tracking with you,

Don, up till the point where you mentioned a bride price of 100 foreskins. But something is going on different here.

He's assuring that David must enter into close combat, kill 100 Philistines, stay on the field of battle, and mutilate the bodies.

Like, that's not an easy thing to do in battle. Like, it's one thing to kill 100 Philistines.

It's another thing to hang around afterwards. This is to assure that the

Philistines developed a deep animosity and hatred of David. That's what Saul's driving for here.

There's all different kinds of meaning and depth to what's going on here that goes far beyond this gruesome, you know, grotesque thought in our minds.

But it actually is an attempt to put a target on David's back.

I believe that Saul thinks this way. When the Philistines find out what David has done to their countrymen, he will certainly be the

Philistine most wanted. He'll be number one that they will want to target.

David's an overachiever, and so he and his men bring back 200 Philistine foreskins just to kind of overdo it a bit.

And, you know, you guys can breathe a sigh of relief. We're past that part of the text, so everybody okay?

Everybody doing all right? Everybody survived? Okay. The result of the love of many for David, the jealousy of Saul, the great success given to David by God culminates in these amazing statements that are giving us a summary statement in verses 28 through 30.

Saul saw that all the plans to defeat David backfired and only served to propel David forward.

And after all these attempts to defeat the Lord's chosen, David ends this text married into the royal family.

He has the love and admiration of all of Israel, and he has the loyalty of the crown prince of Israel.

Do you see how David has excelled and where he was at the start of the text and where he is at the end of the text?

All with the animosity of the king of Israel, all with the stated purpose that Saul would kill him.

Do you see God's hand of protection over David's life? Do you see God's hand of success propelling

David forward? The sovereign God is watching over David's life.

This leads Saul to be even more, the text quote, even more afraid of David.

And Saul made it his purpose to have David as his enemy. Even as David is granted the most success of any of Saul's commanders, even as David is highly esteemed,

Saul says, you will be my number one enemy. Well, the way that the application flows from this text is pretty straightforward.

We've really got two applications and then we're done. Jealousy is a destructive force. That's the first application. Again, I think when you walked in here, you already knew that, but we have some pictures of this from two different sides.

Jonathan sets before us an example of trust and faith in God that lets others succeed and even eclipses him.

See, do you see David eclipsing Jonathan? He's letting the light of David get in the way of the light of, the light of David get in the way of the light of Jonathan, and Jonathan says, okay.

I see him an awesome model. I see in Jonathan an awesome model of one who doesn't cling to titles, but instead clings to the

Almighty, allowing his plans to come first. And once Jonathan is convinced that David is the

Lord's anointed, he doesn't merely step aside, but he comes behind and offers support.

We equally have a negative example, obviously, of the way that jealousy is a destructive force in the life of Saul. A jealous and proud person is obnoxious to behold, and the only person who doesn't see how obnoxious it is is the one who is jealous.

You know what I'm talking about? Often, everybody around you knows when you're acting like a buffoon.

Everybody in Saul's life knew. Don't rub him the wrong way. I mean, he's a jerk. They probably didn't say that to his face, right?

They didn't want to spear. But they knew it. And let me just say that the thing that sets

Jonathan and Saul in contrast comes down to a faith that God is getting it right.

You see, the jealous person is pretty sure that the blessings were delivered by God to the wrong address. No, you got it wrong,

God. You delivered it over there, and it was supposed to come to my house. Can you make this right?

Can you take it from them and give it back to me? Because you know I was supposed to get it. That position was meant for me.

I should be able to drive that car. I should be able to look like that. My kids should be like that.

Are you content with what God has given? Do you believe that he is getting it right as he doles out his blessings?

You see, I believe that God has a bigger picture than you and I can take in. Saul couldn't see it because he lacked eyes of faith.

But Jonathan got it right because he had a solid belief that God got it right.

God was correctly dispensing the blessings. And I want to wrap up with an application that ties in with believing that God is working the right plan.

It's said in this text three times that the Lord was with David. The Lord was with David. The Lord was with David.

And I believe that that makes all the difference in the world. That's it. That's the hope that we can have is that God would be with us.

And in a way, this text is asking you and I to connect ourselves to God in trust. For David, it isn't going to be all rainbows and butterflies.

I mentioned some of the difficult times coming down the pipeline for him. But he connects himself to the Almighty, and the

Lord is with him. And only in as much as he leans on the Almighty is he in a good place.

And the phrase, God was with David, is reminiscent of one of the names of Jesus Christ himself,

Emmanuel, God with us.

God with us. And just like that thing that made David stand out, we have access to that same blessing in Christ.

God with us. Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Him living through us.

Him living in us. Him breathing real life into these cold and lifeless hearts.

So as we come to communion, ask yourself, is God with me? And I want you to be careful with the way you answer that and ask it.

Because there's a difference between, is God with me and is God giving me success? That's where we want to go.

We want to turn to, oh, the success is the evidence of God with me. No, just think more in terms of, am

I leaning on him? Do you acknowledge his will above your own? Are you content with what he has given to you?

Can you celebrate with others around you who succeed, and particularly who succeed in the

Lord? See, only in Christ can we have this supernatural humility that doesn't compete with everyone else around us.

The reality in our hearts is we want to turn it all into a competition. That's so, so, so dangerous when you get into the comparison game.

What grows in the soil of comparison? Jealousy. So if you're here and you're in Christ, that is, if you're all in, you've asked him to save you.

You've acknowledged him as your king, which are really the two prongs of salvation. Acknowledge that he is your master, he is your king, and ask him to save you, and you will be saved.

That's the testimony of the New Testament. That's what it declares to be true of the gospel. Why? Because he came and paid for you.

So if you're all in with Christ, then come to the table this morning, one of the tables in the back, to remember that Jesus paid for your sins on the cross.

And rejoice that he has promised to be with his children to the end of this age. He has promised to be with you in all the twists and turns of life, the good and the bad.

And then take that juice and take that cracker to remind you of his great love for you this morning.

And rejoice. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for the gift that we have in Jesus.

We come to the tables now to reflect on his body broken for us, and his blood shed for us.

Father, the place of hope is not in our ability to push jealousy aside, but the hope for us is found at the cross where humility is ours, where your honor was upheld, and where forgiveness was granted by you.

And so, Father, I pray that you would help us all to reflect on that, to live that out in reality. Father, that our fight and our war against jealousy would be won at the place of our humility at the foot of the cross.

Father, that we would recognize our own sinfulness before you, and that we are just beggars on your mercy, and you have been faithful to provide it in abundance for us.