1 Samuel 24:1-25:1, How Do You Do It?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church

1 view

July 7, 2024

1 Samuel 24:1-25:1 How Do You Do It?

1 Samuel 24:1-25:1, How Do You Do It?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

00:00: First Samuel chapter 24 verse 1 all the way to chapter 25 verse 1 hear the word of the
00:05: Lord When Saul returned from following the Philistines he was told behold
00:11: David is of the wilderness of in Gedi then Saul took 3 ,000 chosen men out of the all
00:16: Israel and went to seek David and all his men in front of the wild goats rocks and He came to the sheepfolds by the way where there was a cave and Saul went in to relieve himself
00:26: Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave and the men of David said to him
00:33: Here is the day of which the Lord said to you behold I will give your enemy into your hand and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you then
00:43: David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe and Afterward David's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe
00:51: And he said to his men the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord the Lord's Anointed To put out my hand against him saying he is the
01:01: Lord's Anointed so David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack
01:06: Saul and Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul My lord the king and when
01:19: Saul looked behind him David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage and David said to Saul Why do you listen to the words of men who say behold
01:28: David seeks your harm? behold this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave and Some told me to kill you, but I spared you
01:39: I said I will not put out my hand against my Lord for he is the Lord's Anointed See my father
01:44: See the corner of your robe in my hand For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you
01:51: You may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands I have not sinned against you though You hunt my life to take it may the
02:00: Lord judge between you me and you may the Lord avenge me against you But my hand shall not be against you as the proverb of the ancient says out of the wicked comes wickedness
02:11: But my hand shall not be against you After whom has the king of Israel come out after whom do you pursue after a dead dog after a flea?
02:23: may the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you and See to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand
02:32: As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul Saul said is this your voice?
02:38: My son David and Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David you are more righteous than I For you have repaid me good
02:47: Whereas I have repaid you evil and you have declared this day how much you dealt well with me and that you did not kill
02:54: Me when the Lord put me into your hands for if a man finds his enemy Will he let him go away safe?
03:01: So may the Lord reward you with good For what you have done to me this day and now behold
03:08: I know that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand swear to me therefore by the
03:16: Lord that you shall not cut off my offspring after me and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house and David swore this to Saul then
03:26: Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold Now Samuel died and all
03:33: Israel Assembled and mourned for him and they buried him in his house at Rama May the
03:39: Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well, we're in a political season now the elections only four months away a little under that actually the politicians are busy trying to convince us that they have our best future for most
03:56: Americans that comes down to a simple equation of Who is going to tax me the least or who is going to give me the most benefits?
04:05: For Christians, there should be a greater principle than just that Who is for? Justice not just us who will protect what the
04:16: Lord Jesus called in Matthew 25 The least of these our neighbors who have the least rights the least protection
04:24: Who are the least of these in? America today in 1860 they would have been the slaves if we were voting in the 1860 election
04:32: There would be four major candidates. We'd have to choose from who's going to protect the least of these best
04:39: But first there was Stephen Douglas. He believed slavery was a dying institution. So it should just be left alone It's kind of die on the vine
04:45: Problem was slavery wasn't a dying institution and the decade before the Civil War in the 1850s The slave states grew it twice the rate
04:52: Economically grew it twice the rate of the rest of the country slave plantations were 36 % more profitable than regular farms
04:59: The South wanted to expand slavery to other areas and was already beginning to use slaves in factories
05:05: But Douglas believed that it would just wither away. And so I guess the least of these would eventually
05:12: Get their rights Someday, maybe I don't think he cared really about them.
05:17: He won 12 electoral votes John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party argued that the
05:24: Constitution preserved both Slavery and the Union he won 39 electoral votes in the border states including,
05:32: Virginia John Breckinridge was outright in favor of slavery and won all of the Deep South was 72 electoral votes
05:39: And so the pro -slavery vote Was split three ways allowing the only
05:46: Moderately anti -slavery candidate Abraham Lincoln to win 180 electoral votes
05:52: That happened because that is at this time The only people who voted were men almost all white men
05:59: They they were willing to vote for a moderately anti -slavery candidate because for about two generations before that election
06:07: Christians had been denouncing slavery teaching. I know there were exceptions. Okay, there were some
06:13: Christians for slavery, but That's not news So what was news and what was new in history was that Christians are now becoming out against slavery
06:22: Teaching churches that you cannot own a slave You cannot support slavery and be following in Jesus who said love your neighbor as yourself
06:29: You don't want to be a slave so you can't love your neighbor and enslave him the slave was your neighbor
06:35: And so was the least of these the least of these today, I believe Are the unborn or pre -born
06:44: They are human beings Regardless of what anyone might say. I mean, it's just a scientific objective biological fact
06:50: They are human beings and they're objectively alive And so they're human beings just like the slaves before the
06:56: Civil War because in that day They would say also that they're not real full human beings. That's the reason we can violate the rights
07:02: That was wrong then it's wrong today for the pre -born and just like then today the pre -born have no legal protections
07:10: Christians now can disagree with lots of issues about how to best provide for people Whether it's best for the government to do it
07:17: Or for people to be left on their own to make the decisions they feel best or some kind of something in between But there should be no debate on whether we should protect the least of these the question is is how?
07:29: in the kingdom of god There will be no slavery right that should be obvious and just as there will be no slavery
07:36: So also there will be no killing of the pre -born just for our convenience To have one less mouth to feed or as kind of an ex post facto form of birth control
07:46: And now I know there are some other reasons for some abortions, but they make up only about they make up a very very small percentage only about 2 % when it's really like a medical emergency or something and so We made this country
08:01: Free of legal slavery and so it's more like in that regard more like the kingdom of God.
08:07: The question is How do we do it again? How do we make the world now at least our little corner of the world in this country more like that kingdom?
08:19: Well, it's election season and all sides are saying that they will bring in the glorious new future if they win
08:25: They don't use the biblical term But what they're claiming is that they will bring in paradise the kingdom of God The question is how do you do that?
08:38: How do you bring in? God's kingdom we see that here in 1st. Samuel chapter 24 in four parts first the question then the declaration third the confession and finally the transition
08:54: Well first, there's the question How do you bring in God's kingdom? That's what
08:59: David has been want to know David is the king right? He's already been anointed and Israel is
09:05: God's kingdom. So how do you get to the situation where the proper King is David is
09:11: Reigning over God's kingdom. How do you get him on the throne now? Normally as we saw last week rebels undermine the government in power, you know, they buy their time
09:20: They wait for an opportunity to strike so that then they can take over Then when that happens their kingdom has come but we've already seen that David isn't doing that Kyla was under siege and David brought his men to rescue it, which is really weird.
09:36: It's just odd. He's actually actively defending what is technically
09:43: Saul's kingdom he is in effect Defending Saul now still
09:48: David and his men have got to be wondering how long are they gonna have to to wait to put up With us put up with being chased over the countryside, especially when in verse 1
09:56: Saul comes back Immediately after having to respond to a Philistine attack He's back to pursuing
10:03: David in verse 2 picks 3 ,000 of his crack troops And he takes them on this expedition to catch and kill
10:10: David He brings his army to wild goats rock. It's called on the shore of the
10:15: Dead Sea This just sounds just the name of it kind of gives you a picture of what it's like there sounds very rugged
10:20: Doesn't it wild goats rock? Well, it's like it has lots of mountains and canyons and caves and they're energetically scouring the area looking for David and then
10:29: Saul has to Relieve himself and so he ducks into a cave to do his business. And now what are the chances that he happens to choose the cave?
10:38: The lurking place he called it in the last chapter that David was Was hiding in with some of his men hiding further and deeper in the cave.
10:50: I 1940s they found these We call them now the Dead Sea Scrolls in Some caves that have been abandoned there for 2 ,000 years so many caves and so many places hide in there
11:01: You could hide something in a cave and it not be found for 2 ,000 years Okay That's just how rugged it is there and David Choses one cave to hide in it happens to be the cave that Saul goes into what are the chances of that happening?
11:13: Well, David has been hiding in that cave and where he wrote Psalm 142, which we just sang of David When he was in the cave a prayer
11:21: Deliver me from my persecutors For they are too strong for me And it looks like God has answered his prayer, right?
11:30: What good luck for David. Of course, there's no such thing as luck There's providence. There's God's hand at work and just here the temptation is to think the hand of God led
11:39: Saul there to that Pacific cave out of all the many caves in that area to deliver the kingdom into David's hand
11:48: Now it's true that God's hand led Saul there But the question is why
11:56: David's men think they know and so they declare probably whispering in verse 4 Here is the day of which the
12:02: Lord said to you Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand There's that theme again hand and you shall do to him as you shall seem good to you
12:14: Now first we have no record of God ever saying that to David did they just make that up Did they guess that surely?
12:23: What God means by anointing? David King and by God God's hand
12:30: Guiding Saul into that one specific cave What's to deliver
12:35: Saul to David's hand so that he would kill him David as a promise of God that he will be the king
12:42: God brought Saul here. They believe that God directs all things with his hand. He's directed Saul here.
12:47: No guards around He's an easy target. God simply must be giving him to you
12:53: David All you have to do is take advantage of the opportunity and they think they can then make up words
12:58: Describe them to God and that's that's okay. After all, there's no such thing as luck There's preparation meeting opportunity.
13:06: David is prepared with the right weapons very sharp knife and he has the opportunity Bring in God's kingdom by force
13:16: That's what his men say But it's a temptation What they know is that God brought
13:23: Saul there the question is Why? How do you bring in God's kingdom
13:31: You know, the politicians are basically saying you vote for me. I'll do it. This is how it's gonna be Well, the temptation is that we can bring it in with force with with laws
13:39: We'll just make people do what God tells them to do. We'll pass a law And that'll do it get the police to enforce it pass a law to protect the pre -born.
13:49: Okay, that's good Then how far are you willing to go? To make people obey
13:55: God Are you willing to bring back they used to call the blue laws, you know the blue laws Which means businesses had to close on Sundays By law everyone had to close now
14:06: I might support that for practical reasons because small businesses like some of yours Can't afford usually to hire
14:14: People to stay open all the time. And so if everyone has to close on the same day
14:20: Well, they get their day off small businesses get their day off and they don't lose business to the big change
14:25: Which can't afford, you know, they hire just new employees to stay open. But what about establishing churches? Yeah, that's making
14:30: I just made a practical argument for this law. It's not just force people to church. What if you say well, okay
14:36: We're gonna make people do what God says. God says go to church. Don't forsake the assembling yourselves together like in the church covenant Why don't we pass a law to make people go to church?
14:46: Not that that's gonna happen anytime soon, but let's be real it's not anywhere close to happening Well, you know what if you're gonna do this gonna pass laws to force people to obey
14:54: God. Why not do that? After all if in the kingdom of God Everyone goes to church and you want to make this world what now like the kingdom of God just make people do it
15:05: Do we make people say Jesus is Lord now? Do we just force them to? You know after all
15:11: God's gonna do it in the end but Can we do it now? That's a question
15:17: We want to bring in God's kingdom. The question is how? Well back to the big issue the one we all hopefully agree on May have some differences in the fine print, but hopefully the big issue
15:29: That it comes from the second table of the Ten Commandments the commandment against murder How do you protect the least of these the pre -born now pro -life people usually?
15:39: Abolitionists, that's another group and Christian nationalists say simply well by laws Make laws that protect the right to life of the pre -born
15:48: Now some people just answer back But even some people who say they're pro -life and we'll say well imposing laws and banning things
15:56: Only serves to make whatever you're banning more popular. Look at prohibition They say typical argument look at prohibition the government banned alcohol and it spread
16:06: There's just more drinking than ever before they say that's actually not true
16:11: Prohibition started in 1920 and lasted until 1933 Now while there were some kind of high -profile gangsters like Al Capone who made a lot of money off of illegal liquor
16:22: The fact is that just the 14 years of prohibition Lowered the rate of alcohol consumption per person in the
16:30: USA for the next two generations The rate of alcohol consumption in the
16:35: USA did not go back up to pre -prohibition levels until the mid 1990s That's because the law
16:42: Even human laws the law teaches by enforcing immorality by saying this is illegal
16:50: It trains people in what is moral. It says this most people assume if it's illegal that it is immoral. So I shouldn't do it
16:57: Maybe they'd still do it, but they still know this is kind of wrong. I shouldn't be doing of course when it comes to slavery and abortion
17:04: There's predominantly just the rights of the victim. You don't need to make a practical argument, but It's just the rights of the victim the slaves rights to freedom is greater than the slave owners right to To get free labor, which is not a right at all
17:19: The pre -born person's right to life is the essential right if you have no right to life You have no right to anything and another other rights matter if you could be killed just because you're inconvenient to somebody
17:29: But how do you get people to see that that's the question? The law teaches them we need laws to teach people especially people who don't come church and listen to sermons
17:40: And it teaches people that the law says you can't have slaves. Sorry. I know you want to have one
17:46: It's not convenient to have people do work for you for free, but you can't You can't kill people who are convenient to you
17:54: So we can now have laws that protect the least of these that reflect in part the kingdom of God But you can't get the king that way
18:10: You can't establish the king over the kingdom of God by those kind of laws and without the king
18:20: It'll always be imperfect and disappointing so like here
18:27: First Samuel 24, how do you bring in God's kingdom? That's the question
18:35: David's been say well, it's simple. You have the opportunity strike kill
18:42: Force do as it shall seem good to you It's like the advice follow your heart follow your heart
18:48: David Which many people take to mean to do whatever is convenient take the easy route do whatever you feel like doing
18:55: And so David slinks over to Saul says stealthily very quietly like a ninja
19:03: Says the verse 4 and he cuts a corner of Saul's robe It's not just proof that he was that close to Saul because he'll do this later
19:11: So do something else to prove he's close to Saul and there he didn't feel anything wrong with it here I think it's something about the robe that makes him feel like there's something wrong
19:20: Because he's tearing at Saul's royal robe It's like brings back from when
19:26: Samuel had told Saul when Saul grabbed at him accidentally Samuel's robe in 1st
19:32: Samuel chapter 15 verse 27 that the kingdom has been torn from Saul something symbolic about that and perhaps here
19:38: This is this is Saul's royal robe and David thought that he could portray that the first thought he should portray that they do
19:45: That he was symbolically showing. Hey Saul. Look the kingdom has been cut off from you
19:50: By the way, his knife is so sharp He's able to slice off a piece of the robe without making any tearing sounds keeps his weapons nice and ready
19:58: Well, he slinks back to his men in the verse 5 says his heart Struck him
20:04: He felt a pang of conscience This is something he knew he shouldn't do
20:11: And his men wanted him to seize the moment in and kill Saul strike him use that knife on Saul not just on his robe
20:17: But he's so conscious stricken just for cutting off a piece of the royal robe
20:23: Billy Graham said conscience is the detective that watches the direction of our steps and decries every conscious
20:32: Transgression David feels he's transgressed the king by consciously Tearing his robe and so he tells his men in verse 6
20:43: The Lord notice all capitals. This means Yahweh the I am God Forbid that I should do this thing to my
20:52: Lord small case meaning Adonai is his master He is
20:58: Saul is the Lord's anointed Samuel anointed Saul as the king the
21:04: Holy Spirit came on him now Sure, the spirits departed from him and now he's tormented by an evil spirit from the
21:09: Lord, but that's God's doing David believed he does not have the right to act like Saul is no longer the king as he says to put out my hand
21:19: Against him seeing he is the Lord's anointed. He does not have that right
21:25: God only God does Then how does the kingdom come? Right.
21:31: I mean all this David is as these men and they all think he's the king and he's acting like the king if David Is not gonna take advantage of this this perfect Opportunity he served right up to you
21:44: David Take this opportunity to take out Saul and then take the throne
21:50: How will this new anointed? proper king How will he ever rule how it'll ever happen?
21:59: Well, David doesn't know He doesn't need to know He just knows that it's not his job
22:06: He's not supposed to do the work himself However, God brings in the kingdom of God Puts him on the throne puts
22:14: David on the throne. It'll be without him doing it himself Now sure, he believes
22:21: David believes that God works through means after all he put his parents in Moab to protect them He's finding protection in the cave.
22:28: He'll be active. He'll do everything he can he'll be prepared. But it when it comes to this
22:34: When it comes to establishing the kingdom of God who is the king of God's kingdom?
22:40: That is something only God can do So it must be left up to God and this is part of the answer to our question.
22:47: How does the kingdom of God come? Yes, we can use laws to protect the least of these to bring justice, but we can't use laws
22:57: To establish the kingdom of God to make people believe in Christ Just you know to force people you must say
23:03: Jesus is Lord and think we brought in the kingdom of God that way It just won't work Now maybe for the sake of small business we can bring back blue laws, but we can't make
23:12: Christ the Lord in people's hearts By just something written by the legislature
23:18: Signed by a governor or president and enforced by the police Have the deputies out there on Sunday morning going around house to house
23:26: They make sure you're in church. And if you're not they haul you off to jail That won't work You know, at least not for the kingdom of God Even if we could force people into church
23:36: Imagine a bunch of people hundreds of people in here because they're forced to make it's by the law They have to come here. The result of that would be that we would destroy the church
23:44: We'd have unregenerate unsaved unbelieving people populating the church and after a while They'd take it over the kingdom of God would not come that way.
23:53: And so David says I cannot put out my hand against the Lord's anointed I Can't by my force
24:01: Take down the king of the kingdom of God put myself up in that place Only the hand of the Lord can do that.
24:06: And so with those words he persuaded that knows first He persuaded his men not to kill Saul and then he didn't allow them
24:13: To do it to kill him and Saul left not knowing how close he had come
24:20: To being assassinated How do you do it, how do you bring in the kingdom of God well second by declaration starting in verse 8
24:31: David lets Saul get far enough away And then he comes out of the cave Probably there's some
24:38: Canyon there Where his voice carries and his echoes he calls out to Saul My lord the king
24:48: Saul Looks back behind him Sees the the mouth of that cave same cave.
24:53: He had just come out of a couple minutes earlier David there's David some of his men
25:00: David bows himself prostrate on the ground and in an extravagant gesture of respect for Saul For a display that he believes
25:12: Saul is the king He just calls him the king my lord my master the king David is supposed to be the rebel remember lying in wait
25:22: Saul said to depose him But there's David declaring
25:28: Saul is his Lord his king and he's properly paying objescence to Saul and Then David makes his declaration for verses 9 to 15.
25:37: I have a long speech from David here about this Why do you listen to the man who say to you begin us all behold
25:45: David seeks your harm Now this is giving Saul the benefit of the doubt that all this
25:52: This thought that David is out to assassinate and depose him Was was something that men around Saul had told
25:59: Saul and turned his his mind his opinion against David And this is the kind of respect we should have for those in authorities not assuming the worst of them
26:07: Ascribing to leaders dark conspiracy theories, but here of course David's wrong Right.
26:12: He's just wrong. It's not that Saul has been misled by people. Saul is the one who in his paranoia
26:19: Manufactured the idea that David must be out to get him and and he complained remember Saul Saul complained
26:24: But those around him weren't going along with him But David begins with respect and that's right
26:31: Then in verse 10 behold. I was look at this This is important Saul David speaking this day really just now your eyes have seen
26:42: Like me and my men coming out of the cave how the Lord gave you into my hand now notice again
26:48: Everything is in the hand of God the Lord has you Saul in his hand like he is everyone and Just now he gave you into my hand so I could do anything.
27:00: I want to do you the question was why and David declares some
27:06: Told me to kill you That's the temptation But I spared you
27:12: To the question is how the kingdom of God comes David didn't believe it came in by the knife.
27:19: I Said I will not put out my hand against My Lord in small l my master speaking respectfully of the one who has been pursuing him
27:30: For he is the Lord's Anointed the anointed means Hebrew the Messiah and Greek the
27:36: Christ is the one who brings in God's kingdom you cannot remove him or Impose him by force only
27:45: God can Now some pastors especially of cults or very unhealthy churches use that phrase to say they shouldn't be criticized or resisted
27:54: That they are the anointed but but no They're not the anointed and even if they're charismatic and they're powerful.
28:02: No, it's not for you. Sorry is this is not about pastors Here we're not talking about the about why you shouldn't criticize pastors.
28:10: It's not have anything to do with that touch Not the Lord's anointed that's totally misuse and anyone who uses it that way
28:15: You better be suspicious of here. We're talking about the one who brings in God's kingdom. He's the anointed one the king of the kingdom of God How do you put him on the throne?
28:27: Like the throne of people's lives How do you do that? Some of you have people in your own life your own family
28:34: Maybe your children you want him you want Christ the anointed one to be on the throne of their life
28:42: How are you going to do that? Just order them to order them to say Jesus is Lord get baptized
28:47: You think that'll do it? It won't You can't do it by force
28:54: David declares in verse 11 see my father speaking now affectionately of Saul my father called
29:00: Saul Implying but he also implying something here about himself You know,
29:06: I if Saul if you're my father, I'm your heir and So I'd no more want to remove you by assassination
29:15: Then a good prince good son of the king like Jonathan would think to assassinate his own father just to get the throne
29:23: No Now he's saying I am next king after you, but I'm like your son.
29:29: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna kill you to get it The evidence then for that is he holds up that piece of robe.
29:36: He cut off see The corner of your robe in my hand
29:43: Waving it maybe For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you you may know and see that there is
29:51: No wrong or treason in my hands. There's the robe in his hands. No wrong or treason So I'll probably look at him.
29:56: Yeah, he's right. He cut off my robe didn't notice till there's now Then he that proves that David got close enough to cut the robe
30:05: He was close enough to stab him and Then David declares his innocence.
30:11: I have not sinned against you Though you hunt my life to take it
30:17: He's not gonna be Saul's judge jury and executioner may the Lord This is the main point of this really of this whole chapter.
30:24: May the Lord judge between me and you may the Lord avenge me
30:29: Against you I could have just now but I didn't made the Lord do it but but my hand
30:36: Shall not be against you The kingdom comes by the Lord's doing and then he quotes an old proverb out of the wicked comes wickedness
30:46: Select what Jesus said out of the heart comes Comes uncleanness because the clean
30:51: The hearts unclean here David says something similar if you're wicked you do wicked things Meaning it would be wicked to kill the anointed the
30:59: Christ here Saul and David's not going to do it again My hand shall not be against you shall not this time future tense.
31:08: You can tempt me you can chase me I'm not gonna kill you oppose you then verse 14
31:14: He humbles himself after whom has the king of Israel come After whom do you pursue?
31:20: After a dead dog David here comparing himself to a dead dog or after a flea In other words, I should be small potatoes to you
31:26: Saul. You're the king of Israel You should have big things to be concerned about the Philistines are making there's other kingdoms making war you've got things to do
31:35: Enforcing God's laws in this kingdom. You should be doing that Not chasing me over the hills here
31:41: And then in this declaration he calls on the on the Lord made the Lord therefore therefore because I'm not conspiring against you because I will not strike you as I just proved with the rope and You should have more important things to do
31:58: May God be judge May God give sentence like they're in a court.
32:06: God's the judge Saul there's David give your verdict Lord Between this is a complaint between me and you give your sentence
32:16: And may God see to it see that I'm right. May God plead my cause and may the Lord deliver me from your hand
32:26: My hand it's not against you But your hand is against me and so may the
32:32: Lord's hand Keep me safe from your hand That's the declaration an appeal
32:44: To the Lord So, how do we do it? How do we bring in the kingdom of God?
32:51: Well third the confession starting at verse 16 as soon as David had finished the declaration
32:56: Saul cries out. Is this your voice? My son David showing they're kind of far apart because he can hear the voice better than he can see him
33:05: But he addresses him affectionately my son First David would be thinking that's the way you treat your son.
33:11: I don't want to be part of your family But you know, whatever then he saw wept David was right
33:17: Saul had been wrong Saul realizes that so he confesses in verse 17. You are more righteous than I You're right
33:25: You're in conformity with God's law. I'm not For you have repaid me good by sparing my life.
33:33: Whereas I have repaid you evil Then in verses 18 and 19
33:39: Saul sums up what just happened you have declared This day what you just now said
33:46: That you have dealt well with me and that you did not kill me when the Lord This is
33:51: Saul's confession What just happened the Lord put me into your hand
33:57: Again, the Lord always has Saul in his hand in the cave. The Lord put Saul into David's head
34:02: The question was what did that mean? Did it mean strike out take the kingdom of God by force
34:08: David's men thought so but David knew better Saul's amazed for if a man Finds his enemy.
34:15: Will he let him go away safe something like that happens normally what in the world? Well, of course not
34:22: He'll interpret that as the Lord giving the enemy into his hand the Lord allowing him to take his revenge
34:27: Or if he's a modern person, he'll say well I got lucky God just happened to be in come into the cave where I was hiding and I took him out either way
34:34: Saul would expect to be killed But he was it because David believes only God can bring in the kingdom of God So Saul's just amazed by this blesses
34:43: David in verse 19. So may the Lord reward you David to call him the
34:49: Lord to judge is that they're on trial and Saul saying David's right
34:56: Lord the judge find in favor of David David said give sentence and Saul says
35:05: You judge Lord Reward David Reward him with good for what you have done to me this day
35:15: So now Saul confesses in verse 20 behold, but this is important. I know
35:21: That you shall surely be king That's the key confession
35:28: David is The next king he's actually already the king So I won't recognize it, but he's he is the king of the kingdom of God The question is how will
35:37: David's kingship be established? How will he get to the throne? Well not by assassination
35:43: Saul confesses that he knows that the kingdom of God shall be Established in your hand think of that phrase notice the passive sentence
35:53: The implied subjects what a passive sentence is the subject is implied not stated. That's the one doing the action
36:00: Here who is establishing the kingdom in David's hand? Well, it's a divine passive.
36:05: I mean he's referring to God. God will establish it Saul confesses it and now of course some people confess because they trust in Christ that is they confess
36:14: Well, he's the anointed one and they're joyful that he is their king that confession makes them happy and joyful and others confess
36:21: Because they're convinced by the evidence They've heard the sermons they've heard the arguments they've been intellectually persuaded they can't deny it
36:32: But they don't love that truth They don't get joy from it They don't get joy from Receiving their
36:41: King they acknowledge him But they don't trust him
36:47: The kingdom of God starts in people's hearts who trust Christ To rule their lives
36:56: Who love him who love Christ and who respond to the confession?
37:03: with joy Saul here he's convinced. You know, the evidence is undeniable.
37:09: David has waved the piece of robe that he cut off But does he trust in David the small see
37:17: Christ and so the son of David the capital
37:22: C Christ He's been convinced that God will establish his kingdom in David's hand
37:29: But does he love that truth Does it give him joy?
37:38: Convinced he makes the same plea that his son Jonathan had before when Jonathan trusted Jonathan trusted and Loved that Christ would rule the kingdom of God Jonathan received his king with joy and He asked
37:52: David to promise that you'll not be like the other nations that purge Our family when you take over For Saul ever 21 that's swear to me therefore
38:05: Because the Lord will establish you as the king swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring
38:11: In other words, don't kill all my children and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house
38:16: And David swore just as he had already to Jonathan His kingdom will not depend on the sword
38:24: Then Saul goes home notice that Saul goes home David it says goes
38:29: David is men they go To the stronghold. So then it was they know Saul's confession
38:36: Was just an intellectual acceptance. It's not trust in love with joy
38:43: It's like the abusive Partner Who confesses that his sin his wrong that he was abusive.
38:51: He says he feels sorry for it, but later on he's gonna do it again So David hunkers down in the stronghold the fort
39:00: Suspecting that sure. It's what he said now. He'll be back Finally in chapter 25 verse 1 is the transition
39:09: Samuel dies all angel they assemble they mourn together Samuel is apparently buried is literally in says in his home in his house
39:20: Maybe under the floor or in a courtyard Likely to keep people from turning his grave into a shrine that eventually gets turned into an idol
39:28: Samuel was a great man He was the greatest and the last of the judges and the first of a new series of prophets
39:34: He oversaw the institution of the monarchy the first king. He was the transition
39:41: Between the old age of the tribal Confederacy with judges who arose when needed and now a permanent king and now the king is disappointing
39:54: This hadn't turned out to this to this glorious kingdom that the people were expecting when they asked
40:01: Samuel for a king The transition has been from one disappointment to another
40:08: The politicians are now telling us of how great a future we're gonna have if They are elected.
40:15: We'll have lots of winning. There's more winning than we can stand or our democracy will be saved
40:21: Whatever they're promising but no matter who wins It'll be disappointing
40:28: No politician will transition us into the kingdom of God even the best politicians end
40:36: Like Samuel dead and leaving us with disappointment
40:43: That doesn't mean don't be involved or don't vote or that some options aren't much worse or much better than others disaster can come
40:54: Paradise won't It means understand that even if the best candidate wins and the wisest policies are pursued
41:04: And the best laws are passed and imposed and the finest reforms are implemented still the kingdom of God Will not come that way the kingdom of God Will not come until the
41:22: Lord is come and then we joyfully receive our
41:28: King So, how do we do it how do we bring in the kingdom of God We can't
41:38: We're like the farmer Jesus talked about in Mark 4 we we plant the seed and the seed grows
41:44: We know not how We do not grow or extend or impose the kingdom of God We can only hold up the evidence
41:58: Declare the truth like David at the mouth of the cave. Here's the proof The clear the word
42:06: Whether others really trust and love the Lord is not something that we can make happen
42:11: No law can do it. No politician or election can solve our problem all will leave us disappointed
42:19: That's why we don't focus on politics Here we have something more permanent more joyful.
42:29: We have the declaration Joy to the world the