1 Samuel 18 Bible Study (David & Jonathan's Friendship/Saul's Jealousy) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

[Music] you don't have to answer this but you should be able to testify to this that when a person is truly born again of the spirit of god when you've truly received christ jesus as your lord and savior one of the marks that you have been truly saved is that you have this desire for the written word there is this craving and this longing to know the will of god the person of jesus christ as it has been revealed through the scriptures and i trust that that is why you're here tonight on a friday evening is because your heart bears witness to that reality i want to know my god i want to know my king and so with that being said meet me in the book of first samuel chapter 18. now if you recall in our time together a couple weeks ago when we were in the same book studying chapter 17 ended in a very interesting way so i think it's important for us to revisit those last verses because it's a it's important to how it transitions into this chapter of our of our focus tonight and so you're there in chapter 18 but scroll back to verse 56 of chapter 17. and we are told here and the king said inquire whose son the boy is and as soon as david returned from striking down the philistine abner took him and brought him before saul with the head of the philistine in his hand and saul said to him whose son are you young man and david answered i am the son of your servant jesse the bethlehemite now before we unpack can we just pray one more time lord we thank you this is your word i thank you for this family in christ i thank you for a people who love the written word we ask oh god that you would expound the scriptures to us and we beg of you lord that our hearts would burn within us as we unfold the word lord let our souls melt into your perfect will mold us and shape us the way you desire lord it is our chief supreme desire to please you with our lives may the insights provided in these scriptures perform that to a greater degree we ask these things in jesus name amen the main question is this if you've been with us in first samuel how is it that saul did not know david when david not too long ago was assigned as the court harpist as a therapist as even the armor bearer of saul and some of you answered it a couple weeks ago some of you gave your your thoughts and i want to rediscover those thoughts so let's have a few hands lifted up why do you think it is that saul who should have known who david was did not remember who david was any ideas yes is it possible that the evil spirits that were tormenting saul were influencing his ability to even remember things or make the right decisions quite possibly somebody else had their hand up gibran was it pride so was it a willful ignorance was it this idea of who is this kid very possible any other ideas yes squeeze okay so maybe you both have the same idea there that that saul in essence is belittling david who's this young kid who's this little boy that did this i mean that's one way to to give off a hint that you're not very impressed with what he did with goliath though you should be anything else any other ideas yes yes so his mental state again is deteriorating because there is this tormenting spirit that has been unleashed upon him sure tj yeah maybe he just just didn't know what to do and just was trying to figure out how to go about this yeah yes antoine very very good did you hear it all of those answers were wonderful and people hold to different ideas concerning this but what our brother just mentioned is probably the strongest hint to why saul is acting in this manner go back to first samuel 15 and i want you to look here in verse 28 when when samuel the prophet confronts saul after his disobedience with the amalekites what is the warning that was ushered and samuel said to him the lord has torn the kingdom of israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you i have a hunch that saul would never forget these words god has torn the kingdom from you and has given it to a neighbor who is better than you and a couple of chapters later there's goliath david kills goliath david does something that outshines him even concerning saul with bravery and courage and i i have a hunch that as saul was witnessing this something was amplified in his in his thoughts and echoed down the corridor of his conscience and it was the words of samuel i i'm giving the kingdom to a neighbor who is better than you better than you better than you better than you and he's trying to put the pieces together is this the guy is this the man that samuel spoke of is this the one and so now he begins to investigate the boy from a place of suspicion and concern and this is going to flare up into uglier attitudes very very soon but keep this in mind as we move forward in this study because we learned that saul's love for david was superficial it was not true love it was a love that was motivated by what david could do for saul but once once david began to be elevated in the sight of others this love would be quickly morphed into something much more horrendous and in fact as we come to chapter 18 saul's attitude is contrasted it's juxtaposed with somebody else who has an opposing opinion of this rising man of god and it's found in jonathan saul's own son let's read in verse 1 of chapter 18. 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 set 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 servant so thou david after he finishes speaking with jonathan we are given strong language about jonathan's relationship with david twice we're being told that jonathan loved david as his own soul and once we are told that jonathan listen to this was knit to the soul of david he was stitched he was so connected to this young man and my question to you tonight is how this didn't just happen without reason this wasn't just like an instantaneous thing necessarily it wasn't without purpose what was it that drew jonathan's heart to be knit to david's soul any ideas what just happened in chapter 17. somebody fell on their face and they were killed yeah jonathan was a witness among all the other armies of israel of this wonderful victory but it was not just a victory it was a victory motivated by a man who stood for the glory of god a man who not only was concerned about the lord's name but a man who was willing to be a one-man army he was willing to stand where nobody else stood and guess what we learned that about jonathan in chapter 14. remember when jonathan snuck away with his armor bearer without telling his dad and he and he seeks to destroy this garrison of the philistines and so jonathan looks at david and he finds a kindred spirit you're you're one of those that are willing to stand alone for god i'm one of those and he begins to be attracted to david's stance for the glory of god even at the expense of other people supporting him jonathan knows what that's like and he finds somebody of the same spiritual dna but secondly look at the context look at verse 1 as soon as he had finished speaking to saul the soul of jonathan was knit to the soul of david we have reason to believe that as david is standing before saul and saul is asking him questions who's your dad where are you from that the the the conversation was much more extensive than that and i believe that jonathan was there listening we we see that he was at least in close proximity and so as david is speaking to saul who knows what else he said but knowing what he said before perhaps he's declaring the goodness of god the power of god the faithfulness of god and what's happening to jonathan as he's listening is he realizes very quickly surely this is a man after god's own heart this guy is the real deal this man truly loves the lord his god and that attracted his heart that drew him to david here's another person very close to my age and he is clearly on fire for his lord he is clearly set apart and consecrated to his purposes and so his his soul was excited and he wanted to be in communion with this man he wanted to be a friend he wanted to be a close friend and jonathan longed to be in deep fellowship with david reveals something about jonathan you know what i love about this is that david was not even this close to his own blood brother remember eliab when david came to show his faith in god eliot criticized him he tried to diminish him he tried to squash him he tried to embarrass him and i want to tell you something being a spiritual people having the holy spirit and dwelling in us this is one of the gifts of being in the faith you can know a relationship with someone who is not even your own blood in a deeper way than a person who shared the same womb with you because the spirit is deeper than blood it goes to the core of who we are and if we are spiritual people made a lie by the spirit of god i can tell you this and some of you can testify to this that some of the closest people to you are not even of the same culture are not even related to you but because they share the same passion the same conviction the same love for god it's as though they are your brother your sister and even for some of you maybe you're one with another person in that way and that's one of the gifts of being in christ and here's a challenge for all of us tonight a great question to ask at this point is this ask yourself this right here as you're sitting in the sanctuary i want you to ask yourself this question because it's very important because i've seen this destroy people's lives and i've seen this bless people's lives you ready here's your bible study question to take with you what kind of people is your soul attracted to what kind of friendships are you drawn to who are your closest friends right now identify them who are the people that are closest to you now once you've established that once you've determined who you feel the most joy with the most openness with the most comfort with the most pleasure with once you've determined that ask yourself this what is it that draws you to them what is it that draws you to them because i want to tell you something you don't have to tell me much about you all i have to see is who you hang out with and i can know a lot i look at jonathan i don't know much about jonathan as much as i know about david but i know enough about jonathan because he really loved david and so ask yourself that are you comfortable in fact not comfortable even are you more excited about being with worldly people than spiritual people do you feel like you're more like yourself when you're around lukewarm christians than you are spiritual people in fact are you uncomfortable around spiritual people are you bored with spiritual people i'm telling you i love you that reveals more about you than anything else it really does it's a humbling thing to ask but it's worthy to be asked now jonathan's character is further revealed as we move on here because in verse in verse 3 we are told then jonathan made a covenant with david that is profound that is profound he made a covenant with david why because he loved him as his own soul so because he loved david so much he couldn't just keep it as a normal relationship he says i have to make a covenant with you bro i have to make a covenant with you now it helps us to understand what does it mean to be in covenant does anybody have an idea what a covenant is in simple layman terms generally speaking what is a covenant a contract it's a contract that two parties make with one another and in that contract each party is choosing to agree upon promises that they will hold in relation to one another so if i'm in covenant with evan it's because i am making this contract that i will hold to these promises and you will hold to those promises and this this relationship will flourish if we honor these things now that doesn't sound very heartfelt does it it sounds more like a business deal than anything else but it's not it's actually an expression of binding commitment let me give you an example if you've met somebody of the opposite sex that you are in love with that you have grown fond of that you are attracted to and that attraction grows as you discover that person what is the ultimate manifestation of wanting to express your love with that individual tell me you want to marry them you want to make a covenant with them that would bind you together and that's exactly what david's doing here in a non-romantic way that's what god has done with us that's what the lord jesus christ has done with us because here's what we're learning from jonathan right here you ready one of the marks of true love is that it manifests in commitment true love is stronger than just powerful emotions that keep you up and give you butterflies when you get a text it's more than just enjoying someone's presence when you hang out they make you they make you feel lighter in life it's more than that true love manifests in an unbroken loyalty i will be committed to you whether these emotions are real or not whether they're present or they're absent and that's exactly what david and jonathan are doing here they're making a pledge a covenant that we will discover later what it was all about perhaps jonathan understood and we will see that that he knew david was going to become king and he knew what was going to happen with saul and david and so he wants to make a covenant that no matter what happens we will be friends we will be loyal to each other we will be committed to one another and in fact we read later on that that actually occurs jonathan dies unfortunately down the scene and i just want to read this you don't have to turn there but when david becomes king we're told in second samuel 9 1 and david said is there still anyone left of the house of saul that i may show him kindness for jonathan's sake now between this and 2nd samuel 9 a lot of hell breaks loose a lot of chaos is caused by saul and even later on from his own descendants but this is how we know david truly loved jonathan that despite all of the havoc all of the chasing all of the slander he made it he made a covenant and so he's saying i want to bless saul's descendants for jonathan's sake that's true love no matter what happens no matter what transpires no matter what occurs no matter what you even might do to me to a certain degree i i'm bound to you and then verse four if we have not impressed with jonathan yet we will surely be blessed by his sequential actions here and jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to david and his armor and his sword his bow and his belt this is no small evidence of david believing rather jonathan believing that david would be the next king and he's acknowledging that in fact he's not only acknowledging that he's approving of that he's showing his support of that he is surrendering he's surrendering what rightfully technically belong to him as the son of saul and he's saying to david i see god's plan i see god's choice i see god's desire and i submit myself to that joyfully i surrender this to you david now if we've learned that love looks like commitment as jonathan made a covenant with david true love is also marked by this self-denial self-denial because that's what jonathan is doing here he's denying whatever he might have been told was was his right and because of his great love for god and god's program and his desires he strips himself of his own comforts of his own privilege his own pleasure even and he surrenders it unto god and because he surrenders it unto god because of his love for god he can now love david he can love david you want to know how you love your wife better love god more you want to you want to be a better friend love god more you want to be a better sibling a better son better love god more he loved god he honored god he recognized god and because of that he was able to transfer that love very easily to david and that's what it looks like true love looks like i'm willing to deny myself as long as it's in holiness righteousness and an honorable way to god i will deny myself and give whatever i need to give in order to bless you that's what it means to die to self and jonathan illustrates that here by these actions take what i have and receive it for yourself because i love you and i love god and i want to do this for his honor and for your good because i recognize god's hand on your life now look at verse 5 david went out and was successful wherever saul sent him saul is an exhausting figure to study he really is but if there's anything he did right up to this point it was this what did he do right he promoted he promoted david verse 2 tells us that he took david permanently remember he was in a part-time position now you're permanent now you're my full-time employee and i'm actually going to set you over my men of war good job saul you did something right finally but i wonder if he's really doing it for the right reason right i wonder if saul is doing it so that people can see what a wise decision he made i wonder if people would look at saul and say what a brilliant man i wonder if that's what saul was fishing for by getting david in this position but regardless of the motive of saul god's providence is at work god's working in the background and what's more important to study and realize is david's response to this promotion what did david just finish doing he just killed what seemed to be an unstoppable foe he did what no one else can do including king saul and guess what he was promoted for it and guess what he submitted to saul still right he obeyed saul whatever saul said he would do it whatever saul instructed he would do it there was no attempt to overthrow him there was no attempt to challenge his authority there was no arrogance in him to say hey saul look this king thing i think i'm better at it than you you're going to tell me what to do why don't we switch the roles here none of that he didn't do it since he was anointed back when he was a shepherd in the midst of his brethren he showed no sense of arrogance or pride and now that he's promoted after a great victory success did not corrupt his character and that's a wonderful thing for us to consider but secondly there's another attribute of david what are we told here he went out and was successful wherever saul sent him this man no matter where you placed him he did his job with excellence again i know i know this isn't i know this isn't deep i know this isn't like wow i never saw it that way but i want to see what the holy spirit places in the word and i want to know why he put it there he could have skipped over this again we are told that david was successful wherever saul sent him in fact he was so successful he was so consistent whether he was a shepherd or a therapist or a musician or a one-man army or a general over god's armies no matter where you place them he did it with conviction with focused devotion unwavering commitment and it was so powerful that it was a testimony to everybody else watching and this was good in the sight of all the people and also on the side of saul's servants brothers and sisters please pay attention to this i know i know this is a very specific detail but the holy spirit put it here for a reason god puts a premium on his people showing diligence in whatever they're doing and you and i no matter where god has placed us should strive by the power of the holy spirit to do our task to do what we've been called to do with such with such love and passion and devotion that we make it very difficult for people to criticize us never forget that that no matter what you do in this life people will connect it to your testimony in jesus christ you can't separate it you can't no matter what you do everything i know this will shock you to the to the things that you wear i'm sorry to the way that you speak to the way that you conduct yourself every single thing is connected to our testimony in christ and we should strive to be blameless as david was in this case now up to this point in our study in first samuel there have been many pivotal moments that have turned the direction of this narrative and we are about to approach one verse six now is going to change the whole experience of our reading because it's going to change the relationship between saul the king and david the up and coming king david was hired and promoted news is breaking out what this young adult did on that valley and verse six comes up as they were coming home when david returned from striking down the philistine the woman came out of all the cities of israel singing and dancing to meet king saul with tambourines with songs of joy and with musical instruments the woman sang to one another as they celebrated saul has struck down his thousands and david his ten thousands this will now lead saul into a frenzy this is the crossroads in saul's life if he was bad now he just went over the cliff as we're about to discover and unfortunately in his case there's no turning back he went from zero to 60 in a matter of a night but before we explore that realize this celebration and i want you to closely examine the song and and ask yourself what's missing from this thank you saul has struck down his thousands and david is tens of thousands i see saul i see david where's god some worship song well no they're just honoring them well i want you to compare this great victory that israel experienced with another great victory that they knew back in their infancy in exodus 15 when they were pulled out of egypt they crossed the red sea on dry ground we are told of another group of women just like here but they sang differently exodus 15 verse 20. what are we told then miriam the prophetess the sister of aaron took a tambourine in her hand just like what we read and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing just like what we read but look at the difference and miriam sang to them sing to the lord sing to the lord for he has triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea what a difference what a difference another great act of god but the focus was solely on the lord himself what's the lesson here that you have to remember that this is a reminder that we are so very subtly able to lose our focus and to lose our acknowledgement of god behind all our successes it's very subtle especially after much time goes by and we are capable of attributing what solely belongs to god and we give it to man and sometimes that man is me and so it is our responsibility and our discipline to see past the human vessels to see past the human instruments to see past the things in this life that god uses to move pieces and to see god he says god this isn't man this isn't a man's gift it's not a man's leadership skills it's not a woman's abilities it's not her charisma it's not anything it's god it's god and we see the opposite here which i believe reveals the spiritual condition of israel at this point wasn't very good but that will hopefully change and although this song wasn't very sanctified this song would have a sanctifying purpose because the bible tells us you don't have to turn there in proverbs 27 21 that a man is tested by the praise that he receives one of the ways that god shows us what we really are made of is when praise comes our way you and i cannot control what people say about us whether it's good or bad but we can determine what we will do with it and we're about to find out that this is going to test saul but it's not just going to test saul it's going to test too who's he going to test david david was this obscure farmer who probably hasn't seen this amount of people in one place in his whole life and he went from an unknown so unknown and so ignored that his own dad didn't recognize him as a potential king when he was the candidate as being a son he still didn't even bring him into the room to a place now where he turns on the radio and he hears this song because it's a top hit everybody's talking about david not only are they talking about david they're elevating david's success greater than saul's david what's going to happen to you this is overwhelming and let me tell you this i believe with all my heart that david was in a safer place when he was experiencing the adversity from his own brother than in this moment when he was being faced with the praise of these women because pride can do way more at a quicker rate to destroy your soul than persecution ever will praise can poison your mind more than hardship ever will and so david passed one test when his brother tried to discourage him and he moved forward trusting in god here's his next test what are you going to do now when everybody loves you what are you going to do now when everybody talks about you and compares you the greatest worship leader that i've ever heard the greatest preacher that i've ever heard in my life what is going to happen to your heart the greatest businessman the greatest artist the greatest whatever the most beautiful what are you going to do i think david passed you know why no record of his reaction it's like water off the duck's back it's as though nothing happened he heard it obviously but it didn't do anything to him he just continues to do what god's called him to do as about to find out so david passed the test but man praising us is much more profound as a test than we might imagine because we're not only tested listen pay attention we're not only tested when praise comes to us we're also tested when praise goes to another in our presence we don't think about it that way praise is not just a means it's not just a crucible for our own hearts when it's directed towards us praise is a test when in the presence of other people praising someone else what happens to you because that happened to saul and guess what he failed the test verse 8 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 they have but the kingdom and saul i david from that day on so i can just picture this as i wonder if they came in together here's saul the army is lined up behind and david is right behind saul and as they're walking in these people are throwing confetti or whatever rice i don't know and they're dancing and twirling and it's being echoed in the streets and there's david awkwardly as a farmer boy okay this is wonderful and here's saul trying to put on a smile and inside he is being eaten up are they actually saying this about this kid i was reading the gospel of john this week i'm currently reading in my devotions and i brought this up on wednesday prayer night i was taken aback by john the baptist's response to his own disciples when they heard that jesus was baptizing more people than john in fact let me read it to you exactly what they said in john 3 26 and they came to john and said to him rabbi he who was with you across the jordan to whom you bore witness look he is baptizing and all are going to him all are going to him so john had friday night bible study and he realized half of the people that usually attend are not there anymore and somebody comes up they say hey john you got to realize people are going they're listening to another person because they're just being blessed by him and they're all going there and they're bringing it up because they're concerned and this is john the baptist first answer this is how he responded to their to their anxiety verse 27 john answered a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven what a man of god john they're all going they're leaving your ministry is dwindling you know guys a person can't receive even one thing whether that's praise or whether that's people he cannot receive one thing unless it has been authorized by god what are you worried about see that is the essence of true humility you want to know how you can arrive to true humility in a way that liberates you from these fleshly concerns be convinced that everything you own and everything that you are has been given by god be convinced of that rehearse that preach that to your soul until you really believe it until to the point where it's a reflex when there's something that might challenge what you think is your identity or your purpose in life what kind of man would saul had been if we read the same words that we read of john the baptist's reaction they both faced the same thing more people were being baptized with jesus than with john more people are praising david than saul to polarizing different reactions one is saying how can this be the other one's saying praise be this is god this is about god and that's why later on he says now my joy is complete as long as christ is getting the glory as long as christ is getting praised that's not a competition with me and if saul was really a humble man of god he would have looked at this and say god if this is the next one in line praise be to your name may you give me the grace to disciple him and teach him what i know so that he can be a successful king for your kingdom if there was anybody that was supposed to be challenged if there was anyone who should have bitter protest or resistance it was jonathan jonathan was the next one in line you're already there and you got to leave anyway jonathan was the one who had his whole future ahead of him but jonathan had something different than his dad he had a kingdom mind and so he was not intimidated in fact he rejoiced this man the the complete opposite and it's about to kill him this man is going to experience a very slow death starting here because this jealousy listen was not just a spurt of pain that he felt because he felt like something touched his nerve concerning who he thought he was supposed to be and no it became an obsession he eyed david from that moment on he would supervise david in every move and every action he would look around and his whole existence now would become about david and i want to tell you this that these sins of the spirit the bible talks about sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit what's the difference i believe the sins of the flesh are the things that we perform with the members of the body sexual immorality murder all these different things the sins of the spirit speak of the attitudes and the thoughts the hidden things they can manifest obviously through the flesh but they start here they're not known to the sight of man they're hidden but they are more lethal i believe all sin is lethal obviously but these sins of the spirit are cancerous to the soul and this man is about to illustrate that because he's now going to become a wolf that's going to hunt down this precious saint because he did not guard his heart according to the will of god i see something else here with david some of us in here may secretly crave the praise of man to be honest some of us might want to feel validated or appreciated and we think the more i get from people or if i can get it from all people all the people in my world in my circle if i can get them to all love me and proof that that is true in your life is that you can have 99 people praise you leaving this place and one person criticize you and what are you going to think about for the rest of the week that one person not the 99 that blessed you some of us in here might secretly want that and we think the more that we have it or if we have a platform some more can be showered on us the happier we will be and david would testify otherwise because this this thing with jealousy this envy that that saul is experiencing in his heart it's not going to only going to cause grief to him it's going to cause grief to david and the point i want to make is this that perhaps god is protecting you from not giving you what you want perhaps god is not allowing for you to hear what you think you might want to hear because you do not realize the utter pain that recognition can give you in this life ask a famous person how their lives are and i can tell you this they wish they weren't famous and so don't think that the more you have the more eyes on you the more people who talk about you the more people who like your posts the more people who share your stuff don't think that the more you have the happier you'll be in fact if god doesn't give you the grace as he does certain men and women to be able to perform his will with all of that attention on you you will be crushed you will be crushed and so do one thing live for god's praise and you'll be the happiest live for god's recognition you'll feel the safest david didn't ask for this he just wanted to be faithful with god but if you're asking for it consider that god is protecting you because now we're going to see david experience a whole different life than he ever thought he would live verse 10 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 saw hurled the spear for he thought i will pin david to the wall but david evaded him twice i want to ask you a question what's interesting about verse 10 read it slowly in light of what we just discovered about saul and i'm wondering if someone will make the connection the next day a harmful spirit from god rushed upon saul what's the connection here okay so obviously he was still meditating on what was just happening but what does that have to do with the evil spirit jealousy listen to this this connection is not by accident out of all the times where this evil spirit could have rushed upon saul happened at a particular moment and where it happened was when saul had decided to harbor jealousy and hatred in his heart this is a serious warning so pay attention saul did not deal with what we should deal with when we see sin budding in our hearts when we feel those ugly feelings when we feel those ugly emotions when we are visited by envy or pride or jealousy and we don't quickly come before the lord in fact when we harbor it and nurture it you know what happened that excited the evil spirit to work in saul i'm going to shock you with a statement there are some people who are performing and being influenced by demonic activity and they don't even realize it and you know where it started they gave satan a foothold you know where that came from the sins of the spirit you might not believe me you're like brother this is you're getting wild here no scripture tells us not to go to bed not to let the sun go down on what on your anger lest what you give satan a foothold we taught on that two three weeks ago and it's true here because saul did not deal with this jealousy and this hatred it invited satanic influence on his life he gave satan something to work with and i'm not saying christians become possessed but i believe that christians can be oppressed and christians can be influenced by devils even if they come with their pretty dresses and they sing hymns that doesn't mean a thing we're going to find out later on that saul was prophesying and he was still influenced by the devil this man did not deal with his sin appropriately and because of that he gave evil spirits something to work with it's no joke sin is not a joke in fact we see the progression of his sin it started out with jealousy it started out with they're saying this about him and not saying about me they're elevating him above me then it turns and it grows into hatred and this hatred now becomes and morphs into murderous murderous rage and you know where it all started by some people saying nicer things about david than him now here's the thing i read that i thought you know i have a feeling if i say this people are going to say yeah but that's all it's almost like we're watching a movie and it's like an exaggerated thing can i ask you a question why did the pharisees crucify jesus their authority was threatened sure jealousy anybody agree or disagree with that you know pilate made a lot of wrong decisions but if pilate had anything right about him he discerned the heart of the pharisees and we're told in matthew 27 18 for he being pilate knew it was out of envy that they had delivered him up it was so obvious that pilate's like they're so jealous of jesus and jesus even knew that remember that whole thing about john and the baptisms jesus getting more people to come to him and his disciples to be baptized you go to john 4 and it says that the pharisees heard that jesus was baptizing more and so jesus leaves that region so why do i bring that up because from altenew and there's examples in between we have to be honest about ourselves and the capability of the wickedness that we can reach to if we are not restrained by the holy spirit oh we're in the 21st century and we have all these pretty things and teslas and iphones and we're not barbaric watch what happens when the holy spirit restrains his presence on the earth it will be the closest thing to hell and this is a world with restraints governmental restraints the salt of the earth the church and all these different factors that are restraining pull up these restraints that's why this cry for defund the police is there you think that's just political it's demonic it's a restraint in society that god has ordained romans 13. and what the enemy wants to do is pull the restraints that god has ordained on the earth why because we are animals apart from god's restraining grace and we see that here and listen i want to say something that'll shock you you can have professing christians become animals let the flesh dominate and you'll see spears being thrown around in places and here's the proof of that we even as believers can block ourselves from being blessed by genuine ministers and genuine ministries and brothers and sisters who are spirit-filled because this is not the only time that david sang and played in the presence of saul remember he did that back in chapter 16. what's the difference between chapter 16 and this chapter when david played the first time what happened it worked what happens here it doesn't work whose fault was it the david change did david have less of the power of the holy spirit upon his life did david's skill diminish saul changed and because saul changed he could not receive what god wanted to give him and i want to tell you that this thing of jealousy this thing of envy the sins of the spirit can so clog your soul that you would never know for years how god would want to bless you because you've already filled your heart with so much junk and you have not dealt with it can i prove that to you pastor daniel read first peter 2 2 i'm going to read first peter 2 1. listen to what peter says he say he's saying this to christians so put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander so let me repeat that put away he doesn't say god is going to do it for you he says you you have to put away malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander and then he goes into this instruction like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by you may grow up into some what's the connection what's the connection between me putting away deceit and putting away slander and hypocrisy and malice what's the connection between that and coming to the word of god to receive it as milk well i'll tell you what those things if they remain in your heart will kill any desire for the word when you remain in sin and you're unrepentant you'll come to church and not a thing will touch you you won't be moved in fact you'll be hanging around outside and you want nothing to do with spiritual things because you have not put away certain things so you've not opened yourself up to receive from god the same way saul could not receive from david and so there's a responsibility here see we want we want the preacher to convict us so that we can repent no you need to repent before the preacher preaches to you that's what you need to do yes can the holy spirit do do that work and awaken somebody who is hardened absolutely but i see a very practical instruction here you put it away meaning i am able to identify slander i'm able to identify deceit i'm able to identify hypocrisy and it's my responsibility to do something lest you kill any spiritual appetite and any receptivity in your soul i'm just trying to protect you i'm just trying to make sure that you would never come to this place and this kind of answers a mystery in my own mind over the years where you can look at people and throughout years they don't seem to change or be moved and i wonder it's because they have clogged their souls so much they can't be moved saul cannot receive from david and many people because they don't put away certain things can't receive all that god wants to give them but notice what david does in verse 11 david evaded him twice twice not once look if that happens once i'm putting in my resignation papers here's my two weeks notice it was great knowing you i'm going back to the field and it makes you wonder what david knew about this moment they even knew how to choose his battle see when it came to goliath he didn't hesitate he went for his head when it came to saul he didn't pick up that spear and throw it back at him he said this is god's problem if i'm supposed to occupy that throne lord you've spoken that to me then you will deal with saul on the throne i don't have to deal with saul on the throne this is your battle i'll be faithful where you've called me to be and i'll let you fight what i am not called to fight what a wonderful man filled with great discernment but david here being evaded evading him twice proves to us a wonderful lesson about serving god serve god long enough and you will be attacked now here's the thing the enemy couldn't discourage david through his brother eliab the enemy couldn't puff up david with the praise of man so you know what he's brought down to let's just kill the guy i wonder if the evil spirit upon saul knew something about david that's why he tried to get david i wonder if the evil spirit knew that this was the next king of israel this was god's chosen one and more than just him occupying a throne for a lifetime this is the messiah who's going to come through this seed and so i have to get rid of him while i have the chance and i'll use saul to do it and so he evades him i don't know how he did it dodged him ran out of the room came back another day but it's the evidence that serve god long enough and if he can't discourage you if he can't puff you up he just might want to kill you now there's no reason to be afraid because we learned something wonderful here in verse 12 that even though he was he was attempted to be a new furniture piece on saul's wall verse 12 saul was afraid of david because the lord was with him but i departed from saul oh what an encouraging verse you know that's what it means to be a man after god's own heart you want to know one of the benefits of it when you're a woman who's after god's own heart not a church goer listen to songs and yeah i read my bible once every three months no no no when you have a heart after god's own when you live to walk with him and praise him and bless him and serve him one of the one of the byproducts of that is that people know that god walks with you and what's amazing here is that saul could even recognize that saul had enough knowledge of god to be able to look at david and not just know that david loved god but he knew that god was with david and he was afraid because though he was now beginning to be consumed with this possessive jealousy he had enough sense to be cautious and to be hesitant because he realized that if i'm going to touch david i'm going to touch god what a wonderful promise you know what's so amazing about god in this when you zoom out you realize that before saul begins his campaign of of attacking david he provided jonathan right he provides this friend that would be knitted to his soul in the perfect time because god knew that saul was going to chase david in the wilderness and god knew that david needed a jonathan to comfort him and to console him and to strengthen his hand in god and more than that god made it evident that he was with david so that he could put a fear in saul so that saul could not do what he thought he can do you know i read that i thought if saul saul recognized that god was with david why did you keep trying to kill the guy i mean if i realize that god is with david i'm going to throw in my resignation i'm not going to try anything with this guy because god has already removed his spirit from me i'm already being tormented i'm not i'm done i'm done i realize that the fact that he evaded me twice that had to have been supernatural this is god i'm out of here no he does it he only intensifies this is just for a temporary moment and then he intensifies why because that's what pride does it deceives you for the same reason why satan as a creature still attempts to thwart the promises of god satan is a greater theologian than all of us and here put together satan knows the end of the book satan knows what's going to transpire and guess what he still attempts to derail god's prophecies why because that's what pride does pride convinces you of things that are illogical and not reasonable and that is where saul is headed saul now because of his pride he wants to praise a man mixed with his jealousy and his envy he's going to become a monster and not just in a way in which he's going to become erratic he's not even going to think straight and so he says god is with him but i'm still going to kill him but he does it differently he doesn't try to kill david right off the bat and he doesn't even fire him completely you know what he does he demotes him he puts him outside of the courts and he says i'm going to put you over a thousand men why do you think saul did that i mean we heard one reason but give me another reason why do you think saul removed david verse 13 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 any idea why saul did this okay that is one of the answers and we'll get to that david got too popular he couldn't get rid of david altogether there would be an uproar for the same reason why the pharisees didn't try to arrest jesus in public and for the same reason why they didn't stone rather they didn't condemn john the baptist ministry unless they be stoned because they perceive them to be a prophet good any other reason very good the presence of david maybe convicted him definitely put the fear of god in him and so he's the guy that is walking in sin and he's out in public maybe where he shouldn't be but he's on the streets and here comes some people from church and they realize so they put their jacket over there and they walk into the other side yeah sure yeah yeah so he wants to keep a distance but he also wants to watch him from a different place sure ah that's another point that's gonna come next week he has a different strategy i'm not gonna kill him but i'm gonna put him in a vulnerable place so that the enemy will kill him so he's becoming very now conniving and sick yes yeah and it could be it could be that he's getting complacent and he's not wanting to do what he's called to do as a leader okay so we're going to see that conflict of wanting to kill him but considering him righteous later on i think a lot of you touch on it could it be possible though it's not explicitly clear this is not dogmatic that maybe he was afraid that david would might kill him could be and if that is the case then there's another lesson to to learn here it's that he thought that david would do what he would do to david and uh here's the thing if david wanted to kill saul he would have got he would have dealt with it already he could have done after the first time when that spear came into his direction but the point is this saul was tormented in another way because what he was willing to plot against someone he believed needlessly that they would do to him that's one of the fruits of being a wicked person that's one of the fruits of being a person in the flesh that you begin to now be haunted by the possibility that because you yourself are willing to go to certain extents what would hold other people back from doing the same to me does that make sense do you think thieves are comfortable with other people in their home or with their possessions i'm sure thieves are very scared of other people stealing from them because they are willing to go to that extent the bible tells us in isaiah that there is no peace for the wicked there's no peace for the wicked there's no rest there's no solemn calm there's none of that and and this man didn't have it he knew that god was against them he knew that david could come against him in revenge he didn't have a sense of security because when you live in sin you open your heart up to great anxieties there is no peace for the wicked so people who gossip maybe they don't realize it but they're afraid that people will gossip about them and if you gossip with somebody i promise you that person who gossips with you most likely gossips about you just to give you heads up same with slander same with any sin and this man because he plotted to kill david he believed that david was capable of the same though it was not true but it's very difficult for wicked men to think spiritually and to think that it's possible for somebody to extend mercy because they're not willing to extend mercy but secondly our brother mentioned it saul didn't go all the way with getting rid of david because the guy is loved look at verse 16. we're told here but all israel and judah love david so here's the thing saul is not being merciful here by saying david i'm going to get you outside of the courts he is pushing him outside of his proximity he doesn't want him near him he wants him out of that court but he didn't do it to the extent where the people would question saul's decision so i believe here that saul is even trying to preserve he's still tr he's like he's tormented in a different way he's like i want to get rid of that guy i want to kill him i want to make him another picture frame on my wall but i can't god is with him and the people love him so what am i going to do so he strategizes and he tries to say okay go over there let the enemy kill you then i can hold on to the praise of people they can say saul is great because he chose david here's the next point not only does living in sin cause great anxiety but living for your own glory is very exhausting it's very exhausting the facade that you have to put on that you're spiritual the energy to conceal your hypocrisy so nobody who knows who you really are you got to always examine your stories so that you know people don't see how you really talk and what you really enjoy it's sin so you have to manage your social media and then you got to manipulate people and you got to strategize living for the praise of man is a very exhausting and wearisome task i read this a psalm like look what he's trying to do instead of just being a king look at where all his energy is going look where all his efforts are going it's all for his reputation and his comfort instead of managing the kingdom it's a sad state indeed and here's where we close you ready he tries to demote saul maybe he's trying to push him out of the spotlight so people don't see him and recognize him as much because remember he was in he was in the courts and he says go go over there david yes you're doing great go over there. and whatever he thought was going to come out of that whether people would forget david or not think about david as much or david would be discouraged guess what the shock of his life david becomes successful verse 14 and david had success in all his undertakings for the lord was with him like you can't you can't beat the guy and it's not because of him here's the wonderful thing i'm closing with this thought every person in here i pray you're a person you're a young man you're a young woman your father you're a husband you're a mother you're a wife i pray that it is your ultimate desire with this breath of a life that you have that you would serve the lord jesus christ i really hope that's your desire now if it is i want you to know that there will be attempts to discourage you in that pursuit or to again inflate you with pride there are many strategies the enemy has and even to the extent like saul trying to cut your life off the only thing you need to be worried about the only thing that you need to be occupied with the only thing your energy and your time and your focus should be is maintaining one reality that god is with you that's all you have to worry about it doesn't matter what man schemes like saul with his little tricks i'm going to put you over here none of that matters because if god is with you who can be against you that's all you have to worry about it doesn't matter what titles are stripped from you it doesn't matter where people try to move you it doesn't matter what kind of plot is organized against you if god is with you it doesn't matter what man tries to do to you that's what we see here didn't we see with joseph his brother sold them into slavery potiphar hires him and what are we told as he manages potiphar's house the lord was with him falsely accused of rape thrown into prison for who knows how long what are we told the lord was with him that's all that matters if you can secure that right standing with god let men do what they want come hell or high water when god is with you it doesn't matter what man tries to do to you and that is what we learn here up to this point we can finish chapter 17 but you have to go home i'm sure why don't we pray heavenly father we thank you for this bible study we're amazed at your wisdom our hearts are made alive in your presence tonight lord we see that you have clearly given such things to us to encourage us in the new covenant as we walk with the lord jesus christ lord we thank you that your word surely is a light onto our feet it's a guidance to our path surely it is supernatural surely it is your voice surely you speak to us through your word lord we feel and we sense and we're overwhelmed by your wisdom tonight and we worship you in light of the revelation that we've received at this feast and lord we ask that it would be applied we ask that it would be one with us we ask that it would be lived out for your glory god help us lord remember these truths and help us lord apply them to the certain things that we might have forgotten or neglected lord examine our hearts lord test our hearts and lord be pleased with what you see in us see if there be any wicked ways in us and be pleased oh god to deal with it if you discover anything that is contrary to your will we ask that your hand would be upon every person who's watching every person who's in this place may we all succeed in our service to you and we worship you in light of these truths we thank you that you've spoken in jesus name amen and amen can we stand and worship the lord together as we close

Channel: Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

Views: 10,280

Keywords: daniel batarseh, ue church, bible study, sermon, church, new testament, old testament, teaching, preaching, building, encouraging, christ, jesus, christian, how to, god, lord, where, when, how, bible, christain, christianity, encouragement, what, David, soul, Jonathan, Saul, Friendship, Jealousy, kingdom, king, Michal, Merab, Philistines, Marries

Id: 7T0YAl5PJUM

Length: 66min 16sec (3976 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 28 2022