[MUSIC PLAYING] Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 19, 1
Samuel, chapter 19. When we left off
last time, there was already tension growing
between Saul and David. There was a song that
had become quite popular. Saul was used to getting all the
accolades from the battles that were fought. But now David, his name is
inserted into the victory song. And he didn't like that lyric. The women came out with
tambourines and dancing, and they said, Saul has
slain his thousands. And he arched his back,
and puffed out his chest, and smiled real big. And he loved the lyrics so far. But it was the second verse
that he took offense to. For it went this way. Saul has slain his
thousands, but David has slain his tens of thousands. So from that moment on, he
put two and two together, knew that David was the
one God had appointed. And we left off in
chapter 18, verse 29. "Saul was still more
afraid of David. So Saul became David's
enemy continually." What we're going
to observe now is that he becomes irrational,
paranoid, even schizophrenic, when it comes to David--
like, I'm going to kill him. OK, I won't kill him. I'm going to kill him. OK, I won't kill him. And he's torn. And he loses-- it's like
his mental faculties have become addled a bit. And I believe that when a person
rejects God in their lives, that they lose some
of their capability to make sound judgments. It's skewed. There's spin on it. There's paranoia attached to it. There's something they're trying
to protect themselves from. And Saul certainly fits
into that category. Jealousy begins to
eat away at Saul. It's destroying him. He sees God's hand and
God's favor upon David, and he wants to
eliminate the threat. especially since, in chapter
15, Samuel the prophet said, God has torn away
the kingdom from you and has given it to
one of your neighbors who's better than you are. Ooh, that irritated him. Now he's dying to find
out who that neighbor is. And because David
shows himself wise and wins battle
after battle, he now knows this is the
Lord's anointed. So the prophet has told him,
the kingdom is no longer yours. It's being taken away. But Saul is trying to hold on
to what is not rightfully his. Yes, he's the king. But he's going down. And the prophet of God said, the
kingdom doesn't belong to you. It belongs to somebody else. So rightfully, it is David's. And David will be the next king. But Saul doesn't want to let go. Saul wants to hold on tight
to what is not rightfully his and to keep what he has by
force and to eliminate by force the threat of David. Now, in this area, Saul
becomes a type of Satan. Because Satan,
Jesus even said, is the prince of this world,
the god of this age. Paul said he's
the one that rules in the children of disobedience. He has rulership over the world. Again, the god of
this world, the prince of the power of the air,
the prince of this age Jesus called him. Satan even said to
Jesus, concerning the kingdoms of the
world, for they are mine, and I give them to
whomsoever I wish. Jesus did not argue
that point with him. But God has raised
up to rule the world Jesus, the Son of David,
to sit on the throne, to rule and reign
forever and ever. Satan is trying to hold
on to his rule by force and doing everything
he can to eliminate Christ and the Christian cause. I recommend reading,
not now, but later on, Revelation chapter
12 and how he wants to eliminate the male
child that would be born to the nation of Israel. But one day, Jesus will
return and rule and reign over what is His, given
to Him by his Father. So Satan is-- or Saul
is like a type of Satan, and David is, in this case,
in this consideration, a type of Christ. So chapter 19, verse 1-- "So now Paul-- or now Saul
spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants
that they should kill David. But Jonathan Saul's son
delighted much in David." Now, you recall
twice, Saul tried to pin David to the wall,
tried to execute him right in the palace by
throwing his spear at him. And David got the point. [LAUGHTER] And so he got out quick. He ran away quick, just to see-- I do that to see just if
you're listening or not. [LAUGHTER] So now, because David has fled
Saul's attempt at destruction, he decides to take a
contract out on his life, to hire assassins to go get him. He has a dispatch of
men to go kill him. But it says Jonathan Saul's
son delighted much in David. There is a translation called
the Berkeley translation. I really love how it
renders this verse. It says that Jonathan
highly prized David. That friendship
was a gift to him. It was a prize to him. Even though Jonathan knew
that, on normal circumstances, he would be the
next King, he knew that he wouldn't be the
next king, that God anointed David to be the next King. And he would rather have David
as the next king, because he so prized the relationship,
so love David as his own soul. And so Jonathan would rather
do God's will than become king. And we saw in chapter 18 that
their souls were knit together. And they gave each other
a covenant of friendship, a covenant of love. Actually, Jonathan and David
would have made a great team together. And unfortunately,
you're going to see, if we get to it in
time, you're going to see where they
part company tonight, and they won't see each other
at all the rest of their lives. They go two
different directions. But you know, the Bible
often has great teams. There's Paul and Timothy or Paul
and Barnabas or Paul and Silas. Often, he was together
with somebody. There's Peter, James, and John-- great team. There's Aquila and
Priscilla-- great team. There's Ruth and Naomi-- great team. David and Jonathan
made a great team. They loved each other. So Jonathan told David, saying,
"my father seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on
your guard until morning and stay in a secret
place and hide. And I will go out and stand
beside my father in the field where you are, and I will
speak with my father about you. Then what I observe,
I will tell you. Now Jonathan spoke well of
David to Saul his father and said to him,
let not the king sin against his servant David-- against David, because he
has not sinned against you and because his works have
been very good toward you. For he took his
life in his hands and killed the Philistine. And the Lord brought about great
salvation for all of Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin
against innocent blood to kill David without a cause?" Saul discovers the plot
to assassinate David. He tells David to go and hide. Let me go have a chat,
a little talk with Dad. And so he gets Saul,
and he says, you know, Dad, basically David
is the best thing that ever happened to you. You'll never have a
more loyal servant. If you remember,
he was the one that risked his own life, put
his own neck on the line, without any armored all,
faced Goliath, won the battle, took his head off. You loved David
when that happened. So he's vying for him. He's reminding his father
of the recent past. So verse 6-- "So Saul heeded the
voice of Jonathan. And Saul swore, as the Lord
lives, he shall not be killed." Victory, temporarily. "Then Jonathan called
David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought
David to Saul, and he was in his
presence as in times past. And there was war again, and
David went out and fought with the Philistines, and
struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him. Now a distressing
spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as
he sat in his house with his spear in his hand." Here goes. "And David was playing
music with his hand. Then Saul sought to pin David
to the wall with the spear. But he slipped away
from Saul's presence, and he drove the
spear into the wall. So David fled and
escaped that night." There was for the time
being a reconciliation between Saul and David, a
temporary reconciliation. David was restored
to the royal court once again, after Jonathan had
that little talk to his dad. Dad said, yeah, I don't
know what I was thinking. I love David. Bring him back. So David once again
is playing music. But once again, a
distressing spirit-- which we read about
a few weeks ago-- from the Lord tormented him. It is possible, though
I do not believe at all that a Christian,
a child of God, can be possessed by a demon-- I think that's abundantly
clear from the scripture-- I do think we can open ourselves
up to the work of demons and the work of Satan. The Bible says,
resist the devil, and he will flee from you. But sometimes, you
don't resist the devil. And when you don't resist the
devil, he won't flee from you. Resist the devil,
and he will flee. Don't resist the devil, and the
devil will frolic, not flee. He'll play around. And he desires to
get a foothold. He desires to make
your action a habit, and then a lifestyle,
and then a bondage. So Saul opened himself
up to that arena. And he was not a
saved man, so it's not the same thing as a believer. But once again, this
distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul. So David fled, it says
at the end of verse 10, and he escaped that night. Now, this is
probably a good time to just consider
how to handle life when spears are thrown at you,
when your enemies say things against you or attack you. How do you handle it
when that happens? Number one, duck. [LAUGHTER] That's number one. David ducked. David didn't stand there. He just sort of ducked and ran. Now, David had an advantage. The spear came his way, stuck
in the wall just above him. He could easily have taken
that same spear, pulled it out of the wall. David was a much better
aim than was Saul. He could have just
easily said, oh, really? And thrown it
right back at him-- which would have been a
whole lot more fun for David, like vengeance always
is for any of us. You know, whenever
we take vengeance, whenever we talk back or
get back or do something that hurts an opponent
that tried to hurt us, there is an immediate
sense of gratification. Admit it. We love it. We go, oh yeah,
they deserve that. I admit to you, when I drive-- [LAUGHTER] --vengeance comes so easy to me. Because there's so
many poor drivers. And I am so prone to judge them
all and in my mind, correct how they could do it better. But the Lord would have
us duck, number one. That's the first thing, duck. When the spear comes your way,
when an insult comes your way, duck. Number two, do. Duck-- number one;
number two-- do. Do right things. David went back to battle. David humbled himself. David went to work
in the palace. Do things that are
right and righteous. Don't end up doing good
works before the Lord. Don't let the antagonism of
others destroy your enthusiasm. You're enthusiastically
serving the Lord. They're attacking
you sometimes just because you believe in God. Don't let that take away your
zest, your zeal, your joy. So duck, do, and then
number three, devote. Be devoted to the Lord. Devote yourself to
the Lord's cause. Let the antagonism and
the insults become-- and the pain and the suffering
become fuel for your prayer life, for your devotional life. You may not know
this, but David is entering in a period
of several years, where it's going to be the
dark day of David's soul. David is going into a period
of almost a decade, where he's going to be hunted
like an animal by King Saul. He's going to have
to go from cave to cave, from dwelling
place to dwelling place, from city to city. But during this
dark time, listen to how many psalms were
written because of it. Psalm 18, Psalm 34, Psalm 52,
Psalm 54, Psalm 57, Psalm 59, Psalm 63, Psalm 124,
Psalm 138, and Psalm 142 were written because of this. So allow that pain as fuel
for your devotional life. So verse 11-- "Saul also sent messengers
to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal"-- or the Hebrew
pronunciation Michal, but I probably will just
henceforth, call her Michal, because it's which
we're used to-- "and Michal David's
wife told him, saying, if you do not save
your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed." So they went to his house. They watched his house. They're scoping out his house. Now, keep a marker here. You don't have to turn to
it, if you don't want to. But I'm going to read to you
the inscription just above Psalm 59. So you can turn
to it if you want. You don't have to,
if you don't want to. But we're going to, the
Lord willing, end up there. In Psalm 59, at the very top,
it says, "To the chief Musician, set to Do Not Destroy"-- I guess that was
a popular song-- "a Michtam of David,
when Saul sent men, and they watched the house
in order to kill him." Now you are reading
the account of when Psalm 59 was
birthed in the heart and by the pen of King David. It's always good to do that. So Lord willing, we'll
get back to that. But let's go on. "So Michal let David
down through a window. He went and fled and escaped. And Michal took an image
and laid it in the bed. Put a cover of goat's
hair for his head and covered it with clothes." You remember doing
that as a kid. Right? You did it for your
brothers or sisters, or you did it for your parents. I did it. They said, go to bed. So I'd put something in the bed. Then I'd go in the corner
and turn on a flashlight and read something
or do something. And they might come in and it
looks like I'm fast asleep. And then they'd leave. And then I'd turn
the light back on and do it again-- so one
of those kind of things, only different. "So when Saul sent
messengers to take David, she said, well, she's sick. Then Saul sent messengers
back to see David, saying, bring him up to me in
the bed, that I may kill him. And when the
messengers had come in, there was the image in
the bed with a cover of goat's hair for his head. And Saul said to Michal,
why have you deceived me like this and sent my enemy
away so that he has escaped? And Michal answered Saul,
he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you?" Now, she's fudging
it a little bit. She let him out, warned him,
said, hey, get out of here. My dad's going to kill you. But she said, look,
he threatened my life. You know, I had to let him go. Here's what I find ironic. Two of Saul's own children,
Jonathan and Michal, know that David is right
and are on his side. They know their dad's whacked. They know he's a wing nut. He might be the king. He might be in charge. He might give all the orders. But he's nuts. So it's like, no, we're not
going to do what he says. That's ridiculous. Go hide. What also is interesting
to me is that Saul refers to David as my enemy. Jonathan referred, in verse
4, to David as your servant. He's really your servant. And he was. He wouldn't even
touch God's anointed throughout his entire life. He wouldn't raise a hand. He wouldn't take a
piece of his robe. He wouldn't kill him when
others said he should kill him. He wouldn't raise a hand. He served Saul. But Saul sees him as an enemy. He's paranoid. "So David fled and escaped
and went to Samuel"-- remember Samuel the
prophet-- "at Ramah, and told him all that
Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went
and stayed at Naioth." Now, that little word Naioth,
Naioth in Hebrew, Naioth actually means-- is the
Hebrew word for dwellings. And it refers to a compound
of homes, like condominiums. So Naioth, or dwellings,
this little compound, is where the prophets
lived with Samuel. Samuel had like a little
school of ministry, called the school
of the prophets, where he would train these young
men in prophesying in ministry. And he went to Ramah,
which was Samuel's home, and went to this compound,
this Naioth, these dwellings, and found Samuel. "Now it was told Saul,
saying, take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah. Then Saul sent
messengers to take David. And when they saw the group
of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader
over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of
Saul, and they also prophesied. When Saul was told, he
sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And then Saul sent messengers
again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then he also went to Ramah,
and came to the great well that is at Sechu. And he asked and said,
where are Samuel and David? And someone said, indeed they
are in the dwellings at Ramah. So he went there to Naioth in
Ramah, and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went
on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah." Now evidently, these messengers
from Saul, these assassins, they're going in to find David. They get so overwhelmed
by the Spirit of God, that they're held captive. They're captivated by it. Some commentators believe
they were rendered limp, put on the ground, and they slept. I don't know if that's
the case, because it says they prophesied. They entered into
the praise of God or uttering spiritual
truths of some kind. And then three groups came. And then finally, Saul
himself says, you know, I don't know why I send
the kid to do a man's work. I guess I got to do it. So he went. Same thing happened to him. "And he also stripped
off his clothes and prophesied before
Samuel in like manner, and laid down naked
all that night-- and all that day
and all that night. Therefore they say, is Saul
also among the prophets?" Now, let me tell you
what this is not. This is not a case of
being, as some call it, slain in the Spirit. I don't know if you've
ever heard that term. Slain in the Spirit is a term
used in Pentecostal circles for somebody who's so
overtaken by the Spirit of God, that they collapse. So you may have
seen televangelists lay their hands on somebody and
get very charismatic with them and go, Yay! And they go, oh. And they fall back, and
there's people who catch them. And they're professional
catchers, and they go-- [LAUGHTER] --seriously, come
and be blessed. And their blessing is
they get knocked out, and they haul them
over and lay them down. They call that experience
being slain in the Spirit. I find that nowhere
in scripture. This is not being
slain by the Spirit. Number one, they
are unbelievers. They are assassins. They are murderers. They're not getting a blessing. They're not being
slain in the Spirit. They're being restrained
by the Spirit. Even Saul was. It's like God is pinning
him to the ground, making him utter praise
to Him, so that David has time to escape. That's what this is. David now can have
an escape route. He can get out. But I think there's
a point to be made. Whatever happened to
Saul and these assassins, it is possible to have a
profound spiritual experience and still be unsaved. Oh, you know, that person went
and said this and did that, and I got goosebumps,
and I fell over. Or I went on a pilgrimage,
and I saw that statue, and I was overcome. OK, good. Wonderful. We're glad. Hallelujah. Now what? How are you living
today for the Lord? How has that changed your life? Saul had a wonderful
spiritual experience. Didn't change him. He's as unsaved coming out of
it as he was going into it. Now, just want to clear
something up in verse 24. It says, he stripped
off his clothes, and he laid there naked. Most scholars believe
this is a reference to taking off his armor
and becoming royally naked. That is, he took off his
royal robes, his kingly robes, that he wasn't in the nude. He took off his-- he humiliated
himself, so to speak, took off his royal garments,
and was exposed in that way. OK, so from this point on,
David's life gets dark. He becomes a refugee. He's going to be hunted
from place to place. He lost his position
in the palace. He lost his wife. He's going to be hunted
by his father-in-law for about a decade, waiting
on the Lord's timing. The Lord said, you're
going to be the king. But He didn't say when
he's going to be the king. So whatever promise the Lord
has given you, be patient. You may go through hardship. You may have some
spears thrown at you. Don't say, well, Lord,
You promised this. So then if He promised
it, it's going to happen. Be patient. This incident, though,
reminds me of something I heard the first time I went
to India with my wife Lenya. We met a young man who was
an evangelist, named Steven. He was raised in a Hindu home. He was the son of
a Hindu priest. And he had an incredible
conversion experience with the Lord, filled
with the Spirit, loved Jesus, happy as could be. You'd never know by his joy
what his background was. He said, when I gave
my life to Christ, I went home and told
my parents, knowing they would be displeased. My father, a Hindu
priest, was so displeased, he took up a knife
and tried to kill me, and drove me out of the house. And he said that he would
kill me and sacrifice me to the Hindu gods
that he worshipped. He said, so I ran
away from home, and I have not seen
my parents since. And I mean, I'm
heartbroken by his story. He goes, oh, don't
be heartbroken. [LAUGHTER] And he said, because that
night, I found in Psalm 27 that great promise,
where God said-- or where David said, when my
father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. And he was so filled with joy. So David is now on the road. Chapter 20, verse 1-- "Then David fled
from Naioth in Ramah and went and said to
Jonathan, what have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your
father that he seeks my life?" Notice the questions of David-- what did I do? How have I sinned? How have I gone wrong? How have I misread this? You know what's interesting? When we walk with
the Lord, we get confused when life doesn't turn
out the way we think it should, when people come against us
and say things or do things against us. We get confused, and we think,
well, what did I do wrong? You may have done nothing wrong. You may have done
everything right. The fault wasn't on David's end. The fault was on Saul's end. Sometimes just
following the Lord, just loving God,
just trusting Jesus, is enough to get
unbelievers to hate you. That's it. I love the Lord. I hate you. You're what's wrong
with the world. And they will spew their vitriol
only because you love God. And so you go, man,
what did I do wrong? Nothing. But we get confused. It's easy. Like David, you
go, what did I do? Is it my fault? "So Jonathan said
to him, by no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do
nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father
hide this thing from me? Is it not so?" Now, apparently,
I'm just guessing some time has passed
between the last chapter and this chapter,
because Jonathan was the one that informed David,
look, my dad wants to kill you. And now David goes, you know,
your dad wants to kill me. No, he don't want to kill you. Like, that's so done. It's so over. It's so much yesterday's news. And maybe this is on the heels
of what happened in Naioth. Maybe he goes, look, man,
my dad was prophesying. The Holy Spirit
came over the guy. So he's thinking, he's good now. "Then David took an
oath again and said, your father certainly
knows that I have found favor in your eyes. And he says, do not let Jonathan
know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord lives
and as your soul lives, there is but a step
between me and death." Look at that verse-- there's a step
between me and death. How true that is. David lived in the
conscious awareness that his life at all times
was hanging by a thread. Now, we typically
don't think this way. In fact, especially
when we're young, we think we're invincible. And we might carry that thought
through into our middle age and even maybe
into our older age. We think, oh yeah, we get
life all planned, right? It's going to happen
this way, and I'm going to grow old that way. And probably that's good that
we have sort of that feeling. Because otherwise, we would be
afraid to go to sleep at night. You think, well, who knows? The ceiling might
cave in and crush me. Or I might get in the
car, and it might blow up. It's possible to live in fear,
and that's no way to live. So we usually push
those thoughts out, and we don't plan for it. However, the truth
is, there is but a step between you and death. My brother died when he was 24
years of age in a motorcycle wreck, instantaneously. Didn't see it coming. When I got the phone
call-- some of you have been in this situation. I get the phone
call from my dad. It was like denial. No, that couldn't happen. It didn't happen. These things don't happen
to us, not to our family. It doesn't happen to me. It happened. When my father was
diagnosed with what he was diagnosed with, I
read the medical report. I called my brother, oldest
brother Jim, and I said, Dad has about, if I'm judging
this correctly from the report, about a year to live. And I remember my
brother yelling at me. How can you say that? That's such a mean thing to say. I said, you know what? I'm not a doctor, but
I have a little bit of medical background. Just judging on what I read
and what his condition is, he's got about a year. I'm making this
phone call so you'll make the most of this year. Within that year, he died. There's a step
between us and death. There's no guarantee that
COVID won't take you out, that a car won't take you
out, that a number of things won't take you out. You know it's appointed
under every man once to die. You know that. You, I hope, as a believer,
are mature enough to realize, you're not getting
out of this alive. The thing is, God hasn't told
you when that appointment is. You'll find out. You'll wake up one
day, and oh, hi, God. I guess today's the day. [LAUGHTER] There's a step
between you and death. But you know what? There's also a step
between you and life. There's a step between
you and eternal life, and that step is to put
your trust volitionally, intentionally, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're walking the
fence, and you're thinking, oh, I got time, I got time. You might. You might not. And to gamble with the
certainty of your death in spiritual matters, the
most important matters, is the height of what
it means to be a fool. If you know that you're going
to face eternity and face God's judgment, but you don't
give your life to Christ and secure that,
you're foolhardy. So there is a step
between you and death. But there's one step between
you and eternal life. Take it. Go there. "So Jonathan said to David"-- verse 4-- "whatever you yourself
desire, I will do it for you. And David said to
Jonathan, indeed tomorrow is the New Moon,
and I should not fail to sit with
the king to eat. But let me go, that I
may hide in the field until the third day at evening. If your father misses
me at all, then say, David earnestly
asked permission of me that he might run
over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is
a yearly sacrifice there for all the family." And real briefly-- a new
moon is the beginning of every Jewish month. The new moon is what
appears in the Western sky. When there is no moon
at all, when it's black or there's just a sliver, that's
the beginning of the month. That's the new moon. And you know that in the
Old Testament of Judaism, they worked off of not a
solar year, not the Gregorian calendar, not a 365 and a
third day year calendar, but a 360-day calendar,
more off a combination of the lunar and solar years. So their months were
different, and they would mark them by the moon. According to Leviticus,
when you'd have a new moon, it was a civil holiday
and a spiritual holiday. So they would have one,
and some months, they would have two days of a feast. Now, if you worked for
the king, especially if you were a bodyguard for the
king or a soldier for the king, as David was, you were
expected to be at these feasts to show your loyalty
and support to the king. David knew that. But David said, tell Saul
that I'm going to Bethlehem. Now, it could be
that he wasn't lying. It could be that there
was a feast in Bethlehem that his brother and father had
and that he was called to it. But he was going to
hide instead to find out the temperature, the decision
of Saul toward David. "If he says"-- verse 7-- "it is well, your
servant will be safe. If he is very angry,
then be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore, you shall deal
kindly with your servant, for you have brought your
servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there
is iniquity in me, kill me yourself. For why should you bring
me to your father?" Look, Johnny boy, if I've
sinned, just kill me. If I've done something wrong,
I'd rather you be the one to kill me-- capital punishment,
you're the king's son-- rather than have the
king himself do it. "And Jonathan said,
far be it from you. For if I knew
certainly that evil was determined by my father to
come upon you, then would not I tell you? Then David said to
Jonathan, who will tell me, or what if your father
answers you roughly? And Jonathan said to David,
come, let us go into the field. So both of them went
out into the field. And Jonathan said to David, the
Lord God of Israel is witness. When I have sounded out my
father sometime tomorrow or the third day, and indeed
there is good toward David, and I do not send to
you and tell you, may the Lord do so and
much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my
father to do you evil, then I will report it to
you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the Lord be with you as
he has been with my father. And you shall not only show
me the kindness of the Lord while I still live-- and you shall not only show
me the kindness of the Lord while I still live,
that I may not die, but you shall not cut off your
kindness from my house forever, no, not when the
Lord has cut off every one of the
enemies of David from the face of the earth." Now, again, it's pretty
clear that Jonathan knew that he would not be the
next king, the heir apparent, even though that was typically
how things were done. In those days, it was
a dynastic succession. The right of succession
fell to the son. But he knew that David
was God's anointed. So he just says, look, let's
make a covenant for the future, for my progeny, that
you protect them. "So Jonathan made a covenant
with the house of David, saying, let the Lord require it
at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan again caused David
to vow, because he loved him. For he loved him as he
loved his own soul." You know, it is human nature,
even though we love someone, that when we love
someone, we want that someone to reaffirm
their love for us verbally over and over again. You never get used
to, or it never gets old, hearing somebody
you love say, I love you. Imagine if I were to
tell my wife, come on, I told you that I loved
you when we got married. [LAUGHTER] I made that promise. You don't need to
hear it from me again. I'm a man of my word. How wonderful would
the relationship be? Not very. She likes to hear
it all the time. I love you. [LAUGHING] David and Jonathan
had that warm friendship, and they made that
covenant bond again. "Then Jonathan said to David,
tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because
your seat will be empty. And when you have stayed
three days, go down quickly and come to the place where
you hid on the day of the deed and remain by the stone Ezel."-- some monolith or
outcropping of stones. And then I will shoot three
arrows to the side of it as though I shot it at a target. And there I will send a lad,
saying, go find the arrows. If I expressly say to
him, look, the arrows are on this side of you;
get them and come, then as the Lord lives, there is
safety for you and no harm. But if I say thus
to the young man, look, the arrows are beyond
you, then go your way, for the Lord has sent you away. And as for the matter, which
you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between
you and me forever. So David hid in the field. And when the New Moon
had come, the king sat down to eat the feast." Now, why this clandestine
game of shooting arrows? I mean, they're talking
face-to-face right here. Why not just say, look, I'll
find out what the deal is, and then I'll come, and we'll
have a meeting like this? Well, probably because
Jonathan wasn't sure. If my father has indeed
plotted against David, he may be watching
me to go tell David. Because he knows that he
and I have this relationship of loyalty to each other. So they might be spying on me. And so just to
make it safe, we've got to come up with
a code of some kind. So to keep me safe
and David safe, he came up with this plan. "Now, the king sat"-- verse 25-- "on his seat, as at other
times, on a seat by the wall." That's a position of honor. "Jonathan arose, and
Abner sat by Saul's side. But David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul did
not say anything that day, for he thought, something
has happened to him. He is unclean. Surely, he is unclean." According to
Leviticus chapter 7, there were certain
obligatory stipulations. To eat at a peace offering, you
had to be ceremonially clean. You had to go through oblations. That happens, that a
person could be unclean. A soldier could be
from time to time. That is not beyond the
pale of possibility. "So it happened on the next day,
the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan,
why has the son of Jesse not come to eat either
yesterday or today?" Notice that Saul
hates David so much, he can't even say his name. Where is that son of Jesse? "So Jonathan answered
Saul, David"-- calling him by name-- "earnestly asked permission
of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, please let
me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the
city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now if I have found favor
in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers. Therefore he has not
come to the king's table. Then Saul's anger was
aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, you son of
a perverse, rebellious woman." OK. You know what he's saying. There are other translations
that color that up a little bit. "Do I not know that you
have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to
the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of
Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established,
nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send
and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered
Saul his father and said to him, why
should he be killed? What has he done? Then Saul cast a spear
at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it
was determined by his father to kill David." This is what happens when you
become a thrower of spears, when you attack other people. When you attack other
people, and you're always-- you want to make sure
they get your point-- you're attacking them. You're going to make this point. You're going to yell at them
or tweet something or say something. Eventually, it's going
to affect your family. You're going to enter
into a way of thinking, that if you're living in
that kind of attack mode, you'll attack your son. You'll attack your daughter. You'll attack those that
are in your own household. "So Jonathan arose from
the table in fierce anger and ate no food the
second day of the month, for he was grieved for
David, because his father had treated him shamefully. So it was in the
morning, Jonathan went out into the field at
the time appointed with David. And a little lad was with him. And he said to the
lad, now run and find the arrows which I shoot. And the lad ran, and he
shot an arrow beyond him." That was the code
that they established. "When the lad came
to the place where the arrow was which
Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out
after the lad and said, is not the arrow beyond you? And Jonathan cried
out after the lad, make haste, hurry, do not delay. So Jonathan's lad
gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. But the lad did
not know anything. Only Jonathan and David
knew of the matter. Then Jonathan gave his weapons
to his lad and said to him, go, carry them to the city. Now, as soon as the lad had
gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on
his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another,
and they wept together, but David more so. Then Jonathan said to
David, go in peace, since we are both sworn in
the name of the Lord, saying, may the Lord be
between you and me, between your descendants
and my descendants, forever. So he rose and departed, and
Jonathan went into the city." This is the very last time
they will see each other. The next time Jonathan comes
really into David's life, it will be when he hears
that Saul and Jonathan and Malchishua had fallen slain
on Mount Gilboa, at which time David will cry, oh, how
the mighty have fallen and the glory of
Israel taken away. One wonders if
Jonathan shouldn't have gotten up and gone with David. It would have been a great team. He could have defected
from his father's kingdom. He could have gone on the
road with David in hiding. But David goes into hiding. Jonathan goes back to the
court, perhaps thinking, I need to be a buffer
between my dad and David. Maybe I can have an
influence over him. I did it once. Maybe I'll have that
opportunity in the future. But I want to close, since
we have just five minutes left, with that psalm
that I mentioned, that I made reference to, and
I read you the inscription at the beginning, Psalm 59. Because this teaches us how
to pray when people attack us. And it is called, incidentally,
an imprecatory psalm. An imprecatory psalm
is when you call down an imprecation on
someone, you're basically unleashing God to
do whatever God wants to do. Now I'll warn you. This song is rated R in the
sense that, though God is God, and God will do whatever
God wants to do, David is going to be
very upfront and pointed and honest with God
toward his enemies. So Psalm 59, "To
the chief Musician, set to Do Not Destroy. A Michtam of David,
when Saul sent men, and they watched the house
in order to kill him. Deliver me from
my enemies, O God. Defend me from those
who rise up against me. Deliver me from the
workers of iniquity. Save me from bloodthirsty men." Notice how definite David
is, to the point he is. He's not vague. Sometimes our prayers
are just so vague. And if we wonder why sometimes
they're not effective, that could be one reason. Some people are just, Lord, we
just lift up all their needs, spoken and unspoken. No no, not unspoken. Speak them. Not I bring you unspoken needs. Speak them. Speak the needs. Say the needs. None of this, just bless
everyone everywhere with everything. [LAUGHTER] Well, first of all, how do
you want God to bless you? Deliver me-- that's
to the point. Defend me-- that's to the point. Save me-- that's to the point. Help. Be definite. "For look, they lie
in wait for my life. The mighty gather against
me, not for my transgression or for my sin, O Lord. They run and prepare themselves
through no fault of mine. Awake to help me and behold. You therefore, O Lord God
of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations. Do not be merciful to any
wicked transgressors." Now, when you pray like
this, it doesn't necessarily mean God's going to
say yes to that prayer. Because God is merciful. God is kind. God is just. But I'm saying that
it's OK to make your feelings known to God. Be honest with Him. If you're mad, be
mad in your prayers-- not at God. But God already
knows how you feel. Be honest with Him. Don't hide it from Him. Don't fill it with
pious verbiage. Be real. Be authentic. "Awake to punish. At evening, they return. They growl like a dog. They go all around the city. Indeed they belch out
with their mouth." Now, this is a heavy prayer. Like, God blow them
out of the water. They're a bunch of burping dogs. [LAUGHTER] It gets better. Verse 8-- "You, O Lord,
shall laugh at them. You will hold the
nations in derision. O You, his Strength,
I will wait for You. For God is my defense. My merciful God shall
come to meet me. And God did. God will see my desire on
my enemies"-- which He did. It took a while, but He did. But look at this. Look at this one. Verse 11-- "Do not slay
them, lest my people forget. Scatter them by Your
power and bring them down, O Lord our shield, for
the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips. Let them even be
taken in their pride and for their cursing and
lying, which they speak. Consume them in wrath. Consume them, that
they may not be. And let them know that
God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth." Whoa! That's a worship song. It is amazing what you
find in the scripture. Now, I'm going to
read that one verse, a couple of these verses, in a
translation called The Message. Have you ever heard of that
translation, The Message, by Eugene Peterson? So listen to this. "Don't make a quick
work of them, Yahweh, lest my people forget. But bring them down
in slow motion. Take them apart piece by piece. Finish them off in fine style. Finish them off for good." That sounds like a prayer
the godfather would pray. [LAUGHTER] This is so mafioso. It's like, kill them, God. I want You to really take
them apart limb by limb. [LAUGHTER] Now, I'm not suggesting that you
go mafioso in your prayer life, but that you get oh so
honest in your prayer life. And don't be afraid
to report anything you are feeling into the ears
of a loving, all powerful, all knowing, all merciful God. He can handle it. He can handle your prayer. [APPLAUSE] And then you leave it to Him. Father, thank you. Thank you for Your
goodness to us. Thank you for Your
word, that surprises us. Our lives are in Your hands. The issues that the world
faces in terms of a disease, in terms of earthquakes,
famines, hostile armies, we don't understand why You
allow so much of what we see. But once again, Lord, we are
brought back to Your word, and we learn that
You are sovereign. You are working things out. Life is short for all of us. We have a chance to
make a difference. While we live, there's a
step between us and death. But tonight we choose life. We choose to walk with You and
to serve You and to honor You, and to march into our
future without fear and without compromise. In Jesus' name. [MUSIC PLAYING] For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching in our series Expound.
