1 Samuel 19

On Thursday nights we're going through the entire Bible book by book and chapter by chapter and verse by verse we restarted in Genesis about eight years ago now and we've made our way through to first Samuel and tonight we'll Lord willing be able to make it through the entire chapter of chapter 19 so as you're turning there I'll kind of give you the back story as it were two weeks ago in the previous chapter chapter 18 we saw the continued hand of God's protection over David after several attempts on the part of Saul to murder him you'd think that Saul would give up after you know after trying especially as a skilled you know warrior and being in point-blank range throwing his spear twice and missing David you think he'd kind of get the point that may be God was protecting him but apparently it's becoming quite clear that Saul possesses this evil and wicked tenacity which is usually the case so much so that what we're going to see is Saul go to no end he's actually gonna enlist his son Jonathan as well as his servants to carry out his next evil plot in what will be yet another failed attempt at murdering David Charles Spurgeon whom I'll be borrowing from quite a bit tonight of this said Saul was now worse than ever or he would not have spoken to others to aid him in a dastardly murder when God leaves a man listened as when God leaves a man the devil comes to him it's becoming abundantly clear that the devil has possessed Saul this spirit of oppression that comes upon Saul were to see it yet again tonight and it's going to be demonically he even satanically possessed him to yet again attempt the murder of David by his own hand so before we jump and let's pray we'll ask God's blessing on us our time tonight in His word if you would please join with me loving Heavenly Father were so thankful to you for your word and for this church building that we get to meet in on Thursday nights and study your word Lord were looking to you tonight the author and finisher of our faith to minister to us to speak to us to show to us that which you would desire for us to see but Lord we want to have eyes to see we want to have ears to hear what the Spirit would say to us as Your church as Your people so Lord were to ask you to speak clearly personally if need be and in so doing would you by the Holy Spirit get our attention and keep our attention Lord keep any distraction a way that would get our attention off that which you desire to do in our midst tonight so Lord is with anticipation that we're looking forward to that which you going to do so Lord speak your servants are listening in Jesus name Amen alright let's jump in verse one now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David but Jonathan Saul's son delighted greatly in David verse two so Jonathan told David saying my father Saul seeks to kill you therefore please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide and verse 3 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 wow what loyal friend couple thoughts here on just the first three verses the first of which is that Jonathan is I mean this is remarkable to me the way he would respond to what his father his very own father is demanding of him and I say that on two fronts first I find it remarkable that in spite of all Jonathan may have been subjected to by his own father even his father's servants he wasn't unduly influenced by and I'll explain what I mean by that to me it's doubtless that Jonathan had heard many rumors not just from his dad but from his dad servants and all of these false accusations concerning David yet he wasn't influenced by that he remained loyal to David again Spurgeon said it best this way Jonathan proved himself a real friend we ought always to be ready to speak up for those who are falsely condemned think about this how rare is it how hard is it in the face of such crushing pressure from the crowd as it were to stand up knowing that someone is being falsely accused its a rare man or woman of God that can stand up in the face of that remain loyal when they alone stand alone in the face of such a thing the second thought has to do with how Jonathan knew that he'd have to make a choice between obeying God or obeying his own father now you have to understand that not only is Saul his father Saul is his king and as such he's the authority in Jonathan's like this is huge and actually it answers an often asked question of whether or not there ever comes a time when we are to disobey the governing laws of the land now the Scripture is clear that we're to obey the laws of the land but there does come a time I believe that like here in this case with Jonathan that obeying man would require us to disobey God which is why I believe that in cases like this when I'm put in that position where obeying the laws of the land would mean that I would have to disobey God guess what just one but no way God over man this is actually Acts chapter 5 verses 27 through 29 it reads having brought the apostles they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest we gave you strict orders not to teach in this name he says speaking of Jesus yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood and I love Peter's and the other apostles' response in verse 29 they say we must obey God rather than man it' s not even a choice you don't really have any choice you've put us in a position where we have no choice but to disobey you because we must obey God rather than men one more thought before we move on to verse 4 I find it interesting that Jonathan not only refuses to assist his father in killing David he actually instead helps to protect David he's going to great lengths and by the way at great risk can you imagine now keep in mind if you remember it wasn't that long ago when Saul was ready to kill his only son and then his men intervened and he relented but You gotta know that is if Saul knew what his son Jonathan was doing here this with meant certain death so this is at great risk that Jonathan is trying to help to protect David now the reason I bring this up is because it's likely that we would think there's little or no application to us in the sense that we don't have a Saul commanding us to murder anybody right we're not being put thankfully in that situation however we would do well to consider how that Jesus raised the bar on us not in the sense of a physical or literal murder but we all have the propensity to commit murder in our heart and we also have the ability to assassinate someone's character with our tongue consider what Jesus said Matthew recorded chapter 5 I'm sure you're familiar with it versus 21 and 22 Jesus is speaking he says you have heard that it was said to the people long ago do not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment but I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment anyone who says to his brother Raca is answerable to the Sanhedrin but anyone who says you fool will be in danger of the fire of hell he goes on to say settle account quickly while you're on your way lest it cost you to the other modes farthing in other words it will cost you everything harboring that murder that murderous anger in your heart toward another now listen to what James says chapter 3 verses two through nine he writes we all stumble in many ways if anyone is never at fault in what he's says he is a perfect man able to keep his whole body in check when we put me put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us we can turn the whole animal or take ships as an example although they are so large and are driven by strong winds they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go likewise the tongue is a small part of the body by it makes great boasts consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark the tongue also is a fire a world of evil among the parts of the body that tongue that you have in your mouth it corrupts the whole person sets the whole course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell all kinds of animals birds reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by a man but no man can tame the tongue it is a restless evil full of deadly poisson with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness I like how one said you know there is a reason why we have this white picket fence in front of our tongue holding it inside and not letting it loose I mean who would had thought that tongue inside my mouth is capable of all of this yes it is it certainly is we have to be oh so careful with anger in our heart and the capacity of our tongue to do so much damage unspeakable damage irreparable damage reminds me of the story that's told of a pastor of whom someone had been slandering and as we say here talking stink about and word has spread and false accusations these rumors about him and had basically assassinate his character because let'e face it we like to say well a man is innocent until proven guilty but the fact of the matter is it's the opposite that's true a man is guilty until proven innocent and sometimes when we hear something about someone we can never look at them the same way again we can never see them the same way again because were always thinking in our in our minds oh my goodness what that person said about them it doesn't matter if it's true because we heard something about them and it skews how we see them so word got back to his pastor and this individual had been slandering him falsely accusing him talking stink about him and then finally the pastor just confronted him and the guy expressed some you know sorrow and I'm sorry I and you know well if you're really sorry then heres what I need you to do a I need you to go get a pillow and I want you to cut it open at the top of a hill and I want to let the wind carry all the feathers throughout all of the area out of that pillow of course that puzzled look on individual face where you going with this pastor now after you do that I want you to go and collect every single feather that was flown about from that pillow well I can't do that it's impossible so to is every time you say something when it flies about it's impossible to take it back point taken verse four thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said listen to this let not the king sin against his servant 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 speaking of goliath and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel was listen to this you saw it and rejoiced remember dad thats not in the original but why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause wow I mean what Jonathan does here is nothing short of amazing and I say that because to me he carefully and probably even prayerfully crafted his words ever so perfectly he knew exactly what to say to his father and Jonathan seemingly possesses this keen spiritual discernment which by the way on Sunday morning we''re going to be talking about in our study of first Corinthians chapter 2 but it seems to me that he is keenly aware of what Saul his dad is thinking and wanting to kill David which is why I believe he reminds him that he himself rejoiced when David killed Goliath oh how soon we forget if you don't mind I'm just going to bring it sort of closer to home dad don't you remember for 40 days and for 40 nights you are paralyzed in fear as the king of Israel and so too were all of Your man under your leadership for 40 days for 40 nights that uncircumcised Philistine blaspheme the name of our God and thne in one day it only took one time for little David this man that has not sinned against you that you to kill he hears it one time and its not okay for him and then he takes on and challenges accepts the challenge and delivers the Israelites out of the hands of the Philistines single-handedly and you want to kill him what has he done to you he's done nothing to you do you remember reading earlier on when it's said of Saul that David was his enemy and that he was the enemy of David are you kidding me this is his most loyal man this is his best friend if I can say it that way there is no one in all of Israel like David and this Saul wants to kill him why does he want to kill because he's threatened by him he's trying to hold onto the throne that he knows has been torn from him as he had torn Samuel's robe he doesn't no when and he doesn't know how and interestingly he doesn't know who unbeknownst to him the very man that he wants to kill as been anointed to succeed him as king he doesn't know that yet but David knows that very interesting you know I think that Jonathan had discerned that his father had become suspicious of David's motives you know there's an insecurity with Saul if you wanted to do a character study of this man's I have a fabulous book in my library that does a character study of all of these men Jonathan David Saul particularly and a lot of others that we're going to be studying as we go through first and second Samuel and this Saul is an interesting man he's paranoid he's very very insecure he's very fearful he doesn't appear to me to be a courageous man a brave man and a it's really kind of playing out in that way but I think that Jonathan is on to him and he knows that his dad is suspicious of David's motives in the sense that if he killed the Philistine this is how Saul's thinks if he killed goliath he has grown in popularity didn't you hear the number one song that's being downloaded on iTunes Saul has killed his thousands and David has killed his tens of thousands and so already we're not off to a good start here and so this is how Saul thinks this is how paranoia thinks this is how fear and insecurity thinks he's getting popular now and I bet he wants to kill me and take my throne are you kidding me Saul who's trying to kill who here you're the one throwing your spear at him he's playing his harp for you and you're throwing your spear at him we're going to see that again played out deja vu all over again here in just a few verses are you kidding me that's how he thinks nothing could be further from the truth you can't tell him that though there's something about this component of self-deception see it can give way to believing anything when you're that paranoid when you're that fearful and you're that far from the Spirit of God anything is possible and such is the case here with Saul well this is now Saul's response to his son Jonathan pleading on behalf of David his friend telling his dad to spare his life he's done nothing to you listen to what verse 6 says so Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan and Saul swore I also get a impression that Saul was sort of a kind of a Peter in a way he was very spontaneous and kind of of compulsive and so he said and Saul swore as the Lord lives he shall not the killed inside a five versus he goes from wanting to kill him to swearing he'll never be killed do you believe that if you believe I've got some land on the mainland that I'd like to sell you because if you are that gullible then Johnathan that's not to say though that this wasn't genuine I think there was a sincerity here I think that Jonathan has succeeded at least temporarily in convincing his dad to not kill David then verse seven Jonathan called David and remember he told him I'm the kind of let you know what the response is going to be you hide until I say it's safe 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 it's all good now and they lived happily ever after let's close in prayer no thats not don't you wish it ended that way I do you know I find this interesting for a number of reasons not the least of which is that yet again in spite of Saul's evil plans the hand of God's protection is over David Saul can threatened swear do whatever he wants he will not touch a hair on David's head because of God's hands now this seems to be the common thread that's woven into the fabric of David's young life land we're going to see it throughout we've already seen it hereto fore in fact from the time that he was anointed king to when he takes his rightful place as king we're to see the miraculous hand of God protecting David through unimaginable hardship for many years as we're going to see here momentarily I point this out because by way of personal application it speaks to how God will always protect us from the enemy let me say that again I know this is a firm grasp of the obvious the enemy cannot touch a hair on our head unless God allows him he cannot do anything to us and God will only allow the enemy to do something to us if in the end it fulfills his purpose if it's for our betterment and is for his glory then God will allow the devil to do something to us now that might be a little disconcerting in fact I can tell by the way you're looking at me he does yeah ask Peter remember can you imagine how Peter must have felt he was called come over here I've got to tell you something the other day Satan asked for permission for you he did what did you tell him I said okay you can sift him as wheat you did why did you do that because Peter after you are converted after you come back you can convert your brothers in other words I'm allowing him to do this to you to sift you as wheat because in the end it's for your betterment and it's for my glory you'll see asked Job can you imagine on a universal scale Satan who apparently has access to the throne of God that's disconcerting in and of itself by the way that's why we're to going to have the new heavens and the new earth keep in mind the first sin was not in the garden the first and was in Heaven when Lucifer said I will ascend my throne above the Most High so Satan apparently still has access to the throne of God to Heaven so apparently he's kind of chilling and hanging out cruising and he shows up at the throne and and God asks hey what have you been doing and he says well kind of you know roaming about throughout the earth and God says did you happen to notice my servant Job its like one said I think God thinks way too much of me I mean he's bragging on me is like to the devil no less did you see Job there is no one righteous like him as thats my boy I'm proud of him what do you think and satan really God are you kidding me no wonder he blesses You and no wonder he's righteous before you I mean look at how the blessed I mean he's so prosperous and You basically just blessed him at every turn no wonder I bet You that if You did something to him You put Your hand or You just let me kind of mess with him I'd bet You he'll curse You to Your face God's response you're on I hate it when that happens because I don't want can you just find somebody You think way too much of me God why can'y You find isn't there somebody else besides me why would you let him do that and oh my goodness the empty this is not fable this is not fiction this happened by the other way if you want for those of you are into this you know Petra in modern-day Jordan the rock city this is believed that that is where Job lived have you ever been to Petra unbelievable I was there 1997 my wife and I for one day we saw a I don't even know if it's a measurable amount of this massive colossal rock city which by the way it's believed the Jews will flee to and be protected for the last three and a half years of a seven-year tribulation from the antichrist it is one of the seven wonders of the world it is just you can't even describe it do a search on it it's just spectacular they're restoring it right now by the way just in time for the Jews to flee there incidentally just saying but it's believed that Job as wealthy as he was lived in Petra as its called modern-day in other words this really happened Job was a real man and he really went through everything that we read him going through I mean the graphic detail of the itching of the boils with clay pottery he's in such misery yet in all of it he did not curse God the same cannot be said of his wife I'm not going to go there she says to him it was so can you imagine being in all fairness she looks at her husband and you have to understand in that day even to this day when someone is that cursed they just figure hey you know you just may as well put yourself out of your misery obviously God is cursing you curse God and die get it over with so I mean it doesn't excuse it but it does explain it well anyway I really went off on a complete tangent there I where were we here lets see oh yeah first Samuel 19 good no that the point is this God will always protect us from the enemy in spite of of the many attempts by the enemy to devour us as Christians God will always protect us verse eight and there was war again now remember David's back everybody's happy it was as it was before it's like nothing ever happened you know it's all good but verse eight we're told there was war again and David went out the and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow and they fled from him now verse 9 here we go again but the dressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand o-oh and David was playing music with his hand interesting contrast he's got the harp in his hand and then Saul for whom he's playing the harp for has a spear in his hand I wonder if David is noticing the spear is Saul's hand and he's thinking to himself not again really then verse 10 Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear but go figure he slipped away from Saul's presence and he drove the spear into the wall so David fled and escaped that night wow I mean this is just a repeat you think Saul would figure it out that he can throw the spear from just inches away and he's going to miss God will not allow that spear from his hand to touch his anointed David this man after God's own heart by the way here we go again right except this time it's the last time David will not return to the palace until Saul dies and he becomes king and thats not going to happened for 20 more years do you realize that David will be on the lam homeless living in caves running for his life for the better part of 20 years he knows he was anointed king why would God allow Saul I mean why can't we just get this show on the road, Saul has seemingly already sealed his fate why don't we just put him out of his misery if you've anointed me as king why do we need to wait for 20 years I have thought as you might imagine I'm never without one it seems maybe better said an opinion but I do believe that for these 20 years God is preparing David for that which He is preparing for David and if you don't mind me saying it this way God is beating that Saul out of David and for 20 years He's going to teach David a lesson he could not otherwise learn this is what the king of Israel is not this is what the king of Israel is not and isn't it interesting that David will have no less than the least one time and one opportunity where he could have just end it and taken the throne we don't want our hero David doing that though by the way he could have he had Saul right where he wanted him he could have just killed him right in fact his men as we're going to when we get there find out are begging him kill him kill him and David's answer I will not raise my hand against the Lord's anointed he would not take the kingdom that way he would wait for twenty years that bothers me I am not patient I don't like that big number 20 years associated with anything that God is doing in my life I have a call in your life you just have to wait 20 years to realize it 20 years I'd it i'm 51 I'm going to be 52 this July I'm telling you you know what I don't know I tell my wife this all the time if I had known that I would live this long I honestly would've taken better care of myself I mean I with all due respect to those of you who are older than me I love you I admire you and I just look at you and I think you know it's interesting because my wife oh my goodness it's really bad my wife was telling about this guy that where she works at is mid-pac that is my age and she said you know she introduced me to his wife and she said you know that her husband is about your age and just out of curiosity I just went well you know is he bald and a you know is he losing his hair like me just tell me he is she said no well does he have that 50-year-old you know i'm not even going to put a name on it you know what I'm talking about especially some of you guys you feel my pain right she said no not at all you know and I looked at myself in the mirror the other day and just bear with me I just need to get this off my chest I looked at myself in the mirror the other day and I thought I look older than 51 I look like I got a lot of miles on me I really do I said so so does he look you know I was looking at his wife and I thought so and look at my wife and everybody thinks how is it that she stayed married to you someone is beautiful is that for 25 years to someone like you thats so mean too you know it's kind of like wow really I mean it's kind of like we were in Israel I don't know if you guys remember this for those of you who went i think it was 2010 and I had my laptop open on the bus everybody was getting off the bus and I had my wallpaper and there is a picture of my wife and I was like our 21st anniversary or 22nd anniversary and our tour guide Daniel walks by and he goes is that your wife what what do you mean is that my wife you might as well put the caps on there Beauty and the Beast right there you know when we were in our 20s we were pretty much newlyweds and the youth pastor at our church actually rebuked me pulled me aside one day at the church I'm on the board I'm mean it's kind of like the nerve of this youth pastor right he's come up to me and rebuked me and he says to me you're robbing the cradle aren't you what are you talking about I mean so my wife looks younger than she you know her age and then conversely i look older than my age so it looks like there's this huge gap between us and we're only a couple years apart and you'd never know it by looking at me and so why don't I go on I'm going to bring this back to some profound point here if you'll just bear with me but i'm thinking to myself 20 years think about that can you remember 20 years ago did you say yes some of you are 20 years let's just move on I'm getting depress but 20 years he's the going to run now for his life for 20 years how old is he right now he's probably in his late teens he is going to be what lets just do the math something like 40 years old by the time he comes the back and take his rightful place as king I think that David is realizing that Saul's envious and murderous rampage has no bounds there is no limit and so too does Saul's word have no value can you imagine how mortified Jonathan is right about now he's the one that said it was safe to come back David come back it's all good he swore he made an oath that you will never be killed it's okay now it's all good now and then this happens i think that David knows full well that God has and will continue to keep him safe but it's still requires that he be shrewd as a serpent and harmless as a dove you know God doesn't really God isn't honored when we're ignorant things that require a wisdom from above a shrewdness and David is being very shrewd here again Spurgeon says little did Saul's oath bind him he was never in a good frame of mind long together envy interesting listen to this envy cannot be quiet remember we talked about how who can stand before jealousy as the proverbs say how that envy defiles it just it just begins to grow and it can just eat us from the inside out this is what's happened to Saul Spurgeon goes on to say we are safe anywhere while the Lord has work for us to do be it ours to live with the harp in our hand praising God and blessing our fellowmen and we shall be preserved from the javelins of our foes I think David knew that this spear in this hand of Saul could never touch him verse 11 it gets worse Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning and Michal David's wife this is Saul's daughter told him saying if you do not save your life tonight tomorrow you will be killed so Michal let David down verse 12 through a window and he went and fled and escaped now Michal's another very interesting character study very interesting now this is Saul's daughter can you imagine growing up in that home you know with Saul as your dad I mean in all fairness she's to be commended here she's choosing her husband over her father instead of choosing her father to honor her father's wishes over her husband how does she feel sorry my dad he wants to kill you i'm sure it's not the first father-in-law that's wanted to kill the son-in-law you know but it's you know but honey if you wanted you know to save your life you need to get out of here like right now now you know how dad is well this is interesting because if the truth be known this one principle of not leaving father and mother and cleaving has been the source of many problems in many a marriage especially on the part of a guy now stay with me I just briefly think i'd be remiss if i didn't share this but when we get married our parents should never come in between a husband and a wife especially and this is a big problem when it comes to the using of the financial purse strings to wield their influence vis-a-vis the obligation that always comes with it that is such a recipe for disaster by the way it was during this time when David escaped that he penned the words to the song that's found in the book of Psalms Psalm 59 which is the song if you don't mind I'd like to just briefly read it it is fabulous is to the chief musician set to do not destroy you know that tune that's the tune does anybody know it no okay it's a Michtam of David when Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to kill him listen to what he writes this is the words to the song set to the tune do not destroy deliver me from my enemies oh my God defend me from those who rise up against me deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloodthirsty men for look verse three they lie in wait for my life they might the mighty gather against me not for my transgression nor for my sin o Lord they run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine awake to help me and behold you therefore verse 5 o Lord God of hosts the God of Israel awake to punish all the nations do not be merciful to any wicked transgressions selah verse six at evening they return they growl like a dog and go all around the city indeed they belch with their mouth can you imagine this is a praise worship song with the words on the screen man I wonder what the tune was like they belch with their mouth and the the okay swords are in their lips for they say who hears but you verse eight o Lord shall laugh at them you shall have all the nations in derision i will wait for you o you his strength for God is my defense my God of mercy verse 10 shall come to meet me God shall let me see my desire on my enemies do not slay them lest my people forget scatter them by your power and bring them down o Lord our shield for the sin verse 12 of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride and for the cursing and lying which they speak consume them in wrath consume them how many of us come on let's be honest have prayed this concerning someone else no yeah me neither but i just hypothetically 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 Selah and verse 14 at evening they return they growl like a dog it must be the chorus and go all around the city they wander up and down for food and howl if they are not satisfied but verse 16 i will sing of Your power yes i will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning for you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble to you verse 17 o my strength i will sing praises for God is my defense my God of mercy why do I take the time to read that Psalm because sometimes the best thing we can do when we're in a similar situation and is to sing praises to God I think about Paul when he was in prison Paul and Silas and they're praising God in the midst of this dungeon facing possible death yet they're praising God there's something that happens neurologically by the way when we sing have you ever noticed how is it that you can get here on a Thursday night you're extremely tired right i can tell i'm tired right it's really bad when i yawn you know and i'm the teacher and if that doesn't send the right message does it but i don't do it when i'm up here I just do it before and then just kind of get it out and it's contagious ever notice that that's why I don't look at you if you're yawning I'm not looking at you I can't I don't want to look at you because when someone yawns somebody else yawns anyway i digress but sometimes singing is the best medicine it is a calming and soothing dynamic that takes place verse 13 then Michal took an image and laid it in the bed now remember she told David honey get out of here run for your life and laid it in the bed put cover of goats hair for his head and covered it with clothes you ever do this as a kid well you put the pillows make it look like you're in bed and then goat's hair what in the world did David's hair look like at least he had hair anyway and covered it with clothes make it look like he's in bed so verse 14 when Saul sent messengers to take David she said he's sick i mean just take one look at the goat hairs he's really sick he needs to shower to verse 15 then Saul sent the messengers back to see David saying bring him up to me in the bed that i kill him wow and verse 60 when the messengers had come in there was the image in the bed and a cover of goats hair for his head then Saul said the Michal why have you deceived me like this and sent my enemy oh there it is again 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 Michal's cleverness is admirable but sadly her possession of an idol is the abominable this because it's thought that this would have been her own very own household idol not David's but her's now i'm of the belief that this speaks to how common it is for either the husband and or the wife to have a much closer walk with the Lord than the other one does thats not uncommon, and again i'm sorry if i'm being too hard on Saul as a father as a father myself but perhaps we need look no further than Michal's father Saul himself in the sense that i just don't see him being a good role model I don't see him being a good father a good example in the home growing up again Spurgeon says we cannot admire Michal's deceit nor yet her having idols in her house she was Saul's daughter and came of a bad stock the Lord however overruled her love for David and she loved David we're told she loved David so that the persecuted one escaped God will preserve his own verse 18 so David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him and he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth now to me this was i believe the best thing that David could have possibly done and i would suggest it's the best thing that we can do when we find ourselves in a similar situation what i'm speaking of is the seeking of Godly council and especially when you're surrounded by so many unGodly people think about this who was a Godly friend other than Jonathan for David is Saul his example who's the Godly example other than Jonathan that is surrounding David and when we're surrounded by so many unGodly people not to mention being surrounded by Sauls as well we need to seek out the Samuels the Godly counsel i believe it's for this reason that the pages of holy writ a are replete with warning after warning about the paramount importance of seeking the multitude of counsel this is one proverb of many proverbs 11:14 where there is no counsel the people fall but in the multitude of counselors there is safety another proverbs says with to few of counselors plans will fail but with the multitude or the many counselors plans will succeed the very first Psalm and the very first verse of the very first psalm psalm 1:1 says this blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the unGodly nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful here's the thing when we don't seek out the multitude of Godly counsel we rob ourselves of the voice of God speaking through others into our lives how many times has there been that word fitly spoken that confirmation that God would choose to speak to you through another if we're not seeking the counsel how are we ever going to hear that that Godly counsel from another there have been so many times in the over 30 years that I have been walking with the Lord that I have been seeking the Lord i'm in a difficult situation I'm going through a trial and i'm facing a very important decision and i'm seeking the Lord I'm in the word and then God will choose and deem it fit to have somebody speak a word unbeknownst to them and usually it's couched in terms of I don't know why i'm telling you this i do the Lord speaking through you this is exactly how do you know you know what i love is when God just thankfully spoke thankfully lets you hear a different sermon than the one i preached and i can always tell that the holy spirit has spoken to somebody because afterwords somebody who will come up to me and say oh pastor when you're talking about such and such that was for me I'm going did you come to this church was that this church you came to was that me what did I I don't even remember it was one of those kind of rabbit trails one of the points i made or it wasn't even my notes thank God and God just there's somebody here He touches the heart and He knows that you'll need to hear this word fitly spoken and He'll chose this donkey to speak it and that's the counsel of the Lord thats Godly counsel from the word of the Lord lets finish the chapter verse 19 now it was told Saul by the way i got it warn you this is a really gnarly thing we're about to read here l don''t know for those of you that ahead to stay ahead this is weird okay you're ready that was a disclosure by the way now we're told Saul say take note David is at Naioth in Ramah and verse 20 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 and verse 21 when Saul was told he sent other messengers and they prophesied likewise then Saul sent messengers again the third time and they prophesied also then verse 22 he also went to Ramah Saul himself and came to the great well that is at Sechu so he asked where are Samuel and David and someone said indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah so he speaking of Saul went there to Naioth in Ramah then the spirit of God was upon him also and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah and he also stripped off his clothes ew actually he wasn't naked all the way he took off his kingly robe that's an image we could have gone a long time without having but he also stripped off his clothes and thats Saul we're talking about and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and lay down naked all that day and all that night therefore they say is Saul also among the prophets can you imagine the scene here I mean he sends one time his servants and they're in this trance and they're prophesying Saul hears about it are you kidding me so he sends another group of of you know same thing happens to them third time sends them same thing happens to them Saul says you know what i'm going to go myself i wouldn't do that if I were you but he does what happens the same thing happens to him picture this scene here I don't know what how much time has transpired i would imagine it was relatively close in proximity from the first time he sent the first messengers so i'm imagining that they're all prophesying but it the does say the only time we're given is that when Saul got there was all day and all that night that gives me the impression that it was maybe a 24-hour time period now why do I mention that and why does God do this and what in the world is going on here this might be an oversimplification but what God is doing here is he's putting these unsanctified men into a sanctified state for the purpose of protecting David from Saul not a whole lot you can do your down to your undergarments you're prophesying all day and all night all of your servants that you sent three times they're doing the same thing all that day and all that night well how convenient because guess what David can escaped yet again you think that's why God did it yes that's what God did it listen never make a mistake about this God will tax the moon and stars he'll do everything stop at nothing to protect us from our enemy now I want to end this way i got to wonder what David's thinking I mean okay Saul is coming keep in mind Saul going to kill him can you imagine what he must of thought when the first set of you know murders that's what they were messengers you know what you know what that messages are they're assassins there hit men he sends the first set of hit man and they're prophesying second set of hit men I wonder what David's doing i wonder if he's like hiding in a tent somewhere there in Ramah going oh this is good this is really good oh look here comes another group here comes the second group oh lets watch this this is good oh what just happened they're doing the same thing okay now here comes the third one what Saul is coming and then here comes Saul and oh and then he asked where is David and Samuel why do you want to know oh I want to kill him so he gets there same thing prophesying you think that David may be was really encouraged by this i do this must've been that it tremendous encouragement to see God go to this extent for him i mean clearly God is with him God is for him and speaking of another thing think about this and we're almost done I gotta wonder if David knew these men I bet he did he's been in the the royal courts he's gotta know these guys he probably knows them really well he's probably broken bread with them and now they they've been sent to kill him and God does this to them for him here's the bottom line God was confirming that he himself alone would have the final word on everything and everyone in order to fulfill the calling he had on David's life I mean I get sort of this impression that God is in to doing things really dramatically I mean you think about the whole red sea thing He didn''t have to do it that way he could have chosen another way that was pretty dramatic that was pretty amazing well it's kinda of on a smaller scale the same thing here never underestimate what God is able to do on our behalf let's stand we'll pray Lord who is like unto you God you are so good Lord thank You that we can have that assurance that confidence knowing that You are for us You are with us that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world thank You Lord that Your ever present help in time of trouble Lord thank You for this narrative that we've looked at tonight thank you for the encouragement that can come from when we see how you protect David and so to how you all so protect us Lord thank you that you're the same God yesterday today and forever in Jesus name Amen

Channel: J.D. Farag

Views: 5,761

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

Keywords: 1 Samuel, Joy, Bible, Hope, Love, Help, Free, Depressed, Life, Strength, Peace, Truth, Happiness, Rest, Harmony, Light, Freedom, Happy, Old Testament, Salvation, Forgiveness, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Lord, Jesus, Pastor, Grace, Mercy, Ministry, Messiah, Heavenly Father, Hebrew, Preaching, Teaching, yt:stretch=16:9

Id: AhNiCAL6bvE

Length: 64min 28sec (3868 seconds)

Published: Fri May 09 2014