Trust and Obey | 1 Samuel 26

[Music] [Applause] [Music] all right hey guys welcome to Mercy Hill we're excited that you are here especially if you're new let me just take a minute and really welcome you if you're new or this summer I know the summers a lot of transition happen it's kind of a good time for that and so this may not be your very first time but maybe you would consider yourself newer to Mercy Hill if that's you we just want you to hear that we believe that God has a plan for your life and believe that God has a plan for your giftings and we want to help you figure out how to plug that in for his kingdom so we're excited that you're here and we're excited to get to know you if it is one of your first times here we love for you to visit our first-time guest tent right outside we have a coffee mug out there for you and we'd love to give you that gift it also really helps us to know how you found out about Mercy Hills so I for no other reason we really appreciate it if you would let us know that also have a weekend or coming up next weekend so if you're newer man that's a great place for you to find out what God is doing here and how you can plug in and be involved some of you have been waiting around you've been you've you've you've been around for a while but you haven't gone to the weekend or yet this is the one to go to we have some of our church planners from South Asia that will be here it's a one weekend or only type of thing okay so we'd love for you to come and be with them and my family will be there we'll be excited to meet you there all right let's dive in we're gonna be at First Samuel chapter 26 and we're going to be talking today this is our big idea right if you're taking notes about how obedience to God is built on trust in God okay obedience to God is built on trust in God obedience flows from trust their willingness to follow especially when things in a Christian life are hard only really flow from trust alright now if you've been a believer you're gonna know this if you're coming newer I bet you you be able you know if you're believer for a while as you grow in your faith you're gonna know this and you know this is true God has called us to some things that are hard is that not right I mean there are some things that are tough generosity can be tough forgiveness can be tough live in a community with other people it could be it's good and it's joyful but it can also be tough and many times our flesh wants us to isolate waiting on God's timing in our life can be very tough many times it is easier to rush into sin rather than wait in righteousness these things are hard what want you to see today is God has called us to some hard things but we with trust they're not impossible okay they're hard in general without trust they're impossible which is much worse than being hard all right so we got a we got to make sure that we see how trusting God kind of flows out into obedience and God's plan and our life you know the the way I was thinking about this week the way that what came to my mind was one of my top ten movies okay and you got me there some of y'all probably seen this movie you know if it's Andrew Harper Tom Sam it's either the came and Kevin Costner or Denzel all right this one's a Denzel movie you've seen Remember the Titans have you guys seen that movie I say most people by now I've seen remember the time remember the Titans that came out a while ago but it's about a football team in late 60s early 70s that are trying to integrate for the first time in Northern Virginia and it's a very it's a fascinating story the story sort of centers on this white guy who's the captain of the football team his name's Gary Burt's here I mean probably this other guy black guy named Julius it's probably just the most raw talented guy on the team and as they're all trying to integrate these two are the kind of leaders of their perspective sides and so they end up coming together in a conversation that's pretty you know kind of famous in the movie where they're trying to get to know one another and it ends up being a super tense conversation and this is why Gerry Bertier who's that linebacker is a white guy looks at Julius and he says man I think you're a waste of talent because you won't play within the scheme you don't play as a team you're probably the most talented guy on the field but you're not playing in the scheme and this is what he meant all right for up for a defensive lineman it's very important that when an offensive lineman fires off the ball that the defensive lineman at least gets their hands on him chips him checks him does something because if that offensive lineman gets a free release he gets a 4-step head start to crush the linebacker okay that's coming down to make the tackle now what Gary Bertier says to him is you blow right past those guys on the line you're going back in the backfield to make a tackle yourself and you're leaving your teammates out to dry and he says I'm the one that gets hit I'm the one that that you're leaving out to dry now the whole thing kind of turns Julius just listens to him lets him get down with his little his little speech okay and then Julius says back to him he says hey you basically you want me to do something really hard for the team he says what team there's not really a team here everybody's sort of playing for themselves he looks back at Bert's here who's supposed to be the linebacker and this is what he says if you remember the movie he says you're the leader right yep you're the captain right yep then why don't you as the captain tell your white teammates on the offensive line to block whenever a black quarterback is the one taking the snap and then everything kind of freezes he turn it on them see you want me to put myself out there and do something that's hard for the team when what you're doing is not even willing to confront the fact that your white teammates won't black block for the guy when it's a black quarterback now it's kind of a standoff right there well a few scenes later Gerry Bertier who's the linebacker he gets in one of his teammates face if you remember it's a it's a scene where they're practiced in football at night they got the car lights out there and all that and then one of these guys misses the block and his quarterback gets creamed it's a black guys record about his white guy misses the block so what his birds here do he goes up to him grabs him gets right in his face and he says you better never do that again miss that blonde I don't know I'm not you know in the sixties I guess this was a saying he said if you do that again I'm gonna hit you so hard that you're gonna need a new haircut whatever that means okay so he grabs him if you do that again you're gonna be in trouble right the second that he confronts the problem the second that Bertier shows himself and this is the point to be trustworthy what do you think Julius does very next play he immediately begins to play with him a scheme they immediately begin to win all their games and like I said Denzel is the man okay so here's the here's kind of why I bring all that up listen you may not be a believer today whether you are principal whether you are in business whether you just work in a secular profession whatever it is this is just evidently true with humanity even in the small things willingness to follow the scheme flows from trust I can't trust the captain I'm a play for myself okay wait a minute he's playing for us he's gonna put his reputation a name on the line he's gonna pour himself out then in return I'll pour myself out as well even the small things in life our willingness to follow is predicated on trust now let's think about the ultimate things let's think about things that are hard like forgiveness man we're never gonna forgive if we don't trust God the one who has given us the mandate to forget we will never wait on his timing if we don't trust him Trust is what all of these things flow from and are built on and we're gonna see that today in David's life y'all David had a deep trust in God and that allowed him to be obedient and some things that are really really hard for us to be obedient and and that's what I want to show you today all right we're gonna be in 1st Samuel chapter 26 here's what I wanna do I want to walk through this passage it's very practical so I feel like I'm gonna have to stop a few times and kind of pull out some of the practical stuff that we can't miss today but when we get towards the back side of the message we're gonna talk about trust and break that down in a couple ways we're gonna talk about trusting God with timing and trusting God with forgiveness all right let's dive in first Amy over chapter 26 verse 1 the Zipp fights came to saw at Gibeah saying it's not David hiding himself on the hill of hick Allah which is the east of shish minh Saul arose and went down to the wilderness as if with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of zin and Saul encamped on a hill of Hill Kalou which is beside the road east of shish Minh but David remained in the wilderness when he saw that Saul had come after him into the wilderness David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come then David rose and came to the place where Saul hunting camp and David saw the place where Saul a the with Abner the son of nerd the commander of his army Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him then David said to Amalek the hittite and to John's brother Abba Shai the son of Zahra who who will go down with me into the camp of Saul now Abba Shai is actually David's nephew okay so I get me I get me I get the thought here that he really wants to impress David he said Abba shy says I will go down with you so David and abash I went to the army by night and there lay saw sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head and with the art with Abner and the army laying around him I want you to get a picture the Bible is trying to paint especially by this last verse they've got Saul in this Center of safety okay he the whole army is sleeping around him not just that he's got a spear stuck in the ground right by his head not just that but Abner who if you wreak heat reading Abner's are pretty bad dude okay Abner and fought a lot of battles he ends up doing a lot of fighting and all that kind of stuff throughout the rest first the second Samuel kind of meets a tragic end you can read about that but he's just kind of a really bad dude he's sleeping right beside SAW and the point is that Saul should be utterly safe I don't know when you think safety when you think about your home and when you think about when you go to bed maybe you armed a security system maybe you got a dog by the bed maybe you try to be within arm's reach of a gun safe or maybe you got a maybe you got a bat behind a door somewhere or whatever all of those things you think are gonna keep us as safe as we can be and many of us trust in those things and I'm not I'm not saying that you shouldn't take measures or whatever it is but I'm gonna tell you solids in the midst of safety but what we're gonna learn is safety is in God's hands danger is in God's hands as well these things are what God calls them why because David and abbess I are about to just walk right into the midst of them and nobody's even gonna know even though they have taken all of these precautions now here's what I want you to see for just a second all right the people of Ziff have not only betrayed david in 1st Samuel chapter 26 but they betrayed him as well in 1st Samuel chapter 24 the people of Ziff have betrayed David twice not once you meet anybody from Ziff I don't know maybe you want to watch him okay so if you ever seen anybody from Ziff maybe you'll remember this story but then again these stories usually have somewhat of a deeper meaning than that right and we could see them you know many of us read the Bible and maybe you read the Bible and I've tried to push you as hard as I can to read the Bible the way that Jesus told us to read the Bible how did he tell us to read the Bible he says everything in the Bible finds its yes in me that's what he tells us well I read this story and I thought wait a minute David is betrayed by the people of Ziff twice and I thought you know I know another great Shepherd king who was betrayed in the New Testament so I started digging just a little bit you know what I found this is so interesting Jesus had 12 disciples right do you know that 11 of disciples were from Galilee they were from the Northern Kingdom there was one disciple that wasn't from the northern now the people of Ziff are from the southern kingdom all right zip is south of Hebron and there's a city a few miles I don't know four or five miles south of zip it's in the exact same mountain range same common area some people that town is called carry off now there's 11 disciples from the northern kingdom you get all the New Testament there's one disciple from the southern kingdom and he grew up five miles away from Ziff what do you think his name was that's right Judas Iscariot actually a scariet means carry off which means same mountain range as these guys are from and you can't make this stuff up david has betrayed ABBA she is with him they're standing over solder in the middle of the camp what do you think Abba Shai is thinking well we would be thinking the same thing Abba shy said to david verse 8 God has given your enemy into your hand this day now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear and I will not strike him twice Abba shiz bragging here there's 3,000 people were in the midst of but I can kill him in a way one stroke we're out of here whole thing's over what does David say to abash I do not destroy him for who can put his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless and David said as the Lord lives the Lord will strike Kim or his day will come to die or he will go down into battle and perish David has learned something over the course of his life I think maybe his wise wife Abigail and that whole thing with a ball that we saw might have taught him something here right that God holds these people in his hands we don't have to take vengeance we don't have to take shortcuts we don't have to be the ones that rush in the sanest at a rate on righteousness the Lord is sovereign the Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed but take now the spear that is at the head and the jar of water let's go so David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head and they went away no man saw it or knew it nor did any awake for they were all asleep why because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them that's right God has given them the spirit of Benadryl here okay and so now everybody's asleep you know what's so funny about this to me many times these stories you know this is right it looks like David is just totally double-oh-seven doesn't it they're sneaking around he's killing Giants and unbelievable odds and what do we learn behind many of these stories God stands behind every victory in our lives we are people who want to take credit for the victories in our lives but God's God stands behind those victories and all of this is flowing from David's anointing God is with him he has told him that he is going to be king he has given him that promise and that's where the victories are we y'all we get a promotion okay we end up being ones who get an acceptance letter we get to be part of a church that baptized 100 people in a weekend I just happened a couple months ago what happens in our life many times we can begin to think man we're something special we're seeing victory and we got to remember and these times look at David's life God stands behind the victories that are in our life you know at Mercy Hill man we have this just incredible thing we want to see campuses making Mercy Hill Church available and accessible to everybody in the Triad and that's gonna take plants in campus after campus after campus that's along with planting churches you guys know we're part of a network that wants to plant a thousand churches by 2050 and and we're seeing all that stuff that is out there but I think about this man we're already trying to see this campus and highpoint come to fruition and working towards that let's say in 2019 man God is gracious to us we plant in this campus and a high point are we gonna stand back and say what a great victory for Mercy Hill no or are we gonna be able to say God stands behind any of these things it's in his hands I mean we're just excited that we get to be used I think that's the better way to think about it we get some of that from David's life David eventually is gonna say man I'm just a flea running around in the wilderness that the king is chasing man God is doing all these things in my life it's not just me now let's fast forward the story all right David wakes up the next morning the other the people that can't wake up the next morning they start to Davis starts to kind of taunt them a little bit all right Abner is over there he's like hey are you over there he's like Abner you know you pretty much deserve to die because I walked right in and stood right over the king while you slept by him last night and all of the men none of you really desert you have not kept the Lord's anointed safe he's like backer bantering back and forth with that well Saul hears all this and what do you think says he says oh wait a minute I know that voice and he's like my son David David my son coming he come to me come to me you know yeah right David wasn't born yesterday David looks in and he says to him you guys are pursuing me and while you're pursuing me there is something in my soul that burns and aches and there's another quick lesson here for us man David was cut off from the people of God he was cut off from the land in which God dwelt at that time and it hurt his heart it burned within him all right let's look here at verse 19 therefore let my lord the King hear the words of his servant I bet as the Lord who has stirred you up against me may he accept an offering but if it is men may they be a cursed 4 before the Lord for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share once you remember this phrase in the heritage of the Lord what does that mean well there's a clue right here saying go serve other gods David has cut off from the people of God he has cut off from the place of God now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains david says to Saul listen you're chasing me in my armory are me around the wilderness but there is something that you were doing to me that is far worse than the thirst there is something that is far worse than a hunger there is something that is far worse than wearing my crown and even stealing my wife we didn't get a chance to read that but that it also happened and Saul had arranged that with David what David is saying to him is this you have cut me off from the heritage of the Lord the people of God and the place of the presence of God is in Israel but I can't go there I can't worship in other words in the way that I want so you see you and I you know we live on this side on our side of the cross on our side of the cross the resurrection see where we live now the Spirit of God has been poured out upon all flesh what that means is there isn't a special place that we got to go to around the world to say that's where God is so that's where I got to worship you know in about a month or so I'm gonna be here as far out as you can be in the jungles of Peru working with some of our church planters there as we're gonna be hopefully doing some training with some some local pastors there and getting a chance to kind of scout out places to think about church planning and really excited for the trip you know what's cool I can be all that far away in the jungles of Peru and I'm gonna sit there with people who are brothers and worship God and it is every bit as much church as this is you know why because got into place the Spirit of God has been poured out upon all flesh believers carry the spirit we are the temple of God now David is living before all that you got to remember before all that so where David is living God isn't a place he's over there that's where we worship Him the people of God are over there I'm cut off from them see David's soul aches his bones are burning to be able to go to worship and I'm gonna tell you some I don't want to put too fine a point on this someone asked two questions and then I'm gonna kind of move on but I think it should hit every one of us me included all right we have greater access to God than David did but do we have the desire for worship like he does isn't that ironic that we would have a greater access to God yet he is the one who is starving who is hungry who has been robbed who is out in the wilderness yet what he thinks about is worship while many of us are safe we're home were filled we thirst for nothing yet there are very small minuscule things in our calendar that will take precedence over gathering with the people of God and worshiping God together and I'm convicted by that I don't know if you're convicted by that I think we need to ask that question we need to say and look at each other spouses with kids in the home and and single people with our community groups and all that we need to ask these questions and say what do we allow to keep us from worship as if it's a small thing because David will do anything in his life to be around the presence of God in the people of God once again here I mean at Mercy Hill y'all we try to do it all Thursday night through Sunday night eight services three campuses we try to be as accessible as we can because we know the world has changed I mean it's a day and age and all that stuff the world is chained we want to give you opportunity to be able to worship and never miss a weekend of gathering together and hearing the Word of God proclaimed David ached for it do we take for look what he says in verse 21 Saul said I have sinned returned my son David for I will do you no more harm because my life was precious your eyes this day behold I've acted foolishly and have made a great mistake now you think David just because he forgives Saul is gonna just kind of walk back into the lion's mouth no okay listen he forgives Saul I don't think he holds anything necessarily against him but he has seen something of his character that makes him half way make a prediction about what Saul will do if he walked into his camp so Dave is no dummy he says here is this Bureau came let one of your young men come over and take it the Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness for the Lord gave you into my hand today and I would not put my hand against the Lord's anointed behold as your life was precious this day in my sight so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord and may he deliver me out of all tribulation then Saul said to David blessed be you my son David you will do many things and will succeed in them so David went his way and saw return to his place and listen y'all they never saw each other in this life again okay this is the last time they're gonna meet we're gonna see something next week in David's life and then that next week has to be the last week of our series and we're gonna talk about the great fall of saw the demise of Saul but they're not gonna see each other again this is sort of how their story ends in this story I think the David does two things that are unbelievable he waits on God and he forgives okay two things that we are hard in general they're impossible without trust all right he trusts God and he's able to wait he trusts God and he's able to forgive so let's look at both of those number one we must trust God if we are going to wait on his timing imagine being David here David is a guy who should be the king yet he's starving hungry running around the wilderness and here is the opportunity that is before him the circumstances are aligning there is a shortcut here man I just rush into sin for one second instead of waiting in righteousness and this will all be over those temptations are great before him I think I think we can really learn something from David here all right the first thing I think we learned is this when it comes to circumstances in our life many of us see circumstances and we immediately take that as the hand of God that is so dangerous all right the Word of God should come first the counsel of God's people should come second distant third is circumstances and feelings but many times in the church world we invert that we take something that is so subjective and make it rock solid when it should be the other way around favorable circumstances aren't always a clear sign of God's path for us and this story illustrates it what does Abba Shai say he doesn't just say David kill Saul he says David the Lord right he says the Lord has delivered him into our hand everybody's asleep we're right here we can end this god is teeing this thing up for you though david has to trust the Word of God over favourable circumstances okay for some of us in here I don't know where this hits you but we got to think about this for a moment how many of us invert it and we got our decoder ring on and we're trying to read the signs to see what God is doing all the time rather than taking his word for what we should be doing all the time David knows he's not supposed to kill Saul alright but the circumstances looked that way this might hit you in a couple different ways I think about college students who might say well you know the word says I'm not really supposed to be yoked with an unbeliever so oppression date an unbeliever from a Christian okay but you know there's like twenty thousand people at this school and I just happened to get set next to the cutest person in the world I mean in a biology class or whatever you know so I mean hey God you're the one they could have sat anywhere right that's all we do I mean we say it out loud it's almost a little bit it's like somebody who's saying hey you know I don't have the money for this thing that I really want you know but I'm looking at it on Amazon Prime like 24/7 all day and reading every Spence you know specific thing about it and all this stuff and then you walk into a store your money situation hasn't changed you don't have the money to buy it but you walk in you're like stars are aligning it's a one-day sale they got a credit approval check right here it's Mike's a favorite color I mean God come on the favorite color right now as if God wants all of our principles about how to handle money to go out the window because they got our favorite color on sale or whatever it I think listen this is right where we are so I'm gonna be a little bit facetious with this but I'm telling you this is right where we are so I feel like I can speak into it it's like it's like the family who says well you know hey I mean a little Johnny made the all-star team he's eight years old right I mean we're not gonna be able to worship together for like the next six months ever but little Johnny made the team God if you didn't want him to make the team you know then he wouldn't have made team but the stars have kind of a line for this thing so even though we're not supposed to forsake the assembling of ourselves together for the sake of the all-star team God you must be in this I think two things about this number one I'm like guys I'm gonna tell you something little Johnny he probably ain't gonna play in the pros I'm just gonna be honest with you okay I've walked the halls I don't see the next LeBron James or Tom Brady here and if they are it's the eight year old you know all-star team probably ain't gonna make their fruition of greatness come about and I'm right there because I understand it eight years old and six years older my two older ones and you will think if we don't do this it's the rest of their life if we don't if we can't get them in this and do this and do this then the rest of their life the whole trajectory they're never gonna reach their potential or whatever no we can't allow the circumstances of their talent or the circumstances of their of what they made or what team Rolla coach or whatever it is we can't allow that to dictate what is over and against God's Word you know why circumstances never Trump the Word of God they shouldn't they can't there's a lot of reasons for this one of the reasons quite frankly is because you and I get our decoder ring out and we say oh all these circumstances are lining up God must be putting this on a team when in reality it could be Satan baiting the hook and we think it's God lining it all up and it could be Satan just trying to figure out exactly what will appeal to our flesh and circumstances working out in a certain way no we need to trust the Word of God not just the circumstances that bring things about you know that the other great I think temptation and this for David is that he looks in and he certainly sees that there is a shortcut that is there for him okay it's not just the circumstances might make us want to say well God must be in this but man that temptation of not taking a long way around God's path may entail suffering so we got to take a play out of Davis playbook and don't look for a shortcut all right God's plan my until suffering don't look for the shortcut all of the time I think about it like this how many times have i sat in counseling where I can almost just see it in somebody's face where they're saying like man this marriage is not working we're in counseling feels like two steps forward one step back everybody we know is speaking in it's hard if we just rushed into sin rather than wait all righteousness for a moment cut ties then all would be better and we could heal and we could sort of I mean odd at all weight you know this idea of a shortcut always over promises and under delivers by the way and we should be the first ones to know that I don't know what the situation is in your life where there might be a shortcut that is right in front of you where circumstances are aligning there is a shortcut that is lining up right in front of you but shouldn't we church of all people be the ones that know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the shortcut is never the right way you know how we know that this is how we know that because you and I as Christians are totally the beneficiaries of Jesus Christ taking the long road I mean it was Jesus Christ who went out in the wilderness he had fasted for forty days same comes to him says you bow to me and I'll give you this whole world right now that you can rule it's a shortcut of course what he would have missed is yeah he doesn't take the long road he doesn't go through the cross he doesn't go through the humiliation doesn't go through the pain but he also doesn't end up with us we are the beneficiary of this Jesus doesn't go take the short road why the Hebrews tells us it was for the joy that was so it's not some slavish obedience God doesn't want me to do that no it's for the joy that is set before him you and I reigning in eternity with Christ me and co-heirs with him brief hot populating this new heavens and new earth that's what he was after that was the joy that was before him and it took the long road through suffering to get there so don't take the shortcut you know I've heard of just an incredible story of one of our families at Mercy he'll basically man they took they took a shot as a family they took a chance they went out they did a business venture man I love that I love here in that type of story I feel like sometimes in a different life I would be a serial entrepreneur okay just start a new stuff I think that'd be fun I love hearing that type of story and and they did that they took a chance you know what few years and things that work out exactly the the way that they were thinking God was kind of moving them on from it and all of that long story short this family ends up $100,000 in the hole now what do you think every lawyer says hey we set everything up the right way your house is for secure your your assets are secure made just just file bankruptcy just file it all the debt will be gone you know a few years ago by nobody remember that it's fine don't stress yourself out about it what do you think this family did long roads shortcut right well what's the long road the longer it is you both get two jobs you both get you but both people get jobs the longer it is we work like crazy the long road is we pay this debt off over the next 10 years because God calls us to pay back the money that we borrow we feel like that is the right thing you know what that's exactly what they did and the economy of God's kingdom what was supposed to be 10 years took 4 you know how that math works out and God's kingdom sometimes four years later sweat blood toil they pay back every penny now here's what I'm going to tell you okay let me talk to those of you that maybe aren't a believer baby Christian or maybe you're not quite a believer yet and you're looking at and you're saying to yourself sometimes the shortcut rushing into sin feels a little better than waiting in righteousness if that's where you are let me say this to you today alright get around a veteran Christian get around somebody who has been walking with Jesus for years okay and I'm gonna tell you what they're gonna tell you they're gonna tell you that they would look back on things in their life that they took the long road in that were hard that were painful and what they're gonna tell you is I look back and I wouldn't have done it any other way they're gonna say I look back and it was hard and it was painful but you know what there's a deep joy not the shallows of happiness I'm talking about the depths of joy and looking back and knowing we have taken the long way around so Christian we should know this because of what Christ has done in our lives if you're not a believer look in and talk to somebody they're gonna tell you the same thing take the long way around the shortcut will always be right in front of us but man that is not God's Way not for the believer all right we see that in David's life he's willing to go back out in the wilderness whatever it takes second thing I want you to see today is this we must trust God if we are going to forgive all right we got this whole thing about not waiting or about waiting on God that's hard you got to trust God if you're gonna do that well you know what the second thing is we got to trust God if we are going to forgive I want you to imagine that you are David and you're standing over Saul and you and abash I have the spear and you're right over his head this is a guy that's not just running around with the crown that's yours it's not just that you're hungry and thirsty see we didn't read this but this guy orchestrated the stealing of your wife and given her to another man now you got the spear in your hand guys now you're standing over this dude and what does David say look what he says verse 10 as the Lord lives the Lord will strike him or his day will come to die or he will go down into the battle and he will perish what David is saying is a Bosh I do not tempt me to give Saul what I think he deserves because we are not called to give people what they deserve because in truth only God knows all right god knows what they deserve I'm not in the business of giving people what they deserve you know why because I wasn't given what I deserved because of sin and that's what we're gonna see and I think David understands that remember when David actually says he says hey I would offer an offering if I have done something wrong why there is this idea of sacrifice I think David understands God you were repaying the penalty for our sin on somebody else I'm not gonna give somebody else what they deserved for their sin and certainly he has learned much of this from Abigail and an Eightball story that we saw right I bet you a bash eyes jaw is on the ground when David says that we are going to forgive when David gives us this testimony of working towards forgiveness not working towards giving people what they deserve why is this hard it's hard because forgiveness is risky okay that's why it's hard forgiveness has taking a risk I know what I know what a bichon is probably thinking abba shy is thinking to himself hey uh if i take if we leave right now if we go on so may come and he may end up pursuing us we might end up being out in the battlefield we might end up being taken over or whatever it is yeah that's right David's willing to take that chance why because forgiveness is risky forgiveness is one of those things that we have to take it we absorb the the penalty and a consequence for someone else's sin now there are two kind of categories in the Bible listen I'm not talking about law I'm not talking about government there are consequences that come from our actions I'm talking you know illegal things God has put authorities in place I'm talking about immoral things that go on maybe with a family member maybe something immoral maybe somebody a slain you at work or somebody has ruined your reputation maybe somebody has spoken harshly to you I think what David is saying is what somebody deserves in a situation like that is that you do to them in return what they have done to you you give them what they deserve but what he's saying is a believer is called not to give what they deserve a believer is called maybe as in somewhat far as we can to absorb what we can to withhold what somebody else deserves I want you to think about somebody slandering you at work you know what would feel good you know what they deserve to be slandered back to be put on blast on social media to have everybody think terribly of them but you know what God is calling us to do maybe to set the record straight once and then if you got to take some of it on the chin you take it you you don't have to constantly be giving them harsh speech in return for harsh speech you see what I'm saying I'll give an example of this you know I was uh I thought about a guy no it was a church planter a couple and this has been a little bit in the past but yeah you know he they had some leadership transitions at their church and some of it came down and there was some criticism that was coming from the congregation and I talked to this guy you know what he said he said here's what I'm gonna do man I'm gonna set the record straight one time as graciously as I can about the other these other kind of guys in this transition that we've had to make and then after I've setting the record straight once as graciously as I can I'm gonna take whatever else it is I'm just gonna take it I'm not gonna feel like I got to run around and make sure everybody knows that was the bad character that was the bad character that was the bad character I'll just take it I'll absorb its forgiveness is risky you know what else forgiveness is right okay why should we forgive in this way where is the power to forgive in this way the power to forgive in this way and the reason that we should how we can know it's all wrapped up in this idea and this is how we are gonna close because we were forgiven in this way we should go on forgiving in this way we don't give people what they deserve y'all because we didn't get what we deserve that's what's unbelievable about this story okay you know we think about that we think about it like this I want you to think about it with me I want you thing about David who understands something of sacrifice he doesn't have a clear picture but he knows God has not assigned all of the sin and guilt to me that I deserve in my life I can withhold from salt and we all are blown away by the grace right we're blown away by the mercy I mean we're like man if it was me if I had the spear this thing would have been over we've been headed to the palace you know that's what we think but what David is able to say is no I'm gonna withhold the spear and because he withholds the spear many of us are blown away by the grace and the mercy of David I want you to think about this with me for a moment if we're blown away by David withholding the spear then what about Jesus Christ taking one for us I'm talking about right in the side Jesus didn't withhold the sphere from us man he took the spear for us for all the times that we sin for everything that we have done wrong see we're blown away with what David did but we should be blown away like blown away by what Christ has done the greater David for us if you want to see a one-to-one story come together it'd be like this we're blown away with David the story is more akin to this if it was one-to-one with the gospel I want you to imagine David a knavish I have snuck in the camp they're whispering to one another and there's 3,000 warriors that have better gear better fed better horses they're circling everywhere and the head of the snake is right here at your feet and a bhishan looks at David with that spear and he says man I'm gonna end this in one swipe I can pin him we're gone and David says Abba shy you're young you're hot-headed we're not gonna do that man that's not the way that's not how it got we're gonna take the long road all right I want you to imagine David grabbing that jug of water and Abba Sean's got the spear and David whispers to him we gotta go and they start crawling out and about five or six or eight paces in Abba shy is boiling with anger at David he's boiling with anger that's all and I want you to imagine that Abba shy stands to his feet and the spear ready to throw it and hurls the spear at Saul he's gonna take this into his own hands and he's gonna end this but David being the warrior that he is with the quickness and swiftness of feet that he has what if David at that moment as the spear is hurling towards saw the sinner the one that deserves that all the judgment all of the wrath what if David falls upon Saul's chest it takes a spear right in his back what if that was the story what if the story is that The Anointed is killed that the sinner might go free that would connect wouldn't it well that's exactly what we have in the gospel Jesus Christ has laid down upon us he has taken the full wrath and weight of God's judgment over our sin he has taken the spear we deserve death separation and hell they took all of those things on the cross that we might be given freedom that we might be given life now here's all I want to say guys can we trust that God if that's true and He loves us enough that that is his plan can we trust him can we trust him enough to wait I mean if we have a God who had died for us can we trust his plan even though something looks like a shortcut right here can we take the long way around today if this is a God who was willing to go to those links for us this is what Christ has done then can we not forgive can we not give someone we didn't get we deserve let's not give everybody else what they deserve in terms of judgment and wrath would absorb what we can all the way back to the intro think about Remember the Titans alright you think about you think about these guys Bert's here and Julius they're locked in this kind of epic thing you know there's a real famous line that comes out of the movie where where Gary Burt's here he's the the linebacker if you remember he looks at Julius and Gary's the captain right and Joyce is the most talented guy and he looks at Julius and he says man you're playing for yourself and Julius says yeah I'm playing for mine he says there is no team Julie says nobody plays I'm gonna get mine and Bertie looks at him and Bert's here says man that's the worst attitude I ever heard if you ever seen any movie remember this line and Julius looks back at him and he says attitude reflects leadership captain strong line right I'm telling you for not a believer just a general principle that is true in life Trust is where obedience and following the scheme it flows from julie's the same my attitude and not want to play for the team it flows from your attitude and not want to play from the team you're not willing to go to bat for us why would I be willing to go about for you now that's just true now what happens in the gospel we see a man we see a God who's willing to lay everything down for us would we not lay everything down in response to him what are our attitude reflect about God's leadership in our lives all right let us wait for him and let us obey and forgiving let's pray father we come before you today and lo we want to be better at forgiving as believers we want to be better at waiting on your timing and so god I pray that you will overwhelm us with trust God let us trust you finally let us trust your plan let us trust that vengeance and justice is yours not ours but we don't have to hold those things in our hands instead we can forgive in Christ's name Amen

Channel: Mercy Hill Church

Views: 545

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: andrew hopper, mercy hill, mercy hill church, greensboro, triad, sermon, expository preaching, 1 samuel, 1 samuel 26, trusting god, how to trust god

Id: 14GH62bRNfg

Length: 41min 26sec (2486 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 11 2018