Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning comes from 1 Samuel chapter 21, verses 10 through 15. If you're using one of the Bibles supplied under the seat in front of you, you'll find that on page 219. 1 Samuel 21, verses 10 through 15. You got yourself into this mess, and now in the mind of each one of you, you've completed that aphorism. We know how that ends, right? You got yourself into this mess, so I will get you out. What, that's not what you were thinking? That's not how it goes, is it? You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out. And we understand something of the fairness and the justice of that. And that, of course, would be fair, that would be just. But of course, in the most ultimate of things, we, human beings, got ourselves into a mess, and it would be fair and just for God to say, get yourselves out, but we cannot do it. And so God says, you got yourself into this mess, and I will get you out. The episode that we have here in 1 Samuel chapter 21 with David teaches this lesson, that this is what our God is like. He is like this for David as his anointed king, his elect one, and through him for his people as well. Before we read this passage together, let's go to God in prayer. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, whose word we approach, we ask that by the help of your Holy Spirit, we would read it well, that we would understand it rightly, and that you would apply it to our hearts and lives Encourage, build up, strengthen our faith in Christ and our desire to please him as you reveal again to us your loving, gracious character that is to us through Christ. It is in his name that we pray it, amen. 1 Samuel chapter 21 verses 10 through 15. Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish, the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen? Did you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? And reading actually, because it just completes the episode, the first half of verse one here. David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Thus far the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving word. May he add his blessing to the reading and to the preaching of it. The first read of verse 10 elicits an appropriate response on the part of every reader who's paying attention, which is a response of incredulity. We start in verse 10, then David arose and fled that day from before Saul. This makes perfect sense. Where did he go? To Achish, the king of Gath. Huh? He did what now? He went where? I mean, I can understand he needs to get away from Saul. I can see him saying, this going from place to place to place to place is just getting old and I need to just leave Israel altogether. I need to be beyond the reach of Saul altogether. But he goes to the one place that might possibly be worse and more dangerous. He goes to Philistia. the most prominent enemy of Israel at this time. There are five cities of the princes of the Philistines. He goes to the worst one. He goes to Gath, the home of Goliath. He's carrying the sword of Goliath with which he cut off Goliath's head. I thought this guy Had a head on his shoulders. It's Goliath that lost his head. What is David thinking? Now I tend to read scripture trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the human characters as much as I possibly can. And so I come and I say, well, I don't know, does he know something that we don't know? One of the commentators I read suggested he seeks to come there incognito. He's just going to kind of quietly settle in on the outskirts of town and nobody's going to know him there. I don't think the text allows that. It doesn't say he went to Gath, it says he went to Achish, the king of Gath. The text seems to indicate he presents himself at court. trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, as none of the commentators I read did. In the end, I cheated and read ahead. Because in chapter 27, David goes to this same king in the same place again. And there, the narrator tells us what he does not hear, namely, what David is thinking in his heart. That's what we wonder, isn't it? What is David thinking? Now, there's no guarantee that he's thinking the same thing here as he's thinking in chapter 27, but at 27, we are told that David said in his heart, now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand. Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. Is that true? Could that possibly be true? Does David has any way of knowing whether or not that could possibly happen? He does, doesn't he? The prophet Samuel anointed him to be the successor of Saul as king of Israel. Is it possible he will die before God has his way with him? No. He is as faithless here as the disciples of Jesus are when they're scared that the storm is going to swamp the boat and kill them. When Jesus had said to them when they got into the boat, come, let us go to the other side. Is it possible Jesus isn't gonna get to the other side when that is his intention? No. So I think David does. I come to agree with others. We need to slight David here. He's not just acting foolishly, kind of in the sense of in general, what are you thinking? He's acting foolishly in the sense of faithlessness and in terms of unbelief. In fleeing, away from the land of promise and to God's enemies in an effort to save his own life, which cannot be forfeit according to the promise of God. I mentioned he exits the land in order to find help. Randy commented on our reading of the law quite helpfully. That's why I chose that reading of the law to fit with the sermon here in the circumstances. Leaving the land of promise is always depicted in the scriptures negatively. That was never a good idea. When Abraham and Lot grew too prosperous for the land to support them, Abraham proposes to his nephew a plan. We will separate. You go your way and I'll go mine. Now Lot should have said, I know that the Lord has made a covenant with you to be God to you and to your children after you, to be a blessing to you. I will do whatever it takes. I will divest myself of everything if that's what it takes to stay a member of your household. But he didn't do that. He chose the land that looked best to him, and he went and dwelt there. And the book of Hebrews says, surrounded himself with wicked men who persecuted his soul. We know the end of that. His home is destroyed, his wife is destroyed, and he becomes, up in a cave in the hills, he becomes the father of the Moabites and the Ammonites by incestuous relations with his daughters. Abraham's servant asked him, What if the woman that you send me to find as a bride for your son Isaac is unwilling to come with me back here? Shall I then bring Isaac there? And Abraham is emphatic in his response, beware that you do not take my son back there. Why? Don't take my son out of this land. This is the land God has promised. Don't leave it. Isaac's son, Jacob, was forced to flee from the land when his devious grasping incited his brother to murderous intent. It's regarded as a curse upon him. Now, the Lord met with him and promised to go with him wherever he would go and did bring him back to the land. But his having to leave it is regarded as a negative thing. His son, Joseph, is sold into slavery in Egypt. And when the family comes there, they too, after some time, are enslaved. When the people are brought out of the land of Egypt, their desire to go back to Egypt is a severe wickedness that brings about the curse of God. Elimelech, in the time of the judges, fled from famine to Moab. What did he find there? Only tragedy and hardship for his wife, Naomi, who becomes a widow along with both of her daughters-in-law, so that the three of them are destitute and without means of support. So that our initial reaction when we read verse 10 is seen to be justified. David is acting foolishly and that in multiple senses on multiple levels. This is a bad idea from every angle and no matter how you slice it. I need to get away from Saul. Let me run then to the Lord's enemies in the hope that they will save me. And then, we see, after he has done this, and he has recognized the foolishness, because he's recognized by members of Achish's court, they bring to mind, to the king's mind, who this David is. He's the one who has slain thousands, most of them have been Philistines. David realizes his mistake, and devises an entertainingly clever scheme. by which he might extricate himself from the mess he's gotten himself into. He feigns madness, and it works. The king disregards him. I mean, who would have thought? Honestly, if we didn't know the story at all, and you just said, this is what he does, I mean, I said, even if he convinces the king that he's insane, isn't the king still gonna want retribution for all that he's done in the past? Not gonna just let him go? But he does. Amazing stories. David got himself into this mess, and he got himself out. God helps those who help themselves. That's in Benjamin Franklin 4, verse 6. It's a fable worthy of Aesop, right? And the lesson is, if you are going to act foolishly, make sure you have your wits about you. And the takeaway from the passage is be clever like David. Wrong. You knew that was wrong. That would be a fail, as we say on the internet. There are two reasons why such an approach should be regarded as an abuse of the text. We might easily read it that way. If we're just looking at the verses that we just read together, We could easily look at this and say, well, David got himself into a mess, but praise God, he found a way to get himself out of this mess. There are at least two reasons why that should be regarded as an abuse of the text. The first of those is a basic commitment to the scriptures as Christian scriptures. The word of God represents Christian scriptures. That is, the whole word of God is centered around the person and work of Jesus Christ. It must all connect to him. Jesus said in John 5, 39 to the Jews who were criticizing him, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. Now, of course, in Jesus' day, when he says the scriptures, he's speaking of what we call the Old Testament. So he says to the Jews, you search the scriptures, you search the Old Testament, because in them you think that you have eternal life. He gives every indication that they're right about that. There is eternal life there. It's me. That's what the scripture is about. I am the one that you will find if you search the scriptures rightly. Now, not every scripture is directly about Jesus, but no scripture is rightly understood in isolation from him. The moral approach. David was clever, that worked out really well, you should be clever. Abraham had faith, you should have faith like Abraham. Nehemiah was a bold leader, You should be a bold leader. That moral approach preaches the same in a Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, a Muslim mosque, and Sesame Street. No Jesus required. So that's the wrong way to understand the scriptures. Because it fails to understand them as Christian scriptures. Now perhaps you're thinking, well, yes, okay, But there's a lot of moral law in the scriptures. I mean, shouldn't there be a moral approach to the moral law? Passages that represent moral law must be understood and applied as law, true, and yet still in connection to Christ. I quickly thought of five ways that could be rightly done. The law might be preached in order to press upon us our need of Christ. Here is what is required of all people because the sovereign ruler of the universe requires it of all of us. He has a right to do that because he's the creator. How you doing? Not so great? You need Jesus. The law may be preached as a description of Christ's character. What is Christ like? Well, the law describes him for us. The law might be preached as what is fulfilled by him on our behalf. Good news, this is what Christ has done for you. The law might be preached as what Christ presses on all men in order to protect his church. Aren't you glad you live in a world where even unbelievers think it's a bad idea to murder? Who convinces them of that? Jesus does. Why? To protect his church. Fifth and last, the law may be preached as the shape of Christian liberty. Christians are freed from what? Sin. and its consequences. We believe, right, that that is the biblical definition of freedom, of liberty. It is freedom to obey, liberty to please God. Natural man does not have a free will. Natural man has a will that is in bondage to sin. Cannot choose otherwise than to sin. That's bondage, that's slavery to sin. The Christian is freed from that, freed to a new obedience. What does that liberty look like? What does that freedom shape like? The law will describe that, and that is a liberty of freedom that we have in Christ and because of Christ. I could probably think of more, but there's just five ways, quick. The law could be preached as law and yet in connection with Christ. The second reason we ought to regard that moral approach as an abuse of the text is because that idea, be clever like David, be daring like Daniel, whatever, it's not the way that the Holy Spirit inspired David himself to respond to this situation. How do we know that? Because David wrote two Psalms out of this circumstance. Psalm 56 and Psalm 34 are both Davidic Psalms that he wrote when this happened. So we know how David processed this, and what he thought of it, and what he would teach us. Psalm 56 has an inspired title. It is, To the Chief Musician, Set to the Silent Dove in Distant Lands. It's a great tune. A mictum of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath. So we know this is when he wrote it. It opens this way. Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up. Verse three, whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? Verse nine, when I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back. This I know because God is for me. In God, I will praise his word. In the Lord, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Oh God, I will render praises to you, for you have delivered my soul from death. Have you not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? It's not every verse in Psalm 56 I've been selective, but You don't have to trust me. You can read the whole psalm for yourself later on this afternoon. There is not a single word in it that indicates, you know, that sounds like the prayer of the Pharisee that Jesus talks about who prays, oh God, I thank you that I am not like other men. And there's nothing in Psalm 56 where David says, the Lord has saved me by granting me more cleverness than any of my brothers. Nothing at all. We would have no idea this came out of this circumstance except for the title. The same goes for Psalm 34. The title is, A Psalm of David, When he pretended madness before Abimelech, Who drove him away, and he departed. It opens, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Verse three, O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. That how we would have interpreted it when we read the narrative? Well, look at that. He cried out to God. God heard him and delivered him. But that's what David says happened. Verse six, this poor man cried out and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want to those who fear him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Verse 15, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. Verse 17, the righteous cry out, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. Verse 19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones, not one of them is broken. David desires to teach. I skipped over verse 11 in skimming through Psalm 34 here, but in verse 11, David says, come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. David desires to teach, and he desires to teach this lesson. The Lord delivers the righteous. Those who trust in him, who cry out to him, he delivers them from all their troubles. And because we know something of the circumstances in which he desires to teach that lesson, or out of which he desires to teach that lesson, we can add, right, the Lord delivers them from all their troubles, even when those troubles result from the folly and unbelief of the saints. even when the mess we need to be saved from is the mess we got ourselves into. You know who else knows that lesson? Jonah. You hear his prayer in chapter two, Jonah chapter two, from the belly of the fish. He got himself into that mess, but what's he do in the belly of the fish? I'm so sorry, I'll never do it again. Let me out of here and you will be amazed at my faithfulness, I promise. No. He cries out to God for his grace and mercy and the Lord delivers him out of his troubles. How about Israel during the time of the judges? Again and again and again and again and again. They create their own bed, they lie in it long enough until they are desperate enough to what? Cry out to the Lord. And he sends them a deliverer. So we see that while it is right and fair and just to assert you got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out. What the Lord says is you got yourself into this mess and I will get you out. David's story here is a microcosm of the Bible's meta-narrative, the whole big picture story of the whole of the Bible, which is that God made Adam in righteousness with knowledge of God and freedom to obey. His will was not in bondage to sin. And he put Adam in ideal circumstances, and Adam fell, condemning himself, his wife, and all his progeny to death. And we conspire with him to get ourselves into an impossible mess. Get yourself out would be fair, but impossible for us. We can't do it. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this. Chapter 59, verses 15 and 16. Then the Lord saw and it displeased him that there was no righteousness. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him and his own righteousness, it sustained him. What's Isaiah telling us about God? That he says, you got yourself into this mess, and I will get you out. God delivers by his own arm. What does that mean, by his own arm? What did that look like when the prophecy is fulfilled? God sent his only begotten son into the world. to be the second Adam, to represent the elect instead of the first Adam representing them anymore, to, as our representative, both pay the penalty that we owe and also succeed where the first Adam failed. Psalm 34 points us quite famously to this fulfillment by Christ. verse 20 that we read. How is it that when we cry out to God, he will deliver us from all our troubles? Even if we are not under the conviction that all of the Psalms are messianic, that they are the words of Christ, that they all concern him, everybody knows Psalm 34, verse 20 is about Jesus. He guards all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Because John tells us in his gospel, chapter 19, verse 36, that that was fulfilled on the cross. The Lord delivers out of all his troubles. Who did he deliver? Most especially, he delivered Christ. That none of his bones were broken is fulfilled for Christ. Why? Because he was a surprisingly weak man. The Romans were surprised that he was dead already. Most people live longer than this. Most people are stronger than this. The thieves that were crucified with him were yet alive when to accelerate their death at the behest of the Jews who didn't want the dead bodies on the cross during the During the Sabbath, they went out to break their legs to accelerate the death. And they came to Christ and were surprised that he was dead already. So they didn't break his bones. And John says, that all happened because of Psalm 34 verse 20. It points us to this truth that in Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of this lesson. that God delivers out of all the troubles, even those troubles into which we get ourselves. David's story is Christ's story. We have often noted throughout 1 Samuel that David is a type of Christ in his being the anointed king, the chosen one of God, who is persecuted by the powerful who are seeking his death. In all of those ways, he's picturing who the Christ would be. Psalm 34 verse 20 points to another similarity. By connecting David's having put himself in harm's way and being rescued out of it, connecting that with the cross. Now Christ was not in any sense foolish, nor was it out of unbelief. that he got himself into a mess. It was instead out of obedience to his father and through faithfulness to the covenant of redemption. But Jesus put himself in harm's way. It's not just like David, but it's similar. He walked right into it. In John chapter 10, verse 18, Jesus says, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. He knew perfectly well what was happening. at his kangaroo trial. And he played right into their hands. He would say, otherwise how shall the scriptures be fulfilled? And then out of the grave, out from the power of death, though he had put himself in that mess, God delivered Christ. Now the lesson that David teaches us that God delivers those who cry out to him and trust in him out of all their troubles, even those troubles we get ourselves into. That lesson is true, but it is only true because Christ experienced it in its fullness. Hebrews 9.22 says, without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Hebrews 10.4 says, it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. For God to deliver us out of the mess we've gotten ourselves into, blood will have to be shed. And animal blood will not cut it. It's going to have to be human blood. But not just any human blood. We all owe blood. No man can die for his brother. So we need innocent human blood that does not have its own sin for which to atone. And we need not merely innocent human blood. If more than one of us is to be saved, it has to be innocent human blood, the sacrifice of which is of infinite value. We need divine innocent human blood. Where would we find that? Divine human blood? Yes. Yes, coursing through the veins of Jesus of Nazareth. Because he put himself in a mess and God redeemed him out of it. The lesson David teaches can be true, and the lesson David teaches is true. It is true because of Christ. The resurrection of Christ from the grave proves the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice, an efficacy to redeem a people for himself and to reconcile us to God. God got us out. Already and not yet, but he got us out. And therefore, we who love God because he first loved us exert every effort to please the God we love. We cannot say we love God and then not care to please him. If we love God because he has first loved us, we exert every effort to please the God that we love. We are horrified at the sin that we commit, that we hate. We are ashamed of ourselves and of our failing to live as befits followers of Christ, and yet, Even in the midst of all of that, we never despair. For our confidence is not in our wisdom, or our cleverness, or the constancy of our faith. Our hope is in God, who rescued us, even from the mess we get ourselves into, by jumping into the mess himself. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your great grace and mercy, for nothing less could do us any good. Our mess is an infinite one. Our guilt, guilt against an infinite sovereign of infinite holiness and goodness and truth, deserving of infinite penalty. Nothing but infinite grace could rescue us. Therefore, we thank you for Jesus. In his name, amen.