outside of your sight, Lord. Lord, all things we do are before you. Lord, help us to live as though your eye is always upon us. Lord, I pray that you'd continue to teach us to do what is right before your eyes, Lord. Not seek the admiration or the value of men, Lord. But Lord, may your thoughts be our thoughts, Lord, May we live for your glory in the mundane tasks of this life. Lord, I pray that you would give us a theology of suffering, a theology of Christ that penetrates everything we do. Lord, may your word penetrate our hearts this morning. In your name I pray, amen. Well, good morning, everyone. We are in 1 Samuel chapter 19. Last week, Elias spoke with us on chapter 18 regarding the jealousy of Saul. And so now we're going to be looking at how his jealousy has increased and has grown a foothold into his heart. And so 1 Samuel 19, we are going to start with verse 1. And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan, son Saul, delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, Saul, my father seeks to kill you. Therefore, be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. And I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything, I will tell you. And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you and because his deeds have brought good to you. For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine and the Lord worked a great salvation for all of Israel. You saw it and rejoice. Why then will you sin against innocent blood? by killing David without cause. And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, as the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. And Jonathan called David and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was in his presence as before. And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow so that they fled before him. Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the liar. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear. And he eluded Saul so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night. Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michael, David's wife, told him, if you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. So Michael let David down through the window and he fled away and escaped. Michael took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair at its head and covered it with clothes. Then Saul sent messengers to take David and she said, he is sick. Then Saul sent messengers to see David saying, bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him. And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed with the pillow of goat's hair at its head. And Saul said to Michael, why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go so that he has escaped? And Michael answered Saul, he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you? Now David fled and escaped. And he came to Saul at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived in Nioth. And it was told Saul, behold, David is at Nioth in Ramah. And then Saul sent messengers to David. And when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied. And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. Then he himself went to Ramal, and came to the great well that is in Sekou. And he said, where are Samuel and David? And one said, behold, they are in Nioth in Ramah. And he went there to Nioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God came upon him also. And as he went prophesying until he came to Nioth in Ramah, and he too stripped all of his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, it's also among the prophets, Well, this is our passage this morning. Let me start with this. So as a result of the fall, sin became our taskmaster, and we became servants of it as a result. We were therefore unable to do what is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. We can only do what is in our nature to do, and that is what is pleasing in our own eyes. We see the effects of sin's dominion in the murderous heart of Cain. Genesis chapter four, verses three through four says this, in the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain in his offering, he had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his face fell. Cain's anger was kindled because the Lord's favor was towards his brother's sacrifice and not his. Abel gave to the Lord of his firstfruits and faith, but the underlying cause of Cain's anger was his jealousy towards his brother. He was jealous that the Lord had favor and regard for Abel, but not for him. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you and you must rule over it. So consider the languages being used of sin It says that sin is crouching at the door, crouching as though it were a wild animal waiting to pounce for its kill. When the door is opened to sin, the door is opened to death, and that's what sin does. It brings death into our lives. Sin's desire is to do only what is in its best interest, namely its desire for control, and dominion. Sin is no respecter of persons, but it seeks to turn the desire of man away from God and towards themselves. And so God tells Cain to master it before sin masters him. So we know the rest of the story. Cain, because of his murderous heart, kills Abel because of the jealousy in his heart. With that said, Our own text in 1 Samuel 19 gives us a picture of the murderous heart of Saul. In chapter 18, we saw his jealousy towards David, how God had regard for David, but not for Saul. It says in 1 Samuel 18, verse 12, that Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. And again in verse 14, it says, David had success in all of his undertakings. For the Lord was with him, and when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. So as with Cain, Saul also allowed his sin to master him, which resulted in jealousy in his heart. The consequences of his sin led to his murderous pursuit of David, Ironically, what's ironic about Saul's jealousy is that the death that it brings is not David's death, but it's his own death, as we'll see in 1 Samuel 31. Saul ends up killing himself in the battlefield. We also see that in the life of Judas, how his murderous heart led to his own death. So the theme of our passage is this. God preserves those whom he has chosen, but those whom he has not chosen, he humiliates. So, our text is divided into three sections. Verses 1-10, Jonathan's selfless defense of David. Verses 11-17, Michael's selfish defense of herself. And then in verses 18-24, God's humiliation of Saul. So let's consider verses one through 10. Our first point is that Jonathan had a selfless defense of David, which we find in the first 10 verses. Let me start by reading verse one. It says this, and Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill him, David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. You know, when we were in chapter 18 last week, Saul attempted to take David's life through indirect means. But now, as we're moving on and his jealousy builds inside of him, he takes a more direct approach. Saul wanted to ensure in chapter 18 that the blood of David's life was not on his hands. But as he attempts to kill David through the hand of the Philistines, and he sees that David is having success, he's thinking to himself, well, what I'm doing is not working, so I need to take a more direct approach to David's death. So, Saul probably realized that Jonathan loved David, and by his direct approach, now he is involving his family. He's involving his son, Jonathan, in his own evil desires, and then his servants as well. And so he probably realized that Jonathan loved David, and so he sought to drive a wedge between Jonathan's allegiance to David, and to hopefully have Jonathan's allegiance to himself. So Saul's jealousy at this point is now fully grown and has taken deep root into his heart, producing a burning hatred for David. Sin now has become the taskmaster of Saul. But why such hatred for David? And so we have to answer the question, why was Saul so, hated David so much? Because Jonathan even points out that David did good for Saul. He brought about salvation. He brought about the Lord's deliverance. And yet Saul hated David. And so to answer this question, we have to answer the question, what was Saul wanting most? And so the answer to that question answers why Saul was so angry and hated David. And what Saul wanted most was the security of his own kingdom. the admiration of the people. He wanted his kingdom to be established and to continue. But he also wanted the admiration of the people. The people loved David, that how he slew his ten thousands and saw his thousands. And Saul is seeing that as they love David more than me. And so sin enticed Saul with the promise of security for his throne and the admiration of Israel. And if he just gives in to his jealous desires, he will have both. In Saul's eyes, David was a threat to both. And so he had to eliminate his threat. David had the favor of God in the heart of the people that Saul wanted. And so brothers and sisters, You know, there's a warning for us as well that when sin knocks at the door, it entices us with this delicious morsel promising us satisfaction for our cravings. But in exchange for this satisfaction is the death of our soul. That's the payment that we pay when we give in to sin. You know, for it says in James chapter one, verses 14 through 15, that each man is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. You know, it's interesting, the desire in and of itself is not sinful. The desire to have a pain-free life is not necessarily sinful. The desire to have a wife is not sinful. The desire to have the admiration and the respect of your wife or your family or your coworkers is not sinful. But it's when that desire turns into a selfish desire to seek it for our own pleasure. And that's when that desire is turned into something that is bad and is sinful. And when we allow those desires to ruminate in our mind, thinking ways in which we can achieve it, and if we don't kill it, it brings death, sometimes physical death. And though we will never lose our soul if we're a Christian, it can bring about a form of death in our relationship with God. It creates distance between us and him and between us and our fellow believers and our family. And so the question is, how do we know if we have jealousy in our lives? How do we know if we've turned something good into something evil? Well, there's two questions that we can ask as a litmus test. First, what is the thing that we desire most? And so that's the question we have to ask. Is this desire something good or bad? And what do you desire most? And then secondly, what are we willing to do to fulfill that desire? That's how we can know if we have jealousy in our hearts. Jealous desires, as I said, are often good desires that are corrupted with evil intentions. And so what Saul wanted most, as we said, was the security of his kingdom. and the admiration of Israel. He is willing not only to murder David to get what he wants, but he's also willing to enlist the help of his own son Jonathan, to bring Jonathan into his evil pursuits. You know, it's important to understand that if Saul's throne was going to continue as he wished, Jonathan was going to be that next heir to the throne. He used this enticement to Jonathan. Remember, you're the next in line after me. So remember, David is not good for you, it's good for us, for what we want. But Jonathan, it's interesting, he's having to choose between the kingdom of his father or David, and to do what is right. So there's this enticement that's being challenged upon Jonathan. What is he going to do most? Who is he going to be faithful to most? Saul, his father, or David? But not only that, Jonathan knew to go against the king could most certainly bring about death in his life. That Saul could use Jonathan's rebellion against him as an excuse to also kill his own son. And we've seen that earlier before that Saul wanted to kill Jonathan. But what does Jonathan do? He appeals to three things. When he's talking to Saul first, he appeals to the fact that Saul would be in sin because to take a life without cause would incur God's judgment upon himself. And second, he appeals to David's faithfulness towards Saul. David not only had not sinned against the king, but in fact, he did good to him. And third, he appeals to God's working of salvation through David. And through that salvation that God worked, Saul rejoiced in that. And Saul listened. to the voice of his own son. Now, what can we say in application about Jonathan's defense of David? The first is this, doing what is right before the Lord is often costly. It can cost us our standing before men that we're having now to choose God above the desires of men. And secondly, faithfulness to God means putting to death our own desires. It means mastering sin before it masters us. So we have to ask ourselves, whose approval and admiration matters most in our lives? Is it the approval and admiration of men or of God? Whose desire matters most in life? Our own desires or God's desires? And are we willing to sacrifice what we want to be faithful to the Lord? So looking back at our text, Jonathan was able to convince his father's heart, but only for a time. So in verse four, it says, and Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, let not the king's sin be against his servant David. because he has not sinned against you and because his deeds have brought good to you. For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistines. And the Lord worked a great salvation for all of Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?" And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, as the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. So Jonathan was able to convince his heart. Saul even made an oath that he would not put David to death, but this oath was short-lived. He had the words without the intention. And Saul's heart would soon be enraged again as David has yet another success against the Philistines. Verse eight, and there was war again. And David went out and fought the Philistines and struck them with a great blow so that they fled before him. Then a harmful spirit of the Lord came upon Saul. Saul attempted to end David's life again by throwing a spear at him. David escapes and he flees. God preserves David's life once again. So what we can say about all of this that we've just said so far is that without the grace of God in our lives, the sin of our hearts is incurable of its hatred. The words of reason is but mere water against a stone wall. The reason of men will not change the heart of a person. And so, What do we need most? We need God's grace in our lives. We need to submit ourselves to him because our hearts are impenetrable until it's penetrated by God's grace. So as Saul plotted against David, so the Jews plotted against Christ and ultimately pinned him on the cross and pierced his side with a spear. But you know, in the death of Christ, we have access to life. We have access to freedom. Freedom from jealousy. Freedom from our own desires. Freedom from the mastering of sin because Christ mastered it on the cross. And so our sin no longer has dominion over our lives if we've trusted in Christ. and have received His grace. His grace has penetrated our hearts to be able to do what is right, to be able to be faithful to the Lord, and to be able to conquer those desires that we want most, and to allow God's desires to move us and to motivate us to faithfulness. So Jonathan is a good example for us and to be able to be faithful to the Lord He had a selfless defense of David, but now we're gonna look and turn to Michael, who Michael also allowed David to escape and defend him, but she had a selfish defense more of herself. So look with us at verses 11 through 17. Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill them in the morning. But Michael, David's wife, told him, if you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow, you will be killed. So Michael let David down through the window, and he fled and escaped. Michael, much like her brother Jonathan, knew her father. He knew her father's intentions. He knew her father's heart. He's seen it. She's grown up with him. And so she realized and she knew in this moment, my allegiance is more to my husband than it is to my father. And so she told David to flee and escape that night because in the morning, death would come upon him. But, you know, she wasn't only trying to protect her husband, you know, when under the pressure of her father and under the pressure, under the, under pressure, from under pressure of her father and from those who are standing outside, she now turns to defend herself. So what does she do? So first, she uses an image. And by an image, what's being conveyed here is that there was a household god that she used and she laid in the bed, put goat's hair at its head. She covers it with clothes, as though it was David lying in the bed. And so she does this and now what does she do next? She creates a cover story saying that David is sick in hopes that when Saul's messengers come in, they would be repulsed by David's sickness and leave. But Saul was not deterred. Saul discovered that the image was not David and that her daughter had deceived him. So therefore, Michael Jonathan's wife creates another cover story. She lies to her father, saying that David threatened her life if she didn't let him go. So what did she just do? She just threw her own husband underneath the bus to protect herself against her own father's wrath. So we have to ask, where does her true allegiance lie? Her true allegiance lied to herself, to her own desires. And so when the pressure of her father came, the fear of man came in her heart rather than God. She wanted to defend her own reputation. So we see Michael's faithless response to Saul in this situation. But now I want to show you David's faithful response to the same situation. But his response is not found in our own text, it's found in Psalm 59. So how about you turn to Psalm 59. David wrote this very psalm in response to the situation that he had faced when Saul sent messengers to watch his house. So if you look at the very title of this, it says, to the choir master, according to do not destroy, a victim of David when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him. So let's look at the first five verses. David says, deliver me from my enemies, O God. Protect me from those who rise up against me and deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men. For behold, they lie in wait for my life. Fierce men stir up strife against me, but for no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord. For no fault of mine they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me and see. You, Lord of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all of the nations and spare none of those who treacherously plot evil." Now, let's turn our attention to the last two verses. Verse 16. And here's his response, but I will sing of your strength, and I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning, for you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. Oh my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, oh God, are my fortress, the God who shows steadfast love. So I want us to take note that when David says in verses 16 that he's going to sing of God's strength and sing praises to his God, he's not saying that because his circumstances have changed for the better. He's still in the midst of his circumstances. He's fleeing for his life. Saul didn't stop fleeing God. I mean, Saul didn't stop fleeing towards David to kill him. But Jonathan, I mean, I'm sorry, I'm getting my names mixed up. But David was able to sing praises to God in the midst of his current circumstances. Why? Because God was his fortress and refuge, and he believed that God's steadfast love was with him and not with Saul. David's allegiance was first and foremost to the Lord. Though his life was being pursued without cause, and David knew that, he did not attempt to defend himself. He did not rise up in anger towards Saul and try to defend himself and kill Saul for pursuing him. And Christ did not revile back when he was reviled. but continue to entrust himself to the Lord who judges justly. So when men revile against us, what should our response be? Interestingly, our response should be praises to God because he's allowing that to reveal where our true allegiance should lie and is to God. And ultimately, God's character and God's faithfulness is what persevere us and defends us. You know, all of us here are facing circumstances that are challenging. Each one of us is facing circumstances that are different from one another. Maybe not to the extent that our life is being pursued, but to the extent that whatever it is we're facing can be overwhelming and can be oppressing. bring fear, bring doubt, bring anxiety to us? You know, here's the probing question for us to consider. Do we see that God's steadfast love is still with us in those moments? Though those moments don't change, though those moments may still remain, God never changes. He is the same in our moments of rejoicing when things are going well, and he's also the same in those moments when things seem to be out of control. It's easy to praise God when things change for the better, but can we still praise him if our circumstances never change? And the answer is yes, we can, because the Savior whose life was delivered to the cross by bloodthirsty men is now sitting at God's right hand and his enemies are his footstool. God has dealt with our greatest enemy. He has dealt with the enemy of sin, the enemy of death, and the enemy of Satan. And so as we get back into our own text, Saul's bloodthirsty pursuit of David was not over. David escaped and he fled to Samuel, and so Saul is still ravaged in anger in his heart and continues to pursue after David. And so in verse 18, it says, Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done. And so he and Samuel went and lived in Niath. You know, here's what's amusing about these last verses. I think it was interesting because I was looking at this and God was probably up there just laughing at Saul. You know, you're going to pursue David, but you know what? I'm going to change your pursuit into praises towards me. I'm just going to change everything that you're doing and make you praise me. Who do you think you are, Saul? Do you really think that you can go after the one that I've protected? And so Saul sends messengers three times to go and pursue David. And each time, God changes the pursuit of David into praises towards God. And Saul finally had enough. He said, you know what? If they can't do it, then I will. I'm gonna go down there myself and get David. And so look with me in verses 23 to 24 of our text. And he went there to Niath and Ramah, and the Spirit of God came upon him, Saul, also. And as he went prophesying until he came to Niath and Ramah, And he too stripped of his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, is Saul also among the prophets? Saul came for David's life. God thwarted the purpose of Saul and humiliated him before Samuel. He was pursuing David, but now he's lying naked on the ground praising God. What an image this is of what God will do to his enemies at the second coming of Christ. God preserves the life of the faithful, but he is going to humiliate the ones who have ravaged against God. We will either kneel before him willingly or we will be forced to kneel. Every tongue is going to praise God in the end. But are we gonna praise Him with our hearts? Or are we gonna praise Him because God changed us to actually see that He is the true God? Oh, but what joy there will be when we can praise Him face to face. Though our circumstances may never change, God will remain the same, and he will wipe away every tear. He will restore what's been broken, and he will make his enemies his footstool. And so, you know, as Christians, we don't have to fear that day of judgment. He's already dealt with our sin, and he has already dealt with us according to the wrath that he put on his own son. And now if we have trusted in the Lord, we have the Lord's faithfulness and admiration of us. And so we too can live in light of God's faithfulness. As God preserved David's life for the sake of the gospel, he will preserve our lives for the sake of his name and his glory. Trusting him even now, we can sing praises to him for our God is good, and a steadfast love will always abound. Amen. Let me go ahead and close in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we look at this, we realize, Lord, all of us, Father, had hearts of anger towards you. Lord, all of us had hearts of jealousy that mastered us. Lord, we had sin that mastered us, Lord. But Lord, in the right time, you sent your son. Lord, on our behalf, took upon God's wrath on himself so that we would experience his favor. Lord, help us to live in faithfulness towards you, not seeking the admiration of men, but yours, Lord. May we not seek our own desires, but Father, help us to pursue yours above anything else so that your name may be praised and your kingdom will continue and not the kingdom of Jonathan Cantrell. Father, we thank you for your word and how it is perfect and inerrant teaching us, Lord, to do all that is right before you. In your name I pray, amen.