Men, please be seated. If you have a copy of the Bible with you, I invite you to open to our sermon text for this evening from the book of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 24, verses one through 22. So that's the entire chapter of 1 Samuel 24. As God continues to work in the life of David, the anointed king, we see Once again, God's great glory and grace in protecting David, but also in showing David to be an innocent man before Saul, and forgiving to David that grace which he needs to undertake the life which God has called him to live. First Samuel chapter 24, beginning in verse one, this is God's word, let's pay attention to it. When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goat's rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds, by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave, and the men of David said to him, Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you. Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And afterwards, David's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing as he is the Lord's anointed. So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. Afterward, David also arose and went out of the cave and called after Saul, my lord, the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. And David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say, behold, David seeks your harm. Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, I will not put out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. See my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, You may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the Lord judge between me and you. May the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancient says, out of the wicked comes wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the King of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea? May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand. As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, is this your voice, my son David? Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, you are more righteous than I for you have repaid me good whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me and that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house. And David swore this to Saul, and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. as far a reading of God's word. Will you please join me in praying for his blessing on the preaching of the word. Lord and our God, we thank you for this chapter of 1 Samuel. We thank you, Lord, that you are the judge of all of the earth, that you are just and true, and that you do good for your people. We thank you for this portion of David's life, where he has opportunity to kill Saul and yet trust in you to deal righteously with him. We ask Lord as we come to this text that you would instruct us and teach us, that you would most of all point us to the Lord Jesus Christ that we may glorify him. We ask these things in his name, amen. Amen. Well, I wonder if any of you this evening have ever been tempted to take a sinfully easy way out of some difficulty in your life. Now, when I say something that's taking the easy way out, make note that I preface that with sinfully. I'm not talking about taking the easy way out of something like going on a hike around Possum Lake and you get tired around halfway through. Instead of continuing on the trail, you cut across the parking lot to get to your car faster. When I'm talking about taking something, the easy way out of something sinfully, I'm talking about doing something you know is wrong because it helps you get out of whatever the problem is that you find yourself in. For example, Students, or those of you who formerly were students, perhaps there is a time in your life or was a time in your life where you were writing an essay and you were struggling with writing this essay and you thought to yourself, although maybe you didn't act upon it, well maybe if I plagiarize just this one time, it'll be okay. It'll help me out. This essay is really hard. It's difficult for me to get through. So perhaps just this one time I can take the easy way out I can do something which I know is wrong, which is dishonest, but it won't be that big of a deal. See, when things get hard, it can be very alluring to say, well, maybe it's fine if I just take this shortcut. Even if it's wrong, maybe it's okay because it helps me out in the end. And maybe this is a more common temptation for us than we would even like to admit. Problems crop up in our lives all the time. Maybe we're tempted to think, Maybe just this one time, just this one time, I can take advantage of the situation. Well, David, in our text this evening, has an opportunity to do very close to the same thing, doesn't he? He has an opportunity to take the easy way out, as it were. When he finds Saul in the cave, David could very easily kill Saul, and take the kingdom by force. And yet, he doesn't. David trusts in God. David relies upon God. David demonstrates his faith in God in this text, knowing that in God he has refuge and safety, and God will be the one who will bring about his promises to David. In this text before us this evening, We see a very simple but profound truth that God calls us to trust him through our times of trouble, not to take the sinful easy way out of our trouble. To trust God through the times of trouble, not to take a sinful way out of our trouble. This story this evening has three different parts, doesn't it? First, David has an opportunity to take the easy way out. He doesn't. And then David proclaims his faith in God. And finally, David is vindicated by even the very words of Saul after he has proclaimed his trust in God. David's opportunity, verses one through seven. David's appeal, his faith in God, verses eight through 15. David's vindication, verses 16 through 22. Those divisions in mind, let's see what the word of God says to us this evening. Well, David has an opportunity and this occurs, doesn't it, when Saul is back on the hunt. The Philistines are taken care of for now. You remember last time we saw that when Saul was right on the verge of capturing David, all of a sudden the Philistines raided Israel. And God in his providence delivered David out of the hand of Saul by the Philistines. So Saul had to leave his chase of David and go take care of the Philistines. But after that is finished, after he's either chased them out of Israel or they have simply escaped from him, He returns his attention once more to his great goal in life, the eradication of David, his nemesis, or his supposed nemesis. Saul returns and keeps his ear to the ground, as it were, for any information of David, and hears that David is hiding in the wilderness of En Gedi. And so Saul collects 3,000 chosen men and takes off to find David. He goes to this wilderness of En Gedi. Now, even though this area is a wilderness, there is a very special feature of En Gedi. There's a beautiful oasis there, a great spring. And so this is a perfect place for the flocks and herds of the people of En Gedi to go get water and to feed. And so there's many shepherds in that area. This is a good place for David to be hiding. In that oasis, he can get supplies that he needs, water, which he would desperately need and the wilderness, and so this is a fantastic place for David to be, but it's going to be something of maybe an easy place, Saul thinks, for him to find David. So Saul takes his select group of men, sets off for the area of the wilderness of Ein Gedi. As they search the area, as they are in the specific area where all of the sheepfolds are, where the shepherds are keeping their flocks, nature calls. The Bible is such a very real book, isn't it, that even small things like this pop up. Saul has to go to the bathroom. It's something of a strange fact, but one which in the providence of God is actually quite profound, isn't it? Saul has to make a trip to the bathroom. And so he decides to go in a cave. Now there's many caves around this oasis area and some of them have been emptied out more or were emptied out more so that they were excellent barns for the sheep. Saul looks around at the various caves there in that area and he picks one and says, okay, to his men, you wait here, I'll be back later. And it just so happens that the very cave that Saul picks is a cave in which David is hiding. Now you see on the one hand just the divine humor that God has, some of the irony here. Saul searches high and low for David and cannot find him anywhere because God's hand is upon David, God is protecting David. And Saul decides that he needs to use the facilities and happens to pick the exact cave that David is in and now Saul is all alone, completely unguarded by his men and in a very vulnerable position, isn't he, he picks the cave David and his men are hiding in, and his men, David's men think, well, this is just an excellent opportunity for you, David. There's Saul. He's removed himself from the men because he wanted some privacy. He's preoccupied. David, now is the time. God has given him into your hand. We'll never have a better opportunity than this. We need to strike while the iron is hot. What does David do? What should David do? Here is his great enemy, the man who's been chasing him all over the countryside unjustly. It would seem that right now, God really has given Saul into David's hand. Right now, David really should take care of Saul. It would make things so easy for him, wouldn't it? No more being hunted. by the most powerful man in Israel. No more on the run, David could go home, he could return to his wife. He could have, supposedly, a peaceful life. It couldn't be a better opportunity. What does David do? He doesn't kill Saul, does he? Instead of killing Saul, he sneaks up, very stealthily, and cuts the corner of Saul's robe off. He has a sign. I could have killed you, Saul, but I didn't. Several commentators have mentioned maybe some of the parallels here. You remember when God removed the kingdom from Saul, the hem of his robe was torn off. Or the hem of Samuel's robe, excuse me, was torn off. And Samuel said, this is a sign to you that God has removed the kingdom from you. Well, here David cuts off the corner of Saul's robe. It's almost as though this is a sign to Saul again. that the kingdom has been removed to him and has been given to David. David cuts off the corner of his robe and doesn't take advantage of the situation. David understands that now is not the time for him to take revenge. Why? Well, vengeance is not his to take, is it? God very clearly proclaimed that in his word. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, thus says the Lord. We see here in David an example of an opportunity being right in front of us. And it seems like everything is pointing us to take advantage of this opportunity, but what happens when that thing is sinful? Well, maybe you've had opportunities like this in life. It seems like everything has lined up for you, but if you act on this opportunity, it would be wrong. Imagine for a moment, students, or those of you who are formerly students here, administered a test, and as you're sitting there, you look up on the marker board, and you see, well, all of the answers to the test are written right there. Your teacher had gone through, The exercises for you had worked out all of the math problems, showing you how it was done, and you look at your test, and you look up at the board, and you look at your test, and you look up at the board, and sure enough, it's all the same. Well, everything seems to be lined up perfectly for you to get an A, doesn't it? But is God presenting you an opportunity for an A, or is God presenting you with an opportunity for honesty? Again, maybe some of you have had the experience where When you paid for something at the grocery store with cash, you received your change back, and when you looked at it, you realized, well, they didn't give me a 10 back, they gave me a 20. Was this an opportunity for you to get your groceries for a little bit cheaper? Is this an opportunity for you to have a nice discount at the grocery store? Or again, is this an opportunity for you to be honest? We could go on and on and on with examples of this kind and you surely can think of examples perhaps from your own life of times when there were opportunities in front of you and maybe it seemed like everything is lined up for you to do this but you knew that if you proceeded in that particular way it would not bring glory and honor to God. Often we can be confronted with situations like this but If we took advantage of them, we would be sinning. You see, God does not give us opportunities to sin. But God does give us ways of escape when we are tempted to sin. Now perhaps the temptation is there. It seems like a good opportunity. But you know, because of the Holy Spirit whom God has given you, that it would be wrong God will, however, provide a way of escape for you. So when we find ourselves in those kinds of situations, students, if you find yourself in a situation where you feel like I could take advantage of this and get a better grade, let me encourage you, cry out to God for the help of the Holy Spirit. Cry out to God to give you the wisdom which you so desperately need to make a God-honoring decision. Cry out to God that he would work in you to act in a way which is pleasing to him. Adults, I would encourage you to do the same thing when you are confronted with situations like that. If it seems that there is an opportunity but that requires sin, ask the Lord to give you the grace which you need to resist temptation, to flee from temptation, and to glorify and honor Him in your actions. And furthermore, let me encourage you that if you have been confronted with these kinds of situations in life and you have chosen the sinful decision, let me encourage you that there is forgiveness for that sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess that to Him and ask for His forgiveness and ask for Him to work in you by His Spirit to live to His glory and honor not acting sinfully, but acting righteously in accordance with his word. That is what David has done. But you notice even David's action of cutting off the corner of Saul's robe is seen by David as something wrong. His conscience smites him. David has a tender conscience here. He sees that even in his cutting off the corner of God's robe, he has stretched his hand out against Saul, the Lord's anointed. And in doing so, he seems to ascertain that he's even stretched his hand out against the Lord himself. His conscience is tender and would that the Lord gives us all such tender consciences that when we do something, wrong that we would immediately be convicted by the Spirit so we may repent of it. But because of this tender conscience, because his conscience smites him, David turns to his men and he says, yes, this may seem like the right kind of opportunity, the opportunity that we want, the opportunity to kill Saul, to take the kingdom by force. We're not going to do that. The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord, God's anointed, Jehovah's anointed, to put my hand out against him because he is the Lord's anointed. David says God has placed Saul in the position of king. I'm not above God that I should take Saul out and say the Lord doesn't know what he's doing. David says we must trust God to fill his word to us. We must trust God. He has set Saul in this place. We will not attack him. So David persuades his men this isn't the move. David here does not attempt to grasp at power, does he? He's not trying to seize the throne of Israel by force of arms, not trying to seize the throne of Israel by assassinations. He's willing to commit himself to God. David points us here in a way to Christ who did not grasp at power, who emptied himself, who became man for us, not grasping at the glory and power which he had We see here even a shadow of Christ who resisted the devil's temptations. The devil told Christ, I can give you all the kingdoms of the world. Christ resisted that temptation. He lived in humble reliance upon his heavenly father, trusting in him to give him all that was needed. David points us to Christ here. in a way, as one who's not grasping at power. David has decided not to seize the kingdom by force, so how is he going to proceed with the rest of his life? Well, quite simply, David proceeds by faith, doesn't he? David has faith in God, and he shows this faith, both in his actions and in his words, as David makes this appeal to Saul in the next section, David is also making a confession of the faith which he has in the Lord his God. Not a confession of wrongdoing, a confession of faith. David's faith is shown because after Saul leaves the cave and walks off away, David leaves the cave too, doesn't he? Verse 8, David arose and went out of the cave and he called to Saul, my Lord, the king. David leaves, he calls to Saul when Saul turns around, David bows and respect and this is quite an act of faith on David's part, isn't it? It is, remember Saul has 3,000 chosen men somewhere in the vicinity. We don't know exactly where they are, we don't know how far away they are but we know they're nearby. David is trusting in God. See if your enemy who is pursuing you, who wanted you dead, had 3,000 green berets or Navy SEALs or whatever other special forces you can think of with him, it would probably be a great difficulty for any of us to reveal ourselves to our enemy publicly and openly and say, here I am, right here, turn around, I have something to say to you. But David can do that, David does do that because David is trusting in the Lord. to preserve him as he has continually done. David is trusting in the Lord that God has David in his hand and will keep him safe. David is trusting in the Lord that David will be vindicated before Saul. So David jumps up and says, hey, wait. And Saul turns around and David begins his speech to Saul. Begins to proclaim his innocence, begins to appeal to the fact that he is innocent before Saul. David trusts in God not only to protect him, he also trusts in God to act justly and vindicate him. We see that in the words that David says. He asks Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say, behold, David seeks your harm? Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told you to kill me, but I spared you. I said, I will not put my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. David begins here by appealing to Saul, not by accusing him of being crazy and violent, but appealing to him as one who is perhaps misguided by his counselors. David doesn't say, Saul, you are crazy, you're violent, you've been attacking me without any reasons, he says, So why are you listening to these people who are spreading false rumors about me? Your counselors are giving you bad information. He pins the blame, as it were, on other people. David seems to understand what Proverbs 15 verse one teaches us, that a soft answer turns away wrath, right? A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up David speaks softly to Saul. He does not accuse, he does not bring harsh words out against Saul right off the bat, but he gets Saul's attention. This is godly wisdom that would be good for all of us to keep in mind during our interactions with those around us. A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. It can be easy. in our conversations with people, especially when we disagree or maybe we've had a bad day, to fly off the handle, to speak harshly to them. We ought to remember the great grace of God to us and ask the Lord to work in us to deal graciously with other people, especially in our words with them. We should ask God to season our speech with salt, that we might speak graciously to other people. Not just so they won't be mad at us in our conversations, but so that we have more opportunities to display the grace which God has shown us. That we have more opportunities to have doors opened for the sharing of the gospel. That we, through our gracious speech, might point people to the one who has given us much grace in Christ. David speaks graciously to Saul. And now he begins to proclaim his innocence, doesn't he? To present evidence of his innocence to Saul, to say that he's free from any wrongdoing whatsoever. And he uses as evidence the corner of Saul's robe. He says, I could have killed you, but I spared you. The Lord placed you in my power, in my hand, but I wouldn't stretch my hand out against you. I said, I will not put my hand against my Lord for he is the Lord's anointed. See my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand for the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you. You may know and see there is no wrong or treason in my hand. I have not sinned against you though you hunt my life to take it. Exhibit A, David says, the corner of your robe I'm sure you can imagine as David holds up this piece of cloth, Saul quickly looks down at his robe and sees, sure enough, it's missing. The colors match and everything. David isn't lying to me. He had opportunity to kill me. I wasn't even aware that he was there, but he had the opportunity. David says, you can see by this very fact, even though I could have killed you, I didn't, I'm not treasonous against you. I'm not standing against the Lord's anointed. God has placed you in this position. I'm not trying to depose you. I glory in the Lord. I won't sin to make things easy for me. Even though you're hunting me, even though you want to take my life, I'll not take your life. David proclaims his innocence. and in proclaiming his innocence, proclaims his faith in God as the just judge who will proclaim David innocent. In verse 12, David says, may the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancient says, out of the wicked comes wickedness, but my hand shall not be against you. David appeals to God to deal justly for him in two different ways. First, David appeals to God to avenge him. That God would be the one who deals justly and avenges David's name. David will not stretch his hand out against Saul, but that doesn't mean that David does not want God to deal justly on his behalf. David knows that justice does not belong to David or to any of us. God forbids his people from seeking vengeance for themselves. In Leviticus 19, God says, you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. David knows that he is not to take vengeance. David knows that vengeance belongs to God. As I quoted earlier from Deuteronomy 32 verse 15, God says, vengeance is mine and recompense. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And so David appeals to God As the one who stands by his word, David appeals to God to be the one who will deal with Saul. David will not seek the easy way out. David trusts in God to defend him and to take care of him and to deal with his enemies. And David appeals to God to show David's innocence, doesn't he? He asked, after whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea, David demonstrates more of his humility. He says, may the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand. David appeals to God to deliver him. David appeals to God to demonstrate David's innocence. Exhibit A, the cloth from your robe Saul, I am innocent. Exhibit B, God, the just judge, the one who sees all things, the one who sees the hearts and minds of men knows my innocence and I call upon him to deal justly and to demonstrate my innocence to you. Here David boldly shows his faith in God as his protector and boldly proclaims his faith in God as the just God, the one who will do right. the one who will vindicate his people. And David is vindicated, isn't he? He's vindicated by the very words of Saul there as we see David's vindication in the last section, verses 16 through 22. It begins with Saul's tears. As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Saul begins to weep. over David's proclamation of his innocence. Now, I don't think that Saul's weeping is an indication that Saul is truly repentant over his sin. He might have a kind of worldly sorrow, but the fact of the matter is Saul, after he leaves off his pursuit of David this time, will pick it back up again later. He'll continue to pursue David, would indicate to us that there's not any true repentance here, any true grief over his sin from Saul at this time. But nevertheless, I think we should be encouraged by Saul's weeping here. Saul realizes, though maybe he doesn't have true repentance and though maybe he doesn't have a full understanding of how deep his sin goes and how heinous his sin is before God, yet there is some sorrow over sin. And when we encounter grief like this in the Bible, grief which does not lead to repentance, this is a call to us to examine ourselves, to examine our own repentance, to see if the grief which we have is truly sorrow over sin. Perhaps if the grief which we have had is merely an outward grief because we were caught sinning, we should examine ourselves. This is a reminder of us to ask the Holy Spirit to produce in us not just outward sorrow, but a true inward repentance, a true grief over sin, and a true hatred for sin, and a true love for the things of God. This is also instances like this, a reminder to us that we must have Christ and his forgiveness. That weeping will avail nothing if we do not have Christ. We need him and his forgiveness. Saul weeps and he has this realization, a realization of the anointed of God's great mercy. Saul lifts up his voice, he weeps, he says to David, you're more righteous than I am. You've repaid me good, whereas I repaid you evil. You've declared this day how you dealt well with me and that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. So Saul realizes that here David, the anointed of God, has shown him abundant mercy. David had the opportunity to kill Saul. David had the means to kill Saul. David had the reasons to kill Saul. And yet, David showed mercy. He did not give Saul what Saul deserved. Instead, David gave Saul good in spite of the evil done to him. Again, we can't help but see shadows of Christ here, can we? Here the anointed shows mercy to one who certainly did not deserve mercy. The anointed of God had opportunity, means, and reasons for condemning the wicked man. Christ Jesus, the anointed of God. has showed abundant mercy to great sinners such as us, hasn't he? Christ Jesus has the opportunity, he is God Almighty, has the means, he is God Almighty, has the reasons, he is the holy, holy, holy God, and we are not to condemn us, but he shows mercy to his people. This is glorious. This is wonderful. That the anointed of God should look at us who were his great enemies, committing cosmic treason, rebels against him, and all of our thoughts, words, and deeds, and had mercy on us instead of striking us down where we stood. This is the great mercy of God in Christ. If this does not cause your heart to sing, to rejoice, to exult in the Lord Jesus for this great mercy shown to such as I am, again, I encourage you to examine yourself. Do you understand the mercy of God in Christ? Ask Him to teach you. to reveal to you this great mercy so that you may understand if you do not understand it. Saul understands, at least in part, the great mercy which has been shown to him in David. And he realizes that God is with David. He proclaims that you will surely be king. The kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. Saul realizes that God is with David and God is not with Saul now. Though Saul may continue to strive against David, this reality will still be in front of him. David will have the kingdom. Israel will be established. Saul, in realizing that, appeals to this merciful anointed one to show mercy to his offspring. asks David to swear by the Lord that David would not cut off his offspring. Saul says, you've shown mercy to me today, please show mercy to my offspring, to my descendants. Don't wipe out my family from the earth. Don't spare me from your vengeance and then take vengeance upon others. And David shows mercy to Saul. He swears to Saul that he will have mercy and Saul goes home and David and his men go home. The promise of the anointed to do good to the offspring of Saul is held to. We'll see down the road, once we get into 2 Samuel, how David shows mercy to the household of Saul, even with Mephibosheth. And we see here tonight, this table before us, once again, A reminder of the promise of Christ to have mercy on his people. The anointed of God proclaims to us in these very ordinary elements which we'll take of this evening. I have shed my blood for you. My body has been broken for you. If you come to me in faith, I will receive you. I will wash you with my own blood. I will reconcile you to God. And you will have joy in the house of my father forever. I will do good to you to the end of days and beyond. This is a glorious promise. And this is a glorious promise which should sustain us as we go through life's troubles, should it not. As we go through life's troubles, let's remember to take our hope in God to trust in him through our problems as he has shown himself to be so faithful to David and as he's shown himself to be so faithful to us. Let's take hold of his promises and rely on him in life's troubles and in life's joys for his glory and honor. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, we thank you for this passage in 1 Samuel. We thank you for your protection of David, for your great mercy and grace. We thank you for the ways in which he foreshadows Christ, that he has mercy on Saul who did not deserve it. We thank you so much for the mercy which we have in Christ, though we did not deserve it. We pray, Lord, that you would continue to impress upon our hearts this glorious truth of the mercy shown to us in Christ, that we might follow after him, and take great joy in him all the days of our life and all of the days of eternity as we worship and adore you. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.