This morning we are looking at Samuel. You can turn actually to 2 Samuel chapter 1 or 1 Samuel 31, the last chapter of 1 Samuel, and the first chapter of 2 Samuel. We're right here at this portion. Last week I preached kind of an overview on this the books of Samuel. And they're actually one book. And when they translated them into Greek, the scrolls was too long, so they had to divide it. And they divided it here at the death of Saul and the beginning of David's reign. And so this was a good and ideal place for dividing the book of Samuel into two books, as we have it in our English Bibles. I want you to consider, as we think about the fear of the Lord, David and the fear of the Lord, a passage from Deuteronomy chapter 17, where Moses is writing, instructing Israel regarding future kings that will come to pass. This is what he says. Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priest." So in the tabernacle, they had a copy of the Law of Moses. And the king was to make his own handwritten copy. So there's a good project for you. So from the one that is before the priests, the Levites, and it shall be with him. And he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord. his God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, pride, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." And so I'm speaking to you today about David and the fear of the Lord. There are things that David does at times that others do not understand at all and that's because David ruled according to the fear of the Lord. David followed this and it was his fear of God that directed him in the decisions that he made. Now, the fear of the Lord, you remember the theme of Proverbs, the motto, Proverbs 1, 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And so when it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning, it means this is the first principle. This is the foundation and the pattern. So it's not that the fear of the Lord is the door you step through and then that's behind you, but it is the principle upon which your relationship with God is built, this regard for God. And David was filled with the fear of the Lord, no doubt, because he had been reading and meditating in the Word of God. And you know of the Psalms that he has written, Psalm 72 of the Psalms, and Psalm 119, which is not attributed to David, but most people believe he wrote it, is full of the Word of the Lord. I think 176 verses there in Psalm 19. And so the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom. And if there's no beginning, there can be no middle and there can be no end. It is the controlling principle of David's leadership. His throne is established on that truth, the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord speaks of having a right relationship with Him. And I brought a little book with me. What Does It Mean to Fear the Lord by Michael Reeves. Very short book. You can read it in less than an hour. And let me just read to you some things, some quotes that he has in here. So first, he mentions John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress. And he says, John Bunyan, he said that the fear of the Lord flows primarily from a sense of the love and kindness of God to the soul, from some sense of hope of mercy from God by Jesus Christ. Indeed, nothing can lay a stronger obligation upon the heart to fear God than the sense of or hope in His mercy. This begetteth true tenderness of heart, true godly softness of spirit. This truly endeareth the affections to God. And in this true tenderness, softness, and endearedness of affection to God, lieth the very essence of this fear of the Lord. So you clearly can't separate the fear of the Lord and the love of the Lord. And so he quotes then Spurgeon. He says, Spurgeon says that the fear of the Lord is the sort of fear which has in it the very essence of love and without which there would be no joy even in the presence of God. And he quotes a passage from Psalm 145 that shows that the fear of the Lord, our reverence for him, and the the love of the Lord, our affection for Him, are joined together. Psalm 145 verses 19 and 20 says, He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him. He also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. So He fulfills the desire of all who fear Him. The Lord preserves all who love Him. So those who love him are those who fear him. Those who fear him are also those who love him. And it is out of that right relationship with God that we learn to walk by that controlling principle of the fear of the Lord. Now in our lesson today, we have the death of Saul. So we have a map, I think. which you can put up here, that is about Mount Gilboa. So chapter 31, I'm not gonna read it even if I point out a few things, but I want to just tell you the story here of the death of Saul. Saul has been on a trajectory of ruin and destruction for a long time. Because of disobedience, because of turning away from the Lord. The Lord withdrew the spirit that he had given him to equip him for rule, for kingship. He withdrew that spirit from him and an evil spirit came upon Saul. And following his disobedience and his pride, his jealousy, and as those things gained prevalence in him, we see a madness in the person of Saul. There's a murderous intent that is in Saul, and of course, much of 1 Samuel is about his efforts to kill David. His complete absorption with believing that David is his enemy, when David all the time is truly his friend and supporter. even though God has spoken concerning David as a man after God's own heart, as the king of God's own choosing. Finally, we come to this place where the Philistines have fielded probably the greatest army in the Old Testament as far as the history of the Philistines goes. They have put together probably the most powerful army that is known in these books. Saul has always been afraid of the Philistines. Others, not so much, but he has always been afraid of the Philistines. You can trace it through as you read it. And he is deeply terrified of this. And he tries to talk to God, but God will not speak to him. There's no prophet that can help him. God has shut him off. He is like that man in an iron cage that John Bunyan talks about. And consequently, he turns to a witch, the witch of Endor. And when his army has gathered for battle, he actually goes north above the Philistines. He has to go around them to Endor in order to meet with the witch. And through her, probably as much a shock to her as anyone, Samuel speaks again and he tells him, you're going to die tomorrow. You and your sons are going to die tomorrow. And so now it is the day of the battle, and Israel is routed before the Philistines. They retreat up Mount Gilboa. I put a little picture here of Mount Gilboa. They retreat up Mount Gilboa, but the men of Israel are slaughtered, and they flee before the Philistines. Saul is trapped by the charioteers and by the archers. Even if they had the high ground, which they hoped would help. They could not escape the bows and arrows of the Philistines. And he's injured by an arrow. And he is fallen. He's going to die. But his life still is in him. And he says to his armor bearer, he says, look, kill me. Thrust me through with your sword. But the armor bearer won't do it. It says that he feared greatly. That's certainly a hint, isn't it, about this theme, the fear of the Lord. He feared greatly. He would not kill the king, the Lord's anointed. And so Saul, in the end of his life here, as I've traced it out for you in summary, he ends with suicide and he falls on his own sword. And when his armor bearer sees that he is dead, he falls on his sword as well. Well, the next day when the Philistines come to strip the dead, to take the plunder, they find Saul and his three sons. I'll mention them. They're mentioned in verse two, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchusua. And so they find Saul and his sons. They cut off his head. They take his armor and put it in the house of the temple of one of their idols, Ashtaroth. And they take the bodies of Saul and his sons, and they take them to the city of Beth-shan, a city that was once belonged to the Israelites, but had been lost to the Philistines. And they fasten their bodies to the wall. And they send messengers throughout Philistia with the good news. Actually, the word in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is the word gospel here. They send the gospel of Saul's death out to Philistia because all of them would rejoice at this good news, as it were, of Saul's death and defeat. And what a terrible situation that is. Well, when the men of Jabesh Gilead hear about what has happened to Saul and his sons, they are on the other side. They're on the east side of the Jordan. They go to Beth. go all night, I guess it's like 30 miles, and they go to Bethshan and they retrieve the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall there and they bring them back to Jabesh Gilead. They burn the bodies and then they bury the bones and they fast and weep over the death of Saul and his sons. So that is the story of Saul's death and of the end of his reign. But when 2 Samuel opens, we're going to hear the story again, but this time it is when David learns. So the story is now told, but it is David hearing it for the first time. And so if you're following along, you can turn over there to 2 Samuel 1. And once again, I probably won't read all of this, but you may notice the word fallen. It occurs quite a few times in chapter 30, and then again in this chapter as well. It's really a theme of these chapters. I'll just point out one here, verse 4. And David said to him, how did it go? Tell me. The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen. And you'll find that word used throughout this portion here. So David has been fighting other battles. He has been so afflicted and persecuted by Saul that he has not been able to even live within the borders of Israel. It was safer for him to go and live in the territory of the Philistines. And so he has taken up residence in a Philistine city Ziklag and it was safer for him to live there outside the borders of Israel than to run for his life all the time inside the borders of Israel from Saul. And so he does not know about the things that have taken place. He's had his own problems to attend to because the Ammonites have come and captured Ziklag while he was off with the Philistines and they have burned the city and they took All of the women and children and all the people that were there took them all captive. And so David has just recovered all of that, all of the plunder, all everything that the Ammonites had. He has slaughtered them and he has come back and brought everything back. Nothing was missing and he was able to recover everything. And so he just returns and he's there for just a couple of days in Ziklag, the city that's pretty much rubble. at this time and there's a man who comes and he is muddy and dirty and he says I've just escaped from the battle of Israel versus the Philistines and so David wants to know how did it go? What happened? And then he goes on to tell him that the Israelite army has fled before the Philistines and that they were totally defeated, routed, and that Saul and Jonathan are dead. And this news hits David hard. And he says, how do you know that he's dead? He said, well, he said, I was there. I was on Mount Gilboa. And I was nearby and Saul saw me and he said, hey, come over here. He said, who are you? He said, I'm an Ammonite. And he said, take the sword and kill me because my life is lingering and I don't want them to come and abuse me. And so he takes the sword and he kills him, he said, because I could see that his life was He was going to die anyways. It was a mercy killing, as it were. And he takes the crown from Saul and he takes his bracelets, his arm bracelet, and he brings these to David. And it's evident that he's expecting that David is going to be so happy about the death of one who was his enemy. Saul was David's enemy, though David was never Saul's enemy. And so he He brings these, he said, I brought these for you. Well, David tears his clothes. His men tear their clothes. They begin to weep. They fast and weep until the end of the day. And at the end of the day, David speaks to this man again. He says, tell me, who are you? And he says, I'm an Ammonite. I'm the son of a sojourner. In other words, this was a resident foreigner in Israel. Perhaps even his parents may have been converts to Judaism because they'd come in to live among the Israelites. We do not know, but he has grown up there. But he is an Ammonite, and you know the trouble that the Ammonites have given to David already in this story. And so David says to him, how is it that you were not afraid? You remember we said about the armor bearer that he greatly feared and would not kill Saul. And he says to this Ammonite, he says, how is it that you were not afraid to kill the Lord's anointed? And then he says to one of his soldiers, one of his young men, he says, execute him. He says, your own words, your blood be on your own head for your own words have condemned you because you said, I have killed the Lord's anointed. And so they take his life. And David writes a song for Saul and Jonathan. You know how much he loved Jonathan. His love for Jonathan and Jonathan's love for him is mentioned here. I'll just say this, that in the song, some have tried to read some corrupt, perverse relationship between David and Jonathan. And this is totally false. The relationship between them was covenantal. They made a covenant before God together. And their relationship was a kingdom one. They were serving the kingdom of God. And that is what brought them together was their service to the kingdom of God, their delight and admiration of one another as those who fought the Lord's battles. And their relationship was a holy one. It would have been entirely incongruous for this to have been some sort of homosexual relationship. And so those who try to say such things are false teachers and foolish in the way they are understanding the Scriptures. But David writes this beautiful song, and he wants it to be taught to Israel, to the people of Israel, so that they will sing and reflect on God's grace to them, even through an unworthy king. And, you know, we could ask the question, why does David, why does David mourn for Saul? In fact, I have a list of questions. Let's put those up there. Why did Saul's armor bearer refuse to kill the dying king? Why did David mourn Saul's death? Why did David execute the Amalekite? Why did David bless the men of Jabesh Gilead? Why did they risk their lives to retrieve the bodies of Saul and his sons? Why did David write a song about Saul and Jonathan for the people of Israel? And just to fill in the gaps here, if you look, in 2 Samuel 2. And verse 4, the second half of verse 4, when they told David it was the men of Jabesh-Gilead who buried Saul, David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them, may you be blessed by the Lord because you show this loyalty to Saul, your Lord, and buried him. Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you, and I will do good to you because you have done this thing. Now therefore, let your hands be strong and be valiant. For Saul, your Lord, is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them." Now keep in mind, David is in his twenties here. Mid-twenties. The maturity of this man is so remarkable. But I wanted you to see where he blessed the men of Jabesh Gilead for what they did to honor Saul and Jonathan. So let's just think about this. Was it because David admired the man Saul that he mourned for him? That he executed the Amalekite that claimed to have killed him? And I'll just say this as well. I think that we have the true history of what happened in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. I think what we have in chapter 1 of 2 Samuel in the Amalekites story is how he has made up some part of this thinking that he's going to gain favor with David. The problem is that he thinks David is building his own kingdom. He thinks David is David first. and that anything that serves David's interest is going to excite David. And so he's thinking, I'm gonna get a reward. Maybe I get a place in the kingdom because I'll tell this story and I'm bringing the crown and all this. Instead, he gets the death penalty. Why? Because David seeks first the kingdom of God. David fears the Lord. David knows that he is a king under authority. and that he is accountable to the authority of God, and that the righteousness of God is what determines right and wrong, not his own interest. He is not building his own kingdom. He is building the kingdom of God. And so he's directed by the fear of God. In fact, the answer to all of these questions is the fear of the Lord. The armor-bearer would not slay Saul because he feared the Lord. The reason that the Amalekite could tell the story he did, though probably a deception and lie, is because he had no fear of the Lord. He's looking to build his own kingdom. In fact, as you come across people in reading the books of Samuel, ask yourself, whose kingdom are they building? whose kingdom are they building? And you'll constantly see that there are those who are building their own kingdoms or they are building a rival kingdom. They're part of a rival kingdom to the kingdom of God. Those who are supporters and friends of David, they are those who are workers with him to build the kingdom of God. and so many lessons there for us. But the kingdom of God is controlled by this principle of wisdom, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. That's the controlling principle that answers all of these questions. The men of Jabesh-Gilead traveled overnight 30 miles in order to get the bodies of Saul. And it says because, why? Because Saul was such a great king, certainly he had benefited them, but why? Because they feared the Lord. They knew it was the right thing to do. They knew that Saul was a representative of God's authority. And that is why David did what he did. It wasn't because of his admiration for Saul. Saul was certainly unworthy in so many ways. But nevertheless, because Saul was the Lord's anointed, because God had placed him in that office, it was God's office to give to whoever he would, and he gave that office to Saul in regard for the Lord's authority that that office represented David honors Saul. In fact, we can read back in 1 Samuel 24 and 26, times when David had the opportunity to kill Saul. And he refused to do it because Saul represented God's authority. He would not rebel against God's authority. He ran to keep his life, but he wouldn't kill the one who was after him because he knew that he represented the authority of God. He was driven by the fear of God. He was motivated by the fear of the Lord. Now, I wanna take a little while and talk about what is the fear of the Lord again. So let's go to the next slide. And we're gonna do this in a number of ways. What is the fear of the Lord? Well, number one, it's understanding the difference between the triune God and all other reality. It's understanding the difference between the triune God and all other reality. Why do people believe and behave in such absurd ways? Why do people believe that gender is fluid? and that their people are not simply men and women. Why do they believe that? Why would they believe something so absurd? Why would they do something so absurd as to try for a man to try to make himself into a woman or a woman try to make herself into a man? Why would they do that? And that's just the tip of the iceberg of all of the irrational things that are done in our age. And the answer is, is because they have a skewed, perverted view of reality. Brothers and sisters, this is God's world. And God is not a part of this world, but he is the creator of all, okay? He is the creator of all. He is the sovereign ruler of all. He has all authority. He is the only one worthy of worship. He is the owner of the divine name. This is the uniqueness of our God, that He stands apart from all other reality. He is the one who gave existence to everything else. But nothing ever gave existence to Him. He is self-sufficient. He is independent. He exists from Himself. He is changeless and immutable. He is without parts and without passions. This is the reality of who God is. And the reality of who God is revealed in Christ, revealed in His Word, revealed through His Son who came into this world. The reality of who God is is what shaped David's thoughts. And so the fear of the Lord is a grip on reality, right? So think about it a second. Materialism, that only what is physical or material, that is the only, that's the real world. There's no other world than that. Anti-supernaturalism, we don't believe in the supernatural. Naturalism, only believe in nature. And they claim these are scientific ideas, but listen, I wanna tell you, these are pagan ideas. Evolution, naturalism, materialism, these are pagan ideas. They are as pagan as the gods of Ashtaroth and Dagon and Moloch and all of the false gods and mythologies that went with them of the ages past. And as a believer, if you're going to know the fear of the Lord, you must have a grip on reality, both in its natural and supernatural forms. And so the fear of the Lord is understanding the difference between the triune God and all other reality. If you think this is all there is, then believe me, anything goes. That's exactly the way the world is. Let's go to the next slide. What is the fear of the Lord? Well, it's seeing, understanding, and responding to all things according to the knowledge of God. So when you look at things, as a Christian, you look with the glasses of faith. I am just barely able to see through these things this morning. So I put these on, and we'll just call these the glasses of faith. And when I look at things with the glasses of faith, then I am able to see the difference, right? I'm able to make discernment. I'm able to have discernment and to see things from God's perspective. It's something that maybe is very fearful, a terrible circumstance, a bad news, whatever it may be, without the glasses of faith, it's overwhelming and we're filled with despair. But put on the glasses of faith and we recognize it for what it is. It is only a circumstance that was ordained by God for my good and that he is working through it. So the glasses of faith changes my perspective. I've told you before that when I was growing up, I went to a school that had very few boys in my class in elementary school. Nine boys, 40 girls, something like that. And six of the boys had failed a grade or two. And so the three of us that were the right age for the class, we spent recess running for our life. But mostly I was not afraid of smaller boys. I was afraid of those big guys, but I was not afraid of smaller boys. When we put on the glasses of faith, we see things for what it is. We see that God is greater than everything else. And it's the fear of the Lord that gives us the perception and the understanding of these things, right? And so seeing, understanding, and responding to all things according to the knowledge of God. Let's go to the next slide. What is the fear of the Lord? Now this is probably more where people would even start in talking about the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is an inward attitude of awe, reverence, trust, hope, and devotion toward the triune God and His Holy Word. So I don't want you to change the slide, but in a moment I have a question, how do I cultivate or how do I grow in the fear of the Lord? And I'm going to say in that slide that we do so by meditating in the Word of God. But it is not just the written word, it is the living word, the logos. See Christ, the word, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it. So The Logos, the Word of God that created all things, the living Word, the revealed Word. God has made Himself known, the triune God, has made Himself known through His Son, through the Son of God, who is the living Word. And when we open our Bibles, we see the written Word. And there is a strong relationship between the written Word and the living Word. And as you spend time meditating in the written Word, then you are going to also see there the image of God in Christ. And you're going to be meditating on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's revealed here. The written Word and the living Word. And it's by this that we are changed. An inward attitude of faith develops of awe, reverence, trust, hope, and devotion toward the Triune God and His Holy Word. So let's go to the next slide. I think this is the last one. How do I learn to fear the Lord? By thinking God's thoughts after him through meditating on his holy word. And I mean by this, not only that you read the Bible, lots of people read the Bible, but meditate in the Bible. You know, those of you that grew up on farms, you ever watched an old cow chew the cud? You know, how many stomachs does a cow have? Six, what is it? However many it is, it's more than me. And he brings up that food again and he chews it again. They call it chewing the cud. And that's very much a picture of what it is to meditate. It is to speak the word of God over and again to yourself. Speak it again and again to yourself. Saying it over and over again, thinking on it, meditating, considering, contemplating. praying the word of God. It is considering the word of God in fellowship with God himself. And it is considering, listen, it is considering the cross of Christ. Meditating on the word of God is meditating on Christ and his gospel, Christ and his cross and his resurrection. And it is there that we are changed. It is by perceiving the glories of God in the person of Christ through His Word. It is there that we are changed from glory to glory. It is there that our perspective, our opinions, our ethics, Whether we think well of something or whether we are frightened by something or we're concerned about something or believe something is wrong, all of that is determined if you are motivated, moved and driven by the fear of the Lord because you have the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And if there's no beginning, with Saul there was no beginning and so there was no end. There was no middle. But if you're going to make progress in the Christian life, you must be like David. We're not out to build our own kingdom. You look at your life differently. You're looking to build the kingdom of God. How can my life serve the glory of God and my neighbor? How can my life glorify God and minister to my neighbor? How can I serve the kingdom of God with my vocation? How can I serve the kingdom of God in my church fellowship? And so being driven and motivated by the fear of the Lord is what shapes the lives of those who live quorum Deo, that is before the face of God. A person who fears the Lord is a person who's constantly looking to God in fellowship with him, but living before his face, my life in his presence. And it is this that makes kings like David and servants like David. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.