with you, I invite you to open to the book of 2 Samuel. As we finished up 1 Samuel last week, we begin this second book of Samuel, the next part of the story, the history of the kings of Israel, where in 1 Samuel, Really, Israel was looking for a king. They were looking for a king for Israel, but now the king is certainly a chosen, God's anointed David is set forth, and so we will now be looking at the king in Israel as he rules and reigns, albeit imperfectly, but points us most of all to the Lord Jesus Christ, the true king of his people who rules and reigns perfectly. So 2 Samuel chapter one, verses one through 16 this evening, when David gets some news. Excuse me. This is God's word, let's pay attention to it. After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag, And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. David said to him, where do you come from? And he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. And David said to him, how did it go? Tell me. And he answered, the people fled from the battle. And also many of the people have fallen and are dead. And Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead. Then David said to the young man who told him, how do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead? And the young man who told him said, by chance, I happen to be on Mount Gilboa. And there was Saul leaning on his spear and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me, And I answered, here I am. And he said to me, who are you? I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said to me, stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me and yet my life still lingers. So I stood beside him and killed him because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm and I have brought them here to my Lord. Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. And David said to the young man who told him, where do you come from? And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite. David said to him, How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? Then David called one of the young men and said, go execute him. And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed. Thus far the reading of God's word. Will you please join me in praying for blessing on preaching of the word. Our Lord and our God, we thank you once again for the word you have given to us. We know that all of scripture is profitable, and that you use it to thoroughly equip your people for every good work. We know that your word is a light to our path, and so we ask, Lord, that you would light our path, that you would guide and direct us by your spirit, that you would teach us all which you would have us to know this evening, that you would thoroughly equip us for every good work by your word and that you would glorify yourself in doing so. We pray, Lord, that you would show us Jesus, even here in this text, for it is all of scripture which teaches us of him. We pray these things in his name, amen. Amen. Before we start, I will say I'm We'll try to preach around this cough drop in my mouth. I'm not quite sure what's going on with this cough, but this is God's providence, and we will trust him to bear us all through this text this evening. In spite of it, we live in a pretty unique time in history. I'm sure everyone throughout history has said the same thing, but for various different reasons. One of the things which makes the age in which we live so unique is the almost instantaneous access we have to widespread news. If you think about it, even 100 years ago, people did not have nearly the access to worldwide news that we have today. People were still relying upon newspapers to acquire the latest breaking news and to disseminate that amongst the local population. They had to wait for events to be told to particular people who would then take those events and write them down tell them to other particular people. But now, thanks to all of the technological advances, which are quite marvelous and a blessing from God, you can pull out your phone, open a web browser and Google what happened in Zimbabwe today, and you'll know. We have amazing access to news. Now this is for better or for worse in various ways, but when we come to a text like this, where David has received news, we can see what a big deal it is. David was not able to immediately access the report of the battle with the Philistines. He had to wait and had to wait for a messenger to come and give him news. And then after receiving the news, David had to decide what to do with that news. And in this text, as David hears the news from the front and responds to the news from the front, we get a picture of the king of God's people. A picture of the anointed king who is compassionate and just. David, in his response to this news, shows us that God's anointed king is compassionate and just, and points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, the true king, who is compassionate and just. There are two parts to this story, of course. The first 10 verses. is when David hears the news. He hears some news generally, and then he hears some specifics about the news. And then in verses 11 through 16, David responds to the news that he had just received, a response of grief, and a response of justice, compassionate grief, and a swift justice. With those divisions in mind, let's jump into the text and see what the Lord has to teach us from this passage. We read there in verse one, after the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained at two days at Ziklag. This is when David heard the news. And this is actually an important verse in the book This is signaling to us that there has been a major change in the narrative. Things have shifted quite a bit. And that's maybe lost on us a little bit because we say to ourselves, well, this is 2 Samuel. We're in a whole nother book. Of course things are different. Of course things have changed. But you have to remember that for the last few thousand years, it's really a very modern thing that we have 1 and 2 Samuel divided for thousands of years. This book, or these two books, were combined together. Indeed, they were combined, as well, with 1 and 2 Kings. It was just the books of the kings. It was telling a unified story about the kings in Israel. There were various verses in 1 Samuel, which told us that a major change had happened, things like the death of Samuel. And so now, the author, 1 and 2 Samuel is telling us, all right, this is after Saul's death, so this is a big shift. The camera will not be zooming over to Saul and then back to David and then back to Saul and then back to David. Things have changed a lot. And the focus is now completely on the anointed King of God, David. And David is in Ziklag after the Amalekites raided. You can imagine what David and his men are doing. They're rebuilding the town. You remember when the Amalekites came and raided, they burned Ziklag down and carried away all of the women and children and all of the possessions, and so David and his men have essentially had no rest. They left Ziklag immediately after they got back from the Philistine army. They went after the Amalekites. They struck down the Amalekites, rescued their families and all of their possessions, returned to Ziklag, and would they have just sat there For the next couple of days, no, it had been burned down and so they were certainly in the process of rebuilding, seeking to restore the home which they had. So all of this is quite important because it's during this period in time, then on the third day, that all of a sudden, as people are going about their work, they look up and they see news. They see news, there is a man running towards the town who is obviously in distress. His clothes are torn, he has dirt on his head, something has gone on. So David, when he gets there, David asks, where do you come from? Where have you been? Who are you? What news do you have for us? It looks to be bad news. What can you tell us? And it is indeed bad news. The way this man is dressed signals something's wrong. The words that come out of his mouth confirm that something is wrong. He says, I came from the camp of Israel. They lost. Israel has been struck down, they fled. Many are dead. Saul and his son, Jonathan, also are dead. This general news is presented to David. It's not exactly a high point in David's life. He got home and is rebuilding, and now he gets news that his people have been killed, the army defeated, and his best friend is dead. But David doesn't listen to this general news and immediately despair. He wants specifics, doesn't he? And so he asks for details. How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead? And the details he gets are Amalekite details, we will call them. Amalekite details. Sometimes people will tell stories that are a bit unbelievable. Sometimes these are more or less good-natured stories. You can think of tall tales, stories of men like Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill, or the story of how Davy Crockett grinned a bear to death, right? Tall tales, they're completely unbelievable, but they're meant to entertain and make a point Some of you maybe who are fishermen have told tall tales about the fish that got away, or the fish that you caught, but you only have very blurry footage of. But those are one thing, right? They're exaggerated, but they're meant to entertain or amuse. There are, however, other unbelievable stories. a second kind of unbelievable where somebody is trying to pass off a lie about themselves to make them look very important or heroic or to convince somebody that they should be rewarded or honored. And as the Amalekite begins to tell David the details of his story, the details show us that it's really the second kind of unbelievable story. The Amalekite says to David, by chance, I happen to be on Mount Gilboa. One of the commentators said, that right there would have been a red flag to David because David knew that there's no such thing as chance. All things are in the providence of God. A little tongue in cheek, but amen. But the Amalekite says, well, I just happen to be there. at the battle and I just happened to be close enough to Saul where I saw all of the things that were going on around him. He was in great distress. There were chariots on the mountain, a place where chariots don't really go. And Saul was greatly distressed and he needed help and I just happened to be right there and Saul turned around and he saw me and said, who are you? And I responded, well, I'm an Amalekite and he said, great, please come kill me. Now we know from the narrator back in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel that Saul indeed was distressed. He had been shot by arrows. He knew that that was the end. He gave into despair. He asked his armor bearer to kill him. But that man refused. And so it seems that this Amalekite was probably close enough to the scene where he saw these things go on and thought, well, I can capitalize on this. But he tells here a very different story from what the narrator told us in 1 Samuel 31. And this has caused some people to say, aha, see contradictions in the Bible. I told you there were contradictions in the Bible. But of course what they fail to remember is that when there is a narrator's testimony versus an Amalekite's testimony, you always go with the narrator. We've seen Amalekites several times in 1 Samuel and Doeg the Edomite, a man who was from another people group that were enemies of God and his people, and not once have they proved themselves to be honorable people. Not once have they proved themselves to fear the Lord. This Amalekite certainly is no exception to the rule. The easy and obvious explanation for the differences in his story and the narrator's story is the Amalekite is lying. He has crafted a very careful story to present to David to get something for himself. He's taken the facts and he's twisted them so that he looks really good. Or at least he thinks he looks really good. And when he comes and tells David these things, surely David will reward him. Maybe he'll get an appointment and the new government, or maybe he'll get some kind of monetary award. This is actually, I think, evidenced by the last thing that the Amalekite says. He says he killed Saul, he struck him down, he couldn't live. He then says, I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm and I have brought them here to my Lord. In essence, he comes to David and he says, I took care of your problem. Saul, your enemy is dead. I killed him and look, I've even brought you his crown and his royal armlet. There's no one standing in your way. You have the royal insignia. You can go back to Israel and everyone's gonna have to listen to you because there's no Saul and you're wearing the crown right now. Aren't I a swell guy? This Amalekite. has come to David with self-seeking motives. I think this is one of those situations in scripture that should cause the reader to pause and think about their motivations for serving the king. What is your motivation for serving King Jesus? Is your motivation for serving him, well, I just want to get out of hell free card. Or well, you know, everybody in my family has been a member of the church and so I need to do that too. Maybe you are hoping that by doing the right things, that'll get you into heaven. Maybe you're thinking, well, all of my friends are in church, so I'll just go with them, hang out with them. Are these your motivations, or is your motivation for serving King Jesus love? Paul talks about faith working through love in Galatians. Love for Christ, thanksgiving for what he has done for us is the motivation for serving him. seeing the love of God in Christ, the promises which he makes to us in his son for salvation, that is the motivation which draws us to Christ and then the motivation for following after Christ and loving him and doing what he says is the loving him. What is your motivation for service to the king? Is it a self-serving motivation like the Amalekite or is it a spirit-worked motivation, love for the saviors. A good question for us to ask ourselves. David receives the news, he receives the details of the news. And maybe he was a little dubious about the Amalekites details. We don't know, we're not told, but he can sense at least the ring of truth and the fact that Saul is dead. and he responds, he and his men with grief. The response of grief is there in verses 11 and 12. David took hold of his clothes and he tore them, and all the men who were with him. They tore their clothes. This was an outward demonstration, or it was supposed to be an outward demonstration of the state of the heart. David in tearing his garments is essentially saying my heart is broken. I am grieving so much for the death of Saul, for the death of Jonathan, for the death of the people of Israel that it's as though my heart has been ripped in half and so I'll rip my clothes in half and sit here desolate as I weep for them, as I mourn for them. Now, sometimes, This was just an act on some people's part when they would tear their clothes and mourn. It's very easy to put on acts of mourning, to cry crocodile tears. It's why in Joel 2 verse 13, the Lord tells people, rend your heart and not your garments. Don't just act like you're grieving over sin. Be truly grieved by sin. Don't put on an act, truly grieve. Well, this is true grief coming from David. This is true grief coming from the anointed. And it's in part a natural grief, but I think it's also a grace given grief. This is a gracious work of the Spirit in David. Why? Well, it's interesting, the people and the groups of people for whom David mourns, isn't it? Look at verse 12. They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul, for Jonathan his son, for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel. They mourn for Saul, the one who had been chasing them all over Judah, seeking to kill them. David weeps for his enemy. This is not a natural thing to do, at least according to human nature. What we would have expected, what I'm sure the Amalekite expected was for David to jump up and down in glee. Finally, Saul is gone. I can go back to Israel now. He won't be hunting me anymore. And yet David mourns. Sure he mourns because Saul was the king of Israel, the anointed, was meant to point people to God, the true king of Israel. But David mourns for his enemy, he weeps for his Enemy. David weeps for his friend, Jonathan. And certainly, many of you have had loved ones who've died. You know this kind of grief. You have shed these kinds of tears. It is something which comes naturally to us, to mourn the death of those whom we love. But we see then, in the mourning for Saul and Jonathan, both the natural grief of David and mourning for Jonathan, but a grace-worked grief and mourning for Saul. We cannot love our enemy, cannot grieve the death of our enemy unless the Spirit has done a work in our heart. But David also mourns for two groups of people, the same group of people, kind of, but presented in two different ways. The author says that he weeps for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel. He weeps, in essence, for the church and for the state. He weeps for the covenant people of God, the people of the Lord, those who were in the army of Israel, who have been cut down, who were his fellow Israelites, who were trusting in the Lord. who were God's chosen people, who were those who had the steadfast love set upon them. It is the church, essentially, that he weeps for. This too, we might say, is the work of the Spirit, because it is the Spirit that causes us to love our brother. In fact, this is one of the evidences of true faith. According to 1 John, it says, if we love the brethren, And the Spirit has worked that in us. David loves the brethren. God has worked that in him. David also loves his people, you might say, in a patriotic sense. The house of Israel. The people of their ancestor, Jacob. They have died. And it is a sorrowful situation. David is the king. and his subjects have died in battle with the Philistines. He was not there to help them. He was not there to save them. He grieves their death. These things demonstrate to us the Spirit is certainly at work in David, but they also point us to Christ, don't they? Here David mourns, he grieves, and in doing so he points to Lord Jesus the one of whom Isaiah says he is a man of sorrow and is acquainted with grief. The Lord Jesus, the one who wept when his friend Lazarus died. The one who wept at the sin and unbelief of Jerusalem, grieved. Jerusalem, Jerusalem. You who killed the prophets, I would have gathered you. as chicks under my wing, but you were not willing. David weeps for his friend, weeps for his enemy, weeps for the church, weeps for his people, the state, the Lord Jesus Christ as well is a savior who grieved. And this can be such a comfort to us when we think about it, can't it? We have a Savior who has borne grief, who has borne great grief. And so He can and does sympathize with you every time you bear grief. Every time your heart is heavy with sorrow, the Savior knows what you have been through. He sympathizes with you and so you can go to Him and find comfort in him. We don't have a cold hearted savior who looks at us and says, dry up the tears, there's no reason for crying. Instead we have the gentle savior who comes alongside us and gives us comfort. And we have the savior who will wipe every tear from our eye. When we enter into his presence in eternity, there will be no more tears or weeping because we will be with him. That is the Savior which David points to. And it's also because of this Savior that we can weep appropriately for even our enemies. David mourns the death of Saul We can weep and we should weep indeed for even our enemies. We read in God's providence this morning in Ezekiel chapter 33 that God does not delight in the death of the wicked but calls them to repent. We ought not delight in the death of the wicked. We ought in fact to mourn. We ought to Be sorrowful that there are many dead and dying who go eternally to hell and are separated from the Lord. Not ought to cause us to love our enemies and to seek to proclaim the gospel to them for their good and for God's glory. David responded in grief. David also responds with justice, doesn't he? They're in verses 13 through 16. David asks this messenger, where do you come from? David has heard his testimony that he killed Saul, but David does not act rashly in administering justice, does he? He seeks to gather some information. He seeks to deal justly rather than rashly. He asks the messenger where he is from. Now, he's asking, at least the words are the same, as what he asked the messenger when he first showed up. In verse three, he says, where do you come from? And now again, he says, where do you come from? There's a difference in emphasis, though, in the questions. The first time he asks it, he's saying, Where have you come from? And now he's asking, where do you come from? In the story the Amalekite gives, he says, well, I told Saul I was an Amalekite. And no doubt, David's ears pricked up at that. He had just dealt with some Amalekites. And so he asks the young man, all right, who are you? What kind of an Amalekite are you? Where have you been the last several days? What were you doing a couple of weeks ago? Were you raiding in Ziklag? Or have you been in Israel for a while? Well, the Amalekite responds, I'm the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite. So he is one of the people of the nations who has come into Israel and is living there. And this is actually enough for David to deal justly. Because this man has just confessed to killing the Lord's anointed and now he said, I've lived in Israel for a while now. He should know the laws of the land he's been living in. He knows that Saul is the Lord's anointed and yet he stretched his hand out against him in spite of all of those things. He wasn't some clueless Amalekite. He was one who should have known the law and should have known that the Lord would deal with Saul. And because of this, David has him put to death. Says, how is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? You're a sojourner? You've been in Israel for a while? How do you have the audacity to do this, how is your heart so hardened by sin that you would think that it is okay to stretch your hand against God, the one who placed Saul in this position? And so David has him executed and says, your blood be on your head, your own mouth has testified against you saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed. Now, we might think that's a little bit harsh We might think, well, David, sure, the Amalekite said this, but the narrator said back in chapter 31 that it wasn't the Amalekite that killed David, so you've just put this man to death wrongly. Well, this Amalekite's confession of murder shows that in his heart, he didn't think the murder was any big deal, that he was a murderer in his heart. and was opposed to the Lord and the Lord's anointed, no matter the circumstance. He went to a crime scene and said, I confess to doing the whole thing, please take me away. In his heart, he desired to sin. And because David went off of that testimony, because David saw that in his answer he had no remorse for his iniquity. David was just and right in putting this enemy of the anointed to death. And this too, this justice which David performs here points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it? Christ, as the judge of all of the earth, will execute justice on the wicked. On the last day, at the judgment seat, Christ, knowing all things, will judge righteously and truly. The difference, perhaps though, between Christ and David, is that David had to operate on the testimony of the Amalekite. David had to operate with the wisdom which he had, the understanding which he had, was faulty, but Christ, who is God, knows the hearts and minds of all people. And so even if a man didn't confess to sinning to Christ, the great judge, he still knows all that is in the heart and all that is in the mind. And so he will judge completely in truth and righteousness there. at the last day. Christ, the judge of the earth, will judge even better than David could ever judge. Also, unlike David though, Christ is long suffering to us. David had to execute justice swiftly Christ is long-suffering to men, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And then again, as we read in Ezekiel this morning, not delighting in the death of the wicked, but calling the wicked, his enemies, to repentance and to faith. Christ says to his enemies, flee the wrath to come. Come to me, forsake your sin. to come to me for refuge. I, the just king, am the compassionate king as well. I do not hate my enemies. I gave my life for my enemies. I do not hate the evildoer. I desire that he should turn from his sin, turning to me and living. David, in some ways, Exhibits this, he grieved and he's compassionate towards his people Israel. Christ so much greater than David. The man of grief but the one who is compassionate even to his enemies. David judges imperfectly but demonstrates that the King of God is to be a just King, Christ. More than David ever could, judges justly and will judge justly, but tells his enemies, those who are currently under the wrath of God, come to me and live. I have satisfied all of God's justice for you. The king of God's people, the anointed king, is a compassionate and just king. David demonstrates this, but more than that, he points us to Christ. who does these things perfectly and abundantly. Let's close in prayer.