Well, brothers and sisters, have your Bibles open and stand with me as we read and honor God's Word together. 1 Samuel chapter 29 is our text for tonight. 1 Samuel 29 is a short chapter, and we're going to look at all 11 verses tonight. So 1 Samuel 29. In the previous chapter, we've seen the The great predicament of the Lord's anointed, David, put between a rock and a hard place. In this chapter we see how the Lord providentially and sovereignly rescues David and also highlights a beautiful aspect of courage in David. 1 Samuel 29, this is the reading of God's Word. Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Afek while the Israelites were camping by the springs, which is in Israel. And the lords of the Philistines were proceeding on by hundreds and by thousands. And David and his men were proceeding on in the rear with Achish. Then the commanders of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews doing here? And Ahish said to the commanders of the Philistines, This is not Dawid, the servant of Shaul, the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him from the day he deserted me to this day? But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, Make the man go back, that he may return to his place where you have assigned him. And do not let him go down to battle with us, or in the battle he may become an adversary to us. For with what could this man make himself acceptable to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men? Is this not David of whom they sang in the dances, saying, Shaul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? Then Achish called David and said to him, As the Lord lives, you have been upright, and you're going out, and you're coming in with me in the army. are pleasing in my sight, for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Now therefore, return and go in peace, that you may not displease the Lord of the Philistines. Dawid said to Achish, but what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King? But Achish replied to Dawid, I know that you are pleasing in my sight like an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, he must not go up with us to the battle. Now then arise early in the morning with the servants of your Lord who have come with you. And as soon as you have arisen early in the morning and have light, depart. So David arose early, he and his men to depart in the morning and return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Israel. Amen. Please be seated. I see the preparation for an all-on assault of Philistines. There's mentioning of the lords and the commanders. The lords are the kings of the five city-states. The commanders are the generals who lead the armies. They're all assembled at this great assembly site. And they're going to go out and fight near the plains there. Gilboa is where the Israelites are. Afek is where the Philistines are. The great operation will be at Shunem, up north from where they are, in this great valley. Great Plains. In the previous chapter's prophetic utterance of Samuel's words, that Saul and his sons would join him in Sheol left an air of darkness and suspense. As Saul marched back to his camp at Gilboa at night. And what you find here is that David is released to go back in the daytime. As a matter of fact, the word morning, bocheh, is mentioned twice, and then it talks about in the light once. And so that tells you that there is a contrast between Saul who came stealthily wanting to evade the detection of the Philistines. And he received his final word through Samuel who has been given in a vision to Saul to utter the prophetic word of final demise of Saul's death. at the battle the next day. While for David, the next day would be the way that God would protect and preserve him, release him from this predicament between Iraq and our place, and then release him back to his place. You see what God is doing is that through the contrast of Saul and David, we see now that God is preserving one, to ascend him to the throne of Israel and is now judged the other and preparing him for his final demise. And that's the contrast right here in this chapter. For David, he would march back to Ziklag during the daylight, having been given words of comfort and vindication from Achish. As a matter of fact, he contests that he should fight. Achish says, no, you can't. The lords of the Philistines don't like it and the commanders won't approve. So you have to go back. I'm sorry, you have to go back. David says, but I want to fight. You made me a head bodyguard. I'm the best warrior there is. I should fight. Achish says, I know, I know, but you need to go back. Isn't that amazing? There's a lot of irony here. I don't know if you caught that in this short chapter. Achish is so blinded that he can't see any fault in David. And inadvertently pronounces some of the most lofty words crediting David with righteousness and goodness. He even cites Yahweh's name to comfort David and to help him to know that Achish finds nothing of fault in him. And the two theological terms of good, tov, and evil are both given here. Good and evil. Where do you see that? It says pleasing and not pleasing. It's the English translation, pleasing and not pleasing. That's good and evil in the Hebrew. So the punchline, through what they say and how Achish is totally deceived, David is masterful at deceiving him, the Philistine lords and the generals see the clear danger. They must have thought that Ahish is so gullible and so stupid. How can you allow a Hebrew, armed Hebrews, to fight in a battle against the Hebrews? That's such, so dangerous they could turn it on a dime. And yet, Akish doesn't think that David would do that. He had ample time. He said, I've tested him out. He's faithful and loyal to me. He's given me a lot of spoils from his own conquest. He's become odious. He became stinking toward the Jews, and the Jews will never accept him back. He hates Saul. Saul pursued him and chased him down. We know all about that. And David's my man. And yet, the Philistine lords don't like it. The generals won't approve. While the Philistine commander is ready for battle and their experience and battle prudence, don't trust an Israelite. Achish pressed David to join the battle at first and saying, you will fight with me. He says, you will see what your servant can do. And all that David says is always ambiguous. What is he going to do? We're not quite sure. But he says enough to pacify Achish and to satisfy him. Rai, I'd like to see you really in action. That's what Achish thinks. But David may be thinking completely something different. You will see what your servant can do. So Achish doesn't want to lose David's service because Achish believes that David is a great, great catch and a wonderful servant. So why would he offend him? How do you not offend the ego of a warrior after you've pressed him into service, and then you have to tell him that you can't fight? That's a major letdown. So David presses his point. He's saying, don't you trust me? He says, of course I trust you, David. Then why can't I fight? I want to go fight. You work and change the circumstances around so that I and my men would fight in this battle. Achish says, no, I can't do that. And finally orders him to return. So what is the lesson for Israel and for us from this short chapter? What is the Lord trying to teach his people from these events? What is the important spiritual and theological lesson that we're to glean from this passage? That's our homework from this most interesting narrative. It's filled with irony. There's some humor here because Achish is completely deceived. David is very cunning. The Philistines seem to get it. They're very prudent and practical. And we have all these great theological themes of good and evil going on over here. And the loftiest praise for David's goodness and righteousness comes from none other than the Philistine, from Philistine's mouth. Saul refuses to invoke the name of the Lord, but this Philistine does invoke the name of the Lord and he blesses David. So what's going on here? Well, let's take a look in more detail and let's look at the Lord's benevolent vindication of his anointed. How the Lord providentially protects and preserves and vindicates his anointed. verses 1 to 2. Here we have a complication for David. Complication for David. Now notice this phrase in verse 1, Philistines gathered together all their armies. That's not an accident. This is a massive gathering of the Philistine troops. All five city-states of Philistia, and each one of their seranim, their lords, have gathered together all the combined military forces for one fast and swift thrust into Israelite territory. This is a massive gathering. They want to once for all crush the Israelite military strength for a complete domination. That's what this battle is. It is momentous. This military strategy was the Philistine Blitzkrieg against the Israelite defenses, using all the soldiers of all the gathered territories, all at once in this battle, and they have camped at Afek. Now, Afek reminds us of what happened at the beginning of the book of Samuel, when we saw the Philistine battle the Israelites, and they assembled and defeated the Israelites. Remember, it's been a long time, so let's review. 1 Samuel chapter 4, look at verse 1. It says, thus the word of Shmuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside Eben Ezzer while the Philistines camped at, oh, there you go, Afek. See that place again. And remember the outcome of the battle? Look at verse 10. So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent and the slaughter was very great for there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. It's a great slaughter. That's a great drop in the morale. It was from this very event that the outcry of Israel towards Samuel was great. They demanded Samuel to provide them a military leader who would lead the armies and go fight wars. They're tired of relying upon a spiritual leader for guidance. They want somebody with the military leadership and to have a predictable passing on of powers in a dynastic rule. They wanted something like what every nations have, so they would go out and fight their battles. It was from this very defeat at Afek, at chapter 4, that the Israelites received Saul. And it would be from this point where Saul would meet his defeat, as Israel would lose again. as years passed. The irony of this revolving door is laid out right here in the opening verse. Israel had come full circle. All the battles that they won against Philistia would now all be almost wiped out by this major battle where the king would lose his life and his sons. The preferred king would be defeated by none other than the Philistines, who once defeated them here at Afek. So we see that the Philistines are not just superstitious, but they're going at this with an all-out force at Afek once again, not only because they won there, but also it seems that they're going back to the same strategy that they had before. They had the right location, they had the right strategy, and they won. But after they won, they thought that they would fully conquer. But God did something else. He raised up Saul, and then raised up David, and the Philistines had a losing streak. Now, they're tired of losing. Now they said, we're going to gather all the troops and go all at once. And so this is all our battle. Everyone was appointed to fight the Philistines, lose against the Philistines, and die at this battle. Israel would suffer a greater casualty, but the Philistines would win, and seemingly, they seem to have full control. And so here, while Israelites were camping by the spring which is in Yitzra'il, this Yitzra'il is not to be confused with Yitzra'il in the southern part. This is near the spring Harod, which is the very same spring and the river that flows from there, a small creek where Gideon drank from. Verse 2 says, the lords of the Philistines were proceeding on by hundreds and by thousands. This is military inspection of the ranks right before you go to war. So the Philistine soldiers are getting ready for the battle. And then you see David and his men, 600 men, were proceeding on in the rear with Achish. David and his men right there in the rear, Achish and all the soldiers of Gath, and there's David and his men. Jews standing in the ranks along with the Philistines, what a sight. David is going to battle with the Philistines against Saul and the Israelite soldiers. What would happen to the mercy shown to Saul at the cave of Ein Gedi and the hill of Hachilah? In this very battle where Saul dies, if David even sets his foot on the battlefield, he would be confused and mislabeled as being the perpetrator and the one who actually killed Saul. Now think about that. Think about the delicateness of this whole situation. If David just even sets his foot, and if an Israelite sees David and his men just standing there, he would be labeled, because they will say, David was at the battle where Saul died, therefore David killed him. David had all the motives to kill him. I mean, that will be the headline in Tel Aviv news, right? So the suspense regarding David's complications is mounting. And this is how the narrator sets up this chapter. Then we see, secondly, complaint against David, verses three to five. Here is just a divine appointment. Then the commander of the Philistines recognized these Hebrews and said, what are these Hebrews doing here? In this pre-battle formation, the Philistine generals were leading the troops and they're examining the troops, notice a strange and offensive sight in their eyes. armed Hebrews among the ranks of Philistia. And Akish, of course, gives an explanation to his commanders of Philistine. Notice the way he says it is more of a rhetorical way. Is this not David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel? He points back to David's relationship with Saul. Think about it. This was one of Saul's lieutenants. Who has been with me these days, That means that he has defected to me. He's no longer with Saul, he's with me. Or rather these years, Akish inflates the figures. I've watched David long time. He's my man. I vouch for him. And I found no fault in him from the day he deserted to me this day. Now, Akish protests against the Philistines and their commanders, defending David before them. Here's a Philistine defending an Israelite before the Philistines. That's ironic humor at its best. Akish embellishes his protest by claiming that David has stayed with him a long time, has proven himself. Akish argues that during this duration, David had proven his loyalties, his integrity, his trustworthiness. The irony here is that David is indeed, he has no fault. but not the way Akhish thinks. He has no fault in doing anything wrong before the eyes of the Lord and before Israel. He has not harmed Israel. He has not harmed anything that God has granted to him. But this is the literary punchline here, that he has no fault comes from the mouth of a Philistine. Verse 4. By the way, think about that. Think about the irony in that. Saul kept finding fault in this innocent man. He found more and more evil as the days went by. And yet, this Philistine says there's no fault. Verse four, but the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. The generals were leading the battle. They weren't amused by Achish's vote of confidence towards this Israelite warrior hero. These men were practical soldiers. They are dealing with life and death issues. They're not going to take this kind of a risk into their own hands and believe in a man who's obviously taken by this Jew. They're not gonna do that. They must have thought Akish to be so stupid and gullible and dangerous and foolish. They'll have none of it. And so the commander of the Philistines said to him, make the man go back that he may return to his place where you have assigned him and do not let him go down to battle with us. The generals override Akish's vote of confidence with their veto, forced Akish to send David back. and their rationale, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what could this man make himself acceptable to his Lord?" Now, pay very close attention to what the Philistine generals are saying, because that, I believe, is the answer to this entire passage of David's motivation. because we will answer the question, why does David continue his deceptive ploy and insist that he go to the battle? Why? You see, David has been given a courageous and protective heart. While he's standing in this formation, he sees a sea of Philistine soldiers, and you know, it doesn't take a smart man to calculate You do a quick calculation, Israel has no chance. No chance. Therefore, David says to himself, I must get involved in this fight, and in the middle of the battle, I must make a strategic move to somehow cut off the heads of these commanders and these generals, and really crush the morale of the Philistines, get them to fly, because if they take a strategic advantage over this battle, Israel is doomed. My king, Saul, is dead. He knows it. I mean, David is a master tactician. He's a military strategist. You can add the numbers. It's very clear. You can look at the terrain. They're gonna fight a plain, a valley war, which means all the Philistine military equipment will be there. The chariots will be there. I mean, Israel will be men's meat. Last time they fought, 35,000 Israelite foot soldiers died. This would be a bloodbath. And we see this passage is the answer. So I'm giving you a preview. Listen to the words of the Philistine generals. Less in the battle, he become an adversary to us. For with what could this man make himself acceptable to his Lord? Notice their reasoning. If David had a fallout with Saul, If he gains his favor by turning on us and crushing us, he will surely find a way to find favor in Saul's eyes. He could be a double agent, is what they're saying. Could be a double agent. He's playing a double agent spy game here. The possibility of David turning on the Philistines is too great a risk for them to take. Even if Achish is right, they say, we can't take this risk. And so they say, would it not be with the heads of these men? Here is another humorous irony. For Achish entrusted David with his head by making him his personal bodyguard. Remember that passage that we read last chapter, 1 Samuel 28, verse two. Remember when Akish pressed David and said, you know, know assuredly, verse one, that you will go out to me in the camp and you and your men. David said to Akish, very well, you shall know what your servant can do. So Akish said to David, very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. Now the term for bodyguard, as we studied that word before, it means I will make you a guard for my head. That's literally what the Hebrew says, for life. guard for my head. We say bodyguard, they say a head guard, right? Remember that? Now the Philistine commanders are saying David might regain the favor with Saul with the heads of these Philistine men. Now here is Achish's head guard and the Philistine saying he can knock off the heads of our soldiers and with those heads he will gain favor. What is that an allusion to? Goliath. David defeated Goliath, cut off his head, and with that head, he gained favor with Saul. You know, they know their history, they know the track record, it ain't gonna happen, they said. It's not gonna happen under our watch, you send them back. Before they send them back, they remember the top 10 song in Israel's radio. Is this not David whom they sang in the dances, saying, Saul is slain his thousands, David is 10,000. It's not only just the top 10 song, it's become a party favorite. They sing even in the dances, they said, indicating that in the previous battle, David had caused massive casualties to the armies of Israel. And Saul and David are placed together. So the Philistine understanding is, hey, Saul's still in charge, David is his lieutenant, both of them as teamwork together and slaughtered the masses. But that's, it's an allusion to Saul's bitter jealousy and evil spirit in him. Because David had caused such great casualty upon the Philistines, Saul became jealous. And he became outraged and wanted to kill David. The strong complaint of the Philistine commanders caused Achish to back down in embarrassment, no doubt, for he was too weak to override their veto. And yet we see the Lord is working behind the scenes. He's invisible, but he's working. who's seen the complications for David, the complaints against David, and thirdly, the compromise towards David, verses 6 and 7. In his effort to appease what he felt was a wounded ego of a valiant warrior, Akish ironically calls upon the name of David's God and pronounces a solemn oath toward him. Verse 6, that Akish called David and said to him, as the Lord lives, that's a formula for an oath. As Yahweh lives, you have been upright. Oh yeah, David's been upright, all right, but not as Achish thinks. He's been upright before Yahweh, but he hasn't been upright before Achish. Achish is totally deceived. And you're going out and you're coming in with me, and the army are pleasing in my sight. This says good in my eyes, that's what he says, literally. So here we have the moral, Contrast of the categories of 12 good Pleasing and now we're going to see not pleasing and look for that David's deception and his personal charm it completely fooled our fish It's ironic because our fish commends David of being upright. That's honesty integrity and good and His will honor towards him for I have not found evil. There's the other moral Contrast right the opposite I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me this day and that's also very humorous humorously ironic because none other than a Philistine arch enemy of God's people is commending David for his integrity while the king of Israel accuses David of evil and The other Philistine general saw right through the danger that David is. Achish, however, is completely blinded. He says, I have not found evil in you at all. Only if he knew what David was up to. He says, nevertheless, you are not pleasing. There you go. You are not pleasing. You are not good in the sight of the lords. Just as pleasing in the previous clause meant good, the phrase not pleasing means literally not good. You are not good. So get ready for the counterpart. Evil, right? The Philistines' Lord clearly see that from their perspective, David is not good. Akish disagrees with them, but can't do anything about it. Akish says, I trust you, David, but they don't. They don't think you're good, but I know you're good. That's what Akish says. Now verse seven, now therefore return and go in peace, that you may not, there you have it, displease the Lords of the Philistines, that you will not be evil, right? before them. Achi sends David back to Ziklag with the concern that he doesn't want David to be misunderstood under the suspicion of evil in the sight of the Philistine lords. Well, who's right? What will David do, good or evil, to the Philistines? It's quite humorous and ironic because the readers of this First Samuel, the word of God, knows that David is a trustworthy, good man in the sight of God. He's a man after God's own heart. He will never do what is evil to his own people Israel. God has made him a shepherd over the people of Israel. But the Philistine, Achish in this case, clearly gets it all wrong. And it's quite ironic, quite humorous. The two opinions of the Philistine lords come to a stalemate. So what does this leave David? And compromise has to be struck to dismiss David from the battle, because Achish wants to hold on to David. He's been a real good guy. He's been giving some spoils. Meanwhile, David's going around defeating all of Israel's ancient enemies, one after the other, leaving no eyewitnesses, bringing all their spoils and saying, hey, I've been raiding among the Israelites. Look what I got. Here's my tribute to you. Achish is saying, what a loyal servant. Who brings me as much income as you do and good news as you do? I can't believe I got you. You're my servant for life. And with all these exploits you're doing amongst your people, you are so odious. You're a stinker. Before the Israelites, they'll never have you back. You're mine forever. This is what Akish is thinking. And so, David is charming, he is winsome, he feigns loyalty and actually believes it all. He's comparing David to his own commanders and generals, and David stands far above everybody else. He is a well-known warrior. He had a zero defeat record, 100% success rate. And with his ploy that he hates Saul, He's being chased down by him. Now he's loyal to Achish. He's working like charms. But what happens when David is sent back from the battle? Here, we have a very interesting passage that requires proper interpretation. Because without understanding the overall context and without focusing on the right areas, we will get this whole thing wrong. Because if you read the typical commentary, it will say, David is opportunistic and uses this complete deception of Akhish to press his point to get a greater leverage. so that he will act like he is wanting to go into the battlefield when he doesn't. But he's pushing himself to the very limits so he can really leverage himself and really score major points for the future. He's securing his grounds. That's what some people would say, and I don't think that that's a proper understanding because of what we see. what David is doing. The Lord had providentially orchestrated a marvelous way of escape for David in a way that David could not have expected. There's no way he could have orchestrated this, but the Lord did. And yet what we find here is a surprising twist. The Lord had made a way for David to do good to Saul while not needing to do evil to Achish. Verse eight, and David said to Achish, but what have I done? With that phrase, he said this quite a lot, by the way. What have I done? He said this quite a bit. When he came to the battle scene as a young teenager, his older brothers accused him of all kinds of malice. I know why you're here, you little punk kid. You're here to watch the battle. You know this place is of life and death and you're here for amusement, right? You're just a bratty kid. He said, what have I done? Later on, when Saul tries to mistreat him, he says, what have I done? Now he says to Achish, what have I done? So it is a literary device for us who have seen this before to show this is not a ploy, this is a genuine complaint, it seems. All right, that's first observation. David takes the opportunity to make a strong complaint. Obviously if you don't follow that you'll think that it's it's another ploy. It's another deception He certainly doesn't mean to complain against his blessed escape from his predicament or does he I? Mean he was in a pickle wasn't he? Wasn't he? Now we get to read verse 2 a little differently 1st Samuel chapter 28 verse 2 You will see You will see. You shall know what your servant can do. Was he tricking Akish there? Or was he making a plan by himself to do something? Well, let's read on. Well, before, I'm gonna make a couple more points. Is David trying to gain greater leverage for himself, as some commentators say, by taking advantage of Akish's embarrassing predicament through a cunning ploy? You know, if you're the type of person who talks aloud, like watching a movie or something, and if this were a movie or a show, then you'd be yelling at David. No, no, David. Don't push it. Why are you trying to jeopardize this good thing? Don't get cocky. Why are you doing that? Back off, right? You're talking to the movie. And here you are saying, what's David doing? He's complaining. What have I done? And notice what it says. David pushes the boundaries of his deception if it is deception, and even protest against his prohibition to join the battle, if he is indeed doing that. But why? To gain greater leverage in this deception? Really? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King? Notice also David's ambiguous phrase, and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King. He doesn't say, you ahish, yeah, which lord, which king. It's just like what he said in verse two of chapter 28. You will see what your servant can do. You shall know what I can do. What does that mean? What does it mean here? Fight against the enemies. Who are the real enemies? What's David talking about? Of my lord the king. That's another literary hint. Did you know that David always, always referred to Saul as my lord, the king? Even when he rebuked Saul's bodyguards, he says, you didn't protect your lord, the king. He always called Saul my lord, the king. So what did he mean? Is this David's deception? Partly it is, but the truth is concealed in his own mind. For Achish, he heard what he wants to hear. David is absolutely loyal. He's eager to fight. He was excited about going to the battle, and now Aki says, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to do this to you, David. You can't go. I believe in you, but they don't. I got to send you back. And David complains. But in that statement, the readers can pick up David's subtlety and his inner motives to actually turn on the Philistines and lead a great slaughter and fight for Saul and Israel. because it says, and fight against the enemies of my lord the king. David was planning the very thing that the Philistine commanders and the lords had feared and suspected. So that was the hint. That's a literary hint of what's going on. So David's strong complaint was not to use the situation to gain favor, but to get Achish to somehow overturn the decision of the Philistine lords so that he could enter the battle to help Saul and Israel in this crucial fight. Saul was afraid of the Philistines, but David wanted to fight the Philistines to protect Israel. We see the courage and the valor of the Lord's anointed coming through this passage, His audacity, His courage. Verse 9, but Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are pleasing in my sight. There's that Hebrew moral term again, Tov, you are good in my eyes, like an angel of God. It says, a messenger of God. Achish is totally fooled and praises David for his favor upon him with lofty words. Achish says that David is as good as a messenger of God. Little does he know that David actually is a messenger of God. The irony of it all. That he is a deliverer of Israel. That he will finish what Saul could not. Nevertheless, he says, the commanders of the Philistines have said, he must not go up to us in battle. But Akish argues that his hands are effectively tied. And the majority of the generals have overruled the desire to have David and his men join the battle. For David, his desire to enter the battle tied his hands. There's nothing he could do. But little does David know that God had another plan to work out his sovereign purposes through Israel's defeat. Verse 10, Now then, arise early in the morning, and the servants of your Lord who have come with you. And as soon as you have arisen early in the morning, and have light, depart. Akish is interesting, calls the rest of David's men servants of your Lord. Of course, he's referring to himself, right? But it says, as soon as you have risen early in the morning. Now, notice in verse 10, there's two mentions of morning. Morning, morning, and have light. As I mentioned before, this is to contrast Saul's seeking out the witch of Eindor, the medium of Eindor at night, incognito, fearing the Philistines, David is to go home freely, in the morning, and light, through the Philistine ranks, while they can't touch him, he goes and stays in a safety in Ziklag, very distant, over 20 miles away, and even more. from the actual scene. There's no way people can say David had something to do with this battle, because God ineffectively removes him far, far, far from the battle scene. So Saul had to depart at night in stealth. David departs in the morning in broad daylight. Saul heard his own death sentence through Samuel's prophecy. But for David, he and his men is protected in safety by the Lord. He's given lofty words of commendation, of assurance. You're a messenger of God. The Lord's name is mentioned. Safety to zig-zag far from the battle scene, in the open, in the morning light, in full view of the Philistines. This is an amazing contrast. And it's a twist of irony here. So we're at the very end. We've seen the complications for David. We've heard the complaints raised against David by the Philistine commanders. We've seen the compromise of Achish towards David. And of course the courage of David, not his further ploy, but his courage to really want to go and fight and turn the whole tide around for Israel and for Saul, his Lord. And yet God does not allow him to do that. And fifthly and finally, verse 11, cover for David. And so the narrator simply describes what David did. By sending David far away, David arose early, he and his men to depart in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. That's Tziklag. And the Philistines went up to Israel for the battle. The Lord was providentially working on his purposes to remove David from any blame associated with Saul's death. Anyone with any objectivity to the facts surrounding Saul's death can clearly see that Saul died at the hands of the Philistines only. That David had nothing to do with it. The Lord wanted to ensure that David would not be anywhere near the battle when he judged Saul. The Lord silently, invisibly worked out his providence among men, as the word of God testifies in Proverbs 21, verse one. It says, the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. And here we have a beautiful picture of God's invisible hand, providential working out in the hearts of the leaders of nations. Now think about what's going on right now in Crimea with Putin and with Obama and all the posturing and all that. People think that they're making all these crazy important decisions that is epic making in history, historical in nature. But my Bible tells me, it's like channels of water in the hands of the Lord. It doesn't just flow wherever, it flows as the Lord guides. That's what this says. He turns it wherever he wishes. Now, the New Testament corollary to that is Pontius Pilate, a Gentile politician, the Roman governor. Isn't it interesting that he pronounced Jesus Christ innocent three times before the Jewish leaders? In Luke 23, verse four says, I find no guilt in this man. Verse 14, 15 says, I find no guilt in this man. Nothing deserving death has been done by him. Luke 23 verse 22, I find no guilt in him, no guilt demanding death. Isn't that ironic? That a Gentile who has no issues whatsoever with the Lord's anointed, who have never met him prior, nor cared about his situation prior, simply concludes not guilty three times before the Jews. Isn't it also ironic that a Philistine would defend the righteousness and the goodness of the Lord's anointed three times in this passage? Have you been following? Tov, rah, tov, rah, good, evil, good, evil. You're pleasing in my sight, you're good, you're upright. Very interesting. This is the Lord's vindication of his anointed. So what we see in a small way of a picture of a contrast between Saul, the one judged, David, the one exalted and vindicated, Achish, the king of the Gentile nations who is opposed to God's people, he's putty in God's hands. What did David write in Psalm 23? You set a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You set a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Here, God uses the enemies to set the table for David. I mean, this is what's amazing, is that the ironic, amazingly ironic and humorous and yet profound thing is that God allows a pagan Gentile king, the enemy of Israel, to speak forth the praises. You know when my Bible tells me that every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father? You know what that means? It says every. What does that include? Satan too. I believe that Satan and the demons will be forced to acknowledge Jesus Christ is Lord and God. Isn't that what the demons did? They shriek when Jesus appear. Why have you come to torment us? Oh, Jesus, the Holy One of God, we know who you are. They were cowering in fear, and they obeyed him. He commanded them. Even Satan, the fallen angel, and all of his demons will be forced to say, Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. God indeed will set a table before his enemies, for his anointed. This is God's vindication. So the message here for Israel, for David, is very clear. David had a desire to go into the battle and protect Israel, but God would not let him. David doesn't understand this, but God providentially orchestrated this to remove David from any fault associated with Saul's death as God executes his judgment as he has proclaimed through Samuel at Ein Dor. God is true to his word. And then by removing David, he finds out that Saul and his sons are dead. Now Israel has a vacuum of leadership. Now David can come forth and provide that leadership. And instead of taking the kingdom, Israel comes and acknowledges David and asks him to be king. And David fully accepts because he's already the Lord's anointed. This is a long, driven out process. And that's what we're going to be studying later on. But now the stage is set. God has now set a vacuum of leadership so that his anointed would not only be vindicated, but he would ascend into the kingdom. And so this is a powerful, providential work of God. And He even uses, what? The enemies of God's people to fulfill His purposes. And who can fathom His ways? And this is what's amazing for Israel. Now what about for us? Look at Christ. Look at all the people who oppose Christ. Look at the enemies of the gospel. You know what? They're not in charge. The Lord is going to orchestrate their ways. North Korea may prevent the gospel from coming in but God is just simply Cleaning the slate so that the gospel will have the best harvest later on. You know, when there's a lot of trimming, that's because there's gonna be a huge harvest later on. And we look at the nations that are destitute, that are poor, that are suffering. There's a great revival of the harvest of souls right now in those lands. And yet, in the very places where men have been arrogant and opposing the Lord's anointed, God's even using them to provide ways and opportunities. When I go back and reflect upon how the Soviet Union collapsed, and how many of the republics have opened, and they even invited Christians to come and teach them, because there was a moral vacuum, and they said, we need you. Somehow, you people stand in line, and you have order in your society. Our people, it's pandemonium. There's no riots. People cooperate and coordinate. There's no violent overthrow and uprising. There is looting and riots going on. We need morality taught to us because we're only put under force under the heavy arm of the Soviet hammer. But now that's removed. we need help. Now, isn't that ironic that the former Soviet Union and the leadership invited Christian leaders to come and teach in their universities and their schools, talk to their leaders, and teach them how to train people to have morals. And of course, this is a great opportunity for the gospel. And now there's so many churches planted, you know, after two decades, three decades now, so many churches planted in former Russia and Soviet Union and in the Ukraine. And yet, and through that, God has reaped a wonderful harvest of souls. And same thing is going to happen in China and in any other place where the gospel is prevented from coming. And this is what's wonderful about those who oppose Christ. The Lord will use that spiritual judo chop and make a table set before the Lord's presence and before the enemies. And so we can rejoice in that and we can think about all the ways that God can use his people to do his work, not in the way that we think, but in the way that God is doing it. And so for us in the New Testament era, as we look at Christ, as God used a pagan politician like Pilate To declare the innocence of the Messiah, we see the world of wicked men, and they will eventually recognize those who know the Lord, those who follow the Lord, those who worship the Lord are the people that we can trust. And so, brothers and sisters, you and I have a tremendous opportunity to exalt Christ among the nations. Your Buddhist friends, your Hindu friends, your Muslim friends will ask you, why you don't lie, why you don't curse, why you don't cheat, why you try to live an upright life, a moral life, because you have a living relationship with your Lord. And it will be even through the invisible providential way that God will place the people who are against the Lord to be now those who exalt the Lord. May the Lord receive glory and honor as even unbelievers praise your Heavenly Father and glorify Christ on the day of his visitation when you, through your commitment to Jesus Christ, the Lord's anointed, he will vindicate you before your enemies as he's vindicated the Lord Jesus Christ before his enemies, as is vindicated David before his enemies. What a wonderful, wonderful reminder for us as Christians. Let's give thanks to the Lord. Gracious Father, we thank you for the great vindication that we see here of your anointed King David. We see how you've done that as well with our Lord Jesus Christ. Even though people have maligned him and spoke falsely against him, saying that he is Operating by Satan himself and he is filled with demons. He's a lawbreaker. He's a he's an immoral person He's a drunkard and friends of tax collectors and sinners Well, we thank you that you have vindicated Christ as the perfect and pure and righteous one that even a pagan immoral politician would acknowledge And as we've seen in the life of King David, that even a Philistine would acknowledge David's goodness and uprightness. And you put the lips in a Philistine and the words in his mouth to proclaim your excellencies and your work and your anointing. Lord, help us to therefore gain great confidence and courage in the gospel, that even the enemies of the cross would one day become the great heralds of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because you will turn the things around to exalt you. We look forward to the day when all mouths will confess Jesus Christ, Lord, or every knee will be bowed. And everyone will be subjected under His absolute and sovereign rule and control, even Satan himself, even all the demons. So we thank you that nothing can oppose your authority. And we thank you that we can serve our Lord with courage. So we give you praise and thanksgiving for the encouragement that we receive through the Lord's anointed, our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen. Lord bless you and keep you.