The following is a sermon preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi. This evening we continue on in the Life of David series. We're going to look at chapters 27, the first two verses of chapter 28, and chapter 29. Before you check out, seeing that it's over two chapters, I want you to know it's one continuous narrative, essentially, and it's 25 verses. It tells the story of David when he flees to the Philistines. This is after For a second time, he has spared the life of Saul. God has allowed him to be in a position in which he was able to spare the life of Saul. So this is directly after that, and I should say that the most helpful commentary was Ralph Davis' commentary on 1 Samuel. It was tremendously helpful, and I do want to give credit because much of the content comes from him and even some of the application points. And so we're looking at 1 Samuel chapter 27. We're going to read through 28-2 and then on through 29. Let me pray before we read God's Word. God, we do ask this evening that your word and the truth of your word would stick in our hearts, that it would mold us and it would shape us, that we would see more clearly your sovereign care, that we would love you and praise you more sincerely because we see that you're a great God, a great and sovereign God. We pray this confidently and expectantly, knowing that your word does not return void. And so please be with us this evening as we study your word. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. First Samuel 27, this is God's word. Then David said in his heart, now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand. So David arose and went over, he and 600 men who were with him, to Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household. And David with his two wives, Ahinium of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. Then David said to Achish, If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, and I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Gerzites, and the Malachites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive. but would take away the sheep, the ox, and the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish. When Achish asked, where have you made a raid today? David would say, against the Negev of Judah, or against the Negev of the Jeramilites, or against the Negev of the Kenites. And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, lest they should tell about us and say, so David has done. Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines. And Achish trusted David, thinking, he has made himself an utter stench to the people of Israel. Therefore, he shall always be my servant. those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army. David said to Achish, very well, you shall know what your servant can do. And Achish said to David, very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life." And now to chapter 29. Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek, and the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel. As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish, the commanders of the Philistines said, what are those Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, Is that not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years since he deserted to me? I have found no fault in him to this day. But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, Send the man back. that he may return to the place with which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his Lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances? Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Then Achish called David and said to him, As the Lord lives, you have been honest. And to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign, for I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. So go back now and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines. And David said to Achish, but what have I done? What have I found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord and king? And Achish answered David and said, I know that you're as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said he shall not go up with us to the battle. Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your Lord who came with you and start early in the morning and depart as soon as you have light. So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel." Amen. This is God's Word. It is perfect. It is inerrant. We can trust it completely. You may be familiar with the concept of a loud silence. We have this phrase, the silence was deafening. You've likely heard this before. Maybe it's at a sporting event, and there's an injury, and the stadium, a hush falls over the stadium. Or maybe someone important walks into a room, and the conversation ceases immediately. We say about that, that the silence was deafening. And there's a lot, there's a lot of scheming, there's a lot of actions of men in this story, there's a lot of things that happen, but I want to suggest to you that the real story of these two chapters is in the silence. The real story is found in the silence. You know, God is only spoken of in these two chapters by a pagan prince. And yet, this story of David and the Philistines, it's all about God and His sovereign care. It's all about God, and that is what I want you to see tonight. I want you to see the sovereign care of God for His people. But I don't want you just to see it. As you see it in Scripture, I pray and I want for you and I desire that the Holy Spirit would lead us all to a place of greater praise to this God, this sovereign and wondrous God who cares for us, who saves us so well. So ultimately, I want us to end tonight praising God for His sovereign care. So three ways in the story that we see God's sovereignty. First, we see it in the schemes of man. Second, we see it in his hidden mercy. And third, we see it in a surprising salvation. So first, the schemes of man, the beginning of chapter 27. What do you see? You see that David says in his heart, what does he say? He says, now I shall perish. The word there means to be swept away. Swept away like earlier he had predicted Saul would be swept away. David is afraid. He said, There's no other, in other words, there's no other option for me. In his mind, David sees no other option than to run to the Philistines and live with the Philistines. And there, he says, there I'll be safe. I'll be safe from Saul's pursuit. And so verses 2 and 3 tells us that's exactly what he does. He goes to Achish. He's a Philistine prince, one who likely was spoken of in chapter 21 of 1 Samuel. And he lives there. He lives there in the royal city with Achish. And his plan works. Saul stops his pursuit. That's what verse 4 tells us, that Saul despaired of his pursuit of David. And so David's plan, so far, it's worked. His scheming continues. In verses 5 through 7, he asks Achish if he can move out to the country, essentially. He says, I want to be out of the royal courts, the royal city. Will you let me go find a place away from you so I don't overcrowd you, presumably? And this works too. Achish granted Ziklag, a place far away to David. He's free from the supervision of this pagan prince. He's free from the pursuit of Saul. Everything seems to be going his way. Verses 8-11 tell us that he's free to roam. He's free to attack the enemies of Israel. He's free to plunder them and all he has to do is bring the plunder back and report that he was actually attacking Israel and their allies. Achish is none the wiser. He's none the wiser because there is no one left to report otherwise. There's no woman, no child, no one left to report otherwise. That actually what David is doing is attacking the enemies of Israel. The text says in verse 12 that Achish trusted David. He says, I'll make you my bodyguard for life. He says he trusted him completely. And at this point we stop and we say, it looks like David's scheme has worked. This scheme that he concocted in verse 1 where he was afraid and he said, I'm going to perish, we say his scheme has worked, right? But I think we have to stop and ask. We have to stop and ask, despite whether or not this worked, is it right? Is this what God, does this please God? This scheme that David has executed over all of chapter 27. And I think the answer to that, I want to suggest to you, it's best understood, as sympathetic as we are to David, running for his life, it's best to understand that David, in fact, is in the wrong here. Yes, he is shrewd. Certainly he is shrewd, but he is also sinful. Yes, he is crafty, but he is also cruel. There's no command, there's no directive from God to go and wipe out these communities that he wipes out. He does it just to keep the facade up of running from Saul and living with the Philistines. Dale Ralph Davis says that David is being calculating and ruthless. He says that David seems to be practicing overkill even for the customs of his time. And I think this becomes clear if we look back to verse 1. David is afraid. He says, I'm going to perish. I'm going to be swept away. Just like he thought Saul was going to be swept away, and there's no acknowledgment of God, there's no prayer, he immediately goes straight to scheming, straight to planning, straight to problem solving. And his conclusion is there is nothing better for him to do, nothing better than to run to the Philistines. This fear leads straight to problem-solving without an acknowledgement of God, no acknowledgement of God's past deliverance, no acknowledgement of God's promises to preserve him and protect him from Saul. In David's mind, solving this dilemma is all on his shoulders. Proverbs 14, 12 says, there is a way that seems right to man, but its way ends in death. You see, fear and planning without acknowledging God, without seeking God, can only lead to deceit and destruction. That's what you see here in this story. The planning and the scheming of David, it actually leads to deceit and it leads to destruction. And I think we know this pattern well, don't we? Fear and planning without the acknowledgement of God. You know, I must confess that some of my moments of deepest regret in my life are those times when I've been faced with fear and the posture of my heart says, I've got this, I've got this, without any acknowledgement of God, without any prayer to Him. That has been the cause of some of my deepest regrets, and it may be that you see that in your life too. Fear grabs our hearts. We scheme, we plan, we act. and yet it's all unhinged, unhinged from the promises of God. This can look like many different things. This can look like saying to ourselves, well, they will never change about a loved one, and so we resort to manipulation, we resort to anger, we resort to coldness and passive aggressiveness. You know, we're afraid that something really important won't get done, and so we justify our impatience. How else can we get it done? And we feel like we have to cheat on our exams or lie on a report for work because, well, we're in it for the right reasons, and we can't fathom what would happen if we looked bad or if we failed. And after all, everybody else does it. We think that it doesn't make sense financially not to live together before we're married. We're afraid of the financial fallout, and so we justify it. We let fear lead us to justify what's wrong. It just seems too costly. We say to ourselves, this ministry, it's too important. It involves too many people. God has worked so much through it. This one time, we can quiet our conscience. This one time, we can overlook this one thing to solve this problem. It's just too important. That difficult conversation, that would be too risky. It would put the relationship at risk. I cannot have that conversation. I'll give when I start making more money. I'm afraid to give now. You see, fear grabs our heart. We scheme, we plan, we decide, and we forget. We forget God's promises. We forget God's faithfulness, and I hope you see the danger of it. I hope you see it in this story of David, that it leads to deceit, and it leads to destruction. And so what does this have to do with God's sovereignty? What does this have to do with seeing God's sovereignty? Well, it's a simple reminder that God is God and that we are not. This story of David is, in the beginning, it's an invitation to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge him. And he will direct our paths. He is God and we are not. God is sovereign, we are not, and we have to see that this evening. We have to see that, we have to see that in the folly of the schemes of man and the outcomes of the schemes of man, but also I want you to see this in this story in God's hidden mercy. That's our second point, God's hidden mercy. What does chapter 28 tell us? It tells us that David's plan was working great. It was working perfectly, until it wasn't. It was working so well, and then at a drop of the hat, It was working terribly. Everything seemed to fall apart. David's plan was not working. It backfired in spectacular fashion. And how does this happen? Well, Achish, this Philistine prince, comes to David and he said, Hey, suit up. We're going to fight the Israelites. You've been loyal to me, so I expect you to continue to be loyal to me. Get your guys ready. We're going to fight your people." Of course, Achish thinks that he will, and David handles this with poise. He says, look and see what your servant can do, but can you imagine, can you imagine the fear in his heart? Can you imagine the pit in his stomach when Achish says to this, his plans have come to a screeching halt. There is no way forward. He is in a dilemma of his own doing. And you see, at this point in the narrative, it's almost like, at least from our perspective, it seems like this is when God grabs the reins of the story. Now, of course, we know that God has the reins of all of history, but at least from our perspective, this is when the sovereignty of God takes center stage. Because, in fact, this is God's, and what I want to suggest to you and argue to you, that this is God's sovereign mercy. It is God's sovereign mercy that stops David in his tracks that causes his plans to completely crumble maybe Maybe David did not see it in this moment. Maybe we missed it the first time we read it, but this here is God's sovereign mercy God's sovereign mercy in causing David's plans to fall flat. And so what about you? Are you familiar with the mercy of having your plans fall flat? your own schemes falling flat. Maybe you have thrown your life into something you think defines you, that you think gives you real dignity, real value, and yet it all crumbles. This could be a relationship. This could be your health. It could be a promotion that you desire and that you've thrown your life into. This could be a meaningful social life, one that you expect to be perfectly fulfilling. It could be the safety net of your retirement savings, the success of your children, all these things we can completely throw ourselves into and think, this is where we find safety and security. And in God's providence, it just does not work out that way. It doesn't happen like you wanted, or maybe it's even taken away. And yes, there's disappointment. Yes, there's sorrow. But if you pay attention, there's also mercy in this. It is a merciful thing to be overruled and redirected by the hand of our sovereign God. It is a merciful thing to have our idols exposed for what they are. Idols that will never give us what we want. That is God's mercy. We've been studying hymns in young adult Sunday school, and one particular hymn that we didn't actually get around to studying, but I hope in the future we do, is a hymn called, I Asked the Lord, by John Newton. John Newton was a man familiar with God's intervention in his life, and he writes this hymn, and essentially the first part of this hymn is John Newton asking God for growth. for spiritual growth. Actually, the old title of this hymn is Prayers Answered by Crosses. And the rest of the hymn is him talking about how God answered that prayer by revealing the depths of the ugliness and sin in his own heart. And not only that, but what Newton writes is this. He said, God crossed all the fair designs I schemed. God crossed all the fair designs I schemed. God in his mercy upended John Newton's life, and that's what he's talking about. And so where in your life has God crossed your fair designs, your fair designs that you have schemed? Certainly difficult when he does this, certainly painful. But for the believer, for the child of God, this is a merciful thing. It's not to say that our suffering is good. This is not even to say that all of your problems are because you're running from God. But what it is to say is that in life's crushing disappointments, in the most difficult dilemmas that we face as God's people, there are gifts of God's mercy that always will emerge with time. There are gifts of God's mercy in your most difficult dilemmas. In the ways that God has said no to the fair designs that you have schemed, there are real treasures of His mercy. And if you pay attention, you will see them. As a pastor, one of the greatest privileges that I have is to sit across from someone and hear them express how they can trace the hand of God's sovereign mercy through their trials, through their mistakes, through the hardest things that they face. It is a deep and even sacred privilege to hear a believer trace the hand of God's sovereignty. It's a beautiful thing, and my hope is for all of you that when life's trials hit, when your schemes, when the fair designs that you scheme fall apart, that you will continue to look for the merciful hand of God And that even when it doesn't make sense, surely this did not make sense to David. Our suffering so often does not make sense. Even when it does not make sense, you can take heart. You can take heart and you can see the hidden mercies of God that lie in these trials. And so I want you to see in this story the hidden mercy of God. He pours cold water all over David's perfect plan, and yet that is a great act of love, and He does that in our life, too. I want you to see the folly of scheming without God in mind in the first place. And lastly, I want you to see the surprising salvation that we see in the story. God's sovereign and surprising salvation. If you look to chapter 29, I want you to think what it would feel like if you were David and you were marching to battle to fight against your people that God had Told you you were going to rule over the people you were called to serve and you were marching with the enemies to battle Dale Ralph Davis says that David was probably overdosing on antacids at this point. He was anxious, right? He No doubt. He was there was a deep pit in his stomach and all these men following him that he was responsible for Could you imagine that March the dread that he feels? And the drama builds, right? The army goes on and on, but then all of a sudden, almost anticlimactically, there's this dramatic shift in the story. The other Philistine captains, they kind of look, and they see David, and they say to each other, wait, isn't that the guy that fights with Saul? Isn't that the Israelite, the one that has slain his tens of thousands, the one that fights with Saul? And they stop, and they pull Achish over, and they say, Achish, who is this? And Achish tries to explain, but ultimately it's to no avail. David and his soldiers, they decide, David and his soldiers will not be allowed to fight. And just like that, in a moment, this dramatic dilemma that David has created, just like that, it has been solved. Akish apologetically sends him back. This is when he invokes the name of the God of Israel. David never mentions the God of Israel in this story, and he sends him back, and David, all he has to do is pretend to be upset. And the problem is solved. He goes back to Ziklag in the morning, into the morning light. He goes back to Ziklag safe and secure. The problem is completely solved. You may have had an experience like I've had where you're trying to fix something and you just keep making it worse. And it gets worse and worse and you spend more time on it and you're stubborn. So, but eventually, maybe, you know, a spouse nudges you to do this, but eventually you call somebody to fix the problem. I had this incident with my lawnmower. I couldn't get it to start. It's an electric lawnmower, and I was about ready to give up on it. I took it in, and the little safety key had fallen out, and I'd put it back in, but not quite far enough. And so I worked with the employee, and she couldn't really tell what was going on. And finally, she called the expert, and the expert comes over and says, why don't you try that? And kind of plugs in the safety key a little more, and it cranks right up. And there's this kind of moment of silence where you just kind of look at the lawnmower and you think, man, I feel silly. And man, I am so thankful that my lawnmower is fixed. Thanks. You're thankful, but you're also humbled. You know, David, he was on the run, he pillaged, he lied, he schemed, and he did this. He did this for 16 months. For 16 months, David worked, and all he did was create this nearly impossible dilemma. And in a moment, God saved him from it. God sovereignly saved him from it. You think about all the time we spend worrying and stressing and running around in circles and all the things we do just to calm our anxiety and here we have a God, a God who, a God of our salvation, who in a moment does exactly what he wants to do with our lives and can pull us out of dire situations. And you can trust Him. You can trust Him as you face worry and fear. And you can trust Him because in David's story and in our story, God is not just, He's more than a divine problem solver. God is our salvation. He is David's salvation. He is your salvation if you're a Christian. These are high stakes. It's a much bigger deal than fixing a lawnmower. This is life and death for David. For us, it's even higher stakes. It's eternal life and death. And the message of scripture is that we are saved by the merciful hands of a sovereign God, and there is nothing that we can do to earn that. There's nothing that we could have done to fix our problem, which is our sin, as we stand before a holy God. And yet, in His mercy, He has solved the problem. He has saved us. He has brought us to Himself. Justice and mercy have met at the cross, and He has called us to Himself. This is completely undeserved. God would not have been wrong to let this drama play out farther and farther and ultimately let it lead to David's destruction. He would not have been unjust in our case to let us go our own way forever. And so as we see this surprising salvation in this story, we must be reminded of our own surprising salvation. Have we lost our sense of wonder that the God of this universe would look on us and pardon us? Have we ceased to be surprised? You know, this story, it reminds us that there are only two kinds of people. There are sinners, and there are forgiven sinners. There are sinners, and there are sinners who have received mercy, and that is it. And is that how you see the world? Is that how you see your neighbor, your family members, your co-workers? Is that how you see yourself? A sinner who has received great mercy. And have you lost your sense of surprise at the wonder of the gospel? May it never be so. It's people who are in awe of what God has done for them that are lights in the places God has called them to be. In the New Testament, in John chapter 11 verse 53, this is directly after Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb. Verse 53 of John 11 says, from that day on they made plans to put him to death. You know, there's no greater example of the scheming of man than the plot to arrest and accuse Jesus Christ. And yet, as he stood before the judge, as he stood before Pontius Pilate, the Bible tells us that Jesus was quiet. He was silent in the face of these unjust accusations, and yet, In this silence of Jesus, in his not defending himself, was the greatest act of mercy that has ever been told. The greatest act of mercy ever was unfolding, and that is God himself, Jesus Christ, slain for sinners. It is a quiet mercy, a hidden mercy, as he stood there before Pontius Pilate. The greatest act of mercy ever unfolding. You'll remember the scene at the cross. He was derided. They said to him, save yourself. Come down. He saved others. He can save himself. And so what a surprise, three days later, when there's an empty tomb, and death and evil and sin. We're defeated. What a surprise. This is our God. Salvation sovereignly secured. And I think that this evening that calls for something more. That calls for something more than a bit of gratitude. I believe that calls for praise, calls for the deepest kind of praise. It calls for us to say with Paul, oh the depth and the riches and the wisdom of the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways for From him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever. Can you praise God like that as you see his great and sovereign mercies? Let's pray that we can do so. God, we don't wanna just be mildly thankful for your great salvation. We want to be lost in wonder and praise. And if we really saw the depth of our sin and the wavering of our hearts and the strength and might of your glory and the reach of your grace, we would be filled with praise. So help us to be people of praise. as we see your sovereign care and your sovereign mercy in our lives. And we pray all this in the name of our slain and our risen Savior, Christ Jesus. Amen.