So you open your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 26. That's where we're gonna be tonight. And before we get into the text, I'm gonna mention a little bit of what we went over last week. So if you wanna have your Bibles open beside the bulletin, that'll be good too because we're gonna pick up at verse 13. But before we get there, we're gonna be in a little bit of the verses before that. Many of you are probably familiar with the name John Bunyan, primarily because he is the author of the famous writing Pilgrim's Progress, a well-known Christian allegory, an allegory of the Christian life. He wrote that in large part during the time in which he was in prison for unauthorized preaching under Charles II. He was in prison, John Bunyan, for 12 years. He was released and he later went back to prison again for unauthorized preaching and he was in prison for 9 months. So he wrote a lot and he was a pretty prolific writer and he became famous in England and most of you probably know him because he wrote Pilgrim's Progress, but what's less well known about John Bunyan is the way he died. Going off of the account written by George Offer, he recounts in his memoirs concerning John Bunyan's death, He speaks about a father that had been highly offended with his son, so much so that he was going to cut his son out of the inheritance. So John Bunyan was not only a prolific writer who got arrested for preaching the gospel, he was known to many as Bishop Bunyan because he was a pastor. Remember that word rightly used, bishop, can be interchangeable with an overseer, a pastor. So John Bunyan heard about this situation in which a man that he cared about and this man's son whom he cared about were at odds with one another and the father was so angry with the son that he was going to cut his son out of the inheritance and this man was nearing death. John Bunyan, at this point in his life, his health was pretty fragile. He had gotten over what was called the sweating disease, or the sweating illness. It was a kind of, if you want to use the word, lowercase p plague that had gone through England, and it didn't look like at times that he was going to make it, but his wife nursed him back to health. He was getting back to full strength, enough to do his ministerial duties once again, when all of a sudden he hears about this issue. And his father and his son did not live close to John Bunyan. They lived many miles away. And they didn't have trains and they didn't have taxis in those days. So he got on horseback and he rode to minister to this father and to his son because he didn't want to see this man whom he loved and believed was a Christian, he didn't want to see him die in anger against his son. And he didn't want his son to have to deal with the ramifications of bitterness his whole life of saying, my dad was a Christian and he cut me out of the inheritance. So John Bunyan rides to this father and rides to this son and he ends up bringing about, by the grace of God, reconciliation between them both. Pretty risky thing for him to do in his physical state. But he was going to find that out on the way home. As he begins the long journey home on horseback, he gets caught in a torrential downpour. So much so that he couldn't even make it home. He ended up staying at the home of a Christian friend named Mr. Strudwick. because he couldn't make it home, he was soaking wet, started to not feel well, he ended up being overtaken with a fever, and he died not too long after. I believe, and I'm not sure about this, I believe it was about 10 days after that, that he ended up dying, being struck with a fever, in August of 1688. Now what strikes me about the story, and the reason why I've been thinking about that story over the last two weeks, is because I'm struck by the distance that John Bunyan went to bring reconciliation between the father and the son. I mean, he could have just been like, I'm going to write a letter. I hate that that's happening, and he shouldn't be acting like that, and the son shouldn't be acting like this. I'm just going to write a letter, because those guys shouldn't be acting like that. I'll write a letter, it'll get to them soon, and that'll be great. No. This man gets on horseback, and I'm not sure how old he was at this time. I think he was in his 60s. I'm not sure. He gets on horseback and he rides, just getting over the sweating illness, which was a very, very dangerous illness that he had. And then he ends up getting caught in torrential rain on the way home, He gets struck with a fever. And if you read his last words on his deathbed, it wasn't, I am so angry with Jesus for doing this to me. Those words are beautiful. I wish I had them put to memory so I could tell them to you now. This is a man who went a great distance to bring about reconciliation. And it reminds me of what we've been reading about in 1 Samuel and the distance that David is going to pursue reconciliation with Saul. And you may already be tracking And that should point, at least in your mind and my mind, to David's greater descendants and the distance that he went to bring about reconciliation. But we'll get there as we get into the text. So now, as we go into chapter 26 tonight, verse 13, remember what happened not too long before. David grabs one guy to go down with him into Saul's camp. Saul's in the middle of the camp, he's surrounded by men, and not just any men, 3,000 choice men, chosen warriors surrounding Saul. And David chooses one man. He puts the option to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to Abishai, his nephew. Abishai says, I'm up for it. Abishai is basically thinking, okay, this is great. This is probably going to be a commando-like raid. where me and the king-to-be sneak into the camp and kill this guy who's been trying to kill the anointed king-to-be. They go into the camp, 3,000 men surrounding Saul and all 3,000 of them are sound asleep. Not 2,995 men. And remember, this wasn't like the Bad News Bears of the Israelite army. This was the best of the best. And they're all asleep. And if you're wondering why they're asleep, the Lord tells us in verse 12, a deep sleep from the Lord had come upon them. And once again, we're reminded that Yahweh fights for the King. The king does not have to take the battles into his own hands. Yahweh fights for his king. But Abishai is confused, if you remember. Abishai thinks, this is great! The fact that we just snuck through 3,000 men and we're here right by Saul's head. Grab on to that, I think that's worth considering a little bit later in the message. We're right by Saul's head and Abishai tells David, You give me one chance to strike this man with the spear and I won't need a second opportunity to do it. Abishai made the mistake, if you remember, of thinking that opportunity equals permission. And way too often there are too many Christians who think, oh, God must have brought this opportunity into my path, therefore God wants me to walk through this open door. No, not every open door that comes into your life is from the Lord. Not every person that comes into your life is from the Lord. Not every relationship that comes into your life is from the Lord. Open doors do not mean it's a green light from God for you to walk through them. Abishai thought that. Abishai's thinking, David, we're right here. God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Permission is granted to us because opportunity has been given to us. David knew better than that. David told Abishai, do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? David said, furthermore, as the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go. Now I just want to say two things before we get into our text tonight by way of reminder. Remember how David is using his sanctified imagination in this moment. David is saying, God will strike him, or his time will come, or he'll go down into battle and he'll perish. David doesn't know what God's going to do, but David is just imagining the different ways in which God can come through for him. And I just want to encourage you, there is nothing wrong with imagining the different ways that God can come through for you. We use our imaginations in so many negative ways, and we just imagine the worst things happening to us. Well, if you're a Christian, and you're praying, and you're leaning on God for a thing, you can begin to imagine the different ways in which God is going to come through for you, as long as you don't limit Him to the ways that you're imagining. Your imagination can be a great tool to fuel your faith. David ends up leaving with two tokens of assurance, if you remember, and I won't unpack that again. I would encourage you to hear the end of last week's message because God does use providence in amazing ways to assure us. He could use royal spears, He could use unbroken glass, He could use water jugs, and David ends up going back with a royal spear and a water jug as a reminder that God was with him. That brings us to tonight's text. As we make our way to the last conversation that David and Saul would have before both men would go in separate directions and Saul would eventually meet his demise and David would eventually become the king. Tonight we get into the last conversation that they had together. We begin in verses 13-16 where we read, David went over to the other side. And he stood on the top of a hill far off, a great distance being between them. And David called out to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, Do you not answer, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who are you calling out to the king? So David said to Abner, Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not guarded your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head." So we notice in verse 13, David makes his way to the other side, the text tells us, and he stood on a hill that was far off. And as though we needed to hear it again, the writer tells us that there was a great distance between him and Saul's camp. You get the idea that David does not trust Saul, David does not want himself nor Abishai near Saul or his camp, so he moves and he moves a great distance. And as he moves, he begins calling out to the people, but he hones in on Abner. We're introduced to Abner here. We're going to see a lot more of him, Lord willing, in our study of 1 Samuel. Abner, we wouldn't consider him a good guy. And so we're introduced to him here and David begins to goad him, if you noticed. David calls out and Abner calls back and says, who are you calling out to the king? David ends up telling him, this thing that you've done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die because you have not guarded your master, the Lord's anointed. So David is basically telling Abner, you're supposed to be in charge of protecting King Saul. But you were asleep. And this thing that you did, Abner, that you slept when you're supposed to be guarding the king, if 2,999 other men are sleeping, it's not supposed to be you. You're supposed to be awake. You're supposed to be protecting the king. This thing that you've done, it's not good. In fact, you deserve to die for what you did, because you did not protect the king. And a man came into the camp to kill the king, but he couldn't do it. And the reason why he couldn't do it is because David was Saul's protector. Lowercase p, protector, if you will. But see the irony of this. Saul is relentlessly pursuing David to kill him. David is relentlessly showing mercy to Saul. David is Saul's real protector. And the irony is, Saul just keeps trying to kill him. This man comes into the camp and David knew who it was. It was Abishai. And he even accents this again when he says that, you see where the king's spear is and the jug of water that was by his head. David reiterates what the inspired writer told us earlier. Now I just wonder, I'm just throwing out the possibility. Abishai was right by Saul's head. And Abishai said, you give me one opportunity to pin him to the ground and I'll do it. I won't need a second time. Perhaps Abishai had in his mind Judges chapter 4 verse 21. Do you remember there was a woman by the name of Jael who killed the evil general Sisera who was leading the army against Israel and against Barak and against Deborah. And there was this woman Jael who took a tent peg while Sisera, the commander of that army was asleep and she drove the tent peg through his head. And David is reminding the people, he's reminding Abner, I have the spear and I have the jug of water that was right by his head. Maybe a little bit of an implied reference to the fact that Saul could have been this close to having Abishai's spear go right through his head. Granted, it could have gone anywhere, but that's how close David and Abishai were to laying a death blow to Saul. And the irony, once again, is the one whom Saul hated was the one that was saving Saul over and over again. You should already be beginning to see some gospel imagery developing itself in this text, but we'll unpack it a little bit more as we go through. Now Abner did not recognize David's voice, but Saul did. And look what Saul says in verses 17 and 18. Then Saul knew David's voice and said, Is that your voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. And he said, Why does my Lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand? So verse 17, Saul recognizes that it's David's voice, and he asks him, Is that your voice, my son, David? A little bit of irony there, because Saul was David's father-in-law, right? So David was Saul's son-in-law, but what did Saul do not too long ago? 1 Samuel 25, verse 44. He gave away David's wife to another man, a man by the name of Palthy, the son of Laish. So he's calling David his son, but yet the irony is, he already gave away his daughter Michal to somebody else, just like he did with his other daughter, by the way, when he promised to give his other daughter to David, and he gave her away. The only difference this time is David was married to Michal. And Saul gave her away, but yet he's still acting loving to David. Is that your voice, my son? I wouldn't buy what Saul is saying, and I don't think David bought anything Saul was saying, but we're going to see that a little bit later on in the text. Look at what David says, though. He shows such respect to Saul in his office, in verse 18. He calls Saul, my lord, and he calls Saul, king. And a quick note of application for us, if David could show such respect to a man who is a monarch, and was trying to kill him, Shouldn't we be able to show respect to those in authority that we disagree with? From the lowest offices of the land to the highest office of the land. We should be like David in that sense of showing the utmost respect and praying for those who are in authority, just like David showed respect to Saul. We should be New Testament Christians that say, I want to go beyond what David was doing in this text, and I want to be a 1 Timothy 2, verses 1-4 kind of Christian, and I want to be praying for leaders and rulers and those in authority. Think about it this way. If you're complaining about leaders and rulers in authority, is greater than your praying for them, something is seriously wrong. And you have to wonder if you're of the right spirit. But if one is outweighing the other, and I can understand you having grievances, look, anyone who's a Christian is going to disagree with the policy of abortion. You're just going to disagree with it, because you're going to say, no, when I look at the scripture, Psalm 139, when I look at Jeremiah chapter 1, there's just no getting around it. God is the one who knits people together in the womb. God is the one who ordains people's days before they even have any days. We're not going there. Even in the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus and Exodus, we knew that we weren't supposed to hurt a woman, and if a woman died and she had a baby in her womb, it was a life for a life, because that baby that was in the womb was really a living child, really a living being. So you can be passionate about the fact that we should not be doing that. That's an evil thing. And you shouldn't be voting for people who are going to endorse that. I am all for that. You should be doing that as Christians. But you want to be loving and prayerful towards those who are in authority. Because at the end of the day, we're only here for a vapor of a life. And you want to be God-honoring and Christ-centered. And you want your complaining to be far outweighed by your praying. And I think David just models that for us. His king was trying to kill him, but he shows him the utmost respect. Furthermore, David had a clean conscience. He said, what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand? David wasn't saying that because he was crazy. David wasn't saying that because he was suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. David was saying that because he really had a clean conscience. He's like, what have I done? I haven't done anything to you and you keep trying to kill me. And I just want to take a moment here, courtesy of A.W. Pink, to say how what David is showing us here, modeling a clean conscience, should point us to the fact of the one whose conscience was truly clean, the Lord Jesus Christ. However clean David's conscience was, it wasn't perfect. But Jesus' conscience was, because Jesus was perfect. In John 8, verse 48, Jesus said, which of you convicts me of sin? And in John 18, verse 23, Jesus said, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why do you strike me? David right here has a clean conscience because he wasn't trying to hurt Saul at all. But let's just take a moment, besides the fact of saying Christians should have clear consciences, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 18, the writer of Hebrews said, Pray for us, for we are confident that we have a clear conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. That should be you, by the way. If you are a Christian, you should have a clear conscience. And if your conscience isn't clear tonight, why is it not clear? Just take a moment in the message, right? Take a moment right now. Let the Holy Spirit minister to you. Is your conscience a little bit troubled? Why is it troubled? Is there something you have to change? Is there something you have to throw out? Is there someone you have to call? Is there some sort of distance that you have to make between you and somebody else? Do you have to amend a tax form? I don't know what it is. But is your conscience not clear? If you're a Christian, your conscience should be clear. But I want to take this moment to exalt the One whose conscience was perfect. Because He was perfect. The only qualified Redeemer, the only one with the perfect conscience, the Lord Jesus Christ. His conscience was always perfect because He was always perfect in word, deed, and thought. David continues with this plea to Saul in verse 19, where he says, Now therefore, please, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods. Now, verse 19 is loaded with some impactful theology, not only in the Old Testament context, but has some serious import for us as New Testament Christians. First, when David begins to speak and he says, if the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. What does he mean when he says that? The most likely thing David is saying Is he saying this? If it's possible that God is using you, Saul, to chastise me. I'm holding out the possibility. I have a clear conscience, but just because my conscience is clear, doesn't mean I haven't missed something. If the Lord is the one who is stirring you up against me, let Him accept an offering. Now, granted, there's a possibility that David is saying, alright, if the Lord is stirring you up via that evil spirit that He sent upon you earlier on in 1 Samuel, then you just need to go and get things right with the Lord. Let Him accept an offering. I'd agree with the majority of people who say, no, I think David is holding out the possibility in humility that maybe he has done something against Saul and his conscience isn't the perfect ticker to find out whether or not he has done something wrong. And David is saying, if I have done something, let God accept an offering. And if he's using you to chastise me, I'm sorry, then I'll get things right with God. But David doesn't stay there. He moves on and he says, but if it's the children of men, may they be cursed before the Lord. For they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods." Now there's some serious impact right there. David in an act of kindness doesn't say what he could have said. David could have said, if it's your own carnal jealousy that you just can't put to death that is leading you to continue to pursue me, then repent. He doesn't say that. He could have said that, but he doesn't. Instead, he points to the people that he believed were leading Saul to continue to pursue him. Bad company corrupts good character, we know. He who walks with the wise will grow wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. If you walk with fools, if you walk with those who hate God, our idolaters, our covetous, are adulterers, are people who are back biters, and whisperers, and people who fit the description of those at the end of Romans chapter 1. If you walk with those people, chances are you are going to be like those people, or God is going to quickly remind you, come out from amongst them and be separate. See, Saul was walking with these people, and David believed that, because he said this not too long ago. He knew whether it was Doeg the Edomite, whether it was Abner, or whether it was somebody else, they were stirring up Saul, and they kept stirring him up to do evil. It's a dangerous thing to do that. Proverbs 17.15 says, He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. Isaiah 5.20 says, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. See, David saw something like that was going on with Saul. Granted, Saul was driven by his own carnal passions. He was envious and he was jealous. But David's holding out here the possibility and the likelihood that people were fanning that flame. But this had serious implications for David. Because Saul was listening to those people, and because Saul continued to pursue David, David said, you're driving me out from the heritage of the Lord. You are basically telling me, as David said, to go serve other gods. I want you to feel this now. This has serious application for the New Testament Christian. David is saying, because your men aren't stopping, and because your people, and because you, Saul, aren't stopping, I have to now leave. I can't stay in Israel. There's nowhere for me to stay in Israel because you keep coming after me wherever I am. I have to go to pagan land. And if you look at Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses 27 and 28, and if you look at Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 36, you see the connection with idolatry and being driven out of the land where God had established His name in Canaan and in Israel. See, God purposed that he would be worshipped in that land that he was given to the people of Israel. His worship was supposed to happen at the tabernacle. That's where the nation was to gather together and worship. That's where God was to be seen in a special way in the sanctuary. Even as David said, I have seen you in the sanctuary. And David is telling Saul, this is what you're doing to me. You're telling me go serve other gods because you're driving me away in that Old Testament context from the tabernacle. You're driving me away from the people of God and from the people of Israel. You're telling me to go into the land of Philistia with the Philistines and worship Dagon and their false gods. That's what David is burdened about here. Think about that. He's not saying, you're trying to kill me, and I'm so annoyed that you're trying to kill me. He's got worship on his mind. He's like, you're trying to drive me away from corporate worship. You're trying to draw me away from the people of God. You're trying to draw me away from the tabernacle, where I experience God not just on my own, but with the saints. Oh wow, for such a burden in our day. What God would do through a people that had such a burden to see Him glorified, not in the sanctuary as in the Old Testament tabernacle, but in the four walls of a church building, as the church comes together and says, we love Christ! We're going to sing His praises. We're going to build one another up. We're going to pray together. We're going to labor together. We're going to preach the gospel together. We're going to be there for one another. Oh, the glory that Jesus would get as men see the way Christians love one another. Oh, that's what he's burdened about. He does not want to leave the presence of God as it was in a special way in Jerusalem and in Israel. Yes, God is omnipresent. Yes, God is ubiquitous. But he was there in a special way in Israel and David did not want to leave. Not just because he didn't want to leave God's presence, but because he didn't want to leave the people of God. I love what Dale Ralph Davis says when he writes, David would have made a poor space age evangelical. He would have never been content with his study Bible, prayer list and a quiet cave. Yahweh's face or presence was especially in the sanctuary, Psalm 63 verse 2. Yet David was being driven away and cut off from the tabernacle and sacrifice, from priest and festival. He was being shut out of the land and sanctuary where Yahweh met with his people. To be cut off from the ordinances of public worship is David's most severe grief. Would that cause me anguish? Christians have surpassed David in privileges, but few have approached him in appetite." Wow! I don't think those words could have been more carefully chosen. There's your appetite. looks similar to David's appetite. In the sense that he loved, wanted to be around, was burdened about being driven away from the corporate worship of Yahweh among the people of Yahweh. We've been praying a lot for Pastor Saeed and we haven't gotten any updates about this pastor who is, last we heard, still imprisoned in Iran. And he's imprisoned in Iran. He's been there for a while. He was sent to a hospital. I don't know if he's still in the hospital, if they put him back in the prison. We don't even know if at this point he is dead. We haven't heard anything for a while. But I can assure you that one of the burdens that he has on his heart, and has had on his heart since being imprisoned, is that burden of being disconnected from the corporate worship of Christ. Imagine that. If you were in a prison, and if you were in Iran, and if you didn't know if you had tomorrow or even later today, what would you want? Would you just want to be back in your house with your study Bible and your prayer list? Yeah, you probably want to be back in your house with your study Bible and your prayer list, and there would be nothing wrong with that. But wouldn't you feel an ache to be here? Wouldn't you say, oh, I miss it! I miss being around the preaching of the Word! I miss raising my hands and praising Christ together with the saints! Or even if you bow your head and you praise Christ with the saints. I miss praying out loud, or I miss saying amen. I miss seeing that brother and that sister. I miss putting my arm around them. I miss praying with them after service. I miss it! If you are a Christian, you have that, because the love of Christ has been shed abroad in your heart in a special way for the people of God, because they are your brethren, not only now, but forever. It's got to be a huge burden. It was David's burden right here. My quick exhortation before we move through the rest of this text tonight is simply this. Brethren, your privileges are much greater than David's, even as we spoke about last Sunday morning. You see things in the text of Scripture that a king like David desired to look into and did not see. But is your appetite for the glory of God and the worship of God and the people of God approaching David's appetite. I hope it is. I believe God might even be fanning that flame tonight in some of you. And if some of you feel pretty low on that gas tank, I pray that you look up in your heart right now to heaven and say, God, fill me afresh. Fill me afresh, because only the Spirit of God can do that. Verse 20, David says, so now do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. The Hebrew might better be rendered there, far from the face of the Lord. Meaning far from the land of Israel, don't let my blood be shed far from this land, like in the land of Philistia. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains." In other words, the king is doing something needless. This is beneath the dignity of the king. He's coming after a flea or a partridge. Two things that aren't going to hurt him, but he's hunting it down and he's the king. He shouldn't be doing this. Saul responds in verse 21, he says, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will harm you no more. Because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. Do you believe Saul? If you stop right there and you don't read on, do you believe him? In 1 Samuel 24, verse 17, he told David, I have rewarded you with evil. So when Saul says, I have sinned right here, it's not the first time he's acknowledging that he has done something wrong. He said, I've rewarded you with evil, David. Right here he's saying, I have sinned. But before his acknowledgement of evil didn't make much of a difference, when the Zephites came back and said, we found David again, he went right back to trying to kill David. I think Saul's acknowledgement of having sinned is akin to Pharaoh's acknowledgement of having sinned and Judas's acknowledgement of having sinned. And after this, chapter 9, verse 27, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous and my people are wicked. Pharaoh wanted Moses to pray so that the thunder and the hail would stop and he got his way. Moses prayed and the thunder and the hail did stop. But then this is what we read shortly after in verse 34. When Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more, and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. In other words, Pharaoh said in chapter 9, I have sinned, but then a little bit later on, he hardens his heart more, and he persists in doing evil. Judas, in Matthew chapter 27 verse 4, when he brought back the silver to the chief priests and the elders, he told them, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. Verse 3 told us that he was remorseful. But verse 5 didn't tell us that Judas was going to now make his life count for the glory of God and he was going to go find the disciples. No. His sorrowfulness was not unto life. He hung himself. He was the son of perdition. When Saul says, I have sinned right here, there are no fruits to follow that up. Please remember, brothers and sisters, everyone who would be hearing my voice, to simply say, I have sinned, does not really mean that you believe that you are a sinner and that you deserve the wrath of God. You can say, I have sinned, but if you truly are repentant of your sin, fruit will follow. You will bear fruits of repentance. Saul did not. You read his story, the downward spiral continues. Pharaoh did not. You read his story, his downward spiral continues. Judas did not. His life came to a short, sad end right after. If you are a Christian, You have had a point in your life where you've said, I am going in the wrong direction. I am living in rebellion against the God who created me for His glory. And you knew something had to change. A 180 had to take place, and that was repentance. You had a change of mind, and you saw Jesus not only as your Savior, you saw Him as the risen Lord, and you said, OK, something has to change here. And then throughout the course of your life as a Christian, like a good shepherd, He keeps pulling you back and you have moments and moments and moments of repentance because He keeps leading you in paths of righteousness for His namesake. Saul did not have that. Pharaoh did not have that. Judas did not have that. But if you are a Christian, give praise to God that you do not fall into their lot. You fall into the lot of men like David and Paul and Peter. Not because of anything you've done, but because of the grace of God. David answered and said, here's the king's spear. Let one of the young men come over and get it. I think that's significant. First, he does not trust Saul. He doesn't say, Abishai, do you hear that? Let's go. That's 3,002 men in the camp of Israel right now. No, he doesn't do that. And he doesn't even tell Abishai, hey Abishai, why don't you go down there and bring back the spear? Saul, I want one of your young men to come up here. I'm not risking Abishai's life. I'm not going to allow you to use Abishai as a ransom. I don't trust you at all. Saul has earned that. And David probably even heard in his voice the same sort of lunacy that he couldn't trust. David goes on in verses 23 and 24 and he says, May the Lord repay every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. Now grab what David is talking about here. David is not giving a doctrine of salvation explanation right here. He's talking about the personal interaction between him and Saul. Because look, he says, For the Lord delivered you into my hand today. but I would not stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. And indeed, as your life was valued much this day in my eyes, so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the Lord, and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation." Where are David's eyes not going? To Saul, he's not putting trust in horses or princes, to use language of the psalmist. His eyes are going right to the Lord. He does not trust Saul, but he trusts Yahweh. And that's been the lesson that he's been learning in chapter 24 and chapter 25, and now in chapter 26. You don't have to take matters into your own hands, David. Lean on Yahweh. Trust Yahweh. Yahweh fights for the king. Yahweh makes the path of the King straight. Yahweh will go out before you. Yahweh will protect you from behind. You rely on, lean on, trust in Yahweh. His eyes are into Saul, looking to Saul to make a way for him in this moment. He says, let the Lord deliver me out of all tribulation. That's awesome. And that's not written there just for David. That's written there for you. If you are a son or daughter of God. So that you could say, I love people, and I'm thankful for the circumstances that I'm in, but my eyes are not on people, and my eyes are not on circumstances. My eyes are on the One who sent His only begotten Son for me. I'm going to trust Him to bring me through all tribulation. After all, His Son told me, in this world you're going to have tribulation. But His Son told me to be of good cheer because He overcame it. The text ends in verse 25. But Saul saying to David, may you be blessed my son David. You shall both do great things and also still prevail. So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place. Is there a Saul and Balaam parallel right here? Remember Balaam? Balaam was hired to curse Israel by the king Balak, who was the king of the Moabites. And though Balaam kept trying to curse Israel, he just couldn't do it. Every time he tried to curse Israel, the Holy Spirit would use his mouth and the Holy Spirit would speak blessing to the nation of Israel through the false, wicked prophet Balaam. And right here, this evil, rejected king is speaking blessing over David. Yahweh is using a vessel fitted for destruction to bless the anointed king to be. That should just make you stand in awe of Yahweh and fall on your knees and say, what power, what might, what sovereignty. And then the text just ends with saying, so David went on his way and Saul returned to his place and that's it. two lives with two different destinies in that moment. One is going to keep ascending, though not perfectly. He's going to have issues, and we're going to see some issues. Lord willing, next week in 1 Samuel 27, that's David. And Saul is going on a downward spiral. He missed it! God's grace, hands stretched out to him yet again through David, and he missed it. And before I get to the closing conclusion for tonight, let me just encourage you. I can't read every heart in this room. I don't know where every person is at in this room. But do not miss what's happening tonight. The Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Lamb who was slain is stretching out His hands, as it were, through the preaching of the Gospel to you tonight. Do not miss this opportunity. Cleave to it by the grace of God and say, Oh, I believe, Lord Jesus, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for putting lesser things before You. I'm sorry for despising the riches of this great Gospel. I see You. I appreciate You. I love You. I want my life to be leveraged for You. I don't want to serve lesser things. I don't want to be on the throne because I don't deserve to be on the throne. I deserve to be an eternal lake of fire receiving eternal punishment. But I see you and I love you. Do not miss the glorious gospel being proclaimed to you tonight. Do not miss the great love of God and Him sending His Son to the cross. Do not miss the great opportunity for forgiveness. For all of your sins to be washed away. Every one of them. to be put into the sea of forgetfulness, where Yahweh says He'll remember them no more. Saul left. That was it. That's it. This is it. Downward spiral. His death is coming. It happened. He left. He missed it. I don't know whether it'd be in this room tonight, I don't know whether it'd be on CTV, I don't know whether it'd be on Sermon Audio, but I just encourage whoever, do not miss it. Say, I love you, Jesus, and I am sorry for my sins, and I believe you've paid it all, and I receive, by your grace and by the truth of your word, forgiveness. And love that word, that your debt has been paid and your sins have been put away. Don't cleave to your sin. Cleave to the cross, where your sin was paid. I close tonight with saying this. How far would you go to be reconciled to someone who has wronged you? This is my way of accenting what I just said. John Bunyan went pretty far for two people that were fighting with one another. He rode his horse very far and then he got caught in the rain on the way back and he ended up dying to reconcile a father and a son. David is showing relentless grace in pursuing Saul. Why? Why do you keep going after Saul? Why do you want to make things better with him? I know because you want to be around the people of God and you want to be around the worship of God, but this guy, you keep going to him? You could have had that. You could have had the worship among the people of God if you just killed Saul. Why are you trying to reconcile yourself to Saul? Because the Spirit of God was inside David. And no matter how far David went to reconcile himself to Saul, it comes so, so, so far short of what God did to reconcile us to Himself. John Bunyan went far to reconcile a father and a son. David went pretty far to reconcile himself to Saul. But none come close to doing what the father did in sending his son. David went into the enemy's camp, and by Yahweh's grace, he left unscathed. Jesus went into the enemy's camp, if you will, and He did not leave unscathed. He went to a cross, and He had a crown of thorns put on His head, and He was beaten, and He was mocked, and He was spat upon. He did not leave unscathed. David went into the enemy's camp and he came out with a royal spear and a water jug. Jesus went into the enemy's camp, if you will, and He came out having set captives like you and me free by offering His life as a ransom upon the cross. David left his comfortable hideout, if you will, in the wilderness to travel down into Saul's camp to try to pursue reconciliation. That does not come close to where Jesus left. Jesus left the glories of heaven to be born in a manger and to die on a cross for you and for me. Do you see the great distance He went? How far will you go to be reconciled to somebody? Oh, if you are a son or daughter of God, pursue the avenue of being a peacemaker. Be a proactive peacemaker. I know you can't do everything sometimes to make somebody live at peace with you, but as much as it lies within you, pursue peace with others and be a proactive peacemaker. But even greater than that application for you is this application. You just stand back and you marvel, you open your mouth and you praise God for the great distance that He went to reconcile Himself to you. and the great glory that though you were an enemy of His, He reconciled you to Himself and He has now given you the ministry of reconciliation. I close with one passage and one reference. Romans 5, verses 10 and 11. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." The reconciliation that the Bible talks about as opposed to Roman Catholicism, is that what Jesus has done for you on the cross, has put away the enmity between God and you. And by faith you've been justified, your guilt has been put away, you are forgiven. And you have now been given this ministry, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, You've been given the ministry of reconciliation, by which you go out as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus, going off of what Joey said earlier, and you plead with men, be you reconciled to God. That's what's happening now. John Bunyan went far, David went further, but nobody has ever come close to the distance that the Father and the Son have went to pursue reconciliation with you. A lot more story, a lot more text, but we close there tonight in a posture of worship. Let's pray. Father, oh, I thank You, Lord. I thank You for the assembly of the saints. I thank You that You've ordained the ministry of preaching so that we could together marvel at Your Word and that You would save people out of death and bring them to life. I thank You, Lord God, that You would have inscripturated this text for us and You would teach us through the example of Your servant, David, To wait on You. To not take matters into our own hands. To trust You. To have confidence in You. So, first Father, I pray for those in this room who would be in seasons of waiting or trial and tribulation. I pray, Heavenly Father, that You would give them a heart that is reminiscent of David's heart. To say, I trust Yahweh. I am leaning on Yahweh, and I don't know how He's going to come through, but I just know He always comes through. And I know He's using my waiting for my good and for His glory. So Father, I pray for that. I pray, Father, that You would help us to embrace our calling of ambassadors of reconciliation. So I pray for sons and daughters in this room of Yours. I pray that You would open up many doors of opportunity for Gospel sharing, and invitations to corporate worship, Lord, so that you might be praised and you might, through your preaching of the Gospel, save the lost. And Lord, I just pray for a posture of worship among us. Lord, when we look at texts like this and we see the relentless mercy that David showed Saul, and the relentless evil that Saul did to David, we humble ourselves, because we know that we were your enemies, Lord. We know that we were at enmity with You, and we know we were relentlessly, even if we did not know it, doing things that were against Your will. Yet You, with the great love wherewith You loved us, You opened our eyes to the fact that our righteousness is as filthy rags, and that we were deserving of eternal punishment, and You reconciled us to Yourself by granting us faith to believe that Your Son is the way, the truth, and the life. What a great distance you went. Father, I pray that you would just spur thanksgiving and worship. You deserve it. You deserve for our hearts, our cars on the way home, our bedrooms later tonight, to be filled with thanksgiving and praise for the great distance you went to reconcile us to yourself. So use us as tools to bring others, Lord God, into that great peaceful place of reconciliation. We thank you for this night. We thank you for you. We thank you for you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.