I'll begin by reading this whole chapter, that's 1 Samuel chapter 27. And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines. And Saul shall despair of me to seek me anymore in the coast of Israel. so shall I escape out of his hand. And David arose and he passed over with the 600 men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, and he sought no more again for him. And David said unto Achish, if I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country that I may dwell there, for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day, wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. And David and his men went up and invaded the Geshurites and the Gezrites and the Amalekites, for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to shore, even unto the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish. And Achish said, whither have ye made a road today? And David said, against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerah, Melites, and against the south of the Kenites. And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, saying, lest they should tell on us, saying, so did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines. And Achish believed David, saying, he hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever. This chapter of Samuel describes to us what next happened in the life of David as he fled again from the hand of Saul. And this chapter is a reminder of how the Bible often, in the narrative of it, records for us what took place, many times without either a condemnation of the things that happened or a word of God's approval of the things that happened. It just tells us how it is. It tells us what took place. and we must read it in the context of the narrative as a whole as a recording of what happened in the lives of God's people through the ages. This is a difficult chapter in some ways, not that it's difficult to understand what happened, but David's actions here might raise questions for us. And so I'd like to dig into it and understand what took place And then I'd also like us to consider, as we have throughout our study of Samuel, a comparison with the reign of the greater son of David, the greater David, our Lord Jesus. We have many comparisons and contrastings with the kingdom of Jesus and his reign with the reign of David. What it records for us here, it begins with an internal monologue of what's going on in David's mind, in his heart. We have seen very little of that in the narrative of Samuel. We see very little about what David is thinking. It records his actions, it records sometimes his words, but we see very little of his internal thought, the revelation of what is in his heart as it gives us here. We see more of that as we read the Psalms, these songs that he wrote, these prayers that he poured out at different times during his exile from Saul when he was on the run, when he was being persecuted. We see much of his thought and the outpouring of his heart and his prayers in the Psalms, but in the narrative of Samuel it's very focused on his actions. But here we have an insight into what David was thinking and an expression of why he does what he does. It said, David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines and Saul shall despair of me to seek me anymore in any coast of Israel, so shall I escape out of his hand. So we see what David's motivation here as this begins. His motivation is his survival. David recognizes and understands by this point that Saul, as long as David is around, Saul is never going to stop pursuing him and trying to kill him. Even though Saul has now vowed on multiple occasions that he would not hurt David, David knows by Saul's actions the truth of what's in Saul's heart, that Saul wants David dead and he's never gonna stop. This is David's motivation. comment on it. The narrator, through the Holy Spirit, doesn't give us insight onto were David's actions, were his thoughts right? Was he trusting in the Lord? Was he guided by the hand of the Lord? We just see what he did and why he did it. He was fleeing Saul and he was pursuing his own survival and David will fight very hard and David will act very craftily in order to ensure his success and his survival in what unfolds. It says, David arose and he passed over with 600 men that were with him unto Achish the son of Maok, king of Gath. Now I mentioned that this is difficult in many ways for us to wrestle with David's actions here. First and foremost, David goes over to the enemy. David acts in a way that on the surface at least would appear to be treacherous in that David is abandoning his own people and he's going over to their bitter enemies. He's going to dwell with Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath. Remember this great city of the Philistines. Goliath was from Gath. The Philistines were the longtime enemies of David and David is now going to go over and he is going to, at least in outward appearance, he's going to be a servant of Achish. He's going to be basically a royal vassal. He's going to take all his men and his weapons and his fighting and he's going to go and he's going to serve the king of Gath. And he comes and says with 600 men, but there's not just 600 people. There's 600 men, these fighting men, but all of their wives and their families and their children are following along with them. This is a large group now. This is likely in the thousands, in the couple thousands of people that are now going in. And this is part of why they would need their own space. They would need their own city in order to have a place for them to live and to dwell. And this great company comes over. As it says, every man with his household were reminded about how David himself had his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail. His first wife, Micah, had been taken from him by Saul and given to someone else to be wife to. But David is here with his two wives. And Saul is told about this and we learn that, in effect, what David did accomplished David's goal in that Saul gives up on hunting David down. David has now gone into the land of the Philistines and Saul, it says, sought no more again for him. And we'll have to continue on to the end of the book in order to see what becomes of Saul and how this unfolds. But we are told here, we're foreshadowed that Saul is no longer going to seek after David. We're really turning a chapter in David's life here. I think we ought to see these first verses of chapter 27 as greatly significant in the life of David. He has now crossed over a boundary, a border, and he's crossed over into the land of the enemy, and now his conflict with Saul has come to an end. And Saul said unto Achish, and David said unto Achish, if I have found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country that I may dwell there, for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? Well, what we have here is greatly abbreviated of what David and his interaction with Achish must have been, but we're given the key points of his dialogue with Achish. He is presenting himself as a servant of Achish. This was not an uncommon kind of arrangement in the world in this time that a kind of chief or warlord or king as David was over his people, he has a great company of people, might subject themself to one in a greater position of power and wealth and be their kind of royal vassal, that he would submit himself and make him loyal to Achish and serve him And that's how David presents himself. David was no longer coming in and pretending to be this raving lunatic, scribbling on the walls and drool dripping down his beard. Now he comes and he's got an army with him. He's got 600 men. And this offer is a different kind of offer. Now he's offering to serve and to fight for Achish and Achish We don't know how much he trusted David, how suspicious he might have been of his motives, but he was at least pleased to have David and David's men on his side to help him fight his battles. And then it describes to us what David did and how he conducted himself in this land. We have it recorded how David would go out and he would fight against the Canaanites. There were still Canaanites in the land. Remember the Canaanites were the long time, or as it describes here, they were those that of old were the inhabitants of the land. These were from the nations and from the people that God had determined that God would bring his judgment against them, he would drive them out of the land, and he would give the land to the descendants of Abraham. He would give them to Israel. And so Though it doesn't excuse or justify David's actions in this, we see that the judgment of God on the Canaanites is continuing to unfold in what we see in this narrative. That the Canaanites are continuing to be judged, driven out of the land, and this time that judgment comes by the hand of David. Now what David does is he goes out and he takes his men and he goes out and he fights against this city or that city of the Canaanites, who were also enemies of the Philistines. And so the Philistines were also later coming into the land of Israel. They were They had come at a later time into the land, and they were dominating the land, and they were in many times enslaving the people of the land, including the Israelites. And they were very dominant in many parts of the land, and so the Canaanites were also enemies to them, and David goes out and he fights against them. but he does so under the guise that he's fighting against all of the enemies of the Philistines, including the Israelites and the territories of Judah and the other places of Israel. It describes what he says. He says, that when he would come back, and Achish would say, whither have you made a road today? David would say, against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerameelites, and against the south of the Kenites. So he's saying, I'm going against Judah, I'm going against this place. And Achish, though I imagine he didn't have a great trust of David at this point, Yet he saw him as a useful means and he saw David as in a position where David was abhorred by his own people and so in that way he was a useful tool for Achish. Meanwhile, David was very crafty in his dealings and what he was actually doing was he was restricting himself to only fighting against the Canaanites. and he would kill everyone in the city he went into, all the men and women, so that there was no one left to go and report what was really happening. We see again that David's actions are quite merciless in a way. And yet, we also see that it was very effective for accomplishing what his motivation was here, which was first and foremost, as it describes, that he desired to survive. He left in order to ensure his survival from the hand of Saul to escape And now as he's in the land, he's dealing very prudently in how he's interacting with Achish in order to ensure his survival. And he smote the land, it says, verse nine, he smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive and took away the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the apparel and returned and came to Achish. And Again, in verse 11, it says, and David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, saying, lest they should tell on us, saying, so did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines. I think from this chapter, we begin to understand more and more, or our understanding is enhanced of why later on when David goes forward and attempts to begin the building of the house of God, or he has it in his house to build the house of God. God does not allow David to be the one to build the house because he says he's a man of blood. David was one who shed much blood on his road to rising up into the kingship of Israel. Now David does so with a loyalty to his people, in that he will not strike out against the people of Judah, the people of Israel, and he restricts himself to fighting the Canaanites, but nonetheless, David is one who sheds much blood in his road to rising up as the king of Israel. And we see that David's kingdom is one that would ultimately be established by, through his victories in warfare, through his fighting for his own survival, through his defeat in the battlefield of many enemies. And this chapter is no different, but in fact embodies that. It ends in verse 12 and says, And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever. We see that David's tactics here were very effective in accomplishing his purpose, defeating his enemies, ensuring his own survival, protecting his own people. He was a very effective and crafty warlord. And we see that the effect on Achish was that Achish believed him and thought that David would be loyal to him forever. Because there was no way after this, after all this that David had done against his own people, that they would not abhor him forever, and utterly abhor him, and that he would be his servant forever. This will lay the groundwork, these 16 months, one year and four months as it says that he was here, this will lay the groundwork for the events that will unfold in the final chapters of 1 Samuel as we continue. Now, I want us to take the opportunity here to consider and compare the kingdom of David with the kingdom of the greater David, our Lord Jesus. As we come to the New Testament, we see that Jesus is announced, proclaimed, and even in his own way declares himself to be a king over his people. When Matthew introduces the birth of Jesus, it refers to him as the son of Abraham, the son of David. And it goes on to describe his royal line going down through Abraham, through David, through the people of the line of Judah, and God had, through the prophets, foretold that from the line of Judah, there would rise up a king. And even back in Genesis, it said, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. That Judah was chosen by God to be the one from whom the king that would reign over Israel would come. And when Jesus is announced into this world, we can go back into the early chapters of Matthew. In verse 6, given the line of David, it says, And Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Arius. And Solomon begat Raboam, and Abiah, and Asa, and Jehoshaphat, and Joram, and Ozias, and Jotham. And as it goes down, you see all these names in the lineage of Jesus. that we would see later if we continue on in Samuel and Kings and read the narratives that it describes, we see all these kings of Israel in the lineage of Jesus and Matthew's gospel is cluing us in that the one who is coming into the world, this child who is being announced is coming into the world as the fulfillment of the royal line and he is going to be a king. But he's going to be a king in a way that is unlike the kings that have come before him. He's going to reign over a kingdom that is unlike the kingdoms that have come before him. It is unlike in that it is far better. The new is better than the old. It goes on to describe how His birth would be announced, it says in verse 20, of Joseph, while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and he shall bring forth a son. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. This king would be, we see one of the first things that's announced about his nature is that this king would be a savior of his people. He would be a deliverer. David was a deliverer of his people. He was a savior of sorts of his people. He was anointed and chosen by God to be a deliverer for the people of Judah and for the people of Israel. And he delivered them by his victory in battle. He delivered them on the battlefield against Goliath. He delivered them as He fought against the Philistines, and as He fought against the Canaanites, and as He fought against His enemies. But Jesus would deliver His people in a different way. He would save His people from, it says, their sins. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, verse 23, and shall bring forth a son. and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. We see that with the coming of Jesus into this world is nothing less than God and the very presence of God making himself present with us. The word, the eternal word, it says, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And that's from John chapter 1 where he goes on to say, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. One of the ways that we see how the kingdom of Christ is better than the kingdom of the first David is that the kingdom of Christ and the nature of the kingdom of Christ is that it is one of grace and truth. David was very effective at killing his enemies. But Jesus, Jesus as he comes, Jesus teaches his disciples to love their enemies. And Jesus, by the power of truth, even converts his enemies to bring them to be his loyal and his faithful servants. As we turn a little later in Matthew, many of these passages that we have read recently, we turn a little later over to Matthew chapter five. And we see in verse 43, Jesus teaches this to his disciples. He says, ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That ye may be the children of your Father, which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. In this passage we just read, what Jesus begins with is actually in worldly terms, it's very reasonable, very rational. Love your neighbor and hate your enemies. What Jesus presents is something that is so striking and so contrary to the natural way of things. He says to love your enemies and to bless them that curse you and to do good to them that hate you. As I pointed out before, when we read the narrative of what takes place in the life of David, not just in chapter 27, but all throughout, many times what happens is described, and it is described without either condemnation on one hand, or justification on the other hand. And I neither will stand up here and attempt to justify all of David's actions, nor will I condemn his actions where the Scriptures do not condemn. That is not the point. The point is, as we consider the Kingdom of Christ and compare with the Kingdom of David, as we consider the New Covenant and we compare with the Old Covenant, As we consider Christ, the new David, the greater David, and we consider the original David, we see that Jesus is far better. We see that His kingdom is far better. Thou shalt love your neighbor and hate your enemy is, in a way, reasonable and just and effective. but Jesus, what He calls His people to, is something far greater. And it's what He Himself embodies, what He Himself has lived out, what He Himself has done to our benefit and to our salvation. Because we were, by our nature, His enemies. We were, by our nature, and by our works, and by our actions, and by what it calls the enmity of our mind, by our wicked works, we were opposed to Him by nature. We were at one time contrary to Him. We were at one time, as it says, children of wrath, even as others. We were His enemies. And yet, though he would have been just to destroy every one of his enemies, though he would have been right and fair and justified to wipe out every person and thought that opposes God, yet in his mercy and his grace, he loved even his enemies. He loved them. He did good to them. He prayed for them, which despitefully used him and persecuted them. Probably on countless occasions that we don't even have recorded. How many times did Jesus, when he was bowing his head in prayer, how many times did he pray for people that had spoken railing mockery against him? How many times did he pray for him who were despitefully using him and persecuting him? But we know of at least one time, when he was even being tortured and executed on the cross itself, he says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The kingdom of Jesus is far better, not only than every kingdom of this world that has come before, but even the kingdom of Judah and of Israel itself. The king Jesus is a far greater king, not only than the kings of all the earth, but even than David. Jesus is better. The nature of his kingdom is described in John chapter 18. It's striking to me how David was very effective at assuring his survival, assuring the protection of his people. And he went to great lengths, he went to great lengths in order to assure that he survived and escape the hand of Saul, escape the destruction at the hand of Saul. He went to great lengths to assure his survival. Jesus, on the other hand, Jesus willingly walks into a situation where He willingly lays down His own life and puts Himself into the hands of those who desire to destroy Him. His disciples didn't want Him to do it. They wanted to either fight for Him or they wanted Him to stay out of Jerusalem where they knew He would be arrested and tried and ultimately put to death. Jesus Himself had told them that. But instead, Jesus willingly goes and puts Himself into the hands of those who desire to destroy Him. Verse 36 of John 18. Jesus is being questioned by Pilate, Pontius Pilate, who had in his mind, Pilate had the power over Jesus' life or death. He was the judge, he was the governor, he was the one who could either have Jesus executed or he could deliver Him. Jesus says to him, verse 36, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. The kingdom of Jesus is different from the kings of this world. If his kingdom was like the kingdoms of this world, then his servants would rise up and they would fight and they would protect him from harm. They would stand for their king and they would defend him. But Jesus won't allow even his servants to fight for him. He willingly goes to his death. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? What a powerful question. Does Pilate even realize the magnitude of what he's asking? Jesus, are you a king then? Why would he ask this? Well, Jesus said, my kingdom. He refers to his kingdom. He has a kingdom. And so Pilate questions him, are you a king? Well, Jesus is a king. And Jesus is an effective, powerful, mighty king whose reign would fill was to fill the whole earth. But the way that Jesus reigns is different from the kings of this earth. He says, thou sayest that I am a king, to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Jesus has a powerful weapon through which he reigns. He has a sword, but His sword is the truth. His sword is the truth. And when His sword pierces into the hearts of His enemies, it doesn't destroy them, but it transforms them. When His sword pierced into your heart, it didn't destroy you, but it transformed you. He says that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice. Another passage, 1 Corinthians 2. I pointed out that Jesus, rather than protecting His own life and ensuring His own survival, Jesus went willingly to His own death. But in doing so, he accomplished victory over sin for his people and fulfilled the mission for which he came, that is to save his people from their sins. I've pointed out many times how David used deception, how he used craftiness, how he outsmarted and outwitted his enemies. Well, Jesus likewise outsmarted and outwitted his enemies. But not ultimately, not in the same way that David did, but ultimately he did so for the deliverance and the salvation of his people. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, he says, Verse 6, "'Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory.'" The wisdom of Christ. It's not like the wisdom of this world. It's not like the wisdom of the princes of this world. He says, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that loved Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. The enemies of Jesus in destroying him on the cross, they thought that they were having the ultimate victory over Jesus, but in fact, he was accomplishing his victory over all powers of darkness in this creation, over all principality and power, such that the princes of the world, if they knew it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But in what they did, they filled out, They carried out God's appointed plan for the deliverance of His people. The love of God through Christ is so vast, is so unfathomable for us. The love that He has for His people, when we understand that we stood in enmity against Him. One final passage as we close out this message. It's from Romans chapter 5. I'll say it again. The kingdom of Jesus is far better than the kingdom of David. David was very effective at defeating his enemies. But Jesus is one who willingly laid down his life to save even His enemies, to save even the unrighteous. And in this, in this fact, we see manifested and revealed to us the immense love of God for His people. The immense love that God has for you, you see demonstrated by this. In Romans chapter 5, Verse 6, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. And you can consider this in your own heart. You could imagine, who would you die for? Who are the people that you would willingly lay down your life to save them, given the opportunity? Maybe there is someone in your life that you would lay down your own life to save them. Probably not many. Probably not many people that you would willingly give up your own life for their sake, if we're honest with ourselves. And you would probably do it for someone that had been kind to you, someone that had treated you well, someone that was a close friend or a member of your family, someone that you loved and someone that loved you. Christ laid down his life for the ungodly. For scarcely, it says, for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in that, well, we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.