Amen, and let us turn to our text as we come back to 1 Samuel. after a couple months in the Gospels, 1 Samuel chapter 18. And we'll read just a few verses from the end of 1 Samuel 17. That is at the conclusion of David's defeat of Goliath, where we left off. And so we'll begin reading at 1 Samuel 17, verse 55. And then we'll read through the end of chapter 18, 18 verse 30, and we'll be focusing on chapter 18. And then Lord willing, we'll continue on all the way through 1 Samuel. And so we're back to our Old Testament book that we were working through before. And now Lord willing, we'll be continuing on through together. Beginning our reading at 1 Samuel 17, verse 55. Let us hear the word of God. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I do not know. And the king said, inquire whose son the boy is. And as soon as David returned from striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, whose son are you, young man? And David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite. As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt. And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. As they were coming home when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. And he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul lied David from that day on. The next day, a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the liar, as he did day by day. And Saul had his spear in his hand, and Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul So Saul removed him from his presence and made him commander of a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people. And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them. Then Saul said to David, here is my elder daughter Merev. I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul thought, let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him. And David said to Saul, who am I and who are my relatives, my father's clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? But at the time when Mereb, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel, the Meholathite, for a wife. Now Saul's daughter, Michael, loved David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. And Saul thought, let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore, Saul said to David a second time, you shall be my son-in-law. And Saul commanded his servants, speak to David in private and say, behold, the king has delight in you and all his servants love you. Now then, become the king's son-in-law. And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, does it seem to you a little thing to become the king's son-in-law since I am a poor man and have no reputation? And the servants of Saul told him, Thus and so did David speak. Then Saul said, thus shall you say to David, the king desires no bride price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make David's fall by the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. Before the time had expired, David arose and went along with his men and killed 200 of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king that he might become the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michael for a wife. But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael, Saul's daughter, loved him, Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy continually. Then the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out, David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord, When walking on this earth, Jesus gave us instructions about loving our neighbor and made it clear that this includes loving our enemies. And the apostle says in Romans 12 verse 18, if possible, as far as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. What do these passages tell us? They tell us that We will have enemies on this earth, even as we are called to love them. It also tells us that there will be times when we can do as much as we can to seek to live in peace with others, but that there will be things outside of our control. There will be things which are impossible for us to control, namely that Because not everything depends upon us, it may not be possible to live peaceably with all. You see, we cannot control other people. We can't control someone and make them our friend. We can't control someone and make them stop being our enemy. We can't control someone and make them trust in God, whatever it is, we cannot control other people. And that's our theme this morning. We can't control the people around us. The life of David given to us with so many details in this portion of God's word, it gives us a divinely inspired narrative demonstrating this truth And many other things, there is much for us to learn in this portion of the Word of God about how we should seek to honor God even when others would make themselves our enemies. Not because of something David did, unprompted, unprovoked, Saul becomes David's enemy. There's much here to see about how David's life at this point is a special foreshadowing of the perfect son of David to come who would himself, though he was perfect, have many enemies who would even put him to death. And there is also much in this narrative of Saul against David which stands to warn us about the path of sin without repentance, and how sin without repentance can lead one into blacker and blacker modes of sin. And so we'll begin looking at this portion of 1 Samuel. We might call it the Saul against David portion. And we begin with 1 Samuel 18, and we're gonna be looking at First, unprompted generosity, but then unprovoked jealousy, faithful bravery, and fearful animosity. Well, first, the unprompted generosity. We cannot make someone our stop being our enemy. We also can't control our friends. We can't make someone be our friend, but Jonathan here, unprompted, David did not demand generosity, David did not demand a friendship, David didn't ask for anything, but unprompted, Jonathan admits himself to David. He gives him material gifts, verse 4, but more than this, he loved David, verse 1. He makes a covenant with David, verse 3. He becomes David's friend, and even as we would read on, his protector. There is nothing here which is for selfish gain. Jonathan is not looking for something from David. This is a selfless, unprompted generosity and loving friendship. It may even be more than just friendship. It is possible that in giving David his robe, the royal robe of the crown prince, that Jonathan is already here indicating something with deep significance. David, I will not stand in your way for the throne. Here is my royal robe, take it. We may remember this was some time ago now, but there has been a prophecy from Samuel to Saul in 1 Samuel 15, verse 28, that the kingdom would be ripped away from Saul. Now, Jonathan was not there. But perhaps Saul declared it in Jonathan's presence. Oh, Samuel said that the kingdom's going to be torn away from it, but I don't believe it. If that is the case, and it is clear that Saul does not believe it, and Saul is going to go on to fight against it tooth and claw. But if Jonathan knows of it, Jonathan is receiving it in humility. He's receiving it as the word of God through the faithful prophet Samuel. If he's not already doing that here, Certainly, Jonathan will explicitly be doing this in the time to come. And so in 1st Samuel 23 verse 16 and 17, Jonathan says it this way. And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, do not fear for the hand of Saul, my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel. and I shall be next to you." Saul, my father, also knows this. This is not the way things usually go when two men would have a claim to the same throne. By the world's way of thinking, David should be Jonathan's enemy. He should be hunting him. killing him, taking the throne for himself as the crown prince who's well loved by the people. The people of God, what do we have here? We have two young men who in the previous chapters we have seen are willing to stand up and fight against great odds what in the name of the Lord the covenant God Israel and be not just brothers in Christ they will be more than brothers in Christ though the circumstances are what the world would say should make them enemies Jonathan will not be jealous Jonathan will not be angry he will He will willingly help and aid David in what God has anointed David for. This is a wonderful friendship. We have much to learn from Jonathan's submission to the will of God. We have much to learn about godly friendship, and we'll consider this more as we read on in 1 Samuel. But for now, let us remember what it says in Proverbs. A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. There are great blessings in true friendship, not just being companions, not just knowing someone, but being those who rejoice in the God of heaven together, being brothers and sisters in Christ together, and even having a special brother to brother or a special sister to sister friendship and certainly Jesus is the one who gave up more than a royal row who surely sticks closer than a brother Jesus is the one who gave up his very divinity in the sense that for a time he became lower than the angels taking on the form of man doing all this giving up his very life for his people. Well, there is unprompted generosity. We also have here unprovoked jealousy. How much different is the reaction of Saul from that of Jonathan? The women are coming out to greet the army and especially Saul. It says in verse six, they came to meet King Saul. They don't come running out and singing and praising David who slew the giant. First, they go to the king first. Now, in their song, they do say, they say Saul has slain thousands, David ten thousands. Even here, commentators have pointed out that there is a Hebrew way of expressing. You go from thousand to a ten thousand. That's just a way of saying great things have done, great things have been done. We see example of that, for example, in Psalm 144. And so it may very well be that these women are not intending any slight against Saul, and certainly they're going to him first. They're going to the king first. They're not running straight to David or doing anything like that. But however the women mean it as they come out to greet first the king and greet the victorious army after defeating the Philistines, however the women meant it, Saul is not going to, what is love? What is love in 1 Corinthians 13? Believing the best. Saul is not gonna do this. Saul is not gonna believe the best. Saul is going to assume the worst. And what is that assumption? They think David is better than me. You see, David, blinded by his own selfish pride, was going to misinterpret what others say. He's going to fail to believe the best. He's going to be quick to anger and to jealousy. And certainly whatever the women intended, David has done nothing to provoke this. David displays much humility throughout this chapter and the coming chapters. But whatever others do, Saul is going down the road of sin, and he's quick to jump to anger, jealousy, division. In the New Testament, James speaks about the movement of sin. James speaks in James 1, 14, verse 15 about being tempted, being lured, being enticed by our desires, and then desire conceiving and giving birth to sin, and then sin going full growth and bringing forth See what Saul does here is, instead of taking his sinful desires, jealousy, anger, revenge, and saying, I'm horrified by the sin within me, let me cut this off before it gives birth, that my desires might not control me. No, no, no, David says, or Saul says, I have these desires and I am going to give full reign to them. He's going to give birth to his simple desires. He is going to allow them to be full-grown, seeking to bring forth the physical death of David, but all the while what he's really doing is bringing forth his own spiritual death by failing to repent, by failing to cut off his sins, by failing to be horrified by his sinful desires. People of God Would we ever dabble in sinfulness? Would we ever see the sinful desires that come into our hearts and think, oh, this is OK. It's no big deal. I can allow my desires to go down the road of where they might take me. May it not be so. May we recognize sinful desires within us and repent, cut them off, be horrified of them, remove them before we would give birth. If we do give birth, may we put them to death before they are fully grown and would even overwhelm us and bring us to spiritual death. Now, people of God, let's think ahead a little bit about how others are seeing Saul. God certainly knows all that's in Saul's heart, and God is revealing those details to the author of this book at a later time. But notice that people around Saul are struggling to see his true intentions. We know what Saul's intentions are. God is telling us through his author. But notice that the people around him are not seeing what Saul is thinking. Even when Saul hurls a spear at David, tries to pin him to the wall twice, Perhaps excuses were made. He's just a depressed man, stressed out king with a mad spirit. Perhaps Saul was cunning enough to hide or excuse his real intentions. Certainly he's wily enough to hide his intentions after the hurling of the spear behind pious language. Look at verse 17. We're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit. But he's commanding David to go out. Why? Because he wants David to die in battle, as becomes clear as we read on in the chapter. Because God knows Saul's heart. But what is the language that he actually says, that the people around him actually hear? Go and fight the Lord's battles for me. Do it valiantly. Pious language. It takes Jonathan and David some time to see the depths of Saul's plots against him. The narrative hints to us that perhaps Michael, with her actions in the next chapter, is the first one to have a real understanding of the evil desires of her father. People, we take all of this and we sit back and we say, we cannot control other people, nor will we always be able to see the evil of other people's hearts. We are not in control. And there may be those hiding behind excuses, hiding behind pious language, all the while plotting ruin against others. We can't control it and we may not be able to see it. The anger of Saul was unprovoked, yet it was violent, it was vengeful. After throwing a spear in a fit of madness, it was hidden behind pious language. We cannot just be nice enough people that those around us will just always treat us well and fairly. We cannot control what others do. What we can seek to do is to be faithful, even bravely faithful in the callings that we would have throughout our life. Certainly we see this for David. David, it's been said that this was a beautiful period in David's life. He's not demonstrating anger. He's not demonstrating jealousy. He demonstrates bravery. After the throwing of The speared Saul begins to test David in battle. And David responds. He is hoping the best. He is hoping that the pious words of Saul in verse 17 are true. That the king really just wants him to go out and fight valiantly against the uncircumcised enemies of God. And so David does so. And he does so well. Of course, we know verse 14. that this is because the Lord was with him. He goes out. He answers Saul's first challenge. He answers Saul's second challenge. He does all of it well. There was a greatly skilled captain in the English Navy of the 1500s named Sir Francis Drake. He was part of the outnumbered English Navy that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588. There's a legend, some historians accept it as true, others think it's maybe made up, that when Sir Francis Drake first heard that the Spanish were approaching up the channel and the Armada was on its way, that he was playing bowls, which is, as far as I understand, a lot like modern bowling, but different. And Drake responded, we have time enough to play the game. and thrash the Spaniards afterwards. You see, people of God, we see something of that same kind of daring bravery mixed with good leadership skills in the military life of David. This is because the Lord was with him, we know. But what is David's response when Saul says, you must go out and kill 100 Philistines for the bride price? David basically says, I'll go get 100. And I'll get a hundred more. I will fight God's uncircumcised enemies and I will fulfill whatever calling you give to me." Now for Saul, the pious language of fight the Lord's battles for me is insincere, but for David, this is his sincere desire. He is going out to fight for the Lord and the Lord is with him. which the Lord used Drake and the other English Sea Dogs to protect the Protestants in England from the Spanish persecution which would have come. And the Lord uses David to protect his people at this time. But we do have to ask ourselves, how are we called to go out bravely today? We are not God's army in the same way. We are not called to go out and kill the uncircumcised enemies of God as the army of Israel, the Lord's host was. And so what kind of bravery are we now called to? We are now called to the bravery of being God's voice to the nations. It is a different calling, but surely it is a calling which requires bravery. Let us think just of the life of the Apostle Paul. What does he say? He preached to high and low. He preached to all who would hear him, including what? Including the judges that he stood on trial before. Including, we're told in Philippians chapter 1, the jailers who are standing there and guarding him. What is that? This is bravery. It's the bravery to speak the truth of the gospel, whether you're speaking to those who can increase your your pain and punishment in prison or or whatever it is he is speaking the truth of the gospel he even rejoices in his imprisonment he tells the Philippians because throughout his imprisonment he's been able to make the gospel known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and that is the language of Philippians 1 13 People of God, the acts of braver we are called to are different now, but we are still called to be brave in the name of the Lord. And if we think in terms of the fact that we cannot control people, certainly that comes into play here as well. It is our task to be brave. It is our task to speak the truth. We cannot control how anyone will respond to that truth. We cannot control people. We are merely called to do our part, to live at peace with others, to our part, to bravely speak the gospel in all circumstances. Well, let's look at fearful animosity. Let's look at the rising anger of Saul We've spoken already about how Saul is unprovoked, how he's quick to misunderstand others, how he's quick to hide himself behind pious language. He's also always changing the game on David. And so he really should have given David to one of his daughters twice. That was promised in chapter 17 to whoever defeated Goliath. He promises it again with Merib, but then when he should have given Merib to David, instead he gave her to someone else. It says in verse 19, it's only when he has this He has this light bulb go off and he thinks, oh, wait, if David's my son-in-law, then the Philistines might even more want to kill him because he'll be married to the king's daughter. It's only when he thinks that it's for his gain that he finally gives in and says, oh, okay, David, you can have my daughter now if you, you know, do this, hoping that David will die as he goes to get the hundred foreskins of the Philistines. Misunderstanding others. changing the rules on others, cloaking all of it behind pious language, and caring nothing as his fearful animosity rises for anyone around him. What is Saul doing to his daughter here? You know, what is One of the great prayer requests of any parent, Lord God, may my child be in you. And if my child desires a spouse, may you provide a godly spouse for my child. Who is David? David is a godly man. His love and bravery in the Lord drips from him. This should be the greatest answer to Saul's prayers. My daughter loves a godly man. But what does sin do? Sin twists everything and brings everything back to self. And so what does Saul say instead? I'll use my own daughter to increase the danger in David's life. so that the Philistines might be more eager to kill him. And I don't care if my daughter becomes a young widow in the process. In fact, that's my desire. What is Saul doing? He's willing to trample everyone around him to get what he wants, which is to keep his hold on the throne. His own daughter and anyone else is expendable along the way. People of God, this is the destruction of sin. Sin says, I don't care about the will of God, the revealed will of God from the mouth of the faithful prophet Samuel that said this kingdom will be torn from you. There's nothing Saul can do about that. His only response should be repentance and trust in the Lord and saying, Lord, I give my kingdom up to you. Just grab hold of my soul. But sin says, I am going to go my own way and do whatever I can, even if I have to fight against the directly revealed will of God, because I want what I want. And I'll trample anyone, even my own daughter, to get what I want. People of God, when Scripture speaks to us about sin and repentance and turning our lives over to the Lord, Scripture is directing us to peace for our eternal soul and the forgiveness of sins to our only Savior, Jesus Christ. And Scripture is pointing us to a way where, by God's grace and the leading of His Holy Spirit, we would be doing our part to be at peace with others, instead of destroying our own daughter and everyone else, which is what sin does. Now, in contrast to Saul will, of course, read on to see how David, by God's grace, will be patient, though David knows he's the anointed. But let's, at this moment, stop and consider this. You know, David is going to put the same tactics into play later in his life. The same tactics of putting someone that you want dead on the front line so that they will be dead. William Blakey, the great Scottish minister, he once said it this way. This teaches us, quote, the same seeds of evil were in David's heart as in Saul's, end of quote. Now the difference is by God's grace, David is confronted by the sinful desires of his heart and he repents. But people of God, as we take the whole narrative of scripture together, it is not just to make us sit and say, oh, well I'm glad I'm not Saul. It's to say, Yes, we can't control the evil that's around us, but beyond that, we need God to control the evil within us ourselves. Lord God, save me. Lord God, bring me to repentance. Lord God, help me to trust wholly upon you, knowing that I can't control what goes on around me. And apart from your Holy Spirit, I can't control my own self. To put it another way, may we leave all things in God's hand. Psalm 17 was written by David. If you'll turn there with me, this will be bringing us to our conclusion. Psalm 17. We don't know when Psalm 17 was written. Perhaps inspired by the Holy Spirit, David was thinking back on this time. in his life. And how does David, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, describe a biblical way of thinking when surrounded by enemies? Enemies who, in Psalm 17, described as adversaries, who close their hearts to pity, who open their mouths to speak arrogantly, who are like lions waiting to ambush, eager to tear apart. What's the language in the heart of this song. Psalm 17 beginning at verse 7. Wondrously show your steadfast love. Oh Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who do me violence my deadly enemies who surround me. We cannot control people, but may we repent and bring ourselves to God's loving control. Amen. Let us pray. Oh Lord, God almighty, we pray that you would Lord, give us godly friends upon this earth. We know that we cannot make a person be our friend, but we pray, O Lord, that you would give us godly friends.