All right, so back to these first few verses. David, what he's saying to himself and what he's thinking, he says, I'm gonna perish one day by the hand of Saul. He assumes, he's saying here, despite God's promises, despite what he's been affirmed in, in his faith, what has been revealed, he says, I'm gonna die by the hand of Saul, he says, There's nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. I may as well go over to serve the Philistines. You saw a little of this in the previous chapter, back in verse 17 of 26. Saul recognized David's voice, and he says, is this your voice, my son David? And David said, it is my voice, my Lord, O King. And he said, why does my Lord, he asked Saul, why do you pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in on my hands? Now therefore let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering. There is a way of forgiveness if I have brought an offense against you. But if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord. For they have driven me out this day. See what's going on in his mind here. They have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord. the tabernacle, the place of worship. Don't let me die outside of Israel, he says, away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out against a single flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains. So you can see, he is discouraged, and we'll say a little bit more about this later, but David has been on the run for a long time, and now he says to himself, there's nothing better than just go serve the Philistines. Of course, his faith doesn't fail. Jesus told Peter, he says, Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. And a Christian, a true Christian, their faith will not fail because it is sustained by the spirit of God. God sustains our faith even when it becomes so small that it's not even visible. And you say, you know, am I lost or saved? But nevertheless, God sustains the faith of his people and here for David as well. But you can see how discouraged he is. Now, one of the things that discourages him is he still has to hide from Saul. Saul has spoken a word of repentance. Did you notice that back in verse 21 of chapter 26? I have sinned, Saul said. I have sinned. Return, my son. I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. He spared Saul's life. I have acted foolishly and have made a great mistake. which is a word that's used for unintentional sins, but that's not what Saul has been doing. And the fact is, is that he is insincere in his repentance. And it is only a matter of time before his heart will be stirred up against David again. And David knows this, despite what Saul has said. He's not going back to the court. He's not going back to Jerusalem. back to Saul's home either. He's not going to do that. So he has 600 men and they all have families with them. His wives are with him as well. So he probably has at least 2,000. It could be more than that. How do you hide that many people? So you can see what a burden he is under there. So he is thinking to himself, I'm going to escape into the land of the Philistines, well, this is the temptation of unbelief, the David fleeing in unbelief. Yet despite this, the second part of the chapter is God's providence because he still, despite David's lapse, he still protects him and provides and accomplishes his purpose for his kingdom. And so we see that in these last verses. Let's read through a little bit. Then David said to Achish. Now this is, I think, the third occasion for David to have contact with Achish. The third time he's gone down to, second time he's gone down to Gaza. And Achish is probably a throne name. In other words, whoever was sitting on the throne, they were called Achish. Just like we would say the president. Well, depends on who it is, right? who's sitting on the throne at that time. Achish is probably a throne name, so this is probably a different person than David dealt with before. But he says to him in verse five, if I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given to me in one of the country towns that I may dwell there, for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? And I suspect it was hard, all these Jewish people living with all these Philistines, and you can just imagine all of the problems that could arise, and Achish thought it was a good idea, too. He gives him Ziklag, and that, he says, became property of the kings of Judah after that. And we're told in verse seven that the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. Now, during this time, he is allied with Achish, king of Gaza, one of the Philistine lords, one of the five cities that the Philistines ruled over. And so he's supposed to serve him since he is there supposedly under his protection. Incidentally, we're told in, I think it was verse four, that when Saul learned that David was in Gath, excuse me, not Gaza, Gath, then he no longer sought him, which proves that Saul was not repentant. It's so easy to speak repentant words, but it is repentant works that show where our heart really is. And how many times I have heard people cry and I've heard them say with such sincerity and yet what are their works? And so we say with John the Baptist, bring forth works in keeping with your repentance. And Saul does not have works that match the words that he spoke back in chapter 26. And so David is there and He is supposedly serving Achish, and this is what is really happening. Now David, verse eight, and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites and the Gerzites and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old. In other words, when Joshua first led the people into the land, and they were conquering, these were tribes and people groups that were there from that time, and they were to be wiped out. God had given the command, show them no mercy. They were exceedingly wicked people. They were a danger to Israel. And although this is hard for us to embrace and to understand, that is the judgment of God against them. It's hard for me to understand God's judgment on the cross when he poured out his wrath that I observe on his own son. And likewise here, but God is glorified even in his judgments. And so this judgment is not harsh. You remember when he sent a flood and took away the world except for one family because of unbelief. And so our God is a righteous God. And we are a damned and condemned people apart from his grace. And so we need to understand the scriptures from that perspective and not try to scoot around these statements or make excuses for them, because this is the plain statement that God had commanded this judgment on the Canaanites 400 years before. He told Abraham that their iniquity was not yet full, but the judgment was coming against those people. He is fighting the Lord's battles. So he receives Ziklag, And then he fights the Lord's battles. So he goes into these places as far as Shur to the land of Egypt, verse nine, and David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments and come back to Achish. And he would share the spoil with Achish. And so, you know, everything's good. Achish is getting rich from the spoil, and David is actually fighting the battles that Saul would not fight. You remember his refusal to fight the Amalekites or to destroy them utterly. Verse 10, when Achish asked, where have you made a raid today? Then David would say, against the Negev of Judah, the south of Judah, or against the south of the Jeromelites, against the Negev of the Kenites. And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking lest they should tell about us and say, so David has done. Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines. And Achish trusted David, thinking he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, therefore he will always be my servant. So David was deceiving Achish. And this is another issue that has come up several times. I'll just make a comment about it because I want to help you in your understanding of Scripture. We have witnessed in this story through 1 Samuel how David's wife Michael lies to her father, how Jonathan lied to his father Saul to protect David, how David has lied at several different times, and here he lies to Achish as well. And You remember I told you several things to help you understand and interpret the Bible in this regard. Let me just mention these one more time. First of all, when we read stories in the Bible, often it is simply descriptive and not prescriptive. So if the Bible tells about a prophet, and David was a prophet, a king, who is the Lord's King, if he talks about him lying, it doesn't mean that he is prescribing that that is what you should do. It is descriptive of what David did, but it is not prescriptive of what you should do. So it's important to make that distinction that often a description in scripture is not a prescription for how we should do things. And secondly, David is a saint, but he is also a sinner and a sufferer. And we have to keep in mind that he's not just one thing. He has indwelling sin, just like you and I. And so David is a saint, he is a holy man, but he is also a sinner and he is also a sufferer and he has suffered very much. He is not just one thing. And Walter Chantry, great preacher, I don't know if he's still alive, but he says that this is David's defense against Saul because he says it's the same thing as when David hides. He's hiding, and it is by this means that he is hiding. And perhaps at some point in the future we'll have time to pursue those things more particularly. but I just wanted to mention it here. So in the overview of our chapter, we have David fleeing an unbelief, and then we have God's providence through the rest of the chapter. Despite that lapse, nevertheless, God protects and he provides, and he still accomplishes the building of his kingdom because David is destroying those who would be the enemies of his people, the enemies of the kingdom of God. Now, that brings me to my first point. Our lapses of faith do not invalidate God's faithfulness. Our lapses of faith do not invalidate God's faithfulness. So let me just mention that I only have two points. So maybe that's some encouragement to you at this point in the sermon. Trust, trust in the Lord marks those who belong to the kingdom of God. David's trust is tested over a long time under dire circumstances. He is considered an outlaw in Israel. And the pressure of such grim and dismal experiences, this existence that he has to live on the run, leads him to desperation. And so here in chapter 27, fear overtakes faith. I want to point out several things about David here. First, David reasons apart from revelation. He reasons apart from what God has revealed to him. David said to his heart. We could read it that way. David said to his heart. And so in this intensive contemplation of his circumstances, he's spent a lot of reflection over what's going on in my life. How can I protect these people who are following me? And I want us just to think about this because there's grave danger if we want to reason about things apart from God's word, apart from revelation. Contrary to the enlightenment, human reason is not independent or autonomous. we must begin with the presupposition that God exists, and that he has spoken, and that he's revealed himself in his son, Jesus Christ. That's the starting point. It must begin with that presupposition. If we begin with unbelieving assumptions, then human reason will always reach false conclusions about reality. No matter how brilliant our minds will be, if we do not start our thoughts with God, our reason will be a fallacy. We must begin with God's word, the revelation. The written word reveals who God is and who we are as creatures. It is the ultimate reference point for truth and understanding God's creation, God's universe. So many facts may be learned of science and history and anthropology and physics, even if you were an unbeliever, but nothing can be rightly known or rightly used for God's glory except in light of the Word, the Word of God. interprets all things for us. So David begins by reasoning apart from revelation. You notice that he doubts God's promises. He says, now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. The word for perish here literally means swept away. I'll be swept away. And what David is saying there is that he has stopped embracing the truth that God has told him that he would be a king. The promises made at his anointing, the promises made by the prophets and affirmed to him. And so he begins to doubt God's promises. And then he questions God's goodness. Do you notice in that verse one, he says, there is nothing better for me. Literally, there doesn't exist any good for me. That's what the Hebrew says. There doesn't exist any good for me. And so he has thought about things apart from God, he has doubted the promises of God, and he has questioned the goodness of God. And this can happen to us as believers. It has happened, it does happen often to us. And you might notice the word escape, that seems to be David's goal there. He says, there's nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand. He uses that word escape twice. He wants to get away from Saul's relentless persecution. He wants to hide. He wants to be free from the pressures of being an outlaw in Israel. David's motivation in this decision did not arise from faith in God's promises, but no matter how our faith at times may lapse, it cannot undo the promises of God. God is faithful in spite of our lack of faith at times. If we are faithless, yet he abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. And so God's goals will never be thwarted. His promises will never be undermined. And even though we cannot see the path of their fulfillment, God will accomplish them. If you read Psalm 77, The psalmist there is in a quandary as to what God is doing. Has he forgotten to be merciful? He asks all these questions. And then he remembers the exodus of Israel and how they were trapped up against the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army coming after them. And he reflects on this and he says his way was in the sea and his path was not known. And that is often the way it is for us. God's path is not known to us, but though we cannot know it, we cannot see it at the time, nevertheless, God abides faithful. Many times we pray and we wait on God to accomplish something that we desire, and it may be a very good thing, but he's not made a promise about it. We may want him to save a spouse, to bring back a wayward child, and we're waiting and praying. We don't know if that will happen, but waiting on God, trusting him, praying is an important exercise of faith, even if those prayers are not answered in the way that we had hoped. First, because we are trusting God for things that are beyond our control. We can't control those things. Only God can regenerate a person and awaken them to faith and repentance. Only God can heal our sickness. And secondly, God uses our prayers and our waiting as a means of sanctifying us, growing us in our nearness to Christ. And as you grow in nearness to Christ, you grow in likeness to Christ. Perhaps our prayers will be used by the Lord to accomplish His will in ways that are beyond our understanding. Because the Holy Spirit, when we pray, intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And the Holy Spirit knows what is the mind of God and he intercedes for us in accord with the will of God. Things that we might not understand nor be able to even speak. If you read Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter in the Bible. It describes a list of faith-filled individuals who did not receive the promises. They embraced them from afar. They lived by faith. They died hoping in the sure promises of God, but they still went into glory expectantly of what God would do. They lived by faith. Their trust in God was their food and drink that sustained them as they continued to walk with God in this world. God is bringing, has brought, and will bring all those promises together. And I love the last verse in that chapter, the last couple of verses of Hebrews 11, that God had determined that they would not receive those promises apart from us. That we're gonna receive them together in his glorious kingdom. But somehow our faith still fails. We surrender to despair. Yet the Lord never forsakes us. He will not forget his anointed. Psalm 34, 22, the Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. In fact, I would say that Psalm 34 is a great psalm to read in next to chapter 27. And that brings me to my second point. Trust in ourselves is idolatry. Trust in ourselves is idolatry and leads to futility. So when we are tempted to stop believing the goodness of God, the promises of God, then it means we are turning to dependence on ourself or something else. And that is idolatry and it leads to futility. Prolonged suffering can take its toll on our faith. That's what we're seeing here with David. Enduring long, difficult situations over years and decades can erode our Christian hope, tempt us to give up living a life of obedience and patience. God's word to David, his promise to give him the throne has been affirmed many times by prophets and wise persons, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Abigail, Jonathan, others, all of these have affirmed the promises of God to David. But the pain of separation from his home, being on the run, separated from the tabernacle, the worship of God's people, the pain of being labeled an outlaw and a traitor, The pain of being persecuted, pursued, overwhelms David's trust in God's promise. He falls into despair in these opening verses. He draws the false conclusion that someday Saul's gonna kill him. He's exhausted by his situation. He feels that he may as well go live with the Philistines and serve them. And for a moment, for a moment, David doubts the goodness of God and the promise of God. Ultimately, when we stop trusting in the goodness of God and his sovereign control over all things to provide for us according to his wisdom, that is the moment when we begin to trust in ourselves. Of course, trust in self, in human ability, power, wisdom, and control is futile. The idol of self-sufficiency is a lie. Are you believing that lie that you are sufficient for what you're up against day by day and moment by moment? It is an empty promise. Psalm 127, listen, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keeps the city, the watchman watches in vain. All of our building, all of our watching is useless without God's blessing. and therefore all of our provision depends entirely upon God. Though He may use our activity, yes, we watch, yes, we build, but it must be accompanied by faith, our trust in God, to know that all that I do is utterly useless to provide for my family, to protect, to care for things. All of that, I may do those things, but it is utterly useless unless God provides, unless God protects. Your work that he does is just a mask that he wears. In other words, God is the one who gives you the good things that you enjoy. And though you may work and earn a living in this way, it is still God who provides them. Your work is just a mask that God wears to show you his goodness. It is idolatrous for us to think that it is me who provides for me. Just as he feeds the birds, he's the one that puts food on your table as well. And so, yes, we can do remarkable things, watching, building, when God blesses us, but without the Lord's blessing, we can do nothing. You understand? We can do nothing. You remember when Jonah was in the boat And he told them, it's me. I'm the reason for this terrible storm. Throw me overboard. And they didn't want to throw him overboard. And it says, they rode hard to bring it to land. These were strong sailors, experienced sailors. They rode hard to bring it to land. We're going to bring it to land. But if God says it's not coming to land, it's not coming to land. And it doesn't matter how hard you work or how late you stay up. or all of the sacrifices that you may make, unless God's blessing in on it, it does not happen. And so we must live in trust of God, not in ourselves. Why does God give us such long, painful trials, difficult trials? Doesn't he know that we'll be tempted to despair and to break off from the path of faith? Yes, he does. And more than that, he knows that the idol of self, self-reliance, self-worship, self-interest, is rooted so deeply in our nature that only when we realize the futility of our own efforts apart from him will we begin to hear and believe his promises and put our trust in him, the promises of his good news. And this is why practicing the spiritual disciplines are so important to the Christian life. You say, what do you mean spiritual disciplines? I'm talking about the ordinary means of grace, meditating in the word of God. prayer, bringing all things to God, reverencing the Lord's day and gathering to worship Him. Those are vital to cultivating a life of dependence on God. If you neglect the reading of God's word, the meditation, if you neglect prayer, if you neglect the gathering with God's people, then naturally you will become more and more idolatrous, trusting yourself and trusting in things or others other than God. Trust in self carries with it the anxiety of believing that everything depends on us. You want that? Prayer for grace, wisdom, and help ceases when we begin to think that things depend entirely on me. Planning and strategizing for our desires pushes out reflection and meditation on God's promises. It's exhausting being your own God. We rise early, we stay up late, we eat the bread of sorrows. This is the life of a fool. Christians, we must live by dependence and trust and rest in God. But David is no fool. Nor is he an enemy of Israel. And even outside the borders of the land, by grace, God still holds him fast. He sustains his faith, though it has become small and weak. And though he loses momentarily his confident confession in the faith in God's promises, he pursues his calling still as a king. He does what a king does. He fights the Lord's battles. He is the defender of the faith. Like David, the pains that you and I face, the pain of a difficult marriage, of a chronic illness, of weakness, of some sorrow, spiritual battle with sin that you face on a regular basis, and your grief over the fact that you fall into this sin on a regular basis. All of these things may tempt us to give up clinging to Christ. I might as well just give in and go with the world. We can come to the false conclusion that would lead us to despair. And we might start to believe the lies of the enemy. We stop believing the goodness of God, the wisdom. of God, the power of God, the providence of God over our lives and his good purposes that are at work in everything that happens to us. Existentially, we may even question whether there is a personal God and whether he cares or that he's deeply involved in the details of our lives. Have you ever felt that way? I know I have. But listen, for you as a Christian, I can say this, and it's true for unbelievers as well, but they'll never know it. God cannot be avoided. No matter how we might think unbiblically, God cannot be avoided. We encounter him every moment of our lives. He is personally present in all things that take place. We may not realize it because God works, as I said, behind these masks, like your work, but he works behind the mask of relationship, the mask of tribulation, but God is in everything that's going on. Praise God. Everything we have is by God's gift and grace, and it's foolish for us to pretend that we've earned it. God provides for us, not because we have merited or that we are worthy of any of his goodness, but simply because he is gracious and generous and he gives and he meets us in every circumstance. He meets us in every circumstance. He offers us the promises of his word and he invites us to trust in him for that situation. That is what it means to have God as your God. You shall have no other gods before me, which means you should have God as your God, which means that you should fear him and you should love him and you should trust him instead of fearing other things, trusting other things, loving other things as though they were God. So while we work and we vote and we pray and we plead and we build relationships, It's not through our own strength or ingenuity that good comes to us, or that we secure what we need in this life. It is the gift of God. God is in charge of outcomes. Proverbs 16, it's a great chapter on outcomes, that God is the one who controls outcomes. God is in charge of victory. We must trust our hopes and plans to him. Read Ecclesiastes chapter 11. We have to remember that only his plans and his goals don't fail. Only his plans and his goals will not fail. So we humbly pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. All of our desires and prayers are waiting before God is exercised in faith to say, not our will, but your will be done. We trust him and his plans are greater than our plans. When plans fail, when hopes are delayed, we must remember that life is in God's hands. And we face the hard reality sometimes that of hope deferred. when it doesn't come to pass as we desired, or when the plans that we made, they don't come to pass. That is the perfect time for total trust in God. Listen, Psalm 39 in verse seven. And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. When everything else seems awash, it is the perfect time to say, Lord, what am I waiting for? If you're waiting on people, you may wait a long time. If you're waiting on the political system, you may wait forever. If you're waiting on something else to happen, that is why we wait on God. And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. That verse has comforted me so many times in my life when I didn't understand what was going on. We must not trust in our own power and wisdom, but in the power and wisdom of God revealed in Jesus Christ. It is not great power that distinguishes the kingdom of God, but humble trust. Remember I told you it was the hallmark. A lot of people would like it if we had power, if we had political power, if we had might, if we could be in charge of things, if we could control things. But what characterizes the church of God, the kingdom of God, is trust, humble trust in God, and that he is the one who disposes of all things. The Christian life begins with humble trust in God, revealed in the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's son. The cross does not look like victory. It certainly doesn't look like victory to the unbelieving mind. It seems like foolishness, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2. It does not satisfy human reason. But to us who are being saved, the cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God. To be saved, you must repent of trusting in your own righteousness and your own wisdom and your own plans and your own power. Trusting in ourselves is idolatry, it is a false God. We have broken the first command and thus we have broken all the commandments. When you break any command, you've broken the first commandment, not to have God as your God. And so consequently, we've transgressed the whole law of God. We are under condemnation because of our misplaced fear and misplaced love and misplaced trust. Do you wanna have a right relationship with God? then you must fear love and trust in him above all things. And that begins, listen, listen, that begins by believing that though you are sinful and unworthy, and deserve judgment, though you are, though I am a Philistine and a Canaanite, and I deserve annihilation, God the Son, Jesus Christ, died our death, and suffered our hell, and endured our judgment on the cross. And that is why he cried out on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was forsaken by God the Father because that is what I deserved. And when I trust in his death and resurrection, I can be reconciled to God the Father. I can receive forgiveness of sin. I can be brought into the kingdom of God, out of the kingdom of darkness, and into the kingdom of his dear son. The Christian life begins with believing in the gospel of Jesus in his death and resurrection. Listen, God doesn't help those who help themselves. That's another lie, idolatrous lie. God saves the helpless. God justifies the ungodly. That's right. So when you're ready to say, yep, that's me, I'm ungodly, then you can receive forgiveness of sins and justification, righteousness from God. But he only justifies the ungodly. He doesn't justify good people. As long as you say, well, I'm pretty good. Well, you'll never be saved. It's only when you say, I am an ungodly wretch that you can receive the justification of God that he vindicates you by giving you the righteousness of Jesus and declares you righteous because of what Jesus did. He saves sinners and it's only by acknowledging our guilt and humbly seeking his forgiveness that we can receive the good gift of salvation which is greater than all other gifts. In fact, God has given us everything in Jesus Christ. In him, all the promises of God are yes and amen. All the spiritual blessings that God has for you, they are in Christ Jesus. And so we bow the knee to Jesus Christ, who is the Savior, yes, and he is the Lord who will meet you in every situation that you face, because he is your God.