Amen. Let us turn our scripture reading, 1 Samuel chapter 26, page 317 in most of the Bibles. Under the seats, some additions will have slightly different page. 1 Samuel 26, as you're turning there, I was planning to get to the end of the chapter, but we're only gonna make it to verse 20. So, and we're only gonna make it through, if you're looking at the outline, we're only gonna make it through the first three points. It is important to be sincere. It'll still be important to be sincere next week. And so Lord willing, we'll get to the end of chapter 26 and into chapter 27. One thing is, So Saul, he speaks with his mouth and then it doesn't line up with what's in his heart. So we're not gonna get that contrast, but what we will get is we'll get the response of Saul and then how David responds to that in chapter 27. So those things also go together and Lord willing, that's where we will be next week. For this week, we'll read the whole chapter, but we'll be looking at verses one to 20. And again, the first three points of our outline. First Samuel chapter 26, let us hear the word of God beginning at verse one. Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hakeilah, which is on the east of Jeshomon? So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with 3,000 chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped on the hill of Achila, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay with Abner, the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him. Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Joab's brother Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, who will go down with me into the camp of Saul? And Abishai said, I will go down with you. So David and Abishai went to the army by night and there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground at his head And Abner and the army lay around him. Then Abishai said to David, God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will strike him. I will not strike him twice. But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him. For who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him. or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go." So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head, and he went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill with a great space between them. And David called to the army and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, will you not answer, Abner? When Abner answered, who are you who calls to the king? And David said to Abner, are you not a man who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the King, your Lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die because you have not kept watch over your Lord, the Lord's anointed. And see where the King's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head." Saul recognized David's voice and said, 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 pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is 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. But if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord. For 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, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains. Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly and have made a great mistake. And David answered and said, Here is the spear, O king. Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord. And may he deliver me out of all tribulation. And Saul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David, you will do many things and will succeed in them. So David went his way and Saul returned to his place. So far the reading of the holy word of God. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, for those who were here, A few weeks ago, we were in 1 Samuel, chapter 24, and there's a number of similarities between chapter 24 and chapter 26. David is given an opportunity to harm Saul. There, Saul walks into the cave. David's there with his men. David's men encourage Saul to take his opportunity to wipe out or to encourage David to wipe out Saul. But David shows mercy. He does not take this opportunity. That's chapter 24. And well now here we have a number of similar things going on in chapter 26. Some so-called scholars have used this, these two accounts, as one of their excuses to try to question the authenticity of the Bible. And so it's so argued that because these accounts are so similar, It must have been two different people remembering the same event and having a little bit of a unreliable memory and so we get these two slightly different accounts. And some people find that compelling argument, presumably only those who are looking for an excuse. to try to undermine the authority of God's Word. But this thinking that these two accounts are so similar that they must be the same event, it is of course rubbish. First, it's wrong because the Holy Word of God is without any error or deceit. Second, it's wrong because There are quite a few differences to go along with the similarities, so that's over-exaggerated. And third, anyone who lives long enough knows that certain things repeat themselves. And more somberly, this is especially true in abusive relationships. And the relationship of Saul to David certainly is an abusive relationship. As the Presbyterian preacher Richard Phillips once said about this chapter, quote, anyone who has been in an abusive relationship like David's with Saul can tell you that the same scenes tend to be replayed over and over, end of quote. And so in this encounter, a second similar but different encounter between Saul and David, where Saul is still pursuing David's life, And David again holds Saul's life in his hand. We see that David will again show mercy. And David, unlike Saul, is one who speaks words that match his hard attitude, and his actions are proof of that. And so our theme flowing from that this morning is this, may my mouth and my heart both praise God. And our three points, we're not going to get to that fourth point in the bulletin. The importance of mercy, the importance of position, and the importance of justice. So first, the importance of mercy. Saul again pursuing David. He's again getting information from the Ziphites, that same section of the tribe which tried to betray David before, at the end of chapter 3, leading up to the events in the cave in chapter 24. What is David doing at this time? Well, even though Saul said in chapter 24 verse 20 to David that, David, you shall surely be king and the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Well, Saul said that, but David isn't trusting Saul. He's entrusting Saul to live by that word of David surely being king. So David is still on the lookout. And so he hears when Saul is near and then he sends out his spies in verse four to know exactly where and if Saul has come and indeed Saul has come. And so David, David wants to prove himself again. He wants another opportunity to prove his innocence. He wants to sneak into the camp to do this. Who's going to go with him? Abishai, his nephew, says, I will go with you. God has put the army into a deep sleep, it tells us in verse 12. And so they're able to sneak all the way into the middle of the camp. Why the middle of the camp? Because the king is the most important person in the camp. So you put the king in the safest place, right in the middle. And that's where David and Abishai advance to. And as they are there, just as in chapter 24, David's men, in this case now one man, says, well, here's your chance. Here's the man who is so unjustly pursuing you, this unjust king, this unjust judge. And by pursuing you, he's made all of us with you. You're a band of 600 men. He's made all of us fugitives with you. Here's your chance. Get rid of him. Let's stop this life on the run. Let's get back to our homes and our comfortable living and get out of this fugitive life. David, let me slay him. You don't even have to do the act of killing. I'll do that. for you, says Abishai. You see, just like the larger group in chapter 24, Abishai is turning over in his mind, and he thinks that opportunity equals permission. He thinks that opportunity equals permission, or the language we use then for those who are here, he thinks that an open door means that God's opened that door for us, and so I must just walk through it. and how tempting this would be. We don't have enough hints to know exactly how long David's been on the run, but it's probably been at least a year. All the discomfort, all the hunger, not knowing where your next meal's gonna come from, and it's an unjust pursuit to just end it right here. There's Saul. There's his own spear. But David says no. He will again show mercy to Abishai, he says in verse nine, do not destroy him. People of God, mercy is so critical to the Christian life. What is that beautiful parable of the ungrateful servant in Matthew 18? We have been forgiven so much Will we not be forgiving to others? What about life and death situations? Does it apply to that? What do we deserve from God? What does the apostle say? The wages of sin is death. Romans 6.23. We are all sinners. We all deserve eternal death from God. As we come to God, as we confess our sins. We are not put to eternal death, but Jesus died for us to take those sins away. We have been forgiven so much. So even in a situation of life or death injustice, how can we not be God's merciful people? Saul is pursuing David's life relentlessly. He has been for some time. But David knows the importance of mercy. He knows that God has shown mercy to him and he will again show mercy to Saul. Now that's not the only reason to show mercy. There's also what we might call a more practical reason or a more principled reason. Well, not more principled, but another reason. There's another reason. That takes us to our second point. Because the reason that David actually speaks out loud as he's sitting there having his whispered conversation with his nephew and the sleeping army all around him. The argument, the theological argument that David has with Abishai there in the middle of the camp is, well, I can't touch him because of his position. There is an extra level of wrongness. You cannot take justice out on the king. The king is the judge. He has an important position. That's the argument that David's actually working out. And so as we come into this second point, we might say it this way. David remembers the Ten Commandments. He knows that the Ten Commandments are summary principles. And what's the principle of the Fifth Commandment? Well, the actual words of the Fifth Commandment are, you shall honor your father and mother. But like all of the commandments, the principle goes beyond that. And what's the principle of the Fifth Commandment? the principle of the Fifth Commandment is honor those in authority. And so that's further specified in places like Exodus 22 verse 28, you shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people. Or even more plainly in some New Testament passages like 1 Peter 2.17, honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. Honor the emperor. Now, we live in a less formal, a less hierarchical society today. We don't have lords and masters. We're not in tune to authority in the same way. But we still know, sometimes even without thinking about it subconsciously, the importance of people being in appointed positions. And we can think about that by thinking about a grocery store. Consider for the sake of illustration, you have $20 worth of groceries in your cart and you're walking towards the checkout line and somebody in a plain white t-shirt walks up to you and says, you can give me $20 for that and you can go out the door. Well, that'd be ridiculous. That's not their position. They can't do that. They're not the checkout operator. They're not scanning your items and giving you a receipt that says, I can legally go out the door. They're just trying to, I don't know, get $20 from you. It's just ridiculous. It wouldn't happen. We wouldn't do that. position that someone's appointed into is important. We still know that even subconsciously. That's basically what David is saying to Abishai here, except on a higher, more serious level. Saul's the king. He's the anointed one of the Lord. The king in ancient Israel is also the judge. You don't just carry out judgment on the judge. It's not how it's done. Just like you don't pay for your groceries to somebody wearing a plain white t-shirt. It's not how it's done. Abishai, we cannot do this. He is the king. Another way to think about it is this. Remembering the position that someone has makes a difference in what the penalty would be for trying to harm someone. We can illustrate this by thinking about rocks and windows. Now, if I throw a rock at the car of my neighbor's window while they're sitting in that, well, that's not a good thing. It's illegal. It's potentially dangerous. I'd get in trouble. It's not good. Now, what happens, that's not good, but something's worse. What would happen if Have you ever seen the President's motorcade? I've seen it once in my life. You know, President Bush was driving to the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Have you ever seen the President's car? What would happen if you took a rock and tried to throw it at the President's car? Well, you'd get in even more trouble for that. That's even worse because of the position of the person in that car. And to even take it just a little bit further, what would happen if the Secret Service just allowed that to happen and didn't do anything? They're like, people throw rocks at the President, that's no big deal. Well, the Secret Service would get in a lot of trouble for that. That's what's going on here. We don't think about authority and hierarchy always in the same way. We don't live in as structured of a society. But that's basically what David is saying here. He stands up, he rebukes the army. and basically what he's telling them is you're being a terrible job at doing the Secret Service. What are you guys doing? Abner, Mr. General, somebody snuck into your camp last night and could have killed your king, the anointed one of the Lord. Position is important. Position is important. You allowed this to happen. You deserve to die. David's not exaggerating when he says that. In most armies throughout the history of the world, if you'd allow something like to happen, it'd be a capital offense. Someone marching in the middle of your camp could have wiped out the king the Lord's anointed. Now, we might say, but I don't always like the emperor, the president, the king. And Saul is a He is not a good king. Well, that's true, but he is still the king. He's still an anointed one. What's the Hebrew word for anointed? The word here to describe Saul, he's a messiah. It's an important position, he's the king. There is a certain respect which must be given to him even though he's a terrible king. Now, where do we go from there? Who's the one king in perfect authority who does certainly deserve all the respect and praise and honor that we can give him? Well, it's the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, Jesus of Nazareth. There are lots of earthly messiahs, people appointed into positions, who are a mess and even what we might say the better ones like David are still all messed up and we detailed some of David's sins last week for those who are here but position is important and there's one anointed King of Kings who is perfect as he's been put in that place and more than worthy of all our praise and worship Now, David, he's not currently the ruler of the army, so the decision for what punishment Abner might have is not in David's hand. But David is accomplishing something with his speech. You see, he's laid a foundation to demonstrate his innocence. And since justice is important, David has every right to plead his innocence. That takes us to our third point, the importance of justice. Way back in chapter 20, verse 31, Saul publicly said, David shall surely die. Now Saul had already been trying in secret to put David to death before that, but from that moment on, subterfuge is gone. Ever since then, This unjust death penalty by Saul has made David a fugitive. And now by speaking in this way before the whole army of 3,000 men, what's David doing? One of the things that he's doing is he's publicly demonstrating his innocence. Let me say it this way. David is still honoring Saul's position. But honoring a position does not mean you must always agree with what the person in that position does. Or here's another way to say it. Honoring our earthly presidents and governors does not mean that we need to always agree with what they're doing. We can call out the injustices of our land. Now David is doing that at a personal level here because he's the one who's personally been put under an unjust death penalty by Saul. And so he says in verse 18, why does my Lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hands? And you know, that's a pretty ironic statement because what is in his hands? Well, the spear, by which he could have just killed Saul if he wanted to. He's demonstrating his innocence. He's declaring his innocence. And he's saying it from the hilltop to the whole army. Look, Saul wants you to pursue after me? Do you think I'm guilty? I could have killed him last night. What evil is in my hands? We know that it's appropriate to declare our own innocence. Let's return one more time to the illustration of the grocery store. And let's say that you did make it to the cash register, and you do have a checkout operator scanning your items. And then after scanning $20 worth of groceries, they ask you to pay them $100. Well, that's not right. You're going to declare your innocence, right? You're going to say, what do you mean you want $100? This is only $20 worth of stuff. And then you're going to appeal to their conscience, right? This is just what David did. He appealed to Saul's conscience. Why is my Lord pursuing after me? It's the first thing you're going to do. You're going to say, why do you think I need to pay you $100? And then, if that doesn't work, what's the second thing? The second thing is, well, then you appeal to a higher authority. In the case of the checkout operator who is demanding that you pay them $100, maybe so that they can pocket $80 of it, you would say, I want to see your manager. That's the higher authority. Well, who's the higher authority here? Saul's an absolute monarch. Who can David appeal to? Well, he can only appeal to one higher authority. He can only appeal to God. And that's exactly what he does in verse 19. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering. David has appealed to Saul's own conscience, and now he's appealing to the higher authority. I'm gonna take us back. Let's kind of pause for a moment. Remember what David said to Abishai in verse 10 and 11? especially verse 10, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him down, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. See, sometimes it's tempting to wish that things worked the way they work in a grocery store. Because if you appeal to a manager, and the manager comes and sees that you've got $20 worth of stuff that's checked out, the manager's gonna, I mean, That situation is going to be solved right there, right? They're going to say, yeah, you pay $20. Here's your receipt. You can go. You don't have to pay anybody $100. And then they might fire the cashier on the spot, too. I mean, you get immediate results, right? And you have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen. When we appeal to God as the highest authority, sometimes we wish it was like the grocery store. It would happen immediately. And we have a pretty good idea of how it's gonna work out. But we don't. We do know that God will be perfectly just. That he will carry out his will. That there will be complete justice, even to the very end, even eternal justice. But we don't know when or how God will carry that out. See, we should seek to be, as David was in verse 10, content with the way and the timing of how the Lord will work it out, even though it's unpredictable, not like a grocery store. He is the King of Kings. He will work his things out in his own way, in his own timing. Let us leave it in his hands. even as we might wish for things to be more immediate. Certainly, when we leave it in the Lord's hands, it is more sure and perfect. Okay, so David is appealing to the Lord. Justice is important. He's appealing to the only higher authority he can appeal to, the only one in authority over Saul. And now what's especially concerning to David? What is he especially worried about? Why, let's say it this way, why does he want justice so much? Does David say, let me be free from your unlawful pursuit and your unlawful bounty on my head so that I can go home and live comfortably again? so that I can go home and know where my next meal is coming from again. No. What does David say? Well, basically, David says, let me go home so that I can go to church on Sunday. Wait, what? Go to church on Sunday? OK, we kind of jumped ahead a little bit. We jumped to the New Testament language. But that's what David said. Look at what he says in the end of verse 19. David is distressed because I have no share in the heritage of the Lord. David wants his fugitive status removed so that he can, middle of verse 20, be in the presence of the Lord. You see, in the old covenant, geography was important in a way that it's not important in the New Testament. You could only be in the promised land when you were in the promised land, and you could only carry out the sacrificial rites in the tabernacle, which right now is in Nab. David's gonna move it to Jerusalem pretty soon. David is saying, Saul, look at what you're doing. I cannot worship God the way I want to because of your bounty upon my head. Stop pursuing me. so that I can get back to worshipping God institutionally, the way he's called us to. Now you might say, well, why is this such a big deal? David's working out all kinds of personal piety. He's on the run with 600 men. That includes the high priest. It includes his friend, the prophet Gad. They're probably talking about all kinds of spiritual things. Actually, we know they are, and we know that David's working them out because we know a number of Psalms were written at this time. So David's involved in prayer. There's all kinds of personal piety. Why is he so concerned about spiritual things? And doesn't David say in the Psalms, remember how important mercy is? David says in the Psalms, God, you care for mercy and not sacrifice. Those are all true. David does say that in the Psalms, but as important as mercy is, as wonderful as personal piety is, let's put it in New Testament terms. I mean, right, you're a New Testament person. You're like David. You're on the run, but you've got the prophet and the high priest with you. You can listen to sermons on sermon audio or listen to all kinds of spiritual things, and that's all easy to do. You can exercise personal piety, just like David was praying. You can be in prayer before God. You can do all those things, and those things are all good, but what should you also long for? Because even though God desires mercy and not sacrifice, it's still important to sacrifice. It's still important to come institutionally before God, as God has called us to in the Old Testament. That meant you had to be in the promised land. And that's what David is so concerned for justice for. I cannot go to the temple, Saul. I have to grab holy bread on the run back in chapter 21. And I haven't been able to return to the temple at all since. So you see, to put it in New Testament language, we're no longer bound to Jerusalem. It now goes out from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. The establishment of local churches from place to place. Elders being appointed in every town. We're going to look at that more tonight, right? So, local churches. What is David saying here? He's saying, Saul, stop persecuting me because I really want to go to church on Sunday. I really want to be in God's presence. Not just mercy and personal piety. I praise the Lord that I can do that. But I want to be before his institution that he has set up. Worship him in the presence of other believers in that way. Certainly, there are many Psalms that talk about this, even as there's the Psalm where David says, you desire mercy and not sacrifice. Let's turn to just one. Turn with me to Psalm 27, verse 4. One of the Psalms of David. And I think we really need to pause and contemplate that. I mean, if I'm a fugitive on the run, living in caves, living in deserts, sometimes without water supply, I mean, I'm going to be like, you know, Saul, stop pursuing my life so that I'll know where my next glass of water is and that I can have a comfortable bed. And that's how we tend to think. That's not what David says. He says, return me to my portion in the Lord and to the Lord's presence. Psalm 27 verse 4, one thing I have asked the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. David has a heart attitude which is seen from the words of his mouth which says God I want to worship you in every way I want to come before your perfect authority, even as I'll seek to submit even to the unruly earthly authorities over me. God, bring me to your presence in every way. David is another Messiah, another imperfect Messiah, but he knows the perfect anointed Christ Messiah who can take his sins away who's worthy of all his worship people of God let's let's see this desire let's let's learn from this desire let's come to that one anointed Savior Jesus Christ amen let us pray Lord God Almighty, we thank you for maturity that you worked in David's heart long ago, to teach him to show mercy again even after he had just been not so