Our text this afternoon is all of that we read from First Samuel 26. This is next in a series of sermons that is being preached in Willempoort. I actually preached on Chapter 25 this morning in Willempoort. This is the next in that series and is part of a series of sermons that has been preached from the beginning of the book till now. The Lord now add his blessing to this word. Congregation loved by our Lord Jesus Christ. It seems to me that when we look around at the culture in which we live, we find, albeit in strange ways, nonetheless, a confirmation of what God has revealed in his word concerning the heart of man, concerning the desire of all men in this life. That is, if you look at all men, you see that they aspire to much the same thing. They want what all men want. They want peace. They want contentment. They want purpose. They want meaning. They want to be able to get up in the morning and go to work and see that their work is valuable. They want to come home at night to a family that loves them, that they love and that they can live with. They want to live in a society where there's order and structure and there's peace. Now to be sure, our society doesn't know how to achieve those things, or there is at times a desire in our hearts that seeks those blessings in a way contrary to the teaching of God's Word. I think we see that as well. We see in marriages so much breakup. We see in families so much division. We see in work so many people that really don't want to do the hard work, the responsible work of this life. Instead, we have a culture and a society that promotes shortcuts. You think of the casino in Niagara Falls as an example, or as I was speaking with someone in the congregation the other day, of all those people at the gas station, as you go to pay for your gas, who are bringing their lottery tickets or are buying their lottery tickets. What are those things except a desire to be secure financially, to enjoy a certain measure of peace or security in life, but not by hard work. It is by a shortcut. Or you think about the promotion of drugs and alcohol within our society as ways to deal with problems. And you see how people take these things in order to have that peace that passes understanding. That's maybe what we don't always understand. There are people troubled and struggling, and so they take these things in order to calm their spirit, in order to escape this life and its burdens and its sorrows. They want peace without the work of peace. And it's the same thing in the sexual immorality of our culture. That is so rampant and pervasive. There is this desire to have the joy, you might say, the fruit of a healthy and strong relationship, but not with the work of it, not with the sacrificial servant spirit of it. Our world wants the same things that all men want, that we all want. They just don't know how to accomplish it, or maybe rather, they reject the way of God to accomplish it. Here, they know the claim of God in their lives, but they refuse to accept His claim. They refuse to bend the knee in submission to Him. They refuse to acknowledge Him in their lives. They look at our lives and they say, yeah, well, you people have it so easy. You people, you're blessed. And they don't see that it is because first we come into God's house to worship, because first we live in humble devotion to our God, because first we acknowledge that we are in ourselves like all men sinners. We are like David is in our text before us this afternoon. It is worth noting This is a part of a small series of chapters, beginning at chapter 23 to chapter 26 now, that form a bit of a little story within the broader story of the coming of the king in 1 Samuel. chapter 23 and 24 especially chapter 24 has David almost killing Saul or at least being able to kill Saul you know the story cuts the Robe of the corner of Saul's robe as he comes into the cave where David's hiding you know how that story goes I trust and then you have a In the middle, this story of David wanting to kill Nabal. That's what I preached this morning in Wellenport. And Abigail's glorious defense of God's faithfulness and goodness towards David. And how then she and he are blessed. And now we have the end of this little small story. We have chapter 26. And in it, David again finds himself harassed and hounded by enemies. Now, the Ziphites, as we read, they came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hekila, which is before Jeshimon? This is a terrible thing that these people do. The Ziphites were a sub-clan of the Calebite clan which was in Judah. The Calebite clan descended from Caleb the father of Bethlehem or of the city of Bethlehem, the founder of the city of Bethlehem. They would have been related to Nabal the fool of chapter 25. and they would have been related to David. They would have been, you might say, cousins of David. And for whatever reason, they seem best in their minds to go to Saul and to rat out David, to expose him, to help Saul kill him, which is utterly unreasonable. David has been hiding out in this portion of Judah, escaping from Saul's wrath, and in the meantime, protecting and preserving his people. We know from the previous chapter and from others that David would protect the Israelites, that he would protect their shepherds, their flocks, and their herds, that David was blessing the people in this region, particularly in the area devoted to the tribe of Judah, and that David was being the shepherd king that God would want him to be. And yet the Ziphites, beneficiaries of this blessing, nonetheless with no motive or with no reason, with no cause by David except that David was good to them, decide that they're going to have him killed by Saul, that they're going to sell him out to the king whom they know wants to kill him. And this enmity that the anointed stirs up in the Ziphites is irrational, illogical, and utterly foolish, for it does damage to their own blessedness, which is a lesson we ought to already start to learn. We ought to learn it in the light of our culture in which we live. There's a reason why the world in which we live has nothing good to say about the church. And sometimes we even feel a little bit guilty. We feel sometimes that there are some barbs, some arrows that are shot at us that hit the mark. That we are unfaithful. We aren't always good. We aren't always the kind of Christians we should be. And if that's the case, we ought to repent without question. But from the beginning, since Genesis 3.15, an enmity has existed between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light that is irrational, illogical, and does damage to the culture that exposes it. The culture comes against the church despite the church's having the way, the truth and the life in Jesus Christ. That even can happen within the context of our own churches, in our own families, amongst our own friends. People become angry. People reject the gospel, reject the anointed, reject the Lord. Because in the end, that is human nature, isn't it? That is the fallen character of all men. Well, Saul receives this information and heads out not to protect as David had been doing. That's a theme that is revealed in these chapters. David, or Saul rather, is quite willing to go capture the enemy he perceives in David. He does little to attack the enemies that are real, the Philistines. But he goes out and he takes his army with him, and the story tells us that Saul is situated in a very particular way, on a hill, surrounded by his great warriors, secure, you might say, with their defense around him, and given a military advantage because he could see the landscape around him and could be warned if anyone comes against him. Here is a man with an army going to pursue one man with just 600 soldiers, and Saul is afraid. Saul needs to be protected. He needs to be in the middle of this vast army. He has no peace. He has no confidence or comfort. What is also interesting is in the description of this position of Saul, the writer of Samuel gives us something of the position or a description rather of where the tabernacle and then ultimately the temple would be. You know that the tabernacle and then the temple were put upon a hill and they were surrounded by the Israelites. So that there is this hint, there is this clue that Saul has replaced the tabernacle. You need to remember, of course, that he had sent Doeg the Edomite to kill the priests of Nob where the tabernacle had been situated. And he has, you might say, usurped God's priority and place within Israel. He is now on this hill defying God and God's anointed. So often that's exactly what the world does, and it does it in so many obvious ways with false religions and false worship styles. Saul is essentially saying, you need to fear me, you need to follow me, you need to worship me. And that's so often how it is in our society, in our politics, in our positions, in our governments and in our businesses. People have a cult of personality. You need to do what I say. You need to listen to my voice. You need to obey my commands, for I am right and good and true. So it was with Saul. And so David here again faces the very real opposition of those closest to him. He finds himself in a position of dire distress where the army of Israel, led by their godless king, comes to seek his destruction. And we need to reflect on that for a moment as church community, as those who know and understand the gospel message. We need to again be reminded that David's journey to the throne was down a difficult path, that the path of the Christian is one that exposes us to the ugliness of sin and it reminds us daily for the new type of king we need, a greater king than the kings of this world, than the kings that were like Saul. You remember that Saul was elected because the nation of Israel had rejected God, because they wanted to be like the world. They wanted the pomp and the prestige. They wanted the power. They wanted to be able to do things like the world does. That's why they had chosen Saul. They had said, Saul will make us to be like the world, powerful, an empire, a rich people. But what Israel truly needed was a King who would lead them in the way of righteousness, that would call them to repentance, that would bring them to the cross of Calvary to see the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ so that they might bow their knee in service to Him. That's not the kind of leader Israel wanted. That's not the kind of leader anyone by nature wants. You think about our neighbors and our co-workers, those that we witness to and that we call to repentance and faith. Do you not see in them and in their response to us so often a look of confusion, a look of wonder. Why would I ever want to become a Christian? You can't have any fun. You have to spend your Sundays in church. You have to give your money to these different causes. You have to live in this way and in that way. It's so oppressive. It's so narrow-minded. It's so not what I want. And don't we have it even when we meet some people and we see their lives and we see how entrenched in sin they are, that we say to ourselves, there's no way this one's going to come to church with me. There's no way they're going to repent and believe. Because we sense, don't we, that the Christian life is a very difficult one, a one that requires a surrender that by nature no man desires. And yet we must wrestle with this, we must struggle with this question as church and as congregation, because this pattern is playing out in the world in which we live even now, globally and culturally, at work, school, and even in our own families. We are facing a world that rejects Jesus Christ, that refuses to acknowledge Him as Lord, that says that's foolishness, that's the worst thing you could do, that's what makes life bad. The church is the worst thing that can happen to the world. Christianity especially is the worst thing that can happen to the world. And how then do we respond? How then do we answer this? Not just with words, not just with actions and reactions. What orientation, what perspective do we bring into the world in this coming week that enables us to speak a word to our neighbors, co-workers and friends that shows them the more excellent way? How do we help them see the issue? How do we help them see the solution? This is what the challenge is as this word of God comes to us. And the temptation we have is to take the ways of the world and to mimic them. That was undoubtedly David's temptation in this story too. It starts in chapter 23 and chapter 24 where David is pursued by Saul and where he's given opportunity to kill him and he almost does. He reaches out with sword in hand and at the last moment cuts only the corner of his robe. But then David desires to kill Nabal and is only prevented from doing so by Abigail. Well now again, Saul is put within his grasp. David is given an opportunity to unleash his fury and to show the world that you can't mess with the Lord's anointed. That you can't mess with the Christian church. That you will learn that to defy the church will make you suffer. That's what we're taught to do, isn't it? That's what the world teaches us to do. That's how the world deals with their enemies. That's what the world does. It cancels them. It punishes them. It causes them to suffer. What do we do? We know what the answer is, of course. Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. And it's true. That's what we ought to do. But do we do that? Do we show the love of Christ? in the way that we live. Consider David's treatment of Saul. David and Abishai enter into the camp. They don't know, of course, that the men there are under a divine sleep, so it's a courageous thing that David does. It's really a believing thing, isn't it? He's now, because of the experience he's been through, because of the trials he's faced, come to understand that God is with him. And he trusts the Lord. And because he trusts the Lord, He has a new perspective on life. Abishai reviews this moment, this data. He's standing moments or feet away from King Saul, snoring upon the ground, you might say, there with his spear beside him and the water jug at his head. That spear that Saul had thrown so many times at David, trying to kill David. And Abishai says, Can you believe what the Lord has done for us? See now that God is on your side. See now that the victory has been handed to you, David. Give me permission and I won't have to strike twice. This man will be dead." Abishai sees the situation and discerns the favor of God upon David. David reviews the exact same data. He sees the situation in exactly the same way, but he now reflects upon the Word of God. He now allows the promises of God to filter through his heart and mind, and he knows that he must never kill God's anointing. That belongs to God alone that is the privilege of the Lord. God has made Saul king. Only God can take Saul off the throne. Now notice the key here is that Saul is the anointed of God. David doesn't say here, I would never kill anyone. Obviously, David would. He had killed Goliath. Already he had killed his tens of thousands. David didn't have a problem executing the justice of God upon those who opposed him. But this was different. Saul was the anointed of the Lord. He was, you might say, the Messiah. That's what a Messiah means. The word Messiah just is the Hebrew version of the English word anointed. The word Christ is the Greek word of that. Here lies the Christ, the anointed of God. David says, I will not strike the Christ of God. Saul belongs uniquely to the Lord's care, the Lord who put him in office and who can take him only out. But even so, David takes the spear, takes the water jug, leaves to another hill so that now this valley between them provides acoustics for his cry to Abner. He doesn't cry out to Saul, he cries out to the bodyguard, the head of the bodyguard, a position David once held. But now Abner has taken in his place. There's a bit of a humorous interaction here. David makes a bit of fun of Abner. You failed. You're supposed to protect your master and you haven't. And then and then Saul speaks. David says, is this thy voice, my son, David? It's an interesting word because it has been spoken before. In chapter 24, when David was outside of the cave having cut off the garment of Saul, then Saul in chapter 24, verse 16 said, Is this thy voice, my son David? A second time. A second opportunity. has passed David to kill Saul, and Saul again has to deal with this grace. He has to make sense of this mercy. He has to wrestle with this goodness of David toward him. And David helps Saul then do that. David speaks a word to Saul to help him see the situation aright. He says to Saul, look, if I've sinned, If the reason you're against me is because I deserve to be punished, because you are the king of righteousness and your job is to punish the wayward, if I'm a wayward servant of yours, then let us come before God with thank offerings that the wrath of God may be propitiated and turned away from me. David says, if I've sinned, I'm willing to acknowledge that in this I may be the deserving one. And if that's the case, then let's solve this the only way possible by coming into the house of God and seeking his forgiveness. But says David. If men are lying to you about me, if you believe that I am a threat to you, if you hear their rumors that say that I want to usurp your position, then let those men be cursed. Let anyone who lies about me be cursed. That's a brilliant response by David. And it provides a subtle shift of focus. Saul has come out because David is a dog. David is to be destroyed. David is the threat. He says this to his people in chapter 23 that here's a man that's going to destroy Israel. He's not going to bless anyone. Saul has made it about David. David is a threat. David says, no, Saul, we need to stand before God. God is the one we must answer. You and I both. We must deal with God's claim upon us. We must answer God's call to us. You need to notice this because here is a very different king. One profoundly unlike Saul. Saul did not take the position of king in order to bless others, in order to shepherd others, in order to serve God. He took it to advance himself, to gain his wealth, to assert his control. He was a very modern politician, more concerned with his own people and making them rich and his gaining control than being a servant, a shepherd king, guarding and guiding his flock. Saul was not like this at all, humble, penitent, willing to stand before God and seek His favor. But David is such a king, and surely that is the kind of king Israel needed. One that does not set the agenda, but serves the plan and purpose of his heavenly Father. Indeed, David here gives evidence of his commitment to this plan and purpose. He doesn't see the Lord's protection as due him. He instead humbles himself before Saul. If I've sinned, he says, then let us seek the Lord's favor. David humbles himself to the lowest. Indeed, David's humility ought to raise in our minds a question. For if David is right and there's no reason to deny him, then why does the Lord show him such favor? If David is indeed a broken sinner like us all, then why does the Lord so persistently protect him? The answer, of course, is the glory of God in Jesus Christ. The answer, of course, is that God was working redemption through David. But here's the amazing thing is that David, knowing full well that God's mercy and grace was what was delivering him, protecting and preserving him, knowing full well that it was the faithfulness and promises of God that were securing his life, David was not inappropriately bold. David did not draw attention to himself. He didn't say, listen, God's on my side. Who do you think you're messing with? Exactly the opposite. David humbled himself before Saul. His enemy, the man, irrationally, irresponsibly, unreasonably coming out against Him. David says, I'm sorry. If I've sinned, forgive me. But we have to answer to God. David doesn't see the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ as an unlimited credit card that he could spend at will. He's not one who says, because I'm forgiven, it doesn't matter how I live my life. He's not one of those people that says when confronted by their neighbor, their co-worker, yeah, but you also use foul language or make poor choices or do bad things. He's not one that says, yes, but at least I'm forgiven. He says, you know, you're right. And it grieves me. And I need to stand before God and seek His face. The forgiveness of God was not permission for David to sin. It was the power of David to submit. It was the power of David to serve. The Lord's faithfulness to his promises demands that we see how we fit within those plans and purposes, not as a vital cog, but as a blessed participant used by God to advance his glorious work. David demonstrated that whatever else Saul was about, David was about submitting to the will and word of the king. Surely that is the witness we need to take within the world today. Surely that's what the world needs to see. As they malign the church, as they speak ill of us, as their enmity comes against us, here we are given a pattern and a picture, not only of Christ, but of the Christian. Not only do we see Jesus, the humble one who restores Malchus's ear, though Peter had cut it off, we see the one who hangs upon the cross crying out, forgive them for they know not what they do. It is a radically different life, different reality, different perspective that Jesus teaches and shows when he lives his life upon this earth and that he works in us by his word and spirit. We need to see this new way, this way that is so different than the power-hungry, than the self-inflating, arrogant world in which in culture, in which we live, where the people that are strongest, most powerful, most wealthy, they are the ones we are to fear. David says, no, I fear the Lord of heaven and earth. And David speaks that word to Saul with unrelenting clarity, submitting himself first and foremost to his King, Jesus Christ. That's what David does. That's what we must do also in this coming week. Let all who interact with us see that Jesus Christ is our King. Owning our errors, humbling ourselves before them, and directing them to see Jesus Christ as Lord, even as we are called to warn them. Saul and David now speak for the very last time. Saul will die in short order, and David will ascend to the throne. Saul recognizes in his speech to David the righteousness of David, and he offers promises of blessing, promises that echo what he said already in chapter 24. David wisely dismisses them. David will not believe Saul's promises of blessing. David will again flee and he will go out in chapter 27 into the courts and into the place of the Moabites, or the Philistines rather, of Akshish and of the rest. David knows that whatever Saul says is not really true. But David's response to Saul is to see that it's not to him, David, that he must answer, but ultimately to the Lord. Listen to what he says in verse 23. The Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. The Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, says David. David says to Saul, you're picking on the wrong guy. You're chasing the wrong person. You have to do with God, not with me. And you'd better tremble because God rewards all men for their walk and way. And Saul, you are rebelling against the Lord. Saul, you are living in rejection of God's claim on your life. David is saying to Saul, fear, tremble, know that God will deal with you unless you repent and believe. He will deal with you in your sin and in your wickedness. David himself says, I know that. That's why I didn't touch you. Not because you aren't worthy of death. Not because my heart wasn't angry with you, but because I fear God. Because I know that if I should lay my hand upon you, then He would be against me and I would not rebel against the Lord. Indeed, the reason that Saul ought to take seriously this call to repentance and faith is the claim of God in his life. For soon enough he will have to give an answer to the God who rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. And here is a warning that is issued to us today, too, congregation. Yes, we have a Savior who on the cross cried out, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And we have a Savior who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, that he might be seated at the right hand of the Father. We have a Savior who willingly surrendered to the Lord's will, though it caused Him great suffering, that through His service to the King, to His God and Father, He might establish the Kingdom of God upon this earth for all eternity. Oh yes, we worship the great King. But He is the same King who in the Day of Judgment will separate the sheep and the goats. He is the same King who in Matthew 7 says to those who said, do we not prophesy in your name? Do we not perform miracles in your name? Yet the Lord would say away from me for I do not know you. This is a warning to us that the Lord speaks. Oh, it is a comfort to be sure as well to know that the Lord rewards all men for their righteousness and faithfulness. And don't misunderstand those words, for it is not a sudden call to works righteousness, to salvation by our own ability. It is exactly the opposite. It is to acknowledge and see, brothers and sisters, that we have no hope and no help apart from Jesus Christ, and to cry out to Him for mercy and to say, Lord, forgive me. Be enclothed then as Joshua the high priest was in Zechariah 3, not in the filthy garments of our sins, but in the righteous garments of our King. It is the righteousness and faithfulness of Christ that saves us. We who trust in Him know this today, that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and that our God raised Him from the dead, then that you are saved today. Know that today, for the Lord will deal with you according to your righteousness and faithfulness, the righteousness and faithfulness of Christ. Oh, it is a great comfort to those who believe. But be warned today if you do not live by genuine faith. Be warned that this word is true. Hear what Saul is being told today. He's being called even at the end one more time to repentance and faith. And let our hearts be the ones that answer that call most willingly and joyfully. Not only giving ourselves to the Lord in this place and acknowledging His claim upon us, but then in this coming week, living the life that demonstrates that truth. That's how we answer our world. That's how we show the world the right and good way, the excellent way. They desire what we desire. They seek what we seek. They cannot find it for they live in rebellion to God. But David shows us the way of God's kingdom. He shows us how the throne of God's kingdom is established. It is not established by asserting, but by submitting. It is not established by acts of power, but of grace. It is not by declaring our worthiness, but by trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is so backwards to our world. It is so utterly different than our culture. We are those that swim against the stream, not with it. But don't you see that means we're alive. G.K. Chesterton once said about Christians that you can distinguish them because dead things flow with the current. Only living things swim against it. We have such a powerful example of that in our own community whenever the salmon run. You can tell which ones are alive and which ones are dead without too much difficulty. The world needs to be able to do the same today. It needs to be able to do the same this week. whether it's in class, at school, whether it's on the job site, whether it's in the office or at home. We need to follow the pattern set for us by David. We need to follow the pattern set for us by the greater David, by Jesus Christ, who in His sacrifice for our sins redeemed us and purchased us that we might live for Him. The world needs to see that we have a joy, that we have a blessedness, that we have a security that they long for but can never find. And when they ask us for a reason for the hope that is in us, we ought to be able to give them an answer. Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior, we surrender all to Him. Oh, but doesn't that make your life boring? Doesn't that make your life narrow and strict? It makes our life blessed. It makes our lives good. It makes our lives rich. and walk in the pattern of our Savior and of our Lord Jesus Christ and respond to His grace today by offering ourselves in the way of His Word and will. Indeed, let's ask the Lord to help us do that in prayer. Shall we pray? Gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank and praise You for this Word that comes to us on the pages of Scripture, this living Word that speaks to us of life and of hope. It also speaks to us of warning You protected and preserved David, Lord. You guided and guarded him so that he might indeed stand before Saul and acknowledge his sin, humble himself before him and point him to Christ. Help us to do the same thing, heavenly God and Father, and help us to take the warning to heart that the Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness. and help us to see that therefore, Lord, we desperately need Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And so surrender our hearts to Him. Answer our prayer, heavenly God and Father, for we offer it in Jesus' name, Amen.