Amen. Let us turn our reading of God's holy word this morning, beginning at first Samuel chapter 26, And for those who were here a couple weeks ago, we saw David show mercy again to Saul. It was in chapter 25. He was not being so merciful with Nabal, but with Saul he will again spare his life, again prove his innocence by doing so. He is not pursuing Saul as Saul has told the kingdom, tried to tell the kingdom. And we only made it to verse 20, so we're gonna pick it up at Saul's response in verse 21, beginning in 26, verse 21. How does Saul respond to David saving his life? And then how does David respond to Saul's response? What's Dave gonna do from that? So we're gonna read through 27, verse 12. Just one more thing to note before we read, We're going to see David going into the Philistine land again. He did this before in chapter 21, which was quite some time ago, both as far as our sermon series for those who have been here. It's probably been quite some time ago in the chronology of the narrative. And there is a difference between the first time that David went to the land of the Philistines in this time. And the difference is that it's 22 verse five. In chapter 22 verse five, the prophet Gad said to David, do not remain in the stronghold, depart and go into the land of Judah. So the first time David went to the land of the Philistines, he had not received that command. But now, though it was some time ago, David has been told by the prophet Gad, go back to Judah. And so we might, you'll see, for any who remember chapter 21, we might say things a little bit differently about this trip into the land of the Philistines. But let's pick up our reading, chapter 26, verse 21. 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've 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 his faithfulness. For the Lord gave you into my hands 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. Then 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. Then David said in his heart, now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is 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. So David arose and went over he and the 600 men who were with him to Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men. every man with his household, and David and his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. Then David said to Achish, if I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? So that day, Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Gerzites, and the Amalekites. For these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. 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. When Achish asked, where have you made a ray today? David would say, against the Negev of Judah, or against the Negev of the Jerameelites, or 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 shall always be my servant. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades. The word of our Lord endures forever. A dear congregation, I have said, as we have worked through 1 Samuel, that the situation David faces is a mess, for sin makes a mess, and the sinful deceit and violence of Saul has made the life of David a life of flight, a life of suffering. And what is to be done when sin makes a mess, when the sin of others makes a mess in our lives because of their unrighteousness? And what do we do in messy situations? Do we always respond well? I think we know that it is difficult to respond well to situations of suffering. And the longer it goes on, the more difficult it becomes. And so in these last chapters, we've seen that David has become a mixture of righteous patience and unrighteous sinfulness. Even just thinking from chapter, very simply, 25, this chapter 24, his mercy, he spares Saul's life, but then chapter 25, he's all ready to go attack Nabal until Abigail stops him. But then he's back to showing mercy again in chapter 26. And we have this mixture of faithfulness and unrighteous fear mixed together. And that continues as we move into chapter 27. David, let's say it this way, David is struggling and he's beginning to give messy responses to his messy situation. David is not a perfect Messiah. He is a Messiah. He is the anointed one. He is to be the king. He was anointed by Samuel some time ago, but he is not perfect. the Messiah. And one of the things that this portion of the Word of God does is it reminds us that David is not finally the king we need. We need a better king. We need a king who can be faithful, even through prolonged suffering. We need a king who can bring righteous judgment. We need the Messiah. We need the Son of David, Jesus Christ. And that's our theme this morning. Messy situations remind us of our need for the Messiah. And in point one, we'll see that David foreshadows Christ's first coming. And in our second point, we'll see that David foreshadows Christ, Jesus Christ, the Messiah's second coming. Well, one of the hard questions which David must face in his messy situation is this, do I trust a proven liar? Because Saul has proven himself to be a liar. He has proven himself completely unreliable in his promises to give safety to David. He has proven himself to consistently be coming after David. And so when Saul says in verse 21, I will no more do you any harm, well how are we supposed to know if Saul is telling the truth? You see, one of the troubles with lies is that from the human perspective it's hard for us to prove that lies are lies. Another trouble with lies is that once someone has been proved a liar, once someone has been caught in their lies, well now it's very difficult to know when you might be able to trust that person. Lies break trust. They break Fellowship, they are destructive things. We need to learn this from a young age. You see, even our children might be tempted to lie, right? I mean, it's hard to be caught in a lie. So if you lie about, you know, who broke the toy or who hit who first, you might feel like you're able to get away with something and maybe not get a punishment from mommy and daddy because it's hard to catch a lie. And so it is tempting to lie, even for our little ones. A false accusation comes, I didn't do it, my sister did, when really it was you. The false promise, I did that, mommy, when really I did not. Lies break fellowship. We should not be tempted to lie just because it's hard to catch a liar. And you might get away with it, no, no, no. We must seek to live in sincerity and truth. Lies are destructive, fellowship-breaking sins. And even though it's difficult for other people like mommy or daddy or boss or supervisor or friends to discover a lie, God always knows if we are lying, if we are telling the truth. Well, Saul, he has been consistently unreliable, and he's only admitting wrongdoing in the narrative when he's caught. Right now, he's caught. David went into the camp, he took his spear, he took his water can, he proved that he had a chance to kill Saul, but didn't take it. Now, what is he doing? He's standing off on the hill, and he's proving Saul's lie, because the whole army can see, well, there's David, he's got our king's spear, but he didn't kill our king. And the whole army can see that Saul's whole, whole narrative, his whole false propaganda, which is, we gotta go kill David because David's trying to kill me. Well, everybody can see that that's a lie. David has caught Saul in his lie and exposed it before the whole army. And now when caught, Saul tries to wiggle his way out of it and say, I'm not gonna hurt you anymore. But how can David trust him? He said this more than once before. And here he is again with 3,000 men coming after David to kill him. So David does not trust Saul. David says, send one of your men over to get your spear, verse 22. And then David goes his way, verse 25. And where does David go? Well, here. Here we need to say that it is difficult to respond well to sinful oppression. And David, who has been, for the most part, patiently, and sometimes even heroically, depending upon God for so long, here, 27 verse 1, he's gonna fall into prayerless panic. Notice what David does. He said in his heart, chapter 27 verse 1, Now, of course, the world says things like follow your heart all the time, but in the Bible we know that that's almost always a bad thing, not what you want to do. He said in his heart, I will perish by the hand of Saul. Now, is that true? Hasn't David been anointed by Samuel to be king? Hasn't David received even special and direct promises from God? Hasn't David been reminded of this by his faithful friends? Think of the words of Jonathan back in chapter 23, verse 17. Do not fear, speaking to David, for the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel. Has David forgotten the words of wise Abigail back in chapter 25 verse 29 when she told him, if men rise up to pursue you and seek your life, the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living and the care of the Lord your God and the lives of your enemies shall be slung out as from the hollow of a sling. Now David's forgetting the counsel of wise friends. He says in his heart, I will perish and so There's nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Think about that. Has David forgotten his own words from just a short time ago in chapter 26 verse 19 when he said that if any man drove him out of the land of the inheritance of the Lord, out of the promised land, that that man should be accursed. Now, David holds counsel in his own heart. And where is the word of prayer from the man of prayer? There's no hint of prayer. There is no hint of a psalm at this time. Where is the consultation of the faithful servants of the Lord who are with him? The prophet Gad is still with him. And remember that word from chapter 22 verse 25, God said some time ago now, so maybe David's starting to forget, right? That that happens in our lives. We sometimes forget things that God has said to us in his holy word. But what did God say back in 22 verse 5? Go to the land of Judah. Well, God is still with him. Is David going to God to ask if the prophets had any other word from the Lord? Maybe David's not asking because he doesn't want to hear the answer. Or what about the high priest? You know, the high priest is still part of his band. In chapter 23, David used the high priest and his ephod, the urim, and the thumim to consult with the Lord as was his right as the Lord's anointed. Abiathar is still with him. Why isn't he going and consulting with the high priest as he did in chapter 23? Perhaps the same reason he's not talking to Gad. He doesn't want to know what the Lord says to him. Maybe, as one pastor said it, David is just done. I think about it. This is how Dale Ralph Davis summarized the point that David is at. Quote, hunted, tracked, and attacked by Saul, treacherously exposed, making thrilling escapes, and executing daring escapades, nine chapters full of high blood pressure narrative. It's the stuff that makes great movies but takes its toll on real people." End of quote. This has been David's life. It's been a life of suffering. It's been a life of fugitive running. And he's done. He can't handle it anymore. And this is the man of prayer. This is the primary author of the Psalms. But he has no prayer left in him. He has reached the end of his line. he has had more than he can handle. And so, people of God, we can sympathize with his decision, but we cannot applaud his decision. He's acting out of fear instead of out of faith. He's not inquiring of the Lord quite possibly because he doesn't want to know what the Lord is going to say to him. And so he's taking counsel in his own heart, without prayer, without consultation of the Lord. We speak to ourselves all the time. That's how we think, right? That's how we go about from day to day. How do we speak to ourselves in our own heart? Is it just our own heart? When we're making big decisions, are we seeking the advice of godly friends? Are we going even before that to the Word of God for the principles of God's Word that might lead us? That in some cases, if it's a case of right or wrong, in some cases it's telling us what we should do. And when we're suffering Do our trials eventually build up to where a response of faith, even by our most mature believers, eventually becomes a response of fear? Maybe we know brothers and sisters who are like that. Maybe you've been in or are in a situation like that yourself. Mature believers and trial builds up upon trial and finally the patient faith gives out and it's like there's no prayer left. This is where David is. What does this show us? It shows us that David is not the king we need. Consider, he's called to a difficult life. He's called to a fugitive life. He's called to a fighting life. He's called to a life on the run. He's called to a life where he's slandered by the king who has control of all the ancient media of ancient Israel. So most of the nation probably thinks that David is is, you know, out to get the king or whatever, we're going to see some evidence that the people are starting to see, you know, David's proved his innocence as we get even into chapter 29. But, hey, that is, that is, that is, that is some, that's some rough suffering. But what about, what about Jesus Christ? What about the Messiah? Well, he's, He's called to something different than David, because David, through all this suffering, had promises that God would preserve him, had promises that he would live to be crowned as the king. What about Jesus Christ? What did his suffering lead to? In his first coming, his suffering did not end with a crown promise at the end, but it led to the cross. You see, the Messiah had a call of suffering which was much, much deeper than the call to suffering that David could not handle. But the Christ did handle the greatest call to suffering there has ever been. Even as in Gethsemane, he's sweating drops of blood and saying, Lord, if there is any other way, take this cup from me. But no, there is no other way. He had to suffer all the way to the point of death, even death on a cross, to suffer for our sins that we might be saved. And he is the Messiah. And he did do it. And so he went through the deepest suffering so that the mess of our own sins might be washed away from us. And we stand here and we read this narrative and we say, I'm like David. I don't handle my call to suffering the way I should. But praise be to the Lord that there is one Messiah who walked through his call of suffering to the point of dying on the cross for my sins. While David faced his suffering bravely for much time. He also faltered along his path of suffering and finally he fled from the promised land entirely. There's nothing better for me than that I should go to the land of the Philistines. But Jesus faced his suffering with perfect righteousness and instead of fleeing, he went into the heart of the promised land, into Jerusalem knowing that it was outside the gates of Jerusalem that he would suffer on the cross. for our sins. This is the Messiah we need. David is just one of the four shadows, one of the anointed ones pointing to the anointed one. That's true not only for Christ's first coming, but there's also ways that David foreshadows Christ's second coming. And that takes us to our second point. Now, David, he's giving his messy response to his messy situation. And he ends up safe from Saul. His prayerless decision, however, has just led him into another different but still messy situation. Because where is he? He's in Gath. He's in the land of the Philistines when, remember, the last word he had from the prophet after his first trip in the land of the Philistines, 22 verse 5, go to the land of Judah. This is not where he is supposed to be. He's in the hometown of Goliath, whom he slew as a young boy. This is where he's taking refuge. Now, David will ask if he can at least move into the country, in verse 5. Get out of this royal city, get out of Gath. Maybe David's thinking, well maybe should at least move out of the home town of Goliath, maybe. And what is he given? Verse six, David is given the town of Ziklag. And he's going to be there for some time. This is going to be a time of relative peace for him. 16 months, it says at the end of verse seven. Now, Remember, sometimes we read Old Testament narrative and it's describing without prescribing. It's just telling us what's happening without telling us if everything was good or bad. There's no moral commentary from the inspired narrator at this point, but we do get a couple of hints that We should be thinking about the inheritance of the promised land right now and thinking about the failed conquest of the promised land right now. Things that happened all the way back in the book of Joshua for those of us who have Old Testament history on our minds. The first clue that we should be thinking about that is in verse 6. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. Why is that important? Ziklag, Joshua chapter 15 verse 31, is part of the allotted inheritance of the promised land of the tribe of Judah. Ziklag belongs to Judah. Now right now, it's not under the control of Judah. The king of the Philistines thinks that it's a city that's in his right to gift to someone else. So perhaps decades or even centuries ago, they lost it. Joshua chapter 15, verse 31. Ziklag is part of the inheritance of the tribe of Judah. Now, the promised land, the conquest of the promised land, this is a big theme that runs all throughout scripture. all throughout the centuries and what is it all anticipating Hebrews chapter 11 verses 8 through 10 the promised land is a picture of heaven that's what Abraham was ultimately waiting for ultimately had faith for the city that was built without hands the conquest of the promised land is a picture of God's judgment these are no minor things this is Judah's it should have been Judah's basically we put this all together we see God is taking David exactly to where he should be. David should be in Ziklag. He's the anointed prince of the people of Israel and he's a member of the tribe of Judah. This is exactly where he should be. This is part of their allotted inheritance. This is part of their part of the promised land. This is, we might say it this way, this is where he should have gone in the first place, without thinking that he had to have a King of Gap gift it to him. People of God, what is the picture here? What are we? We are stumbling, weak sinners. We're called to the straight and narrow. We don't always stay on the straight and narrow. But praise be to the Lord, our gracious God, that He can take our stumbling, zigzagging ways and by His grace, Sometimes when we're not even thinking about it, I mean, David didn't ask for Ziklag, he just said, give me someplace in the country. When we're not even thinking about it, when we're not even thinking straight, when we're not praying, when we're not coming to the Lord as we should, by God's grace, he might take us exactly to where we should be anyway. This is David's zigzag path to Ziklag. And people of God, that's the story of God's people. Let us pray that God would lead us on the straight and narrow that he has called us to. But praise be to the grace and mercy of God that though we stumble and fall, that though we waver, and that though we forget the light of God's Word which is directing our path and we stray from it, that God will yet take all of those who confess of their sins, who repent of their sins, who trust in Him, and He will yet take our zigzagging, stumbling, sinful, weak self, and He will take us straight to Heaven itself, the eternal Ziklag, the eternal part of our inheritance, the eternal promised land made with the city made without hands, the city where Jesus, John chapter 14, 15, goes himself to prepare a room for us people of God. This is a picture of God's preserving of his people, though we are weak and stumbling sinners. So God takes David exactly to where he should be, even though David doesn't get there in the way he should have got there. God is gracious. God is merciful. Praise be the Lord that God often deals this way with us. And as he's here, He's going to execute the right judgment. But again, he's doing it in the wrong way. There's all kinds of things that David is doing in the wrong way where the Lord is accomplishing his right purposes because he's wiping out the Amalekites, the Gerzites, the Geshurites. Here's the second hint from the narrator. that we should be thinking about the promised land and the conquest of the promised land who were these people the end of verse eight they were the inhabitants of the land from of old. What does that mean? That means that they're under the ban. That means that they're people who have been wicked since the time of Abraham. Genesis chapter 15 verse 16 God said I'll take you into the promised land to wipe out the people who are already wicked but not until I allow the time of their iniquity to be filled up. That means that this is a people that have been wicked for a thousand years. And God has been patient, not judging them. He did call Joshua to judge them, but Joshua failed to do so. And he called Saul to do it specifically in chapter 15, verse 3. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and docking. What did Saul do in chapter 15? He did not wipe out the Amalekites as he was supposed to. That's what led directly to the anointing of David. in chapter 16. And so David here is doing exactly what he should do. He's wiping out the inhabitants of old who have been devoted to destruction for centuries and even now a millennia. He's doing what he should do as the Lord's anointed, but he's doing it for completely the wrong reasons. Sometimes the Lord takes us when we're not doing the right things in the right way. and he leads us to fulfill his will anyway because what's david's reason less they should tell about me and say so david has done and report me to the philistines and i'll get in trouble verse eleven that's david's reasoning what should his reasoning be his reasoning should be the hebrew word from chapter fifteen verse three carom devote to destruction it's a word which means these people must be judged. They have rebelled against me. Their iniquity has filled up for centuries. Go and fill out my judgment as my anointed one. But David's not talking about Karam. David's not talking about devoting to destruction. David's not carrying out God's justice as his anointed one. He's just thinking, I better wipe them out so they don't report on me to the Philistines. Completely the wrong motivation to do that which he should be doing. In fact, David is a foreshadowing of Christ's second coming, which is what? When Christ comes to restore all things, to make the eternal promised land, the eternal redeemed place of his people, and to judge all those in rebellion against him. That's what the second coming is. David is the clearest foreshadowing of that in all the Old Testament. What Joshua failed to do, David does. He is the man who carries out destruction of God's enemies who now for more than a thousand years have been rebels against God's will. He also, we're gonna talk about this more in chapter 30, he also spares Verse 10, this is just, we can't get into this. We're gonna do this more in chapter 30. He also spares the Jeromelites and the Kenites who were part of that group of people who were devoted to destruction, but through repentance are gonna be saved. We're gonna talk about that more in chapter 30. So anybody who repents is saved, including whole tribes who are really gonna be assimilated into the tribe of Judah and no longer seen as Canaanites. It's amazing. We're not going to get into it more until Chapter 30. So David's sparing those people of the land who are repentant. But David, more than any other character in the Old Testament, carries out God's judgment and the conquest of the Promised Land. Solomon is going to hold on to everything that David conquers. and expand it just a little bit and that's going to be as big as the kingdom ever gets. And then after that it's going to fall back into the hands of the ungodly. That's a picture, it's a picture of Christ's second coming. When Christ comes to restore the full promised land, the eternal promised land and to judge the wicked. But, once again, Right? David is not doing this for the right motivation. He's not doing this in the right way. He is not the king we need. We need the king of perfect justice, the king of perfect righteousness, who will judge in perfect righteousness, with the perfect motivation of holiness, who will come again a time, a day, an hour that we do not know. Perhaps this day, perhaps a thousand years from today. and he is going to be the Messiah who, unlike David's messy justice, will bring perfect and eternal justice. Oh, people of God, we stumble and fall. We stand in need of God. We pray that God would lead us on the straight and narrow, spare us from the pain of our zigzagging ways, and that's Chapter 28 and 29 is going to lead to some complications in David's life. But praise be to the Lord that by his grace, he takes our stumbling sinful selves and takes us to heaven itself to be his own. Amen. Let us pray. Our great God and heavenly Father, We pray that you would lift us up.