Desperate times call for desperate measures. It's a common enough saying. I think most of us agree with it when we are experiencing desperate times. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but the question is, do extra desperate times ever call for sinful measures? Well, that's a silly question, isn't it, right? All of us would answer, no, no way, no way. And it's a very easy thing to do when you're sitting in a relatively comfortable chair, when you're not being hunted down, when you're not in a life and death struggle, when you're not all on your own making decisions that other people's lives depend on. It's easy, I'm saying, for us to look at the actions of men in desperate straits, in this case, both David and Saul, and say, well, you know, they shouldn't have done that. They're just being silly, they're just being immoral. And desperation, it doesn't change the fact that an act is either right or wrong. But it does change our reaction a little bit, doesn't it? We see a man like David, and even Saul to a lesser extent here, in a desperate situation. They've got no apparent solution in sight, no ethical solution anyway, and we might feel for them a little. We see the pinch that David's in. We see the desperation that Saul feels. It's true what Proverbs 6 says. People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he's hungry. People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he's hungry. But if he's caught, he will pay sevenfold. He will give all the goods of his house. Essentially, it's saying you can look at the wrong that other people in desperate situations do, and because you can empathize with them, you don't despise them. You don't despise them because you understand why it is that they are doing what they're doing. But the verse goes on, of course, but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold, he will give all the goods of his house. When it's your house getting robbed, then your sense of justice all of a sudden grows a little more acute, doesn't it? We have this sliding scale of what we consider to be right and wrong, and so often, our perception of what is right and what is wrong is just based on our personal opinion. or our flawed perception of the certain issue, and that's a problem. That's a problem. Because it's moral relativism. And we see this played out in our text this afternoon as we watch David and Saul. We see these two desperate men in desperate situations, taking desperate measures, but more than desperate, More than desperate. We see these two desperate men going into rather dark places. And the reason we're considering both of these stories together this afternoon, instead of doing one this week and one next week, is because these two stories are supposed to go together. They're supposed to go together. They parallel each other. Both stories begin with one of our kings, either David or Saul, confronted with the fear that his enemy is about to defeat and destroy and wipe him out. And so he disguises himself, Saul, by putting on different clothes and David by putting on, as it were, the opposing team's uniform, and meets up with and requests help from an enemy of God. Both kings have turned away from the path of faith and righteousness because they think they've got no other option. Both kings are walking down the same path. Now, there are differences between these two stories, of course, even ethical differences. Saul's darkness is a deeper darkness for sure, but that's only because he's further along. You might remember Samuel's words to Saul, spoken in chapter 15, where Samuel had said to Saul, Saul, rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. In a very real way, Samuel was saying to Saul, Saul, sin is sin, sin is sin, and rebellion is rebellion. Whether you're becoming unequally yoked with an unbeliever, or hiring a real live witch to raise someone from the dead. Sin is sin, rebellion is rebellion. Now we judge sin on a sliding scale, and in some ways we need to, because some sins have a greater impact on the people around us. Some sins are high-handed sins, while others are sins based in ignorance. But if we had the eyes of the Almighty, I think if we knew the true cost of sin and the true offense of sin, I don't think we'd be quite so blasé. Our text begins this afternoon with David speaking in his heart, David speaking in his heart, speaking to himself. And this is not that uncommon, either in our experience or in Scripture. People are always talking to their heart, so just most of us don't do it out loud. When we do, people look at us funny. But David's saying in his heart, I am in as desperate a situation as I could possibly be. I am going to perish, he says. Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. And he speaks in these absolutes, saying, 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. David's talking to himself. And sometimes it's good when we talk to ourselves, if you consider a psalm like Psalm 42, the psalmist speaks to his soul, his soul is despairing, and the psalmist says to his soul, why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. He reminds himself, the psalmist reminds himself in Psalm 42, of the goodness of God. of the kindness of God, of the fact that God is powerful and therefore dependable. But David is not engaged in this kind of self-talk in this case, no. His self-talk does not consider God at all. This chapter, chapter 27, is peculiar for a number of reasons, but I think the most obvious reason is this, the chapter does not mention God once. The chapter does not mention God once. The faith that David expressed in chapter 26 seems to have evaporated. Boldness may last for the night, but forgetfulness comes with the morning, it seems. David, this man that has been trained and shaped by God in the wilderness, trained and shaped by God, has forgotten all of that training. And in a moment of despair, no, more than a moment of despair, because he's meditating in his heart now, David thinks there's nothing better for me than that I should impose an exile upon myself. I will leave the promised land, I will leave God's people, and I will take refuge with the enemies of God. But of course, David's a desperate man in desperate straits. And I'm sure he had his excuses. And you can think of them quite easily. The text tells us, David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household. And David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And David's got 600 men in his care. And if we do our usual sort of math that we do in the Bible, going from men to households, he's probably got somewhere around 2,000 people that he is responsible for. Saul's chasing David, but because he's chasing David, he's also chasing this miniature town that David's got gathered all around him. David's got lives in his care. David's desperate. David's got soldiers and families to care for. And I'm sure he could have given himself this excuse as well. His actions were not without precedent. You remember in Genesis 12 and Genesis 20 what Abraham did when a famine came on the land. You remember in the later chapters of Genesis what Jacob did when a famine came on the land, how they went to Egypt and how they went to Philistia for refuge, for food. But David could have said to himself, I'm just doing what the patriarchs did. I'm just doing what Naomi did. But neither desperation, nor historical precedent will excuse a man for disobeying the commands of God." There was a larger principle at stake here, the principle of living in the promised land. This was the land that God had promised to give the people of Israel. This was the land that God had promised David he would be king over. David was not just leaving a chunk of real estate. David was leaving the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There's a reason that in Deuteronomy exile from the land or being removed from the land, being taken out of the land is considered a curse. David was engaging in not simply desperate but disobedient actions here. He imposes an exile on himself and on his men, but you might say it was quite effective, wasn't it? Verse 4, when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. Well, David's safe now, isn't he? These men, these women, these children perhaps that are with him are safe now. Let's see how safe they actually are. We move to our next paragraph. 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? Now, the plot begins to develop. We find out that David has not just entered into Philistine territory, but David has actually become subservient to one of the Philistine kings. David has become subservient to Akish, the king of Gath, the son of Maok. And David is finding favor now in Akish's eyes. David has likely hired himself out to Akish, along with his 600 men, as a mercenary, making a deal with Akish. If you give me refuge, I will give you the spoils that I may take in any battle that I fight. And again, David is subjecting himself and his men to a curse. Another one of the covenant curses that God said, Israel, if you disobey me, these things will happen to you, was that they would be subjected to foreign rulers, to men who were not their own kings. This was a curse. David is swearing fealty to an enemy of God's anointed. But again, David could have come up with excuses, couldn't he? He could have looked back to the example, perhaps, of Joseph. Of Joseph, who, when Jacob and the family came down to Egypt, asked Pharaoh, hey, can we have Goshen? So that they might remain a holy and a separate people. Or David could have said, well, this town of Ziklag is a town that's part of the the inheritance of Simeon. All I'm doing is taking back what has always belonged to Israel. I'm not really leaving the land at all. But David has convinced himself that disobedience is simply the right course of action, and it goes on, it goes on from there. Verses eight and following. David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Gerzites, and the Amlekites, who were inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as sure, to the land of Egypt. And again, David could have mounted excuse upon excuse upon excuse. He could have said, well, I'm just fighting a holy war. God has told Israel to take possession of the land, to drive out the inhabitants. I'm a new Joshua, he could have said. I'm fighting Israel's historical enemies. I'm fighting these wars on behalf of God. But it would have been a lie. It would have been a lie. Because when David carries out these raids, when David carries out these wars against the Gerzites, the Geshurites, and the Amalekites, he does not carry out these wars at the command of God, the explicit command of God. He does not carry out these wars in the way that God commands. There was a certain way that Israel and her kings were to carry out wars It's laid out in Deuteronomy chapter 20, and it was much less brutal than the typical MO of nations at that time. And you'll note the reason that David carries out these brutal exterminations of these people is not because of his zeal for the Lord or his zeal for Israel, but because he's trying to cover up lies. He's already told lies to Achish. He's already told lies to his own heart. And now he's gotta hide the truth by exterminating these populaces. And that really is the core of David's disobedience here in chapter 27. David has stepped onto a path of lying or of at least hiding the truth, fudging the truth. And these lies have accelerated and they have piled one on top of the other. He's lying to himself, he's lying to Akish. He's likely lying to his men as well, telling them that this is the right way to go. And in all of this, he is ignoring God's commands. God expects his people to be truthful. He expects his people to hate lying as he himself does. Proverbs says, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. Those who love the truth. But David, David is starting to become the sort of person who might say lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but a very present help in time of trouble. David's in a dark and desperate place at the beginning of this chapter, there's no denying that. And it seems to him that the only way out is the path that leads to and through Philistia, but you see, don't you, where the path ends. Because by the end of the chapter, David has become Achish's most trusted warrior. And at the beginning of chapter 28, David has not only become his most trusted warrior, but Achish says to David in verse two, I will make you my bodyguard for life. And Achish takes David to fight for him against Israel. This was the way that seemed right to David, it certainly did. A desperate path for a desperate man. But again, the proverb, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. And where does David end up in this chapter? Not delivered from his desperation, but David ends up in this space between two armies, caught between two allegiances. still spinning these half-truths in a desperate attempt to give himself some more time. And if God does not save him, David will be no better off in this battle than he was at the very beginning of chapter 27. In fact, it'll be so much worse. If David keeps going the way he is going, if some kind of divine intervention does not step in, he will end up dead. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its way is the way to death. you will end up dead. And we know this from the proverb that I quoted earlier, but we also know it from experience, don't we? And we see it in the very next story, because the author of 1 Samuel leaves David hanging. He leaves David with Achish, or Akish, and he moves on, he moves back to Saul. The road David's walking has been walked by Saul before him, hasn't it? Samuel, again, Samuel had said in chapter 15, rebellion, Saul, rebellion is as the sin of divination. Well, David in chapter 27 is engaged in rebellion, and Saul, now in chapter 28, now long practiced in the art of rebellion, is moving on to divination. See, Saul gathers his forces together. He gathers all of Israel together to meet the Philistine threat that David is a part of, But when Saul and his army encamp at Goboa, and Saul's on top of that height looking across at the Philistine forces, he becomes terrified. He becomes terrified. And he tries to find out what his next move should be. Verse six, Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. And we might think that's very unkind of the Lord. Saul wants some kind of guidance, but the Lord's not giving it to him. We need to remember what Saul has been doing in the previous 15 or so chapters. You remember that Urim or Urim and Thummim were these special devices that the priests would use to determine what the will of God was. Prophecies, of course, were messages spoken by prophets for the good of kings, and dreams were often the way that God spoke to kings. So Saul's got these three avenues, one belonging to the priests, one belonging to the prophets, one belonging to kings, and none of them are working out for him, and it's little surprise, because you remember what Saul had done to the priests, how he had slaughtered the entire priestly family, save one. You remember what Saul had done to the prophets, how he had spent his entire time with Samuel simply ignoring him, ignoring God's Word again and again and again, ignoring God's warnings, ignoring God's commands. So, why should Saul now expect the Lord to speak to him? Well, the Lord doesn't speak to him. And so Saul, another desperate king, goes to a dark place. And Saul said to his servants, seek out for me a woman who is a medium, someone who stands between the living and the dead, that I may go to her and inquire of her. The Lord will not answer me. So I want you to find a servant of Satan. See if he'll answer me." And, of course, this is totally contrary to all of God's commands. In Deuteronomy 18, the people of Israel were commanded to drive out and to kill anyone who would act as a soothsayer or a sorcerer or a witch in the land of Israel. And there's an important difference between the witches and the wizards and so on that exist in fiction and fairy tales and whatnot and actual witches. We tend to think of them simply as a stuff of stories, but there are actual people who are engaged in this kind of practice, who are devoted to these dark arts, so to speak. who are often influenced and empowered by demonic forces to do rather impressive things. And Paul in 2 Thessalonians says this kind of thing is gonna go on till the end. The Antichrist, that terrifying figure at the end of time, he will be empowered by Satan, Paul says, to work all kinds of signs and wonders, false signs and wonders to verify his message. There are people who are quite truly filled, empowered, affected by demonic forces. And that's where Saul's now going. He's going to a woman who has made a pact with Satan and with death. So Saul goes to her. He disguises himself, puts on other garments, and goes, he and two men with him. And they come to the woman by night. Notice in verse 8 of chapter 28, in verse 25 of chapter 28, it's repeated. Saul's doing this at night. The narrator wants you to know how dark Saul's heart has become. It's similar, really, to what the gospel writer says of Judas when he goes out, when he leaves the scene of the Last Supper. As soon as he had eaten the morsel, he went out. And the gospel writer says, and it was night. because Satan has entered into him, and his heart has become a heart of darkness. So Saul goes to this woman and says, divine for me, buy a spirit and bring up whomever I shall name to you. Now people with this kind of trade, witches and so on, still carry out these things, they're called seances. And as a rule, they're a bunch of nonsense. Absolute nonsense designed to prey upon gullible people And it seems likely that that was the case for this woman as well She carried out her trade not not not as not with an actual ability to raise the dead But as some kind of elaborate trick to those who on those who would come to her I And he promises, Saul promises, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. Saul, who had previously put the mediums and necromancers out of the land, now says to this medium, to this necromancer, that nothing will happen to her if she simply does what he says. Saul's become a hypocrite, a hypocrite with a dark heart. He is going back on his kingly duty. Even more than this, you see the depth of his hypocrisy. In verse 10, Saul swears to her by the Lord and says, as surely as the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. Saul has become a man who is entirely in defiance against the Lord, but still bold enough to use the Lord's name. Saul has been swallowed up, it seems, by the darkness. So the woman does her thing, and something strange happens. Something strange happens. Something she appeared not to have expected. How do we know this? Well, she cries out. She shrieks with a loud voice. And the woman realizes that something is going on here, something more than what she's used to, something more than what she was expecting. Oh, she might have some experience dealing with demonic powers, but this is something altogether different. This is something beyond her control. This is something beyond her experience. So she shrieks and she realizes, hey, no, you're Saul, aren't you? And Saul again says to her, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. What do you see? I need to know. And the woman, she plainly has no idea what's going on, says, I see an Elohim in the Hebrew. I see a God coming up out of the earth. And he says to her, what does he look like? What's his appearance? What's he wearing? And she says, well, an old man wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew, it says, Saul knew that it was Samuel. And then, of course, the question is, was this actually Samuel? And interpreters and commentators are quite divided on this, and it's a hot topic for conversation, but the Holy Spirit certainly seems to think that this is Samuel. because the book of 1 Samuel continues to refer to him again and again as Samuel, not as the ghost or the spirit or the demon or the God, but as Samuel. God has turned evil on its head, it seems. He does have a final message of condemnation for Saul. So the woman shrieks when Samuel is called up, She's terrified by what has happened, but she is still used to bring this message of condemnation to Saul. Saul has not listened to God or God's servants, so now he is left scraping the bottom of the barrel, listening to Satan's servants instead. And what does Samuel say to Saul? Well, Saul says, I'm in great distress. The Philistines are warring against me. God's turned away from me. He doesn't answer me anymore, not by prophets, not by dreams. So I've come to you now to tell me what I should do. And Samuel doesn't give Saul what he wants. Saul wants some advice. This is how you fight the Philistines. But Samuel says, I'm not gonna help you out. No, you are God's enemy. You are God's enemy. I will give you God's words, but they will not be words of mercy. See, the Lord has done to you, Samuel says, what he has spoken to you by me. The Lord has confirmed my word. He's done exactly what he said he would do. has taken the kingdom out of your hand, and he's given it to David. You didn't obey the word of the Lord. You didn't carry out his fierce wrath. Therefore, the Lord is now carrying out his fierce wrath against you. The Lord will bring you to an end, and your sons, and the army of Israel. And then Saul, who had fallen to the ground already once, honoring the spirit of Samuel when he was in control of his faculties, falls to the ground once more, this time having lost all of his strength, this time having lost all control over his body. Like Dagon in the temple, like Goliath on the battlefield, Saul now falls full length to the ground. It's tragic. It really is. But it doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop there. To top it all off, when Saul recovers somewhat, he's convinced by the woman and by his servants to eat in the house of the medium. Having gone into the darkness, having become allied with the darkness, Saul is altogether swallowed up in it, now enjoying even hospitality in the realm of the dead and demonic. But you understand, don't you, that chapter 27 and chapter 28 do follow very similar trajectories? Both Saul and David are on the same path because there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Now, if you know the story, or if you just read a few chapters later, Saul will go down to the battle and he will die. And you know, if you see where David is in 28 verses one and two, you know that barring some kind of radical divine intervention, David will likely endure the same fate. See, because of their folly and because of their lies, because of their persistent pursuit of the darkness, when they're supposed to be leading God's people in the light, they are both on the way to the slaughter. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. What John Owen says is proved true. If you do not kill sin, sin will kill you. But we must admit that these experiences of Saul and David are not altogether unfamiliar, are they? We know what it's like to seek paths other than the Lord's out of our desperation, don't we? And it doesn't take all that much. There's no end of application that I could make here, really. But God wants more out of us. He wants more from us than fleshly or worldly job or financial or relational success. As a rule, God wants more for us and he wants better for us than we ever have the imagination to realize. See, Saul and David are obsessed with saving their hide. Saul and David are obsessed with what we might term worldly or fleshly success. And in the midst of that obsession, they have lost sight of what is truly good. They have lost sight of the fact that God wants us to be people of the light, people who walk in the light, who are characterized by light and not darkness. But David yokes himself with an unbeliever, simply setting aside the fact that Israelites were supposed to be a people set apart. And I wonder how many of us have done the same thing. immersing ourselves not in the culture of Scripture, so to speak, but in the world, yoking ourselves unequally. It's good for Christians to have non-Christian friends. We are to do good to all people, but our deepest affection must be for those who are in Christ's family, in Christ's church. This applies to who we date and who we marry, but also beyond that. And then Saul in chapter 28, Saul leans on unbelieving tactics and practices to get done what he thinks needs to get done. He values kingly effectiveness over faithfulness. And we do the same thing. out of a desire to be effective in business or in our job, in our career, when we're forced to choose between faithfulness to God or financial success, this looks tempting. This looks tempting. When we're faced with the either or, we must be faithful to God and then let the sovereign God figure out the future. Knowing that small faithfulness is worth more than huge profits. But you know, don't you? Now finally, that these stories about kings in the dark naturally lead us to the king. These are dark and difficult stories. We don't want to see David the way he is in chapter 27, and we definitely don't want to see Saul the way he is in chapter 28. But these stories about kings in the dark naturally lead us to the king. David and Saul, they go into the darkness and they are overcome by it. But you know, our Lord Jesus, John's gospel tells us, shone as the light of the world in the darkness of this world, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. You understand that he did what Saul and what David could not do and would not do. He came into a world that was altogether stained with every kind of sin and iniquity, but he was not overcome by it. No, he overcame the world. Not by taking desperate measures in the face of desperate circumstances, not by saving his neck if it meant disobeying God, but by giving up his life, even when the prospect of it was terrifying. He overcame the world. And you know what this means for you. First of all, it means that if you believe in Him, you also overcome the world. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? But secondly, if you believe in Him, if you belong to Him, He gives you His Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that empowered Him to overcome is given to you so that you also may overcome the darkness. Oh, it seems inevitable. Sometimes it seems like all we have are choices between two sins. It seems like the only course between us, the only course before us is disobedience sometimes, but it's not. It's not, it never actually is. As difficult as that is to believe. Because He always provides a way of escape. Sin, disobedience, it's never inevitable. Your shepherd, as we sang, leads you through the darkest valley, but you need fear, no evil. Now, the one who overcame the darkness to seek and to save the lost, and that's you and that's me, he will lead you through your darkest valleys, through your time of desperation, despondence, and depression, and he will lead you back to his green pastures in one way or another. So hold on to him. Dear Christian, hold on to him and plead his grace. And say, Jesus, you have promised that you will not leave me or forsake me. And the world is dark, but I need your light. So plead his grace and ceaselessly pray for his Holy Spirit. And so, dear Christians, walk in the light. as He is also in the light. Let's pray.