1 SAMUEL 26 PURSUING GODS HEART TOWARDS REPEAT OFFENDERS2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 26 Pursuing Gods Heart Towards Repeat Offenders

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

Here in 1 Samuel chapter 26, we're continuing the journey with David as he has been on the run out in the wilderness. Saul has been seeking to take David's life and David has been eluding capture and hasn't been put to death yet, but Saul is intent and we're going to see another attempt this evening here in chapter 26 as David continues his journey to become the next king. God has promised that.

but he's not there yet. And God still has a somewhat of a process for David to go through to prepare him for what God wants to do in the next chapter of his life. And so we continue to follow along with David, the man after God's own heart, as we consider the subject of pursuing God's heart, looking at David and understanding some of those characteristics about his heart that

what caused him to be a man after God's own heart, that we might then follow his example and pursue the heart of God. And so we'll be looking at chapter 26 this evening. Let's begin by reading verses 1 through 9. Here's what it says. Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, Is David not hiding in the hill of Hekila opposite Jeshamon?

Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped on the hill of Hekila, which is opposite Jashimon by the road. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. Verse 4, David therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul had indeed come.

So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay. And Abner, the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp and the people encamped all around him. Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai, the son of Zeruah, the brother of Joab, saying, who will go down with me to Saul in the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with you.

Verse 9.

But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? Here as we begin this chapter, chapter 26, it might sound a little bit familiar as we get into this because it is very similar to what we read in 1 Samuel chapter 24, where

where David was hiding in a cave and Saul comes in and it's David's opportunity. His men are convinced. This is your chance. This is the day that the Lord has told you about. Look, your enemy is right here. He's vulnerable. Take advantage of that. Kill him. And then you can take the throne. Well, in a similar situation now, Saul has camped out. He's coming against David. And now David has another opportunity to put Saul to death.

But we're going to see how he responds and reacts to that opportunity as we get into the passage this evening. I've titled the message this evening, Pursuing God's Heart Towards Repeat Offenders. Because what we see here unfold as David and Saul have this encounter once again is Saul is on the rampage against David once more.

And this is really the final time that Saul has an attempt to take David's life. But it's the last time only because his life is cut short. In just a couple chapters, we're going to see the death of Saul and his sons. But this is his last chance, his last opportunity. And he is out there seeking to kill David. He is...

Saul is a repeat offender. Now in chapter 24, as David had the opportunity to kill him, but withheld and didn't do it, Saul declared that he repented.

He declared that, oh, I realize I've made a mistake and I'm not going to seek your life any longer. But here it is just two chapters later and Saul is back on the war path and seeking to take out David again. Now, just to give a little bit of scope as far as, you know, how repeat of an offender Saul is, this has gone back to 1 Samuel 18.

Now you might remember 1 Samuel 17 is when David defeats Goliath. And so it was right after that.

As the people were celebrating the victory of David, that Saul began to be jealous. And it was soon after that, that he began to cast spears at David. And so in chapter 18, we have the record of that first attempt at putting David to death because he realized David is the man that God was going to put on the throne of Israel. And Saul was intent on stopping that attempt.

no matter what, however he could. And so he throws a spear at David, but that didn't work. And so then Saul conspired and said, well, I'm not gonna kill him. I'll get the Philistines to kill him. And so he sends out David against the Philistines, hoping that David will lose the battle and be killed by the Philistines.

But that didn't work. David came out victorious again. And so Saul puts up another scheme, you know, marrying off one of his daughters for an exchange of the foreskins of the Philistines and hoping that, not that he wanted, you know, that the foreskins of the Philistines, that wasn't, you know, he didn't have any use for that. But he was hoping that the Philistines would put David to death in his attempt to meet that dowry.

Then in chapter 19, we see that Saul asks his servants to kill David. And so he invites them, he encourages them, he calls them to put David to death at their first opportunity. They kind of make amends a little bit. Jonathan intervenes. And so David's back in the presence of Saul and playing the harp in chapter 19. And then Saul is worked up and he throws a spear at David and tries to pin him to the wall again.

Then David escapes from that. He dodges the spear. He runs out. He goes and hides in his house. And now Saul attempts to, uh, to, to kill Saul there at his house and sends servants, sends men to go collect David and bring him. Uh, but David escapes out the window. And then, uh,

He runs to Samuel and he hides with Samuel and Saul sends another group of men to go get David from Samuel and God supernaturally intervenes. And then he finds out that David is hiding in the city of Keilah and he marches to Keilah as David has just saved this city from the Philistines. Saul thinks he's trapped in the city. Great, this is my opportunity. I'm going to go take him out.

And so he heads to Keilah to try to kill David. And then David escapes from the city and hides in the wilderness. And then so Saul, every day he's searching for him. He's trying to find David. He's trying to kill David every day in the wilderness for a season of time. And then in chapter 24,

He brings out 3,000 men to try to find and track down David and kill him while he's at En Gedi. And David escapes that. And then now back in chapter 26, this is Saul's last attempt. And it's only his last attempt because his life is cut short. But you see through this process, Saul...

if there's anybody who you might refer to as a repeat offender, Saul is definitely a repeat offender, right? He has come to his senses many times throughout this process and said, oh, I'm not going to try to kill you anymore. I repent. And yes, you are, you know, the next king. And I recognize that. And I know that. And, you know, I'm going to be good now. And he goes through that process. He utters those words, but he continues to go back

to this hatred in his heart and this attempt to put David to death. And so there's great insight here as we look at David's interaction with Saul and the way that David relates to Saul and treats Saul gives us some great insight into how God wants us as we pursue the heart of God to relate to those who offend us repeatedly.

And he models for us some great behavior, some great characteristics for us to follow. And so we're going to walk through this chapter and look at David's characteristics here as we learn how to pursue God's heart towards repeat offenders. Point number one is found here in verses one through nine, which we just read. And that is, do only what God authorizes you to do.

Now that might sound very familiar with you. That's the exact same point that I had in chapter 24. And there is a few parallels because this is a very similar circumstance and situation. And God included it twice, you know, both accounts so that we could be reminded of these things. And so I could try to be clever and come up with some new points. But the Lord said, no, remind us of what we've already learned because we need to remember that we're not allowed to just do whatever we want to do.

If you're going to pursue the heart of God, you don't just have the freedom to behave how you want to behave and treat people the way that you feel like treating them, wherever your emotions are at, you know, at the time or whatever condition you might be in or whatever they've done to you.

but that we actually are limited in what we can do in relating to other people based on what God has authorized us to do. And so we see that here in the example of David. Now here again, in verse one, we see that the Ziphites turned David in. These are kind of his fellow countrymen, uh,

But they say, hey, Saul, David's over here. He's hiding in our neighborhood. And so Saul comes down now with his 3,000 men. He encamps there. He's right there. And David now is watching this. He's paying attention to where Saul's at. He sends out his spies in verse 4 and understands, yes, Saul indeed is here. This is not just a dispatch of Saul's men. Saul himself is here. And so we pick it up in verse 5. It says, so David arose.

This is a really interesting passage because

So you think about David's situation and his plight and this massive army that is out to get him, you know, 3,000. He has 600 guys, so he's vastly outnumbered. But here is this camp, and instead of running away, David draws close. Oh, Saul is actually here. Saul's here in person, and he's here in person.

And David, knowing that Saul is there in person, now draws closer to that army because he wants to have an encounter with Saul.

And it's not that he's seeking to take Saul out, as we'll see, but that he is, I would say, I would suggest that he's responding to some prompting of God in his heart. We'll see in just a moment that the whole army is sleeping when they should be on alert. You know, there's no sentries. They're all asleep. You know, all the people who are guarding and supposed to be keeping watch, they're all asleep because God has put a sleep upon them. That God is involved in this situation. He's orchestrating this. And so he prompts David's heart.

And David draws near instead of running away. He draws closer to this army. And he says, you know, I want to go down there. In verse 6,

He says to a couple of his guys at Himalaya and Abishai, he says, who will go down with me to Saul in the camp? Who wants to sneak into their camp and go have a conversation with Saul with me? I mean, that was a bold move on David's part, but now he's asking a couple of guys, hey, anybody want to go with me? Like, let's take a step of faith. Let's do something radical. And Abishai says, yeah, I'll go. I'm down for that. Let's go down and...

have a conversation with Saul. Verse seven. So David and Abishai came to the people by night and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, his spear stuck in the ground by his head and Abner and all the people lay around him. So they are successful. They sneak into the camp. They're able to sneak in. They're able to get right there next to Saul and there's Saul sleeping. And he's got a spear stuck into the ground right by his head.

And Abishai sees this and he says, wow, this is the perfect setup, David. Look at this. You don't even have to fight him. Look how good God is. You're not going to get any cuts. You're not going to get any scrapes. There's no risk of your life. Look at how God has just set up this situation perfectly. In verse eight, Abishai says, God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now, therefore, please let me strike him at once with the spear right to the earth.

And I will not have to strike him a second time.

Let me do you this favor, David. I'll take him out for you. I promise he won't feel any pain. I will, you know, I'm not going to miss, you know, I'm not going to accidentally, you know, stab his leg and then we'll have to kill him and then he'll scream and then our lives will be in danger. No, no, it won't. It won't even need a second blow. I'm just going to one time, just I'm going to take him out. Sorry about the sound effect that just comes out naturally sometimes, but I'm going to take him out and he won't wake up. He'll just be dead instantly.

This is a perfect situation. God has delivered your enemy into your hand. But David holds him back. Again, like we saw him hold back his men in the cave. And at that time in chapter 24, he said, Saul is God's anointed. God has established him to be king. We cannot deny.

lay our hand against him. In verse nine, David says to Abishai, do not destroy him for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless. David could do it, but he could not do it without guilt. He could do it. He could not do it without sin. He could not do it because God had not authorized him to do it.

Now, if God authorized David to take Saul out, that's a different story altogether. In fact, the Lord did do that in a similar situation later on with a man named Jehu. And you can read about

Jehu's reign in 2 Kings 9-10 specifically, as he is called to be king, he's anointed by God to be king, and with the anointing comes instruction. In 2 Kings 9-7, here's what God says to Jehu. He says, You shall strike down the house of Ahab, your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel.

God tells Jehu, you're going to be king. I'm anointing you king. You are now the king. And here's your first task as king. Strike down the whole house of Ahab. And so Jehu goes on a slaughter fest there in chapter 9 and 10 of 2 Kings.

And he carries out this instruction of the Lord and he puts all of the family to death and all of the sons and daughters and all, he wipes out the house of Ahab, his master. It was essentially the same type of situation where Ahab was king, Jehu was under him, just like Saul is king and David is under him. But David says, we can't touch the Lord's anointed. We cannot put him to death.

And both Saul and Jonathan have asked David to promise. He promised when you get on the throne, you're not going to wipe out our families. Promise that you're not going to just kill our whole house. And David's agreed to that. He said, I promise I'm not going to do that to you when I take the throne.

But here in 2 Kings 9, we have a different scenario where God says, I want you to take them out. I want you to bring the destruction. And so it's not so much the destruction. It's not so much the bringing forth of the penalty that is the issue here for David. It is what has God authorized me to do? God did not tell David to strike Saul.

Now Saul being in that role of authority, David refers to him as the Lord's anointed.

Saul has that position of authority because God anointed him to be king. And that position is not removed until God removes it. That role, the honor that is due, the respect that is due, it's not removed until God removes it. He is the Lord's anointed, even though he's been pursuing David and offending David over and over and over and over again. It does not give David the right to

to try to pay Saul back for all of those offenses. Even in the midst of these great sins and these actual attempts on David's life that have happened over and over again, God hasn't told David, you need to take Saul out. He hasn't given David permission for that. He's not authorized by God to do that. So it would be sin. It would be wrong for David to do that. He would be not guiltless, but guilty.

And so he holds back Abishai. He says, no, we can't. If God wanted to, he could give the instruction, but God did not give the instruction. And this is so important as we consider this subject of pursuing God's heart, that we understand and that we recognize, I don't have the right to just do whatever I want to do. I don't have the right to just do what I think is best.

That's pursuing my heart. That's pursuing what I think and what I want. But pursuing the heart of God is seeking to please God, seeking to obey God and seeking to do his will. And the only way to do that is to look for his authorization.

as we take steps forward, as we do things, especially things that, well, would require authorization from God, such as, you know, bringing harm to a superior, bringing harm to someone that God has placed an authority over you. That's not something you do lightly. That's not something that, you know, the scriptures are very clear that we are to honor our authorities, that we are to respect them and submit to them. And submitting to them is submitting to Jesus, right?

unless the Lord says, don't submit to them because they're calling you to rebel against me. Unless there's that conflict, unless there's that direct command of the Lord. And absent that, submission to authorities is what God commands us to do. And rebelling against authorities can only be done in the pursuit of God's heart when God authorizes that. But as we think about it in a closer context of those who have offended us,

You and I, we all understand how much we want to help people understand how much they've hurt us, right? You ever feel like that? You want, I just need to kind of teach you a little bit of a lesson so that you understand, you know, you said this, you did this to me, it hurt that much. And so I need you to feel the kind of hurt, the kind of pain that I felt. But we cannot behave that way

and pursue God's heart at the same time unless he authorizes us to do so. You don't have the right to do what you want to the people who've hurt you. You don't have the right to hurt them back unless God gives you this instruction like he gave to Jehu. He says, okay, here's what I want you to do. And he gives you the instruction. He gives you instruction, then you follow what the Lord says. But

absent God's instruction, even though people have offended us and hurt us and maligned us and slandered us and sought to take our lives, well, we have some clear instruction from God on how we're to relate to them in love and doing good to those who hurt us and blessing those who curse us. And that's God's instruction to us. And that is the heart of God. That is pursuing God's heart. And so do only what God authorizes you to do reminds us.

We are not free to do just whatever we want to do, even towards those who have offended us over and over and over again. Well, moving on now to verses 10 through 12, here we get point number two, and that is trust God to deal with offenders. And this will help a little bit with

the aggravation of not being able to do what we want to the people who have offended us. We need to learn to trust God to deal with those who have brought the offense. In verse 10, it says, David said, furthermore, as the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.

The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed, but please now take the spear and the jug of water that are by his head and let us go. And so as we relate to those who have offended us, as we look at David's example, we get to see a good model for us to learn how to trust God to deal with those situations. David says, the Lord shall strike him.

He holds back Abishai and he says, look, I'm not going to strike him. You're not going to strike him. We're going to leave this whole situation. We're going to leave this offender in God's hands. The Lord will strike him. There was no question about whether or not he deserved to be struck. Saul was out of line. He was in rebellion against God. He was fighting against God as he pursued David.

It was clear. He was out of line. He needed to be brought under the judgment of God in rebuke and correction for his sin. But David says, but that's not my place. It's God's place. And God will deal with him. Pastor David Guzik says it was inevitable that Saul would be judged and that he would lose the throne, but that it was absolutely God's business to accomplish that.

and the business of no one else. It wasn't Abishai's job to put David on the throne. It wasn't David's job to make a way to the throne. God had anointed David and called him to be king. And so it was God's job to do that. And David says, I'm going to trust God to do what he said he would do. And so David lists out some possibilities here. He says, look, here's how the Lord's going to take care of him. The Lord's going to strike him. The Lord could strike him

However he chooses and whenever he chooses that he could strike him with a disease. He could just take away his next breath. He could give him a heart attack. He could chop off his head. You know, he could rapture him. He could do whatever he wanted. The Lord, the Lord shall strike him. That's the Lord's problem. Or David says, and this is kind of hard to swallow a little bit, or his day shall come to die. Or he's just going to grow old and die of natural causes.

Now, it would be one thing, I think, for David to trust God to deal with offenders and trust God to deal with Saul, you know, with kind of the hope and anticipation. It's going to happen any day now, right, Lord? But here's David saying, you know, it might not be till the end of his life. He might be 70 years old and then finally he dies. And the Lord deals with him that way.

The Lord might strike him supernaturally right here, right on the spot, or he might just grow old and die. Or thirdly, he says in verse 10, he might go out to battle and perish. Now it turns out that's actually what's going to happen. And we'll see that in a couple of chapters that Saul goes out to battle against the Philistines and he dies in the midst of that battle. But whichever case may be, whichever way it may happen, David says, I don't know how it's going to happen, but it's the Lord's problem. The Lord hasn't told me to take him out. So I'm going to trust God to deal with it.

And that means even I'm going to be okay with trusting God to wait, even if it's the next 30 or 40 years until he reaches the end of his life. David says, the Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against his anointed. I'm not going to take matters into my own hand. Instead, David says, just take the spear and the jug of water and let's go. And David's going to use that in just a few moments to, to,

Have a conversation with Saul and to try to bring some reason to him once again. Verse 12, it says, so David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul's head and they got away.

This is not just boldness on David's part that he's so sneaky and clever that he could sneak into an army's camp, you know, and he's just, you know, David the ninja and nobody can, you know, catch him. It's not that. The Lord is involved in this. He is bringing the sleep upon the soldiers. And I would suggest that

that he's the one inspiring this whole situation. And, you know, that kind of sparked that idea that in David's mind to draw near to the army, to go down to Saul's camp because he wants to have this interaction with Saul. And we'll see that unfold in just a moment. But here is Saul in this incredibly vulnerable situation.

And David had the instrument right there next to Saul's head, the opportunity he could have so easily. Just let Abishai do it and said, well, I didn't kill him. You know, he could have so easily killed.

He lashed out and fought about and relived and said, you know, let me pull up that chart of all the times that Saul has tried to kill me. Let me count, you know, bring up my notebook. And okay, that was number 47 time he tried to kill, number 48 time. Yeah, okay, I am gonna do this, you know? And he could have like stirred that up within himself, but instead he's there and he's saying, look, I need to trust God. He has wronged me. He has sinned. He has hurt me. He has harmed me. He's done great, great harm.

but I need to trust God to deal with him. David really believed and held on to Deuteronomy 32, verse 35, where God says, You can kind of hear that

There's an echo of what David said that's found here in Deuteronomy chapter 32, right? Their foot shall slip in due time. His day is going to come. His foot's going to slip, David says. God has declared, this is my domain. Somebody has hurt you, God says, that's my responsibility to deal with that. Somebody has harmed you, God says, that's my domain. That's not your domain unless I specifically tell you, go deal with that.

Someone offends you, God says, vengeance is mine. And recompense. You know what recompense is? That's paying someone back. God says, let me pay them back. It's not your job to pay them back. It's not your job to make them pay, to make them hurt, to make them suffer. That's not your job unless I tell you it's your job. Otherwise, it's my job. It's my responsibility. Vengeance is mine.

And so David takes these words to heart and he says, I'm going to trust God to deal. God said it's his. God said he's going to bring recompense. He's going to deal with these kinds of situations, these kinds of people. And so David says, I'm going to trust God to deal with this offender. I'm going to leave it in his hands and I'm not going to take matters into my own hands. Well, that's pretty radical. I mean, being in David's situation, I think it's,

Every one of us would struggle to make that same decision. That would be a challenge. But what David does next, I think would challenge us even further. In verses 13 through 20, we have point number three, and that is look for ways to reconcile with offenders. Not only does David hold himself and his men back from taking Saul out, but he's also using this as an opportunity to try to bring peace.

In verse 13, it says, Now David went over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill afar off, a great distance being between them. And David called out to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, Do you not answer, Abner?

Then Abner answered saying, who are you calling out to the king? Verse 15. So David said to Abner, are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your Lord, the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your Lord, the king.

This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die because you have not guarded your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where is the king or where the king's spear is and the jug of water that was by his head. Verse 17, then Saul knew David's voice and said, is that your voice, my son, David? David said, it is my voice, my Lord, O king.

And he said, why does my Lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done or what evil is in my hand? David now gets out of the camp. But again, he doesn't just escape. All right, they're all sleeping. Now's our chance. Let's run. You know, let's get out of here while they're still sleeping. God's got a heavy sleep on them. Now's our chance to get as far away from here as we can. David doesn't do that. Instead, he begins to shout. Hey guys, wake up.

Here's this army that's come out to kill him. And he says, hey, everybody, wake up. Abner, the guard of the king, wake up. You really missed a huge thing. Someone tried to kill the king right now and you were asleep. You missed it. And he's taunting Abner, the king's bodyguard. Saul begins to wake up and hears David's voice and calls out to him. Is that you, David? David said, yeah, it's me. And he begins to challenge him. Why have you come out here?

Why are you pursuing me? What evil is in my hand? Here we really get to see unfold the purpose. David did not sneak into the camp to kill Saul. He snuck into the camp for this conversation that's about to happen. He snuck into the camp, took a great risk in order to have this opportunity to have the exchange with Saul.

Pastor Thomas Constable puts it this way. He said, He uses this opportunity, taking great risk, to seek reconciliation. Now,

As we talk about and consider this in more of a local context of those who have offended us, I would call to your attention, David here is strategic, right?

And he's protecting himself. And so this is not saying, and I would not suggest, you know, when someone has hurt you, that you automatically have to put yourself back in harm's way. Notice in verse 13, it says, David went over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill, far off, a great distance being between them.

David here is wise in that he wants to have the opportunity. He wants to have the conversation, but he's also protecting himself against this going the wrong way. And so he makes sure there's a good distance between them, but that it's not such a great distance that they can't have the conversation. And he's looking here for a way. He's working out in strategy a way to protect himself against

but also have the opportunity to reconcile. And again, David here sets a great model for us in the pursuit of God's heart, looking to what pleases God. You know what pleases God is when the brethren dwell together, when we love one another, when there is the proper relationships that God has called us to have with one another.

That is pleasing to God. That is what God desires. And so one of our responsibilities as we pursue the heart of God is to seek out reconciliation, especially with those who have offended us repeatedly and ongoing and hurt us many times over. That is very difficult for us because we would rather them suffer. We would rather them get, you know,

learn how much they hurt us and, you know, be paid back for what they did to us and on and on and on we could go. But David here is wise. He's looking for reconciliation, but he's also protecting himself. And that's really important.

We often talk about that, you know, forgiveness is not the same as trust, you know, that we're able to reconcile and forgive. And that doesn't mean that we automatically are back to, you know, okay, it's like you never punched me in the face, you know, I'll just pretend that never happened and put myself, you know, in your arms reach of you again. Well,

Maybe that's not the best thing to do. And maybe God will call you to do that. And then you do that, but maybe that's not the wisest thing to do. And so we have to use wisdom. And that's what David is doing here. He's responding to the Lord and sneaking into the camp. Very risky. Let me tell you that the chance to reconcile, it's always going to be a risk. There's always a vulnerability there.

Someone has hurt you, someone's harmed you, and you're going to be the offended one, you know, trying to make an opportunity to provide reconciliation. There's going to be a risk. And it may turn out as well as David's and Saul's did, or it may not. And so there is good reason to have some space.

There's good reason to maybe, you know, set up a scenario, set up a public meeting place, you know, or a couple people that love you both and involve them in the reconciliation. Or, you know, you get the idea that whatever it needs to be. For David, it was, you know, stand a couple hills over and now we can still shout at each other and hear each other and have an opportunity to have this conversation.

Not shouted each other in anger, but you understand that they're able to talk. They're able to communicate. In a similar way, we need to seek out ways to reconcile with those who have hurt us. But we need to use wisdom. And that doesn't mean we just put ourselves in harm's way. Now, David here also takes the opportunity to taunt Abner, Saul's bodyguard. He's kind of like poking him a little bit. Like, hey.

Now, again, I would suggest as you look at the heart and the character of David, he's not just doing this, you know, vindictively, but he is, he's stirring up a point. He says, look, I had the opportunity. I was right there. I could have killed you. That's the point that David is making. And he holds up the jug of water and the spear as the proof of that. And so he's orchestrating this whole thing

to bring a very clear message. I am not out to get you. I am not trying to harm you. I want us to reconcile. Verse 19, it says, now, therefore, please let my Lord, the King, hear the words of his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering.

But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. So now, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains. See David's heart here? Please let my Lord, the king, hear the words of his servant.

David is coming with gentleness, with humility to show I'm not out to get you. Look, if I've done something wrong and I've offended the Lord and the Lord has stirred this up within you, hey, I will get right with God.

If it's my sin that has brought this situation where, you know, you are now offending me again, then I want to go get right with God. Let's, yes, let's do that. We'll go to the temple. We'll sacrifice, or tabernacle at that time. We'll sacrifice to God. Let him receive. I want to get right if I'm wrong. David here, in humility, he's saying, look, I'm willing to repent of anything on my part.

Now, if you've come out here, on the other hand, and it's man's idea, someone's speaking to you, or I think David's also being gentle here, if it's your own idea, you know, that of course it is. David knows that. But he says, if this is something of man that it's stirred up, he says, look, this has caused me to be driven out from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord.

I don't get to spend time with God at the tabernacle. I don't get to spend time in the inheritance of my family. I don't get to be at home. I'm out in the wilderness. I'm out on the run. I'm missing out on what God has provided for us. Let's resolve this situation. Let's not let this continue. Don't let my blood fall to the earth. I'm just a flea, he says. And you're out hunting me like someone hunts a partridge. I don't know anything about hunting partridges, but

And I don't even know if that's how you pronounce partridge in the plural, but

What I've heard, what I've read is that when you're hunting a partridge, it's hiding in a bush. You go to the bush, it jumps to another bush. You go to that bush, it jumps to another bush. And it keeps jumping from bush to bush to bush, you know, while you're chasing it. And it gets tired. So that it kind of like just gives up at the end. You just hit it with a club and then you've got your partridge. So you don't have to be a crack shot, you know, with a gun or anything. Now, I don't know anything about that. You can talk to Harvey and get all the facts afterwards. But...

But that's what David says. Like, I'm worn out. You're chasing me from here to here, to here, to here, to here. And I'm empty. I'm out. I'm so tired. And you just keep chasing me. And we keep doing this over and over and over again. And I'm just a flea. I'm not worth all the trouble. You're the king. David is respectful. He's humble. He's gentle. He's willing to go before the Lord if it's his issue. He's doing everything that he can on his part to reconcile with Saul.

to bring peace, to get things right, even though he's the offended one, the one who has been harmed. David really accurately represents the heart of God in this. Something for us to model, pursuing God's heart towards those who have offended us repeatedly. We need to be limiting ourselves to what God has authorized us to do. Not paying back, not causing suffering, not causing harm, not withholding good, unless God tells us to.

And trusting God, you deal with that situation, Lord. You deal with those who have hurt and harmed. And my job is to look for ways to reconcile. God, your job is to make sure they pay. I'm going to let you do that. My job is to look for opportunity to reconcile, to restore the relationship, to offer forgiveness, to bring things back in harmony. Well, finishing it up with the fourth point found in verses 21 through 25, point number four says,

these get more difficult as they progress. So the final one is do good to offenders without expecting something back from them. Here we see David model a great example for us. As he encounters Saul, he withholds the harm, he brings the reconciliation, and he does not demand that Saul treat him badly.

Verse 21. Now it's interesting the tone that is captured here in the verse. Now we don't get the tone of his voice, you know, and there's very little to go off of as far as Saul's response here. But as you compare it to chapter 24, you see that Saul is saying,

Saul is weeping. There's, there's emotions involved. It seems that in chapter 24, he's more moved. In chapter 26, you kind of get the impression that Saul is kind of like the hardened sinner who knows the right things to say. I, oh yes, I've messed up. Oh, please forgive me. There was this guy I used to work with and, uh,

It was kind of a known thing. He was a kind of a bad name for Christians because he, you know, let everybody know that he was a Christian, but then he would like, you know, goof off and not do his work. And he would get in trouble and he would go in and the boss had a soft heart for that kind of thing. And so before the boss, you're like, oh yeah, I really need to get right with God and, you know, do that. And so then he, you know,

would present that to the boss and the boss would say, okay, well, it's no big deal then that you come in late every day and you have four flat tires a week. I don't know how anybody does that, but you have, okay, so cool, okay. So, okay, you're gonna get right with God and you're gonna, okay, okay, good. So no trouble, no issue, just yeah, all right, you go back and get right with God and you'd be good for a little bit and then a couple months go by and four flat tires a week and it's like, you know.

Oh, I'm getting right with the Lord. You know, I got to repent. And I know, you know, and you know, and it was just that cycle over and over and over again. I've sinned.

And we all learn how to do that. We all learn the Christian words to say, oh, you know, I've sinned, I'm sorry. You know, even though, you know, husbands will joke about that's the most difficult thing or wives will joke about their husbands never say they're sorry. I think what's more common is husbands learn how to say they're sorry and not mean it. That's kind of more common these days anyways, that we learn the words to say. We learn the verbiage, but there's not a real change of heart.

And there's a real danger with that. You know, earlier in chapter 24, Saul was actually touched. I mean, you know, there was emotions involved, but there was no actual change because here we are two chapters later. And although he was perhaps more sensitive at that point, there was no real turning to God at that time. And I'm going through all of that just to say this, that you don't know when God is giving you your last opportunity to really turn and get right with him.

This was David and Saul's last encounter. And Saul still didn't get right with the Lord all the way until his death. Now, God was going to have other opportunities to try to get Saul's attention in the next couple of chapters. We'll see that. But as far as him and David are concerned, this is their last encounter.

And you and I can go through our pattern and go through the motions and, okay, you know, try to get away with our stuff. And then we get caught, we get called on the carpet for it. And then we go, oh, okay, I repent. I'm going to get right. And then I'm going to, and we've learned what to say. We've learned, you know, how to kind of ease our guilt and ease the conflict within us by, okay, well, we'll come back to church. You know, we'll start tithing. We'll start, you know, doing stuff for the Lord. We'll start, and we go through this routine. But if we're like Saul and it's,

It's the expression of these things. And there is the real emotion. There really is an opportunity there for God calling out to us. But if there is not the real change, then we get to the point where Saul is at this time and he's saying the words, but there's no real heart in it. And he's going to go to his death in this broken relationship, in this continuation of his sin.

He says, indeed, I have played the fool and erred exceedingly. I forget who it was, but I read one commentary and they said, there's probably never been a more accurate and succinct autobiography from anyone. Saul's whole life is summed up in, I've played the fool and erred exceedingly. And that's really accurate and sums up his whole life. And in a lot of ways it does that, you know, he had a lot of good opportunities, a lot of things going for him, but he was not pursuing the heart of God.

He was not seeking after God's heart. He was not seeking to do what God wanted. He took opportunities instead to do what he wanted. Verse 22, and David answered and said, here is the king's spear. Let one of the young men come over and get it.

Verse 24, Then Saul said to David,

May you be blessed, my son, David. You shall both do great things and also still prevail. So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place. Here, as we look at this short interaction, this short exchange, David continues to maintain great respect, but he also in boldness is saying, look, I have done righteously to you.

done nothing deserving of the way that you've treated me and you have treated me horribly, but today I valued your life. I think verse 24 is really interesting to consider.

Notice what David says, as your life was valued in my eyes, I was there, you were sleeping. I could have taken you out. Abishai, I wanted to take you out. I didn't take you out. I wouldn't let him take you out. I valued your life. You are the Lord's anointed. I'm going to honor you and respect you. I'm not going to go out of my way to harm you. I valued your life, even though you've tried so hard to hurt me.

Now, I think what our typical thing to do, if we had done that, then as we turn around now, you value my life and you treat me well and you do this to me, right? That's where my heart would automatically go. What does David say? He said, so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the Lord. David does good to Saul. He values Saul's life, but he's not expecting Saul to value his life.

It's not a condition. I'm going to value your life if you value mine, or so you must value mine. He is doing good and trusting God. You see this. You see how tempted I am. You see how difficult this is. You see how much he's hurt me. You see how much I want to hurt him. You see how right it is that it, you know, it would, every one of us would have understood if David struck Saul down.

Every one of us. It wouldn't be anyone be like, oh, David, you know, man, can't believe you did that. I would never do that. No, no, we would have all understood that. But David says, even though I've done this, Lord, I'm doing this for you. I'm not doing this for Saul, and I'm not doing this to get certain behavior out of Saul towards me. I'm doing this for you. Lord, will you take note of this? And will you honor my life the way I've honored Saul's life?

He is looking to God to fulfill that debt. And so that's why I get the point, do good to offenders without expecting something back from them. As Jesus said, love those who hate you. Pray for those who curse you and spitefully use you. Bless them. That's not in exchange. I've blessed you. Now,

you vile, wicked person. You must bless me back. You know, that now you're indebted and you must give good back to me because I've done what Jesus said and I've loved you. That doesn't work that way. You love those who hate you and you don't expect them to love you back. There's no guarantee that they will love you back. You love those who hate you and you look to the Lord and say, Lord, look what I'm doing here. I'm loving those who hate me like you told me to. Lord, will you take care of me? Putting yourself in God's hand, expecting God

Reward from the Lord and not from man. Think about it in the context of what Paul the Apostle wrote in Ephesians chapter six to slaves. And he says, look, slaves, you need to be obedient to your masters, whether they're good masters or not so good masters, whether they're easy masters or harsh masters.

He says, you need to do good. You need to do what's right. You need to give your best. In Ephesians chapter six, verse seven, he continues that thought and he says, do it with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to man. Knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. Paul says, look, you're in a place of slavery. You're in a place of employment, whatever, right? You have a harsh boss. You have an easy boss, right?

regardless, you need to do your best. Now, I think all of us can relate to, we've had difficult bosses and it makes us very unmotivated to do our best because they're going to take the credit anyways, or they're not going to be happy anyways. I'm not going to get the raise anyways, right? Like I'm not going to get the reward for doing my best if I do my best in the workplace. But Paul's saying, you need to look up, look beyond your boss, look beyond your circumstances and know that what you do for the Lord is

He will reward you. And you may not see that immediately, but it's his promise. He will reward you. So you do what's right. You do what's good. You do good to those who offend you. You do good and seek reconciliation and hold back the harm that you want to do. You do good and love those who hate you and bless those who curse you. You do that and you look to the Lord. He will reward you. He will. He will.

Not let that go without notice. He will take care of you. Just like David could trust that God was going to take care of Saul and his rebellion and his wickedness and all the things that was going on there. David could trust, Lord, I'm doing good. I'm doing what's right. So I'm not going to expect it from Saul. Lord, I'm looking to you saying, I'm seeking to please your heart. I'm seeking to obey you. Lord, would you value my life in the way that I valued yours?

the life of this one who has offended me. Great example for us of pursuing God's heart. We all have situations in our lives where there are those offenses that are brought. There's those difficult people around us. And we all know what it's like to lash out, to try to pay back, to make them suffer. But here David shows us, even in extreme circumstances, when someone has attempted to take your life repeatedly, do only what God has authorized you to do.

You can't just take matters into your own hands. You can't just do whatever you want. No, you find out what God wants and you work within the limit. And if God doesn't tell you something directly and specifically, then this is your limit. The scriptures provide you the construct for how you are to relate to those who have offended you. It's not your job to make them pay. Trust God to deal with the offenders. That's his job. That's his domain. Vengeance is mine and recompense. He's the one who will make them pay. You don't have to make them pay.

Instead, your domain is to look for opportunity, look for ways to reconcile. Be wise. That doesn't mean you put yourself in a place of, you know, constant danger. At the same time, we're to issue grace and mercy and look for ways to bring harmony back into the relationship, reconciliation in the relationship. Doing all of this, doing this good, even if we're not going to get anything back.

Even if they're not going to respond favorably, even if they're not going to react and we don't expect them to do good back to us, we do it because we're looking to God and saying, God, I'm doing what you want. And so I'm looking to you to take care of what's best for me. I don't have to work out what's best for me. I don't have to make sure I get what I deserve. Lord, you make sure that I get what you want and what's right for me. Would you value my life, Lord?

in the way that I valued the life of those who offended me. Now, just think about that prayer. I think that's a really interesting prayer. Lord, would you value my life in the same way that I valued those who've offended me? Is that a prayer that you could pray? It's a real quick indicator of whether or not you are pursuing God's heart. Noah's gonna come up and close us in a couple worship songs. And as he does, I wanna encourage you, as we always do, to spend this time reflecting on God

these things that God has been bringing forth tonight. And don't let it just go in one ear and out the other, but who's offended you? So begin to think and pray through situations that you face and evaluate. Lord, am I really pursuing your heart? And David, he was willing. Lord, I mean, he says to Saul, if this is an issue with me and the Lord, I'll go make a sacrifice. I'll go get right with God. This is an opportunity for us to get right. And maybe, you know, I didn't

think about this ahead of time, but I'm just thinking about it right now. With Christmas coming and family gathering, maybe this is like the perfect opportunity where God set this up and brought you here tonight so you would have this opportunity to get right with him because you're going to see those people who offend you this weekend. And you need to pursue God's heart and how he wants them to be treated, how he wants them to be related to, how you can do good to them.

without expecting something back from them, but just looking to the Lord to provide for you and to meet your needs. And so you can be seeking the Lord and responding to him.

as he prompts your heart. And as always, we want to give you the opportunity during this time of worship that if you want to pray for one another, if there's something on your heart, you know, that you want to share with each other, then feel free to move about and to engage in this ministry of one another. If you need prayer, feel free to reach out to someone around you and ask them to pray for you as we worship the Lord and seek the Lord together. Just respond and move as the Lord prompts your heart and as he directs you that you would be

Going forward in the pursuit of God's heart. So let's worship the Lord together and respond as he speaks to us.