Now we've been, you remember
going through some of the different events in the past few weeks
of the life of David. David had been anointed king
of Israel. He called in from keeping the
sheep to be anointed king of Israel. He went and killed Goliath,
the champion of Israel. He and Jonathan's heart, the
prince, their hearts were knit together. Jonathan made a covenant
with David. And Saul saw that David was useful
to him, wouldn't let him go home to his father's house anymore.
And all these things have happened to David. Instead of puffing
David up like it would tend to do to the flesh, David was still
a loyal, faithful servant. Look at verse 5, that's where
we begin here in chapter 18. David went out with us, whoever
Saul sent him. He was a faithful servant and
behaved himself wisely. And Saul sent him over the men
of war and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and
also in the sight of Saul's servants. Now, David would just went wherever
Saul told him to go, did whatever Saul told him to do. And he did
that as a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ came to
this earth because he was sent by his father and he was sent
on a mission to redeem his people from their sins. He told his
disciples, this is the father's will, which has sent me. The
father sent him on this mission, that of all which he has given
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last
day. That's the mission his father sent him to do. And he did it. And he came because to fulfill
his father's commandment. He told his disciples, he said,
the father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I
should say and what I should speak. And he fulfilled that
commandment because later on, he told his disciples, the word
which you hear, is not mine, but the Father's which sent me."
He told his disciples everything that the Father gave him commandment
to do. And that's the way David did
it. Everything Saul gave him commandment to do, he went and
did it. And as he did it, the scripture says he behaved himself
wisely. He acted prudently, and the Lord
made it to prosper. That word behaved there in verse
5. is actually means prosper. The Lord made it to prosper because
he behaved himself wisely. Just like Daniel, you know, both
David and Daniel, as they went about doing what the Lord gave
them to do, they behaved themselves wisely. Everybody liked them
for it. And they both were promoted.
David was promoted to being over these men of war. And that's
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. The pleasure of the Lord prospered
in his hand. Because of his obedience and
because of his success in the mission that the father sent
him to accomplish, the father has promoted the son. Gave him
a seat at his right hand, gave him a name which is above every
name. Set him over all of his creation.
He's been promoted because he was a faithful, successful servant,
just like David was. Well, verse 6, it came to pass
as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of
the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel,
singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tabrets, with joy,
and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another
as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, and
David his ten thousands." Now here the army returns from the
battle where David had killed Goliath, and when they come back,
David gets more glory than anyone else. And you know, he should
have. David was the only one who went
out there and risked his life to fight for Israel, that the
reproach might be removed from Israel. Everybody else, when
they came out, came out when the battle was already over.
The Philistines were on the run. That's when they came out. David
was the only one that risked his life to defend the name of
the God of Israel. And the women were especially
thankful for that. Think how bad their life would
have been if David hadn't defeated Goliath. and Goliath and all
his buddies carried the field that day. The life of those women
would have been an utter horror, and David delivered them from
that. They're thankful. They're singing his praises,
and who can blame them? Well, that's what we looked at
Wednesday night. To God we praise. Praise ye the Lord. Christ gets all the preeminence. He gets all the preeminence everywhere
and certainly in the church among His people. He gets all the preeminence. He gets all the glory. Think
how bad your existence would be if it wasn't for the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our life. I was going to
say He's our reason for living, but He's a whole lot more than
that. He is our life and the church sings his praises with
thanksgiving. Much like these women, while
they were thankful, David has killed his ten thousands. Well,
verse 8, Saul did not like that very much. Saul was very wroth,
and the saying displeased him. And he said, they have ascribed
unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but
thousands. And what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul
eyed David from that day forward. Now, you have to remember, Saul
represents the flesh. the flesh that hates God, that
hates his Son, and is the sworn enemy of Christ. Just like Saul
became the sworn enemy of David. And Saul gave David the evil
eye from that day forward. He looked at him suspiciously. He looked at him with an eye
filled with hate and envy. And he's just laying in wait.
He's looking for an opportunity where he can kill David because
he is his sworn enemy. And we're going to see this in
the rest of the chapter. He's going to set traps for him, just like
the Pharisees tried to do time and time and time again with
our Lord. How many times did they try to trap him and trick
him? Because that's what the flesh
does. That's why the flesh does that, because it hates God and
hates his son. Well, verse 12, it came to pass
on the morrow. that the evil spirit from God
came upon Saul. And he prophesied in the midst
of the house, and David played with his hand, as at other times,
and there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the javelin,
for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And
David avoided out of his presence twice." Now here Saul, in the
midst of his palace, is prophesying. And we know it's not genuine
prophesying that glorifies Christ because he's under the inspiration
of this evil spirit. And the servants obviously were
not blessed by it. They wanted it to stop. That's
why they brought David in to play the harp and make this,
how he did make that evil spirit leave Saul. But at least Saul
is making this big show of religion, isn't he? And while he's making
a show of religion or making a show of worship, He tries to
nail David to the wall with that javelin. I mean, he just wants
to pierce him through and lay him stuck to the wall like a
trophy. And he tried it not once, but twice. And David escaped
out of his hand both times. And I'm telling you, outwardly
religious people are the worst. They're the people that you have
to watch the most closely. It was religious people. that
tried to conspire to kill our Lord, wasn't it? It was religious
people. And they were under the direction of an evil spirit,
and they just didn't know it. But while they were doing it,
they made a good show of religion, didn't they? That's what they
tried to hide behind, even when, and the Lord was crucified, so
we've got to take his body down. You know, we can't be out here
to fall on our Passover, you know. They made a good show of
religion. But they were under the inspiration
and direction of an evil spirit. And unlike David, Our Lord didn't
escape. He didn't try to escape. You
know, David had to dodge that javelin, you know, and our Savior
didn't try to escape. He allowed himself to be pierced
through, pierced through the hands and the feet and the side
so out could pour that sin-cleansing, life-giving blood and water.
He gave himself to be pierced. He never made an evasive action
like David did. Well, verse 12, After David had
escaped from Saul twice, Saul was afraid of David, because
the Lord was with him and had departed from Saul. Now, Saul's
the king. I mean, you think of it, he's
the king, but he's afraid of David. David's not afraid of
Saul, is he? After Saul tried to nail him
to the wall of that jail and David came back, he wasn't afraid
of Saul, but Saul was afraid of David. And remember, Saul
represents the flesh. This is the problem that the
religious leaders 2,000 years ago had. They were afraid of
Christ. They were afraid of him. And
the religious leaders today are exactly the same. They're afraid
of the Christ of the Bible. The last thing they want is for
Christ to be set forth in his glory, of his person, of his
character. They're afraid of what would
happen if he's set forth to the people as he is. That's what
those Pharisees said. They said, we can't allow this
man to keep going. We keep trying to trap him and
we prevail nothing. The whole world's gone after
him. And that's exactly what they're afraid of. The whole
world going after him and leaving them. And they were afraid of
Christ. Even after he was crucified,
they were afraid of him. They were petrified. They were
afraid somebody would find out he'd risen from the dead. And
they would do anything they could to keep somebody from finding
that out. They were afraid of him. And he never one time hid
from them, did he? He came, even after all those
times they tried to trap him, he came every day. And when that
mob came with the torches and the spears, he wasn't afraid
of them. He went out to meet them. He
was in control. They were the ones that were
afraid. Never our Lord. Well, verse 13, therefore Saul
removed him from him, he removed David from him, and made David
his captain over a thousand, and he went out and came in before
the people. And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways,
and the Lord was with him. Wherefore, when Saul saw that
he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. And all
Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came
in before them. Now Saul had to get David out of his sight.
He hated him so much he couldn't stand the sight of him. So he
promoted him over this group of soldiers and got him out of
his sight, you know. Well, his plan backfired, didn't
it? What he ended up doing was putting David out there in front
of all the people so they could see him even more clearly. All
the people could see how wisely David conducted himself. They
all could see how the Lord was with David. And they loved David
even more. And Saul hated him even more
and was more afraid of him. Well, that's exactly what the
Pharisees did with our Lord. They hated him so much that they
would do anything. They would compromise anything.
They'd make a deal with the Romans if they could get rid of this
man, Jesus of Nazareth. They conspired to kill him and
get rid of him once and for all. And when that didn't work, they
had to get men to lie about him in order to convict him. And
our Lord behaved himself so wisely, they never could get a foothold
against him. That's why they had to get those
people to lie about him. And look over in John chapter
12, their plan backfired. In John chapter 12, verse 32, what they ended up accomplishing
was lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ for all men to see. And
our Lord said before it happened, this is what's going to happen.
He says in verse 32, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all unto me. Now you just cross that word
men out. That's not in the original. That's in italics. He's not drawing
all men, all mankind to him. He's going to draw all to him
when he's lifted up. He's going to draw all that the
father gave him. He's going to draw all the sheep.
They're going to see him lifted up and they're going to mourn
for him whom they've pierced. And they're going to be drawn
to him. And that's the thing that the Pharisees were most
afraid of, is people being drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ and
to accomplish God's purpose in lifting him up so that all would
see and come to him by faith. And that's just like all Israel,
the more they saw of David, the more they loved him. Well, verse
17, back in our text, Saul said to David, you can just see the
situation getting further and further and further. They're
out of Saul's control. He's getting frustrated. And he said to David,
Behold my elder daughter Mirab, her will I give thee to wife.
Only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles.
For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand
of the Philistines be upon him." Now you remember Saul promised
to give his daughter to be the wife of the man who would kill
Goliath. Well, Saul's not telling David
this after how much time here has passed, I don't know, but
sometime. going to, you know, fulfill his promise, but he's
not doing it to keep his word. He's doing it to trap David.
This is just another way he's hoping to trap David. He has
a plan. And he tells David, you can be my son-in-law as long
as you continue to be valiant and fight the Lord's battles
for me. You know, killing, I know I promised if you kill Goliath,
you'd be, you know, my son-in-law, but that's not enough now. You
know, Goliath is dead. The threat's passed and you know
how we are. You kind of forget about something
once the threat has passed. So you've got to do more. You've
got to continue to fight the Lord's battles. You've got to
be valiant and brave and fight the Lord's battles for me. This
way, what Saul figured is, David would eventually die in battle.
Because he saw now, he can't kill David because the people
are loving him more and more. So he's got to figure another
way. So he said, let the Philistines do my dirty work and kill David.
And then, you know, nobody will blame me. Now that sounds like an evil
plan, doesn't it? You know, how many years later was it? David
did the exact same thing. Sent Uriah out to the hottest
part of the battle and Uriah was valiant and he went for his
king and he was killed. That gives me a little bit of
comfort. David is a man after God's own
heart. And he's flesh, just like me. He's a good picture of Christ,
but now he's just a picture. He's just a man of flesh, like
you and me. And God loved him anyway. Now
there's hope for me. There's hope for me. Well, verse
18, David said unto Saul, Who am I? And what is my life for
my father's family in Israel that I should be the son-in-law
to the king? Now you see David's humility
here. I mean, he knows Samuel's anointed him king. He killed
Goliath. He's the champion of Israel.
The women are singing songs about him. You know, he's a handsome
man. All the people love him. And
he doesn't say, Saul, you know, it's about time. I mean, you
promised this to me all this time. It's about time. And he
doesn't tell Saul, now wait a minute. I've already done enough. I fulfilled
my end of the bargain. I went out there and killed Goliath.
Now you just give her to me. I don't have to keep doing stuff
for you." He didn't say that. He's humble and he said, who
am I? That I should be the king's son-in-law. And that's such a clear picture
of the humility of Christ. He is the king of glory. The creator of everything that
is. David may have been a handsome
man. Christ is altogether lovely, yet he humbled himself. He made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. God was made in the likeness
of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross, the cursed death of the cross.
And he did all that. He suffered all that humiliation
so he could redeem the bride that had been given to him by
the father. Now David, he's going to get his bride, but he didn't
have to die to do it. Christ died to redeem his bride
because he loved her. So verse 19, it came to pass
at the time when Mirab, Saul's daughter, should have been given
to David, that she was given unto Adriel, the Neholithite. to wife. And Michael, Saul's
daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing
pleased him. And Saul said, I will give him
her, that she may be a snare to him. Not that she may be a
helpmate to him, not that she might be a blessing to him, but
that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines
may be against him. Wherefore, Saul said to David,
thou shalt this day be my son-in-law in the one of the twain." Now,
nobody knows what happened, why Saul gave his daughter to another
man to marry. I don't know. I kind of wonder
if Saul hated David so much that at the last minute he just couldn't
pull the trigger, make this hated man be his son-in-law. I don't
know. A lot of the writers say that
this could be a picture of the Jews and the Gentiles. God made
the Jews his elect nation. He made them his people. And
time after time after time, They rejected him. And even after
all those times they rejected him, God sent his son to the
Jews. Not to the Gentiles. He sent
him to the Jews. He was a Jew. He came unto his
own, and his own received him not. So he turned to the Gentiles. And scripture says the Gentiles
received him gladly, because they received him by faith. And
they loved him, just like Michael loved David. And Saul sees, well,
you know, this is a pretty good turn of circumstances for me.
He tells David, now, one way or another, you're going to be
my son-in-law. But, you know, somehow, one of my daughters,
you're going to be my son-in-law. Because he saw, now, this is
a good way to track David and get him killed. See, his plan
here in verse 22, Saul commanded his servants, saying, Can you
look at David secretly and say, Behold, the king hath delighted
in thee, and all his servants love thee. Now, therefore, be
the king's son-in-law. And Saul's servant spake those
words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to
you a light thing to be a king's son-in-law, seeing that I am
a poor man and lightly esteemed? And the servants of Saul told
him, saying on this manner spake David." Now Saul sets this plan
in motion, and again, David shows his humility. You know, he doesn't
say, you know, Saul, you cheated me again. No, he doesn't bring
anything, he just shows his humility. and says, who am I that I should
be esteemed? I'm just, I'm lightly esteemed
among the people of Israel. How can I be the king's son-in-law?
Wasn't that our Lord Jesus Christ? Lightly esteemed among men. He had just at the end, right
before he went to the cross, he just had 11 followers and
all them deserted him. We esteemed him not, scripture
says. So lightly esteemed. Yet he still
became the savior of his people. He suffered the humility to die
the cursed death of the cross to pay the penalty for his people.
So Saul's got a plan. In verse 25, Saul said, let's
say you say to David, the king desires not any dowry. I know
you're too poor to pay a dowry, but the king doesn't desire a
dowry from you. But in 104 scans of the Philistines, the events
of the king's enemies, But Saul thought to make David fall by
the hand of the Philistines. And Saul's plan is, you know,
David's already killed Goliath. He's already killed, you know,
they attributed ten thousands of deaths, you know, to David.
But I need more. Just a hundred more is all I
need. You just go kill a hundred more Philistines and you bring
their foreskins to me as proof that you killed Philistines.
Not that you went out and killed Israelites, you know, who were
already circumcised, but you've got to go kill Philistines. You
know, I thought, would Saul really think that David would go kill
a hundred Israelites to try to, you know, fulfill this contract?
You know why Saul put that stipulation on there? Because if Saul were
in David's shoes, that's exactly what Saul would do. And people
think everybody else is just like them. Saul thought David
was just like him and he'd go out there and kill a hundred
of his brethren in order to become the king's son-in-law. And David
wouldn't do that. And he's going to go fight those
blistings. And Saul thought, surely there
is no way that David can go do this without getting himself
killed. And David was fearless, just absolutely fearless. He
agreed wholeheartedly to the plan, just like Christ agreed
to be surety for his people, knowing full well what it would
cost him. Look at verse 26. And when servants told David
these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law.
And the days were not expired. Wherefore, David arose and went,
he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men. And David brought their foreskins,
and gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the
king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michael his
daughter to wife. David took his men with him,
but the historians say that David personally killed these 200 Philistines. And not only did he bring their
foreskins to Saul, he cut off their heads and brought those
200 heads to Saul to pay the full price so that he could have
Michael to be his wife. And that is such a clear picture
of Christ. That's why I titled the lesson
this morning, A Bride for the King. This is a picture of Christ
purchasing his church with his own blood. Now the blood of others,
now the blood of bulls and goats and heifers and doves, his own
blood. Now David did go out and risk
his life to have his wife. Christ gave his life to have
his wife. He gave his life a ransom for
many that he might have her for his own. And you notice Saul
only asked for a hundred foreskins. David brought him 200, brought
him twice as much. And that's the picture of salvation
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is more than enough. He's more than enough. We are
not just barely saved. I think Andy mentioned this last
Sunday. You know, you're not going to
get to the pearly gates and, you know, empty out your pockets
and find a little bit of pocket change, you know, just barely
made it, you know, had exact change. That's not the way it
is. Scripture talks about salvation
in Christ. in abundant terms. He will abundantly
pardon, scripture says. He saves to the uttermost, not
just barely, not just pays the price exactly. He saves to the
uttermost. Where sin did abound, grace did
much more abound. It super abounded. David described
it in terms of my cup running over. It's not just full, it's
running over. Christ is more than enough. He is more than everything that
we will ever need. Well, how does the church respond
to that? With love. Look at verse 28. And Saul saw
and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael, Saul's
daughter, loved him. She loved David. Now you think
about Michael. She had to be so impressed with
David. I mean, she had to think. She's
in the catbird seat getting to marry this man. He's the champion
of Israel. I mean, he killed Goliath and
those ten thousands, and he went out and killed 200 more Philistines
for her. He's already the envy. She would
already be the envy of every woman in Israel who's singing
songs about David. I mean, he's a mighty warrior. He's handsome. He's just, oh
my goodness. She's just smitten with the guy.
I mean, he just walks in the room. She just swoons. I mean,
she loves him. And David came and took her in
his arms. Reckon she felt safe? He killed
every enemy he ever came across. I mean, the man killed a bear
and a lion with his bare hands. Think she'd feel safe in his
arms? Isn't that our reaction to seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
and His Word? And hearing Him preached in the
Gospel? I'm telling you, I am so impressed with the Lord Jesus
Christ. I mean, my heart just swoons. I sit in my study alone and I
read and I mean, sometimes I just laugh out loud. This is so rich. This is such a blessing. This
is my Lord. This is the Lord who gave himself
for me. I read about my Lord putting
away every enemy. Feel safe in his hand. This is
the hand of God Almighty and the hand of Christ surrounded
by the hand of God. You feel safe in his hand. He
defeated every enemy. What can harm us? In his hand. Oh, we love him. Just love him
with all of your heart and all of your soul. And for someone
that loves him, it's utterly astounding that anyone could
hate him. But they do. Just like Saul hated
David. Look at verse 29. And Saul was yet to more afraid
of David. And Saul became David's enemy
continually. The enemies of the gospel continually
hate The Lord Jesus Christ. They continually rebel against
God, against His way, against His Word. The way all flesh does. Ours included. Right here today,
this morning, our flesh included. Haste. God Almighty. Well, thank
God He doesn't let everyone go the way of our flesh. He intervenes
in mercy and grace. Look at verse 30. Then the princes
of the Philistines went forth, and it came to pass after they
went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all
the servants of Saul, so that his name was much set by." The
Philistines knew that the custom in Israel was that a newlywed
would not go to war in the first year of his marriage. Well, they
heard David just got married. David got a commission. Well,
this is a good time for us to go get our revenge. We can't
seem to defeat this fella. Now that he's out of commission,
let's go get our revenge. And David is so courageous. He didn't hide behind that custom
of the Jews. He went to battle anyway. And
he fought all the Lord's battles, just like he told Saul he would.
He kept his word. And he devised and he executed
brilliant battle plans that just kept defeating the Philistines.
And the more the people saw David, the more they loved him. The
more impressed they were, the more they learned of him. Well,
that's the way it is for believers, for spiritual history. The more
we see the Lord Jesus Christ, the more we love him. The more
you learn of him, the more impressed you are by him. That's why we
do what we do, preaching Christ week after week after week. Because
if you see him, you'll love him more. You'll trust him more.
You'll be more impressed with him. His name will be precious
to you if you ever hear his name, if you ever meet him. And that's
what this word set by. David's name was much set by.
It's precious. His name. He was so valiant.
He did so much for the good of Israel. His name became precious
to Israel. Well, the more you learn of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the more you get just glimpses of him. the
more precious His name and His person will be to you. Alright,
Lord bless you.