Alright brethren, I was studying some about David lately
and wanted to go back to some of those passages we looked at
recently. We saw Sunday when David left
the King of Gath, he went to the cave of Dullam and the Lord
brought 400 men to him. And the Lord had returned the
right spirit to David and quite a few things that happened in
between then and here. But once again David's at a place
where Saul, the Ziphites went and told Saul where he was and
Saul comes after him with 3,000 men. And the Lord again delivered
David, delivered Saul into David's hand. And we read there in verse
8, Then said Abishah to David, God
hath delivered thine enemy into thy hand this day. Now therefore
let me smite him, I pray thee, with a spear, even to the earth
at once, and I'll not smite him the second time. And David said
to Abishah, Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his
hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? David said,
furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or
his day shall come to dire. He shall descend into battle
and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand
against the Lord's anointing. But I pray thee, take thou now
the spear that is at his bolster, and a cruise of water, and let
us go. And so David took that spear,
and he took that cruise of water. That spear, it probably was a
spear since Saul was out in battle. But it could have been his scepter. Either way, it represents power. That's what it represented. So
in that cruise of water, he needed that to live, needed water. And
so that represented life. And so David, he did nothing
to harm Saul. But in type, David took Saul's
power and took his life and let him know he could have taken
his life. Now Abner, he was supposed to
be Saul's bodyguard. And the Lord put Saul and these
3,000 men in a deep sleep. And David slept right in there,
right past Abner, right past all these men surrounding Saul.
And he took that spear and he took that cruise of water. And
David showed Saul by that that Saul had no power. and he could have taken his life.
Now, I just want to look at two things. We're going to see Saul,
first of all, as a type of the false Jesus that men preach. And then we'll see David as a
picture of the true Lord Jesus. And then secondly, we'll see
the spirit of the Lord and his people in David and the spirit
of false religion Now, first of all, let's consider David
as a type of our Lord Jesus and Saul as a type of that other
Jesus that's not another. David was God's anointed. That's
who David was. The true Lord Jesus, God the
Father anointed him. That's what Christ means. He's
the anointed of the Father. And David here pictures him.
He was the true anointed. Christ is the true anointed of
God. He's the true king of Israel,
the king of all God's elect people. Saul was chosen by the people. Remember, they wanted a king
like the heathen nations had. And so God gave them Saul, and
God anointed him. But Saul was the people's choice. They chose Saul. David was God's
king. David was the man God chose.
And that's what you have with this one that men speak of as
Jesus. He's the people's choice, but
Christ Jesus of this Bible, he's the true Savior. He's the true King, the true
Lord. The Apostle Paul spoke of men
coming and preaching another Jesus who we've not preached. He spoke of another gospel, which
is not another. There is another Jesus that men
preach that's not another. He has no power, just like Saul.
That power was taken from Saul. He has no ability to give life,
just like David just went there and took that water from him,
took his life from him. And they even declare, the men
that worship this other Jesus, they declare that the sinner
must make him king. They declare that the sinner
must make him Lord. The people there were surrounding
Saul. And Abner was Saul's bodyguard,
that was his protector. Well brethren, the people that
worship that other Jesus, and some of us may have done this
at one time, but you know this, they have to give that Jesus
power. and they have to protect that
Jesus. He can only do what they permit
him to do. The psalmist said their idols
are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. Some do have
idols, some do have images, but it doesn't have to be an image.
An idol is any God in a man's imagination that has to have
man to help him save. That's an idol. That's not the
God of this book. that has to have man to help
him save. He's unable to give life unless
the people let him. This is what the psalmist said.
They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they
see not. They have ears, but they hear
not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but
they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk
not. Neither speak through their throat. They that make them are
like unto them. And that's the thing about this
other Jesus man preach, he can only do what they permit him
to do because he's just like them. He's just like them. The
God of the Bible loved his people everlastingly because he would. And that love never changes.
That love is in Christ. The God that men preach, that's
not according to this word, loves everybody without exception the
same, sent that Jesus to die for everybody without the same,
and it's up to the sinner's will to make anything he does effectual.
That's will worship. That's will worship. That's what
that is. That's the worship of a man's
hand, the worship of a man's will. And that God will love
you today, but then if you don't avail yourself of his blood,
he'll hate you and cast you in hell. That's a changing God. Our God doesn't change. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Lord Jesus of these
scriptures is the true Christ of God. Our God's in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased.
David took Saul's spear. That's his power. David just
took it from him. David took his cruise of water.
That's life. But the Lord Jesus of this Bible,
He's the power of God. He's the power of God unto salvation. He saves. And He is the life. He Himself is the life of His
people. We preach Christ crucified as
the Jews of stumbling block. Why? Why do they stumble over
Christ? Because it was ordained of God
they would. And because they sought righteousness, but they
didn't seek it by faith, they sought it by the works of the
law. So they stumbled over Christ. Everybody that's trying to come
to God by the works of the law is stumbling over the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the righteousness of God.
The only righteousness God will accept. So he's a stumbling block
to the Jew, to the Greek. He's foolishness. The worldly
man that's full of this world's knowledge thinks that this is
just all foolishness. Everybody, it's not philosophy,
it's not the wisdom of the world, and so it's foolishness to them.
But to them what you're called, you that have been called by
God, here's the difference. Whether they're Jew or Greek,
you know Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
You know he's the power of God and the wisdom of God. David's
a type of Christ here. David was the man after God's
own heart. That's who Christ is. That's
who Christ is. The true Christ, the Lord Jesus,
is the Son of David, according to the flesh, but He's the Son
of God. He's God in human flesh. He's
God the Father's anointed. God the Father chose Him from
eternity. He's God's elect. God chose Him,
and God chose His people in Him, and He made Him, set Him up to
be the firstborn among many brethren. Christ said, I was set up before
ever the earth was. He set him up to come forth and
save his people, that he might get all the glory and all the
preeminence in all the hearts of those he saves, that he alone
might be glorified. And so, not unto us, not unto
us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory. That's what he brings
you to see. He's the king of his elect Israel. We don't make him king. He was
born into this world king. They said, where is he this born
king of the Jews? And he's the king of the Jews,
the true Jews, circumcised in the heart, as Paul said in Romans
2. He's your king. He's your savior. The Lord Jesus,
the Son of God, the Son of Man, He is the one who loved His people
from everlasting, and we love Him because He first loved us. We chose Him only because He
chose us and made us willing by giving us a new heart and
a new will. We can't glory in that. That other Jesus made redemption
possible. Don't you hate hearing that?
Don't you hate hearing that said? And that name being used to say
he made it possible, it's up to you now. Our Lord Jesus accomplished it.
hiccups redemption. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. He's the shepherd
of the sheep. Go over to Isaiah 40. I put this
in the bulletin Sunday, but I was just thinking about that. We're
talking about this spear, this power, and the life here typified
in this spear and this cruise of water. This is the true shepherd
right here, the true Savior. He started Isaiah 40 out and
said, declare to my people that their warfare is accomplished.
He accomplished it. That's how you comfort God's
people. You preach the salvation accomplished by Christ Jesus.
And that's comforting to God's people. That's what we assemble. We want to hear Him. And then
look. Here he is, verse 10. Behold,
the Lord God will come with strong hand. He didn't come a weakling.
He came with a strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him,
his rewards with him, his work before him. He shall feed his
flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arms and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead
those that are with young. There's no maybes about that.
He shall do this. He's going to gather his people.
Who is he? Look at verse 12. The same one
who is this shepherd measured the waters in the hollow of his
hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the
dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains and
the scales and the hills in a balance." He's the creator. He's God. That's
who the Savior is. Look at verse 21. Have you not
known? Have you not heard? Have they
not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It's he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that bringeth the princes to nothing, and makes the judges
of the earth his vanity. That's who this is. That's the
Savior. That's speaking of Christ Jesus,
our Lord, all together. He's the Son of Man and the Son
of God, our Shepherd and our Savior. That's the Lord Jesus
who David called Lord. The Lord said to my Lord, sit
down on my right hand. And David bowed to him as his
Lord. This is the king to whom David
looked for all his salvation and salvation in every way. This was the one David was trusting
to deal with Saul and these 3,000 men. What does it mean that our
Lord is salvation? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
today and you look to him to save you from all your enemies. All your enemies. Is your flesh
an enemy? Your sin nature? Is being under the curse and
condemnation of the law an enemy? Is being incapable of bringing
to God the righteousness he demands? That's just the weakness of our
flesh. That's an enemy. Death and the
grave's an enemy. And every enemy we face in this
life, this is what the scripture says, there's salvation in no
other name. Any way we're saved, we're saved
by Christ alone. So look to Him. Look to Him.
He's the true King. Now secondly, we see the Spirit
of our Lord here in David, the Spirit that's abiding in His
people born of Him. And in these others, we see the
Spirit of the world. The Zephyrites went and told
Saul where David was. They went totally. They've done
this before, remember? They already did it before. And
they did this because they're trying to earn Saul's favor. He's their king and they're trying
to earn his favor. And they hate David. Now you
just apply that to religion. Is that not false religion? Trying
to earn the favor of their king while at the same time hating
the true king? That's religion and hating his
people. This world hates the true Lord
Jesus and they hate his people just like Saul and the Ziphites
hated David. Now that's just so. Saul takes
3,000 choice men to pursue David. David didn't have but 400 men
with him. That's all he had. Saul takes 3,000. The world's
religion is always going to have a multitude more than God's people,
because God's saving a remnant at any given time in this world.
And Saul's seeking David. Now, when our Lord walked this
earth, Saul's coming after David. He's trying to hound David. He's
trying to slaughter David. When our Lord walked this earth,
he and his apostles never had the Spirit. They never had this
spirit. They were never instigating debates
and questions and strives and never were accusing others. They
didn't instigate that. It was always the scribes and
the Pharisees that sought to accuse Christ and accuse his
people. They counseled together. They
even counseled together, got together and figured out how
can we entangle him in his talk. That's what Saul and these men
represent. They're coming after David and
his little 400 remnant of men. When the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they were always watching.
They were always watching our Lord, not to find grace, they
were watching to accuse him. And it says, and they saw him
eat with publicans and sinners. Publicans and sinners. And they
said to his disciples, how is it that he eateth and drinketh
with publicans and sinners? These were questions they were
always asking. They were always doing the accusing
to exalt themselves and accuse Christ and try to abase his people.
Our Lord came to seek and to save that which was lost, but
he didn't come to condemn anybody. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. That's what he said. He said,
God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. We were already condemned
by our fall. We were already condemned by
our first birth. We were already condemned by our sin. He came
to seek and to save the lost. David wasn't pursuing Saul to
do him harm. David didn't go into Saul's camp
to do him harm. That's not what David went in
there for. You know what David went into this camp for? He's
seeking mercy with Saul. He's seeking reconciliation with
Saul. He's seeking peace with Saul.
That's what he went into the camp for. He's calling to Saul
and saying, well, we'll see what he says here. By the Spirit of the Lord Christ,
people are not seeking a fight with our enemies. We're just
not by the Spirit of the Lord. We're not looking to confront
and argue and debate and accuse and expose. That's not what God's
people are doing. We've had the Lord Jesus come
and cover our sin with His own blood. and that's what we want
to be under his blood. And so we want to point one another
to Christ that the sins be covered by his blood. Saul wanted to
kill David. He had tried this several times.
Cain killed Abel. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. What
do the scriptures say? Brethren, as Isaac was, we're
the children of promise, chosen redeem, regenerate, children
of promise, created entirely of God. But as then, he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit,
even so it is now. That's how it is now. But those
born again of God believe on Christ. They trust him to save
us from all our enemies. All our enemies. Again, the Lord
had delivered Saul into David's hand. There's Saul. He's in David's hand to do with
him what he will. Abisha wanted to kill him, and
David said, destroy him not. David said, who can stretch forth
his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? David said,
furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord will smite him, or he'll
come to die, or he'll die in battle. But the Lord forbid I
stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointing. Our Lord
Jesus has redeemed his people from the curse of the law. You
think of that now. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. The curse of the law has nothing else to say to
his people. He completely, thoroughly purged all the sins of all his
people. There is no more sin before the
all-seeing eye of God, before the justice of God. His people
are complete in Christ. He successfully arranged everything
in this world to send the gospel to you that believe, and was
successful in calling you through the gospel, through the Spirit
of God, and giving you faith, and subduing you, and bringing
you to the feet of Christ to trust Christ alone for your salvation.
He did all that by His power. He's the life. And he's preserved
you from that day to this day right now. David had been preserved
and preserved and preserved. Now the Lord had done all that
for David. And knowing the Lord did all
that, David knew and believed our Lord's sovereign. Our Lord's
sovereign. David knew the Lord put Saul
on the throne. He knew he wouldn't stretch his
hand, so David wouldn't stretch his hand out against him. The
Lord put him there. If Saul was removed, this is
how much David trusted the Lord. He said, the Lord will do it.
The Lord will do it. Brethren, there is so much peace
and trust in our sovereign God. That's so much peace. When we
look to the troubles and we look to this world and the mess the
world's in and start thinking we got to try to affect peace,
you will be miserable. But you trust Christ. Peace. He's going to work His will.
And it's going to be right. It's going to be for His good,
for our good, and for His glory. And then God's people have a
spirit to serve those the Lord has put over us. That's the spirit
the Lord gives his people. Listen to David in verse 17.
And Saul knew David's voice. David went up on that mountain,
and he called out. And Saul knew, recognized his
voice. And he said, is this thy voice, my son David? And David
said, it's my voice, my Lord, O King. And he said, wherefore
doth my Lord thus pursue after his servant? Saul wanted to kill
David. Saul wanted to bring him and
just kill him. That's all he wanted to do. And
David wanted to serve Saul. You see the difference? David
was serving Saul, but Saul knew it not. He was serving him, been
serving him, been faithful to serve him. That's all he wanted
to do was serve him while Saul wanted to kill him. Knowing the
Lord put Saul on the throne, David's desire was to serve Saul
as unto the Lord. He knew the Lord put him there. He's serving Saul as unto the
Lord. David knew whatever he did to
Saul, he did to his king and his savior. Whatever he did to
Saul, he did to his king and his savior because Christ put
him there. David knew that. That's what Paul declared in
Romans 13. He said, let every soul be subject
to the higher powers for there's no power but of God. Men don't
put men in power, God does. The powers that be are ordained
of God. whosoever therefore resisted
the power, resisted the ordinance of God. You know what's going
on in the world today? With all this total disdain for
police and authority, you know what that is? It's enmity against
God. That's what it is. It's saying,
I will not have Christ reign over me. I will not have God
reign over me. Can't get to God, so take it
out on once he's put in power. This is what the Lord says to
us, servants, and that's what we are, isn't it? Isn't that
what we are, we're servants? Servants, obey in all things
your masters according to the flesh. We all have somebody over
us. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the
flesh, not with our services, men pleasers, but in singleness
of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it
heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the
Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve
the Lord Christ. You're not serving men. David
didn't look at Saul as Saul. He looked at Saul as, I'm serving
the Lord. I'm serving the Lord. That's
the spirit in the Lord's people. Then notice this, when Saul came
after David, David's first consideration was not to accuse Saul. His first
consideration was, has the Lord sent him to chasten me? Have
I sinned? That was his first consideration.
David knew that if that was the case, he knew it was between
him and the Lord Jesus, and he knew if he went to the Lord,
he would find mercy from God. Look at what he says here in
verse 18. He said, For what have I done? There in the middle.
For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand? Now therefore
I pray thee, let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant. If the Lord hath stirred thee
up against me, let him accept an offering." David said, if
I'm guilty, and the Lord sent you to me to chasten me. Remember that's what he said
when he was going up the hill and Shimei came out and was cussing
him. David said, leave him alone,
the Lord sent him. And David said, and if that's
the case that the Lord sent you, he said, then let me come to
God in the offering God has provided. He's saying, the only place I
can find mercy is in the offering God's provided, the Lord Jesus
Christ. David knew who those lamps pictured.
He knew who those offerings pictured. And he's saying to Saul, he said, This is the heart that God puts
in His people. When something comes against
you, little to large, the first thought, when the Spirit of God's
blessed it to your heart, your first thought's gonna be, I did
something wrong. I did something wrong. I sinned
against the Lord, and the Lord sent this to chasten me. And
you know this, when you, as brethren, You know this, just like Nathan
went to David and told David his sin. And David said, I have
sinned. That was between David and the
Lord. And that's what David said here. If this is between me and
the Lord, Saul, then it's between me and the Lord. I'll turn and
come to the Lord to have mercy on me. And that's what the Spirit
of the Lord, you know this because the Lord worked it in your heart.
If he's worked it in your heart, then you know he was able to
bring you, correct you, draw you, and bring you to him for
mercy, to confess to him, and he gave you mercy. And so you
know that with your brethren. You know it's between them and
the Lord. So what do you do? You try to turn one another to
Christ. You try to speak of the Lord Jesus and what he's accomplished
for his people. And you pray for one another
and trust the Lord to work in it. And that's it. That's it. Now the false religion doesn't
do that. False religion is going to make
you do something. False religion is going to put
hedges on you, and they're going to put you on church watch, and
they're going to force you to do something so they can glory
in what they forced you to do. That's not what the Spirit of
the Lord gives His people, because we trust in the Lord who's really
the Lord. David's main concern was that
this had made it, this is what hurt him more than anything else.
Listen to this next segment. Here's the spirit of this whole
thing right here. Because Saul was pursuing him, what hurt David
the most, and his main concern was, it made it to where David
couldn't worship the Lord with his brethren. He was hindering
David from worshiping the Lord in the land, in the house where
God appointed worship with his brethren. Look at what he said
in verse 19. He said, but if the children
of men stirred you up against me, first be they before the
Lord, And he's leaving that to the Lord, too. Revengeance is
the Lord. But he said, that's a cursed
thing. And here's why. For they've driven
me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord,
saying, go serve other gods. You can't worship when somebody's
pursuing you. It just interferes with you.
And that's what hurt David more than anything. And it was interfering
with his brethren. And it was interfering with him
assembling with his brethren. And he was saying, If I've sinned,
then that's between me and God. I'll come to God in the offering
He's provided, in the mercy He gives, and the righteousness
of my Redeemer. But if men did this, and men
stirred this up, God have mercy. God have mercy. Our Lord Jesus was meek, He was
lowly, He was contrite in heart, and that's the spirit He gives
His child. Listen to David here, verse 20. Now, therefore, let
not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord.
For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flee, as when one
does hunt a partridge in the mountains. Now, first of all,
he asked this for Saul's sake. He's asking this for Saul's benefit,
not his benefit. He's saying, Saul, the Lord sees
you. The Lord sees you. The Lord sees me. Does the Lord
see you? The Lord sees me. I am keenly
aware of that. Are you? And he said, if you spill my
blood, You're doing it before God. He's saying that for Saul's
benefit. Don't do this before the Lord,
that's what he's saying to Saul. Cut it out. Most people just
want peace. We want to worship the Lord,
and that's all we want. That's all we want. And David called Saul here. This
is the humility of his heart. He called Saul the king of Israel. He prayed for Saul and honed him to be the king
of Israel. And David called himself a flea. An insignificant, weak, helpless
flea hopping from place to place to avoid Saul. David, in his affection and his
brotherly love, preferred Saul's honor over himself. That's what it is. Think about Saul now. Think of
what Saul had done. Would you do that? Would you
do what David did to somebody like Saul? That's what David did. That's
the Spirit of the Lord. He took the lowest place as a
sinner, saved by grace. That's what he did. That's what
our Lord did for His people on the cross. He took the lowest
place to save us. And here's the close. David trusted the Lord's righteousness
and faithfulness in it all. He said, verse 21, this said
Saul, Now listen to Saul's confession.
Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will
no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine
eye this day. Behold, I have played the fool
and have erred exceedingly. That was not repentance at all.
Because he said, I won't do it again. You know, he's saying,
I have some ability in me not to do it again. When you have
ability in you not to sin, and you look into that ability, you
have not repented at all. It's only when you come to the
place, all David said when he was brought to repentance was,
I have sinned against the Lord. And he asked the Lord, Lord,
would you create in me a right spirit? Back before when Saul
said, David, you've been more righteous than I have. I've sinned.
That wasn't a confession of sin. He still thought he was righteous.
He just thought David had been more righteous. Confession of
sin is saying, I have nothing good about me and have never
done a thing good about me. That's what I own to you. I am
that sinner. That's what I own to God. That's
a true confession. And David answered, listen to
this now. Behold the king's spear, let
one of the young men come over and fetch it. He wasn't going
to keep that from Saul. He said, come get it. The Lord rendered to every man
his righteousness and his faithfulness. David trusted the Lord to deal
in righteousness and faithfulness to him and to every man. He's
trusting the Lord's righteousness and the Lord's faithfulness.
That's what he's trusting. He said, for the Lord delivered
thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine
hand against the Lord's anointing. He's not saying, for that reason,
Lord reward me according to my righteousness and my faithfulness.
That's not what he's saying. We're going to see it in the
next verse. He's saying, I'm going to trust the Lord's righteousness
and his faithfulness. And he said, because the Lord
delivered you into my hand today, but I wouldn't stretch forth
my hand against the Lord's anointing. And behold, As thy life was set
by this day in my eyes, here's what he's talking about. Here's
the righteousness of God and the faithfulness of God he's
trusting. So let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord
and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. That was his
hope right there. That was his hope. And then Saul
said to David, blessed be thou my son David, thou shalt do great
things and also shalt prevail. So David went on his way and
Saul returned to his place. And you know, we look at David
here and we think, boy, David was really taught and the Lord
brought him to a good place here and he did. He brought him to
a, he had a right spirit in him right here and he's trusting
the Lord. And he had gone through all that trouble he went through
to get right here to this place. It is where the Lord brought
him. And you know the next chapter immediately. Verse 1 of 27, David
said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of
Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape
into the land of the Philistines. He did the same thing again.
He took off into the land of the enemy. We're a mess, brethren. We're
saved by God's grace and His power constantly. Let the Lord
deliver me out of all tribulation. What faith, though? Let my life
be much set by in the eyes of the Lord. Let Him deliver me
out of all tribulation. That's what Christ promised.
He has delivered us. He's delivered you out of all
the great tribulation and saved us in that regard. All His people
and you that He's brought to faith in Him. And He's promised
you, you're going to have tribulation. But He says, be of good cheer.
I've already overcome the world. And He will overcome all the
tribulation and save you through all the tribulation. That's what
the Lord promises and that's what He'll do. I pray you give
us grace to trust him like David did. Trust him like David did. Amen.