Alright brethren, 1 Samuel chapter
24. We read here in verse 1, It came
to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines,
it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of
Engedi. And Saul took three thousand
chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his
men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheep
coats, by the way, where was a cave. And they had these caves
that were gigantic caves. And David and his men are in
this cave. David and 600 men. And this is
where they took the sheep and bedded the sheep. So this is
a giant cave. And so David's in this cave.
Saul went in to cover his feet and David and his men remained
in the sides of the cave. And his men said to David, Behold,
the day which the Lord sent unto thee, behold, I will deliver
thine enemy into thy hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall
seem good to thee. And David arose and cut off the
skirt of Saul's robe very quietly, privately. And soon as he did
it, David's heart smote him because he cut the skirt off. And he
said to his men, the Lord forbid I should do this thing to my
master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against
him, seeing he's the Lord's anointed of the Lord. And he stayed his
servants with these words and suffered them not to rise against
Saul. And then he went out and he bowed
to Saul. He went out and he bowed to Saul
and showed him that skirt of his garment And he sought peace
with Saul. He sought peace with him. Now
the Lord delivered Saul into David's hand. David had done
nothing to Saul but serve him. David hadn't done anything to
Saul outwardly, as far as outward goes, to sin against him. He
just served him. That's all he had done to him.
And Saul had done nothing but attempt to kill David. And he
wanted David dead and all he had done is tried to kill David. David's innocent. Saul's guilty. Now God has delivered Saul into
David's hand. And yet David showed Saul mercy. He didn't kill him. He showed
him mercy. This is his greatest enemy. This is a man who wants
to kill David. And David showed him mercy. In the next chapter, there's
a man named Nabal. And David showed favor to Nabal
and protected him and did him a great favor. And then when
David and his men needed a favor from Nabal to be fed bread, Nabal
wouldn't do it. And David purposed in his heart
to take him and his men and go to Nabal and kill Nabal and all
his men. Because he didn't return the
favor that David had done to him. What is the difference? Who made
the difference between David right here and David in that
next chapter? Here he is facing his greatest
enemy who wants to kill him. And there he is unaware and David
has mercy on him. And Nabal doesn't show him a
favor and David wants to kill him. Who made the difference?
When will a sinner rejoice in mercy even against his greatest
enemy like David did right here? When will a sinner rejoice in
mercy against his greatest enemy like David did here? When God makes us see ourselves,
our very nature, our sinful thoughts, everything about us as being
more wicked against Christ than the sins of our greatest enemy
against us. When we see ourselves, what we
are, and every thought, every word, every deed is being more
sinful against Christ than our greatest enemy's sins and transgressions
against us. He begs to see Christ showing
us the greatest mercy, even greater mercy than David showed to Saul
here, showing us personally the greatest of all mercy in the
face of our great sin against him. And when God makes His child
behold, that He has delivered us into Christ's hand to do with
us what He will. It is like the Lord delivered
Saul into David's hand to do with him what He will. God delivered
us into Christ's hand. And He makes us behold, all we
ever did is sin against our Lord, and yet all our Lord has ever
done is showed us mercy. And when He makes us see this,
that we're enmity against Christ, and every thought is enmity against
Christ, that's when we'll see The great sins of a soul who's
outwardly working every evil possible. That's when we'll see
our sin that we are and our thoughts even at being worse than that
wicked sinner. Because they're against our Lord
and yet He keeps showing us mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy. I want us to see this and I do
pray the Lord to teach us and be our teacher because This is so powerful when the
Lord does this in our heart. And He just... It's grace. It's grace. I want to see first
of all, I want to see Saul. And what we see in Saul. And
then David as a type of Christ. And then David as a man showing
mercy to his enemy. Now, first of all, every sinner
God saves Every sinner God saves, He doesn't save every sinner,
but every sinner God saves is Saul by nature. This is who we
are by nature. God must make us see ourselves
as wicked Saul. Wicked Saul. And if ever a occasion
like this comes where There's somebody that's wickedly transgressing
against us and trying every harm they can against us. The only
way a believing sinner will do what David did is when the Lord
makes us see this anew and really make us see it in our heart and
really make us know it in our heart. Saul was a wicked, wicked,
wicked sinner before God and God rejected him. The only reason
Saul was the king at this time is because the people wanted
a king like the other nations had. And so the Lord gave him
one. And he was a wicked man and God
rejected him. He absolutely rejected him. Well,
that's every sinner fallen in Adam. And that's every sinner
God saves by His grace. All have sinned, Paul said in
Romans 3.23. All have sinned. and come short of the glory of
God. We have to have the glory of
God. We have to be, we have to be, we have to have His glory. And we've come short of it. The
glory God demands. The obedience and righteousness
He demands. Ecclesiastes 7.20 says there's
not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
That includes all of us. Not a just man on this earth
that doeth good and sinneth not. Not one. And yet those God chose
to save by His free grace, freely because He would save us by His
grace, chosen people, we fell in at them too. And that's us
too as we come forth into this world. He said, As by one man
sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sin. ruined before God, guilty before
God in Adam. Now, every believer, you and
I brethren, born of God, still have that Saul nature and
we are wicked in our Saul nature. Saved by grace, robed in Christ's
righteousness before God. But in us and in our nature,
we still have that wicked soul nature. Go to Romans 7.18 and
let's see this. Let me point out a couple of
words to you. Romans 7.18 and look at this
brethren. Paul's a believer here, he's
regenerated, sanctified by God, but he's speaking about these
two natures he has in him. And he says in verse 18, I know
that in me, now that is in my flesh, my sin nature, that which
I got from Adam, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present
with me. In the new man that God's made,
I have a new will. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. And your Paul is saying there,
I can't perform a good thing even in my sin nature without
God working it in me. The will is there, but anything
good we do, God is working it in His people, because He has
to get all the glory. We do it, we willingly do it,
but it's by Him that we do it. But look at what he says here
now. He says, for the good that I would, I do not. But the evil,
the evil, we're talking about evil Saul here. The evil which
I would not do, that I do. And it's evil. Look, now if I
do that I would not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me. It's in me all the time. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin which is in my members. It is, O wretched man, that I
am right now. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? All it is is a body of death.
Who is going to deliver me from it? I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord, so then with my mind, a new man, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. You
know, it is true that outward sin is worse than the thought. You know, if you think murder,
That is sin and you are guilty. Well, naturally you are going
to say that is not quite as bad as if you actually murder somebody
outwardly. But here is what God is making,
what He made David see and what He makes His people see. If a
man drowns in the ocean and you don't know how deep it is, or
a man drowns in six inches of water, which one is less dead? Sins of the thoughts. are sins. And he has to make us see my
thoughts are so sinful as that wicked sinner that's sinning
outwardly. He's got to make me see that. When David purposes
in his heart to kill Nabal and his men, it's David's evil sin
nature making him imagine, I've not sinned like sinful Nabal. I've not sinned like Nabal. I
gave him favor and he sinned against me. I did something better
than he's doing to me and I deserve for him to treat me better. That's
our sin nature. That's the evil present with
us all the time. The result was he became judge,
jury, and executioner in his sinful heart, purposing to slay
Nabal. And in his heart, he slew Nabal.
He killed him. Nabal was a wicked sinner, but
that same sin was in David. And here is what else the Lord
is going to make us see. That sin is against Christ. Same as all our sin. But in our
text, God made the difference. Right here is a case where God
made the difference. He was reminding David that in
his flesh, Every imagination of the thought of his sinful
heart is only evil continually. That's what he's making David
see. When did he do this? As wicked and vile as Saul was.
David slips up there and he slips the skirt of that garment off.
And God smote him in his heart. And God's making David realize,
you're just as wicked as him. And that's what God's going to
do in our heart. Now let's seek Christ's mercy toward us. And
this is what the Lord, not only does He show us how wicked we
are in ourselves, when we're facing a Saul like this, He shows
us also how merciful Christ is to us. How He's merciful to us. I want you to seek Christ's mercy
towards God's elect, towards every believing sinner, in David's
mercy to Saul. You get what I'm saying? We're
going to seek David's mercy to Saul, but we're looking at Christ's
mercy to His people, to us who are the Saul's. God the Father
delivered His people into Christ's hand, just like God delivered
Saul into David's hand right here in this cave. Christ said
all judgment, the Father judges, no man is committed, all judgment
to the Son. And it's all in Christ's hand.
And here's Saul, this wicked enemy, enemy of God, enemy of
David, and there he is in the cave. And Christ is God who knows
all. For His all-knowing eye, He knows
everything about us, in our heart, in our thought. If we just had
a fleeting thought of it, He knows it. David knew a lot of
sin Saul had committed against him. He didn't know all of Saul's
sin. Christ knows all our sin. All our sin was against Christ
Himself. And all our sin is against Christ
Himself. And Christ is the Word who discerns
the thoughts and intents of our heart. The Living Word. Yet Christ
says about us what David said about Saul. This is what Christ
says about us. And about his elect, this is
what he said about Saul, what David said about Saul. Verse
6, David said to his men, The Lord forbid I should do this
thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my
hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. Now
not all types stand on all four legs. The Lord don't call us
master, you understand that. But He does look upon us as God's
anointed. Because in the beginning, before
this world was made, God the Father anointed His Son. When
He said, as wisdom, when Christ said, I was set up from everlasting,
that word is set up means anointed. And God the Father anointed Christ
as His mediator, choosing His Son as the prophet, priest, and
king to save His people before the world was made. And Paul
said in Ephesians 1, and according as He chose us in Him, He blessed
us with all spirits of blessing. We were His anointed in Christ
from eternity. And then in time, God predestinated
that each one of His elect that Christ redeemed are going to
be given the Spirit and be anointed by the Spirit. And James said,
the anointing which you've received of Him abideth in you. It won't
ever be taken from you. Talking of the unction, the Spirit
of God. And you need not let any man teach you. The Father
is teaching you through the Spirit, through the Gospel, in the heart.
And as the same anointing teaches you all things and is truth and
is no lie, even as it's taught you, you shall abide in Him.
That's what He makes His people do. Abide in Christ. Because
He's constantly teaching us what sinners we are and what Christ
has done for us in mercy. We sinned against Christ in Adam,
no doubt about that, and we are guilty. We come into this world
in all the days of our unregeneracy, before God gave us life, we sinned
against Christ the whole time. And since we have been born of
God, every day we sin against Christ. Now I'm not saying that
you purposely think sin against Christ. It could be against somebody
else or some fleeting moment or whatever it is in our thought,
but it's all against Christ. And yet our Lord Jesus from eternity
until this very hour, right this moment, here we were before Him
and what did He do? He said what David said, I will
not stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointing. They are
my anointed. I am not going to stretch forth
my hand against them. Every one of you that are chosen of God
and called by God, you are His anointed. And what did Christ
do? But they are guilty. They have
sinned against you. God's law has got to be upheld.
Justice has got to be satisfied. If you are not going to stretch
forth your hand on them in justice and cut them off, what are you
going to do? This is what He makes us see. He took our place. And He said,
Father, stretch forth your hand on me. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, wicked souls. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He was rich, needed nothing. And yet, He came down and became
poor, on the cross, stricken, smitten of God, wounded in place
of His people for the transgression of His people. And through His
poverty, He has made us rich. In verse 7, David stayed his
servants from rising up against Saul. He said, He told them,
no, don't rise up against Him at all. He's the Lord's anointing,
don't touch Him. And because Christ entered covenant
with God before the world was made in Adam, when we sin, and
Adam himself, who was himself a chosen child of God. You know
what Christ said about Adam? To all his servants, to the heavenly
host, to good angels and wicked angels. He is in control of everything.
He said, don't touch Him. Don't touch Him. He is mine.
He is anointed. Don't touch Him. And throughout
time, brethren, when we were unregenerate, even today, He
stays in the hands of His servants saying, don't touch my anointing. We have Israel as the example.
And this is what He's saying to you and me, who He's chosen,
who He's called, who sinned against Him. And this is what He shows
us. He said, when you were few of
few and strangers in the land. He's saying this of Israel, but
this is true of His anointed, His elect. When they went from
nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, He suffered
no man to do them wrong. He reproved kings for their sakes. He is doing that today for us.
He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, touch not mine anointed
and do my prophets no harm. Christ showers us with mercy,
crying grace, grace, grace unto us every day, every moment of
every day. So the first thing the Lord does,
you know, We have this flesh that wants
to respond like David did to Nabal. How are we brought to
respond like David did to Saul? Far worse enemy, far worse wicked
enemy. I mean, Saul wanted, Nabal just
did one bad thing to him. Saul did many evil wicked things
to him. How was David brought to this
place? How are we? He shows us we're wicked Saul. not anybody better than the chief
of sinners. And He shows us Christ, our sins
are all against Christ, and Christ constantly, constantly, constantly
shows us mercy, saying, touch not mine anointing. And because
He settled justice for us, He is righteous to be merciful to
us. And look at this now, and now we see David as a sinner
saved by grace and what God's grace in Christ makes His people
do when He really speaks it. Now listen, we're under the Spirit,
we're in the Spirit, we're born of God, but it is the grace of God that
makes you walk in the Spirit where David's at right here,
so he can't fulfill the same lust of his flesh that he does
just a little while later against Nabal. And this is what he's
going to do. Verse 4, then David rose up,
the second part, and he cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. Now
by his chastening hand, Christ comes to us and he cuts off the
skirt of our garment. It's painful, it's not pleasant,
it's not joyous, it's grievous, and sometimes it's worse than
other times, but he's going to chasten us for our sin, and our
sinful flesh says, the Lord's killing me. And Satan whispers and says,
the Lord's killing you, He's forsaken you. And men say, He's
forsaken him. But then Christ comes to His
child, not in wrath, He comes meek and lowly. Christ said,
come to me, I'm meek and lowly. He don't have to come like a
wicked soul, He comes meek and lowly. And the same way Christ came
to sinners and received sinners when He walked this earth, He
comes to us. And look at verse 8. David cried out to Saul, and
when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to
the earth and bowed himself. Now, I'm not saying that our
Savior God comes and bows to us, but when He appears to us
in mercy, in the midst of our pride, He makes us behold Him
coming to us in this same gentle spirit. Because it's certainly
not what we deserve. And it appears gentle compared
to what we deserve. And verse 9, And David said to
Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's word, saying, Behold, David
seeketh thy hurt? We hear all this saying, He's
forsaking you. He's killing you by the chastening.
And Christ comes and says to you, I'm not seeking your hurt.
I'm not chastening you for My pleasure. I'm turning you back
into the way. I'm strengthening your weak hands.
I'm strengthening your feeble knees. I'm turning you back into
the way to look to Me that you might continue to be a partaker
of My holiness. And He makes us see He's given
us far less than we deserve with all this great mercy He's showing
us. He said to him, See the skirt of thy robe in my hand? Think
of Christ. See the skirt of the robe in
my hand, in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed
thee not? Know thou and see that there
is neither evil nor transgression in my hand. I have not sinned
against thee, yet you hunt my soul to take it. Christ is going
to make us see all our sins against Him. He's righteousness. He's
innocent. He's the spotless Lamb of God
risen to the right hand of God who's all our righteousness.
And He's going to make us see. And yet all your sin is seeking
to kill me, crucify me afresh. We deserve to be slain in justice
due to our sin. That's what we deserve. Our sin
is nothing less than hunting Him to crucify Him. And He says
to you constantly, yet I killed you not. I came to you and laid
down my life for you. A soft answer turns away wrath.
It's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. And
His grace and mercy melts our stony heart all over again. Now listen, Saul did not truly
repent. He didn't. But Christ brings
His child to true repentance. But look at what Saul did, verse
16. Saul lifted up his voice and
wept. This is where the Lord is going to bring His child,
in true repentance, to weep to Him. And He said to David, Thou
art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas
I have rewarded thee evil. Thou hast shown me to this day
how thou hast dealt well with me. For as much as when the Lord
had delivered me into thy hand, thou killest me not. For if a
man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? See, Saul's
wasn't true repentance. His problem was he thought He
was righteous. He thought, in this one instance,
David, you've been righteous, more righteous than I. But I'm
righteous. That's what he's saying. He wouldn't
really repent. But when the Lord works this
in us, the Lord brings His child to see that we're in the Lord's
hand. And the Lord's been merciful
to us. And all He's done is show us mercy and grace. And He doesn't
make you to say, you're more righteous than I. He brings you
to say, Lord, I am the sinner. That's all I am. I'm a dead dog. I'm a flea. Your Lord, You're all my righteousness. You've rewarded me good and all
I've rewarded You is evil. You showed me this day. You have
dealt well with me and not killed me. There's where He brings you.
And He makes us know Him as our King and our Savior. And we confess
Him. Look at verse 20. Saul said,
Now behold, I know well that thou, and here's what we say,
you surely are the King. Lord, you're the King. I know
you are the King. And that the kingdom of Israel,
all your elect Israel, is established in your hand. That's where Christ
brings us in true repentance. Saul asked David, We ask Christ
to have mercy on us and not cut us off. Lord, please don't cut
me off. Have you ever seen you deserve
to be cut off? I deserve to be cut off. I really do. And the Lord brings you to say,
Lord, please have mercy. Don't cut me off. And David swore to Saul. And when Christ works this in
us, He renews that everlasting covenant in your heart. That's
where the peace comes when He makes you to know, I'm not ever
going to cut you off. I've made an everlasting covenant
with my Father. I've fulfilled every job until
I love it. I've redeemed you. I've made you righteous. And
I'm not going to cut you off. What does this do in us? What
does this do in our hearts when He does this? I'm telling you,
this is the only way. When David cut the skirt of that
garment off and his heart smote him, this is what the Lord was
working in his heart. Because when He deals with Nabal,
He don't deal like this at all. He just deals in His flesh. And
this is of God. It's not of David. This is of
God. Well, maybe you've cut the skirt
off the garment of somebody and you've had hard thoughts against
them. When it's time, when it's time,
the Lord may let you go on in that for a while. But when it's
time, when it's His time and He comes to you, He smites us
in our heart. Just like David. Reminds you
I'm the sinner. Reminds you He laid down His
life for you. Reminds you God's forgiven you for Christ's sake. And the Lord reminds me also
of this. He reminds me my brother is the
Lord's anointed. Now Saul wasn't. Saul was just
anointed in the fact that he was the king at that time. But
when the Lord works this in the heart of our brethren, are in
our heart toward our brethren. He reminds you, this is my anointing. Don't touch my anointing. He reminds you, I've robed him
in my righteousness, I've shed my blood for him. He reminds
us in our heart and speaks to you affectionately, powerfully,
really in your heart and says, I don't lay a charge to this
brother. Are you going to lay a charge to him? That's what
he says to me. Am I going to lay a charge to
one that God says He does not lay a charge to? He's guilty. Doesn't he have to be punished? He was on Calvary's cross. Unless I misinterpret this book,
Christ tells us over and over and over. It's what He tells
me. Be merciful. Be merciful to my people. I won't
do this any other way. I won't do this. How can a David
who's innocent and hasn't sinned against us all be merciful to
a Saul that's done nothing but wickedly persecute him? Only if Christ makes me see I'm
Saul. And Christ has redeemed me. And
when it comes to my brother, I don't doubt and dispute with
him. I trust Christ redeemed him. And if he's God's anointed
to touch him, I'm touching Christ. That's how Christ humbles us
to come to one another as David came to Saul. Bow down. Can you imagine that? That's
what He does in our heart. That's what He does. We see Ephesians
4, endeavor for peace. He's the only one that's going
to make us do it. And it's not a forced peace. It's just coming. David's innocent. He's not the one guilty. Saul
is. And what does He do? He comes
bowed down to the guilty one asking peace from Him. What did
the Lord do when He saw the prodigal coming? He ran and had compassion
on him and kissed him. What does He do to us every day? He judged me making justice and
mercy, kiss and harmony. He's judged my brethren and His
judgment's right. David came to a man who sinned
against him and bowed down and he trusted judgment to Christ. And when he did that, even this
man who's carnal, it broke his heart. He broke his heart. And he wept. And he was just
carnal. All it was was carnal. Think what God will do when He's
really brought me to bow down to the person who's sinned against
me. and ask peace and mercy. And
if He works that in, you know, if it's two people at odds, or
five people at odds, or a whole multitude of people at odds,
He works that in every heart. Just imagine if we all loved
each other as God loves us for Christ's sake. There wouldn't
be any trouble. There'd be no charges, there'd
be no harshness and hardness, and He would be forgiven. Why
don't I do that all the time? Why don't you do that all the
time? Why are we sometimes treating others like David treated Nabal,
instead of always treating them like he did Saul? When we do it like He did to
Nabal, it's all us. But when we do what He did to
Saul, it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. And He could take these enemies
out of Canaan in a heartbeat, but He doesn't. And the only
reason I know of is to keep us knowing we are utterly dependent
on His mercy and His grace constantly. Is that not so? When He speaks this, He says,
Ephesians 4.31, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. I wish I could do that all the
time. But there are some sweet times
when He makes you walk in the Spirit and you just can't do
it. You just can't do it. And be kind one to another, and
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and
gave himself for us, offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savor. I just know this. I want, I want, I want peace. I want unity. And I want mercy
and forgiveness and I want to give it. And I don't want division
anymore. I don't want it. I'm just so
so tired and weary of it. And all I can do is wait on God. to work this in, to bow down like he's done, like
David did Saul, and trust him to work the same thing in my
brethren. And that's what you do. You bow
where he's worked this in you. And we can't do other, it's irresistible. And we trust him to work it in
our brethren. What happens if he doesn't? What
if a brother is treating you like David treated Nabal? Bow
down. Bow down. And be merciful and
love him. We've got to love each other
to Christ. I failed. I'm a failure. It's all I am in my flesh. But
I do believe God's mercy. is my hope, His grace is my hope,
Christ is my hope. And I know this, His mercy makes
you merciful. And you know, when David was
doing all that against Nabal, he was bitter and angry and he
wasn't happy. But when he works mercy in his
people, that makes you happy. It's hard bondage, holding a
grudge and being bitter. It's peace and joy just to say,
I'm going to be merciful and trust this to the Lord. There's nothing anybody can do
against me that I had done far worse against my Redeemer. And
if He's forgiven me the multitude of sins, why can't I forgive? I have to. Blessed are the merciful. Our
Lord said, Happy are the merciful. They shall obtain mercy. God
kept giving David mercy. He kept making him happy by making
him merciful. And He kept giving him mercy.
Not all the time, but He kept doing it. Bringing him down.
Bringing him back down. All our days. Amen.