I'd like to direct your attention
again tonight to 1 Samuel 18, if you would turn there with
me, please. I want to consider just seven
verses tonight, beginning with verse 5, and I've titled this
message, Our Champion and Hero. Verse 5, And David went out,
whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely, And
Saul set 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."
So we see here from verse five that David, the hero of Israel,
He's just come off the defeating of Goliath, the giant, and he
has now become a willing servant to King Saul. What humility David
displays here. He himself had been anointed
king by Samuel, and yet he trusts in the Lord's providence, and
he patiently waits for his time to come to be king. We're told
that David here behaved himself wisely. I was thinking, how do
you do that? I don't know that I've ever behaved
myself wisely. Well, that's what a believer
endeavors to do. Trusting in the Lord is behaving
wisely. Waiting on the Lord is behaving
wisely. And that's what David's doing.
He conducted himself with patience and integrity. He conducted himself
obedient to authority. He did, the scripture says here,
whatsoever Saul sent him to do. He submitted to Saul as king. That would have been difficult
for most to do. knowing that they themselves
have been anointed king. They've been doing probably all
they could to push Saul right on out, but not David. He trusts
in the Lord. He waits patiently on the Lord
with integrity. And he submitted to Saul as king,
but more importantly, he submitted to God. He submitted to God's
will. in God's purpose. May God enable
us to do that. Saul was still Israel's king,
and David submitted to God's providence in that, even though
it was under Saul's flawed leadership. And because of his wise behavior,
David was promoted. It says that Saul set him over
the men of war. Faithfulness in small things
always leads to greater. That's what the scriptures teach.
Faithful over small things, God will give you more. David was
accepted in the sight of all the people, it says, and he was
accepted in the sight of Saul's servants. And what a picture
we have here of the Lord Jesus. I think sometimes we forget that
Christ left His throne as God. He was God, God the Son. He was
made of a woman, what a condescension that was. He was made under the
law, the very law that He Himself gave. He was always about His
Father's business, the Scripture says. The Lord Jesus rendered
to Caesar what was Caesar's. He was a man of humility. He
came not to do his own will. He came to do the will of God
that sent him, and he became obedient as a servant. And the
scripture says, and was obedient unto death. That's why he came.
He came to die for your sin. Those of you who trust him, believe
on him, And He was obedient to death, and the scripture says,
even the death of the cross. He increased in favor with God
and with man. And then in verse 6 we're told,
and it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from
the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women, 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." They're singing and playing,
and they're echoing. You know, one sings and then
they sing back. But here's what they're singing.
Saul had slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And here we see that when David
returned to Israel with Saul, he was met with great adoration,
which soon, as we'll see, turned to jealous venom from Saul. And I couldn't help but to think
about our Lord's triumphant entry and entrance into Jerusalem with
shouts of Hosanna, Hosanna to the highest they sung. But soon
that same crowd was shouting, crucify him. And the leaders
Herod and Pilate soon turned on him. And, you know, I want
to just make mention here that human accolades were given to
both Saul and David. The words of the women, as we'll
see, planted seeds of jealousy in Saul. But the most alarming
thing here that I think we look right over in this verse is that
there was no glory given to God. It was all given to Saul, and
it was given to David. And this shows us just how far
Israel had fallen, and it also shows us just how far this world
in which we live today has fallen. Men and women today are occupied
with human victories, which bring to mind the words of David in
Psalm 10, verse 4. It says, through the pride of his countenance,
will not seek after God, and God is not in all his thoughts."
That's a sad, sad verse. Hero worship was prevalent in
the days of old, and it's still rampant in the world today, especially
in religion. Truly, there's nothing new under
the sun. Sin is the same as it's always been. And that's why there's
nothing new under the sun. You know, I've mentioned this
to you before, when folks find out that I'm a pastor, the first
question that I'm usually asked, I bet you can guess what it is.
Well, how big a church do you have? How many members do you
have? It's the same attitude that came
from the abundance of the women of Israel's heart. Saul has slain
his thousands, and David his thousands. And I hear people
talk a lot today about what our church is doing, and we're doing
this, and we're doing that. But they don't talk much about
what God's done. These words are recorded to remind
us of human nature and just the way that human, fallen, depraved
minds work. Everyone wants to be on the winning
side. They believe it somehow gives
them acceptance, but verse seven actually reveals that God was
not in their thoughts. Their heroes were men. May God
enable us to say with the prophet Isaiah, cease ye from man, whose
breath is in his nostrils. Man is here today and he's gone
tomorrow. You know, that becomes more apparent
to me every day. My next birthday is, I know most
of you know this, I'll be 70. And I think of how quickly the
last 10 years have gone by. And when I think about how quick
the next 10 are gonna go by, if I even make it that long,
this life is truly a vapor. It's here for a moment, and then
it's gone. Isaiah asks, wherein is he, a
man to be accounted of? In other words, what we think
really doesn't matter, really doesn't. We give praise to man
when it's due to God alone. May God enable us to praise Him
as He ought to be praised. May we with John the Baptist
say, He, Christ, must increase, and I must decrease. Believers want the Lord Jesus
to have the preeminence. We do. Verse 8, And Saul was
very wroth And the saint 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 and forward. Now the words here of Israel's
women kindled a fire of jealousy in the mind and heart of Saul.
which was just basically a tool that God used
to promote the spiritual good of David. And we see here the
two kings cannot rule together. Man cannot serve two masters. And this saying that the women
sung, it ticked Saul off. But God had
rejected Saul. God had anointed David, and Saul's
throne must be vacated for David. This was the purpose of God.
It had always been God's purpose. Long before this ever came about,
before the foundation of the world, God had purposed this,
and we were told about it several chapters before here in 1 Samuel. Jealousy was the means that God
used to bring it about. Isn't that something? The Lord
will use our sin to bring about His purpose. He's not the author
of our sin. God's not evil. That's something
that we come about of our own fruition. But God uses our sin
and our evil to accomplish His will. Saul meant it for evil. God calls it for good. Verse
10. And it came to pass on the morrow, the very next day, 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. Now let's talk
just for a minute about the evil spirit from God. We've dealt
with this before. It simply just indicates divine
judgment. It doesn't mean that God is evil.
It means that God allows an evil spirit to trouble Saul as a consequence
of his rebellion and his disobedience. And again, we see the sovereignty
of our great God over everything, including evil spirits. And there's no doubt that God
sent this evil spirit to accomplish his purpose in the dethroning
of Saul. All angels, even those who hate
God, are ministering spirits that do His bidding. And God
can and He will employ whatever means is necessary and He determines
suitable to accomplish His eternal purpose. David sure didn't have
to wait long for Saul to show his true heart and You know,
I've used this illustration before, not to be humorous, but it's
so true. Sin is much like being with child. It won't take long for it to
be seen. You don't have to tell anyone
you're expecting a child, you ladies. As we say, it gets out
on you pretty quick. The prophesying, and I'll make
mention of this too, this prophesying here that Saul did, It's used
in this verse in a generic term that just simply refers to him
uttering words. If you look the Greek prophesied
up in a concordance, other than speaking future events for God,
it also just simply means speaking. He prophesied. It's apparent
here that Saul's speaking reveals him to be of a deranged mind. This evil spirit has afflicted
him. He's speaking somewhat incoherently, not with true prophecy inspired
by the Holy Spirit. He's become an unstable man. Have you ever seen or experienced
someone who's somewhat out of their mind. I've seen folks walking
on the street before and it's pretty apparent that they're
not in the right mind and they're just talking to themselves and
they're talking to people that aren't there. And that's pretty
much the state that Saul is in here. He's, this jealousy and
this envy and this spirit, evil spirit has caused him to act
like a disturbed lunatic. He's irrational. He's demented.
And at this time, as a blithering king, he's saying improper things. He's wandering through his house
with a javelin in his hand. Now, that would be alarming,
would it not? And he's talking out of his mind
because of the sin of jealousy. And this, we could have very
well made this whole message tonight about jealousy, envy. It can certainly lead one to
some erratic behavior. You know, Solomon later wrote
in Proverbs 14 that envy is the rottenness of the bones. Jealousy's
toxic, it'll eat you from the inside out. Cain killed Abel
out of envy and jealousy. Joseph's brothers, the scripture
says, moved with envy, sold Joseph into slavery. In Galatians chapter
5, jealousy is listed as a work of the flesh. So, we see here
that David is again called to play the harp. in an effort to
soothe Saul in his frenzied state. And even when Saul was being
tormented and acting so irrationally, David remained faithful, ministering
to him with music as he had before. And again, the Lord Jesus remained
faithful when those who should have loved Him sought His death. He remained faithful. There's
some lessons to learn from Saul's jealousy. Saul's anger was fueled
by jealousy. This jealousy exposed his deep
insecurity as it does. Most of the time we're envious
and jealous of others because of our own insecurity. Insecurity nearly always triggers
resentment. It twists perception. It fuels
paranoia. It damages relationships. Insecurity most always leads
to more sin. And as we'll see, jealousy often
leads to violence. Verse 11, 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. Twice. Saul's envy and Saul's
jealousy escalated into an attempt of murder. Obviously, Saul failed
the first time, yet he tried again. And I'm thinking, well,
how persistent is sin? Sin is persistent, isn't it?
My, my. Without repentance, sin just
doesn't give up. If sin's not dealt with, it'll
keep coming back. You know, the Lord told Cain,
you remember what the Lord said to him? The Lord said, Cain,
after the Lord had rejected his offering, he said, if you do
well, shall you not be accepted? And then the Lord added this.
He said, and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Sin is compared here to a wild
beast. And that's a pretty good comparison. It's dangerous and it's waiting,
lying at the door to pounce on you at the first opportunity.
And the door is likely a metaphor here of Cain's heart and our
hearts. It waits at the door, sin does,
like a wild beast to pounce on us. And if we neglect righteousness,
sin is ready to take over. Sin's desire is to rule over
us. It's not our friend. Sin is not
our friend. Sin wanted to dominate Cain and
sin wants to dominate us. And we see that sin began to
dominate Saul. Paul wrote in Romans 6.12, let
not sin therefore reign. in your mortal body that you
should obey it and the lust thereof? Resist the devil, he'll flee
from you. Sin used to be our master, but
now we belong to Christ. Christ is our master. Not sin,
and we don't have to obey sin anymore. We're no longer a slave
to sin. Sin no longer has dominion over
us. Paul said, neither yield your
members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over ye, for you're not under the law, but under
grace. Friends, we're under grace. And
that's what the Lord is warning us in Matthew chapter 12, verse
43. You remember when he told a parable
and he said, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man,
he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none. Then he said, I'll return into
my house from whence I came out. And when he's come, he findeth
it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with
himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And they
enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto
this wicked generation." Now, what is the Lord warning us from
those verses? Well, I think the key to understanding
those verses is found in that phrase of the unclean spirit
finding the house empty, vacant. And moral reformation. I don't know why this world cannot
get this through their mind. Only because the Lord hadn't
revealed it. Because it's so prevalent in the Scripture. Moral
reformation. Reforming and improving the flesh. without spiritual regeneration,
without a new birth, without God making us new creatures in
Christ, will not save us in Him. The person in this parable gets
cleaned up, the house is swept and seems to be in order, but
it's still empty. There's no filling of the heart
with God's Spirit. Without a new nature, the indwelling
of God's Spirit, the unclean Spirit returns, and it's made
stronger. And the final condition of the
one whom the Spirit was cast out of is worse than the first. And if sin is merely suppressed
and not replaced by the presence of God, not replaced by the Word
of God, living for God, faith in Christ, it comes back more
powerfully. Paul said this in Romans 8, verse
13. He said, For if you live after
the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
you've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, But
you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God." How do we know
that we're the children of God? We just know, don't we? His Spirit
bears witness with ours. The real question tonight is,
how do we see the Gospel in these verses? That's what we're to
look for every time we meet together and open the Scriptures, is the
Gospel. Where is the Gospel in these
verses? Well, I want to show you four things in particular.
The first one we've pretty much already determined, and that
is that David is a type of Christ. I love the types of Christ. That's
what the Old Testament is. The Old Testament is showing
us the Lord Jesus and his salvation before he ever came. David is the anointed king. He's
been anointed by God. And he's loved by the people.
Yet he was rejected and attacked by the current King Saul. And
this foreshadows the Lord Jesus. Like David, the Lord was anointed
by God to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He was
praised by the crowds in Matthew 21. He was hated by the leaders
of his day. He was threatened because of
his rising influence. The chief priests and the elders,
they hated him without a cause. Matter of fact, they even said
at one point, we're gonna lose our jobs if we don't do something
about him. We're gonna have to deal with
this man because he's making havoc of our careers here. And David suffered unjustly at
the hands of a jealous king. But the Lord Jesus suffered unjustly
by the hands of unjust rulers. And in this, he pictures the
Lord Jesus. David, the innocent sufferer,
was hated by Saul without a cause. There was no reason for Saul
to hate David. He had every reason to love him.
And this foreshadows Christ, who would ultimately be rejected,
not just by one man, but by the world, in which he came to save. He came unto his own, the Jews. And what does it say after that?
His own received him not. Rejected. Secondly, we see the
human rejection of God's anointing. Saul's rage and jealousy aren't
just against David. That's what I want us to see.
They reflect his rebellion against God. And it shows his rejection
against God's choice as king. God had rejected Saul. He had
chosen David, 1 Samuel 16. And Saul knows this, and he just
can't handle it. And this is the same posture
of the world today, the same posture that it takes toward
Christ. They hate him without a cause. Why would anyone hate the Lord
Jesus without a cause? God raised and exalted His Son,
and through the true preaching of the Gospel, He still exalts
Him. That's what we do in our preaching, and it's not true
preaching if we don't. Our preaching doesn't point men
to Christ and exalt Him. It doesn't lift Him high. It doesn't point to Him and say,
Salvation is of the Lord. Just like Moses raised that Serpent
of brass in the wilderness, and all those bitten by the poison
of sin looked upon that serpent and lived, as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness. That's what we do in our preaching. And we encourage men and women,
sinners, to look to Him and live. But men by nature hate Christ
without a cause, no reason to hate Him. God raised and exalted
His Son, and we do the same through preaching. And the world hates
it. They hate it. The human heart
naturally resists God's King. What do they say? I will not
have this man rule over me. Not going to have it. Not going
to have it. And without God's divine grace,
you and I would respond to Christ the same way that Saul did to
David. That being in hostility and pride. Thirdly, the gospel is seen in
God's providence and protection. I love the providence of God.
I do. I love the thought that God in
His divine providence protects me and protects you. Even though
David is under attack here, God protects him. David escapes the
spear not once, but twice, it says. Wicked men sought to kill
the Lord Jesus Christ multiple times. And the Scripture says
in some occasions, and I love how it says it, it says He walked
right through the midst of them. I don't know if he vanished,
or they just couldn't see him, or if the power of God was so
around him that like in the garden, they just fell backwards at his
name. But he just walked through the mist, and why? Because his
hour had not yet come. And just as God preserved David
for a greater purpose, which was ultimately to bring about
the messianic line of the Lord Jesus, God the Father preserved
the Lord Jesus through every attempt upon his life until his
hour came. And his hour did not come until
he willingly laid down his life to fulfill God's redemption for
his people. Voluntarily. He loved us freely. We hated Him without a cause.
He loved us freely without a cause. What an amazing story. The story of grace. And then
fourthly, we see the spiritual conflict in this story. Our text
reveals an evil spirit sent from God tormented Saul, and while
mysterious, it no doubt reflects the spiritual warfare that we
ourselves, men and women, experience today. Just as Saul was tormented
and driven to rage, the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ were
stirred by satanic influence to destroy Christ, to put him
to death. From the time that he was born,
they sought to kill him. All through his life, they looked
for opportunity to lie on him. They hired witnesses against
him. They did everything they could
to, by satanic influence, to destroy Christ. And this God
allowed. By wicked hands, men took and
crucified the Lord of glory. But it was by the determinate
counsel for knowledge of God, Acts 2.23. You see, our battle
with sin is not simply a human conflict. It's spiritual warfare. And that's why we've got to be
on guard. Our lives are at stake. You know, we try to convey that
in our preaching. This is serious, serious business. Spiritual warfare. And that's
why the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 to put
on the whole armor of God. that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. Satan is out to destroy us. And
Paul added, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. You
know, if we were just wrestling against flesh and blood, we may
stand a 50-50 chance. I don't know. But we're not warring
after the flesh. We don't wrestle against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and against powers and against
the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. We're no match. But Christ would. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 through
5. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. They're not fleshly. They're
not natural, but they're mighty through God. We must put on this
armor. Peter tells us to be sober, be
vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. And then he says,
whom resists steadfast in the faith. knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. James
tells us to submit ourselves unto God. Resist the devil, and
he'll flee from you. And to draw nigh to God, and
God will draw nigh to us. So may God enable us, help us
to resist the devil. He'll flee. and to draw nigh
to God, and He'll draw nigh to us. That should be our prayer.
Lord, enable me to draw nigh to You, that You might draw nigh
unto me. Lord, enable me to resist the
devil, so that he may flee. You know, I say this often, prayer
doesn't change things, but the Lord whom we pray to does. And we have not, because we ask
not. And when we do ask the Lord for things, we ask for things
that we may consume them upon our lusts. But if we ask the
Lord for these things, He'll give them. He'll give them. The
Lord enabled us and calls us to ask. You know, in Matthew
chapter 4, the Lord battled Satan in this spiritual warfare when
he was tempted of the devil 40 days and 40 nights. You know
what he used? One thing. The Word of God. Every time Satan tempted him,
he said, it is written. It is written. It is written. How do we overcome Satan? How
are we saved? Well, I want you to look at one
passage. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 12. How do we overcome Satan? Well,
we've already seen we resist him and he flees. We put on the
whole armor of God. But here in Revelation chapter
12, look at verse 10. John here writing. Verse 10, And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and
the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ. For the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
God day and night. And they overcame him, speaking
of Satan the accuser, by the blood of the Lamb, by the word
of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the
dead. So we see We overcome Satan in
many ways, three in particular in this verse. First, by the
blood of the Lamb. The blood of the Lamb, Jesus
Christ. Christ's sacrificial death on the cross breaks Satan's
power. Secondly, by the word of our
testimony. Referring to us publicly confessing
Christ and us living our lives in faith to Him. And then the
third thing, we love not our lives unto death. You see, the
child of God is willing to die rather than deny Christ. We trust
in His finished work. We declare faith in Him alone. And the blood of the Lamb goes
back to the Passover Lamb in Exodus chapter 12. Just as the
blood of the Lamb protected Israel from God's judgment, So Christ's
blood protects us from eternal judgment. His blood satisfied
God's justice, Romans 3.25. His blood paid the penalty of
our sin, Hebrews 9.12-14. We're washed in the blood, Revelation
7.14. We're redeemed by the blood,
1 Peter 1.18-19. And His blood cleanses us from
all sin, 1 John 1.7. What shall wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Only one thing. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
So if we've seen also the fourth thing, we put on the whole armor
of God. Listen to this verse in Romans
13, 12. The night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Paul talks about us fifthly,
fighting the good fight. You know, I was thinking today,
is there such a thing as a good fight? Well, a good fight is
one where we know that we're certain to win. So we fight the
good fight of faith, Paul told Timothy. He said, lay hold on
eternal life where unto thou art also called and has professed
a good profession before many witnesses. What's our good profession?
Christ is all. Christ has done for me what I
can't do for myself. Christ has finished the work
of redemption for me. And it's a good fight because
the battle's already won. The war's over. It is finished.
It's finished. Our spiritual life is not a cruise
ship. It's a battleground. And when
David faced the life, you remember Saul offered him his armor, and
David said, I can't. I haven't proved it. He didn't
use Saul's earthly armor. But he put on an armor that nobody
could see. He wore the whole armor of God. These are the weapons that we
use. The belt of truth grounded in God's unchanging word, the
breastplate. the very righteousness of Christ.
That's our armor, that's what protects us. The shoes of the
gospel were shed with the preparation. We stand firm in the peace of
Christ. The shield of faith, trusting
God's promises and His character. The helmet of salvation, assurance
of salvation, peace of mind. the sword of the Spirit, the
word of God. You know, that's the only offensive
weapon that we have. All the others are defensive.
But we take the word of God and we fight as Christ did the devil
in his temptations. And in Christ, we're guaranteed
the victory. We overcome. There's no possibility
of failure. That's what the word overcome
means. We trust in Christ's finished work, not in our performance,
not in our works. We overcome because Christ overcame. And as David disarmed Goliath,
and just as David silenced him, every day he came out and he
defied the armies of the living God. David shut him up. David
shut him up. He silenced him. David secured
Israel's victory because the man that took Goliath, the other
army submitted to the one with the victory. The Lord Jesus has
done the same for us. Everything that God required,
He did away. He disarmed sin. He silenced sin against us. Sin doesn't have any claim on
us anymore. You know why? You know why. I
tell you all the time, because we don't have any. We don't have
any sin. He can't accuse me of sin or
you of sin that we don't have. And He secured our salvation
by beheading our sin, crushing the serpent's head that was foretold
in Genesis 3, thousands of years before, which is the ultimate
victory. And friends, we have victory
over sin and death. Death, where is your stain? The
question is asked. Grave, where is your victory?
They've been defeated. 1 Corinthians 15, 57, but thanks
be done to God who gives us the victory. How? Through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Romans 8, 37. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors. How? Through Him who loved us. Romans 6, 4, for sin will not
have dominion over you because you're not under the law. What
are we under? We're under grace. Romans 8,
1 and 2, there is therefore now no condemnation. To who? To them who are in Christ Jesus.
To them who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law
of sin and death. And friends, like David, we trust
God. We trust the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is God, to perform that that he's promised. And he's faithful,
that promise. Let us hold fast Grab a hold
of this and hold on to it. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. Boy, we're wavering people by
nature, aren't we? He said, hold on to your profession
of faith without wavering, for He, Christ, God, is faithful
and promised. Hebrews 10, 23. I believe that
these verses tonight are a beautiful representation of the gospel
and our Lord Jesus who loved us and gave himself