Good morning, everybody. If you would, and please do,
take your Bibles and turn to 2 Samuel chapter 1. We'll read
a portion of that chapter, and then I'll try to make a few comments
about it. Second Samuel, Chapter 1. You know, those of us that try
to stand in front of a congregation occasionally, try to come up
with illustrations and examples. explanations for what we're trying
to say. There are no better examples
as stated in the New Testament than there are in these pictures
in the Old Testament. I love to look at them. I love
to look at them. Let's start in the first verse.
Let me say this. Saul and David in the first and
second books of Samuel, first and second Samuels is all about
King David. His anointing, the elapse of
time before he ever assumed his role as king, even though he
had been anointed as king. Saul was his arch enemy, King
Saul. Keep that in mind as we start
to read here. Now it came to pass after the
death of Saul, David's arch enemy, when David was returned from
the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days
in Zichle, it came to pass on the third day that behold a man
came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent and dirt
on his head. And so it was, when he came to
David, that he fell to the earth and did obeisance. And David said to him, from where'd
you come from? And the man said to him, I came
out of the camp of Israel and I escaped. And David said to
him, how went the battle? How went the matter? I pray thee,
tell me." And the man answered him that the people are fled
from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and
dead, and Saul and Jonathan, his son, are dead also. And David
said to the young man that told him, how do you know that Saul
and Jonathan, his son, are dead? And the young man told him, That
told him, said, well, I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa,
and behold, Saul leaned upon his spear and lo, the chariots
and the horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked
behind him, he saw me and he called me. And I answered Saul
by saying, here am I. And he said to me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I'm an Amalekite. He said to me again, stand, I
pray thee, upon me and slay me, for anguish has come upon me
because my life is yet whole in me. He knew he was about to
die. He knew that he would be slaughtered
and that they would torture him and everything else, and he was
asking this fellow to kill him. That's what this young man, this
man was saying to David there. So I stood upon him, and I slew
him, because I was sure that he could not live after that
he was fallen. And I took the crown. that was
upon his head and a bracelet that was on his arm. And I've
brought them to you, to my Lord. And then David took hold on his
clothes and rent them. And likewise, all the men that
were with him. And they mourned and they wept
and they fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan, his
son. and for the people of the Lord,
and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the
sword. And David said to the young man
that told him, where are you from? And he answered, I am the
son of a stranger, an Amalekite. And David said to him, how was
thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's
anointed? And David called one of the young
men and said, go near, fall upon this man. And he smote him, that
he died. And David said to him, thy blood
be upon thy head, for thy mouth has testified against thee, saying,
I have slain the Lord's anointed. In the last chapter of 1 Samuel is the record of King Saul's
death as to how it actually happened. The truth of how he died is that his armor-bearer refused
his request to kill him in what was to be, what Saul intended
to be, a mercy killing, much like we do our pets at times
when they're gonna die. Saul was going to die. He asked
his armor-bearer to kill him, to save him the suffering, and
the armor-bearer refused to do it, and Saul took his, took a
sword, it doesn't say his own sword, but Saul took a sword,
stuck it in his abdomen and fell on it and committed suicide.
And that's not the story this guy told. The people's choice. You know
what Saul means? Requested, request. He was the
king that the people had requested to rule over them. and he's now
dead. And this first chapter in 2 Samuel
is the introduction of King David's reign as the king of Judah. Saul's dead. Now comes the rightful
king, the anointed king, typical of Christ and his eternal reign
as a picture of Christ. This first chapter in the last
part of it, which we didn't read, which you can read at your leisure,
also records the lamentation of David. A lamentation is a
song, but this isn't a song to be sung. It's a song poem of
David on behalf of Saul and Jonathan. Because it's not a song, it's
about the fact that God has brought an end to Saul, but it's a record
of David's personal emotions and his sentiments concerning
the death of one that was dear to him. Jonathan had been his
best friend, although Jonathan was the son of Saul. He had been
his best friend and he was lamenting also the fall of the king, the
death of the king. The overall theme of David's
words in the last part of the chapter is to comfort the people
concerning the death of the king. And although we as children of
God are people of faith for the most part, We wonder what's going
to happen now. We're concerned about politics
and the rule and the reign of those who govern us and what
the future is going to bring. And the overall theme of his
words was to comfort the people by what he was saying in this
poem that he had written, he wrote, though we believe and
have faith, we often find ourselves pretty anxious about how things
are going to turn out. And what we know by faith is
always assaulted by what we experience in the flesh. The constant barrage
of circumstances that we witness and endure every day in this
world challenges everything that we know. How often Think about
it, in the Old Testament and New Testament, do we find our
Lord, as well as his apostles, who wrote the epistles, admonishing
believers, don't fear, fear not. And that's what David's saying
in the last part of this chapter here. Faith is about trusting
Christ. And our flesh seeks to destroy that trust and
make the believer to logically assess the circumstances, and
there ain't no logic to them, it's God's purpose being fulfilled
page by page. And here, in this chapter, David,
the true king, takes his office as comforter of the people. It
reminded me, his poem was a eulogy that gave one king the authority
to declare his kingdom had begun. The former king was dead. And we can even take the human
emotion that King David expressed in that moment and see that these
words reflect Christ, the King of Kings, in
his greatest hour of royalty and humanity. David's saying
concerning the death of Paul here, it's finished. It's over. He's dead. The law's dead. How the mighty have fallen. The
words of kindness that David expresses toward his dead enemy
are comparable to the words of our great King Jesus when he
said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're
doing. They don't know what they're doing. His words were designed
to chase away the fears of this people who now had a coronated
king, an anointed king, much as our Lord told John to take
care of his mother and his mother to take care of John. Fear not. That he was speaking as king
wasn't a matter of doubt to those that heard him as on the cross
that penitent thief said, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Our Lord said to the disciples,
fear not little children. For it's the Lord's pleasure
to give you the kingdom." And this people had just been given
the kingdom. And that's the reason that he
was crying and wrote this poem and mourning the death and was
trying to comfort and was comforting this people. But now what I want
to consider primarily this morning, this first 16 verses, 18, whatever
it was, The words of this Amalekite,
this man, brought a tall tale to David
about the death of Saul. He claimed that he was the man
responsible for the killing of Saul. And his lie cost him his
life. What prompted this guy to do
that? to take credit for the death
of one king and deliver that king's crown to another man. That's what it is. Verse 10,
look at it. So I stood upon him and I slew
him. That was a lie. Now there's no need to deal with
the inconsistencies and the circumstances of this man's story to show that
it was a lie, but the previous record of Saul's death in the
last chapter of 1 Samuel reveals that that's true, if you want
to read it. Saul took his own life by falling on his soul.
Now, it's the why, quote, it's the why of this lie that's important
in this context, and I'd like to talk to you just a little
bit about it. I'll start with this. Last Wednesday
night, Carol and I went to the Dairy
Queen at the church, and this man's actions compare
somewhat to an experience that I had. I don't know about Carol.
This man's actions paints one of the most accurate pictures
in all the scriptures of the motive of free will works religion. This man was making David his
lord. brought that crown to him and
that bracelet and bowed down to him. It's a man's actions that are
weighed by God because they reveal his motive
and what's inside of the man or woman and the motive of free
will works religion is to take credit for salvation. Here we
go. Last Wednesday night, Carol and
I went to the Dairy Queen after church. Daniel, Tina, and Sue
was there. But they had a good excuse. We
went to treat ourselves. They went to treat their granddaughters. And after we ordered, I found
a table and I happened to look around and I caught a fellow
smiling at me. and immediately recognized that
it was an old version of a high school classmate, some semblance
to what he was in high school anyway. And I hadn't seen him
for over 25 years, longer than that. And I got up, as he did
too, and I met him between us, where we were, to say hello,
shook his hand, and I had a short conversation, and then I sat
back down. When that boy finished eating,
that man, that old man, finished eating, he dumped his garbage
and came to our table, and he looked at Carol, kind of to get
her attention, I think, and he reached out and touched her shoulder
real lightly, and he said, I want you to know that this man is
the nicest guy I've ever known. I don't have one memory of ever
doing anything for that man, good or bad. That's what he said. You know what I did? or if you've
ever seen one. I puffed up inside like a blowfish. And I almost blew the buttons
off my shirt. And when I recovered, I did manage
to thank him. I'm not sure I recall what Carol
said, but anyway. What I'm saying is this, there
is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death and that's this man. And it's easy for the
flesh to convince you that you're a good person and that you're
worthy of making Christ your Lord. I got news for you. He's already your Lord. False religion must make God
a receiver rather than a giver. And free will religion has got
to hold that the glory of God is dependent on us. And if you don't think that your
feelings can be convincing, just have somebody tell you that you're
a nice guy. This man in our text had a plan
that involved the exaltation of self under the guise of doing a good thing for the king. This man could have gone on his
way after that battle, just melded away in the congregation, in
society, without any recognition, and that would have been what
he deserved. But he saw an opportunity, or
at least thought he saw one, to ingratiate, to obligate the
king. to give him recognition. He wanted
to be named in transactions and events which he had absolutely
nothing to do with. He wanted to insert himself into
something that he had absolutely no part in and so does everyone
who believes that salvation is conditioned on man's choice or
decision rather than a sovereign act of God. This young man had
rehearsed his plan. Look at verse two. The first
thing he did was become penitent. He bowed to the king. His raiment was dirt and torn
clothes. He looked religious. And they were indicative of one
who was seeking to prove his sincerity. I'm sincere about
this. And in that condition, he came
and he bowed down to David. He feigned, he faked an attitude
of horror at what had transpired. Saul's dead and Jonathan. He put dirt on his head. which
is a sign of repentance and unworthiness. And he did obeisance to David
in the pretense that he acknowledged David was the rightful king. False religion and all of its
pride thrives on dressing and accessories. They sound humble
and they appear humble, but they boast of their sins. They have overcome. But in reality, they weep and
they bawl and they cry, just like they did over the Book of
Malachi in their testimony meetings.
Because tears make people think that those crying are sincere. And the Lord told those folks
in Malachi, I'm sick of your crying. I'm sick of your tears.
In verse five, David asked, how did Saul die? And this pretender
puffed up like a blowfish and said, I killed him. I stood on him and killed him. Throughout all the book of 1
Samuel and the stories surrounding King Saul, he's a picture and
type of our flesh. And there's no religious story
more exalted in testimony meetings than what I call ex-stories. This world's religion drools
over ex-drug addicts. ex-drunks, ex-hookers, ex-thieves
and ex-cons because it's proof of repentance to the false mind. Now listen to me. I killed the king is the same
as saying I got right with God. Or I straightened up and I flew
right. or I turned my life around, or
I turned over a new leaf, or I got religion, I decided for
Jesus. That's what this man did. The king, this man didn't kill him. The
king killed himself to protect his own image. And
that picture, religion committing suicide rather than have it presumed
honor destroyed. And this man took credit and it wasn't
due to him. Note this too. This man took
possession of Saul's crown and his bracelet. Remember? And he
brought them to David in verse 10 and he gave them to him. This is his way of acknowledging
David as king. What's wrong with that? Well, in this man's mind, as
indicated by his actions, he had the power to crown David
king according to the principles of war. Now listen to this. According
to the principles of war during this time, That crown, this is
what reveals what I'm alleging to you, by rules of war, that
crown and that bracelet belonged to this man. Didn't belong to
David. In this man's mind, He had the
power to crown King David according to the fact that he owned this
crown and this bracelet. That made him special. This crown and bracelet belonged
to this man and they would be David's only by the fact that
he made the decision that he would make him king. Because he owned them. This man, by his quote,
own will, was going to make David king of his life. Have you ever
wondered why phrases like, make Jesus your Lord, and won't you
invite Jesus into your heart? Or won't you let Jesus save you? are such basic tenets of free
will, works, religion. It's because the power belongs
to the one who can accept or reject, and it's a lie. This man's plan was to make David
king, but the problem was that God at already beating to it. The end of this man is the end of all lies, all falsehood. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Any endeavor
to take credit for anything that the scripture says, declares,
belongs to God is a lie. It's not an opposing theory. It's not a difference of opinion. It's a lie. That's the only thing
that it can be. And Christ said in Luke 19, 27,
in a parable that he was giving his disciples there, he said,
but those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign
over them, bring them to me, bring them hither, and slay them
before me. And that's what David did. All of the glory of our salvation
in Christ belongs to God. In the end, look at verse 15
and 16. Again, and I'll just simply,
as you peruse it there, say this. In the end, this man's plan earned
him, earned him what he was due. The wages of sin is death. And he was dead and he was killed. One last comment, finally. Why did this man come up with this plan? This man's lie was
born because he had no fear of God. Look at verse 14. David said to him, how was thou
not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointing? Because he had no fear of God.
No fear of God. Would that we could understand
and see the grace and the power in that grace that brings us
to be nothings and to bow before the one who's already our king
and to plead for mercy and to see the mercy and the grace that
he bestows in faith. I hope those things bless your
heart.