In the last chapter of 1 Samuel,
we saw, recorded by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the deceit
of the Israelites at the hands of the Philistines. Included
in that was the death of King Saul, the death of Jonathan,
the overthrow of Israel's armies by the Philistines. as we open
2 Samuel, this second book. And remember, in the original
form, these were just one book, 1 and 2 Samuel. They weren't divided. And so
it's just a continuation, but here it's a continuation of a
day of recovery, a day of life, because in the first verse, we
see David, the anointed king. He's not yet on the throne, but
soon will be. We see him in the place called
Ziklag, and there's something significant about this. It says
in verse 1, Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when
David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David
had abode two days in Ziklag. And you always have to remember,
now, there are two ways of looking at David as we study the life
of David. Number one, we see David as a
type of Christ. And we can look at that, because
as we see the death of Saul, Saul, who we could say is a representative
of the flesh, of sin and rebellion of man, then we see coming on
the horizon here the king, the anointed king, and in that sense,
Israel is in for a time of prosperity, spiritually speaking. They had
prosperity under Saul, but it wasn't spiritual prosperity,
it was physical. But David mentions that in his
lament. But here comes a time of spiritual
prosperity for Israel. And it was ushered in by God's
anointed king, David. And of course, we see there a
type of Christ. If you look at the history of
Israel, at the end of Malachi, and then up until the time that
the book of Matthew begins in history, there was a period of
about 500 years of utter darkness, where there were no No light
from God, no revelation from God, that period of darkness.
But appearing upon that light was the incarnation of Christ,
the coming of the Messiah to do his great work. And that's
what we see typified here. So we see, first of all, David
is a type of Christ. And as a king in that office,
he was just that. But secondly, and this is the
second way we have to look at David, and we're not going to
understand these scriptures unless we do. We see David as an illustration
of every sinner saved by the grace of God, every believer,
even you, even me, sinner saved by grace, kept by the power of
God, washed in the blood of Christ, clothed in his righteousness
and regenerated by the Holy Spirit with all the weaknesses, with
all the inconsistencies and all the sinfulness that we carry
with us through this life until we go to be with the Lord. And
so you'll see David at times of great triumph, and you'll
see David at times in low moments. We've seen that already in 1
Samuel. You'll see it again in 2 Samuel. The one thing about
it, he was kept by the power of God's grace. And that's our
story. That's our biography. Really,
if you want to say anything about us in our biography, that's what
we would say. Saved by grace, kept by grace. and delivered unto glory by grace
in Christ." Isn't that right? That's chapter 1, chapter 2,
and chapter 3, of my life and your life in the grace of God. Now, the next verses of this
first chapter, we come upon a false report by an unbeliever. It starts out in verse 2. It
came to pass on the third day that, behold, a man came out
of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent. clothes were torn,
and earth was upon his head." That is, he threw dirt on his
head. That was the Israelite indication
of a man in sorrow, in grief, in repentance. And so it was
when he came to David that he fell to the earth and did obeisance. In other words, he claimed to
be obeying David. Whatever he was going through
was for David. And it says in verse 3, It says, And David said
unto him, From whence comest thou? Where do you come from?
And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. Now, he comes presenting himself,
I believe, and scholars will differ on this, but I believe
he comes presenting himself falsely. He has an outward show of obedience
to David, an outward show of sorrow, but without the heart. It's a good picture of man by
nature. Christ spoke of that in his day,
about people who would have an appearance outwardly of worship,
of faith, and of love, but inwardly their heart was far from him.
Predicted in the book of Isaiah, he said that would come about.
That's man by nature. Man loves the outward appearance.
You remember when Samuel went to the house of Jesse to find
the king, when Jesse brought every son except one, the one
whom he judged by the outward appearance could never be chosen
by God to be king of Israel, and it was the very one that
God had chosen. And you remember what Samuel
told him, he said, God doesn't look on the outward appearance,
God looks on the heart. God doesn't judge things and
deal with matters as man judges and deals with them. And so what
I believe we have here, and we'll see this, I believe, it will
be proven here in these scriptures itself. is a man who's putting
on a show for David because, number one, he's scared, and
number two, he wants a reward for himself. So here he comes. He was expecting a reward for
killing David's enemy, but he was totally unaware and totally
did not care of the purpose of God in all of this. Look at verse
4. He says, and David said unto
him, How went the matter? How did all this come about?
And he said, I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, that the
people are fled from the battle, and many of the people are fallen
and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. And David
said unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that
Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? And the young man that
told him said, As I happen by chance," and, of course, that's
the way the world looks at things. It's all by chance, happenstance,
you know. But we know that's not the case.
He says, "'As I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul
leaned upon his spear, and lo, the chariots of the horsemen
followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him,
he saw me, and called unto me, and I answered, Here am I. And
he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.'"
I want to deal just a little bit with that in just a moment.
Verse 9, he said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, afore me,
and slay me, for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet
whole in me." In other words, he said, I'm in anguish, but
I'm not dead yet. And verse 10, he says, So I stood
upon him, and 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 the bracelet that was on his arm, and have
brought them hither unto my Lord." And you might notice that that
is a totally, totally different account of Saul's death than
what you read in 1 Samuel 31. 1 Samuel 31 is recorded historically
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the writer Samuel. But 2 Samuel
1 just recounts the retelling of this event from this Amalekite,
this enemy of Israel who was in fear for his life. and who
was wanting to gain David's favor because of what he did, and he
expected a reward. And I'm telling you, it was just
a sham story. He just told a lie. He was expecting
a reward. Well, you know Amalek, the Amalekites,
if you're not that familiar with them, you know, as I've told
you before, they were the first nation that attacked Israel in
the wilderness after God formed Israel as a nation. in Mount
Sinai, and they started on their way to the promised land. And
Amalek is a picture of sin. Amalek is a picture of unbelief
and the flesh. Amalek is a picture, an illustration
and an example of enemies of God, enemies of Christ, enemies
of his church. We read back in Deuteronomy,
you can read about this in Deuteronomy chapter 25, Amalek always focused
its attacks on the tired and the weak. On the tired and the
weak. It's like our fleshly nature,
our fallen human nature, you know, when we're the weakest.
Satan, when we're the weakest. The world, when we're the weakest.
Hit him when he's down. That's Amalek. They kind of typify
it. Amalek does not fear God, the
Lord said over in Deuteronomy 25. They have no respect or regard
for the true and living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They
have no regard for God's people, none at all. God commanded a
permanent state of war against Amalek. You can find that in
Exodus 17. In other words, God cursed Amalek
eternally, all through their existence. And when the battle
was fought against Amalek by Israel, it was only by the power
of God alone that Amalek was defeated. You remember I mentioned
that last week, how Joshua and Hur held Moses' arms up, indicating
that it was the power of God. And when his arms went down,
Amalek won. When his arms went up, Amalek was defeated. But
what the picture there is that it's only by the power of God
that sin and the flesh can be conquered. We can't conquer it. That's the way it is in the life
of a believer. We all have an amulet right with us, you see,
an enemy. And we can't defeat the enemy.
The victory has to be won by the power of God in Christ. We
can't do it. And somebody says, well, you've
got to do your part and God will do his part. Now, you hold on
now. God does it all. Salvation is of the Lord. And
what we are, we are by creation, recreation, regeneration, and
by redemption. And that's it, by the grace of
God. God also promised to one day completely blot out the remembrance
of Amalek. It's a nonexistent society today. Joshua won the battle against
Amalek. Joshua was a type of Christ.
Jesus, the New Testament name for our Savior, the Old Testament
form Yeshua, Joshua, means God, our Savior. And it was he who
defeats sin and Satan in the flesh. Amalek was once first,
but one day they were last. Amalek allied itself with other
enemies in battle against God's people. You can read about that
in the book of Judges. Now here comes just a malachite,
you see. Well, look what happens. Look
at verse 11. It says, "...then David took hold on his clothes
and ransomed, and likewise all the men that were with him, and
they mourned and wept and fasted until even, 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." David
wept. David's sorrow over the death
of Saul and Jonathan and Israel. In Saul's case, it was the death
of God's anointed king. Now, I know he was the people's
choice, but God allowed them to have their choice, and he
did ascend into the throne of Israel. He was in that sacred
position of leadership that was anointed by God. Saul was the
king of Israel, even though he himself disgraced that office,
and he did. But he was still the king. And
it was also, in Saul's case, for David it was the death of
an enemy. I thought about this when I read that. How could he
sorrow so much for Saul? Well, it takes a great work of
the Holy Spirit for us to love like that. Christ dealt with
it in the book of Matthew when he talked about loving our enemies,
praying for them that despitefully use us. That's tough. That's
a tough one. But I want to say something. The Spirit of God
guides us and motivates us in those very things. We know the
flesh is weak. The Spirit has to be willing.
And that's what David's expressed. And I believe David genuinely
loved Saul, even though Saul hated David. And it's hard for,
well, it's impossible for the world to understand that kind
of love. But that's divine love. That's godly love. It's love
that has no respect for the object of that love. And that's the
kind of love that God chose us for when we were yet enemies.
Christ died for us, Romans chapter 5. Herein is love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now, in Jonathan's case, it was
the death of a friend and a subject. Jonathan was David's friend,
but he was also David's subject. Here, this man who was the heir
to the throne of Israel, advocated that throne and willingly and
lovingly gave it to David. He didn't really give it to David,
he just accepted what God had already given to David. But he
was a friend and a subject. In Israel's case, it was a sad
state of a nation, a nation that God had chosen not for any reason
within the nation. Deuteronomy 7 deals with that.
God said, I didn't love you or choose you because you were the
greatest, you're the fewest, you're the worst, you're the
weakest, and that's the kind of sinners that God saved. But
here it was, the defeat in a sad state of a nation. But here we
have a picture of our Lord's compassion for us. And that's
what I see in this, when David's sorrowing over Saul and over
Jonathan. Our Lord was truly a man of sorrow. and acquainted with grief. Let
me tell you something, his sorrow and grief just wasn't only because
of the fleshly pain that he had. He had that, especially on the
cross. But his sorrow and his grief
was over us, his people. Think about how many times he
sorrowed and grieved over his disciples and their sin. Over the nation Israel, he said,
oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft I would have gathered you
together as a mother hen gathers her chicks and you would not.
You see, in his humanity, he had the love of divine love of
God within him, you see, to love his neighbor as himself. And
he agreed. And the Bible says in John 13, 1, that he loved
his own, his own nation, his own people, his sheep, God's
elect, unto the end, unto the finishing of the work. So think
about our Lord's sorrow for us. And then look at verse 13. Now
listen to what happens here. Here's the true king executing
justice. David said unto the young man,
that is the Amalekite, that told him, Whence art thou? And he
answered, I am the son of a stranger, a foreigner, an Amalekite. This man was not part of the
covenant, the covenant of law that God gave to Israel on Mount
Sinai. He was outside the covenant.
He was an Amalekite. He was a stranger, a foreigner.
And verse 14, David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid
to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointing?
And what the implication here is this, is if you had any notion
or regard for God's covenant with his people, you would not
have even considered lifting your hand against the king. And so, verse 15, David called
one of the young men and said, Go near and fall upon him, and
he smote him that he died. And David said unto him, Thy
blood be upon thy head, for thy mouth hath testified against
thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed." What's happening
there? Was David just in a fit of anger?
No. It was the king. He wasn't yet
on the throne, but he was slated to be, and he was going to be
by God. And even now, he's executing justice. This Amalekite was expecting
a reward for what he did, and he got his just reward, which
is death. The wages of sin is death. And
I thought about this when I saw that, you know, there are going
to be multitudes of people who will appear before God at judgment,
expecting to be rewarded. But you know what they're going
to get? their just reward, which is death. You say, well, what
kind of people are they? Well, our Lord described them
in Matthew 7, 21, 22, and 23, when he said, many will come
and say unto me, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in thy
name? Haven't we preached? Haven't we done many wonderful
works, cast out demons? Only to hear him say, depart
from me, ye that worketh iniquity, for I never knew you. Let me
tell you who's going to get their just reward, like this Amalekite
guy. any sinner who appears before
God at judgment without Christ." That's right. They expect to
be rewarded because they preach. They expect to be rewarded because
they've cast out demons. They expect to be rewarded because
of their works or who they are or what they've done or what
they've tried to do. But, my friend, the only reward
of blessing that God will dispense on the Day of Judgment is the
reward of the eternal life that is found in Jesus Christ and
him crucified and risen again, the reward of grace. And that's
it. Anything else is the wages of
sin. Well, now, let's look at this
lament of David for Saul and Jonathan. Now, as I read through
that, it may seem strange to you. Especially in some ways
how David described Saul In fact, you might even thought this sounds
like most funeral today When they get up, you know the person
that's lying there lived like hell on earth And the preacher
preaches him right in the heaven or something or or says something
has nothing but nice things to say about like at one preacher
who? Preached about one guy. He said
I don't believe he was mean as mean as he always appeared to
be But he was. And some guy, one fellow said,
I heard a preacher preaching about a guy I knew, and he said
I had to get up and look in the casket to find out if this was
something, am I at the right funeral? And here you have that. And I know, you know, most people,
you know, that's what happens today. But this is not what that
is. This is a true heartfelt lament,
sorrow, over the situation, over the person. And this is what's
happening here. David asked this question three
times where he makes this statement in the form of a rhetorical question.
How are the mighty fallen? The mighty fallen. Look at it. David, verse 17, lamented with
his lamentation over Saul. Saul was included in David's
heart over Jonathan, his son. We can understand by appearances
how David would lament over Jonathan, but Saul? Saul, who was trying
to kill him? He says in verse 18, also he
made them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow.
This is sometimes called the song of the bow. And it's in
reference to Jonathan, who was a mighty warrior. Jonathan's
bow that he mentions later on. He says it's written in the book
of Jasher. That doesn't exist now, but it did. It was a book
of poetry, mentioned in the book of Joshua, I believe. A book
of poetry, Hebrew poetry. And he says in verse 19, I want
you to notice four things here about how the mighty are fallen
as we go through this. First of all, David identifies
the mighty. Who's he talking about? Verse
19, the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How are
the mighty fallen? The beauty of Israel. Think about
it. Saul was king. He was the leader. Samuel called him God's anointed. Somebody said, well, he was the
people's choice. That's true. He was the people's
choice, but God allowed that to go on. I don't know how he
purposed that to go on. He put him right there where
he was for his purpose. We know Saul had to be removed
eventually because the scepter wasn't going to depart from Judah
until Shiloh comes. But Saul was the leader. He was
the captain of the Lord's host. And then Jonathan. Jonathan was
the heir. He was the prince-in-waiting,
next in line. Saul was the Lord's anointed
king, the people's choice. Now Saul himself personally failed
miserably. He was a man of pride and unbelief
and disobedience. But all this, again, was well
within God's sovereign will to accomplish his intended purpose. Saul wouldn't have been on the
throne if God hadn't wanted him there. Now, you know that. And
listen, even though there's nothing beautiful about Saul personally,
Saul as king in that office could be described as the beauty of
Israel. He was king, that office. That
office in and of itself was a type of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, the King of kings. Somebody said, but didn't Saul
abuse that office? Yes, and so did many more, even
David later on. But that office was set up for
the express purpose of typifying and picturing the beauty of the
Lord. Who is the beauty of the Lord?
Christ. And just because the man who
held that office at a given time failed miserably, that doesn't,
now listen, that doesn't take away the beauty of the kingly
office. No more than a wicked high priest would take away from
the beauty of that office, or a wicked prophet from the beauty
of that office. Christ is our prophet, priest,
and king. And so even though there's nothing
beautiful about Saul, he was still king. Saul's beauty was
not in himself. Do you understand that? Saul's
beauty was not in himself, it was in his office. and in his
position. But let me tell you something,
even David's beauty was not in himself. That's that. Saul failed. Now, Saul himself
personally is an example of total apostasy, I believe. A person
who at one time had great heights of stature in office, in duty,
but who was only in appearance and he fell away from it completely.
Now, we know that God's people can stray from the faith. We
know that. David did it. We've done it. We see others do it. But those
who merely claim to know God but who do not really know God,
they can and they do fall away totally. And for that reason,
we have warnings in the Scriptures. I want you to look at several
of them. Look at 1 Corinthians 10. Now,
let me say something about these warnings. I was preaching down
south one time on these things, warnings. The book of Hebrews
is a book of warnings. And somebody accused me of preaching
legalism, because it sounds like a threat. But let me tell you
something. There's no warning in Scripture
that is legal, because I want to tell you. Every warning given
to any person for any reason by God is given to warn sinners
to flee where? To Christ. My friend, you cannot
flee to Christ and end up in Christ in a legalism or a legal
way. So these warnings are given not
to threaten us with hell or with damnation. Now that reality is
there. It's there. You can't get rid
of it. You might put it out of your mind, but it's still there.
But my friend, the warning is not to threaten you with hell.
The warning is to flee to Christ. You see what I'm saying? Look
at 1 Corinthians 10. Here in verse 11. Now he says,
all these things happened unto them for in samples or examples,
or literally that's types. Talking about Israel. And they're
written for our admonition, that's our learning, our teaching, our
encouragement, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore,
let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall." Now,
somebody says, well, could I fall? Well, my friend, if God would
ever let us go, we could. Now, we know that if we're in
Christ, he will never let us go. So what is our responsibility? Look to Christ, rest in Christ. Stay upon him. Lord, establish
me on Christ. And he says in verse 13, there
hath no temptation or testing taken you, but such is common
to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be
tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation
also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Now,
what is the way of escape? Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And he goes on to say, wherefore
my dearly brethren, flee from idolatry. Where are you going
to flee to? Flee to Christ. That's what the
warning is about. Let me show you another one.
Look at Galatians chapter 6. This is instruction from God
by the Apostle Paul on the recovery of a fallen brother or sister
in Christ. And listen to what he says here,
verse 1. He says, brethren, Galatians
6, if a man be overtaken in a fall, now we're all sinners. And what
he's saying is when one comes to a point in his or her life
where they are overtaken, consumed by sin, he says, you which are
spiritual, restore such in one, and how are you going to do it?
In the spirit of meekness. considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted." In other words, don't take this attitude, well,
I'd never do that. Have you ever heard somebody
say that? I tell you, what will a believer
do? A believer will do anything an unbeliever will do but for
the grace of God. Now, you mark it down. Are we
capable of that or this? Somebody says, well, I'm not
even capable of that. That's not meekness, that's pride. Listen to what he says, verse
2. You know, the minute we take that attitude, well, I'd never
do that. You'd never catch me doing that. That's exactly what
verse 3 is directed to you. You think you're something when
you're nothing. you're deceiving yourself. So
he says in verse 4, let every man prove his own work and then
shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. In
other words, you're rejoicing be over the fact that God has
saved you by grace and kept you in Christ and not over the fall
of somebody else wherein you think in pride, well, I could
never do that. If that's your rejoicing, you're rejoicing in
another. Just get on your knees. Get on
my knees and thank God that he saved us and kept us, and is
keeping us, and will bring us to glory. Let me show you one
more. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2. Now he gives instruction here
on what to do and what not to do. Look at 2 Timothy 2 and verse
19. Here he's been talking about
those who had sown discord in the church, in the fellowship,
by different means, saying, and he says, they have erred concerning
the truth, and he says in verse 19 of 2 Timothy 2, nevertheless
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this field, the
Lord knoweth them that are his." Now, God knows his people, and
let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
He is talking about that division, that discord. that's being sung. Depart from that. Don't be a
part of it. He says now, listen to what he
says, verse 20. But in a great house there are
not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and
of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Now what do
you suppose he's saying there? He said in this great house there's
both believers and unbelievers. There's wheat and tares, sheep
and goats. Verse 21. If a man therefore
purge himself from these, these dissenters, these ones who are
so in division and discord, he shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified, set apart, and made for the master's use, and prepared
unto every good work." Now, that's a warning, and it's not legalism,
not in the least. Just like with Saul back here. Go back to 2 Samuel 1. Saul went
the way of the world. He went the way of the flesh.
He went the way of unbelief and disobedience. And what God's
telling David, He's telling us to stay away from that. Stay
away from that. And we know we're capable. We
know that we're capable of the worst thing if God doesn't keep
us. Saul lost his beauty because
his beauty was temporary. It was in the flesh. He's like
those that are described in the psalm. They're like sheep. They're
laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them, and
the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and
their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling."
You know, as I said before, our true beauty, think about this,
the Church's true beauty is Christ. It's not our own, it's not ourselves,
but it's Christ. He is our beauty. Psalmist wrote
in Psalm 27, verse 4, "...one thing have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple." How do you behold the beauty
of the Lord? I'll tell you how John the Baptist
said it, behold the Lamb of God, which beareth away the sin of
the world. And in him, the Church is called the perfection of beauty.
Psalm 50 and verse 2, "...out of thine, the perfection of beauty,
God hath shone." What's he saying? Our beauty is Christ. It's not
our own. It's not our own. We'll look
back at 2 Samuel 1. He says in verse 20, "...tell
it not to gap, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon, lest
the daughters of the listings rejoice, lest the daughters of
the uncircumcised try." Don't publish this among the heathen.
Verse 21, he says, "...ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew,
neither let there be rain." David, in his prayer, calling upon nature
to empathize with him. And he says, "...upon you, nor
the fields of offering." Now, here's the second thing. How
are the mighty fallen? He says, "...for there the shield
of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul." And
literally, it's not anointed with oil. In other words, Saul
is no longer king. What duty he had, he lost. He
was vilely cast away. The shield of Saul. You know,
men of old, they anointed their shields. And they carried those
shields in the battle with pride. Sometimes on those shields, they'd
have their family crest. Sometimes they'd even have a
story on those shields, a story of valor. They'd say, I had a
saying that said, carry your shield home or be carried home
upon your shield, but don't cast your shield away. That's how
important it was. Well, Saul's shield was cast
away. He was not anointed anymore. Here's a man who never really
knew God. He really was a pagan. I want
to ask you a question. What was Saul's shield? What
was his shield? Well, turn back to Jeremiah chapter
9, that I read in the opening verse, or the opening of the
service. Here, verse 23, I believe, describes
those things that by nature men seek to shield themselves with.
This is their defense. Thus saith the Lord, Jeremiah
9, 23. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Men use human wisdom as their
shield. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Men use human power as their
shield. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. Men use human wealth as their
shield. That was Saul's shield. Mighty Saul. Stood head and shoulders
above everybody else. the people's choice. Outward
appearance, he's the man. Couldn't be anybody else. All
of his power, all of his riches, all of his wisdom, all of his
might have been totally cast away. That's right. His shield didn't stand the test
of the enemy. And that's why the Lord says
in verse 24, let him that glorieth, glorieth in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I'm the Lord which exercise lovingkindness,
that's his mercy, his grace, his love, judgment, that's his
holiness and justice and righteousness, his truth, in the earth. Now, do you notice he said there
he does that in the earth? Where in the earth does he do
it? That's exactly where, Mount Calvary. That's where the Lord
exercised loving kindness, judgment, righteousness. When Christ was
made sin and died for the sins of his people, God was exercising
his love, his mercy, his grace, but also his justice, his holiness,
his righteousness against sin. He was both a just God and a
Savior. And my friend, if you know that,
not just as a fact, But as life itself has convinced by the Holy
Spirit, if you truly know that, you want glory in your own wisdom,
your own power, or your own riches, your glory in Christ. And I'll tell you something,
that's a shield that will turn away every enemy. Christ is a
shield that will shield you from all of Satan's arrows. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It is Christ
that dies. The song of the redeemed, worthy
of the Lamb. Revelation chapter 12, when Satan
throws his accusations, how do we turn him back? By the blood
of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
is our Savior. That's what Saul was missing.
He was missing Christ. He had a lot of power. He had
position. He had riches. He had some worldly
wisdom. But he had no defense. He had
no shield. He had no Christ. Look back at
2 Samuel 1. Look down here. It says in verse
22, From the blood of the slain and
the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back,
and the sword of Saul returned not empty." They killed a lot
of enemies, but in the end they were killed. Saul and Jonathan
were lovely and pleasant in their lives, that is, in their office,
in their ways. And in their death they were
not divided. Jonathan stuck with his father. They were swifter
than eagles, stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep
over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with other delights.
To put on ornaments of gold upon your affair, I believe that's
referring to the economic wealth and prosperity that Israel had
under Saul's reign, and they did. But look at verse 25. Here's the third thing. How are
the mighty fallen? Look at it. In the midst of the
battle. In the midst of the battle. Old
Jonathan now was slain in nine high places. You see, the battle
wasn't over. They were slain in the middle
of the battle. The race wasn't finished. The crown had not yet
been won. You see, we who truly believe,
we're in a conflict, and it's a constant conflict. It's a constant
battle all of our lives, a battle with the world, with the flesh,
with the devil. And what does the Scripture tell
us? It tells us only those who endure to the end shall be saved. Now somebody says, well that
sounds legal to me. No, it's not legal at all. It's
not legal at all because how we defy this battle, this constant
battle that we're in with ourselves, with our enemies, how are we
to fight it? Ephesians 6 says, Be strong in the might and the
power of the Lord. Be strong in His word. His word
is our sword. Go to God's Word. Don't go seek
wisdom from men. Go to God's Word. We run the
race, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
That's how we run the race. That's how we fight the battles.
We put on the whole armor of God. That's not only our defense,
but it's our offense. How are the mighty fallen? He
said, Jonathan, thou wast slain in the high places. Those high
places can denote high office. Paul was king. Jonathan was a
prince. Think about Judas, he was with
the apostles. High places are safe places,
well fortified. Located in his own country, Saul
was. That's where this battle was
fought. His own soldiers. But he chose to stand alone.
He went off by himself. Turned his back on God's people.
And he was slain in the midst of the battle. We know that it's
the Lord who keeps But we're to persevere in the faith, looking
unto Christ. Looking in the power of God.
And then lastly, look here. He says in verse 26, I'm distressed
for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been
unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women. What that's talking about is
the kind of love that Jonathan and David had for each other
was godly love. It was divine love. It was love
that'll never be broken. That's the kind of love that
Christ has for his people and we have for each other. That's
the love of God that's shed abroad in the hearts of his people.
It's not anything vague or anything ugly or anything contaminated. It is totally love that God has
for his people and sheds abroad in our hearts. And then verse
27, how are the mighty fallen? and the weapons of war perished."
That's the fourth one. Our weapons are perished, that's
what he's saying. The weapons of those who have fallen are
perished. Well, what are our weapons? Well, Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 10, he said, the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but our weapons are spiritual. Our weapons are aimed at high
places, to the pulling down of strongholds. Our weapons are
the word of God and his You see, we have an offensive, and it's
the preaching of the word of God. And it brings about the
offense of the cross. And it's preached out of the
church, out of Zion, which is the pillar and ground of truth.
And when men take that truth away or water down that truth
or contaminate that truth with their own ideas, then the offense
goes down. The weapons begin to perish.
But you see, when Saul didn't use the weapons that God would
give the king of Israel, which is the power of God on high,
the priesthood, the prophecy from Samuel, and all the prophets,
the office of king in the mighty field. We have nothing with which
to go on the offense of our enemies but the word of God, Christ,
the living word, the written word, the preached word. And
this is the word of faith by which we fight this battle against
our enemy. All right. Let's sing of our
closing hymn, hymn number 53, How Sweet the Sound.