All right, 1 Samuel chapter 26,
as we continue, as I said, studying the life of David, first of all,
as a type of Christ, and secondly, as an example of sinners saved
by the grace of God. Now, in verse 13, we find David,
after he had spoken to his captain, Abishai, who wanted to kill Saul
when they had that opportunity, and David Basically told him,
he said, we're not to do that, God's going to take care of it,
this is God's business, you see. Whenever man disobeys God in
those ways, that's man again declaring his independence. That's
what happened in the fall, Adam declaring his independence from
God. But David knew that he had no right, he had no commandment
from God to kill Saul. Saul was going to be removed
by God. Then in verse 13, he rebukes Abner, Saul's main captain,
the general of Saul's army. And that's what verses 13 through
16 is about. Abner was responsible for the
king's well-being. He was responsible. He had the
authority and the power to protect the king. But what we realize
here, he had no power. He had no power, number one,
that was not given him providentially by God. And secondly, he had
no power over God. As we read back up in verse 12,
it was the Lord who put that deep sleep upon Saul and his
army so that David and Abishai could go right into the midst
of them where Saul lay sleeping and take Saul's spear and that
jug of water and go back across away from that army. He says,
then, David, verse 13, went over to the other side and stood on
the top of a hill far off, a great space being between them, a great
space between Saul and his 3,000 and David and his 600. And, of course, we see another
great example here in the providence and power of God, which shows
us that when God's on your side, or when you're on God's side,
rather, we might put it that way, numbers among men mean nothing. And, you know, you'd think David
would have learned that lesson very, very, very well. But, you
know, later on when he becomes king, we find him sinning a great
sin when he took upon himself to number Israel. Why did he
do that? Well, because he began to think
in a fleshly way to strengthen numbers. And we know that he
was doing something there that only God can do. You don't number
what you don't own. And David didn't own that army.
He didn't own the people. God did. Only God can number
his people and name his people. But here, by illustration, David
understood well that it's not the numbers. Saul had 3,000 chosen
choice men. But the power of God was with
David, God's anointed. And no man, no number of men,
no weapon can overcome the power of God. I love that passage in
Isaiah chapter 54. That's what I preached on up
in Michigan this past weekend. where it talks about, by an illustration
in a symbol, where the people of God lay desolate like a city
that's been destroyed. But God sends his power and his
ministers to rebuild the city and fortify it, and he tells
them, he says, no weapon that's formed against you shall prosper. In other words, you cannot be
destroyed. We are as invincible in that sense eternally and spiritually
as our God is invincible. Now, we're weak in ourselves.
We're powerless within ourselves. But God is all-powerful. And
that's our strength. It's not ourselves, it's Christ.
And we're going to see that. But Abner was responsible here,
and David was very bold. Listen to what he says, verse
14, David cried to the people, and to Abner, the son of Nerus,
saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? And Abner answered, Who art thou
that cries to the king? David said to Abner, Art thou
not a valiant man? Art you a strong, noble, loyal
man? And who is like to thee? And
if there is nobody to compare to you, and apparently Abner
must have been the strongest, the best warrior that Saul had. Nobody to compare him to. So he says, Well, why then? Have
you not kept Saul protected? You're king. Here comes one out
of the people, one of the people, in to destroy the king thy Lord.
It was within our power to do so. And he says in verse 16,
this thing's not good that thou hast done as the Lord liveth.
You're worthy of death. Worthy of death. You see, David's
very bold here. But let me tell you something
about this boldness. It doesn't come from David, it comes from
the Lord. It's by the grace of God that
David is so bold, even in this. You know, the greatest source
of courage in spiritual life is to know the power and grace
of God in Christ and to follow his word. That's what Paul wrote
to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, right
before he began to lift the whole armor of God. Listen to what
he says in verse 10. He says, Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord, because there's only strength in the
Lord. That's why he says it. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles, the deceits
of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Think about the power of Christ
in our salvation. Think about what he went through
in his lowest moments when he suffered the derision and the
humiliation and the pain of physical torture under the hands of men
whom he created. Back there in Isaiah 54, when
God tells him that no weapon that's formed shall come against
you or prosper, he reminds them that the blacksmith that makes
those weapons that come against you, he created the blacksmith. He gave him the skill to do that.
And the material that the blacksmith used to form those weapons was
from God. So you have nothing to fear,
he says, in the power and the might of Christ. And that's the
same thing, I think, about the nails that they used to put into
the hands and the feet of our Savior. He's the one who created
the elements that come together, and the blacksmith that made
those nails, the wood of the cross came from a tree that God
planted and created and caused to grow. the thorny crown, all
of it, the people that were there, God's the one who gave them the
next breath that they took. When that fellow raised up that
hammer to put the nail in his hand, God's the one who gave
him the strength to do it. And so here's Christ at his lowest
moment, at his lowest moment on the cross because of our sins
charged to him. Here's David, for example, at
his lowest moment, you might say. You say, well, when he was
standing there having the opportunity to kill Saul, that was a high
moment. But you have to remember, David was a fugitive. David was
a fugitive from the king. He was hunted. He was an outcast. This one who was a man after
God's own heart, this one who had already defeated Goliath
by the power of God, this one who was anointed to be the king
of Israel and would eventually become the most powerful and
the greatest king of Israel, was a fugitive and an outcast
running for his life. And in the next chapter, you're
going to see something that I'll say it'll amaze you, but it shouldn't.
We're going to see him running scared. We're going to see him
in a moment of unbelief. So David was just a man. Here
he is at his lowest moment. Well, that's a picture of our
Savior at his lowest moment. But at his lowest moment came
what? The greatest victory. In his
lowest moment, as God-man mediator, he conquered sin, he conquered
Satan and the curse of the law, he redeemed his people from their
sins, he paid our sin debt, he established an everlasting, unchangeable
righteousness whereby God could justify us at his lowest moment. Now, that's the power of God.
That's the boldness of our Savior. And this boldness that David
displays right here, it's boldness that is of God, not of man. Think
back when David was playing the madman,
playing the fool, before Achish, king of Gath. That wasn't one
of the high points of his life, was it? I think about the prophets,
how bold they were at times. Elijah. You remember when Elijah
stood boldly and prayed that prayer? against the prophets
of Baal and prayed that God would send down fire from heaven and
consume that sacrifice and that altar that they poured water
all over? Well, Elijah, that same bold, courageous, valiant
man ran from a woman named Jezebel. Ran scared, like a whipped pup. Well, aren't we fickle? Day to
day, it's something different with us, isn't it? But listen,
day to day, it's the same with the Lord and the power of His
might, and it never changes. Where does the boldness to stand
against the enemies of Christ, even our own unbelieving family
members come from? It comes from God. Look over
Matthew chapter 10 with me. Let me show you this. In verse
16, this is the Lord. He's sending out His disciples
to preach the gospel. And he says in verse 16 of Matthew
chapter 10, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of
wolves. Now that doesn't sound like a
pleasant experience that would perpetrate positive thinking
in the psychology of today's religion. You're like sheep in
the midst of wolves. What happens to sheep in the
midst of wolves? They get killed and eaten, unless there's a shepherd
there. who's strong enough to turn back
the wolves and kill them and preserve the sheep, keep the
sheep safe. That's why sheep need a shepherd. We have the best shepherd of
all. We have the chief shepherd. We have the good shepherd. We
have the shepherd of all shepherds. We have Christ. And so he says
in the midst of woods, Be ye therefore wise as serpents and
harmless as doves. The word harmless means simple.
And I don't know, I don't believe he's telling him to be simple
minded there or to be simpletons. I think he's just simply saying,
keep it simple. That's right. Don't complicate
it up like a lot of preachers do today. Keep it simple. Keep it straightforward. Keep
it right on line with Christ and Him crucified and risen again.
He says, verse 17, But beware of men, for they will deliver
you up to councils, they will scourge you in their synagogues. In other words, you're going
to go to church to get a whipping. That's what that literally means. Their
synagogues, that was their religious gatherings. When you show up
at their worship service, they're going to scourge you. They're
going to get out there, whips, and beat you. He says in verse
18, and remember why that is. It's because of our message now.
It's our message of grace in Christ, salvation, all of grace. It doesn't allow men to rest
comfortably in their false refuge of works and experience religion.
It exposes them for what they are. It tells them that the righteousness
that they've been working on all these years is nothing but
dumb when compared to Christ. And it's his blood and his righteousness
alone. And that's why they'll scourge
you in the synagogues. That's why they'll take you up
before councils. And he says in verse 18, you'll
be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony
against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up,
now listen to this. Now here, this proves that the
power in those times, these worst of times, these lowest of times,
when we're the weakest and when we're most frightened, fear of
men, He says, but when they deliver you up, take no thought how or
what you shall speak. Now, I want you to think about
something, because I don't believe he's saying there, don't think
about what you're going to say, because the Bible teaches us
to be thinkers. Now, some people think that the
Bible teaches us to be stinkers, but it doesn't. It teaches us
to be thinkers. Thinkers. Think on these things. The scripture commands us. But
here's what he's saying. He's saying your thoughts and
your courage and your boldness at these times is not going to
come from you. Look at it. For it shall be given you in
the same hour what you shall speak. And he says, for it is
not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh
in you. The indwelling presence of the
Holy Spirit by the word of God. He'll tell you what to say. tell
you what to say. You don't have to come up with
clever lines and things that will impress men. And that's
why he says over in verse 28 of Matthew 10, fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body
in hell. Don't fear men. Well, when David
trusts the Lord and follows God's will, such as in the issue of
vengeance, Then he's bold, and he should be bold. But you remember
David's behavior back in chapter 21, as I mentioned before, when
he played the madman in Gath in front of the king of Achish,
when he pretended madness. Well, David, we're going to see
Sunday night that in chapter 27, he's going to return there
in that foolishness in chapter 27, when he flees from Saul. And like I said, somebody wrote
this, what fickle creatures humans are. Christ can have our faith
and love when the sun is shining and our doubts and disdain when
a storm comes. That's us, isn't it? That's us. Lord, help us. Lord, keep us.
It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Isn't that
right? And it's a good and necessary thing that our whole salvation
from beginning to final culmination is upon Jesus Christ The same
yesterday, today and forever. See, we're not the same. David
wasn't the same. In fact, if you didn't know it,
you'd say the same man that's standing here talking to Saul
and Abner is not the same man that you'll see in chapter 27,
but he's the same fella. That's one thing that always
stays the same. We're the same as we always are. Who we were. We change in our behavior. But we're still the same person.
But Christ never changes. God never changes. That's why
He said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, for that reason,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He's the one who will never leave
nor forsake us. That's what He says. And that's
His eternal, unchangeable righteousness is ours. You see, if David's
behavior, and we're going to talk about that over here in
verse 23, if David's behavior and his performances and his
doing was his righteousness before God, here in chapter 26, let
me tell you what happened to him in 27. He lost it all. He lost it all in chapter 27.
So we need one that can't be lost. We need a righteousness
that can't be lost. Now where am I going to find
that? Where are you going to find that? in Christ, who is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. His righteousness is eternal
and unchangeable, and that's what I need. That's what you
need. Without it, there's no salvation.
Well, David tells Abner, he says, you're worthy of death. You're
worthy of death. But now look down here at verse
17. Now here's Saul, here's David calling to Abner. And he tells
him, he said, is this thy voice, my son David? Verse 17. Now notice
the words of Saul. He says, my son David. This is
the one he's trying to kill. And David said, well, it's my
voice, O king. And he says to the king, why
are you pursuing me, your servant? For what have I done? What have
I done to you, Saul? To earn your hatred and your
derision. And you're evil. What evil is
in my hand? Now, David's not saying here,
I'm sinlessly perfect. I'm pure as the drifting snow
in myself. All my thoughts and all my ways
are just perfect. That's not what David is saying
at all. David knew his sinfulness. Read the Psalms, and you can
see that. Read David's own writings, his
meditations upon himself. He says it plainly over and over
again. I'm a sinner. I need mercy and
grace continually. Lord, if you would mark iniquities,
I wouldn't stand." Who would stand? My hope is in the blood
and the righteousness of my Savior. He's my surety. He said, this
is all my hope and all my salvation because God's made a covenant
with me. It's a covenant of grace in Christ. It's ordered in all
things by God, and it's sure because Christ is my surety.
But here, David, is just telling Saul, I've done nothing to you
to deserve this. Now, you know, a lot of times
when you have these situations, somebody's after somebody, somebody
says, well, we're all sinners, we deserve it. Now, listen to
me. We deserve justice from God. That's right. If God were to
deal with me in strict justice according to my behavior, I deserve
damnation. Let me put it to you as plainly
as I can. I don't deserve it from you. And you don't deserve
it from me. Because you know why? We're all
in the same boat. That's right. You're no more
deserving of salvation than I am, and I'm no more deserving of
salvation than you are. And the Bible tells us to love
one another and to treat each other right. and to be forgiving
and to be patient and understanding. That's what the Bible teaches
us. We don't always do it. And boy, I know people come down
hard on you when you don't. And they're just hypocrites because
they don't either. They don't either. What am I
saying? I'm saying that we're all sinners
in need of salvation by God's grace. And that's what David
is saying here. What have I done to stir you
up against me that won't make you want to kill me? He said,
I've done nothing. I've had two opportunities to kill you, to
put you out of my life and haven't done it. Vengeance belongs to
the Lord. I don't have that kind of right. To exercise justice
over you, because if I got justice, I'd be killed, too. In that sense. You see, we did get justice,
but we get it in Christ. It's justice with mercy. So he's
saying, what evil's in my hand? So he says in verse 19 there,
well, I pray thee, let my Lord the King hear the words of his
servant. If the Lord has stirred thee up against me. If the Lord
is stirring you up and motivating you to come after me. In other
words, if your hatred of me and your desire to kill me, if that's
of the Lord, then let him accept an offering. Now, as I told you
last week, There's some differences over what that means. Something
that means this. That David is saying this, if
God is using you, Saul, righteously to chastise me, then I'll bring
an offering and confession of my sin before the Lord, if that's
the reason you're after me. But if it's because they have
been saying things to you, in other words, if it's men, he
says, but if they be the children of men, if it's men stirring
you up against me. Being cursed, be they. be they
before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day. And all
they're trying to do is turn me toward an idol, get out away
from the promises and from the mercy of God and go serve other
gods. That's really what they're doing.
So he said, if it's God that's stirring you up to come after
me, then I'll bring an offering, confess my sin. And he says,
if it's men, then curse be they. But now there's another way to
look at this, and I believe this is more correct. Now, David is
saying to Saul, Saul, if God is stirring you up and motivating
you to come against me, then I will offer myself as a sacrifice
to God's justice. If it's God doing it, then I
deserve exactly what you're doing, what I'm going to get. But now,
if it's men, and that's what it usually is, then curse be
they. Curse be they. Now you think
about David knew that to oppose and seek to depose God's anointed
was a crime worthy of death. In other words, this is the issue,
God's king, God's time, God's providence. Look at verse 21
now. He says, then said Saul. Notice this. These are the last
words between Saul and David that's ever spoken in the Bible
between those two men right here. There's nothing else recorded
in the Bible that has an exchange between Saul and David. And this
is it. And listen to this. He says,
Then said Saul, I have sinned, returned my son David, for I
will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine
eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool,
and have erred exceedingly. Saul playing the fool. Now that's
why I named this message, titled this message, What Part Are You
Playing? You're either playing the fool, or you're playing the
wise. Am I right? One or the other.
Now, that's not to say that even believers cannot sometimes act
foolishly. Sometimes we do. I think it was
Shakespeare that said, all the world's a stage. You heard that? And all the men and women merely
players. They have their exits and they
have their entrances and one man in his time plays many parts. Now, the Bible teaches us And
all men by nature are what? Fools. Fools. Do you know what is the height
of foolishness? Unbelief. That's the height of
foolishness. The height of wisdom is faith
in Christ, who is our wisdom. Psalm 14.1 and Psalm 53.1, two
times the exact words. Here it is. The fool hath said
in his heart, there is no God. Now, if you look in your Bibles,
on those two verses, you'll see the phrase, there is, is in italics. And so it would read like this.
The fool hath said in his heart, no God. And I believe, as many
of the scholars do, that It's not saying that the fool hath
said in his heart that God does not exist. I believe what he
means is this, the fool hath said in his heart, no God for
me. No God for me. He goes on to
say, corrupt are they and have done abominable iniquity and
there is none that doeth good. Paul quoted that in Romans chapter
3 by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There's none good, none
righteous, none that doeth good. A foolish man in the Bible is
one who trusts in himself, not God. That's what Saul was doing. He said, I played the fool. Somebody
said that's man's favorite sport. Playing the fool. Man's favorite
part. Because you see, it doesn't take
a whole lot of effort. You don't have to get dressed up and put
on theatrical makeup and become a method actor to play the fool. Because that's what we already
are by nature. That's born in this world dead and trespasses
us in. Fallen in Adam, as foolish as
Adam. No God for me. We will not have
this man to rule over us. That's the fool. And so the fool
is one who trusts in himself. He trusts himself, his own ways,
his own ideas, his own righteousness. That's right. Christ told the
Pharisees, you are they who see yourselves as righteous in your
sight and despise others. You think yourselves to be righteous,
but you're not. They trust in themselves that
they were righteous. And that's when he delivered
the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. And he showed the
folly of looking at a religious person's outward countenance
and their dedication and their show and calling that wisdom. But here's an old hated despised
publican just simply beating on his breast saying, God be
merciful, propitious literally, to me the sinner. Well, you're
telling everything you know, publican. You're telling people
that you're a sinner. You're letting your dirty laundry
air out there. Doesn't seem too wise to me.
Well, it is. Because that's a sinner who flees
to Christ. A foolish man fails to hear and
obey God's Word. What part are we playing? Proverbs
10 and verse 8 says, the wise in heart will receive commandments.
Whose? God's. But a prating fool shall
fall." You know what a prating fool is? That's one who's always
given a reason or an excuse why he either ignores or doesn't
follow the Word of God. Oh, you don't know what I've
been through. If you've gone through the same
thing I've gone through, you do it the same way I do. That's
a prating fool. Prating fool. Foolish to know
and to ignore God's Word and refuse to follow it. And then
a fool allows his passions and desires to control him. That's
what Saul was doing. Saul didn't want to stop being
king. He wanted to stay on the throne.
That was his passion. God had other plans. But Saul
followed his own passions. You know, over there in Romans
7, I believe it's verse 4 or 5, I can't remember which. It
talks about, Paul writes, when we were in the flesh, meaning
unregenerate, not born again, unbelieved. He says, the motions
of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. Now that word motions of sin
there, look it up in Romans 7, is passions. The passions of
sin. What are the passions of sin?
Well, as I've told you before, I believe it manifests itself
in one of two ways. It will either manifest itself
in a sinner, an unregenerate sinner, seeking to fulfill his
own material, selfish lust as a rebel against everything that
God stands for, or everything that God commands, like a person
who is just totally immoral, has no shame, utterly no conscience,
who doesn't care about anybody but himself, a murderer, A materialistic,
rich fool who just goes about to get all he can get and basically,
as he would say it, to hell with everybody else. That's the passions
of sin. Or, it can manifest itself as
it did in Saul of Tarsus, a man who's doing his best to work
his way to heaven. passions. He passionately, Paul
said they have a zeal of God, Romans 10, but not according
to have a passion for religion, a passion for church going, a
passion for keeping the rules, a passion for witnessing. The
Lord told the Pharisees, you come to sin land to get one convert. When you've got him, what have
you got? He's twofold more the child held than you are. They're
passionate about their morality, about their giving. strict, but
they're still fools because that kind of passion without Christ,
without grace, without truth, without righteousness, is foolish.
Either way, it's a fool. The Bible says in Proverbs 14,
16, a wise man feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rageth
and is confident. A fool listens to other fools,
did you notice that? That's what he always does. The
way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth
unto counsel is wise. A fool pursues the things of
this world with no regard or value of the things of God. No
regard or value for the Word of God, for the fellowship of
God's people, the worship of God. That's a fool. Think about
the rich man that the Lord used in that parable in Luke chapter
12, who was filling up his barns, he filled them so full he had
nothing left to do but to build bigger barns, and he says in
verse 20 of Luke 12, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be
required of thee. Then whose shall those things
be which thou hast provided? That was Saul. Not literally. Same kind of felon. That's what
Saul wanted. He wanted to keep that throne,
but to descend right down to his descendants. But you see,
he played the fool. That was his part. What's our
part? Look at Matthew chapter 7 with
me. I've referred to this a few weeks back in another message,
but it won't hurt for us to look at it again. You see, here's wisdom. Right
here. Matthew 7, 24, Sermon on the
Mount, the conclusion. Christ had showed these people
the way of eternal life. It's a narrow way. It's a straight
gate and a narrow way. It's a way of grace. It's a way
of righteousness, not yours, not mine, but God's in Christ.
He says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
all these things will be added to you. It's a way of mercy. And so he says in verse 24 of
Matthew 7, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built
his house upon the rock." What part are we playing? Are we building our house on
the rock? Who is that rock? That's Christ. Build your house
on the rock, Christ Jesus. Be passionate for Christ and
His glory. Be as passionate as John the
Baptist. When he said, He must increase,
I must decrease. Are you passionate about anything?
Well, if it's anything but Christ and his glory and his grace and
his truth and his word, you've got the passion of a fool like
Saul. That's right. But build your
house on the rock, and he says, the rain descended, the floods
came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell
not, for it was founded upon a rock. Here's the issue. On
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." He's the rock of our foundation. He's
the tested rock, the tried rock, the sure foundation, the chief
cornerstone. He's the rock from which the
water of life comes when he was struck one time on the cross. And then verse 26, And everyone
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall
be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the
sand, a foolish man now. And the rain descended, the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it
fell, and great was the fall of it. You see, there's the difference
between the wise and the foolish. What part are we playing? Think
about that. Look back at 1 Samuel 26. Let
me conclude. Here's David's response, verse
22, David answered and said, Behold, the king's spear, and
let one of the young men come over and fetch it. He gave the
spear back. That's a weapon of war. That character I saw. He
was a man of war, a man of blood, a murderer. The only way he felt
he could keep the kingdom was by force. That's representative
of man's works and efforts trying to get into the kingdom and stay
into the kingdom of God. But he can't do it. It takes
the power of God. He didn't give him back the jug
of water. Wonder why? Well, it doesn't really say,
but I suspect if you want to carry the symbolism through,
that jug of water, water is not anything for war. It's the provision
of God. You see, that spear was a man
made with, and that water wasn't a man made anything. God made
that. And that water represents the
word of life, the water of life, Christ. That's what characterized
David, you see. The water of life, that's what
he wanted. That meant more to him than all
the spears that Saul's blacksmiths and weaponsmiths, or whatever
they called them, could muster up. And so he says in verse 23,
the Lord rendered to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness.
What he's saying there, David, first of all, he ignored Saul's
invitation. You remember Saul said, come
on over with me, and David ignored that, and he didn't return to
Saul. He knew Saul was a hearer of the word and not a doer. He
knew Saul was a hypocrite. He knew Saul wasn't going to
keep his word. You know that, what's that saying?
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool
me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Well,
he'd seen enough, you see. And so he ignored him and then
he expresses here his innocence of the crime against Saul. He's
not boasting of his own righteousness before God here. When he says
in verse 23, the Lord rendered to every man his righteousness
and faithfulness. First of all, our only righteousness
before God is Christ. That's why the Bible calls Him
Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord Our Righteousness. And then Christ is our righteousness
before God. He's our justifying righteousness.
Now, if David were claiming his own personal righteousness before
God, again, he's going to lose it in the next chapter. It's
a goner in the next chapter. You read it on further. Our righteousness
is not like that. It's Christ. It's eternal and
unchangeable. And what David is saying here
is, so the Lord is going to judge ultimately all things between
me and you. I'll leave it in God's hands
is what he's saying. I'm going to act according to God's justice,
and I'm going to act in faithfulness towards Him. That's by the grace
of God. And he says that, he says, for the Lord delivered
thee into my hand today, that I would not stretch forth mine
hand against the Lord's anointed. And look at verse 24. Here he
says, and behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine
eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord,
and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. I'm totally
dependent upon God for my well-being. And my friend, we are too. That's
wisdom. You know that? That's wisdom. David's playing the wise man
here. And he is a wise man. He's wise in the ways of the
Lord. Sometimes he'll act foolishly, sometimes we do. But our wisdom
is not our own. Our wisdom is Christ's. That's
why 1 Corinthians 1.34, of God, are we in Christ, who is made
of God unto us, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, or sanctification,
and redemption. And so it concludes here. He
says, David, the Lord's going to deliver me out of all trouble.
And so Saul's words are concluded here to David. Then Saul said
to David, blessed be thou my son David, thou shalt both do
great things and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his
way and Saul returned to his place. Saul's prediction of David's
success was true. He spoke the truth. But it comes
from a proud, resentful, and deceitful heart. And even the
wicked sometimes speak the truth. Did you know that? But God's
children speak and live the truth of His grace in Christ as it
is in our hearts. And that's the difference. It's
the grace of God.