Now 1 Samuel 24, beginning in
verse 1, And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following
the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David
is in the wilderness of Engedi. Now Saul was constantly fighting
the Philistines, and you'd think after a while he would remember
all the great victories that David won against the Philistines,
and you'd think he would want to restore David back to his
fellowship and back to his court So David can handle these Philistines.
But Saul is so blinded by his hatred of David and he's so blinded
by his desire for his own fame that he will never do that. And
that's just like men by nature. We are blind to see our need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. By nature, we're so full of self-righteousness
that we go about to establish our own righteousness and will
not submit ourselves to the righteousness of God. Our depraved nature is
the exact same nature that Saul's got. We would rather fail in
our attempts to establish our own righteousness rather than
become mercy beggars before God and beg Him to impute the perfect
righteousness of Christ to us. We would rather fail in our attempts
to establish our own righteousness that submit to the righteousness
of Christ that's already accepted by the Father. That's our dead
nature. Well, verse 2, "...then Saul
took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and he went
to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats."
Now, these mountains are so rocky that only a mountain goat can
survive and thrive up there. Only a mountain goat can get
a foothold among those big rocks and boulders, you know, they
just leap from rock to rock and they're fine. A mountain goat's
the only animal that can survive up there and just eat the little
bit of vegetation that grows among all those rocks. There's
no soil, it's just rocks. So that sounds like that's a
good place to hide if you don't want men to come get you, isn't
it? Well, let's read on, verse 3. And he came to the sheep coats
by the way. where was a cave, and Saul went
in to cover his feet. He went in there to take a nap
in the heat of the day, and David and his men remained in the sides
of the cave. Now, this rocky area has a lot
of caves in it, and the sheep coats that are mentioned here
are caves. They're large caves where shepherds bring their sheep
in the heat of the day. They bring their sheep in there
so they can have some cool air and be protected from the heat
of the day. They can be sheltered from storms. They can be protected
from predators and so forth in these caves. Well, Saul is going
to go into one of these caves to rest in the heat of the day,
take him a little afternoon nap, and he comes to the very cave
where David and his men are already resting. Isn't that a coincidence?
Now we know David is a picture of Christ. David wasn't up there
in those rocks where goats live. David is a shepherd. David was
resting in a place where a shepherd would bring his sheep. And that
is exactly where you find the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't
find Christ out there among the goats. You will never find Christ
in the place where the goats gather preaching a false gospel
He will never honor a lie with his presence. You find Christ
where you find his sheep. You find where Christ's sheep
gather, and that's where he's going to be. He said it himself,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them. He's in the sheep coats with
his sheep. That's where you're going to find him. Well, Saul
comes into this cave, but look at verse four. He laid down to
take a nap, and the men of David said unto him, Behold the day
of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine
enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall
seem good unto thee. Then David arose and cut off
the skirt of Saul's robe privily." Now it seems obvious to us, doesn't
it, that the Lord brought Saul there at that time so David could
kill him and assume the throne. Today's the day he's going to
assume the throne. That's what it would seem logical
to this fletch. And there Saul lay. He's asleep. He's defenseless. And David could
have killed him. Which is exactly what his men
were encouraging David to do. And when David got up, he may
have had the intention of killing Saul. I don't know. But when
he got there, he didn't kill him. He just cut off a piece
of Saul's robe. And without question, that was
a mercy flap. Without question. Read on here,
verse 5. It came to pass afterward, that
David's heart smote him because he cut off Saul's skirt. I mean,
just imagine how his heart would have smote him if he killed Saul.
His heart smote him. His conscience bothered him because
he cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. It bothered him. He should
not have done that. Now, that seems odd that he shouldn't
have done that. It was an act of mercy, looks
like to me and you. But cutting off the skirt of
a man's robe was an indignity. This is just not proper attire
for anyone, especially the king. And this is why this bothered
David so much. In verse 6, he said unto his men, The Lord forbid
that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed,
to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed
of the Lord. Now, David calls Saul the anointed
of the Lord, the Lord's anointed. Even though Saul had been rejected
by God, clearly he'd been rejected by God, David calls Saul the
Lord's anointed. Now, if any person is in any
position of authority, if they're in any position whatsoever, he
is there by God's will. So in that sense, he is God's
anointed. I promise you this, no one is
anywhere against the will of God. I promise you that. Now,
a person may be God's anointed, may be God's chosen person to
hold a particular position of authority at a particular time.
They're God's anointed in that sense. But this does not mean
that they are God's men. This does not mean that they
are there seeking to serve the Lord or serve the people of God.
Look at Romans chapter 9. Pharaoh was God's anointed too,
wasn't he? He was God's anointed to be Pharaoh
of Egypt at that particular time. He was there by God's will. that was after God. And I hear
people use this phrase very frequently. Well, the Lord's judging this
person because he spoke against the Lord's anointed. You better
stay away from this person. Lightning's going to strike him
because he spoke against the Lord's anointed. And they sound
real smart, don't they, in making you think they're quoting scripture
about the Lord's anointed. And what they mean when they
always say that is somebody spoke against my favorite preacher
and I want to punch him in the face. So that means God's going
to strike them down. I look this up in scripture,
Saul. Now, King Saul is called the
Lord's anointed nine times. Two more times, he's called his
anointed, speaking of God, his anointed, 11 times in scripture,
Saul. is called the Lord's anointing.
How many times has David, the man after God's own heart, called
the Lord's anointing? One time. You might want to be
careful in the things that you say. I don't think that you want
to equate your favorite creature to King Saul. But that's what
people do when they go on this track. And the very reason that
David did not kill Saul is because the Lord promised that he would
put David on the throne. See that? The Lord promised he
would. David's not going to have to
put himself on the throne. God's going to put him on the
throne. And there's a very important lesson for us here. We mess things
up 100 percent of the time, we mess things up and we take matters
into our own hands trying to help God out. rather than wait
on the Lord to do what He promised to do. If the Lord promised it,
now He's going to do it. He doesn't need help from you
and me. He just doesn't need to do that. He doesn't need our
help. Didn't Sarah learn that lesson? God promised her a son. She didn't have one. So she's
going to help God out, isn't she? She sent Hagar into Abraham,
and they had a son, Ishmael. Sarah regretted it the rest of
her life, and the world is paying the price for that mistake to
this day. We mess things up when we take
matters into our own hand to help out God, help God out to
do what he promised he'd do. Just wait on the Lord. And David
spared Saul's life with that very teaching. Look at verse
7. So David stayed his servants with these words and suffered
them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave
and after his nap, he went on his way. David also arose afterward
and went out of the cave. and cried after Saul, saying,
My Lord the King? And when Saul looked behind him,
David stooped with his face to the earth, and he bowed himself."
Now David bowed himself to the king. He bowed himself to Saul,
the Lord's anointed, and he's giving honor to the office of
king. I don't care what you think about
the man. That man is God's man for that office at that particular
time, and he is due the honor that's due that office that he's
in. That's what David does. In verse 9, David said to Saul,
Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold David,
seeketh thy hurt? Behold this day, thine eyes have
seen how the Lord hath delivered thee today into mine hand in
the cave. And some bade me kill thee, but
mine eyes spared thee. And I said, I will not put forth
my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed." Now,
David's very diplomatic here, isn't he? Saul's not seeking
David's life because he's got some advisor telling him David's
doing something. Saul's seeking David's life because
Saul, in his heart, hates David. That's why he's doing it. But
David kind of gives him an out, saying, you know, you've got
advisors telling you to do this. Well, look at Proverbs 15. I would imagine there is a time
for diplomacy like this. In Proverbs 15 verse 1, a soft
answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.
The tongue of the wise uses knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools
poureth out foolishness. David used this truth, a soft
answer turneth away wrath, and it worked. for a time. We'll
see this in the rest of the chapter. It worked for a time. It turned
away Saul's wrath for a time, but only temporarily. I tell
you when it's time, when there is not time for diplomacy, when
we're preaching the gospel. There's no time for diplomacy
when we're preaching the truth of God's scripture, the truth
of his gospel, because the only way man's wrath against God is
going to be taken away is for God to give a new heart and regeneration. And that's only going to happen
through the preaching of Christ, the bare, unadulterated preaching
of Christ. If you take the edge off of it
and try to be diplomatic, the power's gone. But in this case,
maybe that was the right thing for David to do. Well, in verse
11, he goes on, he says, Moreover, my father, see, yea, the skirt
of thy robe in mine hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of
thy robe and killed thee not. know thou and see that there
is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand. I have not sinned
against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it." Now David
says to Saul, I could just as easily be standing here holding
your head just like I held Goliath's head, as I could be standing
here holding this piece of your skirt that I cut off. And David's
giving Saul proof positive He has no intention of putting his
hand to harm King Saul, even though it's Saul's mission in
life to destroy David. Matthew Henry summed this up
with this statement. This is good. Dogs bark at the
sheep, he said, but sheep never bark back at the dogs. That's
good. But again, David here is a picture
of Christ. He's a picture of Christ who
never committed a sin against man. Never. Yet Jew and Gentile
alike both sought to kill him. Christ never committed any sin
against God, but the elect have. His people have. So the father
put his son to death because Christ was made to be sin for
his people. Christ our Savior, he could have
called 10,000 angels, couldn't he? He could have done that to
deliver him. He could have. He could have called on those
angels in his almighty power to smite those that smote his
face, that drove those nails into his hands and his feet.
He could have done that, but he didn't. He gave himself into
the hands of wicked men. He gave himself into the hand
of his father to fulfill law and justice for his people. And
he did that because David told Saul, I didn't kill you because
mine eyes spared thee. Christ gave himself to be a sacrifice
for his people because his eye spared the people that he loved,
and he willingly suffered the penalty that we deserve. Well,
verse 13, David goes on, he says, As saith the proverb of the ancients,
wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but my hand shall not
be upon thee. Now this proverb, wickedness
proceedeth from the wicked, all the old writers say this is a
proverb of Adam. If you'll turn over to Matthew
chapter 7, who taught the very same proverb, the very same truth
that our Lord taught here, Matthew chapter 7. In verse 15. Beware of false prophets, which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so,
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewed down
and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye
shall know them." And that's what David is telling Saul here. By my fruits you'll know me.
You'll see I'm not a corrupt person. I didn't do this evil
thing when it was in my power to do it. That's what he's telling
me. But there's another meaning to this proverb. If you give
a wicked man enough rope, he'll hang himself. He surely will.
And unless God intervenes, that's what every single one of us here
this morning will do spiritually. Every one of us. Every person
in hell right at this moment will testify to this truth. If
I end up in hell, it's my fault. It's not God's fault. It's my
fault. If I end up in hell, all the
blame is mine because the sin and rebellion is all mine. It's
not Adam's fault. It's not God's fault. It's my
fault. And if I awake in heaven in the likeness of Christ, it's
all the doing of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the glory is His. Because He did all the work.
I didn't contribute anything to it. He did it all. Now that's
just so. In verse 14, David goes on, he
says, After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom
dost thou pursue? After a dead dog and a flea. David tells Saul, what you're
doing is beneath the king. What glory does it add to a king
to run his sword through a dog that's already dead? None. I mean, not only does it not
add glory to the king, it just brings him down. What glory does
it add to a king if he smashes a flea? Have you ever tried to
smash a flea? Most of the time, you look foolish. You've been hopping around, you
can't, I mean, you look foolish. That's what David, he said, you're
bringing yourself down here. And there's probably a good lesson
to us here about picking your battles. You know, some battles
aren't worth fighting. Some are, but some aren't. But
David gives a good description here. of the objects of God's
grace. We are dead dogs and fleas. We're fleas on the dead dogs.
Isn't that what Mephibosheth called himself to David? He said,
what are you doing showing mercy to such a dead dog as I am? That's
what we're dead dogs. Yet God saw fit to get glory
to his name by sending his son to redeem dead dogs and fleas. That's who God sent His Son to
redeem. And He's going to redeem those
dead dogs through the sacrifice of His precious Son. Now this
is an amazing grace. Who of us would give the life
of our child so a dead dog can live? This week, going back and
forth to work, Monday or Tuesday, The dog was killed beside the
road and there it lay. The longer the week went on,
the worse it was. It was a dead dog. Oh my. It stank. Ugly, bloated, awful
body. And you think, why don't somebody
go get that thing and bury it? I drove by Friday. Oh, it smelled. That's what I am. That's me by
nature. That offensive smell. That offensive
sight. Would I give the life of one
of my daughters so that dog could live and go back home to his
master? Not on your life. God Almighty did. He chose dead
dogs. And He redeemed those dogs through
the sacrifice of His Son. He regenerated. He gives new
life to those dead dogs by His Spirit. Only God. would do that. That is amazing grace. It may
seem beneath him, he had a stupid long way to get us, didn't he?
But that's what he did for his glory. That's what he did. Well,
verse 15, David says, the Lord therefore be judge between me
and thee and see and plead my cause and deliver me out by hand.
David said, now the Lord's going to take care of this matter.
I'll run from you. I'm not going to You know, just
come here and let you slaughter me. I'll run for him, but I'm
not going to put forth my hand to harm you. I won't do it. I'm
going to wait on the Lord. And we would be so wise to do
this in every situation. Just wait on the Lord. Pray,
seek his will, seek his help, but wait, wait on the Lord. And
look at Saul's reaction in verse 16. It came to pass when David
made an end of speaking these words unto Saul. Then Saul said,
Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice
and wept. And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than
I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded
thee evil. Now, this is real emotion from
Saul. It is real emotion. He lifted
up his voice and wept. But it's not genuine repentance.
It's just a legal repentance that's born from emotion. It's
not genuine repentance that's born from a new heart. And the
reason I know that's true is Saul has some remorse is what
he has, but not repentance. And the reason I know that's
true is after this day, there's no change in Saul's behavior.
There's no change in what he's doing. And when God saves a person,
he gives that man or woman a new heart. A new nature that's never
been there before. And when you have a new heart,
you have a new nature, you have a new master, there will be a
changed walk. There has to be. It won't be
perfect now, but there's going to be a change. And there's no
change in Saul because his repentance is born from the flesh. See what
he says to David? You're more righteous than I.
You're more righteous than I am. I'm not as good as you. Now,
I'm not as bad as some other people. These Philistines, for
example, that I just got done chasing, I'm not as bad as them,
but I'm not as good as you. That's not true repentance. You'll
notice Saul did not say, I'm the chief of sinners. He didn't
say that, did he? He didn't say, David, I deserve for you to kill
me. He didn't say that. He said,
I'm not as good as you. I'm not as bad as somebody else,
but I'm not as good as you. Now, you listen to what I'm going
to say. There are no degrees of righteousness, none. You either
have your own righteousness, which scripture calls filthy
rags, or you have the perfect righteousness of Christ, one
or the other. You are either totally depraved,
totally sinful, completely vile, completely unclean, through and
through, without any righteousness of your own, or you have the
perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to you. You are either
completely unrighteous, completely sinful, or you are as completely
righteous as Christ himself. One or the other, there is no
middle ground. None. And Saul says to David,
you're more righteous than I am. And that's true. We happen to
know that that's true. But only in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not because of anything
David did or did not do up in that cave. It's only in Christ. And I can show you that. Where
is David hiding at this time? Verse 1 says he was hiding in
the wilderness of Engedi. You know what that word Engedi
means? Fountain of a kid. Fountain of a kid. And you know
what a kid is always used for? It's always used for the sin
offering and the trespass offering. That kid is a picture of the
only way you and I can ever be righteous. The only way we can
ever be righteous is by being washed in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ who was sacrificed as the sin offering and the trespass
offering for his people. There is a fountain, the fountain
of the kid. There's a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. They're made righteous
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only reason
that David is more righteous than Saul, because David's in
Christ and Saul is not. It has all to do with Christ,
his person and his work. Well, verse 18, Saul goes on
and he says, And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt
well with me. For as much as when the Lord
had delivered me into thine hand, thou kill'st me not. For if a
man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? Wherefore the
Lord reward thee good, for that thou hast done unto me this day."
Who would have let Saul live in that situation? Men wouldn't. Not unless God intervened, men
would not have let Saul live. Well, who will have his enemy
in his hand and let him go well away? God has. He certainly has. And He did
it through a substitute. Every one of us, every man, woman,
and child on the face of this planet, when we're born, we are
born enemies of God. We're born with a mind and soul
that hates God. A nature that hates God. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. We don't love God. We're
not born in this world loving God. We're born in this world
being His enemy. But the Father, In mercy and
grace, let some of those enemies go well away. He let his elect
go well away because he punished Christ for our sins. He punished
Christ as our sin offering, as our trespass offering, as our
substitute. And brethren, we're no longer
enemies. We've been reconciled to God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, verse 20. Saul says, And
now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and
that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
Saul went home convinced, didn't he? But not converted. Not converted. God deliver us
from having only a head knowledge of the gospel, from having only
a head knowledge of the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is my prayer every day, every week, that God will give us a
new heart, a new heart that loves Christ, that loves the gospel
concerning Him, that we can preach to people's heart, to the new
heart that God's given. So we can go home converted,
not just convinced, but go home converted. Well, verse 21, look
what Saul says here. This is so sobering. He says,
Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord. that thou will not
cut off my seed after me, and that thou will not destroy my
name out of my father's house. And David swore unto Saul. And
Saul went home, but David and his men got him up into the hold."
Now this is very frightening. Saul knew all the right words,
but they didn't come from his heart. He knew the right words.
He used the same words as the covenant between Jonathan and
David, didn't he? Isn't this the same words? He knew the right
words. But they didn't have the same meaning, because they came
from an old heart. I kind of think that Saul asked
David not to destroy his seed after him, hoping if I can't
get you, my seed can. Maybe if he lets my seed live,
one of my sons or grandsons will rise up and kill him. I kind
of wonder if that's not Saul's motivation here. But nevertheless,
This covenant that we see all through this book between Jonathan
and David, this covenant is so important. It's a picture of
the covenant between the father and the son that concerns his
people. And that covenant is fulfilled. There is nothing going to stop
that covenant from being, or nothing will cause that covenant
to be broken. It will be fulfilled. And David kept this Look over
in 2 Samuel 9, but not because of Saul. And that's important.
Why did he keep this covenant? It wasn't because of Saul. It was because of Jonathan. 2
Samuel 9, verse 1. David said, is there yet any
that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? Not for Saul's sake, because
the covenant wasn't between David and Saul. It was between David
and Jonathan. The covenant wasn't between David
and Mephibosheth. It was between David and Jonathan.
And Mephibosheth's going to find mercy. He's going to have life.
He's going to be washed. He's going to sit at the king's
table because of Jonathan. For Jonathan's sake. Is there
any left that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?
And when Mephibosheth asked, why? He bowed himself and said,
what in verse eight or, I'm sorry, verse seven. He wanted to know
why. David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely show thee
kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. I'm looking at a group
of sinners. And for you who believe the Lord
Jesus Christ, I'm here to tell you, fear not. God's going to
show you kindness. He's going to show you mercy
for Christ's sake. Not for your sake, not for my
sake, not for what we've done and what we haven't done. For
Christ our Savior's sake. And this covenant was so important
to David. And one of the first things he
did when he was king is fulfill this covenant. He spent 40 years
being king. Came time for David to die. On
his deathbed, what did David talk about? What was still preeminent
in David's mind? It wasn't all the great military
victories he won, was it? Wasn't all the great things he
did for Israel. It wasn't all the bad things
he did. He wasn't laying on his deathbed worrying about his sin
with Bathsheba, was he? What was he on his deathbed talking
about? This covenant. He was talking
about the covenant that's ordered in all things and sure. This covenant of God's grace. It's ours. We have the benefits
of it. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. All right. Lord bless you.