First Samuel 19. Come again to our study on the
life of David. Lord willing, I want to look
at verses 1-10 of chapter 19, but I want to go back and read
verse 30 of chapter 18. You know that Saul is now trying
to use everything he can to try to kill David. He promised his
oldest daughter to David to try to deceive him, and then he turned
around and gave that daughter to another man, and then Michael
loved him and saw some opportunity to say, well, if I can get David
to be my son-in-law within the Philistines, and everybody's
going to hate him, he's going to be the king's son-in-law,
and I'll use the Philistines to kill him. I'll use my own
enemy. He'll go into battle, and he'll fight God's battle,
and he did. And every time he fought the battle, God blessed
him, God honored him, God protected him because he was God's anointed
king, the one that God had chose. And everything that Saul used
just seemed to backfire against him. And the more David did it,
it said he behaved himself wisely, he behaved himself prudently. And the more David did, the more
the people loved him. The more they, David, he did
exactly what he was asked to do. He was the servant. He was
the servant of the king. If the king told him to go fight
the Philistines, that's what he did. And the king asked him,
said, you're going to be the king's son-in-law. And you know
what he did? He went, the king said, okay, you don't, you're
a poor man. You don't have the money to pay
the dowry for my daughter. She's a princess. Here's what
I'm asking. You go get 104 skins of the Philistines,
that uncircumcised Philistines, and you come back and I'll give
you my The daughter, my daughter, you know what he did? He killed
200. He brought back the 204 skins
as proof that they were the uncircumcised. And he bought Michael. He redeemed
Michael. And she became his wife. She
became his wife. Because Saul thought, well, now,
he's going to go for it. There ain't no way he can do
what I just asked him to do. There ain't no way he can get
them 104 skins without them killing him. But God preserved him. And can you imagine what the
people thought about David? God is exalting David, and he's
a picture of God exalted his dear son, God's anointed, God's
Messiah, God's Christ. Let me get in verse 29 of chapter
18. And Saul was yet the more afraid
of David. Remember I said last week that
he said that three times he was afraid of David. And Saul became
David's enemy continually. He couldn't stand to be in David's
presence. You know why? I think Saul knew. Because Samuel told him, said,
God's rejected you, Saul. And God sought him a man after
his own heart. And God chose him. He was God's
choice. Saul was the people's choice,
man's choice. And he knew that God was with
David. And he resented it. And he was jealous. He was envious. And it said that one reason he
was afraid of him, because he knew the Spirit of God was with
Saul. And the Spirit of God had departed.
from him, left him alone. You know, that's a sobering statement.
When we read that, I think sometimes we read it and we just pass over.
When you think about God leaving a man to himself, God leaving
a man alone, and when you see that pictured here in this man,
King Saul, he knew Samuel. He was influenced
with Samuel's influence, and he would not obey God. Remember
when he rejected God, how when God told Saul to wait till Samuel
got there. And he said, I'm not going to
wait. I'll be my own priest. I can offer the sacrifice myself.
And God rejected him. And God left him alone. And now
he becomes David's enemy continually. Then the princesses of the Philistines
went forth. And it came to pass after they
went forth that David behaved himself more wisely than all
the servants of Saul. so that his name was much sat
by." What that actually reads, if you have a marginal reading,
that means that his name was precious. And I think that sums
it up. Whose name was precious? David's
was. Whose king? Saul sitting on the
throne. Remember, David, he watched his
father's sheep. He was obedient in whatever he
was asked to do. He was the servant. But God brought
him out. After he killed Goliath, God
manifested him and said, this is my king, this is my champion.
And every time he goes five, the Philistines, what's happening?
God's exalting his name. He's bringing honor to him. This
is God's king. David knows it. Samuel knows
it, and I believe Saul, I think he might know it, that he's king. Remember what David said last
week? He said, I'm a nothing and a
nobody. I'm poor, and my father's house is nothing. And Jeff made
a good point after the lesson last week. He's only three generations
from being a Moabite. Remember who his grandmother
was? It was Ruth. Ruth, Obed, Jesse, And David,
what is my father's house? Why would my name be anything? Most of the time when they wanted
to throw dishonor, you know what they'd say? He's the son of Jesse. You son of Jesse. In the world's eyes, he's nothing. But into the believer's eyes,
he's precious. He's precious. To those that
believe, To those that believe, he is precious. Who fought our
battles? He did. Who won the victory? He did. Those Philistines, those
uncircumcised Philistines, they were always God's enemy. Before
you look, who stole the ark in the first part of 1 Samuel? The
Philistines did. Who finally eventually killed
Saul? The Philistines did. David said that a bunch of uncircumcised. Can you imagine what they thought
when David went and humiliated them? Boy, they hate him now. Saul hates him and they hate
him. He humiliated them. But his name is precious. His name is much set aside. Listen to what it says in Song
of Solomon, chapter 1, verse 3. Because of the savor of thy
good ointment, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Therefore
do the virgins love thee." They said, your name is like ointment
poured forth, that holy oil, that holy anointing oil that
God told Moses how to make to anoint the priest. His name is
like that sweet-smelling fragrance. Do you know why it's precious?
It's rare. That's what makes something precious
is how rare it is. He's the only begotten Son of
God. He's precious. There's none other
like him. None other. Robert Hawker said
it is the church which is here addressing herself to Jesus.
And the substance of what this verse contains seems to be that
there is in her esteem so much fragrancy and preciousness in
the very name of her Lord that like the holy ointment of the
sanctuary, which was both costly and odorous, her spiritual senses
were gratified by that smell. That name is precious. The church saith that that name
of Jesus which is his ointment to our soul. Listen to the verse
of this song. No voice can sing, no heart can
frame, nor can the memory find a sweeter sound than thy blessed
name, Savior, Savior of mankind. There is no other name like that
name. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people. from their sins. The people loved
David and his name was much set aside. If we truly know Christ
by faith, if he has been revealed to our heart, we love him supremely
in his name. His name is precious. What is his name? That's his
character. That's his attributes. That reveals
who he is. We could spend all morning And
we could just go over the names of God. He's the Everlasting
Father. He's the Prince of Peace. He's
the Chiefest Among Ten Thousands to our soul. He's the Rose of
Sharon. He's the Good Shepherd. He's
the Great Shepherd. We could go on and on describing
our Lord. And those names describe who
He is. He's God. Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the name of his humility. Christ is his office, the Messiah,
prophet, priest, and king. That's who he is, who he is. Hebrews 1.4, being made so much
better than the angels as he hath by himself obtained a more
excellent name than they. He has a name. that is above
every name. Philippians 2, 9, Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall
bow, and every tongue shall confess that he is, what? Lord. What does that word Lord mean?
What does that name mean? That means he's sovereign. He's
ruler. He is rightful king. There was many times in the scriptures
when they followed him and they cried and begged for mercy. What
did they call him? How did they refer him? How did
they describe him? Thou son of David, have mercy on him. Why did they
call him the son of David? Because he was. Of the flesh,
he was the son of David. And he rightfully sits upon that
throne as God's chosen king. Remember one time they wanted
to come by force and make him king. He wouldn't have nothing
of it. And David, now he's not sitting on the throne. He's being
hated. He's being chased. But he's still
king. He's rightful king. God chose
him, remember? Passed by every other son of
Jesse and said, this is my king. And before this world was made,
God set the Lord Jesus Christ aside as the mediator, as the
savior, as Lord of his people. The problem is, When people find
out who this Christ is and this Jesus and this Lord is, it's
not another Jesus, it's not another Christ, it's not another spirit.
When his name is much sat by, that's where the anger's at.
That's where the rub's at. That's why Saul was his enemy
continually. It's just like when Isaac was
born in Abraham's house. When Isaac was born, that's it.
There ain't no peace anymore. Ishmael and Isaac cannot dwell
in the same house. Ishmael's got to go. Ishmael
mocked him. There's an enmity between the
seat of the woman and the seat of the serpent, and it's always
going to be there. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It ain't just that when we read
that, that Saul hated David. Saul hated God. That's where
it's at this morning. It ain't that men just dislike
things. They hate God. Man by nature,
he doesn't love God. He hates Him. Let me tell you
a little secret. And if they could, they would
jerk Him off the throne. And everything Saul did to try
to stop him from getting to the throne, God used every bit of
it to put him on the throne. Isn't that good? Our Lord here in the person of
David has exalted his name above every name. His name is Immanuel,
God with us. His name is Jesus, divine Savior. His name is Christ, God's anointed. His name is the Lord, our righteousness. In the eyes of others, our adorable
Savior has no form nor comeliness in which they might desire Him.
But in the eyes of His own, He is truly, truly precious. read there in Psalms of Solomon
5 where he comes to the door and he knocks on the door and
his beloved she don't get remember she won't get up she's laid down
in bed and you know what he does he reaches through through the
hole of the door and he touches the bounds of her affection well
she gets up then she goes to the door thinking that he's there
and he's gone but you know what she does she goes out into the
street and she said where's my beloved And they said, what is
your beloved more than anybody else's beloved? Everybody's got
a beloved. She said, he's altogether lovely. She describes him, she
said, his hair is most black, he's eternally young, his mouth
is most sweet. She describes everything about
him. She said, but he's all, everything about him, he's altogether
lovely. He's precious. To this world
he's not precious. Not to the religious world, he's
not precious. He wasn't precious to Saul. He wasn't precious to
him. To those who believe her beloved's
name, he is the perfume of which makes every other odor worthless,
at least, and is nauseous and offensive, if you've ever saw
him. That other gospel, it's nauseating. That other name, they say they
believe in Jesus. Don't they? They say they believe
in Christ. They say they preach the gospel. They preach faith
and they preach love. But to a believer who knows better,
who God's opened up your eyes and you know who won your battle,
you know who's your king, who's your rightful king, who sits
upon the throne of your heart, that's nauseating. Isn't it? It's nauseating. I've used this illustration a
lot, and I'll keep using it. That girl right there, I love
her. I love her. And you think I would stand by
for you to lie on her? You may lie on me, and that'd
be fine. But you ain't going to lie on her. You know why?
Because she won my heart. And if God ever wins your heart,
you cannot stand to hear somebody lie on your God. It just can't
be. I mean, you can't stand it. Isn't
that right? That's it. Why? He's precious. He's precious. He's precious. He's Lord. His name is much set
by Him. You know, you can get with your
family members and people you work with, and they can want
to talk about religion. Where do you go to church? How
many are you running in your church? And all this foolishness. But when you bring him around,
and we're going to talk about him, what do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? What did he
do? Why did he do it? Where is he
at now? Now let's talk about that. They won't talk long. Isn't
that right? Am I not telling you the truth?
Isn't that worth that? His name, we're going to set aside his
name. We're going to set aside his name. I heard something the
other day, bless my heart. Listen to a message by Darwin Pruitt,
and he said years ago when Henry was telling them in that Bible
school, that preacher school, how to deal with people when
they come to your house. And he said he called it home
court advantage. You know, man, he's got some
advantage. He said, when they want to talk
about all this stuff, he said, you get them over here. You may
not know much, but you get talking to them about what you do know.
I don't know much, but I know him. I know how this book describes
him. You get them over here, for His
name is much set by." And that's it. That blessed my heart. It's kind of like when our Lord
went to the Samaritan woman. She wanted to talk about religion.
She said, we think it's up here where we ought to worship. He
said, you worship you don't know what. And he put the finger right
on the problem and he said, go call your husband. Go call your
husband. That's the way he deals, but
his name is precious. Precious. In a word, so entirely does this
beloved object fill our hearts and our souls, that with him
a dungeon would be heaven, and without him heaven itself would
be a dungeon. It's all about him. We didn't come here this morning
to talk about politics. We didn't come to just give you
a good history lesson about Saul and David. We didn't come for
that reason. We come for one reason, and that's
talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see, if you don't see
it, and if God don't show it to you, I can't help you to see
that David and all these things, this was true history. It happened.
But it's a picture and a type of how God redeems His people.
And if you've missed that, you've missed it. His name is precious. It says, ìThy name, O Lord, is a
strong tower. The righteous run into it and
are safe. Our Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is Thy name in all the earth.î You remember in Acts, I think
it was in chapter 3, Peter and James were going into the temple,
and a man was laying there lame, and he was begging for some alms,
and Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have
give I thee in the name of Jesus. Rise up and walk. And he did. God healed him in the name of
Christ and that authority. Well, not everybody is happy
about it. In chapter 4, those Pharisees and all those men,
they called Peter and John before them. And they said, what name
or by what authority do you do this? And Peter said, it wasn't
by us, it was by his power. And they saw the boldness of
Peter and James and John, and they took knowledge that they
were being with Jesus. And it says in verse 12, and here's
what he said, neither is there salvation in any other, for there
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. Do you know what they told him?
Don't you preach in his name anymore. You know what they told
him? You know why? You know what Peter
said? Go back and read it. He said,
Jesus of Nazareth, the one that you crucified. And they knew
exactly which one he was talking about. And we want this world
to know exactly the one we're talking about. And they said,
you can do anything else. You can come into the temple,
you can play religion, and you can do all that, but just don't
talk about him, especially that he rose from the dead. Because
if he rose from the dead, you know what that makes him? That
makes him Lord. Not some little weak Jesus, not
some little Savior that wants to save you if you let him. He's
Savior and he's Lord. And they charged him, they said,
don't you preach in his name. You preach in his name and we'll
put you in prison. We'll beat you, don't you preach
in his name. And you know what they did? They preached in his name. You know why? Because there was
no other name given among men whereby they must be saved. There's
no other name. There's no other God. There's
no other Savior. There's no other Lord. He's the
only one. And he's the only one who can
save a sinner. The only one. Saul would not go fight the Philistines. He was a coward. He was always
worried about what everybody thought. He was interested in
protecting his name. When David came that day to see
the battle, everybody's afraid. Everybody's intimidated by Goliath
except one. And that was our king. He says,
I'll go fight him. And he went and fought him and
cut his head off and humiliated him. And he defeats the Philistines. And the more he does, the more
he's precious. The world would, if they could,
stomp out his name. Let me remind you this morning,
we live in a blessed country. What I mean by that, we still
live in a place where we can gather and worship. There's probably
some people who can't do that. And why do we have that privilege
and that opportunity to preach his name? There's some down through
history who didn't have that privilege. You've heard me mention
it, and I'll keep mentioning it. Every time I think about
it, it blesses my heart. Pilgrim's Progress. He sat in
a prison cell for 12 years. That's when he wrote that book.
You know why? They said, you stop preaching the gospel, and
if you don't, we're going to put you in prison. He said, well,
I can't quit. And he sat there in prison. And
if they had their way, They would make it so that you would never
hear the gospel again. Isn't that right? You can talk about anybody else.
You can talk about anything else. But just don't talk about Him. Because this, right here, this
is what made Saul so angry. And we're going to see here in
chapter 19. Before, he'd try to keep it covered up. You know,
he told his servants, he said, you go down there secretly and
tell David, now, if you'll just be my son-in-law. He didn't want
him to be his son-in-law. He was hoping that if he could
get him to be his son-in-law and deceive him, he ain't going
to be his son-in-law long, because he's a dead man. Philistine said,
when you go into battle, the first one we go after is David.
He's the king's son-in-law. He's just like he would have
been his son. Don't you see here in chapter
19, it's progressive. The Bible talks about evil men
and seducers wax worse and worse. It's like it's all he's trying
to keep it hid for a little while. Now he just pulls his mask off.
He's not ashamed of it anymore. And that's how they did when
our Lord walked this earth. They tried to keep it hid for
a little while. But they come to a point, they said, we got
to do away with this right here. All these people were following
after him. We're going to hire people. We're
going to hire people to lie on him. We're going to hire false
witnesses. We're going to do everything
we can. We're going to catch him in his
words, and we don't care who knows about it. We don't care. In verse 1 of
chapter 19, And Saul spake to Jonathan his son and to all his
servants, This is Jonathan, his son. Jonathan is the heir to
the throne, after Saul. What did he tell him? That you
should kill David. He ain't hiding it now. You know,
in essence, I think Pink said that what he's doing, he's putting
a hit out on him. You kill David. This is what I want you to do.
You destroy him. Look in verse 2. But Jonathan saw his son delighted
much in David. And Jonathan told David, saying,
Saw my father seeketh to kill thee? Now therefore, I pray thee,
take heed to thyself unto the morning, and abide in a secret
place, and hide thyself. Remember before, a couple of
chapters back, when Johnathan stripped everything of himself,
his coat and his sword, and laid it down at David, and said Johnathan
loved him as his own soul? Can you imagine the predicament
that Johnathan's in? Now, this is his daddy. This
is his father. He's between a rock and a hard
place. Is he going to side with his father, or is he going to
side with David? Who's he going to side with?
In verse three, he said, I will go out and stand beside my father
in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father
of thee, and what I see, that will I tell thee. And Jonathan
spake good of David, and to Saul his father, and said unto him,
Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because
he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been
to thee very good. For he did put his life in his
hand and slew the Philistines and the Lord wrought a great
salvation for all Israel. That's what David did. Thou sawest
it and you did rejoice in it. You know what David did. He's
just reminding his daddy. You know what David did. Wherefore
then wilt thou sin against innocent blood to slay David without a
cause? What cause? What did he do to
you to make you want to kill him? You know what he's done. He's defeated the enemy. He's
won the battle. And what did he do to you? You
know exactly what he's done. Verse 6, And Saul hearkened unto the voice
of Jonathan. And Saul sware, and I want you
to see this, as the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain. Now, doesn't
that sound good? It's like one moment he can be
religious, and one minute he's in a rage. He said, as the Lord
lives, I swear he shall not die. And Jonathan called David, and
Jonathan showed him all those things, and Jonathan brought
David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past. He brought him back to the palace.
But what I see here, I think Jonathan's attempt to try to
get David back in good favors with his daddy, and what I see,
no human attempt. Can you get a lost sinner to
bow to Christ when that's not what they want? They may act
like they do. They may be baptized. They may be confessed to him
and said, oh, he's okay, Brian, we won't kill him. I don't love
him. I don't hate him anymore. And he allows him to come back
to the palace. But it wasn't God's intention
for David to dwell here in this palace. Not now. And listen,
I don't care what man does. Like I said earlier, I can't
convince you that Jesus Christ is Lord. I cannot do it. Nobody
else can. But he can. And I think a lot
of times men in their feeble attempts You know, what good
would it do for me to convince you of the five points of grace?
What have I done? Nothing. I've made you two-fold
more the child of hell than somebody else. He says, oh, he won't die. Let's hold on now. And Jonathan called David, and
Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought
David to Saul, and he was in his presence. as at other times."
Don't you notice the next statement in verse 8, and there was war
again. Something's happened, the Philistines
have snuck in, or something's happened, and there's war again. So what's got to happen? David's
got to leave. David's got to go back. That's why he's the
servant of Saul. That's his responsibility. And
there was war again, on purpose. And David went out and fought.
And David went out and fought with the Philistines, and slew
them of the great slaughter, and they fled from him." He defeated them. God blessed
him. Everything he did, God prospered
him. He's just a man. He's just a young man. But everywhere
he goes, they knew God was with him. And he won the victory. Now, what does this do to King
Saul? And the evil spirit from the
Lord was upon Saul. As he heard of what David did,
he'd just done what it always did. It stirred up his animosity
and his malice and his strife. And what it did, it made him
angry. And an evil spirit from the Lord was upon him. And people
would say, now hold on now, God didn't do that. Oh, yes, he did. Torments him. Torments him. You know what it is to have a
conscience? And that conscience now smites him and says, why
can't that be me getting all the praise? I ought to be out
there fighting the Philistines. I'm king. Don't everybody know
who I am? Everybody's talking about David and what he did.
Why don't somebody talk about me? Don't that sound funny? Don't
that sound familiar? In religion, everybody wants
you to talk about you. It's like that song years ago,
and I hate to give any credence to any song that says, I want
you to talk about me. That's what Saul wanted. Saul
wanted them to talk about him, and it made him mad. An evil
spirit from the Lord came upon him, and he sat in his house
with his javelin in his hand. Three times we see that. Instead
of walking around with a scepter in his hand, he's got a javelin
in his hand. Don't you see this? The same
David that had went out and just defeated and won the battle,
he's back in the palace. And he does as he always did.
When the evil spirit came upon Saul, David would play upon his
heart. And it would ease his conscience
for a little while. And let me tell you this, a lost
man can be affected by a good song. Can he? He can. His emotions can be stirred.
And he thinks it's God, and it's not God at all. And David did
as he always done. But Saul sees him. You know what
Saul did? And I saw just a few verses before
said, as God lives, I won't kill him. He takes that javelin in
his hand and assaults a man of war. And when he throws a javelin
at you, he means to kill you. And he throws that javelin at
David and sticks the javelin in the wall. You know why? He
meant to nail David to the wall. He just said, David ain't going
to die. And now he's trying to kill him again. What's going
on here? That's exactly what's going on.
His heart's never changed. He's never bowed. A man's heart is the enmity against
God, and the only thing that can change it is the grace of
God. It doesn't matter how many victories
David won. He didn't like it. I tell you, you can go in a religious,
any church you want to go call this morning, go into it and
you can brag on everybody and tell them how good they are.
So glad you're here. So glad what you've done, what
you're going to do and all this, how much God just loves everybody. Oh, everybody just eat that up. But you talk about the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he's done, not what he's trying to do, what
he's done. He's won the, he ain't trying to win the victory, he's
won it. He's king, he's lord, he's sovereign. And he can't
stand it. We'll kill him. And he tried, and he had with
the javelin in his hand, and verse 10, and Saul sought to
smite David with the wall, with the javelin, and he slipped away
out of Saul's presence. God delivered David. If it was
up to Saul, he would have killed him. He would have destroyed
him. And if it would have been up to this world, our Lord would
have never made it to the cross. If it was up to this world, Herod
would have killed him when he was a child. If our Lord hadn't slipped through
their presence when he came to Nazareth that day and preached
to them election, and they took him to the brow of the city,
and they meant to throw him off headfirst, and he slipped through
their midst. while their hour has not yet
come. But you know what's happening.
The more Saul afflicts him, the more David grows. God doesn't
intend for him to stay in this palace. This is the last time
he's in the palace. We'll see next week he goes and
he's in Michael, Saul's daughter's house, David's wife, and he seems
to try to kill him again. And he goes from there and he
goes to Samuel's house. He never comes back to the palace.
And you see him live in a cave. You live him out in the wilderness.
Why? That's where you find the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's not in the palaces of this
world. He's hated, he's despised, and he's rejected. I like it
when we get to the cave of Durham and it said the people that were
in distress and poor, they came to David. They came to him. You say, look at him, he's living
in a tent. I mean, he's living in a cave. But they knew he's king. Reminds me of the thief on the
cross. It seems like outwardly our Lord
in his most weak time. Didn't it seem like he was in,
he's stripped naked, beaten, probably don't even look like
a man. And God opened up that one man's heart and he said,
would you remember me, and watch this, when you come into your
kingdom? You know what he saw? That man's a king. He's king. And this right here is what the
world cannot stand. He's king. When I mean king,
that means he's sovereign. He can do with you and he can
do with me as he sees fit. And he don't ask your or my permission. He's king. He's king. He rules. He reigns over all things. I got this from somebody. Let
me share it with you. Not a shaft of hate can hit till the God
of love sees fit. Men may be filled with malice
against us, Satan may rage and seek our destruction, but none
can touch a hair on our head without God's permission. None. He's Lord, and we love it. We rejoice in it. This is our
salvation. Ain't you glad that you ain't
trying to save yourself? Ain't you glad it ain't in your hands? I'm glad God has translated me
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son. I was one day just exactly like King Saul. Religious, but
lost. Religious. Playing religion using
the name of God like he did. As the Lord liveth, he shall
not die. Just in a little bit, let something
happen. You'll see what happens. That old nature, that old nature,
it'll rise up in rebellion. You know what it is? You know
what unbelief is? Unbelief is nothing but rank
rebellion against the authority of Almighty God. That's what
it is. And our Lord looked at those
people one day and he said, you don't believe because you're
not my sheep. And those who are his sheep,
they may be lost sheep, but he will bring them to the place
where they bow before them and they acknowledge that his name
is precious. Amen.