Would you turn to 1 Samuel chapter
19? I would like to read from verse
eight down to the end of the chapter. 1 Samuel chapter 19, beginning
in verse eight. And there was war again. And David went out and fought
with the Philistines and slew them with a great slaughter.
And they fled from him. And the evil spirit from the
Lord was upon Saul. And he sat in his house with
his javelin in his hand and David played with his hand and Saul
sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin. But
he slipped away out of Saul's presence. And he smote the javelin
into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night. Saul
also sent messengers unto David's house to watch him and to slay
him in the morning. And Michael, David's wife, told
him, saying, If thou save not thy life tonight, tomorrow shalt
thou be slain. So Michael let David down through
a window, and he went and fled and escaped. And Michael took
an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goat's hair
for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. And when Saul
sent messengers to take David, she said, he's sick. And Saul
sent the messengers again to see David, saying, bring him
up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. And when the messengers
were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed with a pillow
of goat's hair for his bolster. And Saul said unto Michael, why
hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he
is escaped? And Michael answered Saul, he
said unto me, let me go, why should I kill thee? So David
fled and escaped, third time we read that, and came to Samuel
to Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he
and Samuel went and dwelt in Naoth, that means the place of
rest. And it was told Saul, saying,
behold, David is at Naoth in Ramah. And Saul sent messengers
to take David. And when they saw the company
of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as appointed
over them, the spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul,
and they also prophesied. They came to take David, but
they ended up prophesying. And when it was told Saul, he
sent other messengers and they prophesied likewise. And Saul
sent messengers again the third time and they prophesied also.
Then when he also to Raymond and came to a great well that's
in Seque, And he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And
one said, Behold, they be at Naoth and Ramah. And he went
thither to Naoth and Ramah, and the Spirit of God was upon him
also. And he went on and prophesied until he came to Naoth, Ramah.
He came to take David, and he ended up prophesying. And he
stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel
in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that
night. Wherefore, they say is Saul also
among the prophets. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of our blessed son. And Lord, how thankful we are
for him. And the salvation that's in him
and Lord, how Thankful we are that you sent him as the savior
of sinners. And Lord, we ask that he would
be exalted in our midst and that we might be enabled to sit at
his feet and hear his word. And Lord, give us that all that
comes from seeing him. Lord, we confess our sins. Lord, they're ever before us. And Lord, we're sorry for our
sin. We pray for forgiveness. We pray
for cleansing. And Lord, we pray for grace to
walk, to talk, to think in a way that adorns your gospel in all
things. Lord, speak to us from your word. Be with us, bless us for Christ's
sake. Give us grace to love you more
and love one another more. And Lord, we plead for hearing
ears and receptive hearts. And Lord, wherever your gospel
is preached, we ask that you would bless it for your glory. Lord, give us the grace to deny
ourselves, to take up our cross and follow thy dear son. We wait on you in Christ's name.
We pray. Amen. Kind of strange scripture, isn't
it? I mean, when you read those things, it's just unusual to
think of Saul going to take David and he ends up being taken. What
all does this mean now? In verse one of chapter 19, and
Saul spake to Jonathan, his son, and to all of his servants that
they should kill David. Now, this begins David's history
of being on the run for many, many years. God had anointed
him to be king, and it sure didn't look like he was king. God had
made all these glorious statements concerning him, and all he does
is run, always on the run, fleeing and escaping. Remember, Saul was raised up
by God to afflict David for wise and holy purposes. I want you to remember this,
and I want to remember it. Everything difficult the Lord sends our
way, he sent it. And it's for good. It's for wise
and holy purposes. Did you notice in verse nine,
and the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul as he sat
in his house with his javelin in his hand and David plays with
his hand and he ended up throwing that javelin at David. The Lord
directed that, and he's the one who caused all this to take place. And I find such comfort in that.
I'm so glad the Lord's on the throne and that he controls everything,
even the things that are difficult, because David is going through
a very dark and difficult period in his life where he's always
fleeing from Saul. Now, everything Saul did, though,
backfired. If you read in these next several
chapters, the javelin missed. He meant it to hit David, but
missed it. You see the Lord directed the
flight of that javelin as he directs everything. In the previous
chapter, Saul wanted to get rid of David because of his influence,
because everything was setting, everybody was setting so high
by his name, and he sent him to be the captain of a thousand
off away, but the scripture says he became even more popular before
the people. His name was much set by. He
then thought he would be killed if he sent him to kill 100 Philistines
and bring back their foreskin. He thought, he won't be able
to do that and they'll get him and it won't be with me. But
instead, he kills 200 and brings their foreskins back. Everything
Saul did backfired. It didn't work. Remember when
he married him, he gave Michael, his daughter, he said, she'll
be a snare to him. She'll cause him to go in the
wrong direction. And she was the one who ended
up, as we read in this passage of scripture, warning David and
him being able to flee to get away from Saul. He told Jonathan
to kill David and he goes to warned David so he wouldn't be
killed. Everything he did backfired. When David was at Samuel's, he
went to capture him. And what did he end up doing?
He ended up prophesying. And somebody says, well, how
did that happen? These messengers came and they prophesied. We
just read about it. He sent three messengers, three
different messengers, three different times. All of them ended up prophesying. What's that all about? Is Saul
among the prophets? Was Saul a believer? It's interesting. I've read so many different things
about Samuel and David and Saul. And every different person has
some kind of different view as to whether or not Saul was a
believer, whether Jonathan was a believer. And it seems pretty
evident to me that Jonathan was. Saul, it doesn't. As a matter
of fact, I don't think he was. But what were these guys doing
prophesying if they weren't believers? Well, it says the Spirit of God
came upon him, and he controls everybody and everything. Judas
wasn't a believer, but I guarantee you he preached and preached
the truth quite often. What about the stoning ground
hearers? They received the truth, but
it's only temporary. It never lasts. Saul might have been prophesying,
but it's not gonna last. He's gonna end up trying to kill
David again and these messengers. But God is in control of everything
and every event that David is experiencing. These dark years
and dark time, God's in control of, and he's using it for his
glory and David's good. He's fitting David to be King. What a difficult thing it was. Now, I believe Saul represents
a couple of things. First of all, Saul represents
the flesh. The flesh says kill David, doesn't
it? Kill David. The flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. These two are contrary one to the other so that you
cannot do the things that you would. I know this is true of
every believer. You would never sin again. You would be without sin. How you doing there? Not too
good, huh? And you also know that the things
that you would do, you cringe to think that you would do them,
the sinful things that you would do, but you're prevented. Why? Because you have the Spirit.
to or contrary one to the other. Saul is always against David
and he wants to kill him. And Saul can also represent the
natural man. The natural man hates the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord himself said, they hated
me without a cause. And the Lord wasn't being paranoid
when he said that. It's just the truth. They hated
me without a cause. Now let's begin back in verse
eight. And there was war again. That just hit me. One more, you
think it's over, another one's starting. There was war again. And we're always going to have
this war again and again and again. And David went out and
fought with the Philistines and slew them with a great slaughter,
and they fled from him. He was supernaturally enabled
to be this mighty warrior. Philistines were scared to death
of him. The scripture says they actually fled from his face.
There's another scripture that says the fear of David fell upon
all nations. What a mighty warrior he was,
and he was supernaturally enabled to do all these things. Verse
9, and the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul. This is after
David had won these great victories. As he sat in his house, David
was sitting in his house, the king's house, because he was
married to the king's daughter, and with a javelin in his hand.
And David played with his hand, and Saul sought to smite David
even to the wall with the javelin. But he slipped away out of his
presence. Now this evil spirit, we can debate as to what all
it meant. Was it a demon possession? Was
it depression? Was it some kind of mental illness? What was it? What was it? I don't know. Might have been
all the things I've said. Might have been it. Do you believe
in demon possession? Absolutely. I mean, why would
it stop if it was in the Bible? I don't understand that. Don't
really want to or care to. But I know this, and this is
what I love. The evil spirit was from the
Lord. It's from the Lord. And I get such comfort from that,
that everything that happens, he is in absolute sovereign control
of. Aren't you happy about that?
That evil spirit, as bad as it was, and I can't give an explanation
for it, but it was from the Lord. And if something afflicts me,
it's from the Lord. I love what Eli said at the first
of this book, when Samuel told him, God's going to kill your
two boys. He said, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Whatever he does is good." Boy,
I'm so happy about that. The Lord's good. It's always
that way, whether I see it or not. The Lord is good, and He's
in absolute control of everything and everybody, including this
evil spirit that was from the Lord that caused Saul to throw
a javelin at David, tried to nail him to the wall with the
javelin, the Lord directed it, he missed, David flipped out
and escaped, but David was in the Lord's hands. Now verse 10,
and Saul sought to smite David even to the wall and with the
javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence and he
smote the javelin into the wall and David fled and escaped that
night. Now it keeps talking about David
fleeing and escaping. How often do me and you need
to flee to Christ? And the only place of escape
is Christ himself. You know, hold your finger there
and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This is a scripture
that you all know. Verse 13. There hath no temptation taken
you, trial, trouble, temptation, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be attempted above that which you're able,
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that
you may be able to bear it. Now, what is that way of escape? There's only one way of escape,
Christ Jesus. looking to him. Now that's the
only way of escape with temptation. It's not like, well, I'm going
to bear up under it. I'm not going to get, well, I
hope so. But the way of escape is Christ himself. He is the
way of escape. And that's where David was always
fleeing. But this chapter is a chapter
about him fleeing. Look in verse 11. Now David went
out of the king's house back to his house that night and Saul
also sent messengers into David's house to watch him and to slay
him in the morning. Now Saul sent these messengers
in order to kill David. And here's what I thought about
when I thought about that passage of scripture. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. Verse six, for though I desire,
I would desire to glory. I shall not be a fool for, I
will say the truth. Second Corinthians 12, but now I forbear, lest any
man should think of me above that, which he seeth me to be,
or that he hearth of me, unless I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations. There was given
to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger. Remember how Saul
sent messengers. Here's a messenger, a thorn in
the flesh. the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Now this was.
God's messenger. It was the messenger Satan, but
it was God who sent it. God who sent this. And this is
exactly what David needed. It's whatever the Lord sends
my way is what I need. Now these messengers are sent
by Saul back to verse 11. So also sent messengers under
David's house to watch him and to slay him in the morning. And
Michael, David's wife, told him, saying, if thou save not thy
life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slain. So Michael let David
down through a window. You know, there's several times
men were let down through a window in the scriptures, aren't there?
You remember the spies let down the window with the scarlet thread? You remember Paul being let down
through a window? Well, David's let down through
a window and fled and escaped. Verse 12 or 13 and Michael took
an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair
for his bolster and covered it with a cloth. And when Saul sent
messengers to take David, she said, he's sick. And Saul sent
the messengers again to see David, saying, bring him up to me in
the bed, that I may slay him. And when the messengers were
come in, behold, there was an image in the bed with a pillow
of goat's hair for his bolster. He'd been fooled. And Saul said
unto Michael, why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy,
that he is escaped? And Michael answered Saul. She
lied. She said, well, he said he killed
me. So I had to do it. You know, it's interesting. I've been reading
way ahead in Samuel. They're saying, like for instance,
in chapter 20, he asked Jonathan to lie to find out what Saul's
intentions were. And all these writers that I've
read, I've looked up everything I can on it, and they all say,
well, David was in a backslidden condition when he asked this
person to lie. And if he would have been right with the Lord,
he would have never asked somebody to lie and so on. And I'm thinking,
oh, OK. I can't believe that's so sanctimonious.
I agree it's never right to lie, but David's in this backslidden
condition that he would tell somebody to lie. That's a bunch
of foolishness. And as far as that goes, we get this glorious
covenant that takes place in chapter 20 with Jonathan because
of this fleeing. And then you go into the story
of Mephibosheth and all that. So when you read about these
people lying, lying's not okay. Or are you going to, if somebody's
trying to get out and save their skin and they end up lying like
that, are you going to say, well, they shouldn't have done that,
you know? Well, I don't know where I'm going with that. What
in my notes? Verse 18. So David fled and escaped again. Third time we read that. And
he came to Samuel, to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had
done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt
in Naoth, the place of rest." Now David comes to Samuel. And in this, Samuel's God's man. Christ is God's man, preeminently. And in this, Samuel is a great
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And David comes to him and he
pours out his heart before him. He tells him everything that
Saul did. You know what I think of when
I think of that? I think of the confession of sin. I tell him
everything that that wicked nature of mine has done and I pray for
forgiveness and cleansing and rest. He poured out all of his
heart regarding this man Saul and what he'd done to him. And
this is the way the believer flees to Christ and he pours
out his heart to Christ that all Saul has done. Would I be anywhere far from
the truth to say that I truly, my Saul is my great enemy, my
nature, not some other man, but me. And he poured out all of
his heart to Saul, Samuel, and they came and dwelt in Naoth.
That's the place of rest. And you know, the only thing
that does any believer any good is rest. Resting in Christ. I can tell you to do all kinds
of stuff and it'll... You rest. You rest. Everything's going to be fine.
You rest in Christ. That means you're resting in
Him. You're not doing anything. You're resting in Him. I tell
you what, if you ever rest, you'll do. And if you're just doing,
you're not resting. Does that make sense? The only
way you'll ever do is if you rest. Rest in him. And that's, he found safety and
security and rest in being with Samuel. Verse 19, And it was
told Saul, saying, Behold, David is in Naaroth, in Ramah. And
Saul sent messengers to take David. He's always sending these
messengers. But do you know who really sent
the messengers? The Lord did. just like he sent this messenger
of Satan to Paul to buffet him. And he called it that thorn in
the flesh that caused him so much pain. When's the last time
you got pricked in the flesh with a thorn? It hurts. It hurts bad. And Paul said,
it's buffeting me, but it was for my good, lest I should be
exalted above measure. Now the Lord sent these messengers
without doubt. Verse 20, and Saul sent messengers
to take David. And when they saw the company
of the prophets prophesying, now evidently, there was a school
of the prophets, very much like in Elijah's time, in Elisha's
time. I don't understand what all that means, but there was
a bunch of prophets, and Samuel was presiding over them, and
they were prophesying. And these messengers saw this,
and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God
was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. They come to take David and they're
taken. They're taken. Not a thing they
could do. Now these were mighty men of
war, but they come into the assembly and they're overcome with the
spirit of God. You see, they were controlled
by him. And they even started prophesying. Now, somebody says,
what's this all about? I don't know, but I know this. God reigns, and he's in absolute
control of everybody. And these men come with this
wicked intent, and yet they're controlled by the Lord to where
they even start prophesying. And like I said, Judas was. Judas
told the truth. Judas preached the gospel. He
was with all the others. He wasn't preaching error at
the time. The Lord raised him up, and the Lord was in control
of him. And like I said, the good or
the stony ground hearers, man, they hear the truth, and they
rejoice, don't they? But it's only temporary. See, these guys
prophesied, but it was only temporary. They wouldn't stay that way.
A man can do anything for a little while, can't he? And that's what
these guys did. Verse 21, And it was told Saul,
and he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise.
And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied
also. There wasn't anything he could do. The Lord was in absolute
control. Verse 22, Then when he also to
Ramah, and came to a great well that's at Siqu, and he asked
and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, behold,
they be in the place of rest, Naoth, at Ramoth. And he went
thither to Naoth and Ramoth. And the Spirit of God was upon
him also. And he went on and prophesied
until he came to Naoth, Ramoth. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't
do anything. David finds rest and shelter
and security with Samuel, that great type of Christ. And no
matter what was proposed against him, it ended up backfiring. It did not work. And look what he did. He stripped
off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner
and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Now, most
of the men I read said that doesn't mean he was stark naked. It means he took off his kingly
robes. And what it means, I don't know.
I don't know. But I do know this. Whenever somebody's before the
Lord, I don't care who it is, all their things they're proud
of comes off. You can't stand before God. I
don't care if you're a believer or an unbeliever. If you're in
His presence somehow, if the Lord, if some, listen, an unbeliever's
been in the presence of the Lord, not in a saving way, but when
they're made to, even an unbeliever, if he's made to see the power
and presence of God, he's gonna strip off. He's going to take
away those things that he trusts in and that he's proud of. You
can't stand before God in pride. Pride's such a horrible thing.
But you know the Lord knows how to humble somebody, doesn't he?
Whether it's a believer or an unbeliever, thank God he humbles
the believer and makes him see that his only clothing is Christ. But he's in control of everybody,
just like he was Saul at this time, and Saul's made to strip
off his clothes and lay there all night. Wherefore, they say,
is Saul also among the prophets? He's made to be naked and vulnerable
before the Lord. And this question was asked earlier
in chapter 10. You remember when he started
prophesying, and they said, is Saul among the prophets? Now
here's what gets me about Saul. Sometimes he can seem so humble,
and vulnerable and remorseful over the things he did. Sometimes
it's, and it seems very genuine and yet he can turn around and
be an absolute hard-hearted monster. And you know what that makes
me do? I look at Saul and I say, Lord, have mercy on me. I will
be this man, apart from your grace. And I don't want to be
this man. Lord, have mercy on me. Don't
let me be a Saul. Because Saul, at times, man,
he can look good. It's like I said, many people
you read say, well, he was a believer. He was just an inconsistent,
contradictory believer. Well, I don't think that. I don't
think that, but it doesn't matter what I think, does it? You know,
the Bible doesn't give us a real clear answer one way or the other.
Maybe it was, but Lord, deliver me from being this man because
this is the man I will be if you don't prevent it by your
grace. Now, like I said, David has already
been anointed by God himself to be king. In 1 Samuel chapter
16, he's the anointed king. He's the Lord's man. But boy,
you'd never know it by looking at his life, would you? He's
on the run, he's in trouble, and he's going to be in trouble
for years. But the Lord is going to put
him on the throne. We'll pick up in chapter 20 next
week.