Let's turn again tonight to the
book of 1 Samuel, and this evening to chapter 26. In Psalm, 34 in verse 19, David wrote, Many
are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out
of them all. Now those words of David we see
as we study through 1 Samuel, David wrote those words from
experience. And in this chapter that we are
looking at tonight, we see both. We see affliction and we see
deliverance. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. First, the
affliction that we see in this chapter, the affliction is King
Saul. coming again to take David's
life. Let's read verses 1 through 4. And the Zephites came unto Saul
to Gebeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill Hachilla,
which is before Jeshimon? Then Saul arose and went down
to the wilderness of Zeph, having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with
him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul pitched in
the hill of Achilla, which is before Jeshimon by the way. But David abode in the wilderness. And he saw that Saul came after
him into the wilderness. David therefore sent out spies
and understood that Saul was come in very deed. We saw a few weeks ago in chapter
23 that these men called the Ziphites, that they had come
to him at that time, come to Saul, rather, at that time, and
told David, or told Saul where David was hiding in the wilderness
of Ziph. And Saul, at that time, brought
3,000 chosen men to the wilderness of Ziph, with the purpose of
course of killing Saul, of eliminating or killing David rather, eliminating
David. Now God delivered David at that
time and he delivered David by the Philistines invading the
country and Saul received word that the Philistines had invaded
the country, so he had to leave seeking David. Now, here we see
again that they come to King Saul, and they had to be looking
for Saul's favor, seeking Saul's favor, what he could do for them,
that they would come twice to betray David, telling Saul where
he was where he could come and find David and his men. Again,
we see that he came with 3,000 choice men to destroy. What an
illustration here. As you think about this, as you
meditate on those verses and this particular site, what an
illustration of what the sins of jealousy, hatred, malice,
and envy can produce in a person. You know, there's sins of the
flesh that people don't think that much about, maybe. Sins
like envy and jealousy and malice, hatred. Sins that are not necessarily
outward shown, but you see what those sins can lead a person
to do. Here this man Saul was. Just
to be able to command 3,000 men, To have 3,000 men under his command,
that was something. That was something great. He
had a crown on his head. But he wasn't happy. He wasn't
content. He wasn't satisfied with everything
he had, being king over Israel. And it was all because of the
jealousy and the envy that he had for David. Remember the people
sang David's praises and they gave David praise for having
killed more of the Philistines than Saul. And Saul just could
not, he could not take that. He had to have the preeminence. And I just think it's such a
picture here of the jealousy, what jealousy can breed, what
it can bring forth in a person's heart. When, as a believer, as
a child of God, when we first sense the rising of jealousy
or envy in our hearts, we need to mortify that. We need to go
to the Lord in prayer and seek his deliverance from that sin
because we don't know how far that may take us. Just like Saul
here, how far it took him. to having one purpose in life
now, and that was to kill David, to destroy David. But as I said,
David wrote, many are the afflictions of the righteous, and that's
the affliction that David is in at this time. Here's Saul
with his army. David with a much smaller army,
of course, 600 men, and Saul has come to the wilderness, to
the wilderness of Ziph to destroy David. Now, the second part of
the message, the rest of the chapter is the deliverance is
most unusual. The deliverance, how God is going
to deliver David this time is most unusual. You know there's
a verse in 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9 which says, the Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve
the unjust unto the day of judgment. The Lord we know is infinite
in every way, whether it's power, he's omnipotent, whether it's
love, It's everlasting grace, but his wisdom, God is infinite
in wisdom. And we might think, well, there's
only one way that God could deliver me. Maybe you're in a situation,
if not today, maybe sometime, and you think in your mind, well,
this is the way, this is the only way God could possibly deliver
me. No, no. No, don't think like
that. God is infinite in wisdom and
he has all kinds of ways that he can deliver his children. We saw he delivered David before
by having the Philistines invade the country and Saul had to go
and fight them and David was delivered. But remember what
the angel Gabriel told Mary. when he announced to her that
she was going to have a child, she was going to have a son.
And how can it be? How can it be? And his words,
the words of the angel, I just, you know, think about that angel
who had always been in the presence of God. holy angel, Gabriel. And here he is in the world at
that particular time, manifesting himself to Mary and bringing
that message to her. And she, of course, asked, how
can that be? How can I have a son? How can
I have a child? And the angel, part of his answer
was, For with God nothing shall be impossible. Nothing shall
be impossible with God. Whatever the problem is, whatever
the trial is, with God nothing shall be impossible. Now let's
read a few of these verses beginning with verse five. And David arose
and came to the place where Saul had pitched. That's where he
had pitched camp. This is an army. where he pitched
his camp, and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner
the son of Ner, the captain of his host. And Saul lay in the
trench, or some believe this is like circling the wagons,
but this would have been circling the chariots. He was laying there
asleep, protected as far as man could protect him, and the people
pitched round about him. Then answered David and said
to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruah,
brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul
to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down
with thee. So David and Abishai came to
the people by night. And behold, Saul lay sleeping
within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster. But Abner and the people lay
round about him. Then said Abishai to David, God
hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now therefore
let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth
at once, and I will not smite him the second time. David said
to Abishai, destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his
hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? Let's stop
reading there for just a few minutes. I want you to get the
picture. I said that God delivered David
in the most unusual way this time. It's amazing. You're going to see that. Saul
and his army made camp. And I would think that as most
armies, when they make camp like this for the night, they have
sentries that have men on guard duty. Men are stationed at certain
spots around the camp there. And I want you to notice in verse
12 what we're told. So David took the spear and the
crews of water from Saul's bolster and they get them away and no
man saw it nor know it neither awake for they were all asleep. Now notice this because this
is the amazing way that God delivers David this time because A deep
sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them." Here these two men
come down into the camp and they're talking and there's 3,000 men
there along with Saul and Abner, the commander in chief of the
army. And they're asleep and they don't
wake up. Why? Because, as the scripture
here tells us, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen
upon them. I looked up that word, and that's
the same word in the same translation that we find in Genesis chapter
2 and verse 21. And the Lord, here's the verse
there in Genesis, and the Lord caused a deep sleep Same word,
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept, and he took one
of his ribs. Sleep deep enough. This sleep
was deep enough for the Lord to perform surgery on Adam. To take one of his ribs, and
with that rib, of course, to make Adam's helpmate Eve. And that made me think about
this, and I know you think about this. Adam's wife, the first
Adam, that is the first Adam, his wife came out of his side,
one of his ribs. The last Adam, the Lord Jesus
Christ, his wife also comes out of his side. Remember when that
Roman soldier, when the Lord Jesus Christ, dying there upon
the tree, he took that spear and plunged it into the side
of the Lord Jesus Christ, what came out? First, blood. But not just blood, blood and
water. Blood being justified through
the blood, the propitiation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
water, of course, represents a cleansing and the sanctifying
power of God the Holy Spirit. So you tonight, if you're one
of God's children, part of his church, his bride, we make up
his bride, we came out of his side. Eve came out of Adam's
side. What a beautiful picture there
and type of Christ and his work. But the same word, that's a deep
sleep now. You know, when you go in for
surgery, you go in the hospital and go in for surgery, they put
you to sleep. They don't want you waking up.
They don't want you waking up during the surgery, during the
operation. And they want you to be asleep, so they make sure
they give you enough. And that's a deep sleep. And
that's the way, I said, it's amazing to me that this is the
way God delivers David this time, by causing the whole army of
Saul to go to sleep and remain asleep, fall into a deep sleep. What a blessing to see that.
We learn that a deep sleep from the Lord, it says, was fallen
upon them. But now listen, we learn that,
we read that, but David didn't know that. When this took place,
David didn't know that a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen
upon those men. And what I see here is, I believe
David, I see his faith. Because he asked, there's two
men that are mentioned here, but he asked, who will go with
me? I'm going. You see that? I'm going. He didn't ask, do you think we
ought to go? No, no, I'm going. I'm going
down there. where 3,000 men are surrounding
the king, I'm going there. Who's going with me? I see faith,
don't you? And then I looked in Hebrews
chapter 11. Remember in Hebrews chapter 11, we read one testimony
after the other by faith. By faith, by faith. And I came upon this verse, verse
34, which tells us that by faith, men have escaped the edge of
the sword. That's what happens there, isn't
it? Yes, by faith, David and Abishai, they escaped the edge
of the sword by all of those men. They all had swords and
soldiers, but they're all asleep. Now, I'll sound asleep. They
escaped the edge of the sword. Now, they're not the only ones,
I know that. David wasn't the only one. There's
others that also, Moses and others as well. Now, I want to point
a few things out to us in these verses. Let's read some more
verses here. We stopped at verse 12, let's
read on beginning with verse 13. Then David went over to the
other side and stood on the top of a hill far off, a great space
being between them. And David cried to the people
and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, answerest thou not Abner? Then Abner answered and said,
who art thou that cries to the king? And David said to Abner,
Art not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Wherefore then hast thou not
kept thy Lord the King? For there came one in of the
people in to destroy the King thy Lord. This thing is not good
that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, you are worthy
to die. because you have not kept your
master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's
spear is, and the cruise of water that was at his bolster. And
Saul knew David's voice and said, is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, it is my voice,
my lord, O king. And he said, wherefore doth my
lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done? or what
evil is in mine hand. Now therefore I pray thee, let
my Lord the King hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have
stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. But if
they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord. For they have driven me out this
day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go, serve
other gods. Now, therefore, let not my blood
fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the king
of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt
a partridge in the mountains. Now, a few things I want to point
out here. Two weeks ago, when we saw David,
he was in the cave, and Saul came into the cave and he went
to sleep. And David's men, they saw that
as God's providence, bringing David's enemy there into the
cave, and they could have easily, they could have easily taken
him out of this world. And they encouraged David to
do it. They encouraged David to do it, to kill his enemy.
Now, if you notice in verse 8, this man Abishai, he knew that
David would not kill the king. They've already faced that before
in that cave. David wouldn't kill the king.
And David said, who can touch the Lord's anointed? No. But you see, this time, this
man, knowing that David wouldn't kill him, he asked David, let
me do it. Notice that, let me do it. Verse
eight, then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy
into thine hand this day. Again, you see, they believe
it's God's providence. that Saul was here and would
be easily dispatched out of this world. But notice, I pray thee,
with the spear even to the earth, let me, now therefore let me
smite him. He knew David wouldn't do it.
He already found that out. David already, we saw this two
weeks ago. David wouldn't do it, but he
would. Let me do it, let me do it. Both times, we see David confess
that Saul was God's anointed. He was God's anointed. Notice
that in verse nine, and David said to Abishad, destroy him
not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed
and be guiltless? You can't do that. You can't
take this man's life. This man, God anointed him to
be the king. anointing all of God poured upon
him. He's God's anointed. You can't
kill him and prosper. David knew that and he respected
God and he respected Saul. The second thing I want you to
notice in verse 10, David would wait upon the Lord to deal with
Saul. Yeah, Saul was his enemy. Yes, they had an opportunity
to take care of his enemy. But notice David, his reasoning
is, David said, furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord
shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend
into battle and perish. You see, he's content to wait
upon God. God would take care of his enemy.
And he knew that, he believed that, he believed God. He'd just
wait. A third thing, I noticed that
David shames Abner. That's what he does. Abner was
the commander-in-chief of the armies of Israel. And he shamed
him. You know, I believe this is probably
true today, and it's always been true. A man goes to sleep on
guard duty, that's a capital offense immediately. I know,
I believe it's true in our country during the war between the states,
the Civil War, there were men who were executed for going to
sleep when they should have been guarding on guard duty. They
put the whole camp in jeopardy, don't they? One man, if one man's
on guard, If he's the only one and he goes to sleep, then you've
got all the men in jeopardy there. And that's what David accused
Abner of doing. You're a valiant man. You've
got the respect. You've got the fame in Israel
of being a valiant man, Abner. And he did have that. He wouldn't
have been captain if he had not been a mighty man. That's how
he got to that position, most likely. You're a valiant man, and look
what you've done. He shames him, he really does.
He shames him. Well, you've gone to sleep, and
your failure, David told him, your failure is worthy of death. Abner, if you get what you deserve
for what you've done, you'll be executed. That's all there
is to it. You've failed to protect your
master, the king. You know, a few weeks ago, we
saw a man who was one of the Secret Service men in the motorcade
of John F. Kennedy when he was killed. He's
the man, if you've seen those clips, who climbed on the back
of the car. And after all these years, he
said he still felt guilt. He did everything he could do.
But the president was killed. And he said he had lived with
that guilt all these years. That's a serious Serious job,
like Abner had. And he had completely failed.
And David told him about it. David let him know. But I want
you to notice next, David's plea for peace in verses 18 through
20. He said, wherefore doth my Lord?
Well, Saul, I should say this, Saul recognized David's voice
and he addressed him as my son, my son. Verse 17, and Saul knew
David's voice and said, is this thy voice, my son, David? Remember,
David was Saul's son-in-law, but Saul had given David's wife
away by this time, given his wife to another man, but he still
calls him his son, his son. But David, his plea in verse
18, wherefore doth my Lord thus pursue after his servant? For
what have I done, or what evil is in mine hand? Now, therefore,
now notice this, I pray thee, let my Lord the King hear the
words of his servant. If the Lord, now, if you're just
in what you're doing, if God has led you to seek my life,
If I've sinned against you, let him, that is God, accept an offering,
a peace offering. Let's make this right, in other
words. That's what he said. But, now
notice, but, if you have been told by other men that I'm seeking
to take your kingdom, I'm seeking to take your life, If you've
been listening to other men, and most of the commentators
seem to think that was Saul's problem. Because remember before,
when David could have killed him and didn't in that cave,
Saul said, you're right. You're more righteous than I.
But here he is again, seeking David's life. And most of the
writers believe that he was listening to some of his advisors who were
telling him lies about David, what David's intentions were.
David said, no. Many believe that this is when
David wrote Psalm 7. Let's turn over there real quickly,
and I won't take much more time. But in Psalm 7, there's a man
by the name of Cush in the title of this psalm. It says, David was saying unto
the Lord concerning the words, notice that, the words of Cush
the Benjamite. And the writers seem to think
that Cush was the one who was telling Saul these lies about
David, what David was trying to do, to kill him and become
king. And if you notice in verse three
there in that psalm, O Lord my God, if I have done
this, if there be iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded
evil unto him that was at peace with me, yea, I have delivered
him that without cause is mine enemy. Let the enemy persecute
my soul and take it, yea, let him tread down my life upon the
earth and lay mine honor in the dust. If I'm guilty of trying
to bring about Saul's death, David said, let me lime the dust. Back to the text. And David told Saul, what's happening
here, you're going to cause me to have to leave the country.
Notice that. I've got to leave the land of
Israel. And where am I going to go? I'm
going to go among idolaters. That's all there were besides
the nation of Israel. Now, therefore, let not my blood
fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the king
of Israel has come out to seek a flea. He tells the king, it's
beneath you. It's beneath you to even seek
my life. And me, in comparison to you,
I'm just like a flea. It's beneath you, Saul, to be
doing this. You can see David's love for
Saul, and this is the last time they will ever see each other,
as far as we know. But David continued to respect
and love Saul as his king. Well, once again, Saul acknowledged
his fault. He said, I've sinned. And David
restored his spear to him and the cruise of water. And David
did ask him this. He said, as thy life was valuable
in my eyes, I wouldn't kill you so. Your life was valuable in
my eyes. Let my life be valuable in your
eyes. And they parted. each going his
own way. And as I said, as far as we know,
as far as the scripture is concerned, they never saw each other again
in this life. And Saul would die in battle
shortly after this. I trust the Lord would bless
his word to us here this evening. And there's just some practical
things that we see as we go through 1 Samuel.