Let us turn tonight again to
1 Samuel chapter 19. 1 Samuel chapter 19. I ended my message last time from this
chapter with verse number seven. And I pointed out the contrast
in the first seven verses of this chapter between Jonathan,
that is Saul's son, Jonathan, his intercession for David, the
contrast between Jonathan's intercession for David and our Lord Christ,
his intercession us. If you notice in verse 4, we
see that Jonathan, when he interceded with his father, the king, for
David, he spoke of all the good that David had done unto Saul,
his father. The point is, Jonathan based
his intercession for David upon David's goodness. and David's
faithfulness to his father Saul. The Lord Jesus Christ and both
of those hymns that we sang just now spoke of our Lord's intercession
for us, for his people. But he doesn't base his intercession,
Christ doesn't base his intercession on the merits of those for whom
he makes intercession, like Jonathan did. Jonathan based all of his
intercession on the merits of David, how that David had been
good, how that David had been faithful unto his father. But when the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he continually makes intercession for us, for all of us who come
unto God by him, He bases His intercession not upon our goodness,
for we have none. Not upon our faithfulness, because
we have proven unfaithful many times. But His intercession is
all based upon His merits. You see what I'm saying? Upon
Christ, upon His merits, upon His goodness, upon His faithfulness. Father, Forgive them is his prayer. You know, in Isaiah, that wonderful
chapter, Isaiah 53, that speaks to us of the sufferings of the
Lord Jesus Christ, one of the last verses reads like this. Because he, that is Christ, because
he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with
the transgressors. Remember there was two? crucified
alongside of him who were transgressors. He was numbered, Christ, the
innocent one. He was numbered with the transgressors
and he bear the sin of many. Before this, in that same chapter,
the prophet said, the Lord hath made to meet upon him or laid
upon him the sins of his people. He bared the sin of many, but
now listen, and made intercession for the transgressors. Even when our Lord was being
nailed to the tree, when those Roman soldiers were driving those
spikes through his hands at the very beginning of his crucifixion,
you remember, he made intercession for the transgressors. Father, Forgive them for they know not
what they do. What a difference, right? Between
the intercession of Jonathan for David with his father and
of Christ for us who are transgressors with his father who is also our
father. Amen? Well, beginning tonight
with verse eight, we're going to go through this chapter, and
I want to just point out five things to us. First of all, in
verse eight, the first five words, and there was war again. Those
five words, when you think about it, and there was war again,
those five words describe the history of mankind. and there was war again. How could anyone really deny
the fall of man? God created man upright, made
him in his own image, and yet man disobeyed and he fell into
sin. When we read these words and
the history of mankind, And there was war again. How could anyone
deny the fall of man? That man certainly is not as
God created him, perfect and upright and holy. That man transgressed
God's law. He was not obedient to God's
law and he failed. You know, the first man, think
of this, the very first man who was born in this world, Cain,
he went to war. with his brother Abel and killed
him. And since that time, every century
since that time could be described by those five words. And there
was war again. Time after time, generation after
generation until tonight, and there was war again. You know,
when the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ Ask him concerning
his coming and the end of the world. The Lord said this. They asked him, what shall be
the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And part
of our Lord's answer was these words. You shall hear of wars
and rumors of wars. But be not troubled, for all
these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. Think
of that. you shall hear wars and rumors
of wars. And that's our life, that's man's
life. No matter in which century a
person lives, we hear wars and rumors of wars, and that's just
the history of man. But what glory, think about this,
what glory What glory will it be when the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Prince of Peace, when He comes again and takes His
people home to be with Him, and it will never, it will never
be written again. And there was war again. There'll be no more war. There'll
be peace. Isn't that something to look
forward to? A time when there will be no more war. there will
be peace, and only peace, because the Prince of Peace, the Lord
Jesus Christ, shall reign over all his people. That's the first
thing that appeared to me as I read these verses, and there
was war again. Now the second thing that stood
out to me, I want us to see, let's go down to the last part
of verse eight, the last part of verse eight, and I have this
heading, David was again successful in God's strength. David was
again successful in God's strength. Notice what it says. David went
out and fought with the Philistines and slew them with a great slaughter
and they fled from him. David, was again successful in
God's strength. And I point that out, in God's
strength. David was successful in war in
God's strength. It wasn't as if he had some natural
strength of his own. No, the Lord was his strength.
When he was keeping his father's sheep, remember, He killed a
bear one time. He killed a lion one time. A
bear and a lion had come and snatched one of his lambs, his
father's lambs. And David, how did he do that? How does a man kill a bear? How
does a man kill a lion? In the strength of the Lord. And then when he came and the
armies of Israel were on one side and the armies of the Philistines
on another hill, and in the middle we have that giant Goliath defying
the armies of enemy, and David goes out and slays that giant,
and he goes out how? In the name of the Lord. In other
words, he did what he did in the strength of Jehovah. He took
that that stone and put it in his sling, and no doubt God directed
that stone and gave it the power to strike that giant with all
of his armor. That giant had armor on, that's
pointed out to us, he had armor on. But I tell you, when God
directs a stone, when God gives strength to a stone, it can strike
through armor. And it did, in that case, and
wounded that giant. Didn't kill him. No, David did
that with a giant sword. Yeah, what a picture of Christ. But what I'm pointing out to
us, that once again, we see that David, in the strength of the
Lord, in the name of the Lord, that he is successful in battle. You know, in Psalm 144, in verse
one, he wrote these words. Blessed be the Lord my strength,
my strength. Now listen, which teacheth my
hands to war and my fingers to fight. Yes, David was again successful
in battle because he does do battle in the strength of God. And David was always careful,
he's always careful to give God the glory. When God gave him
victory, he doesn't take the glory to himself. He's always
very careful to point out that the victory came, yes, it came
through his hand, he's the means, but God is the one who accomplished
the feat. The third thing that I want to
point out to us is that David, David again took his place as
a servant. Look to the last part of verse
nine. It says, and David played with
his hand. Of course, that speaks of the
fact that David played his harp. He played his harp with his hand. Now, you remember, that's the
reason he had been brought originally to serve King Saul. He was brought
into King Saul's presence to play his harp to soothe Saul
when an evil spirit came upon Saul. When that melancholy spirit
came upon Saul, that depression that no doubt came upon him,
then David would play his harp to soothe him. But now, at this
point in David's life, he's proved himself as a warrior. He's proved
himself not just as a man who could play the harp well, but
as a man who could go out and do battle with the enemies of
God's people. And he had been praised. He's
now a man, when he first came before the king, he was just
a shepherd boy, a shepherd boy who could play well. his heart,
but now he's at the place where he's somebody. The women had
come out and sung his praises. Saul has slain his thousand,
but David his ten thousands. He was now somebody. And who
was he? That's what I have in my notes.
He was now somebody, yes. And what was he? He was a man
after God's own heart. A man after God's own heart.
And we see in this place here, we see he manifests that humility
that must be true of all who would serve the Lord Jesus Christ. A servant cannot be above his
master. And our Lord came as a servant. And those who would serve him,
those whom God would use in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, we must
be like David. We must, in humility, serve him
in whatever capacity he opens up, whatever place he opens up
for us. A.W. Pink, he made this comment
on this truth. He said, and I quote, though
serving a master that little appreciated his faithful efforts,
nay, who had vilely mistreated him, our hero did not refuse
to perform his present duty. Going out and winning all the
battles he's won and being praised, what does he do? He's back in
the palace playing that harp, just like he had done when he
first came there. And Matthew Henry commented,
and I quote, David continues his good services to his king
and country. Though Saul had requited him
evil for good, and even his usefulness was the very thing for which
Saul envied him. Yet he did not retire in sullenness
and declined public service. Those that are ill paid for doing
good yet must not be weary of well doing, remembering what
a bountiful benefactor our Heavenly Father is. David again takes
his place as a lowly servant. What a lesson for all of us. And the fourth thing that stands
out to me in this passage is we see the futility of man's
resolve, man's resolution. I'm going to do right. I'm going
to live right. I'm not going to be guilty of
any sin again. the futility of the resolutions
that men make, trusting in their willpower, in their ability. I want you to look, I hope you
still have your Bible open here, but in verses nine and 10, and
the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul as he sat in his
house with his javelin in his hand. And then verse 10, 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. You know, if you look back to
verse six, Saul took an oath, he swore, He swore in the name
of God, David will live. Notice that in verse six. And
Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan, and Saul sware,
and notice his oath here, as the Lord liveth, he shall not
be slain. That's his oath. That's Saul's
oath. That's his resolution. David's
gonna live. Far be it from me to do anything
to take David's life. But now, we read what? He's got this javelin in his
hand, and this evil spirit from the Lord comes upon him, and
what does he do? He tries his very best to destroy
David, to pin David to the wall with that javelin, for the javelin
to go through his body and fix him on the wall. He's taken an
oath. David shall live in the name
of the Lord. David shall live. But we see
now that he breaks his oath and tries his best to destroy David
himself. And that reminds us once again
that unless God, now I'm sure when he made that oath, he was
sincere. He was sincere about this, man.
At the time, David's gonna live. Yes, far be it from me to do
anything that would harm him. He was sincere when he made that
vow and swear in the name of the Lord, David shall live. But
this just reminds us again that unless God, now listen to me,
unless God does a work in us, all our resolutions and all our
vows and all our swearing is just so much hot air. That's
it. Unless God gives us a new heart. Unless God works in us, as the
Apostle Paul says, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. All the vows, man, he's very
adept at making vows and determinations. I'm not going to go down that
road anymore. And before long, he's going down
that road. I'm not going to open my mouth
and say such foolish things again, but before long, he's opened
his mouth again and uttered all his heart. Man, the futility
of man's resolve, man's resolutions. What a contrast here. Notice
that verse, verse six, again, if you will, here. And Saul hearkened
unto the voice of Jonathan, and Saul sware, as the Lord liveth,
he shall not be slain. But now he's doing his best to
kill him. He throws that javelin, and only
God delivered him. But I want us to notice a difference.
Think about that oath there, about that man, he swear. And let's go to Hebrews chapter
six for just a second and read these verses where we see that
God swear, that God took an oath. In Hebrews chapter six, and beginning in verse 17, What a difference, right, between
God taking an oath and a man taking an oath. Man's mutable,
fallible, deceives himself. God is immutable, infallible,
and the truth. What a difference when man saw
he took an oath, he's going to live. And then all of a sudden,
he's the very one who's trying to kill him. But here in Hebrews
chapter 6, for you and I, and for all of us who trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ, to give us assurance. God cannot lie. He does not change. And yet,
we are such fickle people that we doubt God. We doubt His word. And so God, to give us a strong
assurance, give us great confidence, he takes an oath. Look at this,
wherein God, verse 17, willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it
by an oath. Now watch this, that by two immutable
things. What are these two immutable
things? God's word, first of all. By two immutable things. God's word's not going to change.
The psalmist said, that word, O God, is settled forever in
heaven. Our Lord said that not one jot
or tittle would pass from the law until it all be fulfilled,
that by two immutable things, God's word, he who is the truth,
he has spoken and he doesn't change, he cannot lie. And yet we read his word and
we doubt, we doubt, we question. Well, what's the second immutable
thing? That by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, His oath. His oath. He took an oath that we might have a strong consolation. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's one of his names. Consolation. The consolation
of Israel. That's one of his names. And
in Christ, we have a strong consolation. Why? Because we have God's word.
which cannot change, and God's oath that he has taken. We might have a strong consolation,
those of us who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us. What is the hope set before us?
Christ, he is our hope, isn't he? We're not hoping in our reformation,
we're not hoping in our good works or anything good about
us, our hope, my hope is built on Jesus Christ and his faithfulness. He's the rock upon which we're
built. We've fled to Christ who is our
hope. Which hope we have for an anchor
for the soul. Anchor. You know, you can't,
when a ship is anchored out here at sea, you can't see the anchor,
can you? No, it's, if it's on board the
ship, it's really not serving as an anchor. No, but when it's
under the water and you can't see it, it's hooked on to a rock
or something there and it's sure and it's steadfast. And Christ,
we don't see him, we can't see him with these eyes. By faith
we see him, but we know that he's entered in to the holy of
holies tonight, making intercession for us. He's our hope, he's our
anchor, the anchor of our soul. Both sure and steadfast, which
entereth into that within the veil, into that holy place. Whether
the forerunner, the forerunner, who's that? That's Christ, the
forerunner. He's the first fruits from the
dead. He was raised and he's entered
there. He's the forerunner, but a forerunner
just means there's a whole lot of others gonna follow. And that's
us, that's his people, amen. Oh man, he can turn over all
the new leaves make all the resolutions that he can think of. But what
he needs is a new heart, and only God can give us a new heart. Now here's the last thing. Look
back here to 1 Samuel 19. I want us to see, we'll just
briefly read these verses. I want us to see how David is
shielded from destruction. Not once, not twice, but time
after time after time. beginning in verse 10. And Saul
sought to smite David even to the wall with his 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. That's
the first time he's now delivered. And Saul also sent messengers
unto David's house to watch him and to slay him in the morning.
And Micah, David's wife, told him, saying, if thou save not
thy life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slain. Now, how she
knew that, we don't know, but she was correct. You know, she
was the king's daughter, and I guess there was word in the
palace there, and somehow she heard, and she told her husband,
she said, If you don't get out of here tonight, it's gonna be
too late in the morning. Ash saved a second time. She
led him down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped. And then she 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. They turned around and went back,
but Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, bring
him up to me in the bed that I may slay him. Just bring him
and the band and everything together. Bring him to me, I'm going to
kill him. He's delivered again, because
he's not in that bed. When the messengers would come
in, behold, there was an image in the bed with a pillow of goat's
hair for his bolster. And Saul said unto Michelle,
why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that
he escaped? And Michelle answered Saul, he
said unto me, let me go, why should I kill thee? We see that
David's wife here, she was a liar, wasn't she? She lied several
times in this passage of scripture. What an awful thing when a believer
is married to an unbeliever. And I heard this today again,
and you know this is so, but marriage, and there are not many
young people here tonight, but those of you who are here, listen
to me. That's one of the most important
decisions you ever make in your life, who you marry. And you better seek out a godly
man or a godly woman and marry that person. David here, he's
matched with an unbeliever, obviously. And it was told Saul, saying,
Behold, David is at Naaroth in Ramah. He fled to be with Samuel. 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 began to prophesy. And I've told us before, as we've
looked through this book, that prophesying many times was singing. And I don't know if that's the
case here. It could have been. But we know
that somehow these messengers of Saul When they saw the sons
of the prophets and Samuel over them prophesying, they failed
to prophesy. They couldn't do what they had
been sent there to do. That was to arrest, to take David. And when it was told Saul, he
sent other messengers and the same thing happened to them. And Saul sent messengers again
the third time. And what I'm pointing out here
is how many times, time after time after time after time, we
see that God delivers David. He delivers David. And so finally,
you see here, Saul decides, well, I'll just go take care of this
myself. He gonna fight against God? He gonna overcome God? Then when he also to Ramah, and
came to a great well that is in Situ, and he asked and said,
where are Samuel and David? And one said, behold, they be
at Naoth in Ramah. And he went thither to Naoth
in Ramah, and the Spirit of God was upon him also. And he went
on and prophesied. I think it's time to give up,
don't you? He's not going to destroy David. David had been
anointed to be king, and until God was through with David, he
was invulnerable to Saul's attacks. You know, those of you who were
here last Sunday morning, Maybe remember I closed the message
with that verse in Galatians 3, which said, so then they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Those that
are saved by faith, those who trust in Christ. We are blessed
as Abraham was blessed. And I pointed out these four
blessings. First of all, justification. Second was reconciliation. And third was protection. I am
thy shield. And we see that David's shield
here is God. And every weapon that was formed
against him and every attack that was made against him was
somehow came to nothing. Why? Because God was not through
with David. David's going to eventually come
to the throne and reign for 40 years. God was his shield. And I mentioned
the fact when God is your shield, he's your shield in front of
you, behind you, on the side of you, underneath you, and above
you. And nothing, nothing can touch
you unless God gives permission. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him and delivereth them. No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper, for he shall give his
angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. David is delivered time after
time. And this should remind you and
I especially to pray as our Lord told us to pray. Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Not just
one day, But every day we should pray like that. I read this rhyme,
not shaft of hate can hit till the God of love sees fit. Let
me read that again. Not shaft of hate can hit till
the God of love sees fit. And God did not see fit for Saul
to destroy David. And no matter what he tried,
nothing worked. May it be a faith are blessed
with faithful Abraham. May the Lord bless this word
to us here this evening. Bill, if you