[0:00] is where we will be at this evening, 1 Samuel 19. I'll go ahead and let you know. I will do the same thing as well. Mark the book of Psalm, Psalm 59.
[0:18] Go ahead and mark Psalm 59. And I will let you do that because I'll do it as well. So 1 Samuel 19 is our text.
[0:34] You will see why I asked you to mark the book of Psalm there in just a little bit. So 1 Samuel 19. I'll put this here so I don't lose my spot.
[0:45] Okay, let's go to Lord in prayer and then we'll get started. Lord, we thank you so much just for allowing us of gathering together this evening. We thank you for every opportunity we have together as your people.
[0:57] Lord, to look at the word of God together. We thank you for the great privilege of that. We thank you for the privileged opportunity we have of opening up the scripture, reading it for ourselves.
[1:09] And Lord, pray that we would come to a greater understanding of it. We pray as we read your word, O Lord, that we would see who you are. We would see who we are. And God, we would see what it is you call us to do for your glory and honor.
[1:20] We ask that you'd lead in God with those in the back. We pray that you'd be with those working with the children, with the teachers, and even the children, Lord. We pray that the word of God would resonate in their hearts and minds.
[1:30] We pray that the truth of the scripture that they look at would take root not only in their mind, but also in their heart. Lord, we ask that you'd be glorified and honored, Lord Jesus, in all that takes place in this place.
[1:41] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. First Samuel, chapter 19. Really, every time we get into these historical works, we come into some very pivotal events in the history of the nation of Israel and the history of the people that it entails.
[2:00] If you remember in the 18th chapter, there's a very crucial point in that David and Jonathan, Saul's son, make an agreement with one another. They enter into a pact, into a covenant.
[2:11] We looked at the reality of that, that Jonathan is probably several years older, if not twice the age of David. But he looked upon him with favor because he probably saw something in David that was evident in his own life.
[2:24] That is, a sense of zeal, a sense of purpose, and really a sense of the Lord using him because Jonathan was a warrior as well. We see that in the earlier chapters of 1 Samuel. We know that as we've been reading 1 Samuel, Samuel has fallen kind of in the background.
[2:39] He'll come to the forefront here in this chapter for the last time, really, other than the end of Saul's life. But he'll come to the forefront for just a moment briefly.
[2:50] But we know that really we have transitioned into looking at the comparison of two men, the people's king and God's king. The people of Israel asked for a king and God gave them Saul.
[3:03] He was everything they wanted. He looked the part. He fit the part. He had the right pedigree. He appeared to be one that would go before them and lead them in battle victoriously. But yet his heart was not right with the Lord.
[3:15] He failed in a number of ways and he really failed to completely obey the Lord. So God issued a command, really a declaration through Samuel that the kingdom would be pulled from him and given to someone that sought his own heart, someone that was after his own heart.
[3:29] And then there's the man David. With the story of David and Goliath, we really are looking more than just the comparison between good and evil. We're looking at the comparison between what does it look like for a man to be after God's own heart?
[3:43] How does he look? What does he look like in the crucible of battle? And we saw that, the comparison of Saul and David and David's popularity takes off and Saul's spirit gets unsettled.
[3:56] The spirit of God is cloaking and covering David and there's a spirit of torment and discomfort and unsettlement and unease that really bothers Saul.
[4:08] We've seen that more than likely that's a conviction, that God is disturbing him and upsetting him. We would call it one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to convict men of their sin.
[4:21] We see that really going on. And so he has David come in and play the harp. Now I know all this is kind of backstory, but we want to be sure that we get this in right context. And David's popularity continues to rise and Saul's problems continue to increase.
[4:36] In the 19th chapter, we're really transitioning. In the 19th chapter, we will see, if you had to have a title of it, the security of David. Really, it's the divine security of David.
[4:49] Because by the time we get to the end of the 19th chapter, David will begin about a 10 year wilderness wandering, if you will, fleeing from the threat of Saul.
[5:02] He leaves the presence of Saul after this, officially in the 20th chapter, but the 19th chapter is really what leads up to it. And he will be on the run for the next decade.
[5:14] And not until Saul takes his own life in a battle will David come back to really claim the kingdom. But we're seeing here the security of David.
[5:26] Because he is anointed. If you remember, Samuel went to Bethlehem, to the household of Jesse. And he anointed the man that God showed him, which was the young man, David.
[5:39] He's the anointed of God. He is the king in waiting. He is the one that God's going to fulfill his purposes and his plans through. There is so much that hinges upon David.
[5:52] We'll get to that in just a moment. And yet, it seems as if any moment, those things could just fall by the wayside and everything come to an end. And we really begin to see that played out in the 19th chapter.
[6:05] So the 19th chapter says this. Now Saul told Jonathan, his son, and all his servants to put David to death. But Jonathan, Saul's son, greatly delighted in David.
[6:16] So Jonathan told David, saying, Saul, my father, is seeking to put you to death. Now therefore, please be on guard in the morning and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you.
[6:29] If I find out anything, then I will tell you. Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you.
[6:43] For he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine. And the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?
[6:54] Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul vowed, As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as formerly.
[7:10] When there was war again, David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with great slaughter, so that they fled before him. Now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul, as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand.
[7:23] And David was playing the harp with his hand. Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, so that he stuck the spear into the wall.
[7:34] And David fled and escaped that night. Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michael, David's wife, told him, saying, If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.
[7:47] So Michael let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped. And Michael took the household idol and laid it on the bed, and put a quilt of goat's hair at its head, and covered it with clothes.
[7:59] When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. Then Saul sent messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me on his bed, that I may put him to death.
[8:09] When the messengers entered, behold, the household idol was on the bed, and the quilt of goat's hair at its head. So Saul said to Michael, Why have you deceived me like this, and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?
[8:20] And Michael said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I put you to death? Now David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him.
[8:31] And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naoth. It was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naoth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to take David.
[8:42] But when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying with Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied.
[8:56] So Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. Then he himself went to Ramah, and came as far as the large well that is in Seku. And he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David?
[9:09] And someone said, Behold, they are in Naoth in Ramah. He proceeded there to Naoth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naoth in Ramah.
[9:23] And he also stripped off his clothes. And he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore, they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?
[9:38] Here we see the divine security of David. So much depends upon this man, David, the hopes and promises of God.
[9:50] If you remember, the covenant of God could not continue through Saul because he is of the wrong lineage, covenantally speaking. When we read the end of the book of Genesis, we find that there is a covenant that is given to one clan that there would be a king arise from, and that is the clan of Judah.
[10:11] Saul is from the tribe of Dan. Literally, you go from the first to the last. Because the first to set out in all of the wilderness wanderings, the first to set out in all of the battles, the first to go before anybody else, the largest, the ones with the most warriors, the ones with the grandest amount of people, the largest of all the tribes, the first to receive their inheritance, and one that has first place all throughout the Old Testament is Judah.
[10:35] The one that occupies the last place is Dan. Now, I said that wrong. He's from the tribe of Benjamin. He's a Benjamite, not a Danite. But he's traveling with the tribe of Dan.
[10:48] So you see this. The covenant must go through Judah. David is of the right tribe, and there's these promises that are connected to him.
[11:00] Think just a moment of everything that David will do. When we read Bible commentators or Bible teachers, we see this. David will unite the kingdom. David will expand the kingdom to a greater extent than anyone that preceded him or even follows him, other than Solomon, who really has it for just a little bit, but it ends up being divided at the end of his reign.
[11:22] So David expands the kingdom. David enriches the kingdom. He compiles most of the wealth and the goods that will be used to build the temple, the first temple.
[11:35] David is the one who brings prominence to the people. David is the one who unites them in worship. He actually appoints the singers and the order of singers that would lead the praise in the temple.
[11:47] David writes a number of the psalms, and the psalms are the hymn books of the people of God. David is the one whose lineage that Christ comes from. David is the one that is so central to everything that God is doing with the people of Israel and even what he is doing in the history of man with the redemption of man in the coming of Jesus Christ.
[12:07] Is it any wonder, then, that the enemy of men's souls works so hard to end the life of David?
[12:18] Yet David operates under what we call a divine shield of protection. And we see it being played out here in this 19th chapter.
[12:29] It will transpire over a course of 10 years. We'll read of it later on. But we really see it being introduced here. We see just three great truths in this passage. The first one we see is the misery of sin.
[12:43] The misery of sin. In the 18th chapter, Saul attempts to take the life of David by sending David into battle. Saul moved him away from the king's presence and appointed him to be the leader over the thousand.
[12:59] And the reason he took him to be the leader over the thousand, he demoted David. David was the head of military affairs, if you will, for a moment. Saul was so annoyed by his popularity that he made him the commander of a thousand.
[13:12] Being the commander of the thousands, he literally moved from the Pentagon to the front line. And on the front line, there's greater risk at being injured. So he would send David continuously into battle. He even bribed him with the anticipation of being married to his wife, Michael, with the hundred foreskins of the Philistines.
[13:29] If you remember, David brought back 200. He was constantly putting David in harm's way, something that we also acknowledge that David himself did later on in his life. So it's not to the perfection of any man that we're looking at.
[13:40] We're looking at the purposes and the plans of God. Yet in the 18th chapter, over and over and over again, Saul is attempting to end the life of David by putting him in harm's way.
[13:52] And it is Saul's sin that is leading him to do this. One of the miserable things with sin is that sin is never content. It always progressively gets worse.
[14:03] Because when we turn to the 19th chapter, we find out that Saul is no longer trying to conspire to kill David by the enemy's hands. Now Saul is going public saying he's going to declare David by his own hands.
[14:16] It opens up for us there in the very first verse. Now Saul told Jonathan, his son, and all his servants to put David to death. Sin has progressed so far that it becomes the master of Saul's life.
[14:30] This should not surprise us because even early in the Bible, the very first violent act that we've seen, Cain and Abel, remember that. In Genesis chapter 4, I believe it's verse 7, God declares to Cain that sin is crouching at the door.
[14:49] And he tells Cain that he must master it, right? That sin crouches at the door and wants him, and that Cain must master it. Because here's the reality. Either you master the sin or the sin masters you.
[15:05] The book of James tells us in the first chapter that be not deceived, no man is tempted by God. God tempts no man with evil. And it tells us in the very next verse, but every man is carried away by his own lust, right?
[15:17] And then when lust gives way or bears fruit, it produces sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings about death. There's a progression. It is that which is within us which creates the sin.
[15:30] That is the lust. The lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. The desire and the pride of life. All those things which we lust after. It doesn't necessarily have to be physical. Sometimes it could be, you know, to be easier, to be comfortable, and all these different things.
[15:43] But those things which we desire, that lust produces this sin, and then sin, when it is accomplished, are brought to full measure. That's what the word accomplished means there in the book of James. Then it brings about death.
[15:55] Sin progresses. Saul, we have seen, entered into sin in partial obedience to God. He did not completely obey God.
[16:07] He did not completely destroy Agag. He did not completely set aside everything that God had said to set aside. And yet he compromised, and he kept what was best for himself, and partially obeyed God, and called it obedience.
[16:21] And it started there, and then it came to the point where he became jealous of David. So he sent David to the hardest battles. Now it's come to the point in the misery of sin where Saul's not even trying to hide it anymore.
[16:31] He said, we're going to kill him. Because sin is a very miserable place of existence. And Saul has came to the point now. Jonathan interposes in this account, talks to his father.
[16:45] We'll come back to that in just a little bit. Saul makes a vow. He declares as to the Lord that nothing harmful will happen to David. But unfortunately, the miserable part of sin is it's taking him to the point that Saul's word can no longer be trusted.
[17:00] Because sin always takes us further than we ever anticipated going. And it always takes us further than we ever wanted to go because the end of sin is death.
[17:14] One of the most miserable things about sin is that when man allows sin to rule and master in his life, then the enemy finds a tool to use for his purposes.
[17:25] We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities that are there in the spiritual forces of darkness. Right? So that is true, and it is.
[17:35] Scripture contains it. Then David's battle is not a battle between he and Saul. It's between he and Satan. Because the plans and purposes of God rest in the man, David.
[17:49] But Satan has found an instrument in Saul because of his sin. Unfortunately, much like we can put ourselves at the disposal of the Lord, we can be tools in the Lord's hands for his purposes by allowing sin to master and even exist in our lives, then we begin to allow ourselves to be tools in the hands of the enemy as well.
[18:17] How much great harm has been done throughout church history when God's people have allowed sin to remain unchecked in church life and in the world life?
[18:29] You say, well, how do I master sin? Well, on our side of the cross, it's easy. We die daily. We in our own flesh cannot master, but greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world, right?
[18:41] We have to be like Paul in Galatians 2.20. Nevertheless, you know, I am crucified. Nevertheless, I live. He declares, I die daily to myself because that which is in us will master us and rule us if we do not master it.
[18:56] It is the misery of sin. The second great truth we see in this passage is the man of surrender. The man of surrender.
[19:08] In the midst of all of this turmoil and in the midst of all of this chaos, in the midst of all this trying to kill someone is David. Now, it's astounding because here is David, the man in his right mind, who is being attacked by someone who is out of their mind.
[19:27] Here is David, the Lord's anointed, who has got a future ahead of him. And God has declared to him, he will be king, yet he is not yet king.
[19:39] And he knows it, he understands it. And God is using him mildly. And I don't think it's accidental, but in the middle of this passage, we read that Saul, it opens up in the 19th chapter, that Saul told his son Jonathan and his men, we're going to kill David.
[19:54] Right? So Jonathan goes and tells David, hey, my dad's going to kill you. And then he comes back and says, well, never mind. He's made a vow that he won't kill you. And then we kind of have this, it seems to be out of place. The story says, and then there was another war. And God, you know, tells us there's this war with the Philistines.
[20:07] So David goes out and he fights this war with the Philistines, and he greatly slaughters them, which shows us his aptitude.
[20:18] Right? He is able to greatly slaughter the enemies of God's people. He is more than fit, more than able, more than, you know, benefited, because the Spirit of God is on him to go into the battle and come out victorious.
[20:37] Yet, when he's in the king's palace and spears are being thrown at him, he does nothing. Strikes me as odd. The man who can go into the battle and come out victorious each and every time.
[20:53] The man who would go before Goliath, run at him with a sling and five stones. The man who had no fear. Yet, when he knew someone standing in front of him, wanted to kill him, did nothing.
[21:10] Is it that David could not have? No, it's not that he could not have. We will read later on that two times he absolutely could have, right? There's a time he went to his camp when Saul and everybody was asleep and he had a spear in his hand.
[21:20] Then there's a time when Saul had to go to the bathroom and he walked into the cave right there where David was at. There's all these times, but even here early on, what you see is David is resisting the opportunity to defend himself.
[21:33] He has surrendered himself to the Lord's guidance. We see it clearly in Psalm 59. That's why I asked you to mark that.
[21:43] Because as the story progresses and David has surrendered himself that God has anointed him, God has appointed him, God has a purpose for him.
[21:54] He does not have to defend himself. He will fight the battles that God puts before him with the Philistines and enemies. But when it comes to the battles that are going on there around him, when it comes to the enemy who's trying to devour him, even though that enemy is very near and dear to him and is actually in his own household, we have identified the enemy and he is us, right?
[22:15] We've seen him there among them. Yet he does not defend himself or he does not even try to take the life of Saul. He is completely surrendered. Psalm 59 is written in the account, if you read the heading, when Saul sent his men to David's house that second time.
[22:32] Remember, he stuck the spear in a wall. David was going to leave, so he decided he'd go home and say bye to his wife before he left. Saul sent his men, following him and told him to watch his house, look at his house and make sure that his house, as soon as he comes out of the house, kill him and he's there.
[22:45] David writes, we have to think this, I like how Warren Wiersbe says it, the whole time Michael was plotting and scheming with a household idol and goat's hair rugs and all this other stuff and trying to figure out a way out of it, David is penning this psalm.
[22:59] And I know the grand question is, well, how can God allow there to be a household idol in there? We don't know, the Bible never addresses it, it's just there. Understand whose daughter that is too. Michael was Saul's daughter, right?
[23:12] So as far as faithfulness of the family, it is declared that David is a man after God's own heart. It does not necessarily imply that his wife was a woman after God's own heart. This household idols were thought to bring fertility and wealth and all these other things.
[23:29] God never mentioned, it's mentioned here, there's not a whole lot of time, she lies and kind of schemes about it. We don't hang out a lot there, right? Because we're not looking at the faithfulness of man, we're looking at the faithfulness of God.
[23:41] But look at what Psalm 59 says. Just read Psalm 59. He writes it, it says in the heading, which by the way, these headings are original to the text. These actually, the headings in your Bibles were verse 1 of the Psalms of the Jewish Bibles.
[23:58] Okay? It says, for the choir director said to, if you can say that word, you go ahead, David. When Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to kill him. So the event is taking place in the 19th chapter.
[24:12] David declares this, deliver me from my enemies, oh my God. Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from those who do iniquity and save me from men of bloodshed.
[24:23] For behold, they have set an ambush for my life. Fierce men launch an attack against me. Not for my transgression nor for my sin, oh Lord. For no guilt of mine they run and set themselves against me.
[24:35] Arouse yourself to help me and see you, oh Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations. Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in iniquity.
[24:46] They return at evening, they howl like a dog and go around the city. Behold, they belch forth with their mouth, swords are in their lips. For they say, who hears? But you, oh Lord, laugh at them.
[24:57] You scoff at all the nations. Because of his strength I will watch for you. For God is my stronghold. My God in his loving kindness will meet me.
[25:08] And God will let me look triumphantly upon my foes. Do not slay them or my people will forget. Scatter them by your power and bring them down, oh Lord, our shield.
[25:19] On account of the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be caught in their pride. And on account of the curses and lies which they utter, destroy them in wrath. Destroy them that they may be no more.
[25:30] That men may know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. They return at evening, they howl like a dog and go around the city. They wander about for food and growl if they are not satisfied.
[25:40] But as for me, I shall sing of your strength. Yes, I shall joyfully sing of your loving kindness in the morning. For you have been my stronghold and a refuge in the day of my distress.
[25:53] Oh, my strength, I will sing praises to you. For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving kindness. Sometimes I think that when we read these accounts, we feel like David is sitting in the corner, shaking and trembling and afraid to do anything.
[26:11] But when we do that, we discount the reality that David is the one who runs into the battles that God has appointed for him. David is a warrior. Yet here what we see is he's not trusting his strength.
[26:24] He has surrendered. Because those whom God has called and appointed do not fight their own battles. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. They surrender themselves to God's protective power, to God's leading.
[26:43] And they trust that if God has called them and appointed them to a task, he will bring it about. What a beautiful picture. While Saul is dealing with the misery of sin, David is standing as a man surrendered.
[26:59] Trusting God to be his fortress, his stronghold, his shield, and to get the glory. Did you notice that in that psalm? He's not saying, God, let me come through safely. He said, God, you do this, disperse them, so that you are glorified, so that people know it's you.
[27:13] In the end, that's exactly what's going to happen. Listen, David was popular enough among the people. Everybody loved David. They sang songs about David, right? Saul has slain his thousands. David has slain his tens of thousands.
[27:24] Everybody loved David. David could have started a revolt, killed Saul, and became king instantaneously. But he waited. But he waited. Because the battle wasn't his.
[27:36] He surrendered to what God has called him to do. And that's a hard thing to do, right? When we understand God has a calling, but yet we surrender and say, God, you take control. So we see the man of surrender.
[27:48] The third thing we see in the final thing we see in the text is the manifestation of the spirit. This divine shield of protection is also seen in the manifestation of the spirit.
[28:02] Now, it's amazing to me how God protects David. God uses two children of Saul to protect David from Saul. Jonathan and Michael.
[28:14] His son and his daughter. Right? Jonathan was the successor to the throne. If anyone could have been jealous of David, it could have been Jonathan. I do not think it's accidental that Jonathan was favorable to David.
[28:29] That Jonathan loved David. It says in the 18th chapter that God created a bond between them two, a brotherly bond. Not anything that's inappropriate or anything that we need to look at with suspicion.
[28:40] But he created a bond of brothers there. And they looked with one another. They entered into a covenant. And they did that before Saul went public. Why? Because God was preparing a level of protection.
[28:52] So Jonathan stood as intercessor on behalf of David. And then Michael, even though what she did is not appropriate, we don't look at it, we say, Oh, applaud the trickery and appraud, all the conniving and scheming and the household autos.
[29:06] When I read these texts, by the way, my mind just goes, Think about how many people are let down through windows in scripture. Ever thought about that? I mean, people going through windows usually do pretty powerful things.
[29:17] You have the spies that went out the window. You have David that went out the window. You have Paul that goes out the window. There's a lot of people going out the windows, right? So it's really, you have Eutychus who falls out a window.
[29:28] His name means lucky, by the way. And he's brought back to life. He was sleeping in the window because the preacher wouldn't be quiet. The preacher was Paul. Paul knew a thing or two about going outside the windows. He said, That's not a big deal. Let's go get him back and bring him up here.
[29:40] He prays over him. He comes back to life. And he says, And he kept on preaching. It's a good thing to fall out of a window, especially if Paul's present. But anyway, it's amazing when you read all these things of people going out of windows and how powerful it is, right, in scripture.
[29:53] Why? Because, again, it's just one of those things. It gets me excited as a pastor because these are not just random stories, right? This is one grand story that's woven together throughout the history and throughout centuries.
[30:05] It's really amazing how it works. But yet God has this divine shield of protection. The house that David and Michael lived in just happened to be up on the wall. They had a window that would put you outside of the city.
[30:20] And there's this shield of protection. So then he goes to Samuel. He goes into Samuel. And you remember Samuel, right? He's living back at Ramah. He's an old man right now. But remember, I told you Samuel was the head of the school of the prophets.
[30:31] He's the one that actually originated the school of the prophets. And he has them there. Now, the word naoth just means house or dwelling. So there's a house or a dwelling there somewhere where all the prophets hang out. So that's a good place to go. One Bible commentator said David left this place of danger to go to a place of worship.
[30:46] It's always good to run to worship, by the way, because he ran to the man of God. He didn't run to the man of war. That's surrender. He didn't run to go get his men because he had men. Later on, he'll have a whole bunch of cool men to do a lot of cool stuff.
[30:59] He had people that loved him, right? He had people that would fight for him. He didn't do that. He went to the man of God, and he went to the prophets of God, and he started worshiping. That's amazing.
[31:11] Now, we know he can do that because he wrote Psalm 59, right? Lord, I'm trusting you. I'm not trusting in me. And here he is. He's at the school of the prophets. They're hanging out there at this house, and Saul hears it because Saul's got his men everywhere, and everybody's keeping an eye, especially on Samuel.
[31:25] You better keep an eye on Samuel. He's going around anointing people, and Saul's a little suspicious of this. Well, David comes in, so Saul says, Well, I'm going to send my men to kill him there. It's not a big deal. So he sends some men, and when they come up, for the first time we see that Samuel is standing before the prophets, which is where we get the biblical mandate that he's the head of the school of prophets.
[31:43] And so Samuel's standing there, and they're all prophesying. They're declaring God's glory. And as these men of Saul come up to kill David, they start prophesying. And they tell Saul about it. And so Saul says, Well, I'll send some more men.
[31:54] So he sends some more men. And then they start prophesying. And then a third time he sends some more men. And they show up, and they start prophesying. Everybody's prophesying. It's pretty cool, right? Why? Because the Holy Spirit is taking control of that moment.
[32:06] And so Saul says, I'll go myself. Nobody else is strong enough to do it. I'll go. So the king comes down, and he's going. He gets to the well. They tell him where he's at. Everybody knows David's not in hiding.
[32:17] He's in public, right? Oh, they're having church service over there. You ought to see it. Everybody's breaking out prophesying. Everybody that goes over there, the Spirit's pouring out upon them. They're doing some pretty crazy things. I mean, Saul, you've had three company of men.
[32:28] They're all prophesying. So you can only imagine. You get to see it in your head, right? Painted as it really is. Saul is probably angry. He wants to kill David. He goes in all of his kingly attire, and he's going up. And he walks up to him in all of his fit of anger, and for the second time of his life, Saul starts prophesying.
[32:44] There was a time before when he came upon the prophets, right after being anointed by king, and he prophesied. Here he walks upon the prophets, and he starts prophesying again. And it says he took off his clothes.
[32:55] Now, there comes some confusion there in the original language. It doesn't necessarily mean that he was completely naked. The wording just means he took off his outer garment. So essentially, what he did is he took off his kingly attire.
[33:07] You know why? Because the Holy Spirit doesn't matter who you are in rank and position. He can humble you and make you like everybody else. Never separate this fact. The Holy Spirit is as much God as God is God.
[33:20] We believe in the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is God, Son is God, and Holy Spirit is God. Those are essential.
[33:32] Because in the Holy Spirit's presence, God is present there. The fullness of God is present. And he holds the heart of the king in the palm of his hands. In all of his pomp and all of his splendor and all of his glory, he shows up, and the Holy Spirit strips him of it.
[33:48] And he begins to prophesy and lay on the ground, prophesying for a day, just like everybody else. Because at that time, God doesn't care who you are or what right you think you have or what authority you think you carry into his presence.
[34:05] He has a way of leveling the field. Many people believe that it's while Saul is prophesying, David leaves. That's how he gets away.
[34:18] Why? Because God overruled. The manifestation of the Spirit. By the way, just as kind of a side note, and many people show you, Saul had what we would call a religious experience.
[34:33] Twice. The book of Hebrews says it like this in Hebrews chapter 6, that they tasted and saw the Spirit, yet they denied it.
[34:47] Many people, when they read Hebrews chapter 6, they believe the apostatizing is losing one's salvation. They believe that the author of Hebrews is speaking of the reality that people could lose their salvation, and I agree with it.
[35:02] And Hebrews 6 is a very difficult passage, because they say, how can you taste the Spirit and see the Spirit and see the working of the Spirit and kind of have an experience with the Spirit when the Spirit is a gift to the believer and not be genuinely saved?
[35:15] And then it says, but then they deny the power thereof and they crucify again Jesus as the Lord. Well, there are at least two people in Scripture that had that. Saul and Judas Iscariot.
[35:29] Right? Judas was there when Lazarus was raised. He was there when the widow, son of Nain, was raised. Judas was there when Jesus walked on the water. Judas was there when the 5,000 were fed, when the 4,000 were fed.
[35:41] Judas was declaring the good news to people like all the other apostles. Judas had all kinds of manifestations of the Spirit, and yet denied it. Saul, two great religious experiences.
[35:54] Which shows us, caution and care here, an experience is not enough to validate a salvation. Just because somebody has experienced something.
[36:10] It is the heart transformation that validates the salvation. I'm afraid there are a lot of people basing all of their eternity upon an experience.
[36:22] Goosebumps and sensations and experiences. It is the change of the heart and the renewed man.
[36:33] Because, by the way, when Saul gets up, for 10 more years he tries to kill David. He had an experience, but it didn't change his heart.
[36:44] Salvation is found in a person, not in an experience. And we see that being displayed for us throughout Scripture.
[36:55] But here in this 19th chapter, what we see is the divine security of David. God's plans and purposes will come about no matter how much the enemy fights, no matter how much the enemy attempts, and no matter how much the enemy plots and schemes to try to thwart them.
[37:15] What God has declared will come about in David's life, but also in our own lives. What God declares will come about for his glory.
[37:28] And we see that really being played out for us in 1 Samuel 19. Thank you, brother. Okay, does everyone have a copy of the prayer?
[37:40] Thank you. Thank you.
[38:10] Thank you.