Well, I invite you to turn tonight in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 26. We're nearing the end of this book, 1 Samuel 26, 31 chapters in this book, and tonight we'll consider chapter 26 in its entirety. Page 294 in your Bibles. This is the word of the Lord, beginning, of course, we're going to pick up at verse 1 of chapter 26 and read to the end of the chapter. Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hashilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon? So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped on the hill of Hashilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon, but David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him in the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay with Abner, the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him. Then David said to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai, the son of Zeruah, who will go down with me into the camp to Saul? And Abishai said, I will go down with you. So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. Then Abishai said to David, God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice. But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into the battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed, but take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water and let us go. So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. Now David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill with a great space between them, and David called to the army and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, Will you not answer, Abner? Then Abner answered, Who are you who calls to the king? And David said to Abner, Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord, the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king, your lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the lord lives, you deserve to die because you have not kept watch over your lord, the lord's anointed. and now see where the king's spear is and a jar of water that was at his head. Saul recognized David's voice and said, Is that your voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. And he said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? What have I done? What evil is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord, the king, hear the words of his servant. If it is the lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering. But if it's men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains. Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will do no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly and have made a great mistake. And David answered and said, Here is the spear, O king. Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord gave you into my hand this day, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. behold as your life was precious to stay in my sight so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord and may he deliver me out of all tribulation then Saul said to David blessed be you my son David you will do many things and will succeed in them so David went his way and Saul returned to his place and there we'll end the reading of God's word Samuel has been incredibly helpful to understand tonight what we pray when we say thy kingdom come. The words of the Heidelberg Catechism are so helpful because we often want to see that kingdom come in power now. And listen to what the Lord's Day says when we ask that question. What do we mean when we pray thy kingdom come? Rule us by your word and spirit that more and more we submit to you, preserve and increase your church, destroy the works of the devil, and every power that raises itself against you, and every conspiracy against your holy word. I would submit tonight, that is exactly what is the challenge in front of David tonight. Those words, that prayer, that that he would wait upon the Lord, and that the Lord would do certain things, that the Lord, that he would submit to the Lord and that the Lord would deal with David's enemies. This is all over this altar, don't we? All of the enemies that are constantly, we sing about against the Lord and against his anointed and against his people. It's hard because it feels like, as you think about the kingdom of God, his rule over this world, it feels like nothing much is happening. It feels like that kingdom is never really coming. It feels like if it is, it's very slow and nothing is really moving. Is the Lord really doing anything in the midst of this mess? Is the Lord really hearing our prayer when we pray, thy kingdom come? And that's where David is right now. That's what the same question David could have asked so many years ago in the midst of these hardships. That same question, is the Lord really doing anything in the midst of this? Is the Lord really answering us in the midst of this? Is the Lord really helping me in the midst of this? How long do we have to say, your kingdom come? Well, 1 Samuel 26, did you notice, is deja vu again? If you were here a few weeks ago, it's almost the same text. This is one of the challenges for a preacher. I could have said, I already preached this, let's move on. But when the Spirit gives us this, He's telling us something very important. isn't he? We've already been here. Wasn't David in the cave, and didn't David have the opportunity to take out Saul when he was relieving himself with one stroke of the sword? David didn't do it. And then you stop and say, didn't Saul get it by now? You know, isn't Saul ever going to wake up and say, you know, this is really probably not a very good pursuit, for God's not going to let me take out David. And Saul never seems to get it. Even his repentance, we know, is not true. It's fake. It's phony. So this is the question that's before us tonight. What about the coming of the kingdom, and how long do we wait in the midst of this mess? And you'll notice here that at the heart of this passage tonight, for all of us, is the same simple call that we have to be, because I believe. When you have three chapters in a row that are really dealing with the same thing, you have a single important message for all of us that all of us in the course of life, no matter what it is, are called to persistence in trusting him even when everything seems bleak. You're not the first one ever to go through it, aren't you glad? And you won't be the last. And here's David facing all of that right now. The same persistence to trust the Lord in every circumstance and and by the way that's why you get a lot of psalms in this with the same thing said over and over trust him I will trust in the Lord I will wait upon the Lord I will not lose heart this may not seem like as much of an important message but I submit to you that when you see it for what it is it's a message about all of life and that's how I want to see this tonight in Saul's persistence to destroy, in David's persistence to trust, and all of us showing the Lord's persistence to save. And that's what we'll consider briefly tonight. You'll notice here as we open up chapter 26 that the Ziphites came to Saul and gave the report. Again, everyone's trying to spy out and find favor with Saul as to where David is. Is not David hiding himself in the hills of which is on the east of Jeshimon. So, of course, Saul rises up, and you'll notice there that he takes 3,000 chosen warriors of Israel to go after David one more time out in the wilderness. Here we are again. Samuel seems to be telling us the same thing, the same problem, the same frustrations over and over and over, and this has got to be, for David, incredibly frustrating by now. It's got to be. I mean, David had spared Nabal last time. Remember? Nabal was a terrible man. And the first thing we have to stand back from as we look at all of this is the frustration that David must have felt. But notice here is I think the emphasis that's first being laid upon us so that we understand a little bit the struggle in this life is the blindness of the wicked in their sin. Really. The blindness of the wicked in their sin. You know, they are bent on doing their own wills. They are bent on accomplishing destruction. They know it's wrong to destroy life, and they go after it with everything they have. I think you see this in some ways with abortion, don't you? I mean, it really is appalling how they just keep pushing and pushing further on this issue. And it's just ruthless murder of the innocent, of the most innocent in this life. There's no stopping. There's no reasoning. There's only attack. That's abuse. But that is how it goes, isn't it? Do you ever feel like this is going nowhere? Do you ever feel like the evil just escalates and gets worse and worse? The patterns don't seem to stop, do they? The reasoning never seems to happen. People don't stop and never seem to finally become reasonable on things. The abuses continue. The same patterns grow worse and worse. And this is what we see. You can replay the tape over and over and over. That's what we're used to. How long, O Lord? These are the questions. How long until you put an end to this? How long until you stop this foolishness and madness of destruction? The test of this is, do we become our own saviors? Last time you'll remember in the Nabal section that there was a wordplay there that one of you wrote me and asked about, because all the other translations, Abigail said it twice, David said it once, that when she was speaking, and this is one of those, the restraint of David, my Lord, shall have no cause of grief or pains of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my Lord working salvation for himself. Many of the older translations had used the words avenge, that he would avenge, that you would avenge yourself. But I went and studied that word and looked at that word, and it is actually a right translation in the ESV to say the word salvation. That Abigail was warning David, and David was starting to learn that I am not the Savior. I didn't make as big of a moment about that last time, but I think it's important to raise it at this point, that the test for David again, that is set in front of him, is to take matters into his own hands and bring in the kingdom now this way. Imagine what would have happened. You know at the end of this book, the Lord's going to take Saul out in battle. Well, that's how it's going to happen. But imagine had David done it. Imagine had David gone and put the sword right into Saul. How would David have been viewed in Israel? David would have been known as the Savior in Israel. I'm going to come back to that thought, but I want you to think about this. This is beginning to see in this man, in David, a lot of humility. We're beginning to see a lot of restraint in David because now he's given a second opportunity to put out Saul. He comes into the wilderness. David sends out spies, and he learns that Saul is there with his 3,000 men, and they're all encamped in the wilderness. You'll notice that there. He comes to the place where Saul is camped. They're all sleeping. There is Abner, the son of Ner, the commander of his army, and Saul is lying there with his army. And at his head, you'll notice there what is said, that his water jug is there. So David and Abishai went into the army by night. And you'll notice that the Lord sent a heavy sleep on them, which is an interesting inclusion, isn't it? Because you almost get the sense, and David will say later, the Lord gave you into my hand. It's really kind of provoking us to think, should David have done it? A heavy sleep? The Lord had given Saul into David's hand. Then Abishai said to David that very thing, God has done this. God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Let me go pin him to the earth with one stroke, and it's over. I won't even hit him twice. I'll make it clean, David. David said, Don't destroy him. For who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? How would you have read the providence of that? Sometimes we always say, Well, if the Lord gives us an open door, then we should go through the open door, right? Well, I think anyone could have said that's an open door. Remarkable. Verse 10, though, there's sometimes when you go through a passage, there's certain verses that really stand out and are meant to stand out. And verse 10, I thought, was that verse in this particular chapter. And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him or his day will come to die. or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Do I need to go through again how wicked Saul is? What a wicked king this is? This man was terrible. What he did, killing the priests. But now take the spear, says David. It's at his head and the jar of water and lets go. So he takes the spear and the water. No one saw it. I think it's important to say this is a precious moment in our study of David. For what we're seeing happen in Saul in the contrast between the kings here is Saul be growing in his ruthless behavior and hatred of the Lord and David growing in his trust of the Lord. In a circumstance like this, meditate on verse 10 for a second. As the Lord lives, is he not the living God, sovereign over everything? This is what he's saying here. The Lord will strike. And you know what he'll do? He could either strike him right now, Nabal, with one blow. Or it'll be his time and he'll get sick and die of cancer. Or, he'll die in battle. What a perspective about life, huh? When you're in this kind of affliction. About the Lord's sovereignty and the Lord's providence. I was thinking a lot about those things. What a mature king is in the making here. Why do I say that? Because when Israel asked for a king, remember what they said? We want a king who will go out and fight all of our battles for us. And David is saying, those battles aren't mine. I love it. That is the king of God's choosing. Who is the savior? Who is the deliverer of his people? David is being trained never to replace the Lord. but to lead sheep to the Lord and to trust the Lord in the most difficult of circumstances. I love this because it's a moment for us. Isn't it absolutely comforting tonight to think that no matter what, no matter all the evil that we see in this life, and Saul has his tally of evil, no matter all that we see in this life, everything is in the plan and sovereign plan and design of the Lord and is in his hand. Everything. And that's important. I know I sound like I'm always beating the same drum, but I figure if God gave us three accounts to teach us this, it's important to constantly say, He is holding your life. He has the reign over everything in your life. He holds the reigns of your life. He is holding all the scenarios of your life. And then while we're struggling to figure all this out in the midst of these scenarios, you can look at your life and see and trust that every good, perfect plan of the Lord is coming to its perfect end. I think you can look at the wicked today and all of their wickedness growing worse and worse. And what is our temptation? Our temptation is to become little saviors, trying to tear it down ourselves. I always think in certain theonomic groups and as I listen to the saviors that people are looking to today to fight all the cultural battles. I look at this, the Bible teachers of our time trying to overturn all the wickedness of society. It seems to me their whole mission is to do it themselves. David's saying, I wait upon you, O Lord. To see what's happening is so beautiful here. When we think of this in our terms and in our lives and in the things that we face, isn't it true that the three sworn enemies that we constantly struggle with are constantly attacking us. The world, the devil, our own flesh. You can say that with the world. Jesus called it the evil of the times. The world grows worse and worse and it's darkness and pushing that darkness upon us. The devil is bent on nothing but our destruction. But even our sin. the sins we struggle with, do you know that's of enemy in your own flesh? You know, I think sometimes we expect that if we're Christians, there is just absolute, automatic, immediate deliverance from all this. Now, this is where the rubber really meets the road. We expect immediate deliverance from all of this. Well, you are forgiven. You're forgiven all of your sins. They're not held against you. but that does not mean that you're released from them yet. In other words, that's glorification. The continued presence of sin in our life is the most frustrating thing of all. We all went badly to beat it, we all went badly to overcome it, and we take matters into our hands all the time. That's not to justify any sin. But if you've not experienced deliverance from some sin in your life, That's the same predicament of David. Even in that, God has promised you in his time deliverance. We trust him. We come to him. We never stop coming to the throne of grace for help. He promises to help. He promises to sustain. But all of that deliverance is his. And that we have not learned yet. All of that deliverance is his in your life and in my life. what a position to trust the Lord in everything. In providence, that's what we call it. In his almighty and ever-present power, whereby with his hand he upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed all things come to us not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. That means that what has come to David in the wilderness is again from the fatherly hand of God. So David's presented with the opportunity. Kill him? Take him out? Abathar says, no way. He says to Abathar. He goes and he stands on the mountain and he yells out to Abner, hey Abner, hey Abner, you are a failed leader in Israel. you have not protected your king you deserve to die Abner I think what's the moving part of this after Saul comes out and begins that same pathetic cry in verse 17 and 19 we see some of the most profound statements of growth by David Saul is not demonstrating repentance but listen to David for a minute. It's so beautiful as what David says. Notice there at the end of the chapter where it goes. Let me get the verse here. Then Saul says, I have sinned, verse 22. And David answered, he said, here's the spear, O king. Let one of the young men come over. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. He says other things here that are absolutely beautiful by David that really demonstrate a mature king in the making. But I want you to notice here, is not David loving his enemy? One of the things I've had to think about a lot as a pastor over time is how to help people love their enemies, and for myself to do it. And sometimes, you know, my children will come up to me and say this. They'll say, you know, Dad, people can, students can be very cruel and say terrible things, and there's some people we really struggle. I do struggle to love, and I just can't stand them. I say that to the youth tonight. I know that people can be vicious and cruel and hard. The greatest help to me has always been this thought. That in the person that has offended me the most, in the person who has been a great nemesis, you might say, the person who has been the hardest, who is not honored, who is attacked, who is not respected, or even treated me cruelly, right there, God is teaching me. God is teaching me and showing me a representation of myself before him. That's how I treat him. If you can look at all of the enemies like that, those who hate, those who despise, and see in them your behavior toward God and his love in return, it's the greatest aid to you. I promise it's the greatest aid to you. It's a hard thing to get to, but it's maturity. These hardships, these tests, are the ways that God refines us to trust him, and this is a major growth in righteousness. David appeals to this truth that it's the Lord who upholds his life, and it's the Lord who upholds Saul's life. His life could have been taken, but the awareness of God's purposes and knowing who God is, that he is Lord over all, he would not act outside of it, and he would trust in the Lord's deliverance. I want to close tonight with this thought. Is this not the whole story of our salvation? At the end of the day, when you stand back from this text and you think of what it's teaching us, you know, the very things that we study here are the way that we treated God's king. That's what I couldn't get away from at the end of this text working on it. These are the ways we treated God's king. Jesus comes to this earth. We banished him. We spit on him. We hated him. We went after him unjustly. And we murdered him. That's what I couldn't get over thinking. And his whole time, Jesus could have taken us out at any moment. Jesus could have stopped this plan any moment. Jesus could have called for the angels in heaven to come down and rescue and stop and put out such madness of attack against him. And instead, he laid down his life. Instead, he loved his enemies. And today, you sit here forgiven because of that grace. That's what we celebrate. And if that's what we have been taught, then we have to look at all of life and the way that God has us and the places that he has us as some way, whatever momentary affliction it is, to show forth the Savior, to show forth the Christ, for that's who David shows us. I think the Lord is teaching us something great here tonight, that entrusting ourselves to him who judges righteously is the safest and best place that you can be. And to know that in the end, everything will be made right. Do you know that? There is nothing, no injustice, no evil that ever escapes the Lord. It will be dealt with. That's his promise. He's that just. He's that righteous. And through all of this hardship, the Lord is training us to wait upon him, to pray to him, to trust him, and to know that this kingdom will come in all of its fullness. And when that day comes, all the enemies will be put out. and it will be awesome. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your hearts. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word tonight, and thank you for your precious promises, and for showing us in the midst of our weakness, and our failures, and our hardships, how you uphold us and control all of life. Let us more and more learn to submit our lives to you, and we pray that you, oh Lord, would put out every force that revolts against your word. For you are the Savior. You are the deliverer of your people. And we will wait and trust in the Lord. Hear our prayer and act, O Lord, and save to the ends of the earth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.